This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Alan Seales: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the end of year episode here with me. Gosh, I'm tired. It is with me and Mike. Mike Abrams. Hey, Mike. I went out to somebody's 40th birthday party last night, so I'm a little bit not hungover, just a little bit energy depleted and hoarse. I did my party Friday night, so this would have been me yesterday, which is why I'm here today with a little bit better of an energy gain from sleeping last night. We went out to Three's Brewing in Brooklyn. Yeah, shout out to a couple blocks down the street here. And they rented out the whole place, and we were just dancing. It's got a great patio when it's summer. That's where they had the food. It was natural food, and we had oysters.

They had Grand Army oysters, and we had way, way too many. I've got a picture of a friend of mine who, with his permission, I'll post this on social media, but I've got to show you this picture because he just loves oysters and has literally a plate full of oysters. Oh, full. Yeah, full plate. Nothing on his plate but oysters. This is the fanciest I've ever seen Three's. Yeah, it's pretty good. Well, happy end of year to everybody who has stuck with us. Happy end of 2025. Hopefully, 2026 may be better if 2025 was bad for you. But show-wise, my 2025 was pretty good.

[1:35] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I saw some good things. I saw some less than good things, but I feel like it was a positive and strong year of things I saw.

[1:43] Alan Seales: What was the very first thing you saw in 2025?

[1:47] Mike Abrams: The very first thing, shout out to the mezzanine app because this is how I can keep track. I flew home and I didn't think I was going to make it, but I loved Teeth and I saw it multiple times. And their closing performance was on January 5th. And I am pretty sure I landed and dropped my bags at home and went straight to the theater for their final performance.

[2:07] Alan Seales: Oh, so, okay, you dropped your bags at home.

[2:09] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I definitely made it home in time to drop my stuff off. But then I went straight to the theater and I'm pretty sure that was a Sunday matinee final performance and I had just made it.

[2:21] Alan Seales: First thing I saw was Gypsy at the Majestic. Very different experience than Teeth.

[2:27] Mike Abrams: Very different show.

[2:28] Alan Seales: Very different show. I do love Teeth. I love Teeth. I love Anna Jacobs. Anything she does, I think, is great. We need more Anna Jacobs in our life. More Anna Jacobs shows. Gypsy was my third show this year.

[2:43] Mike Abrams: What did you think of Gypsy overall?

[2:47] Alan Seales: With most things that you'll see, I mean, if you know or if you're familiar with my show, it's all Catspace. And if you know my history, my theater experience is pretty limited prior to moving to New York. So I didn't know much about Gypsy except for the song they sing on Glee. And I knew Audra McDonald was going to be great. And so I just didn't know the story. I didn't know much about it. That's not, again, that's the lore of the theater that I just don't know. And so I was really excited to go see it. I thought the performances were incredible. So fun. And then I had really good seats. So when Audra runs out, she stopped right next to me. I was on the aisle. So it was just like a really fun, cool experience. It's like very classical theater too. It's one of those things where I'm like, if you like the theater... Someone said this, I forget who, a long time ago. Theater with a capital T. This is theater with a capital T.

[3:36] Mike Abrams: Fair. Very fair. I wish they would have done more... When you're going to revive something, I want to see it different. And I don't think there was enough difference about this compared to previous versions, but Audra slayed it.

[3:52] Alan Seales: I couldn't tell you original. So that's why I was like, yeah, this is great. I saw the famous Patty version a decade and a half ago, and that was great. And I loved that probably because that was the first production of that I had seen. So yeah, anyway, I think they could have done more different, but overall, yes, production was great. Performances off the charts, just incredible. Then that same week, I saw Mind Play off Broadway.

[4:21] Mike Abrams: I missed that one.

[4:23] Alan Seales: A mentalist.

[4:24] Mike Abrams: A mentalist. I struggle with mentalists.

[4:26] Alan Seales: It was pretty good. All of that stuff. I love it. I just love being different. I love it when stuff is different. And to bring the string of mentalists that are coming to Broadway and off-Broadway, I think it's fun. And it has a place in a limited run. Then English, I saw that week. Yeah, English, one of the best plays I've ever seen.

[4:53] Mike Abrams: I heard Amazing Things, didn't get to see it. I was a little bummed, but I did get to see instead. I had the choice between the two, and I could only see one, and they were both closing around the same times. And I was told English or Eureka Day. And I went to Eureka Day, mostly because I was given tickets. And that has probably the best 15 minutes of theater I've seen with the, if you saw Eureka Day, the Zoom meeting.

[5:16] Alan Seales: The Zoom meeting.

[5:18] Mike Abrams: And so I was very happy, but I heard English was amazing too. So I was kind of bummed I had to choose between the two at the time.

[5:23] Alan Seales: Yeah. If you get to see any touring production or anything of English, go do it. It's a very, very good show. The following day, I was part of a talkback for Eureka Day.

[5:34] Mike Abrams: So I must have already seen it at the end of December. Yeah, I'd already seen it. Okay. But I didn't, so I didn't see it again in January, the day after English. Yeah, Eureka Day, again, one of those things where it's kind of like, uncomfortably holds the mirror up.

[5:51] Alan Seales: Yeah. It's a little topical right now.

[5:53] Mike Abrams: Yeah. I mean, still, unfortunately.

[5:55] Alan Seales: Roll through your stuff, and I'll see what I've got.

[5:57] Mike Abrams: I mean, my order was Teeth, Oh Mary, Gypsy. And I saw Drag, A Wonderful World, Eureka Day, Jonathan Larson Project. Someone must have been visiting me because I went to Ann Juliet. Redwood, John Proctor's Villain. And then this is, I know, when my family was visiting, because we went to Death Becomes Her, Sunset, Glengarry Glen Ross, Operation Mincemeat, maybe Happy Ending Smash, Oh Mary, all in a week.

[6:28] Alan Seales: Really?

[6:28] Mike Abrams: Yeah. My mom came to visit. My mom and dad came to visit. And my mom is a music teacher. And she's like, if I'm going to be here, I'm going to go. I'm like, you should just go as many times as you can. She actually did one more when I was at work, the Wednesday matinees. But yeah, we did, I think, nine shows in eight days or something like that.

[6:44] Alan Seales: So I think I saw all of those that you saw, except for Glengarry. I never saw Glengarry.

[6:50] Mike Abrams: Okay. Yeah.

[6:51] Alan Seales: I didn't make it to that one. How was that? Was that okay?

[6:53] Mike Abrams: It was great. It was opening. So it was opening night, went to the party and everything. So it was really fun to kind of experience that. Again, just seeing that level of talent live is really cool. Those guys are so good.

[7:04] Alan Seales: Yeah. Anything. Well, there's a couple of repeats here. Yeah. So I saw Harry Potter again, early January.

[7:09] Mike Abrams: I saw it for the first time this year in the summer.

[7:13] Alan Seales: What did you think of that as an adaptation?

[7:16] Mike Abrams: Well, it's not an adaptation. It's a continuation. It's aesthetically one of the coolest things you get to experience. I didn't like the book to begin with. So I was kind of not sure how I was going to feel about the musical.

[7:28] Alan Seales: Oh, the books.

[7:28] Mike Abrams: Like the book. No, no. Not Harry Potter, the series. I liked the books.

[7:32] Alan Seales: Oh, okay. Okay.

[7:33] Mike Abrams: But the book that this was based on was that new one. And I didn't love that. And so I was kind of like, I don't know. But I thought it was really well done. It's really long. So that's the only thing is buckle up.

[7:46] Alan Seales: Oh, I saw...

[7:47] Mike Abrams: Because it's a very long sitting.

[7:48] Alan Seales: The production. Yeah, you're right. The production I saw of it was the under three hour version they had just started doing.

[7:55] Mike Abrams: I think that's what I saw too, but that's still too long.

[8:00] Alan Seales: There's a lot of story, a lot of magic.

[8:01] Mike Abrams: I know. There's a lot happening in that show.

[8:03] Alan Seales: You got to imagine. When I saw Othello, which was last year, right?

[8:06] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Because I was going to come with you, but that was the run when my mom was in town.

[8:10] Alan Seales: Oh, right, right.

[8:10] Mike Abrams: I was so mad I couldn't come with you. So I didn't get to see it.

[8:14] Alan Seales: Oh, that was great.

[8:15] Mike Abrams: Wasn't it like 3.30 though?

[8:17] Alan Seales: Yeah, it was something... Well, I'll find it in my calendar. So Othello and Harry Potter, because they have such thick accents and they're talking at totally normal speed, of course, that it takes me about 10 minutes to adjust the frequency of my brain to understand, to start to filter in everything that's coming in. So for Othello, I completely didn't understand literally any of the first act because I was like, okay, what are they saying? Oh, okay, that's how they say that. That's how they say that. And then all of a sudden, I was like, okay, now I understand them.

[8:49] Mike Abrams: As someone who didn't study Shakespeare or read a lot of Shakespeare, that's not my expertise. It always takes me a minute for any of the shows to kind of get into it. And the biggest one I saw this year was Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park. And the only reason I was good is about five minutes before the show started, my friend looked at me and goes, do you know the story? I'm like, not at all. And he goes, have you seen She's the Man, the Amanda Bynes movie? I'm like, yeah, that's the story. I'm like, oh. And it made it so much easier to follow by knowing that movie.

[9:22] Alan Seales: Now I got to go watch the movie. I don't think I've ever seen it.

[9:24] Mike Abrams: It's Twelfth Night. Let's see. I did some... Oh, BroadwayCon. Yeah, that was the beginning of February. That happened. Had some good panels there. Hosted again. Conversations with Mother off Broadway. That was a fun show with Matt Doyle.

[9:44] Alan Seales: I didn't see that one.

[9:44] Mike Abrams: Caroline Aaron.

[9:45] Alan Seales: Didn't see that one.

[9:46] Mike Abrams: Caroline Aarons. Aaron? You skipped. Did you see Redwood?

[9:50] Alan Seales: I did not see Redwood because, well, number one, sometimes I just like, if there's a lot of stuff going on with the kids or whatever, then sometimes I'm just like, I can't see something this week or whatever. And the press invites come in relatively less minutes sometimes. The advantage of having a podcast, sometimes we get free tickets. So here's your three days.

[10:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah, here's your three days you get to choose from and you have three days to decide. Which, by the way, not looking gift horse in the mouth, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that opportunity. That's why we can talk about a lot of these shows.

[10:27] Alan Seales: I missed the Redwood press opportunity and then it announced it was going to close and then I didn't follow up on it just because I didn't. And I feel like now I should because I feel like that's something that everybody is going to have in their cultural zeitgeist that now I've missed.

[10:42] Mike Abrams: It was an experience.

[10:46] Alan Seales: Actually, the hardest part for me, I mean, I've not seen her live on stage. So that was for me, just that alone was worth going to see.

[10:54] Mike Abrams: Queen of Arendelle.

[10:55] Alan Seales: Exactly.

[10:56] Mike Abrams: But I had just gotten back from California where the fires were still very relevant. And so it was a little triggering for that point of just coming back from that. But yeah, it was an interesting show. It's definitely a very unique one.

[11:13] Alan Seales: Yeah, well, I mean, she sang upside down from what I heard.

[11:16] Mike Abrams: Yeah, she was in a tree for a lot of the show.

[11:19] Alan Seales: Upside down, in a tree. Now, Redwood, what else did you see in that time?

[11:25] Mike Abrams: John Proctor. Oh, so good.

[11:27] Alan Seales: John Proctor was very good.

[11:28] Mike Abrams: I didn't know much going in. Friends bought the tickets months in advance because they knew about it. And I showed up and it completely took my breath away. Just such a powerful performance from everybody, the whole ensemble, everybody in that cast, such deserving Broadway, Tony nominations. But that was one that stuck with me. And then because of that...

[11:51] Alan Seales: I interviewed Molly Griggs, the teacher.

[11:54] Mike Abrams: Because of that pre-show playlist and the songs in the show, half that stuff ended up on my Spotify year-end rap.

[12:00] Alan Seales: So that was March and they influenced my year worth of music listening. Let's see. Oh, early February, shout out again to Anna Kay Jacobs from Teeth. I saw her at New 40... Sorry, 54 Below. She had a little concert where she was singing some of her music from the next musical she's working on. Great, great music. So everybody follow Anna Kay Jacobs because she's awesome. I think the next batch I watched were ones that were polarizing in the sense of mostly universally loved or things that ended pretty quickly, but Dead Outlaw, Real Women Have Curves, Floyd Collins, and Boop.

[12:40] Mike Abrams: Some of those we were together.

[12:41] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. And again, some of those were shows that were incredible that ended really fast, and some of them were ones that had the most cult followings. But yeah, that was another little interesting run of shows.

[12:54] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I saw Wicked in February too because I had a friend visiting.

[12:57] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah.

[12:58] Mike Abrams: So we took the kids...

[12:59] Alan Seales: I'm skipping the Ann Juliets and Sixes that are mixed in here whenever I have someone visiting.

[13:03] Mike Abrams: Those are very good. I mean, there's a reason they've lasted multiple years.

[13:07] Alan Seales: Yes.

[13:07] Mike Abrams: They're very good, especially for Ann Juliet. I say, if you don't like musicals, go see Ann Juliet. I send every Midwest tourist to Ann Juliet.

[13:15] Mike Abrams: It's a musical for people who don't like music. It's very good. Oh, Purpose. I saw opening night of... No, opening night? Was it opening night? No, it was first preview. I saw first preview of Purpose. And I mean, again, Cary Young can do no wrong in my eyes, but that's a show that I wish it could have run longer. There are so many good plays. Musicals get the glitz and the glamour because they've got the big multi-bajillion dollar marketing budgets. But plays, I think, this is one of those plays where if you're a theater person, this one's top of the list. Where are you in your calendar here? Let's see. I'm end of February.

[13:57] Alan Seales: Oh, I'm way further along. I've skipped a bunch of other things I saw in between. I mean, Sunset. I saw Sunset a couple of times. Jamie Lloyd's Sunset, incredible. Oh, here's my... Let's see. Here's my audition for Joy.

[14:11] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah.

[14:12] Alan Seales: My audition for Joy the musical. Yeah, that was random. Yep, early March, I auditioned for that, obviously didn't get it.

[14:18] Mike Abrams: We did go see that together.

[14:19] Alan Seales: We did. We did go see Joy. That was fun. You know, at the end of the day, just going on a tangent, it's easy to say like, that's a terrible idea to make a movie or to make a musical or to make something, to make a creative adaptation of a story of like, I mean, even Queen of Versailles, and we'll get to that, but like the story of just how a consumer product was made or someone's seemingly mundane, unusual lifestyle. And then if it works, you're like, oh, that's a great idea. And then if it doesn't work, you're like, why would anybody do that? So shout out real quick to everybody who's taking risks, because we won't have the Hamiltons and the Oklahomas and the rents and things that change the game if you don't take risks.

[15:05] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[15:06] Alan Seales: I mean, you know, making a show about not paying your rent.

[15:09] Mike Abrams: Oh, that's a terrible idea.

[15:13] Alan Seales: Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick commercial break.

[15:17] Mike Abrams: All right, everyone, now we're back. Once we get to the early phases of summer, I did see cats a lot of times in a row, but all different versions of cats.

[15:25] Alan Seales: That's like-

[15:30] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I saw the circus cats in Aurora, just outside Chicago. And then two weeks later, we went to Lancaster for Fulton's Amusement Park.

[15:39] Alan Seales: Lancaster.

[15:41] Mike Abrams: Lancaster. I'm still calling it Lancaster.

[15:43] Alan Seales: Lancaster.

[15:44] Mike Abrams: It's Amish country. We went to Coaster Cats. And then I went to London and I saw Benjamin Button, Evita, and Book of Mormon.

[15:53] Alan Seales: Ooh, ooh.

[15:54] Mike Abrams: And then I flew from London to Frankfurt to go to the international tour of cats.

[15:58] Alan Seales: I remember that. That was early summer, right?

[16:01] Mike Abrams: Yeah, early summer. And then I came home, landed, and I think a day later, went back to Pennsylvania with you to film more with them.

[16:10] Alan Seales: And I was running on fumes when I got in your car to drive over there, or the train we took. I forget which one that was, but I was not well.

[16:20] Mike Abrams: Because I had just landed from Frankfurt, Germany, and went hours later.

[16:25] Alan Seales: That was Coaster Cats. That was in the car because we drove through No King's Day.

[16:30] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah, we did.

[16:32] Alan Seales: Yeah, through No King's Day in downtown.

[16:35] Mike Abrams: Yes, we did. Buena Vista Social Club. I love that that is still running.

[16:42] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah.

[16:43] Mike Abrams: Because it's one of those things, I don't hear a lot about it. And I wonder if that's because... I don't know the box offices. I haven't looked at any box office grosses for any of these.

[16:54] Alan Seales: But I know you do a little bit more. Are they breaking even? Because I feel like...

[16:58] Mike Abrams: I think so.

[16:59] Alan Seales: Maybe they don't need to spend money on marketing, or I'm just not their target demographic.

[17:05] Mike Abrams: I think it's just chugging along positively. Not probably selling out every week, but not even close to needing to close.

[17:15] Alan Seales: Yeah, not losing money, but slowly chipping away at recoupment.

[17:19] Mike Abrams: Oh, Othello. Here we go. Here's April 2nd. I saw Othello. Yeah, that was very good. It's very cool to see somebody that you hear so much about performance-wise on stage doing their thing.

[17:30] Alan Seales: Yeah. I saw Just In Time around that time. That was fun.

[17:34] Mike Abrams: Just In Time. Just In Time is...

[17:36] Alan Seales: Fun show.

[17:37] Mike Abrams: Fun. Fun, fun, fun. I'm interested to see how it's going to do when Groff leaves.

[17:44] Alan Seales: Who do you think they're going to bring in?

[17:45] Mike Abrams: I don't know.

[17:45] Alan Seales: I think there's only one choice.

[17:48] Mike Abrams: Jake Gyllenhaal?

[17:49] Alan Seales: Michael Buble.

[17:50] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah. Well, maybe Michael Buble, but he's done less... Has he done any Broadway?

[17:57] Alan Seales: Because you've got Groban.

[17:58] Mike Abrams: Oh, Groban would be good too.

[18:00] Alan Seales: Groban's done... Yeah, Groban's done that.

[18:03] Mike Abrams: Um...

[18:04] Alan Seales: There's definitely people you can replace him with, but I think Buble would be really fun.

[18:07] Mike Abrams: To have the crooner voice and the charisma, though.

[18:11] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[18:12] Mike Abrams: Like, Josh Groban can sing, but I don't see him as a Bobby Darin.

[18:18] Alan Seales: He can do it.

[18:18] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Maybe. Maybe.

[18:21] Alan Seales: We'll see.

[18:22] Mike Abrams: Boop.

[18:22] Alan Seales: Boop.

[18:23] Mike Abrams: One of my favorite shows.

[18:24] Alan Seales: It was great.

[18:25] Mike Abrams: By the way.

[18:26] Alan Seales: Should have went much longer.

[18:27] Mike Abrams: Should have got... I think, again, another marketing thing where they didn't market it as being family friendly, because at that time, I don't remember what else was around, but it was one of the only, if not the only new musical that was totally fine for the whole family.

[18:41] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[18:42] Mike Abrams: And I don't think they leaned into that enough, because I think probably it was... They leaned into the... Maybe the sexuality of Boop a little bit too much?

[18:54] Alan Seales: Yeah, I didn't really know what I was expecting. So I went in because of the hype that I heard, and I went in probably pretty close to before it was closing. And so I made sure I got to see it, but I was towards the end, for sure.

[19:06] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[19:07] Alan Seales: Oh. So, well, speaking of Jasmine Amy Rogers, you saw her in Spelling Bee this year.

[19:12] Mike Abrams: I loved it. Her performance in Spelling Bee is so good.

[19:15] Alan Seales: I've got an interview in the works with her, probably going to have it in January, so I'll probably see it.

[19:19] Mike Abrams: Have you gone yet?

[19:20] Alan Seales: No, I haven't. I want to see it before I interview her.

[19:22] Mike Abrams: I'll go back with you. Let me know. It's so fun. I want you to try to be one of the guest spellers.

[19:27] Alan Seales: Okay. How do we...

[19:29] Mike Abrams: You have to just go early. So you go early, you put your name down, and they, I think, randomly draw. However, celebrities get picked. So maybe if you talk to the people that you're interviewing with to see if they can put you in, they pick, I think, four people from the audience. Not just randomly, you have to say you want to do it. And you are part of the show for a good portion of the show on stage until you...

[19:53] Alan Seales: Do you have to be a good speller?

[19:54] Mike Abrams: So I've only seen it once, and I've never seen any other production. Everybody in my show, they got the first one right. They weren't hard words, but they weren't easy. It wasn't like a give me type of very over the top easy, but everyone got the first one right, and then they very clearly make the second one impossible. Except for my show, it was so funny, they had a very... She had to have been 10 years old. Everyone else is an adult. She had to have been probably 10. She got her second one that was too hard, and she got it right. And so they just called her back up immediately again, and it was like, for everyone with... Because it was a matinee, it was like, everyone at dinner reservations would really like you to miss this one, because they try to get you out of the second one.

[20:35] Alan Seales: Right, right, right. Dorian Gray.

[20:37] Mike Abrams: I missed it.

[20:41] Alan Seales: Talk about 30 great performances by one person.

[20:44] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah.

[20:45] Alan Seales: I heard the screen, all the stuff in the background for that show is what made it really cool. Aside from the fact that Sarah Snook was able to... The drop of a hat, switch between characters, physically and verbally. She would look at camera one, another character, immediately flip this fast and look at another camera. Every different camera was a different character. And then the tricks they did at the end, layering her on with herself were just incredible.

[21:16] Mike Abrams: She was acting against herself in real time.

[21:18] Alan Seales: Yeah. I heard, again, that was one that was just expensive and hard to get tickets to, and I just didn't pull the trigger fast enough.

[21:26] Mike Abrams: Yep. Yeah. Well, that's my Glenn Ross miss.

[21:34] Alan Seales: Smash. I saw Smash. Oh, I went to Smash opening night and then saw Boop on the same day. Yes, Smash. So the hot take I have for Smash is I think it just should have been Bombshell the Musical.

[21:46] Mike Abrams: Oh, interesting.

[21:49] Alan Seales: But then the argument on that is there's no conflict otherwise, but I think you could have written in something.

[21:54] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Amazing performances again. Very well done show. Probably too big of a budget. I think it was hard to sustain that. I did see, this is when my mom was visiting. We went to O'Mary and Smash back to back, 538 kind of combo. So that's a very hard pivot to go from O'Mary's over the top humor to Smash's very big Broadway theater-y show. But I was impressed. It's another one that I was like too talented of a cast and of a show to not have lasted longer. I did kind of love that they took a shot at the influencers, the theater influencers in the middle of the show. That was a kind of a bold move though, considering that they invited a lot of them I know to come help promote the show, but then they took a hard shot at them.

[22:48] Alan Seales: Well, you got to have a sense of humor.

[22:49] Mike Abrams: Another great off-Broadway thing. I was trying to see more off-Broadway shows this year and ceremonies in Dark Old Ben with Norm Lewis. Again, to see somebody who is at the top of their game of performing that close in a small space, it's just so, so unbelievably good.

[23:07] Alan Seales: Oh, Stranger Things. Stranger Things.

[23:13] Mike Abrams: I just saw it recently for the first time.

[23:15] Alan Seales: I've seen a lot more plays than I normally do. Yeah, Stranger Things. Are you a Stranger Things fan in general?

[23:22] Mike Abrams: I am. I mean, I'm from Indiana, so that's how they got me for season one, by just throwing in 80s Indiana. Although I did see... Someone sent this to me, and it's a very real gripe from people from Indiana, and it's kind of comical because it's probably not for this audience. But I'm going to say it anyways. If you're in the 80s in Indiana, there's not a single chance that Larry Bird would not be referenced at some point in the show.

[23:42] Alan Seales: And there's not just been a call to it. Somebody in the background just at one point needs to be like, hey, did you see Larry Bird play last night? Because that would be Indiana in the 80s. A thousand percent of the conversations would have Larry Bird in it.

[23:59] Mike Abrams: Where did the Duffers grow up? Are they from Indiana? Is that where they said it?

[24:03] Alan Seales: I don't know. I have no clue.

[24:05] Mike Abrams: That's a good question.

[24:06] Alan Seales: Because I feel like, to your point, if the Duffers said it there because that's where they were from, they would have written that.

[24:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah. It could just be the made-up Indiana City. It's not a real city, so it's made-up Indiana City. But that is a real gripe of mine. I do like Stranger Things. I am caught up. I mean, the play is just... I sat in the front row. I got lottery tickets. I sat in... There's actually two seats on the front right by themselves. And my friend and I sat there.

[24:35] Alan Seales: And that is quite an experience to be there because they run in front of you. Before Act 2, the lady was like, you need to move your backpack. I'm like, do I? And she's like, no, you need to move your backpack. And they sprint in front of you. So it was pretty cool to have.

[24:49] Mike Abrams: They go full out. So I interviewed Gabrielle Nevaeh recently, and she was saying... It was the third attempt to schedule the interview that actually went through because the first one, she got sick. The second one, she was having muscle spasms and had to go to physical therapy and cancel on me. And then we talked about it in the episode, the third time we tried to finally get together, that it's like sprinting for two and a half hours.

[25:14] Alan Seales: And people don't realize how hard... Like all shows are in general, but that one specifically and her characters, they're just running and jumping.

[25:22] Mike Abrams: She falls down the stairs and...

[25:24] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah.

[25:25] Mike Abrams: There's a lot in that show, yeah.

[25:27] Alan Seales: Real Women Have Curves, R.I.P. That was a good show.

[25:33] Mike Abrams: That show deserved longer, much longer.

[25:37] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[25:39] Mike Abrams: Is it bad to say I like almost all shows? I really like shows.

[25:42] Alan Seales: So this is where I'd be a bad critic because even the shows that I didn't love, I'm not going to shout them out on here, I could tell people that I know that would enjoy them.

[25:53] Mike Abrams: Sure.

[25:54] Alan Seales: I could be like, this is a thing that you will enjoy even though I didn't enjoy it. And there was a couple of them that... There's at least one I know that before we saw it, we saw it together.

[26:02] Mike Abrams: Played Kongs.

[26:04] Alan Seales: I wasn't going to pull out of the spot, but that was a show where I only heard extremes.

[26:09] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[26:09] Alan Seales: I either heard I did not enjoy this at all, or I heard this was a life-changing experience.

[26:14] Mike Abrams: Yes.

[26:15] Alan Seales: For people.

[26:15] Mike Abrams: Same.

[26:16] Alan Seales: And so I find that really interesting. I think that's a cool part about theater is that just because it wasn't for me doesn't mean it's not for somebody else.

[26:22] Mike Abrams: Right, right. And the reasons why I didn't put it up there as one of my favorites is probably the reason somebody else thought it was.

[26:31] Mike Abrams: Great. I get kind of literal about what I like and dislike about things sometimes, because Floyd Collins was at the Lincoln Center Theatre, and it's just a huge stage with a huge fly. Tons of room vertically, and I wanted to see more vertical action, up and down cave style stuff, which again, I don't know the financials, I don't know the logistics, I don't know if it was just like, we can't afford a budget, or we can't afford to build out a cave, or the automation of all this is too much. But you know what I mean? There are so many reasons why it couldn't have done, and then that could have overcomplicated it for somebody else who loved it. I have a lot of unanswered questions from that story that they told me just enough to get me interested, but didn't finish.

I want to know so much more about the sisters, mental health issues that they tease. I want to know what happens to the dad. And so that was kind of my biggest gripe was that they gave me just a teaser of all these little subplots and didn't close enough of them for me, and that was like, I want to know more of those.

[27:38] Mike Abrams: Let's hang out with Mark Kudisch. We'll have lunch with Mark and you can- I can ask the follow-up questions? If you haven't figured this out yet, this is like my cat's questions too. Same thing, I have so many unanswered questions, but they don't tease those as much. It's a little bit more happening in the background. Are you going to start a second podcast called The Ron Floyd Diet?

[27:54] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. The Ron Floyd Diet. Stuck in the wrong cave? It was. His brother was the superstar from Teeth though, so that was like when he first came out on stage. Because I didn't know anything about the show walking in, except for some of the story. And when he walked out, I was like, oh, Modest is Hottest, let's sing that. Yep. Jason Gote, shout out. Let's see, what else we got? Jason, if you listen, I really want your jersey from Teeth, your basketball jersey. If anybody knows how to get my hands on that, I'd really want that.

[28:27] Mike Abrams: Anna Jacobs would know where it is. That's the one prop from a show I've wanted for a long time. Let's see. I wonder if you could buy it, like if they're selling any of that stuff. I doubt that was a hot ticket item that they're going to mass produce for people. No, not mass produce. I mean, what do you do with the set pieces when they're done? Broadway, flea market, usually. I looked this year. It was not there.

[28:48] Mike Abrams: Not there. I asked. Ended up with a cat's winter garden keyboard instead. All right. All right. And then you got trolled on Instagram for it. You remember? Who is it? You posted a picture of you with the keyboard and someone was like, why would you get that? That's ridiculous.

[29:04] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Why would you buy that? Yeah. Remember? Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot of people wonder that because I don't play the piano and I don't have room in my apartment for it. But if anybody knows you in the podcast, they would know. But the fact... Stop trolling people.

[29:18] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Come on. Let me live my life. It was my money. All right. Well, send me the link to that post. We'll add it to the show notes for this because everyone else needs to come to your defense. Me rolling a massive keyboard in case. Oh, it's a production-sized keyboard. Down the street. Then Ubering it home. It's a legitimate keyboard. I looked it up. It was made in 1987. They only made it for one year, so it's definitely in the winter garden legitimately during the production.

[29:45] Mike Abrams: Oh, this isn't a show I saw, but I did an interview in the middle of summer with Anissa Folds and Anthony Vinenciale from Freestyle Love Supreme here in New York, but they were doing a show out in San Francisco. Nice. That I talked to them about. And just two of my most favorite nicest people, like all of the FLS crew are so positive and supporting and they always just get... I think Anissa Folds was a Ginger Twinsie.

[30:13] Mike Abrams: Yep. Yeah. She left this show and went straight into Ginger Twinsies. Um, call me Izzy. Jean's smart. Did you see that? Oh, no, I didn't because I was supposed to go in and she got hurt. Oh, you were that time? Yeah. Did she have an understudy? She did, but only about 20% of the people showed up to see the understudy. The funny thing is that show did not work when she got hurt.

[30:36] Mike Abrams: Right. Oh, my son's a queer. That was good. I missed that. I heard great things, but it's supposed to come back, right? Uh, I don't know, but Rob Madge is just a great person. Rob putting that together, that show was really, really good. I liked that a lot. It was a limited run. It was only like four performances. Yeah, because I think it was supposed to go longer and then this was like a... Not test run, but like run it and then it was gonna have a much longer stint. Because he was in Cabaret, right? In London at the time.

[31:09] Mike Abrams: So I think that was just like a little popover to do that. Yeah, or he had just finished it. Okay. He had just finished it because, yeah, that's when we had chatted about it. Oh, here's our Fulton cats, our coaster cats. This is when we actually rode the roller coaster. June 14th, yep, that was great. Oh, and the 15th was Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. Oh, no, June 14th is when we just went, we toured. The 11th is when we rode the roller coaster.

[31:32] Mike Abrams: Right, right, right. Joy! Joy, so let's see, beginning of March, right? That's when I had my audition, April, May, June. So three months later, they were opening off Broadway. Yeah, we were there a couple days before opening. Yeah, that was good. That was a good press night. Usually, if you get one of the most requested press nights, you get to see all your friends. Yeah, that's true. That was like everyone that you knew was in that audience that night.

[32:03] Mike Abrams: Yeah, there was a lot of people. And then friends of the other people invited as well. We all know each other. It's a very insular community. Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick commercial break.

[32:10] Mike Abrams: All right, everyone, now we're back. July 11th, Coaster Cats. How'd you get Joy before then, though? Did you go twice? Yes. My Joy's the 17th with you. Yes, I did go twice because the first time is when I got the mop. I got a mop. Oh, okay. So yeah, you went to, that was like the, I didn't go to that one with you. That was literally like an industry reading.

[32:31] Mike Abrams: That was an industry, yeah, it was an industry thing. We got ice cream at our mission. Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, then we took, for Coaster Cats, when we actually rode the coaster, we took the train. Yeah. Okay. Now it's all coming together. Too much jellicle partying. Oh, and then Joy again. Yep, there's another Joy. That was the Joy I went to. Yep, okay. And then... And I got nothing until August.

[32:52] Mike Abrams: Then the few days later, wife and I went on a double date with our cousins to Hell's Kitchen. Nice. Neo, come in. I want to see Neo do that show. Right? Hell's Kitchen, that's still good. That's still good. I think they turned the base down, if anybody's wondering. August 1st. Operation Mincemeat. That was fun. I had a blast. That was fun. It was also, do we have two or three understudies? We went for...

[33:20] Mike Abrams: Right. There were three of the six were understudies that night. It was so fun to have that, because I saw, I did see the first time with everybody. But yeah, that's such a fun show. That, again, that's one of those things, going back to one of the very first things we said, we're like, if it had not worked, to be like, yeah, let's make a comedy about how the World War II tricked Hitler, or let's make a comedy about how the British tricked Hitler to help win World War II. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a fun comedy.

[33:51] Mike Abrams: Yeah. But it really works. But it works, and it's got a really good cult following. Oh, it's so good. I saw Heather's two days later. That, speaking of cult following. I love Heather's. That show is so fun. I saw it in London the year before, for the first time ever. And then I was so excited. And then when I saw the cast too, like this cast is just stacked for the show.

[34:14] Mike Abrams: Benjamin Button, I saw, I was in August, I went to London. The summer. Yeah. What a show. I want to come here. A friend of mine that we had lunch with in London, who's a performer, he asked me after we saw it, he was like, what do you think? Do you think it would do well in New York? And I was like, the story will be hit or miss in New York, depending on how well, on how much they stunt cast to launch it. That's my opinion. Because it's one of those things where, again, people are going to say, that's a stupid thing to make a musical about, but it's so good. It really is.

[34:48] Mike Abrams: It really is. It's one style where the musicians are on stage and being actors. And playing, yeah. And I would even, in the Leeds, to really launch it here in the States, to get the word out, word of mouth, I would want to have a Sara Bareilles and a Nicholas Christopher. Yeah. Because you need somebody, Nicholas, I think, will be nominated if doesn't take it. Yeah, what a performance in chess. We'll get the chess, yeah. But to get him out there just to sing this kind of stuff, my fear for that show is, if it comes here, it needs... What made it really cool for me was the theater's really small and intimate in London. And we were like, we bought tickets last second, second to last row, and I still felt like I could really see everything that was going on.

[35:37] Mike Abrams: And I think because of the music and them playing, that works in a smaller setting. So I need it to find a house that can handle that, and then it'll work, I think, here. I've got, let's see, August, I saw Jeff Ross's show on Broadway at the Nederlander. I did too, I did too, yeah. I see what they were trying to do with it, and I think it was a little bit of a miss. It was too serious of a story to be a full standup special.

[36:05] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Are you a fan of his before? Yeah. Okay, yeah. So I've been a fan of his for a long time, from the roast stuff he did on Comedy Central and knew a lot about him. I was surprised at how many people around me didn't know him. And I felt like that was a show that you go because it's like you know the comedian, you know him. And I think if you don't know him, that show would have been very weird to see for the first time because you get a little bit of fun roast, but you also get a very heartfelt about him story. I think if you're a fan of his, you probably... I enjoyed it because I was like, I didn't know all this stuff about him, and it made some of the other things more clear with how he kind of got to where he was. So I really liked it. From that standpoint, I wish he would have done more of actually the roasting throughout because that's what he's known for. And so I just like he does at the end, I would have liked it more through.

[36:58] Mike Abrams: Yeah, the audience roasting at the end was fun. Mama Mia, I saw that again. There's a reason, there's a good reason that came back. I haven't seen this yet. Really? I haven't seen this one yet. Because I'm like, yeah, it's fun. I know it's gonna be great. I just haven't pulled the trigger on buying tickets. I haven't seen it. I mean, it was one of the very first shows I saw when I moved to New York 20 years ago now. And I remembered it fondly from that point. But now at this point in my life, seeing so many shows, I realize why it's lasted so long in the zeitgeist.

[37:32] Mike Abrams: I've seen it before. This is actually one of the few shows I saw before I moved to New York. But yeah, I need to go. I need to go to this one. I actually was looking at tickets last night. Just like I need to finally go see the show. I did have a coworker come visit and I took him to the Outsiders and we went and talked to some people from the cast after, which was really fun in September.

[37:50] Mike Abrams: I haven't seen that this year. I just need to see it again. It's great. I, yeah. Does it still hold up? Oh, yeah. It's still so good. I mean, there's still some- And they've moved some cast members around. They've had some people shuffle out and everyone they've replaced it for. It's been really great. Emma Pittman's still in it, right? Yep. She's still in it. So good. One of my faves. Oh, I went through a string. I'm not seeing things for a second. September, we're going to... At the end of September, we saw art together.

[38:16] Mike Abrams: Right. Oh, yeah. September, like stuff... This is when the summer is ending. Everybody kind of takes most of August off in terms of opening things. And then September, it kind of gets as quiet until everything just starts to rush before Thanksgiving. Yeah. Because it's strategic. You don't want to open too soon before Thanksgiving in case your box office isn't doing well. You want that holiday travel time. Yeah. Wow. I've gone most of September without seeing anything. And then we get to art.

[38:49] Mike Abrams: Yeah. September 26th. What'd you think? Bust for Jones. What a moment in that show. He delivers the best part by a lot. I mean- Yes. Yes. He goes on an entire... What is it? A couple... Multiple minute rant that is just incredible acting. Should rename it how I met your Buster for Jones? Yeah. Yeah. I liked that a lot. It was very cool to see the three of them on stage together. Again, when you get people who are very good like that, that are just on stage nonstop, it's a level of performance that you don't often get to see in real life.

[39:27] Mike Abrams: I then went to... The next day I went to Dam Yankees out in DC, which is the first time I've ever seen that show, and had a blast. I went to go see Anna Villafane. And so that was a good cast. I think it's rumored to transfer. I hope it does. So if it comes here, go see it. Baseball shows. We need more sports shows.

[39:47] Alan Seales: I saw Punch in October. Did you hear about that?

[39:50] Mike Abrams: I did. I didn't see it though.

[39:51] Alan Seales: Yeah, that was all based on a true story.

[39:53] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[39:54] Alan Seales: Did you know anything about it?

[39:55] Mike Abrams: No.

[39:56] Alan Seales: So there's, it was a kid who went up to a bar and he got drunk and then someone else picked a fight with him and he punched him and ended up killing him.

[40:05] Mike Abrams: Oh, wow.

[40:06] Alan Seales: And like just caused brain damage or something when he fell. He knocked him unconscious, went and hit his head when he fell. And then now this, the guy who did the punch and the parents of the guy who got killed are like best friends and going around doing all this awareness about all this stuff. Yeah, it was really powerful stuff. Yeah. So if you have a chance to see that touring or regionally, please do.

[40:32] Mike Abrams: We're getting to my masquerade.

[40:36] Alan Seales: Masquerade, yeah.

[40:39] Mike Abrams: I know we're going to that soon as well.

[40:47] Alan Seales: We are going to that soon. That is so unique and I'm excited for you to see it next week.

[40:53] Mike Abrams: Who did you see it with? Who was your-

[40:55] Alan Seales: Telly.

[40:56] Mike Abrams: Telly Leung.

[40:57] Alan Seales: Yes.

[40:58] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Was your phantom.

[40:59] Alan Seales: Phantom. And her name was, I think, Kelly. I have this because it's in your email to me.

[41:06] Mike Abrams: Kapowski.

[41:07] Alan Seales: Not Kapowski. That would have been fun though.

[41:09] Mike Abrams: Not Kelly Kapowski.

[41:10] Alan Seales: I'm a big Kelly Kapowski fan. I have a Kelly Kapowski t-shirt.

[41:13] Mike Abrams: Hallie Farrier. Very good, Christine.

[41:16] Alan Seales: And then when we're seeing-

[41:18] Mike Abrams: Nick Walker.

[41:19] Alan Seales: And Kaylee Ann-

[41:21] Mike Abrams: Voorhees.

[41:22] Alan Seales: Voorhees. I don't know. I know Nick Walker.

[41:24] Mike Abrams: So yeah, when we're going to see it, we're seeing Nick and Kaylee Ann Voorhees, Nick Walker. Yes, I'm excited for that. Again, Nick's one of those people too that everything he does just becomes that. And to see him do phantom. Because to me in my mind, Nick Walker is kind of new school. I first know him from Hamilton because he was Burr for a long time. And he's got a podcast on the network as well. So I know him kind of newer in my life, but to have him slot into this old school role, I'm really excited to see him do this.

[41:56] Alan Seales: That's something to spam a lot, right? That was a fun performance for him.

[42:01] Mike Abrams: Yeah, dude's got range. That's for sure. I then saw Romy and Michelle.

[42:05] Alan Seales: Romy and Michelle.

[42:07] Mike Abrams: I think if you like the movie, you are going to have the time of your life at that show. But that is a niche movie to begin with. That is a cult classic, but a smaller following.

[42:18] Alan Seales: That's not back to the future. And so when I saw that this was coming, I was like, as someone who did like that movie, my sister and cousins were obsessed with it. I was like, I'm going to enjoy this show because it's going to be fun. I couldn't believe how well they nailed both of the voices and they did the whole dance at the end. They really did the movie justice. But half the people around me had never seen the movie.

[42:41] Mike Abrams: And it was also, I think what did it a huge disservice was the size of the house in the location of the house. Because there's no foot traffic out as far west as it is. And the people who were there, like for the half full audiences that were there every night, they loved it. They were obsessed. And it was just too big of a house for a show like that.

[43:02] Alan Seales: I had two people dressed up as Romy and Michelle in front of me.

[43:05] Mike Abrams: Oh, really?

[43:05] Alan Seales: Yeah. So it's like if you, everyone around us had a great time. But it was, there were a lot of people that did not know what they were seeing walking in. I think they got rush tickets or something. And that's a strange movie to begin with. Like the movies, the source material is unique.

[43:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Yeah. It is very unique. It's very different. And then a few days later after Romy and Michelle, I saw Liberation, which was so good.

[43:29] Alan Seales: So good. I saw that later, but I did see, I didn't know a lot going in. I knew kind of like loosely what it was about, but I didn't know the story. I didn't realize that they were gonna lock my phone away, which by the way, I do have a gripe with this. If you're gonna lock a phone away, don't put a step and repeat for photos inside next to the merch tent. Because I was with a friend and we were like, oh, we'll take a photo real quick and commemorate being there. And then we were like, I guess we can't because our phones are locked away. And I just saw on their social media, Meryl Streep and a bunch of other famous people in front of that step and repeat with a nice photo. And I was like, I would have loved to have had that same photo, but I couldn't. And because Meryl Streep wasn't there that night. That's why you can't have that photo.

[44:16] Mike Abrams: But that show is so good. I mean, just so much fun. And then they always hook me. It's like, oh, there's a basketball hoop on the floor. I like this little basketball intermission. I'm in. Can you win me over? Did you see Bo?

[44:30] Alan Seales: No, no, no, no, no, no.

[44:32] Mike Abrams: Bo was right after, right before Thanksgiving for me. And really cool and great story. Well told. They really work the whole bar downtown like they work around you. It was, I was really Matt Rodin got a podcast. He was one of our OG podcasters.

[44:49] Alan Seales: Yeah, he's blowing up on TikTok.

[44:51] Mike Abrams: Yeah, Matt Rodin's doing great. I know the lead producer of Bo. So he keeps trying to get me to come in. So I maybe this week I'll come in this week. I've also got dress rehearsal of Kidman Carol. Because again, Marlon Mandel could do no wrong in my eyes. Yeah, Beggar's Wife I saw, which I thought was great. I love Scott Bakula on stage.

[45:16] Alan Seales: Okay, I didn't see that one.

[45:18] Mike Abrams: Really do. He has a background in musical theater before he got Quantum Leap.

[45:24] Alan Seales: Wow.

[45:25] Mike Abrams: So I interviewed him last year for The Connector. And so I learned more about him. And then to see him on stage with Ariana DeBose. And then Kevin DeLagula and Nathan Lee Graham and a couple others, like just the cast was amazing. It was a really, really well done performance.

[45:43] Alan Seales: I like The Baker's Wife a lot.

[45:44] Mike Abrams: Where are we time wise?

[45:48] Alan Seales: November 6th was Baker's Wife.

[45:51] Mike Abrams: November 1st, I went to Broadway Theater of Pitman to see their production of Cats. Pretty fun. And then on November 2nd, I saw Bat Boy at New York City Center. And I love camp, if you couldn't tell from teeth being the first show I saw. And that was, I hope that transfers. That was so fun. I loved everything about Bat Boy. I almost went back, because it's just camp at its finest.

[46:17] Alan Seales: I went, speaking of Kidman Carol Marla, I went with Marla to see Oedipus opening night.

[46:23] Mike Abrams: That's a good show.

[46:24] Alan Seales: I almost went today. I was really close to going today. It is on my list to make sure I see it in January, because I know the story.

[46:30] Mike Abrams: Of course.

[46:35] Alan Seales: Well, no, that's not a given. I've found out. I've talked to multiple people that have walked out to not know the story.

[46:40] Mike Abrams: Like the origin of the term Oedipus complex?

[46:45] Alan Seales: Exactly. Yes. That might be a bigger take on our society than the fact. But yeah, I've heard it's just so incredibly well done, even if you know it's happening, the build up to it. So I can't wait to see it.

[46:59] Mike Abrams: Yeah. I mean, obviously, I went in, I read the book in high school, and just knowing what happens, knowing the story, I still didn't know how they were going to present it. And until the very end, I was like, this...

[47:11] Alan Seales: Yeah. It's on my list.

[47:13] Mike Abrams: Good, good, good performances all around. Oedipus, great.

[47:16] Alan Seales: I did see Rob Blake in The Muppets after Bat Boy.

[47:21] Mike Abrams: How'd you like it?

[47:22] Alan Seales: I needed more Muppets.

[47:23] Mike Abrams: More Muppets.

[47:24] Alan Seales: There wasn't enough Muppets.

[47:25] Mike Abrams: Not enough Muppets.

[47:26] Alan Seales: I went... The magic is still cool. The magic is cool. It's too Vegas magic. It's not mentalist. I mean, it's a couple of the tricks I was like, these are... I have no idea. A couple I'm like, I think I kind of know, especially some of the angles. I think where you sat, it was a little bit interesting, but I just need more Muppets. I went for more for The Muppets than for The Magic, and I wanted more. But it's fun. It was another one that they should have marketed as very family-friendly, and there was a lot of kids around, but I think that would have been... I think you could have played into that a little bit more.

[48:01] Alan Seales: Let's see. Queen of Versailles, I saw before Thanksgiving.

[48:04] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah. No, so I went... After Muppets, I went to Gwyneth Goe's Skiing at Soho Playhouse, which is with Liam Scarp, who did the cats... Did a cats thing, so I had him on my show. And this show is so funny. I think he's going to bring it back. He also has a Diana parody that's coming to Soho Playhouse in January. Anything he does is hilarious. He's just so funny. And so, this is about the trial of Gwyneth Paltrow and the skiing accident, and it is hilarious.

[48:36] Alan Seales: Talking about obscure things to make a show about.

[48:39] Mike Abrams: Just so funny. And I brought a friend, and it was just a really fun, have a drink before, go to it. And then I saw Spelling Bee, and then I went to Liberation. I went to Spelling Bee and Liberation same day. I wish I would have flipped them, because that would have been a better, powerful matinee, and then fun evening instead of really fun matinee, and then I need a drink after evening. And then I went the next day because you texted me to go to Queen of Versailles, and I was like, I think I need to go with you. So, I said yes, even though I was not planning on going to a show that day.

[49:14] Alan Seales: Well, we saw it. I really liked the song about the Timeshare, the Timeshare King.

[49:20] Mike Abrams: Timeshare King.

[49:21] Alan Seales: I did enjoy the Timeshare King.

[49:23] Mike Abrams: I loved the performances. That show didn't know... To me, I don't think the show knew what it wanted to be about. It was about too many things.

[49:31] Alan Seales: It had really cool costumes.

[49:33] Mike Abrams: It did. I interviewed Kristin Cowan.

[49:35] Alan Seales: Very cool costumes. Great performances. Another one where it's like these are... There were some ensemble characters that got to do some songs. I was like, wow, this is really showing range. But yeah, it was an interesting choice. Interesting show.

[49:49] Mike Abrams: Chess.

[49:50] Alan Seales: And then I saw Two Strangers before Tess. Two Strangers is so good.

[49:54] Mike Abrams: I need to go see that. I just interviewed Christiani Pitts this week.

[49:58] Alan Seales: Yeah, it is so, so good. It's fun. It's funny. It's lighthearted. There's some delivery of jokes that are just perfectly timed, but that was like... I hope that... I know it had good reviews, but I just hope that show has the maybe happy endings where it's just like it gets its audience and it continues because it's so well done.

[50:17] Mike Abrams: That's what I've heard. It's right now being called sort of like having a classic cult following. Not classic because it's new, but it's got a cult following of people who just love it. They know it. They love it. It needs more word of mouth.

[50:30] Alan Seales: And then Chess. Chess is the end for me.

[50:32] Mike Abrams: Dude, I maybe would say that was my favorite show, my favorite musical.

[50:39] Alan Seales: Favorite musical of the year. Chess.

[50:41] Mike Abrams: Of this year.

[50:42] Alan Seales: I mean, it's hard to beat those performances.

[50:44] Mike Abrams: I mean, everybody's 11 o'clock number. All three of them.

[50:48] Alan Seales: They all... Yeah, they all get their moment.

[50:50] Mike Abrams: They all get their moment. Actually get multiple moments.

[50:51] Alan Seales: Oh my God. And again, Nicholas Christopher, again, just came out of his shell. I knew the least about him of the three and was the most impressed by his performance.

[51:01] Mike Abrams: Oh yeah. Yeah. No, I saw like a more depth in Aaron Tveit in this than I had seen in other things. I never saw him next to normal. I'll asterisk my statement with that, but like, again, oh, let's make a story about chess in the Cold War, like ridiculous story idea, but such a well-crafted show. Such a good show.

[51:26] Alan Seales: Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick commercial break.

[51:29] Mike Abrams: All right, everyone. Now we're back.

[51:31] Alan Seales: So there are two others from the beginning that we didn't talk about that I do think deserve a shout out. I did see Drag the Musical in New World Stages. Very fun, very clever, kind of new again, campy, knew what it was, knew what it wanted to be. Everyone had a good time that went in there. And then very different, but the Jonathan Larson Project.

[51:53] Mike Abrams: Yes. Yes, I saw that.

[51:55] Alan Seales: That is something, as someone who doesn't know as much about his history, to be able to hear some of the story and then see the performances and get to learn a little bit more from the creative team on that was a really cool show.

[52:09] Mike Abrams: December 9th, that Tuesday, I saw the Red Bucket Follies, the awards that BCF, Broadway Careers Equity Fights AIDS does to celebrate all the... The maximum amount of money that all the shows raise. And I saw a performance, they did a performance of Vape, the Grease parody there.

[52:26] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[52:27] Mike Abrams: Which was so funny.

[52:29] Alan Seales: Okay.

[52:29] Mike Abrams: So now I want to go see Vape. I'm interested to see that. So we should go see that soon.

[52:37] Alan Seales: What else?

[52:37] Mike Abrams: We've got Masquerade coming up.

[52:39] Alan Seales: We've got Masquerade coming up, which I haven't seen yet. I'm excited about that.

[52:42] Mike Abrams: Very excited about that. I got to go dust off my real clothing for that.

[52:47] Alan Seales: And then, yeah, that's...

[52:48] Mike Abrams: Twelfth Night, Shakespeare in the Park.

[52:51] Alan Seales: And now we are today, December 14th.

[52:52] Mike Abrams: Angry Alan.

[52:53] Alan Seales: Yeah, Angry Alan, I didn't see. John Krasinski is... Was he good in that on stage?

[52:59] Mike Abrams: I think he's so good in that. Yeah. It's just one of those things that he...

[53:03] Mike Abrams: There's a kid in it for a little bit at the end, but he carries the show the whole time. It's just monologue after monologue after monologue, only him, and it's really impressive to see.

[53:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah. It's hard. I've done a one-act, one-person show before, and it's easier once you get it. You're blocking on stage, but to memorize all of those, it's hard to start with. You just have to get on stage and put movement to it. In my mind, I'm like, okay, these lines go in this bucket on stage, and these lines go in that bucket on stage. He comes out into the audience at points, too. He's doing a lot of work in that show. What are you most looking forward to coming out in 26? Well, obviously, I'm wearing the hat, but Joe Cabal coming to the Broadhurst Theatre. I cannot wait. I'm very excited to see what they do with it. They have to make changes. I did talk to Cooper Howell for a recent episode who's an associate director on the show, and they can only tease so much of it because they didn't want to get into all the details, but they're not going to have the runway in front of coming out into the audience.

I think they're going to be doing some other cool things. That opens up more things because everyone's on stage together, whereas if at the pack, depending on where you sat, and I sat in four different locations the four times I saw it, and I got a very different experience all four times.

[54:33] Alan Seales: Yeah, we were at the cocktail table right at the tip of the runway. I sat on the side. I sat behind Andre De Shields one time. I sat over on a different side, and you get whoever the characters around you are, but this is going to be a little bit more everything in your front view. I think it's going to be really cool. They'll do some stuff. I've heard some rumors of other things they're going to do. I don't want to spoil it. I'm hoping to do a lot of stuff with their team this upcoming year, but I'm very excited for that because most of the cast is coming back too. It's just such a fun show. I feel like it lends itself to a sort of stage setup like that Moulin Rouge has, where there's part of it that cuts through the audience a little bit. You need some sort of... I think they've got some ideas. I don't want to spoil anything. It starts in March, so we're not far from the show's performance.

[55:17] Mike Abrams: Yeah, no, we're not. What else is opening? Let's see. Schmigadoon, I've got high hopes for. Schmigadoon should be good. Because Alex Brightman, I'm a fan of, and I think he's just comedy gold. There's The Lost Boys. Is that coming?

[55:28] Alan Seales: The Lost Boys, which by the way, I love how Casey Levy publicly said, like, here's why I'm stepping away from it, and then Shoshana Bean came in and was like, and the two of them supporting each other, not being competitive and saying, I got it now. I don't know.

[55:46] Mike Abrams: Well, they're currently on stage together right now, so hopefully they're somewhat friends, right? I need to go back to see that. I saw Ragtime at City Center. I've not seen it at Lincoln Center. I want to go back.

[55:56] Alan Seales: Yeah, I need to see Ragtime at Lincoln Center. I want to see... I need to see... I missed Bat Boy. I hope that transfers so badly. It's just fun.

[56:08] Mike Abrams: Rocky Horror is coming back?

[56:10] Alan Seales: Oh yeah, Rocky Horror is coming back. I am excited for that.

[56:13] Mike Abrams: Rocky Horror, rumored to be at Studio 54.

[56:19] Alan Seales: Interesting.

[56:20] Mike Abrams: That will be good. The Angelica Ball.

[56:22] Alan Seales: Dolly.

[56:23] Mike Abrams: Dolly, I've not heard as much about since they did their marketing ploy to find the next Dolly, but I've not heard anything since.

[56:31] Alan Seales: Everything Brilliant.

[56:32] Mike Abrams: Every Brilliant Thing.

[56:33] Alan Seales: Play Daniel Radcliffe.

[56:34] Mike Abrams: Daniel Radcliffe.

[56:35] Alan Seales: That starts in February. Go see that.

[56:38] Mike Abrams: Let's see. It'll be great in that single one-man show.

[56:43] Alan Seales: Yeah, again, just another wonderful performer. Gosh, Rocky Horror, Lost Boys. There's not as much Angelica Ball that I've seen. Schmigadoon. Those are kind of like...

[56:55] Mike Abrams: Those are the main ones. The big musicals.

[56:57] Alan Seales: Yeah. I'm sure other things will kind of come.

[56:59] Mike Abrams: Of course. There's a couple things I know that are being teased, but nothing official.

[57:04] Alan Seales: Sure, sure, sure, sure. What is your biggest takeaway from 25?

[57:10] Mike Abrams: I'm trying to think. I saw a lot more range this year. I think than most years. I think I saw more plays than I normally see. But yeah, I think there were some great performances, and I hope the lessons learned of some of the things that I thought should have lasted longer because of some maybe things outside of audience control and definitely outside of performers control. I hope that some of those things are brought into this next year of maybe they'd get a better shot of some of these things sustaining.

[57:41] Alan Seales: Yeah. I mean, I say it every year. A lot of the issue that I see, a solvable issue, is to organize and have some sort of regular marketing program that's targeting regional cities. So get the people in Cleveland and Seattle and Chicago and LA and the people, even major cities in other countries that have a lot of tourists that come to see Broadway. There should be some marketing out there so you don't have to rely on local word of mouth once you show up. We should already have something promoting it, and I know this is all money, and it's all political, and whatever. That's a separate conversation.

[58:19] Mike Abrams: Yeah. I mean, that for sure. I'm still pushing, and I know that there's at least someone starting to do it, but I would like more streaming. Just put it... And I don't need anything crazy. I don't need this CNN, George Clooney night where that was fully produced. I'm talking throw the camera we're using at the back of the theater and hook it into the audio and charge me a ticket price and let me watch it. And not me here in New York, but there's so many shows that I've seen that I know somebody at home where I'm from in Indiana that would have enjoyed it, and they're just not going to get a trip to New York this year, or they're not going to get a trip in time to go do it. And I was like, that would be... I want opportunities for them.

[59:06] Alan Seales: Yeah. That's a thing. I mean, it's all financials. Because like a pro shot, a real pro shot costs like two to three million dollars.

[59:14] Mike Abrams: Totally.

[59:15] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah.

[59:15] Mike Abrams: But I'm not talking about a real pro shot.

[59:17] Alan Seales: No, no. But again, like as you put your business cap on, if you were a producer, would you want to have some like a single cam on a tripod representing your show, or would you want something more produced? Like when Pearly Victorious aired on PBS, I thought that was like, I think they just aired the pro shot, right? But it was...

[59:37] Mike Abrams: Yeah. But so tell me, this is where maybe we differ. If you ever looked back, if you're in the orchestra, you ever look back and there's the screens where the conductor is for the performers. If you stuck a camera in between those and pointed it just as a wide shot of the theater of the stage, and then hooked up to the sound audio that you already have mic'd up for the theater, I would pay for that for certain things when I'm not home. Now again, this isn't for me in New York. The New Yorkers, if you can afford it, you should go. There's a lot of affordable tickets, a lot of ways to get into theater at that place. For my mom in Indiana, she'd pay not a full ticket price, but she'd pay a renting movie on Amazon Prime ticket price.

[1:00:29] Mike Abrams: That's a really interesting concept because maybe if you had, literally if you just had four cameras or three cameras locked, mounted to that exact area, and one was a wide shot, and then it was three medium shots that had different sections of the stage, and then you could do a very simple multi-cam cut.

[1:00:53] Alan Seales: Don't think you need to cut it. I've sat at that seat, front row of the Mez, great seat.

[1:00:59] Mike Abrams: I'm getting sun in my eyes now.

[1:01:02] Alan Seales: That is the exact same view of that seat. Expensive seat too. Front row Mez is an expensive seat. That's the same view you get. So why don't you just give me that shot wide angle?

[1:01:16] Mike Abrams: Well, maybe in the show that I'm helping put together, we can make it happen. There's got to be some union laws. There's way more to it than I don't know from a business perspective. But I think there's an audience for it. And actually, I'm so passionate about this that I know I'm going to draw a blank on which show it was, but it was two years ago, one of the nonprofit theaters, like MTC or somebody did that for two weeks, and they sold tickets. And they weren't cheap. They were like $60, $70 tickets. And I couldn't go. I was like, I will pay for it. So I did a sweepstakes and I paid for one. I was like, I will pay for somebody who's not in New York to go watch the show because I want this to succeed. Because I think if this proves that this is a model, this becomes a thing. And I think you could limit it to not in New York or whatever you want to do.

[1:02:02] Alan Seales: Interesting. Did it work? You got a lot of people enter?

[1:02:05] Mike Abrams: We had a good amount of people enter. It was more of a niche play. It's a nonprofit, smaller, off-Broadway play. And I still think it did pretty well. But I was just passionate that if this is a model, it's another revenue stream that really has low cost if you do it right. And I think it helps you build an audience because I rewatch shows, so I would have no problem. And I don't think you have to make it a 24-hour thing. It's like the show starts at seven. We're streaming today live. You get today's performance.

[1:02:34] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I totally agree with that. All right. We'll see if we make this happen. It's a lot of union stuff, but...

[1:02:39] Mike Abrams: There's more to it than that because I know if it's that simple, everyone would be doing it. But I'm passionate that this is a opportunity for accessibility for other people, not in New York, to be able to see these performances.

[1:02:52] Alan Seales: Yeah. All right. Well, let's make it happen.

[1:02:54] Mike Abrams: That's my push.

[1:02:55] Alan Seales: Let's make it happen.

[1:02:56] Mike Abrams: That's my 2025 push.

[1:02:56] Alan Seales: Well, happy 2026 New Year's. Happy New Year.

[1:03:02] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Happy New Year.

[1:03:03] Alan Seales: You say happy New Year, happy 26, right? You say happy to the...

[1:03:06] Mike Abrams: Have a goodbye 2025.

[1:03:08] Alan Seales: Goodbye 2025. Kick it away.

[1:03:09] Mike Abrams: And have a great 2026.

[1:03:12] Alan Seales: I like 26 because it's an even number. I'm more fond of even number years.

[1:03:17] Mike Abrams: For whatever reason.

[1:03:18] Alan Seales: Okay. Do you do resolutions?

[1:03:20] Mike Abrams: No.

[1:03:20] Alan Seales: I don't either.

[1:03:21] Mike Abrams: No, I don't do resolutions just because, I don't know, it feels like it's a way to let yourself down, whereas every day you should just try to be a better person anyway. My thing is that why wait till January 1st to fix a problem if you feel you need to fix a problem? So it's like if you're making a resolution to better yourself or to do something like, you could start now. I don't need to wait two more weeks to the end of the year. So I don't usually do them.

[1:03:46] Alan Seales: I have built some habits over the years that I'm like, all right, I'll start this on January 1st. A little better.

[1:03:52] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Well, the sun's in my eyes, so I got to cut this.

[1:03:56] Alan Seales: The sun has moved.

[1:03:57] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[1:03:57] Alan Seales: It's sitting in my kitchen here. The sun goes down at 4.30 in New York.

[1:04:00] Mike Abrams: Well, where can we connect with you and listen to the Wrong Cat, Die podcast if you want to hear anything about cats and cats adjacent because there's some other fun conversations that are cats adjacent that happen on the show at the Wrong Cat, Die on every social media platform, the Wrong Cat, Die on every podcasting platform. And yeah, follow, send people my way. If you've got fun cats, people you want to hear from, I'm always looking for a new guest.

[1:04:27] Alan Seales: I love that you have successfully begun changing the whole canon of cats. A question that nobody asks is now asked by a lot of people, and I'm a thousand percent convinced that that's only because of me.

[1:04:46] Mike Abrams: What question?

[1:04:49] Alan Seales: The right choice.

[1:04:50] Mike Abrams: Yes, yes, yes.

[1:04:50] Alan Seales: I don't think anybody ever thought about it, and now I know that people debate it. And I think that's because six years ago, we started this, and here we are.

[1:05:00] Mike Abrams: I just jokingly said you should do it, and you started it.

[1:05:03] Alan Seales: So you made a joke.

[1:05:05] Mike Abrams: I said I would do 10 episodes, miniseries, and we're episode 230 something. And that's how the cookie crumbles.

[1:05:11] Alan Seales: One joke goes way too far.

[1:05:16] Mike Abrams: But I wouldn't be sitting here right now with you if it wasn't for that.

[1:05:22] Alan Seales: Fair.

[1:05:23] Mike Abrams: Having seen all these shows this year, if it wasn't for that.

[1:05:25] Alan Seales: So it's done some good.

[1:05:27] Mike Abrams: I have no plans in changing or stopping the theater podcast. It's fun. And while it's still fun, I'll keep continuing to do it. Their conversations are really interesting. And as long as they're interesting and people listen, it's fun. So if you have ideas, send them my way. I'm always open to listening to what people want to hear about, as long as it's cats related.

[1:05:49] Alan Seales: Well, Happy New Year to everyone watching and listening.

[1:05:51] Mike Abrams: Happy New Year.

[1:05:53] Alan Seales: Happy Hanukkah. Happy Merry Christmas. Whatever you celebrate, enjoy. Hopefully, you have time with friends and family and time off of work.

[1:06:01] Mike Abrams: That's right.

[1:06:02] Alan Seales: Hopefully.

[1:06:03] Mike Abrams: All right. Bye, everybody.

[1:06:04] Alan Seales: Like and subscribe. Happy New Year. All those things.

[1:06:09] Mike Abrams: Delete this ending.

[1:06:10] Alan Seales: Delete this ending? No way. Keeping this in.

[1:06:12] Mike Abrams: All right. Bye.