Best Theatre Podcasts

Hosted by Robert W. Schneider and Kevin David Thomas, this popular podcast releases two episodes a week. Monday episodes see Rob and Kevin interview a legend of Broadway to look at their career highlights. On Thursdays, they talk about what is going on in the theatre community, review shows they have seen, and introduce each other to musical theater related offerings like Instagram accounts, YouTube channels, and tv episodes. Guests have included Susan Stroman, Beth Leavel, Casey Nicholaw, Andre DeShields, Charles Strouse, George S. Irving, Kaye Ballard, Mimi Hines, Tonya Pinkins, and more.

Host Salisha Thomas sits down with badass black women on Broadway and talks about all things hair, sharing secrets, swapping ideas, and talking about individual experiences backstage, onstage, and beyond. But that’s not all; there are women (and men!) who can speak on this topic in other industries as well and open the conversation about what it means to show up to work black and “put together.” After every episode, you’ll have new ideas for your own tresses and leave feeling inspired and empowered no matter what color you are to stop fighting what makes you unique, to live your best life and to embrace yourself exactly the way you are.

Join happy hour every Tuesday, where Broadway stars have drinks, play games, and share laughs with host Bryan Plofsky, co-host Kevin Jaeger, and Game Master Kimberly Schmidt. Broadwaysted began in 2016 and has over 150 episodes, so there’s plenty of content to keep you busy on your commute.

Hosted by actor David Tennant (TV: Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Jessica Jones; Theater: Good, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Look Back in Anger, The Pillowman), this is not exclusively a theater podcast, but many of his guests have acted in or created theatrical works, including Olivia Colman, James Cordon, Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Cox, Tim Minchin, Judi Dench, Michael Sheen, Ian McKellen, and more.

Hosted by Dave Hearn, a founding member of Mischief Theatre, this podcast dives into Mischief, the theater company behind The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, and Peter Pan Goes Wrong (coming to Broadway in March 2023!) Guests include cast members, fellow creatives, magicians, and more.

Theatre journalist Drew Shade, actress Kim Exum, and playwright Ngozi Anyanwu host this weekly podcast that dives into the world of black theatre artists. Listeners know they will most certainly be Off Book.

CARRIE THE MUSICAL is one of the most notorious Broadway flops and lost millions of dollars. But can all of the backstage drama, on-stage accidents, and audience disruptions be true? Discover the surprising truth behind the show’s infamously disastrous run. Hosted by fans Chris Adams and Holly Morgan, they meet the cast, crew, and creators and sift through the mysteries and urban legends to find out how Carrie rose from the dead and reinvented itself as a mainstream musical success story.

Hosted by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Heisenberg, Morning Sun, Sea Wall), he interviews some of the world’s most popular playwrights as they talk about their lives, their work, and their relationships with the Royal Court Theatre in London. Available on Apple Podcast, Spotify and more. Guests have included: Jez Butterworth, Laura Wade, Winsome Pinnock, Zinnie Harris, Nick Payne, Abi Morgan, Mike Bartlett, and Roy Williams.

Such Stuff dives into the work being done by Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London and is hosted by its Artistic Director Michelle Terry as well as Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, the Co-Director of Education and Research at Shakespeare’s Globe and Professor of Shakespeare Studies at King’s Cross London, and Producer Imogen Greenberg. Come behind-the scenes, into rehearsals, and onstage – available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more.

Host Eli Tokash knows what it’s like to balance childhood with the demands of starring on Broadway and in television and film. Kids in the industry have to balance multiple jobs, auditions, and performances on top of their schoolwork. As Eli is becoming a young adult, he wants to share his experience while seeking advice from adults asking what is yet to come.

Host Gillian Pensavalle – occasionally joined by her husband Michael Paul Smith – speaks with guests about all things Hamilton, from its inception to its many global productions and cultural relevance. The Hamilcast has interviewed every member of the original creative team, including repeat interviews with Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Hamilcast also features interviews with cast and crew members, musicians, and the hard-working people behind-the-scenes that keep the production going. Plus: historians, super fans, celebrities, and more!

This podcast introduces audiences to the creators, historians, scholars, and more who work to make, preserve, and examine theater within historical, social, and cultural contexts. Explore the history of theater and live performance.

Hosted by twins Cynthia Hennon Marino and Stacy Hennon Stone, they interview people working in theater behind-the-scenes. Join them backstage to learn about design, music, meetings, unions, and everything the audience doesn’t normally get to see.

Hosted by Gordon Cox, this podcast takes us behind the scenes with the biggest stars from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and other parts of the performing arts. Cox is the contributing theater editor at Variety and has previously worked as a theater critic, columnist, and reporter at Newsday and has worked at various non-profit arts organizations.

Playbill’s former Executive Editor Ruthie Fierberg hosts this podcast where social justice meets theatre. Artists and professional theatre experts join curated panels that use plays and musicals on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in development as a jumping-off point to confront social issues like racism, colorism, voting rights, fake news, digital technology addiction, the school-to-prison pipeline, anti-Semitism, raising LGBTQIA+ kids, and more. Why we theater? We’re about to find out.

36 questions is a 3-part musical theatre podcast starring Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton that follows a couple attempting to save their marriage by using the 36 questions that are meant to make people fall in love. The New York Times called it “a charmer…it sounds as if it was recorded just for you.”

Created by John Cameron Mitchell (known for Hedwig & the Angry Inch), Anthem: Homunculus follows uninsured artist Ceann Mackay as he hosts a telethon to raise money for his own survival. Co-stars include Cynthia Erivo, Glenn Close, Nakhane, and Patti LuPone.

Starring Mary-Louise Parker and Will Holchman from the original Broadway cast, this play by Adam Rapp and directed by David Cromer was nominated for six Tony Awards, and Mary-Louise Parker was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. It follows a writing professor and her talented student. The New York Times called it a “flawless production.”

A writer’s trip to the urologist turns into a hilarious examination on all the different ways we can feel exposed. This play by Daniel Goldfarb and directed by Scott Ellis stars Tony Shalhoub, Santino Fontana, Laura Benanti, Tom Hollander, and Diane Guerrero.

Written and performed by Aasif Mandvi and directed by Kimberly Senior, this play has been performed at the Minetta Lane in New York as well as Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and tells the story of an immigrant coming to New York in pursuit of the American dream. The New York Times said, “Aasif Mandvi makes you want to stop at ‘Sakina’s Restaurant.’”

The Half-Life of Marie Curie written by Lauren Gundersen and directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch stars Kate Mulgrew and Francesca Faridany. In 1912, scientist Marie Curie spent two months on the British seaside at the home of Hertha Ayrton, an accomplished mathematician, inventor, and suffragette. At the time, Curie was in the throes of a scandal in France over her affair with Paul Langevin, which threatened to overshadow the accomplishment of her second Nobel Prize.

Written and performed by Tonderai Munyevu and directed by John R. Wilkinson, this drama begins in the spring of 1980, when Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe. Tonderai Munyevu, a born-free, was part of the hopeful next generation from a new country with a new leader, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. While exploring Tonderai’s personal story and his relationship with his father, Mugabe, My Dad and Me charts the rise and fall of one of the most controversial politicians of the 20th century. Interweaving monologue and original music on the mbira with commentary inspired by some of Mugabe’s more notorious speeches, this captivating one-man show is a blistering dance of memory exploring connection, familial love and what it means to return ‘home’.