The WhatsOnStage Podcast

If you're looking for our main episode, we released it two days early as the dust settled on this year's Tony Awards. That said, we had to get a bonus episode in to help with your weekly theatre fix, so below is our interview with the two stars of the forthcoming West End transfer of Cyrano de Bergerac, Adrian Lester and Susannah Fielding, who will be returning to the roles of Cyrano and Roxane for the Noël Coward run of Edmond Rostand's play, adapted by Simon Evans and Debris Stevenson. In the interview, the pair discuss reinterpreting the role of Roxane, why a nose had to be shown on stage and the different rhyming structure bedded into the text. Oh – and if you're looking for the project Lester refers to, it's the Dartmouth Scar Experiment. 

What's this? The main episode of the week coming out two days early? As the dust settles on another Tony Awards season, Sarah and Alex have a lot to chew on – topics include Brits thriving on Broadway, the sacrifices mothers have to make to succeed in the performing arts and, after an incident at Inter Alia, the mobile phone etiquette debate. If that's not enough, they also pick the six summer shows they can't wait to see - with shows in Manchester, Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Chichester (if you're travelling south via the M6, M40, A3 and A27).

While Alex has been manning the fort back in London, Sarah has sailed over to the Great White Way for a small Broadway bonanza ahead of this weekend's Tony Awards. She observes the "Miller moment" that seems to be ongoing with productions of Death of a Salesman, All My Sons and Broken Glass all making headlines over the last year. After sampling the best New York has to offer, she makes some predictions ahead of Sunday's glitzy event.

In this bumper episode, we are celebrating the world of new musicals with two great insights into the experience of staging new world. In the first part, we bring you our on-stage discussion with the music team of Redcliffe, Jordan Luke Gage's brand new musical having its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough. In part two, we head across the Atlantic to talk to Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts, the two "strangers" bring baked goods to the masses in the five-star musical Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), playing now on Broadway - ahead of this Sunday's Tony Awards.

As part of their long-running series, Alex and Sarah end the 00s with a bumper exploration of two pivotal years for playwriting this century – with Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, Lucy Prebble's Enron, John Logan's Red, Lynn Nottage's Ruined and so many more to mull over. But which plays will be Sarah's top picks? And what have we forgotten from the month before?

Ten years on from Waitress' Broadway bow, we had a virtual chat with composer and lyricist Sara Bareilles to discuss the lasting and profound effect of the show, from its much-loved numbers to its now-instantly recognisable characters. What's more, Bareilles is working on a brand new musical, and reflects on this second-time experience as she prepares to bring it to the stage. 

In this episode, we take an exclusive look at Jermyn Street Theatre’s newly announced 2026 autumn season, including the UK premiere of Simon Stephens’ A Slow Fire and a revival of Richard Eyre’s Ghosts. We discuss what A Slow Fire might bring to London audiences following its Dublin premiere, and why Kwame Owusu’s direction of Ghosts continues the theatre’s commitment to developing emerging voices alongside established writers. We also explore the remarkable growth of Jermyn Street Theatre over the past decade, now operating as an intimate central London venue into a theatre increasingly attracting major writers, ambitious productions and a wider profile within the industry.

And who gives a Krapp about Beckett? Sarah and Alex have been ranging across the country, seeing shows in Bowness-on-Windermere and Brighton recently, but still find time to mull over the biggest news stories of the week – from the plans for Ian McKellen to return to the stage in a new version of King Lear at the Yard, and the National Theatre's report into the impact of streamed theatre. Plus, Sarah reminisces about her favourite performers who have tackled the title role in Krapp's Last Tape.