All stories by Jeff Lunden on BroadwayStars

Saturday, July 13, 2024

A day in the life of a baseball 'clubbie' by Jeff Lunden

Behind every major league ball team are a set of fast-moving men and women who make sure the game runs smoothly.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 08:48AM
Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Nonprofit pairs sighted riders with visually impaired riders on tandem bikes for free by Jeff Lunden

Riders who participate in InTandem Cycling in New York find out it's more than just riding a bike and more than just exercise. It's socialization, good for your mental health and its teamwor…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:42AM
Thursday, June 20, 2024

A Juneteenth album captures the rhythm of life by Jeff Lunden

Wynton Marsalis, Bryan Stevenson and a host of musicians release a record that captures the rhythm of life

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 01:12AM
Monday, June 17, 2024

The Tony Awards, honoring the best of Broadway, were handed out Sunday night by Jeff Lunden

Stereophonic, which had 13 nominations, won five awards, including best play. The Outsiders and Merrily We Roll Along picked up four awards each. Hell's Kitchen, nominated for 13 awards, won…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 04:48AM
Sunday, June 16, 2024

When you can hear every word, thank the sound mixers by Jeff Lunden

They sit behind a console that looks like the bridge of a spaceship and use complicated technology to bring words from the actors mouth to the audience's ears.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:36AM
Sunday, May 26, 2024

Disney composer Richard M. Sherman has died at 95 by Jeff Lunden

Sherman and his brother Robert became Disney Studios' first ever in-house songwriters. They won two Oscars for their songs and score to Mary Poppins and composed the classic "It's a Small Wo…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 03:24AM
Sunday, May 12, 2024

In honor of Mother's Day, here's 'Mother Play' — which gestated for 40 years by Jeff Lunden

Playwright Paula Vogel is known not just for her work on Broadway — but for the generations of famous playwrights whose careers she has nurtured. Mother Play is about her own mother.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 09:36AM
Friday, April 19, 2024

A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside by Jeff Lunden

Stereophonic, a new play on Broadway with music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, tracks the volatile creation of a rock and roll album over the course of a year in the 1970s.

SOURCE: npr.org at 01:36PM
Saturday, April 13, 2024

'Lempicka' showcases a little-known queer artist's dazzling life by Jeff Lunden

Once the toast of 1920s Paris, Tamara de Lempicka's story is now on Broadway. She was a modernist art deco artist who's better known in Europe than in the U.S.

SOURCE: npr.org at 04:18PM
Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang has died by Jeff Lunden

American playwright Christopher Durang has died at 75. He won a Tony Award for "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist with "Miss Witherspoon."

SOURCE: npr.org at 08:02PM
Saturday, February 24, 2024

The Second City, named for its Chicago location, opens an outpost in New York by Jeff Lunden

The improv and comedy organization that famously shuns New York City has just opened in Brooklyn — with a 200-seat mainstage, a 60-seat second stage, classrooms and a restaurant.

SOURCE: npr.org at 10:06AM
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

British star Glenda Jackson has died at age 87 by Jeff Lunden

Jackson was one of the finest British actors of her generation, winning Oscar, Emmy and Tony Awards. Fiercely political, she also served as a member of Parliament for decades.

SOURCE: npr.org at 01:54PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Chita Rivera, Broadway's 'first great triple threat,' dies at 91 by Jeff Lunden

The three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway legend created indelible roles: Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie and Velma Kelly in Chicago.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 07:18PM
Monday, January 29, 2024

'Days of Wine and Roses,' a film about love and addiction, is now a spirited musical by Jeff Lunden

The classic 1962 movie tells the story of a relationship buckling under the weight of addiction. The new Broadway adaptation stars Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:48AM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

'How to Dance in Ohio' is a Broadway musical starring 7 autistic actors by Jeff Lunden

The musical is an adaptation of a Peabody award-winning HBO documentary — it follows seven young people at a group counseling center in Columbus as they get ready for a big dance.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:32AM
Saturday, November 25, 2023

An early boy band was world famous — until the Nazis took over by Jeff Lunden

Long before The Backstreet Boys, a vocal sextet in Weimar Germany was silenced because three memebrs were Jewish. A new Broadway musical with a score by Barry Manilow tells their story.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 07:36AM
Monday, October 23, 2023

The task? Finish Stephen Sondheim's last musical. No pressure. by Jeff Lunden

When the composer/lyricist died in 2021 at age 91, he left behind a partly finished show called Here We Are. But his collaborators say Sondheim loved a puzzle — and he left them all the pi…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:49AM
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

A Jim Crow satire returns to Broadway after 62 years — and it's a romp, not a relic by Jeff Lunden

In 1961, actor and Civil Rights activist Ossie Davis wrote the blistering play Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. Now, Leslie Odom Jr. stars in the revival.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 07:33PM
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

1985 sci-fi comedy 'Back to the Future' and its famous DeLorean are now on Broadway by Jeff Lunden

The star of the Back to the Future: The Musical may be the car. The show's design team created a DeLorean that flies over the audience.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 08:55PM
Friday, August 25, 2023

How 'Back to the Future: The Musical' created a DeLorean that flies by Jeff Lunden

It flies over the audience and flips over — but that's not all that it does.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:55AM
Saturday, July 22, 2023

You can immerse yourself — literally — in this Broadway show by Jeff Lunden

Is "Here Lies Love" the future of Broadway? The immersive musical about Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos is a $22 million gamble. (Story first aired on Morning Edition on Julu 18, 2023.)

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:33AM
Tuesday, July 18, 2023

You can immerse yourself — literally — in this Broadway show by Jeff Lunden

Here Lies Love tells the story of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos' rise and fall in the Philippines. The $22 million immersive musical production is a big Broadway gamble.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 08:13AM
Friday, June 23, 2023

Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who wrote 'Fiddler on the Roof,' dies at 99 by Jeff Lunden

The Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist was one of the last masters of Broadway's Golden Age. His career extended over 60 years.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:25AM
Thursday, June 15, 2023

British star Glenda Jackson has died after a shimmering life on stage and in politics by Jeff Lunden

Glenda Jackson has died. One of the finest British actresses of her generation, Jackson won Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Awards. Fiercely political, she also served as a member of Parliament for de…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 09:19AM
Sunday, June 11, 2023

We ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image? by Jeff Lunden

Only a handful of theater photographers work on Broadway and their challenge is to capture the essence of live performance. Ahead of the Tony Awards, we ask three about their craft.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 06:33AM
Saturday, June 3, 2023

After years of ever-shrinking orchestras, some Broadway musicals are going big by Jeff Lunden

Producers have been saying for years that large Broadway orchestras are not financially feasible. In fact, the issue led to a strike 20 years ago. So why are some shows bringing them back?

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:42AM
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Tony Awards have gendered actor categories — where do non-binary people fit? by Jeff Lunden

"We don't gender other people's professions," says actor Alex Newell. "You say ... I'm going to my dentist and I need to hire a plumber." But Broadway's highest honors have male/female disti…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 09:12AM
Sunday, April 30, 2023

A rarely revived Lorraine Hansberry play comes to Broadway by Jeff Lunden

Playwright Lorraine Hansberry's show, "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," opened last week on Broadway, almost 59 years ago since it first opened.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 10:24AM
Saturday, April 15, 2023

'Phantom of the Opera' takes a final Broadway bow after 13,981 performances by Jeff Lunden

On Sunday night the curtain will fall on the longest-running show in Broadway history: Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega hit ran for more than 35 years. "I got the gig of a lifetime," says one cast…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 11:36AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

As 'Sweeney Todd' returns to Broadway, 4 Sweeneys dish about the difficult role by Jeff Lunden

Josh Groban, Michael Cerveris, Norm Lewis and Len Cariou all agree: It's exhausting playing a murderous sociopath, while dealing with stage blood, a mechanical barber chair and singing compl…

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 05:24AM
Thursday, March 9, 2023

Actor Topol, who appeared in 'Fiddler on the Roof' hundreds of times, has died by Jeff Lunden

Topol — the actor who went by a single name and who appeared on stage as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof hundreds of times — has died.

SOURCE: National Public Radio at 04:53PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic