A Couple of Guys Talking: Brian Paul Scipione and Darrren Scharf on the Show Presenting the 2025 - 2026 Season of Broadway in Austin
Broadway in Austin 2025-2026 Season Preview Party:
A Conversation with The Stage Austin’s Darren Scharf
By Brian Paul Scipione
Brian Paul Scipione - “We just went to Texas Performing Arts 2025-2026 Broadway in Austin preview night. They're introducing 10 shows this year. You can buy a season ticket for 6:00 or 8:00 shows and then add on the last two shows. The first thing that they announced was Kimberly Akimbo. Darren what was your impression of that show?”
Darren Scharf - “I'm not familiar with it but I don't know—there's something about it that grabbed me. It had an energy, you know; I feel like it's a show I should know of, and I want to know more about, so I'm interested.”
BPS- “Let’s see, six years of development is what it said to make this show.”
DS- “Is that a lot?”
BPS- “It feels like a lot for such a simple show.”
DS- “Yeah, it didn't seem like anything necessarily revolutionary, or you know, reinventing anything. And even after seeing the trailer, I couldn't tell you what it's about.”
BPS- “I can't either.”
DS- “Young people?”
BPS- “I wrote down PEN15 vibes and then I wrote down Reading Rainbow vibes.”
DS- “Both of those are things I love, so yeah, that's why I'm interested. Bu,t again, I I don't know what it’s about.”
BPS- “And this starts my trend for the night where I kept making the note that these are clearly people in their 30s and late 20s playing teenagers.”
DS- “I was basically wondering if is it a live action Kim Possible-like adaptation or the stage.”
BPS- “I didn't really know. I also thought it might have just been like Freaks and Geeks.”
DS- “Again. All great. Great IP's, and I'm all into that.”
BPS- “A lot of overalls in the costumes, a lot of a lot of dancing, and I think they mentioned something about tap dancing. On to the next show— The Outsiders.”
DS- “This is their banner show!”
BPS- “They banged on about it. They had two people come out and perform songs from the show.”
DS- “Separated by an interview with the producer.”
BPS- “Then they mentioned the composer of all the music was from Austin, right? And then I wrote down ‘it's a very Austin sad sack, I'm great, why is no one listening to me’ vibe. Which I feel like is really telling of a lot of Austin music. What did you think of the two songs they did?”
DS- “I liked them a lot more than I thought I would. I haven't seen the movie in probably thirty years, and I have some good memories. But how much do I trust or actually remember? I don't know, but you know Stay Gold Ponyboy stuck with me. It just seems like it's fodder for some real schlocky stuff. You know: ohh, here's the song Stay Gold!”
BPS- “But it wasn't the vibe that I remembered from the movie. Like, I remember the vibe was, like, dirt and bare knuckles, right?”
DS- “Absolutely. It was greaser shit.”
BPS- “Yeah greaser shit! But this gave me the vibe of an after school special.”
DS- “It did. It did, but once they started singing the songs, I admit it did get me a little bit.”
BPS- “It's a little ironic because they had the producer out there interviewing, and so firs,t he starts talking about what the different types of producers are. And then he tells this really cute anecdote (which is solely the reason they flew him out here) about S.E. Hinton and walking her to her car, and she says, quote, Matthew you did good you did really good.”
DS- “Both thank you and also that just what you say to somebody because you don't know what else to say.”
BPS- “It doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement. It’s probably one of the last movies I would try to change into a musical. And we know me —as a reviewer I have a lot of beef with intellectual property being used as a cash grab. What are they going to do next—Stand by Me? (singing) There's a body by the train tracks! Then we had a very brief introduction to the fact that Sound of Music's coming back. With a pretty good video.”
DS- “I didn't know it was here. I didn’t know it left. I guess I'm glad it's coming back. It's a classic musical. Great. I'm not opposed to it.”
BPS- “I'm fully on board. Okay, so then we had The Wiz but every video they showed about The Wiz was of the original Broadway performance. So they didn't actually show us a preview of The Wiz.”
DS- “So we don’t know what we can expect. I know that song and I know a little Michael Jackson. It’s probably gonna be fun, but I'll give it a pass.”
BPS- “Okay, so now we're onto The Great Gatsby. This is what I wrote: They showed a beautiful preview of everyone dancing and looking beautiful. And then I wrote like everything Fitzgerald hated and lambasted about society is being celebrated.”
DS- “Yeah, that's fantastic. I like that. That honestly makes me wanna see it for I -don't-know-why reasons. I wanna hate-see it.”
BPS- “Right. It's funny because it brought up to mind Baz Luhrman, and I couldn't bear to watch the Baz Luhrman production. Then the very next thing they said is coming out next July is & Juliet, which is a jukebox musical. They're doing Romeo and Juliet as if Juliet survived.”
DS- “This was a new one on me and it caught my attention. I give it that, but yes, the whole jukebox musical. Again, catchy songs you know (sings) Hear me roar!”
BPS- “Oh, my God, that one really got me. I love that Katy Perry song. It's just, like, odd because Juliet is the least empowered character—not in theatrical history, but in Shakespeare. She's literally getting abused by her dad physically on stage, by her mom and by her nurse, who says you gotta take it. By her cousin who gives her no agency at all, and she's desperate for this little punk Romeo, and he can't even keep his nerve long enough to survive.”
DS- “Does this start at the end of Romeo and Juliet?”
BPS- “That's what they said.”
DS- “So, she's still gone through all this and the only difference is she's chosen not to follow her beloved. It seems flimsy. It seems cheap. A real cheap framework just to flaunt some pop songs, but I bet I'd like it if I went and saw it. Not as a whole, just, like, have a good night.”
BPS- “I feel like & Juliet is basically a rip-off of what SIX actually did. It took some very unempowered female characters and empowered them by putting them in the modern context.”
DS- “That's coming back!”
BPS- “I’m super excited.”
DS- “That’s one I regretted not seeing.”
BPS- “And the irony is they gave it, like, two minutes of the preview tonight. On that note: Beauty and the Beast, they dropped, will be sometime in December.”
DS- “That's cool. Some good, good songs but also well-trodden territory.”
BPS- “I feel really weird—and I mentioned this to you during the performance—that the beast looks so damn handsome. It’s counterintuitive to the fact that he's supposed to be a beast and she's supposed to love him through his ugliness.”
DS- “I agree. This whole thing is animal magnetism.”
BPS- “Pun intended. The next thing I have here is Hadestown on February 25th. I'm super excited. The music's original. It’s non-poppy. The music's genre-defying where most Broadway musicals are (singing) Pop-u-lar. This one is, like, we are going to do a different genre and we're going to do it well and you're going to come with us or you're not.”
DS- “I'm super interested in seeing it. I’m real into it.”
BPS- “This brings us to Mama Mia, which I I've never seen before.”
DS- “I’d see Mamma Mia just for fun. Like, I mean, if you're into the vibe then it's a great time.”
BPS- “Then they had the students from the Heller Awards program come out and perform a medley from the show.”
DS- “I liked seeing those high schoolers at the end.”
BPS- “They were so much fun! They were the most fun of the night.”
DS- “It was adorabl
BPS- “And none of them balked. They all just walked in, and they were, like, we're gonna just kill.”
DS- “They were doing it, singing and dancing their hearts out, and it was the best.”
BPS- “It was the highlight of the night.”
[Edited for content.]