The summer of 2026 has been a strange one for me. Nothing truly dire but my husband K and I experienced some challenges, some disappointments and a few losses. So I’m regarding this Labor Day as the fresh start of a new season and new possibilities. But I’m also going to stick with my long established tradition of marking the holiday with a salute to a group of theater workers.
As longtime readers will know, over the years I’ve celebrated the labor of ushers, union leaders, stage managers, set designers, producers, drama teachers, composers, casting directors, actors and back office workers from the folks who clean the theaters and order the supplies to the ones who work in the box office or manage the marketing campaigns. But this year, I’m moving a little closer to home and singling out a handful of my fellow theater podcasters who work hard to make shows that offer truly informed ways of looking at and appreciating the theater we all love.
THE THEATER HISTORY PODCAST: It’s been around for years but I only recently discovered this terrific series that takes deep dives into subjects ranging from ancient Greek drama to the musicals of Lin-Manuel Miranda through lively conversations with archivists, theater historians and working artists. The show’s producer and host Mike Lueger seems to have read everything about anything to do with theater and so knows how to ask the right questions but, just as importantly, he knows how to get out of the way so that his guests can share their impressive knowledge. The episode on the almost-forgotten 19th century actress Charlotte Cushman, who specialized in male roles and romanced some of her leading ladies, knocked me out.
MICKEYJOYTHEATRE: If you follow theater on social media, then you probably already know Mickey-Jo Boucher, the energetic theater critic, who’s based in the U.K. but who is equally up-to-date on what’s happening on this side of the Atlantic too. There are lots of theater TikTokers and vloggers but few are more savvy about the theater scene than Mickey-Jo, whose reviews are so detailed and vivid that you feel as though you were sitting in the theater right next to him. But what really sets him apart is his thoughtful analysis of news and trends which provide the kind of context that not only clarifies what’s happening but why it’s happening, as he did with a recent episode on Jonathan Bailey’s decision to bail on the West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George.
THE PRESENT STAGE: CONVERSATIONS WITH THEATER WRITERS: In the interest of full disclosure I have to say that this show’s host Dan Rubins is a fellow board member of the Outer Critics Circle but he’s also one of the hardest working people I know. In addition to running a non-profit organization that helps kids with physical and developmental disabilities compose their own songs, Dan manages to see some 200 shows a year and to engage in deeply-researched discussions with many of the people who create them. When Moisés Kaufman appeared on Dan’s show to discuss his Pulitzer finalist Here There are Blueberries, which will open on Broadway in November, Kaufman said he’d agreed to do the interview because knew that Dan always did his homework. And he really does.
CHASING PHANTOM: Despite the title this isn’t a show about The Phantom of the Opera, instead it’s a celebration of all Broadway’s longest running shows. Its Virginia-based host David Timberline delves into the backstage stories of the shows that ran for 1,000 performances or more. Phantom still holds the top spot with 13,981 but episodes range from now-almost forgotten productions like the 1943 romantic comedy The Voice of the Turtle to such modern-day crowd pleasers as MJ, the Musical and Timberline and his guests always manage to find some new tidbit to share about them.
BROADWAY BOUND: THE MUSICALS THAT NEVER CAME TO BROADWAY: True Broadway fanatics love flops almost as much as they love hits and this show’s host Robert W. Schneider has a ball digging up and recounting the stories about the shows—many of them with big stars— that died out of town, from such notorious failures as Breakfast at Tiffanys to such now nearly-forgotten disappointments as The Prince of Grand Street. Himself a director, producer and writer, Schneider knows what he’s talking about; and an irrepressible wit, he's totally entertaining while he’s doing it, whether he's playing often-hard-to-find excerpts from the shows or breaking into impressions of Carol Channing or Gwen Verdon.
BROADWAYRADIO: My southern-born grandmother used to say that it’s a poor dog that doesn’t wag its own tail and so I have to give a shout out to this network of shows, which has provided a home for my podcasts "All the Drama" and "Stagecraft," but most especially to its head honcho James Marino, one of the OG theater podcasters who began streaming shows back in 2009 and who not only continues to host its popular weekly review show but recently introduced an app that’s available for IOS and Android users.
