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Part 1 of Give My Regards to Broadway
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Published:
2025-05-06
Completed:
2025-05-06
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Breaking Character

Chapter 2: Annotated References

Chapter Text

Musical Theatre and Broadway

 

Leslie Odom Jr. appeared in SVU as recurring character Reverend Curtis Scott. On stage he is most well known for originating the role of Aaron Burr in Hamilton, for which he won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He also appeared alongside Raúl Esparza in the Leap of Faith musical in 2012.

 

Jessica Phillips can be seen in SVU as recurring character ADA Pippa Cox. On stage she is known for being the original Marion in Priscilla Queen of the Desert (2011) and also for originating the role of Sheriff Marla McGowan opposite Raúl Esparza’s Jonas Nightingale in Leap of Faith (2012).

 

Christopher Sieber appeared in SVU 17.07, “Patrimonial Burden”, as Frank Baker, the father of the Dugger-esque reality TV clan. He is most well known on Broadway for originating the roles of Galahad in Spamalot (2005), Lord Farquad in Shrek The Musical (2008), Trent Oliver in The Prom (2018), and, most recently, Ernest Menville in Death Becomes Her (2024).

 

André De Shields appeared in two episodes of SVU (15.14 and 22.14) as Keys, the helpful unhoused gentleman. He is most widely known on the stage for his role as the original Wiz in The Wiz (1974), his lengthy career as a Broadway performer and choreographer, and his originating turn as Hermes in Hadestown (2019), for which he won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. One of his more recent roles saw him as Old Deuteronomy in the ballroom-scene inspired revamp of Cats.

 

Patti Lupone is in one episode of SVU, 16.11 (alongside fellow well-known Broadway actor Jeremy Jordan). Lupone’s stage career is far too extensive to fit into a small paragraph, so I will instead just link her entire Playbill bio. It’s three time Tony winner (eight time nominated) Patti Lupone, people, what more needs to be said?

 

Carousel is a Rogers and Hammerstein musical that first opened on Broadway in 1945 at the Majestic Theatre. It would later go on to have nine additional productions as well as a 1956 film adaptation - in Cinemascope! My personal favourite version is the 2018 Broadway revival starring Joshua Henry and Jessie Mueller, with Lindsay Mendez winning the 2018 Tony award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The revival also won the Tony that year for Best Choreography. 

 

Stage-dooring is a common act done by fans after a show lets out, in which they will wait at the backstage door in the hopes that their favourite performers will emerge and take photos/sign autographs and the like. Most fans who stage-door are lovely.

 

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark was an absolute shambles of a show. It went millions over budget, had a revolving door of casting, and a score composed by U2. During its limited run, six people were injured, including a man who fell 21 feet due to an improperly connected harness (he came back to the show after rehab), and another man who suffered “leg trauma” after being pinned under a piece of equipment. I beg of you to read the Wiki for Turn off the Dark, it’s such a journey. One guy broke both his wrists at one point.

 

Starlight Express is an anthropomorphic train-based musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe because Webber wanted to make Thomas the Tank Engine musical but couldn't get the rights. It initially started on the West End in 1984 before moving to Broadway in 1987 (which won the Tony for Best Costume Design). The whole thing is performed entirely on roller skates. There’s a theatre in Germany that was purpose built for the show, the Bochum, and performances of Starlight Express have been consistently running at it since 1988. 

 

Kiss Me Kate is a musical interwoven with William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. It debuted on Broadway in 1948, winning the Tony for Best Musical in 1949. The 2019 Broadway revival production (featuring Mr. I Don’t Dance, himself, Corbin Bleu) gave the show “minor feminist updates” to make it “more accessible to modern audiences”. 

 

RENT and Tick… tick BOOM! were both born from the mind of composer, lyricist, and writer Jonathan Larson . While RENT is best known and most loved, being played around the world and having had a successful film of it made, Tick… tick recently got its time in the sun. The “revival cast” I mention in the text is entirely fictional, but there was a popular four performance Encores! run of it starring Lin Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Karen Olivo in 2014. A film of the musical, directed by Lin Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield, premiered in 2021. The lines that Sonny quotes to Rafael during their set-to are from the dialogue break in “See Her Smile”.

 

Bridges of Madison County is a 2013/14 musical based on the novel (and film) of the same name. Written by Jason Robert Brown, with a book by Marsha Norman, it won the 2014 Tony awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations. The original Broadway production starred Steven Pasquale and Kelli O’Hara. 

 

Phantom of the Opera is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best known musicals, based on the novel of the same name. Lloyd wrote the music, with lyrics by Charles Hart, and additional assistance from Richard Stilgoe. Phantom premiered on the West End in 1986 before moving to Broadway in 1988. It is the longest ever running show in Broadway history, bypassing its 10,000th performance in February of 2012, and has won multiple Tonys, including Best Musical. 

 

An American in Paris is a 2014/15 musical based on the 1951 film of the same name. The show draws its music from George and Ira Gerswhin and is often remembered for its captivating and elegant ballet-heavy choreography. 

 

Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Into the Woods, and Merrily We Roll Along are all from the musical theatre legend that is Stephen Sondheim. Instead of me desperately trying to condense the man’s life work into a paragraph, I will link both his Playbill bio (https://playbill.com/person/stephen-sondheim-vault-0000007373) and PBS bio (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/stephen-sondheim/). I urge you to discover the world of the late, great Sondheim, you will not be disappointed. The specific song referenced, “Franklin Shepard Inc.”, is from Merrily We Roll Along and is sung by the character Charley about his friend and business partner. The recent 2023 Broadway revival starred Daniel Radcliffe, who won the 2023 Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony, Jonathan Groff, who won for Best Actor in a Musical the same year, and Lindsay Mendez.

 

Guys and Dolls is a musical that pulls from two short stories by author Damon Runyon, while also borrowing characters and plot points from some of his other works. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and a book by Jo Sweling and Abe Burrows, the show opened on Broadway in 1950. At the 1951 Tony Awards, Guys and Dolls swept the competition, winning not only Best Musical, but also Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical. Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando famously starred in the 1955 film adaptation. The most successful North American revival of the show was the 1992 Broadway remount starring Nathan Lane as Nathan (the actor’s stage-namesake) and Peter Gallagher as Sky.

 

Ethel Merman was posthumously called the “undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage”. She originated roles in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, Hello Dolly!, and countless others. Merman was known for her powerful, unique voice and incredible stage presence. Broadway and Ms. Merman go hand in hand.

 

Columbo, the beloved detective embodied by Peter Falk, had a knack for turning on his heel to ask a suspect “just one more thing”.

 

Floyd Collins is a musical written by Adam Guettel, with a book by Tina Landau, based on the true story of a man named Floyd Collins who died during the Kentucky Cave Wars after getting stuck in a narrow passage. It was initially Off-Broadway in 1996 after a premiere in Philadelphia in ‘94. It is currently playing on Broadway with a revival cast starring Jeremy Jordan (SVU 16.11) as the titular Collins. 

 

Legally Blonde: The Musical first premiered on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in 2007. It starred Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods and Christian Borle as Emmett Forrest (note the changed surname). Andy Karl (Sgt. Mike Dodds) played the famous UPS delivery man, Kyle “Walking Porn” O’Boyle, as well as other featured male ensemble. The songs mentioned in the text are “Whipped Into Shape”, in which exercise queen Brooke Wyndham and her minions intensely jump rope on stage for a lengthy period, and “So Much Better”, which Elle sings following her discovery that she got the law internship. 

 

A Bronx Tale is based on both the one-man-show and the movie by the same name. It’s Chazz Palminteri’s book with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. It chronicles the story of Calogero, a young boy in New York’s Little Italy, as he navigates through love, loyalty, and Mafioso. It opened on Broadway in 2016, starring Bobby Conte Thorton and Ariana DeBose. The song referenced in the text is “Nicky Machiavelli”, the closest thing to a villain song the show has, in which Calogero’s Capo, Sonny, lays out the laws of the land.

  

It Shoulda Been You got its Broadway debut in 2015. Telling the tale of a Jewish family blending with a gentile family, Shoulda explores ever changing dynamics, comedically opportune wedding planners, and a double reveal that surprises even the most seasoned of theatre go-ers. It had an amazingly star-studded cast, including Tyne Daly, Chip Zien, and Harriet Harris, but didn't manage to get any Tony nominations.

 

Chest/Mix/Head voice simply refers to where a singer is pulling from. Head voice often goes along with a falsetto whereas chest or mix is more usually used for belting and sustaining.

 

Camelot, based on the Arthurian legends, came to Broadway in 1960. Starring Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, the production won four Tony awards the following year, including Best Leading Actor in a Musical and Best Costume Design. Since its first run, Camelot has boasted many revivals, Broadway and West End alike, with the most recent being in 2023 and starring Philippa Soo as Guenevere. 

 

Man of La Mancha was adapted from a non-musical 1959 teleplay, which was inspired by the famous Miguel de Cervantas novel, but book writer Dale Wasserman consistently stated that the work was not meant to be a faithful rendition of the tale. It premiered on Broadway 1965 with Richard Kiley and Irving Jacobson. The 2002 Broadway revival, starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, is one of the better known productions of the show, with “The Impossible Dream” being the most well-known song.

 

Les Misèrables is a Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alan Boubil musical based on the Victor Hugo book of the same name. It was originally written in French before they translated it into English and it became one of the best known musicals of all time. It first opened in Paris in 1980 before moving to London with the English version and premiering at the Barbican in 1985, starring Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, and Patti Lupone as Fantine. Les Mis would later move to Broadway in 1987, with Wilkinson returning. It has amassed a lengthy award list over the years, including the 1987 Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical. Many people have a favourite Valjean and will defend them with their lives. Alfie Boe was Valjean for the O2 25th Anniversary Concert in 2010 and Ramin Karimloo took up the mantle in the 2014 Broadway revival.

 

The Music Man is a 1957 musical by Meredith Willson that follows con man Harold Hill, who pretends to be the organizer of boys’ bands in order to dupe money out of the residents of an unsuspecting small town Iowa community. Marian, the local librarian and piano teacher, sees right through him, but the pair inevitably fall together following Hill’s eventual change of heart. The original Broadway run starred Robert Preston and Barbara Cook, and won multiple Tonys at the 1958 awards ceremony, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Two film versions were also made, one once again starring Preston with Shirly Jones as Mairan, in 1962; the other was a made-for-TV movie that had Matthew Broderick as Hill and Wicked alum Kristen Chewnoweth as Marian in 2003. A revival Broadway production starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster was mounted at the Winter Garden Theatre in 2022 to... mixed reviews.

 

Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure gained a cult following after its failure to thrive on Broadway in the 1980s. The story revolves around a little girl named Marcella, who is dying after suffering from psychological trauma due to her mother running away with another man which drove her father to drink, and her dog trying to kill her pet bird, which killed them both. Marcella is brought along on an adventure by her own toys to visit the Doll Doctor in the hopes that he can fix her broken heart. 

 

Bye Bye Birdie first opened on Broadway in 1960 starring Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera, and is heavily influenced by when Elvis Presley was drafted into the army in 1957. The main character, Conrad Birdie, is about to be sent off for the Draft and is set to record one more song before leaving. Set in small town Ohio, Birdie is a collection of hijinks, romance, fangirls, and huffy parents. The original production was a great success on Broadway and won the 1961 Tony award for Best Musical, among others. The show was adapted as a film in 1963, with Van Dyke returning to his stage role. It is a very popular pick for high schools, often running in the same circles as Grease.

 

Norma Desmond is the main focus of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard. Originated on Broadway in 1993 by Glenn Close, Desmond is a faded star of the silent screen, desperate to regain her fame while living in a decaying mansion in Los Angeles. Romance and tragedy follow her tale as she meets young screenwriter, Joe Gillis, and he is drawn into her macabre world. As far as I’m aware, a puppet version of the character has never been used in a production, but it would certainly make the show even creepier, and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone eventually made it happen.

 

MisCast is, to pull the description directly from the event’s website, a “one-night-only musical spectacular featuring Broadway’s hottest stars performing songs from roles in which they would not traditionally be cast”. Raúl Esparza has performed at MisCast multiple times over the years, including a duet of “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story, with Lin Manuel Miranda.

 

The performance of “Come to Your Senses” that I gave Barba for his own MisCast performance is, in actuality, one that Esparza himself did at MisCast22. 

 

At MisCast25, Esparza performed an incredibly energetic cover of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked to end the whole evening. This is what is referenced in the karaoke scene.

 

Bernadette Peters is yet another grand star of Broadway. Much like with Lupone, her career is far too lengthy and robust to summarize so I will just link her Playbill bio. Peters is a three time Tony award winner and is known most famously for her work with Stephen Sondheim, specifically Sunday in the Park and Into the Woods. She's a legend, people.

 

Dogfight is a Pasek and Paul musical, with a book by Peter Duchan. It premiered Off-Broadway in 2012 at the Second Stage Theatre starring Lindsay Mendez and Derek Klena. It tells the story of Eddie, a freshly minted Marine, and his band of friends, on their last night before shipping off to Vietnam. They all decide to host a Dogfight, where the Marine with the “ugliest date” wins the pot. Eddie invites Rose, a shy waitress, only to later regret it when he finds himself feeling sorry for his deception. While it didn’t remain on Broadway for long, the show had success in Europe.

 

Groundhog Day is a musical re-telling of the 1993 film of the same name. With music and lyrics written by Tim Minchin, well known for his stage-musical adaptation of Matilda, and a book by the original screenwriter, Danny Rubin. The show got its Broadway debut in 2017, starring Andy Karl and Barrett Doss. Karl would later reprise his role of Phil Connors in the 2023 London Revival and the 2024 Melbourne production.

 

Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical chronicling the rise and fall of the 1960s rock and roll group, The Four Seasons. More specifically, it follows Frankie Valli, the band's de facto leader. A production being a jukebox musical means it uses songs already written, usually contemporary music, like Mamma Mia or Ain’t Too Proud. Jersey Boys utilizes the lengthy discography of the Four Seasons to tell their story. The show officially opened on Broadway in 2005, starring John Lloyd Young as Valli, a role that would earn him the award for Best Actor in a Musical at the 2006 Tonys. The production also won Best Musical, among others.

The original cast album can be listened to here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-ct6_xJ6XZ8bkT3-twIBejcb8jZEgr68&si=nBIQOXweuWOFnetL 

 

Cell Block Tango is a song from the 1975 Kander and Ebb musical Chicago. It is the best known song from the show and has been performed countless times by a veritable cornucopia of people. It’s a six person song, so attempting it with three would certainly be a feat. One of my favourite performances is from the 2015 MisCast show, starring the likes of Jeremy Jordan, Joshua Henry, and Leslie Odom Jr., among others.

The MisCast performance can be watched here: https://youtu.be/yL9f_L-s8GQ?si=txfby6ZACbgnOK4a  

The original Broadway version of the song is available here: https://youtu.be/ly3ccyTI-Js?si=o3L69nW9fwBXQBGd  

 

Studio 54 is both a Broadway theatre and a nightclub stationed in Midtown Manhattan. It also was home to a CBS broadcast studio in the mid-20th century after having been an Opera House for many years. It officially became the Studio 54 club in 1977, and was infamous for its celebrity guest list, extravagant events, and general hedonism. After some years of misfortune, The Roundabout Theatre company got their hands on the space and renovated it in 1998, specifically so as to relocate their production of Cabaret. The main theatre is paired with two sister cabaret venues: Upstairs 54 (since 2001), and 54 Below in the basement (since 2012). In 2023, 54 Below announced its transition to a nonprofit organization.

 

Ti Moune is the main character in the 1990 musical based on a 1985 novel. The story follows Ti Moune, a peasant girl who falls in love with an upper class man from the other side of the island that they both live on. It's a take on life, pain, love, and grief, and is often narrated by the four ruling gods of the island. 

The original cast recording can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8kGVRxjiar1TH1Dup4Jy3PyH0bzHnh0C&si=1FWKqQbWg5SXLb6l  

And the heavily praised 2017 revival cast album is available here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaHwSBnw447pCDNACrLxpImFCLf-C4goY&si=z-NOGqRNy3L2RG7e 

 

 

Italian-ness, Translations, and Other

 

Pasta alle vongole is just any pasta dish “with clams”. It originates from the coastal regions of southern Italy. Traditional recipes usually use spaghetti or bucatini noodles.

 

Baccalà literally translates to “salted codfish”. Specifically, codfish that’s been salted, hung to dry, and then reconstituted in water before being cooked in a red sauce. It is often seen on the table at the traditional Christmas Eve “Feast of the Seven Fishes”. Preparing baccalà, even just reheating it, fills any room with an instant fish smell - this extends to keeping it in the fridge. My Dad is permitted one day a year to make it in the house and we all make plans to be out whenever that day comes.

 

Nipoti is a direct translation for “Grandchildren”.

 

Digestivi, or the singular “digestivo”, are after-dinner drinks meant to settle the stomach and help with digestion. Hence the name. The two I referenced are the ones my family partake in: Fernet-Branca and Millefiori. The first is a specific brand of fernet, which is a style of amaro (bitters). It’s gross as all get out and you can smell the bottle being opened from across the room. My Dad swears by it when he has an upset stomach but I’m convinced it’s just so bad that it beats his stomach into submission once it reaches it. The second is a sweeter, herby liqueur that the older women on my Dad’s side will occasionally bring out, but not often - its main draw is the fact that every bottle has a full twig in it. 

 

Garage wine is a staple of any Italian immigrant grandparent home. My Nonno and Nonna decanted theirs into old 7-Up bottles. The 7-Up is also used to dilute the wine because it’s just that potent - it took my Mum many years before she realised my Uncle brought his own wine because even he knew his parents’ could strip paint. Giving diluted wine to kids is pretty normal depending on the occasion - I think my Dad was seven the first time he was allowed some. The garage is also used for pitting olives and skinning/butchering animals. The things that that garage has seen…

 

Brio is a brand of Chinotto, which is an Italian soda made from the fruit of the myrtle-leaved orange tree. It’s like a bittersweet cola, pretty much. Brio is a Canadian brand out of Toronto, but I’m sure you can likely buy it in the States too.

 

“Otranto è sempre home, bambino." translates to “Otranto is always home, child/boy.”.

 

"America è buona per money, ma non per l'anima.” translates to “America is good for money, but not for the soul.”. 

 

“Al villaggio” translates to “to the village”.

 

“Otranto è il paradiso in terra.” translates to “Otranto is Heaven on earth.”.

 

Froci is the literal Italian translation for “fags”. You might recall the late Pope Francis using a longer version of the term in response to a question about gay men entering the seminary that went rather viral.

 

Cerignola olives are the ones I grew up eating and are my favourite of all the olives. They’re on the bigger side and are served fresh green with full pits or cured black, usually as a table olive. It’s very easy to eat a whole tub in one go and then regret it immediately.

 

“¿Cuánto tiempo?” translates to “How long?”. 

 

“¡Como un girasol que te sigue!” translated into English is as follows: “Like a sunflower that follows you!”.


The ring, in my mind, looks like this but set with this kind of stone . I like to think that once they get married, Sonny’s ring matches but it’s a green opal instead. And maybe they each get another setting put into their rings to add the other’s stone in too. I could go on for days. I'm soft for eye colours, what can you do?

Notes:

If you got to this part, thank you so much for reading my hyper-specific fic! It's truly been a labour of love. The second chapter is, as mentioned in the pre-text notes, a full page of annotated explanations of various things I referenced within the text. Also included are the translations for the Italian and Spanish dialogue and a image-accompanied description of the engagement ring.

If you want to talk about musicals, Esparza, Barisi, other fandoms, or just want to chat, I'm on Tumblr @dotrousersmatter, Bluesky @fitzike, and Twitter @yorickisdead! I'm always open to making new mutuals and mates!

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