SLAM FRANK to return off-Broadway, Fall 2026

I've heard so many opinions about it that I'm tempted to go see it myself. But every set of tickets I look at from Row H and back is being labeled limited view. I feel like that must be a mistake, yes?

Pass.

The Orpheum has not had a successful long running new musical in it. I fear she's cursed. This doesn't feel like a smart move.

Ensemble1698878795 said: "The Orpheum has not had a successful long running new musical in it. I fear she's cursed. This doesn't feel like a smart move.

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Program quality notwithstanding, the theatre also just sucks. It’s a nice piece of real estate, but is in dire need of a renovation so that patrons who aren’t the size of schoolchildren can sit comfortably.

quizking101 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "The Orpheum has not had a successful long running new musical in it. I fear she's cursed. This doesn't feel like a smart move.

"

Program quality notwithstanding, the theatre also just sucks. It’s a nice piece of real estate, but is in dire need of a renovation so that patrons who aren’t the size of schoolchildren can sit comfortably."

Yeah I love that area, we saw Ginger Twinsies there last year, but the theater is not the greatest

Laura Hughes NYT review of the current production,

Excerpt:

"But the change of venue and the passage of time have brought a different vibe. The raucous energy the show had on a late-night comedy stage, in front of a late-night comedy audience, was not in evidence at the performance I saw at the Orpheum on a Friday at 7 p.m., with a crowd well short of boisterous. The authors’ relentless trolling of smug lefties is more grating than it used to be, because all of us, whatever our politics, have lived a year longer in what has become a 24/7 trolling culture. And sending up “Hamilton,” which the show does while borrowing from its template, just feels wan.

"The previous bagginess of “Slam Frank” has morphed into bloatedness. As often happens with satire, it appears to be past its sell-by date — understandably, given that the catalyst for its creation was a noxious debate on Twitter in 2022. The topic: the ostensible “white privilege” of Anne Frank, a Jewish child who died in a Nazi concentration camp."

I admired what this was trying to do more than I think it is successful at it. The cast is incredible and I think careers will be launched from this (particularly Austen Horne and especially Olivia Bernabe as Anita, who is the lynchpin to this production), at the very least. And it’s well-staged and designed and the score is often very fun.

However, this is inherently a one-joke show for most of its runtime and really could have had a good chunk of its runtime cut, particularly to get to the point faster. Satire is a really tough thing to get right and while I admire this production’s scrappiness and how it got produced, it would have been served by some better dramaturgy and an outside eye. The turn it takes is uncomfortable, complicated, and a little shocking (I wasn’t offended but my heart rate certainly increased) but it shouldn’t take so long to get there when the journey feels like re-treading the same water. The show-within-a-show framing is not very strong and really needs to be jettisoned or strengthened; right now it feels like a half-measure tacked on like an artist statement to contextualize what’s going on.


But I can’t help but want to root for a new musical like this, provocative and with big ideas and things to say at a time in which so much of musical theatre is toothless. Reducing it to “anti-woke” or claiming it is antisemitic misses its point entirely.

Updated On: 10/14/26 at 09:37 AM

To quote Euphoria, “is this fking play about us?”

I think every regular theatergoer has seen a production that assumes the opinions of its audience and preaches to the choir, or puts politics ahead of craft, or simply panders with all the subtlety of a falling anvil. There is a lot of superficial politics and performative bravery in theater thatimmediately crumbles when there’s the slightest criticism. The “art can change the world but only if the audience already agrees with us” mindset certainly deserves to be examined and lampooned.

cortlandmarsh said: "I think you can only successfully satirize identity politics when you have a rock solid and authentic identity yourself. But this show did not when I saw it. I enjoyed a lot of the humor, but kept waiting for the point.

Avenue Q for instance has “Only for Now.” Oh Mary has the great day monologue. If this show could figure out its heart, I think it would have better chances of succeeding."

Agreed. Make fun of everyone, but then leave us with something.