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Closing Night

Closing Night

By: Patrick Oliver Jones
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Step into the captivating world of Broadway musicals with Closing Night, a theater history podcast unraveling the short lives of musicals and play on Broadway. In Season 1, we explored the turbulent history of the Marquis Theatre, one of Broadway's youngest venues, beginning with the controversial demolitions that birthed its legacy. For Season 2, the focus shifts to some infamous productions that closed before actually opening on Broadway. Relive the excitement and at times artistic chaos that almost brought these musicals to Broadway and what led up to their closing night. Whether you're a theater enthusiast, creative artist, or history buff, you'll enjoy the journeys of theatrical gems that have come and gone.@2024 WINMI Media Art Entertainment & Performing Arts World
Episodes
  • Get Ready for Season 3 at the Martin Beck Theatre

    Get Ready for Season 3 at the Martin Beck Theatre
    Mar 23 2026
    At the start of the 20th century, Martin Beck was one of the most powerful figures in American entertainment. In 1924, he staked his claim on Broadway, opening a theater built for prestige, ambition, and the biggest names of the day. But the Martin Beck Theatre would become something more unpredictable. In Season Three of Closing Night, we step inside this iconic Broadway house—long before it became the Al Hirschfeld Theatre—to explore the productions that defined its legacy. There groundbreaking hits like Cabin in the Sky and Into the Woods as well as forgotten flops and high-profile misfires like Bring Back Birdie. Along the way, we’ll encounter legends like Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim, and Liza Minnelli, alongside stars like Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke, and Katharine Hepburn—artists navigating the highs and lows of Broadway in real time. Because Broadway isn’t just about long-running success. It’s a constant cycle of new shows—some that soar, many that stumble, and a rare few that beat the odds. And the Martin Beck is one theater that saw it all — nearly a century’s worth of productions that one way or another all found their way to closing night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    4 mins
  • Face Value

    Face Value
    Sep 30 2025
    Talking about race in the theater has never been easy, and back in the late ’80s and early ’90s it could feel downright hostile. When conversations around representation and casting came up, especially on Broadway, they often turned into battles where the establishment closed ranks and those pushing for change were left on the outside. ⁠Last time⁠, we explored one of the most heated examples of that tension: the uproar over Miss Saigon casting a white actor, Jonathan Pryce, in the role of a Vietnamese character. For playwright David Henry Hwang, that experience of protesting against the system and losing left scars he would eventually process through his art. Fresh off the success of M. Butterfly, he set out to write a farce called Face Value, a play built on mistaken racial identities and inspired directly by that controversy. But unlike his earlier triumph, this one stumbled badly—closing in previews and becoming one of Broadway’s most infamous flops. Today we’ll look back at how Face Value came to be, why it collapsed so quickly, and how even in failure it left its mark on the conversation around race and representation on stage. --- Click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a transcript and list of all resources used. Produced by Patrick Oliver Jones and WINMI Media with Dan Delgado as co-producer. Theme music created by Blake Stadnik. Other background music includes: "Quickening" by ⁠malictusmusic⁠ and "Relaxed Background" by ⁠Music for Creators⁠, both licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    26 mins
  • Miss Saigon

    Miss Saigon
    Aug 31 2025
    When a white actor was recently announced to replace Darren Criss in Maybe Happy Ending, it sparked a fresh wave of debate over racial casting on Broadway. For Asian Americans like playwright David Henry Hwang and actor B.D. Wong, it felt like déjà vu, echoing a controversy they had spoken out against more than 30 years ago with Miss Saigon. That blockbuster musical became the center of a storm back in 1990 when Jonathan Pryce was chosen to reprise his Eurasian character from the London production when it transferred to Broadway. This decision ignited protests, ultimatums, and the first major reckoning with yellowface in American theater. In this episode, we look back at Miss Saigon, the clash between producer Cameron Mackintosh and Actors’ Equity, and how that moment set the stage for Hwang’s satirical play Face Value—and continues to reverberate today. --- Click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a transcript and list of all resources used. Produced by Patrick Oliver Jones and WINMI Media with Dan Delgado as co-producer. Theme music created by Blake Stadnik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    37 mins
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