Day 1, Friday June 19, 2026.
I hit the stages right away with two shows on Friday. The first show was Heated Rivalry: The
Unauthorized Musical Parody playing at The Culture Club, which is an Off Broadway venue not far from Hudson Yards and the High Line. It’s a 75 minute fun ride of a musical that includes everything from the first season of the hit cable/Canadian television series.
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Unauthorized Musical Parody playing at The Culture Club, which is an Off Broadway venue not far from Hudson Yards and the High Line. It’s a 75 minute fun ride of a musical that includes everything from the first season of the hit cable/Canadian television series.
You know it’s going to be fun show when the opening song has lines like “finally a show that gives woman what they want. Gay hockey players!”.
Jimin Moon plays Shane Hollander, for the performance I went to understudy Daniel Bracket played Ilya Rozanov. The show was a cast of 5 who played all the characters.
The show is currently playing in NYC, London, and Montreal check out https://www.heatedrivalryparody.com/ for tickets.
For my Friday evening show, I went to the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54. It
always fun to see a Broadway show at the infamous Studio 54.
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always fun to see a Broadway show at the infamous Studio 54.
This new revival is directed by Sam Pinkleton. Luke Evans is Frank-N-Furter. You can tell that Luke Evans is having the time of his life in this stage production. So great to him live on stage and in this role. The rest of the cast consists of Rachel Dratch as the Narrator, Andrew Durand as Brad, Stephanie Hsu as Janet, Amber Gray as Riff Raff, the night I went we had Anania as Magenta, Josh Rivera as Rocky, Michaela Jae Rodriguez as Columbia, Eddie/Dr. Scott was played by Harvey Guillen. Such a great cast.
The Rocky Horror Show also would not be as much fun without the sets, costumes, lights, etc. Need to mention the Scenic Design by Dots, Costume Designs by David I. Rynosa, Lightning Design by Jane Cox, Hair & Wig Design by Alberto “Albee”
Alvarado, Makeup Design by Sterling Tull and Choreography by Ani Taj.
I, for one, am awaiting for a cast recording for this Broadway Revival.
Check out https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/production/2025-2026-season/richard-o-brien-s-the-rocky-horror-show/ for tickets.
Day 2, Saturday June 20, 2026.
The matinee show was the New York City Center Encores! production of La Cage Aux Folles. This was
the first production to feature to an all African American cast. This was also the first time since the original Broadway production in 1983 that featured a full orchestra.
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the first production to feature to an all African American cast. This was also the first time since the original Broadway production in 1983 that featured a full orchestra.
The cast was lead by Wayne Brady as Georges, Billy Porter as Albin/Zsa Zsa, James Jackson Jr as Jacob (the butler) and Tonya Pinkins as Jacqueline.
I learned during the talkback, after the matinee, that they rehearsed the entire show in ten days. The orchestra did have 30 days to rehearse the score. That is a crazy schedule to learn not only the songs, also the staging and choreography. Now I have an even deeper appreciation for the shows produced at New York City Center Encores!
First there was the two French La Cage Aux Folles movies, followed by the Broadway musical in 1983, and then the movie the Birdcage was in 1996.
For Saturday evening, I went to the new Broadway musical The Lost Boys. Yes, a stage musical based on
the 1987 movie. It was one of the best shows of my weekend. Definitely worthy of all the buzz it is receiving.
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the 1987 movie. It was one of the best shows of my weekend. Definitely worthy of all the buzz it is receiving.
It’s been a long time since I have seen the movie, I really can’t directly compare the two. After seeing the Broadway musical, I do want to rewatch the movie. From talking to my friends, who also went to the musical the same weekend. It sounds like all of the key moments from the movie are captured on stage. Of course the vampires do fly on stage. That’s really fun and cool to see.
It’s a great cast. Michael Emerson is played by LJ Bennet, Lucy Emerson is played by Shoshana Bean, Sam Emerson is played by Benjamin Pajak, Star is played by Maria Wirries, David is played by Ali Louis Bourzgui (who won a Tony Award for his performance), and Max is played by Paul Alexander Nolan.
This production is directed by Michael Arden, with Book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, Music and Lyrics by The Rescues. What was really impressive to me, was the scene changes. I would love to see how things are backstage for this production. The scenery is designed by Dane Laffrey, costumes are designed by Ryan Park.
This is one of the must see shows that is currently playing on Broadway. Check out https://www.lostboysmusical.com/ for tickets.
Day 3, Sunday June 21, 2026
For the Sunday matinee I went back to Skid Row for the long running Off Broadway revival of Little Shop
of Horrors. The infamous Howard Ashman/Alan Mencken musical currently features Jordan Fisher as Seymour, Nikki M. James as Audrey, and Claybourne Elder as The Dentist.
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of Horrors. The infamous Howard Ashman/Alan Mencken musical currently features Jordan Fisher as Seymour, Nikki M. James as Audrey, and Claybourne Elder as The Dentist.
I had last seen this production at the West Side Theater back in 2022. It was the current leads who made want to see the show again. It was still so much fun. A new list of leads have also been announced for this production. Looks like it’s going to be keep on running. Check out https://littleshopnyc.com/ For tickets.
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For the Sunday evening show, I went to closing night of the Broadway Revival of the musical Chess. I had the pleasure of seeing Chess when I was in NYC in December of 2025 for a fun week of Christmas in the City.
There was an energy at the Imperial Theatre for the closing performance. The audience was electric. The show received 18 standing ovations throughout the entire performance. I felt like the code had finally been broken with this production of Chess. Glad there was a Broadway Revival Cast Recording. Chess is on of my favorite scores. It was so cool to not only see this Broadway production a second, but to be at the closing performance. I hope this production goes on tour. I would definitely see it again.
My third show on Sunday was the 34th Anniversary of the fun and sexy fundraiser Broadway Bares.
This years theme was “License to Strip”. The overall story was about the spies in MI-69 completing their mission to save Broadway from an evil spy bent on destroying Broadway. There were dance numbers that featured Carmen Sandiego, Sherlock Holmes, Austin Powers, James Bond and many more.
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This years theme was “License to Strip”. The overall story was about the spies in MI-69 completing their mission to save Broadway from an evil spy bent on destroying Broadway. There were dance numbers that featured Carmen Sandiego, Sherlock Holmes, Austin Powers, James Bond and many more.
My friends and I picked the right weekend to be in NYC. I believe Broadway Bares is on the third weekend of June every year. The last time I to got to see this fun show was in 2014. It’s a one night only event, with two performance. Going to the midnight showing, allowed us to make it to the closing performance of Chess. By also going to the midnight/second show, we learned that the event raised over $2,000,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA). That was great to hear.
