What's on Broadway?

Our Secrets

Broadway To The People

The amazing and hilarious Seth Rudetsky interviews Broadway stars in this series, available on Playbill.com. The stars tell stories and sing.

For every two-show day of Hamilton (Wednesdays and Saturdays), Lin Manuel Miranda, members of the Hamilton cast, and special guest stars (used to) perform a short show in front of the Richard Rodgers Theatre, or inside on colder days. 

The hilarious Susan Blackwell interviews Broadway stars in this Broadway.com series

Watch performances from the annual Miscast Gala, in which Broadway stars perform numbers that are maybe not so appropriate for them

This Broadway.com series features interviews with Broadway stars.

Seth Rudetsky "deconstructs" Broadway songs by pointing out interesting orchestrations and vocal techniques, in a very entertaining and engaging way.

There's More Than Just Broadway...

Aside from your standard Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, there are tons of other ways to enjoy theater and performance art in the city. These are some of our favorites. You can also check out our Events page for descriptions of some more fun, theater-related activities in NYC.


Lincoln Center

In addition to the off-Broadway theater, Claire Tow, and the Broadway theater, Vivian Beaumont, Lincoln Center has several other theaters and venues. At Avery Fisher Hall, you can see concerts (such as the concert of Stephen Schwartz music we saw this year) and other events (Sarah saw David Sedaris do a reading there a few years ago). Not to mention the NYC Ballet and Metropolitan Opera! And don't forget about the summer dance festival, Midsummer Night's Swing (you can read more about this on the Events page).


Joe's Pub at the public theater

In addition to the Off-Broadway shows and Shakespeare in the Park performances that the Public Theater offers, The Public Theater also has a cabaret-style performance venue called Joe's Pub. Our favorite show to see here is Freestyle Love Supreme, an improv hip hop group featuring none other than Tony award winner and creator of In the Heights and Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda. The group also has some other notable members, including Chris Jackson (Broadway actor of In the Heights and Hamilton fame and Emmy winner) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (of Pitch Perfect fame). We've seen this group at least five or six times and we keep going back!


54 Below "Broadway's supper club"

54 Below is another cabaret venue, beneath the Studio 54 Theatre on 54th Street. Dubbed "Broadway's Supper Club," many Broadway stars will perform gigs here. Our favorite act to see at 54 Below is a duo called the Skivvies, who sing Pop and Broadway medleys in their underwear, and always have some great guest stars.


The Green Room 42

Located in the heart of the theatre district, The Green Room 42 is Broadway's newest, most spacious, and funkiest entertainment hall featuring a wide variety of performances by your favorite Broadway stars. We saw the TASTiSKANK duo perform there and they are hilarious!


Piano Bars

New York is full of piano bars where you can enjoy performances by Broadway hopefuls and and other talented performers and sing along to some of your favorite standards. Our favorites include:

  • Brandy's - 235 E 84th Street
  • Don't Tell Mama - 343 W 46th Street
  • **Marie's Crisis - 59 Grove Street - We LOVE Marie's Crisis! Absolutely no frills, it's in a basement, cash-only bar with plastic cups and ugly wood paneled walls, it's very casual and intimate...it feels like a bunch of friends gathered around a piano singing Broadway show tunes! Always a good time!

Broken box mime theater (BKBX)

An AMAZING theater company that tells beautiful stories using only their bodies and the audience's imagination. They won the 2014 New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Ensemble and they are truly a collaborative, cool, and dynamic group. The cast members say they love seeing the moment when an audience sees what invisible object or situation they are creating, and also knowing that to each person, the object or situation looks a little bit different. A friend saw a performance of theirs where a cast member (who also happens to be her former college roommate) was playing a guardian angel. A few months later, she asked to borrow the cast member's prop wings to use for a scavenger hunt, only to be told that the wings were imaginary! That's how strong BKBX's ability to create and invoke imagery is - when you remember a performance later on, you'll forget that it was all in your imagination, that's how real it becomes. They are inspiring! A must-see! They also do kids' shows and education/workshops.


New York Pops

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. They do a lot of concerts with Broadway stars (we saw Sutton Foster perform with them at their summer home in Forest Hills, Queens). Their regular season home is Carnegie Hall. Other Broadway stars they've teamed up with include Steve Pasquale, Sierra Boggess, Stephanie J. Block, and Brian D'Arcy James! They are wonderful!


Sleep No More

This is such a cool thing. It's an interactive, walk-through, experimental theater experience. You go to the "McKitrick Hotel" in Chelsea, where everyone gathers in the lounge/bar. Then, you are given a white mask to wear, told not to speak, and escorted through a dark, winding passage to the lobby of the "hotel." From there, you explore on your own as actors weave in and out of rooms silently acting out scenes based on Macbeth. It's dark and eerie, and insanely detailed - every room and place has so many objects you can look at, books you can read, and other things you can interact with. It's all set in the 1930s, presumably in Scotland, though that is not quite clear. You can go into the funeral home and read ledgers of people in the town who have died. You can go into the mental institution and see patients' charts. And you have complete freedom to wander - some people choose to follow one particular actor, others go from room to room opening drawers and peering into closets, it's totally up to you. At the end, everyone ends up at the final banquet scene. From there, you can take off your mask and go check out the restaurant (with live band), the rooftop bar, or the lounge! At the beginning of the experience you're encouraged to separate from your friends and companions, so after the show is a good time to meet back up with your group and compare stories of what you all saw. It's an expensive experience ($75-$100), but well worth it.


Then She Fell

"An immersive theater experience combining a hospital ward, the writings of Lewis Carroll, and just 15 audience members per show."


Rocky Horror Picture Show

Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas in Chelsea does a screening and accompanying live performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday and Saturday night at midnight. You can buy tickets online a few days ahead of time for about $10. We went the Saturday night before the Pride Parade in full costume and were disappointed to find that no one else (aside from the cast) had dressed up. But it was fun nonetheless. The cast acts out the entire movie along with the film, you can buy a bag of props for $2 before the show, and, as always, "virgins" (those who have never been to a Rocky Horror screening before) are asked to come up to the front and humiliate themselves in different silly activities before the movie starts.


United Palace Theater

The United Palace Theater is an old 1930s-era movie theater in Washington Heights (right around the corner from us!). The theater is huge, historic, and gorgeous and when you enter, you are transported to another time and place. Though it was out of use as a theater for many years, it is currently undergoing a revitalization, with the help and guidance of the incomparable Lin-Manuel Miranda, a native of Washington Heights. Miranda hosted a film series one Sunday a month for several months in 2014, choosing all New York-based films to screen at the theater and inviting some great guests whom he interviewed before the films. The films included Woody Allen's Manhattan, West Side Story, Muppets Take Manhattan, Ghost Busters, King Kong, and more. The events served as a fundraiser to raise money for a new screen and other financial support for the theater, though sometimes you could get in for free if you were dressed in a gown or tuxedo. Follow United Palace Theater on Facebook or Twitter or sign up for their e-newsletter to find out about upcoming events at the Palace.


Piper Theater

For our friends in Brooklyn, Piper Theater offers free, outdoor, summer productions in Washington Park, Park Slope. We went to see their production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and it was very enjoyable. We brought a picnic, the atmosphere is fun and relaxed, the concession stand is cheap, and the production was fun. Not necessarily very high quality (we equated it to community theater or a good high school production), but fun. A nice way to spend a summer night.


Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)



You Can Enjoy the Theater, Even at Home!

For a little extra fun, there are tons of ways to geek out about theater from the comfort of your own home. We recommend the following:

YouTube

Side by Side by Susan Blackwell                                    Miscast                                                              Ask a star                                         













Seth rudetsky: Obsessed!                                   seth rudetsky Deconstructs                                          #ham4ham












BroadwayHD

BroadwayHD films some live productions of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and you can watch them at home with a subscription to BroadwayHD. Past and current shows available include She Loves Me (with Laura Benanti!), Indecent, Falsettos, Oklahoma (with Hugh Jackman!), Imelda Staunton's Gypsy, and more.


It Could Be Worse

It Could Be Worse is a show that premiered on Pivot and is now available on Hulu. Created by Welsey Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis, it's a show about a guy trying to make it in New York theater. It is darkly funny and has a lot of recognizable guest stars!


Submissions Only

A web series created by Andrew Keenan-Bolger & Kate Wetherhead about auditioning for New York theater. It is very funny!


Movies​

  • Two theater-related documentaries premiered at the New York Film Festival 2016: the Hamilton documentary and the documentary of Merrily We Roll Along (The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened). Both amazing.
  • In the Heights will be made into a movie! Check back for more details!
  • THE LAST 5 YEARS!!!! - One of our ALL TIME favorite musicals was made into a movie, starring Jeremy Jordan (of the TV show Smash and Broadway's Newsies) and Anna Kendrick (of the films Pitch Perfect and Camp). You can buy it now on Amazon!
  • Show Business - A documentary about the 2004 Tony season
  • B'Way - a PBS documentary about the history of Broadway
  • Camp - a film about a summer theater arts camp (As the title suggests, this film is quite campy. And awesome.)


Podcasts/Radio

  • Today on Broadway - A daily podcast reviewing the news of Broadway and more!
  • Theater People - Patrick Hinds interviews a Broadway star each episode. The interviews are always really interesting and insightful. Check it out!
  • Living the Dream - Rory O'Malley's podcast wherein he interviews actors and dives into the struggles and setbacks of a career in the theatre
  • Stagecraft - Variety's theatre podcast with Gordon Cox, who interviews theatre artists about their recent projects
  • Broadway Backstory - In each episode, Patrick Hinds tells the story of how a Broadway show evolved from an idea to a full-fledged production
  • Broadwaysted - In each episode, the Broadwaysted gang interviews theatre artists while drinking and playing games. It's a lot of fun!
  • Maxamoo's New York City Theater Podcast
  • The Ensemblist
  • The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook
  • The Set List
  • American Theatre Wing - Downstage Center
  • The Hamilcast
  • On Broadway - Sirius XM Channel - includes the show "Seth Speaks," hosted by Seth Rudetsky


Social Media

Social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc) is a great way to follow particular shows, theaters, production companies, and individuals. We recommend following Lin-Manuel Miranda and Laura Benanti particularly :)

A Few Good Reads

  • Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat by Stephen Sondheim - A book of his annotated collected lyrics
  • Nothing Like a Dame by Eddie Shapiro - Interviews with 20 famous ladies of the Broadway stage
  • The "Hamiltome"