Exclusive: Oh My Pod U Guys- Broadway Melody with Jack Viertel

The latest episode of Oh My Pod U Guys (hosted by Jayke Workman) is here! Oh My Pod U Guys is a weekly musical theater and pop culture chat show, in which Jayke discusses current events in the world of theater and the arts, and interviews some of your favorite Broadway personalities and members of the LGBTQ+ community! 

U Guys, this week's BroadwayWorld Recap has some very exciting Broadway news, brought to you by BroadwayWorld. Then I am joined by a true expert of Broadway knowledge, Jack Viertel! Jack is a producer, professor, and dramaturg whose book, The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built, made him a New York Times Best Selling Author. We talk about his extensive career in New York City theater, including his hand in co-creating the Encores! series at New York City Center, serving as Artistic Director for twenty years. He shares his experiences in producing new musicals, having also served as Senior Vice President of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns and operates five Broadway theaters. Jack's latest artistic endeavor is his new novel, Broadway Melody, which hits shelves on April 2nd, 2024. Jack is an absolute wealth of knowledge and such a delight, U don't want to miss this episode!

Jack Viertel is an American producer, author, and former senior vice president of Jujamcyn Theaters. He has been involved in dozens of productions presented by Jujamcyn since 1987, including multiple Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners, from City of Angels to Angels in America. He is also the former artistic director of New York City Center's acclaimed Encores! series, where he oversaw fifty shows, for some of which he adapted the scripts. He conceived the long-running Smokey Joe's Cafe and the critically acclaimed After Midnight and has been a creative consultant on many shows, including Hairspray, A Christmas Story, and Dear Evan Hansen. He was the Mark Taper Forum's dramaturg and the drama critic and arts editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and he has spent a decade teaching musical theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.