The Future of Entertainment, Part 2: What’s the Matter With Broadway?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

In the second episode of our two-part miniseries on the future of entertainment, Derek goes from Hollywood to NYC to understand why Broadway musicals are in trouble. "With the cost of staging song-and-dance spectacles skyrocketing and audiences drawn to older hits, none of the musicals that opened last season have made a profit," The New York Times recently reported.


John Johnson, a major theater producer behind hits like 'Stereophonic' (the most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history) and George Clooney's 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' joins the show to discuss the future of live theater, the death of the middle in American entertainment, and how to cultivate good "taste" in popular art.


If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com.


Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: John Johnson
Producers: Devon Baroldi and Kaya McMullen

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More description

In the second episode of our two-part miniseries on the future of entertainment, Derek goes from Hollywood to NYC to understand why Broadway musicals are in trouble. "With the cost of staging song-and-dance spectacles skyrocketing and audiences drawn to older hits, none of the musicals that opened last season have made a profit," The New York Times recently reported.


John Johnson, a major theater producer behind hits like 'Stereophonic' (the most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history) and George Clooney's 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' joins the show to discuss the future of live theater, the death of the middle in American entertainment, and how to cultivate good "taste" in popular art.


If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com.


Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: John Johnson
Producers: Devon Baroldi and Kaya McMullen

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2025-10-14 47 min
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in

Chapters

No chapters available.