Theater

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.

Dig into the nominees and learn about the likely winners.

Flags have been making a lot of headlines lately, and it's not because today is National Flag Day. The upside down flag that was flown outside of Justice Samuel Alito's house after January 6th is back in the headlines again. Plus the Colorado Republican Party has been making news for their post on X to "burn all the #pride flags this June." Host Brittany Luse is joined by Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy - hosts of NHPR's Civics 101 - to get into why both liberals and conservatives get so riled up by a piece of fabric.

Then, in honor of the Tony Awards this weekend, Brittany sits down with critic and playwright Sarah Jae Leiber. They talk about why there are so many presidents in American musical theater, the bizarreness of some of these portrayals and what the real politicians pulling the strings get out of it.

Cole Escola is the star and creator of Oh Mary!, an upcoming Broadway play about Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. But there's a twist: Mary is reimagined as a raging alcoholic with cabaret dreams and Lincoln is portrayed as an evil closeted gay man plotting on her misery. On the cusp of the show's Broadway debut, Brittany chats with Cole about the inspiration behind Oh Mary!, their favorite joke and why it's fun to play older women.

The Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical about three friends received seven Tony nominations. We talk with director Maria Friedman, who was a friend of Sondheim's, and actor Jonathan Groff.

This week, Brittany Luse sits down with playwright Jocelyn Bioh, whose new play, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, is up for five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. The two discuss Bioh's unique approach to comedy, what it took to bring a hair affair to Broadway, and how to find humor in dark situations.

Want to be featured on the show? Record your response to Brittany's question at the end of 'Hey Brittany' via voice memo and send it to ibam@npr.org.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Boris Kachka about the dynamics of Broadway today. Kachka has a look behind the curtain in his piece for Vulture, headlined "We've Hit Peak Theater."