Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about Merrily We Roll Along @ Signature Theatre (Arlington, VA), Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes @ the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Paranormal Activity, The Pass @ La Mama, The House of the Negro Insane @ 59e59, Safe House @ Theater Row, and The Real Ivanov @ The Lynn F. Angelson Theater.
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Panel:
Peter Filichia | peter@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s new day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers!
Showtune for Today: Rain on the Roof from Follies (in Concert)
Michael Portantiere | michael@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and other venues.
Coming up: 54 Loves Cast Albums! 3rd Edition – October 4, 2026,
James Marino | james@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
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Reviews:
MP: Merrily We Roll Along @ Signature Theatre (Arlington, VA), through November 1, 2026
PF: Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes @ the Lucille Lortel Theatre, through September 25, 2026
Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes is written by and starring Cat Cohen, with music by Cohen and David Dabbon, and directed by Alex Timbers.
After suffering a stroke at 30 caused by a literal hole in her heart, comedian Cat Cohen transforms this near-death experience into a wildly funny, song-filled one-woman show about mortality, hypochondria and the undeniable thrill of being the main character. Equal parts confessional comedy and sparkling musical cabaret, Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes is Cohen at her sharpest, funniest, and most fabulously vulnerable.
MP: Paranormal Activity @ August Wilson Theatre, through January 3, 2027
When You Close Your Eyes, What Do You See?
James and Lou move from Chicago to London for a fresh start. But as the young couple settles into their new home, Lou is certain that something isn’t right, and before long they will both have to grapple with the same truth: places aren’t haunted, people are.
An entirely new story inspired by the iconic film series, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY comes to Broadway direct from smash-hit, critically acclaimed runs in Chicago, Los Angeles, and London. Now in performances for a limited time only.
PF + MP: The Max Hunter Company presents The Pass @ La Mama, extended through September 18, 2026
A hotel room in Eastern Europe, 2014. On the eve of their first Champions League match, two rising British football stars find themselves facing something neither preseason training nor media coaching could prepare them for.
John Donnelly’s The Pass is directed by Max Hunter (Bull) and stars Matisse Ratron-Neal (Girl Says Woman Says Man Says), Terry Bell (The Skin of Our Teeth), Ino Badanjak (Queens), and Oliver Rowland-Jones (Oedipus).
The Pass features set design by Seth Byrum, lighting design by Cheyenne Sykes, costume design by Amanda Roberge, sound design by Megan Culley, prop design by Thomas Jenkeleit, video design by Dwight Bellisimo, and intimacy coordination by Alysia Homminga. Julian X will serve as associate director, Roger Lipson as production stage manager and Lexi Holder as Assistant Stage Manager. Casting is by Sujotta Pace, CSA / C12 Casting.
PF: The House of the Negro Insane @ 59e59, through September 6, 2026
By Terence Anthony
Directed by Daniel Carlton
With Benjamin Rowe, Rob Penty, Wadiah Waliah, and Sidney Hatcher
The year is 1935. For years, Attius has lived behind the imposing walls of Central State Hospital – one of only seven US psychiatric institutions built to house “insane and idiotic negroes” – where the homeless and destitute are confined alongside the diseased and the criminally insane.
Attius has carved out a meager existence within the hospital building coffins, quietly crafting the final boxes for those who will never see freedom again. But everything changes when two new patients arrive, and Attius is forced to confront a possibility he buried long ago – a chance at life beyond the walls.
MP: Safe House @ Theater Row, through September 13, 2026
Safe House is a family drama set in the days leading up to a U.S. presidential election. Convinced the second American civil war is imminent, Rock, a father secretly dying of a hereditary neurodegenerative disease, becomes consumed by the need to protect his family. In the basement of his Pennsylvania suburban home, transformed, beam by beam, into a doomsday bunker, he has built what he believes is the last safe place on earth. But when his estranged teenage daughter returns home pregnant, the tensions that have long simmered beneath the surface of the household break open, and the father’s obsession with safety turns into something else entirely. What follows is a reckoning with fear, and the consequences of confusing love with control.
The cast will feature Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba and three-time Tony Award-nominee Marc Kudisch alongside Anna Roman, Grace Church, Justin Lee Miller, Glenn Seven Allen, and Julianna Layne.
PF: The Real Ivanov @ The Lynn F. Angelson Theater, through September 19, 2026
A comedy about despair
In the course of a year, Nikolai Ivanov—mid-30s, once charismatic and admired—has become overwhelmed and depressed. Everyone around him thinks they know why. Ivanov isn’t convinced. Laura Strausfeld’s faithful, fast-paced, and gripping adaptation captures the central insight of Chekhov’s first masterpiece: misunderstanding one another is both comic and calamitous.
“I don’t understand you, you don’t understand me, and least of all do we understand ourselves.”
Discussion:
Future Episodes:
Peter’s Brainteaser:
What do Arthur Kopit and Theodore S. Williams have in common?
Michael’s Musical Moments
Merrily We Roll Along at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA
Music Opener: “Merrily We Roll Along”
Music Closer: “Our Time”
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