Recent and upcoming releases in TV and audio recording formats of four multi-award-nominated Broadway shows of the 2024-25 season are making performances of two plays available for viewing at home and the scores and songs of two musicals accessible for listening, if you weren’t able to make it to the theater to see them live, or if you loved them and can’t wait to revisit them again and again.
Yellow Face – A sidesplitting and thought-provoking Broadway revival of the 2007 quasi-autobiographical comedy by three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony winner David Henry Hwang (the first Asian American playwright to receive the award) starred Daniel Dae Kim as an Asian American playwright who protests “yellowface” casting in the musical Miss Saigon, only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play and then suffer the repercussions. The critically acclaimed show, for which Francis Jue has already received an Outer Critics Circle Award for his featured role as the playwright’s father, ran for a limited engagement with Roundabout Theatre Company through Sunday, November 24, 2024, at the Todd Haimes Theatre. A live stage performance was filmed for PBS that month, made its broadcast debut on Friday, May 16, and is available now through June 30, for free streaming on the PBS website and app, so be sure to see this hilarious and timely look at racial identity, artistic freedom, political correctness, and media frenzy while you still can.
Good Night, and Good Luck – Based on their eponymous 2005 film about the showdown between CBS news journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy over the “Red Scare” of the 1950s, the new record-breaking stage production by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, directed by David Cromer, is currently playing a limited engagement through Sunday, June 8, 2025, at the Winter Garden Theatre. Television cameras will be there and rolling on Saturday, June 7, for a broadcast of the penultimate performance, starting at 7 pm, on CNN, marking the first time a live play has ever been televised. Clooney, who stars as Edward R. Murrow, received one of the shows five Tony nominations (for Best Actor), and it was announced earlier this month that he and Heslov were winners of the Outer Critics Circle’s 2025 John Gassner Award for New American Play. With its issues of political fearmongering, fake news, and freedom of the press, the hard-hitting historical drama continues to resonate in our current times and reminds us to stand up against tyranny with ethical integrity, just as Murrow did.
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical – Now playing an open-ended run at the James Earl Jones Theatre, the musical adaptation of Josefina López’s 1990 play, which also inspired the 2002 HBO film of the same name, follows the ambitions and struggles of a close-knit group of Mexican-American immigrants in a small family-run garment factory in East LA. With music and lyrics by the Tony-nominated duo of Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, and music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo, the show features twenty musical numbers that combine authentic mariachi and Latin rhythms with segments of rap and show tunes, featuring spirited performances by Florencia Cuenca, Tatianna Córdoba, Justina Machado, Jennifer Sánchez, Shelby Acosta, Sandra Valls, Aline Mayagoitia, Carla Jimenez, and the supporting ensemble. They can soon be heard on Ghostlight Records’ release of the original Broadway cast recording on streaming and digital platforms on Friday, June 6, and a CD edition of the album that will follow this summer, produced by fifteen-time Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner Julio Reyes Copello, and available for pre-order here.
BOOP! The Musical – Sixteen-time Grammy-winning composer and producer David Foster took to the stage last week during a curtain call at the show’s open-ended engagement at the Broadhurst Theatre, where the iconic animated character of the Roaring Twenties is brought to life in full color in present-day NYC, to announce the upcoming release of the original Broadway cast recording on Friday, June 6, at 12 am. Produced by Foster, the twenty-track album, with music by Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, and orchestrations by Doug Besterman, will be available in streaming and digital formats on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, and other popular platforms, and there will also be a special edition double vinyl LP and CD released by Amazon, all available for pre-order here. The vibrant songs feature vocals by Jasmine Amy Rogers in her star-is-born awards-recognized Broadway debut as Betty Boop, along with the sensational supporting cast of Ainsley Melham, Angelica Hale, Faith Prince, Erich Bergen, Anastacia McCleskey, Stephen DeRosa, Aubie Merrylees, and the full ensemble.
All of these offerings give easy at-home access to four of the best Broadway shows of this past season. With a range of themes and styles, there’s something for everyone, so even if you can’t go in person, there’s no reason to miss the productions or their music!
