Jason Robert Brown Says Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Is Still Waiting for a Broadway Theatre

[mitchern]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 3:59pm

The last we heard was coming to Broadway in 2025—but I’m guessing that’s no longer true?
No I can definitively say it’s not coming to Broadway in 2025. Nobody’s going to yell at me for saying that. Broadway is a real estate business, and we’re just waiting on the real estate people to decide that they’re going to bless us today and give us a theatre. And we’ll be ready.https://playbill.com/article/jason-robert-brown-says-midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil-is-still-waiting-for-a-broadway-theatre

[ER765]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 4:04pm

Well considering there’s less than a month left in 2025, no sh*t Sherlock.

Does he mean it’s not coming this season altogether?? 

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 4:08pm

He’s being snarky but I’d bet it doesn’t. If Beaches and Titanique are coming in instead, I don’t see any room. 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 4:42pm

I think he meant “waiting for investors willing to lose millions.”

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 6:27pm

"Now we figure out exactly how we want to move this thing to a Broadway theatre where people have to pay $7,000 to get a second seat in the last row" - says the dude whose Broadway shows (all floperoos) have cost producers and investors something like 10,000 times that much.

[Insert that Wilde quote about irony.]

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 7:02pm

Many investors on this show have since jumped to Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Maybe they found new ones if they’re looking for a theater, but with most swirling show rumors, I’ll have to believe it when I see it. 

Even if it was a critical masterpiece (which, per out of town reviews, it was decidedly not), JRB is like Sondheim for the easy-listening crowd. He can crank out some good songs, but he’s not commercially viable.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 7:16pm

I saw Midnight in The Garden in Chicago, and while it certainly wasn't perfect (there are some serious plotting issues with Act 1), it felt like something that had a path to Broadway. For all that JRB had to say about this being a Taylor Mac show, and wanting to lean into Taylor Mac's style, it felt like one of JRB's more accessible shows.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/5/25 at 10:00pm

Mac’s work was the most interesting by far. Hated the direction and couldn’t remember a song. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/6/25 at 9:31am

Yet another show that needs a producer with balls. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/6/25 at 2:25pm

The man owes us from last season's horror show he decided to stage. Jason is a brilliant artist but I don't think he's ever had a hit on Broadway (?).  I don't know who this show would be for, but I think that about a lot of his work.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/6/25 at 2:32pm

rosscoe(au) said: "Yet another show that needs a producer with balls."

Well, the producer's previous effort was one in which the complaint was that he had cojones con esteroides so maybe that's not it. It was also said at the time that said producer, who had gone through a business and personal bankruptcy, exercised extremely poor judgment in connection with said previous effort, so maybe that's it. 

N.B. These are not the exclusive explanations.

 

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 1:10am

Sutton Ross said: "The man owes us from last season's horror show he decided to stage. Jason is a brilliant artist but I don't think he's ever had a hit on Broadway (?).I don't know who this show would be for, but I think that about a lot of his work."

Didn't the Parade revival recoup?

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 1:54am

Bridges should have been a massive hit. I think the direction was awful and the book all wrong. Get rid of the extra characters - we don’t need a song for the neighbors - and just give me a gorgeous romantic show. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 1:55am

Didn't the Parade revival recoup?

Yes, thank you! I somehow forgot about that brilliant revival in '23.

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 4:30pm

Sutton Ross said: "Didn't the Parade revival recoup?

Yes, thank you! I somehow forgot about that brilliant revival in '23."

If it recouped, and I did not see that reported, it was only (a) barely and (b) because of the NYS production tax credit. That counts for accounting purposes, but if we are counting JRB successes (of which there have been none on Broadway), I would say it is a silly stretch to count this. The tax credit is not a qualitative measure. 

Updated On: 12/7/25 at 04:30 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 4:39pm

this would be a huge bomb on Broadway

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 5:22pm

To my very recent understanding, if it’s coming next year (if at all), it’s coming without Ghee. They’re about to have a VERY busy 2026 as both a Broadway replacement and originator.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 5:24pm

quizking101 said: "To my very recent understanding, if it’s coming next year (if at all), it’s coming without Ghee. They’re about to have a VERY busy 2026 as both a Broadway replacement and originator."

Whoa, SATURDAY CHURCH is transferring?

If not, I’d love to see them play Mama Morton. 

Updated On: 12/7/25 at 05:24 PM

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 7:24pm

I won’t confirm or deny your guesses other than to say one is a perfect fit and the other will very much surprise everyone.

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 12/7/25 at 9:03pm

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I think he meant “waiting for investors willing to lose millions.”"

Correct. I hear they were offered a theater but didn’t have the money. Size of house does matter, but if you don’t have the capital you lose the spot. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/8/25 at 2:51am

Ensemble1698878795 said: "Correct. I hear they were offered a theater but didn’t have the money. Size of house does matter, but if you don’t have the capital you lose the spot."

Sorry, you may or may not be right that they were offered a theatre, but you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the process. A show must capitalize before it opens, but that is not a matter relevant to the theatre owner (except to the extent they may also be a producer or investor in it).The theatre owner will always make certain they have enough money in hand to cover amounts that will be due to them upfront, and then some, but the issue of if a producer has enough money to capitalize is the producer's, and it is the producer's concern because if there is a problem capitalizing, the producer is left holding the bag. So if a theatre is offered, the spot is lost when the producer bails. Now to be clear, theatre owners are not in the business of giving theatres to projects about which they have viability concerns, or do not trust, or simply don't like. That calculus is not uniform, but depends on the when and where, and also the terms. But (to summarize) if you are correct that they were offered a theatre, then you are incorrect about pretty much everything else, and if you are wrong about a theatre having been offered, well then, the rest of what you say is meaningless.