A Banner Season on Broadway - See What's On Stage Now

Idini Menzel becomes a tree hugger in RedwoodSince the streets of Scarsdale were quiet this week, we were able to take advantage of the lull to go to the city where we found Times Square flush with theater goers. We secured tickets to a few Broadways shows – and fortunately all were hits.

Here are just a few of the hits on Broadway now that you might enjoy:

For those who like musical theater we can recommend Old Friends, a revue of some of Stephen Sondheim’s most beloved songs from his decades of success. You can’t help but enjoy the songs from Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd and more. We were surprised to find out that Sondheim also wrote the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s score for West Side Story – so a few numbers from that show were included too.

And it’s not just the music. The fact that the music is performed by an all-star cast including Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and Gavin Lee makes it even more enjoyable.
See this Old Friend while it’s on stage at the Samuel J. Freidman Theater through June 15, 2025.

We were also lucky to get tickets to see megastar George Clooney in Good Night and Good Luck. Clooney plays newsman Edward R. Murrow in the age of Joseph McCarthy. The story line has an eerie resemblance to today’s assaults on the media and free speech. As McCarthy engages in a witch hunt, destroying everyone in his path, Murrow seeks to expose him for what he really is while appeasing CBS President Bill Paley who worries about the loss of show sponsors.
The Winter Garden is a huge theater, and you may not be able to catch some of the lines from the farther seats, but if you can score some tickets at a reasonable price, (we heard some paid $900!), you’ll be happy you got to see this history-making production.

Last we didn’t want to miss Idina Menzel in Redwood. She’s a big presence with a big voice and the staging of the production breaks new ground. In the play, Menzel plays a distressed, overwrought mother, who’s on the verge of a breakdown. She takes a cross-country drive and seeks solace in a redwood forest. The set revolves around the base of a magnificent redwood tree and the entire stage becomes a panoramic screen for the projection of the forest, the tree canopy and the sky above. Sitting in the audience you are transported to the forest, surrounded by rustling branches, sunlight, changing weather systems and even a forest fire. The use of videography is stunning.
Menzel and the cast spent much of the performance suspended from climbing ropes, doing aerial gymnastics while singing their story. It’s unusual, enchanting and a reminder of how spending time in nature can help us get our feet back on the ground.

See it at the Nederlander Theater, now through August 17, 2025.