MARCH 19, 2025

Hello, Whisperites,

Uptown, everyone is in previews or opening their shows (or downing rice bowls at Green Symphony between press previews). Downtown, Andrew Scott is everyone. 

In the middle of the beginning of this spring spike in business, here is a quick catch-up on some of the theater news of the week: Rachel Zegler will be in a production of Evita on the West End, Orville Peck won’t be wearing a mask in Cabaret, Tracy Letts and David Cromer are for some reason making a James Taylor musical, Tituss Burgess is now in Oh, Mary!, Trump's plans for the Kennedy Center continue to get more insane, we are maybe getting an all-female Glengarry, and because everyone in Vulture’s Slack was so thrilled by the news, Idina is spending more time up in her Redwood tree. 

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This week’s grosses are here! Jackson McHenry, Jason P. Frank, and Zach Schiffman discuss.

Jackson McHenry: Look at that spike on the graph. That's when all the movie and TV stars started performances. Also, wow, tickets to Boop! are cheap. Feels like we need more time to know how Smash settles in to a run, but they're starting out stronger than I expected.

Zach Schiffman: “I love cheap Boops” —Sia

Jason P. Frank: Fun to see Mincemeat open strong!

By Jackson McHenry

Andrew Scott as, in this particular moment, Alexander. Photo: Julieta Cervantes/DKC O&M (O&M)

“I just want you to look at me,” says a man named Ivan to a woman named Helena at the end of the first act of Vanya, Simon Stephens’s new adaptation of Chekhov’s 1897 tale of thwarted desire and gnawing discontent in the Russian countryside. “That’s all I want,” Ivan continues as Helena looks on, eyebrow slightly arched, one arm delicately crossed across her body, one hand always toying with her necklace. “That’s all I need.”

You can see them both—as well as the disenchanted doctor, Michael, fidgeting with a tennis ball; and Ivan’s niece, long-suffering Sonya, cleaning up everyone’s messes; and Sonya’s father, Helena’s husband Alexander, an aging filmmaker pining for his glory days—but like possessive spirits, they all inhabit only one body. This Vanya arrives from London where its solo performer, the very busy Andrew Scott, became the first person to win Critics Circle awards for best actor in both theater and film (for All of Us Strangers) in the same year. The production, directed by Sam Yates and designed by Rosanna Vize (movingly, they also share co-creator credits with Scott and Stephens), racked up plenty of its own accolades — and though shows beloved on one side of the Atlantic don’t always stick the landing on the other, this one vaults across with wit and grace.

➽ Donald Trump claims he never really enjoyed Hamilton.

➽ Orville Peck will go mask off for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

➽ Idina Menzel has extended her run in Broadway's Redwood. 

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