When the scribes write the ultimate history of Broadway, one thing will become crystal clear: Michael Urie was destined to play Bud Frump.
“When I was 16, my sister and I went to the Dallas Summer Musicals production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” says the effervescent 37-year-old during a break from rehearsal. “It was the national tour that starred Ralph Macchio as Finch and Roger Bart as Frump. It was seminal for me. It totally changed the way I looked at theater. I loved it more than anything. I thought, ‘This is a musical I could be in!'”
Urie almost got his chance at Frump — the nemesis to window washer-turned-corporate exec J. Pierrepont Finch — in the 2011 Broadway revival starring Daniel Radcliffe. “They hired me. And then, through a series of very sad circumstances which I won’t go into, I ended up not getting to keep the job. It was like a showbiz tragedy.” Christopher Hankey took on the role, but Urie finally got his chance in 2012, replacing Hankey at the same time Nick Jonas stepped in as Finch.
“I can’t ever remember being that purely happy doing a job,” he glows. “There have been other jobs that have meant more to me or been more challenging, but doing this show is just like a big bowl of ice cream!”
Urie is feasting on another helping of that ice cream, as the hit-packed, Pulitzer Prize-winning Frank Loesser musical plays this weekend as part of the Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage, a magnificent new series that has already mounted electrifying semi-staged concerts of Chess and In the Heights. Directed by Marc Bruni, How to Succeed features Urie as Frump, Betsy Wolfe as Rosemary Pilkington, Nova Payton as Miss Jones, John Michael Higgins as Biggley, and Pitch Perfect‘s Skylar Astin as Finch.
“He’s got such great energy,” Urie, last seen here at the Shakespeare Theatre in a powerful take on Hamlet, says of Astin. “He sings so well and he’s got great comic sensibility and is filled with ideas. He’s perfect for the role.”
In addition to his quick stint in How to Succeed, Urie is busy prepping for the Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, part of a sudden resurgence of seminal LGBTQ plays on Broadway that includes Boys in the Band, starring Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and Matt Bomer, and Angels in America, starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
“It seems to be something in the ethos,” he says of the perfectly-timed trio. “I feel in some ways it’s a victory lap for the LGBTQ community. But it may be a call to arms for the rights that are being stripped away by the current Administration — a reminder of what we could lose. That could be it.” He pauses. “I think it could also be coincidence.”
Broadway Center Stage: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying runs through Sunday, June 10 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $59-$175. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
Matthew López felt detached. While reading E. M. Forster's classic novel, Howard's End, in New York's Central Park several years ago, the Tony award-winning playwright was inspired to write his own version of the twentieth-century tale of three British social classes intertwining during Europe's Edwardian era.
Using the essence of Forster's famous mandate from the novel, "Only connect!" López would set his version, The Inheritance in contemporary metropolitan life, replete with themes of young love, politics, sexual escapades, friendship, substance abuse, redemption, and haunting memories of the AIDS epidemic, all of which would be discussed between various generations of gay men.
Metro Weekly magazine was barely a year and a half old when, in 1995, we were offered the chance to interview — and photograph — Broadway legend Carol Channing, then appearing at the Kennedy Center in Hello, Dolly! that fall. Two moments from that experience stand out, the first at the photo shoot with Annie Adjchavanich.
We'd set up a black velvet backdrop in the Hall of States and were waiting for Miss Channing to arrive. When she finally swept in, she looked radiant. Except… she refused to remove her enormous sunglasses. Indoors.
I begged her to take them off, but she firmly declined. "I don't have my eyelashes on," she said. "You are not seeing me without my eyelashes!" And that was that — sunglasses it would be. The result was a cover that was both thrilling (Carol Channing!) and oddly surreal (Carol Channing in giant sunglasses!).
'Tis a season for celebrating significant milestones in dance, including an amazing honor for one of the most revered names ever to be associated with the art form. The Martha Graham Dance Company, appearing in 2026 at the Kennedy Center, will be marking its 100th year sharing founder Graham's singular vision of movement.
The company's major anniversary, along with many others over the 2025-26 season, offers sweet reassurance that dance is forever and shall remain. Meanwhile, a full menu of new works on tap represents what keeps dance moving forward.
Audiences can relish revisiting beloved perennials, like some of the most exciting Nutcrackers you'll find anywhere, and catch up with companies who've been doing this for decades -- from Mark Morris Dance Group and Pilobolus, visiting twice this season, to the Washington Ballet.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.