Marks & Vincentelli: A Theatre Podcast

Everything You STILL Wanted to Know about “Les Miz”* (*And We’re Here to Tell You!)

“Les Miserables” may be a war horse, but dang, that old thoroughbred is spry. The musical by Claude Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretchmer opened in London

The naked truth? “Garry Starr Classic Penguins” is a stripped-down hoot. Let clown king Damien Warren-Smith explain.

I saw Damien Warren-Smith perform his 80-minute hit show last month at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe — a show that epitomizes the spirit of fringe. Here, we talk about th

"Birthright" is the summer's hottest play. Also the most controversial.

Is there a provocative button that our guest Jonathan Spector doesn’t like to push? Mind you, this makes him sound like David Mamet or something, which is very much not h

Why did Arena Stage force out Hana Sharif?

Once again a Washington, DC, institution is in trouble, but unlike with the Kennedy Center, this time the call came from inside the house. We welcomed Nicole Hertvik, edi

A witty writer (David Lindsay-Abaire) and a great actor (Richard Thomas) walk into a digital studio

In this episode we welcome the playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, whose new Tony Award-nominated comedy, “The Balusters,” is currently on Broadway with a fab cast that incl

"The Lost Boys" breaks Broadway's vampire musical curse. Discuss.

In this episode we talked to the two men who are largely the reason why “The Lost Boys” is the wow-iest wow spectacle of the Broadway season: director Michael Arden and s

Hear how "Giant" scribe Mark Rosenblatt took on Roald Dahl, earning a Tony nod in the process.

A run at London’s Royal Court Theatre, followed by a transfer to the West End, followed by Broadway: not bad for your first play! That is exactly what happened to Mark Ro

Ann Harada is one of Broadway's favorite utility players for a reason

Ann Harada is the only lead from the Apple TV+ series “Schmigadoon!” to reprise her role (Florence Menlove, the mayor’s wife) in the Broadway version, and we couldn’t be

"Becky Shaw" scribe Gina Gionfriddo has gone from theater to "Law and Order" and back again.

It seems hard to believe that Gina Gionfriddo is just making her Broadway debut now. And she does it with a comedy, “Becky Shaw,” that premiered at Second Stage back in 2

Wait What? OUR Jack O'Brien, a star of the "The Comeback"?

An unlikely thespian is winning over fans in Season 3 of the Lisa Kudrow cult series “The Comeback”: Jack O’Brien, who is playing Tommy, the hair stylist of Kudrow’s Vale

Peter was a guest speller for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." He got booted fast.

There’s a reason “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” has been a hit since its premiere in 2005: Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn’s musical is incredibly funny an

What could be more entertaining than Steven Boyer and Adam Chanler-Berat on a podcast, together?

One of the great pleasures of Lauren Yee’s new play, “Mother Russia” (at Signature Theater until March 29) is watching expert actors work their comic magic. We’re lucky t

With the Washington Post abandoning theater criticism, where do readers in D.C. go?

One of the things we enjoy doing on this podcast is talking to people fighting the good fight around the country. Now, you might have heard that there’s some turmoil in t

Liberation's Susannah Flood was born into a family of acting teachers. Of course she's on Broadway.

This episode’s guest is Susannah Flood, from the play “Liberation” — one of the best-reviewed Broadway shows of 2025 (you can read Elisabeth’s glowing take for The New Yo

Who says theater slows now? Meet the visionary bringing 30 cool shows to New York this month.

With Broadway recovering from its holidays binge and rehearsing for its next batch of shows, January on New York City stages means one thing: festivals! These days the

With Stoppard's passing, Peter and Elisabeth ask: Who are the canonical playwrights of our time?

Just the two of us, we can make it if we try…and so we did! Peter and Elisabeth rocked this episode on their own and managed to cover quite a bit of ground. They started

Zayd Ayers Dohrn's folks are revolutionaries. Now he and Tom Morello have written "Revolution(s)."

The musical “Revolution(s),” which recently concluded its premiere run at the Goodman Theater, in Chicago, comes with an impressive and à propos pedigree. The score was p

You thought "Oh, Mary!" transgressed? How about a musical that sends up Anne Frank?

The hit de scandale of the fall in New York is Andrew Fox and Joel Sinensky’s “Slam Frank,” an Off Broadway show that purports to be a staging of a musical about Anne Fra

Ari'el Stachel won a Tony for "The Band's Visit." As he reveals in a new solo show, it added to his trophy collection — and his anxiety.

If you saw “The Band’s Visit” in New York, you remember Ari’el Stachel, who played Haled, the musician obsessed with Chet Baker — a big highlight was his jazzy “Song Abou

Is the Broadway musical ok? We ask "Just in Time" producer Tom Kirdahy, who's also got "Kiss of the Spider Woman" on screens.

There’s much talk these days about the dire financial health of musicals on Broadway, where costs have skyrocketed — and so have ticket prices. Yet, very few of the big s