Opinion | Spring break 2025: Broadway in review
Cover Photo Collage by Simrah Ahmad, Staff Photographer; Photos by Izzy Betz
If there is one thing I love, it’s going to see live theater on Broadway. A theater kid through and through, I watch from the sidelines at Chapman, unable to see some of the most unique and original shows playing across the country from me. This spring break, I was determined to go to the Big Apple and see for myself some of the shows changing the face of theater and, afterward, tell the readers of The Panther what to check out.
“The Last Five Years”
This was not on my original list of shows I wanted to see when I returned to New York, but it somehow found its way onto my itinerary.
Based on the movie and musical of the same name, “The Last Five Years” tells the story of couple Jamie Wellerstein and Cathy Hiatt throughout their five-year relationship. She is a struggling actress; he is an aspiring author. In Hiatt’s perspective, the story moves backward from the end of their relationship to the beginning; in Wellerstein’s, it moves in the opposite direction.
This musical was such a treat. It stars none other than Grammy Award-winner, Golden Globe nominee and member of the Jonas Brothers Nick Jonas, and Tony Award-winning actress Adrienne Warren. I knew Warren would be excellent, but I was hesitant to see what stage presence Jonas had. I am happy to report that he was great. The show’s songs are not the “red dress” from “Burnin’ Up” by the Jonas Brothers kind of singing we typically see from him, but he has a beautiful voice. He is no Jeremy Jordan of “Floyd Collins” (I will get to him later), but he really brought his own flavor to songs like “Moving Too Fast,” “The Schmuel Song” and “Nobody Needs to Know.”
The set design was very minimal, but so was the production overall. Warren and Jonas are the only two cast members, which came as a surprise to me. This was a preview performance, as the show officially starts on April 6. Who knows what will change between previews and the first official show, but why not try snagging a seat if you have time during your busy New York City travels over the next 12-ish weeks.
“Oh, Mary!”
This is the show that I wanted to see in New York City the most, and I am so happy that I did.
“Oh, Mary!” is a darkly comedic play about the miserable Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This one-act is probably the most popular show on Broadway right now — minus the one I will talk about next. Cole Escola, the playwright and original Mary Todd, created the most insanely hilarious play I have ever seen.
In his three-week run as Mary Todd, I saw Titus Burgess — who you may know from “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Schmigadoon!” and “30 Rock” — absolutely smash it out of the park. Every single scene and every single line, for the entirety of the show, was hilarious beyond description. From what I can tell, Escola, Burgess and Betty Gilpin (who previously portrayed Mary Todd) each bring their own quirks to the role. The same goes for those in the roles of “Mary’s Husband” (played by Phillip James Brannon) and “Mary’s Teacher” (played by Chris Renfro), who were also making me hinge over the balcony's railing with laughter.
Escola and the original Broadway cast return to the show on April 8. It is a must-see for all theater lovers. Your stomach will hurt from laughing from curtain up to close.
“Sunset Blvd”
This is the hottest show on Broadway right now if you ask me. Everyone who has seen this show won't shut up about it… and rightfully so.
Based on the 1950 film directed by Billy Wilder, “Sunset Blvd” follows a silent film star, Norma Desmond, who refuses to accept that Hollywood has moved on to the talkies. She hires the young and desperate screenwriter Joe Gillis to help her with a comeback, and their partnership turns into a dangerous and captivating relationship that leads to disaster.
The musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and direction by Jamie Lloyd, stayed faithful to the source material. Almost every film student at Chapman University has seen the original black-and-white movie, and I think all of those film students would love this musical if they were to open their eyes to the beauty of live theater. From my own experience, they usually do not.
The show was absolutely breathtaking. It definitely has a modernist theater take, utilizing no set and cameras to project the performance in black-and-white on a large LED screen behind them. However, that stance absolutely works for this subject matter. There is an iconic moment when Gillis exits the theater and actually walks down the streets of New York City, while video is projected onto the screen inside. I’m sure many of you theater lovers out there have seen the video and thought, ‘Wow, I need to see this live.’ Well, you do.
Nicole Scherzinger is a powerhouse of a performer. Known to most as the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls and also as a judge on “The X Factor,” Scherzinger's voice as Desmond was entrancing. I felt myself leaning forward in my seat every time she was on stage. The show was pretty much built around her as a performer, and rightfully so — she is the show.
For my performance, understudy Diego Andres Rodriguez was on for the role of Gillis, and my oh my was he stealing the show. I am sure Tom Francis is great (the lead for Gillis, and one of the reasons I was influenced to see the show in the first place), but putting Scherzinger and Rodriguez together was a match made in heaven. I really hope to see Rodriguez possibly take over the lead from Francis eventually or find a role for him to originate on Broadway in a future season. He is a Broadway star in the making.
“All Nighter”
This is one of the best plays I have ever seen in my life. I somehow snagged second-row seats for this limited engagement of “All Nighter” starring Kristine Froseth, Kathryn Gallagher, Julia Lester, Havana Rose Liu and Alyah Chanelle Scott. A star-studded cast with some of the best up-and-coming actresses in Hollywood right now — all coming together to do a live play.
It is finals week at a small college, and this tight-knit group of roommates pulls one last all-nighter to complete their final assignments and study. The hours pass, pressure mounts and the truths that have bound the group together are put to the test. Let’s just say shit goes down.
The production, prop and costume design for this show was amazing; the set was perfectly crafted to look like a worn-in college library. You know each of the girls’ personalities as soon as they enter the room, before you even get to know them, because of their costumes, backpacks and the trinkets they pull out to study with.
I could talk for hours about how great Froseth, Gallagher, Lester and Scott were, but the real star of the show to me was Liu. You know her as Isabel from “Bottoms,” and I do not doubt that she will grow into one of the biggest actresses we have very soon. The work she does on this stage will give you shivers from head to toe.
As a girl about to graduate college (I’m getting chills writing this), I could see a different part of myself in every one of these characters. There are so many twists and turns that come from the talented mind of playwright Natalie Margolin. It’s only every once in a while that you get to see a production at its start and know that it will become big or propel its stars into the spotlight; it feels like I am now an investor in the “All Nighter” stock. You should absolutely see this play if you are in New York City in the next couple of weeks.
“Floyd Collins”
The last show of my trip was “Floyd Collins,” a musical set in 1925 about a man who chases the dream of turning Sand Cave in Kentucky into a tourist attraction. However, he becomes the attraction himself when he gets trapped 200 feet underground in the Sand Cave. The rescue effort above explodes into a media circus as his family fights for his life — and as he fights for his sanity.
No, I am not interested in the extremely niche topic of men getting stuck in small caves underground. I came to this show for two reasons: for Jordan, playing the role of Floyd Collins, and for Lizzy McAlpine’s Broadway debut in the role of Nellie Collins, Floyd’s sister. McAlpine’s voice is fabulous, but did it hold up live on a Broadway stage? Yes, absolutely. Stunt casting (casting celebrities in lead roles of musicals and plays on Broadway) can definitely be a disaster (I’m looking at you, Cameron Dallas), but this role was perfect for her.
When I entered the theater, the stage was completely black and bare, with no set pieces at all. As the show goes on, pieces get brought in, platforms rise out of the ground and the stage turns into some innovative set design. If you love watching people be suspended in mid-air like in “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” but not the complete safety failure that it was, you will love the first two songs of this musical.
Jordan is a Broadway veteran, playing a billion leading men in “Newsies,” “Bonnie & Clyde,” “West Side Story,” “Waitress,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” He also originated in the role of Jamie Wellerstein in the movie “The Last Five Years,” the role that Jonas is currently playing in the Broadway show (I told you it would all connect). Jordan is by far my favorite musical theater performer (minus Derek Klena of “Anastasia” fame, I love you), and this is the first time I have ever seen him perform live. His voice is angelic, and he does some insane stunt moments at the top of the show with the unique set pieces. Fabulous. Fabulous. Fabulous.
This is the only show for which I went to stage door — where fans go after the show to get signatures on their playbills. This performance was the second preview night of this show — the second time that the entire production was being performed in front of a full audience. There will definitely be notes and changes from previews into performances, so I will ask Taylor Bazella, a class of 2024 strategic and corporate communications alumnus and the last assistant features and entertainment editor, who is seeing the show in April, what is different.