{"id":95189,"date":"2026-06-14T13:36:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T20:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=95189"},"modified":"2026-06-14T13:36:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T20:36:53","slug":"strange-broadway-bedfellows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/06\/14\/strange-broadway-bedfellows\/","title":{"rendered":"Strange Broadway Bedfellows"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my haste to deliver some late-breaking Tonys <\/em><\/strong>news, I neglected to send congrats out to Qween Jean<\/strong>, the costume designer of Cats: The Jellicle Ball<\/em><\/strong>.  Qween became the first openly trans person to win a Tony Award<\/em>, and how fitting that the show is set in the legendary NYC ballroom scene.  \u201cWe are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people.  We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space.  We have to shift the paradigm.\u201d  Congrats!<\/p>\n

Back when Billy Porter <\/strong>was on death\u2019s doorstep with sepsis, someone very close to him called me up to say he\u2019d be fine.  How could this person be sure?  Because Billy was dying to do a revival of Jerry Herman<\/strong>\u2019s La Cage aux Folles<\/em><\/strong>.  Let that be a lesson to you \u2013 always have something to live for.  Porter is poised to kick off performances of the musical \u2013 with Wayne Brady <\/strong>by his side.  The production comes to us courtesy of the Encores! <\/em>series at New York City<\/em> Center<\/em>.  This is the same group that brought us such semi-staged productions as the recent transfer of Once Upon a Mattress<\/em><\/strong>, to say nothing of a little musical called Chicago<\/em><\/strong>, which just celebrated 30 years on Broadway<\/em>.  While I don\u2019t expect La Cage<\/em> to match that success, I think it could have a mighty healthy transfer if the videos from rehearsal are any indication.  You can check them out on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Rumors are picking up steam about Jamie Lloyd <\/strong>planning to direct a new production of Stephen Sondheim<\/strong>\u2019s Passion<\/em><\/strong>.  Sure, the show returning to Broadway <\/em>is enough to generate gossip, but the casting of Cynthia Erivo <\/strong>and Jonathan Groff <\/strong>is certainly whetting people\u2019s appetites (please, oh please, don\u2019t let Groff\u2019s best friend get cast as Clara).  While some are skeptical this Passion <\/em>project will happen, it ain\u2019t such an outrageous proposition.  Lloyd previously directed a production of the musical at London\u2019s Donmar Warehouse <\/em>way back in 2010, where it starred Elena Roger<\/strong>.  And, fun fact \u2013 this would be a reunion for Groff and Erivo since they previously did a one-night-only concert of How To Succeed in Business<\/em><\/strong> in London back in 2015.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking forward to Julia Louis-Dreyfus <\/strong>finally making her Broadway <\/em>debut in a revival of Other Desert Cities<\/em><\/strong> alongside Allison Janney<\/strong>, Ed Harris <\/strong>and Lily Rabe<\/strong>.  Since there has been some speculation, let me clear one thing up \u2013 Julia is playing the role of Polly, which was originated by Stockard Channing<\/strong>.  Allison is playing Silda, previously played by Judith Light <\/strong>(and Linda Lavin <\/strong>off-Broadway).  They\u2019ll be directed by John Benjamin Hickey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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In a somewhat curious casting notice, London\u2019s West End<\/em> will get a new production of Who\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? <\/em><\/strong>this fall.  The battling couple will be portrayed by Gillian Anderson <\/strong>and Billy Crudup<\/strong>.  I\u2019m putting my skepticism aside because this production will be directed by Marianne Elliott<\/strong>.  So perhaps Billy will play Martha!<\/p>\n

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the world premiere of Matthew Lombardo<\/strong>\u2019s play When Playwrights Kill<\/em><\/strong>, which took place in Boston.  The two leading actors, Beth Leavel <\/strong>and Matt Doyle<\/strong>, are reuniting for Hello, Dolly! <\/em><\/strong>at the Ogunquit Playhouse <\/em>from June 18th<\/sup> through July 18th<\/sup>.  Grab your tickets at OgunquitPlayhouse.org<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my haste to deliver some late-breaking Tonys news, I neglected to send congrats out to Qween Jean, the costume designer of Cats: The Jellicle Ball.  Qween became the first openly trans person to win a Tony Award, and how fitting that the show is set in the legendary NYC ballroom scene.  \u201cWe are here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95190,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95189\/revisions\/95190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}