The first-ever Broadway Cruise sailed to Bermuda earlier this month, and Broadway Direct was on board, there to bring the full scoop on all the many performances and panels offered throughout the five-day journey. Consider it the ultimate Broadway binge-watch!
Read through our daily log that details the incredible events, including performances by Laura Benanti and Jeremy Jordan to stories shared by Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming.
Friday, March 31
3:30 p.m.: We are all on board! Before the fun could begin, we headed to our stations assigned on our room keys for a safety drill.
4:15 p.m.: And we’re off! We headed out of New York City toward Bermuda.
5 p.m.: Joshua Henry invited everyone onto the pool deck for the first performance of the trip. The three-time Tony Award nominee kicked off his concert with “Summertime,” followed by many musical-theater favorites, including “Wait for It” and “You Matter to Me.”
8 p.m.: A panel on movie-to-musical adaptations was hosted by Broadway Direct contributor Gordon Cox and included Sierra Boggess, Jeremy Jordan, and Scott Wittman. Boggess and Jordan touched on bringing The Little Mermaid and Newsies to the stage, respectively. And Wittman discussed many of his projects, including the loving reception to Hairspray, the trepidatious and underwhelming reception to Catch Me If You Can, and bringing his latest Broadway show, Some Like It Hot, to life.
Saturday, April 1 on The Broadway Cruise
11:30 a.m.: To start off the first full day on the cruise, I headed to the beautiful Stardust Theater for a panel led once again by Gordon Cox and featuring two-time Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris, Broadway music supervisor Christopher Jahnke (Les Misérables, Legally Blonde), makeup designer Joe Dulude II (Wicked, Beetlejuice), and choreographer Spencer Liff (Head Over Heels, Spring Awakening). They discussed in-depth the many moving parts and pieces that go into crafting a musical on Broadway.
1:45 p.m.: Next up at the Stardust Theater was a tribute to Scott Wittman, with the lyricist himself taking the audience through his musical career, showcased with various performances by the artists on board. Lena Hall opened the event with “Good Morning Baltimore” and stated she had just learned the song that day! Other highlights included Trista Doll’s “I Know Where I’ve Been” and Jeremy Jordan’s take on “They Just Keep Moving the Line.” Jordan also performed “Goodbye” from Catch Me If You Can, with Wittman noting that Jordan was one of the two final people, along with Matthew Morrison, up for the role of Frank Abagnale Jr. before it ultimately went to Aaron Tveit.
4 p.m.: Due to some schedule shifting due to stormy weather, the next artist up to bat was Olivier nominee Sierra Boggess, best known for originating Ariel in Disney’s stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid. She, of course, gave us a performance of “Part of Your World,” saying, “Because we’re at sea, we better sing this one.” She also performed from another of her notable credits — The Phantom of the Opera — singing “Think of Me” in four languages: English, French, Japanese, and a Britney Spears–like impression she dubbed as “Vegas.”
6:30 p.m.: Cerveris was up next at the Stardust Theater. Originally scheduled to be on the pool deck earlier in the day, the bumpy journey outside brought this performance inside, as Cerveris started off his set with “Floating City,” stating he “just couldn’t resist” performing a number from the musical Titanic while on the cruise.
Sunday, April 2 on The Broadway Cruise
11:30 a.m.: We woke up in Bermuda! Fellow travelers departed the ship to explore the port and look at the shops and buildings in the immediate area.
1:15 p.m.: A complimentary ferry departed for St. Georges.
1:45 p.m.: This is when I mistakenly thought the complimentary ferry to St. Georges was supposed to leave.
2 p.m.: I took in the second half of the film adaptation of The Last Five Years starring Anna Kendrick and cruise artist Jeremy Jordan, playing for all the guests who chose to stay on board with some incoming stormy weather.
7 p.m.: Kristin Chenoweth performed her second of two concerts this evening, singing favorites such as “Popular” and “I Could Have Danced All Night,” as well as beautiful renditions of “The Way We Were” and “Bring Him Home.” Later, she commented on constantly being asked to perform “Popular,” saying, “I remember when I saw Barbra [Streisand] live for the first time. She didn’t sing ‘People,’ and I was mad. So I do [‘Popular’].”
8:45 p.m.: Only in Bermuda for the day (she is unable to sail even though she is godmother to two ships, she says), Chenoweth followed up her pair of concerts with a conversation with Alan Cumming, moderated by Cox. The stars discussed their decades of friendship, ignited by their pairing in the 1999 TV remake of Annie, and their latest project together, Schmigadoon. They both can be seen on the latest season, with Cumming taking on a Sweeney Todd–inspired character and Chenoweth embodying a hybrid of Mrs. Lovett and Miss Hannigan.
Chenoweth also hinted at her new musical, written by Stephen Schwartz and based on the documentary The Queen of Versailles, saying the story feels very much in the vein of Gypsy.
She also replied to a question asking if she has a cameo in the Wicked movies by saying, with a sly smile, that she could neither confirm nor deny that she was in the upcoming film adaptation.
11 p.m.: We closed out the night in the Stardust Theater with a tribute to Spencer Liff, a glimpse into his career as told by the choreographer himself. From his professional debut at just age 6 in The Will Rogers Follies to his work as a Broadway choreographer in shows such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening, Falsettos, and Head Over Heels, his stories were complemented by performances from the on-cruise talent, including Tony Award winner Lena Hall performing “Sugar Daddy” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Monday, April 3
4 p.m.: After another day of exploring Bermuda, the cruise entertainment began shortly before sailing off once again. With her first concert being canceled due to weather on Saturday, Laura Benanti finally took the stage on the pool deck, opening with selections from My Fair Lady, which she called “My Fair Lady in under 15 minutes.” She also performed other highlights from her career, such as “The Sound of Music” and “Vanilla Ice Cream,” and finished with her beloved Melania Trump impression, which was made famous on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
5:40 p.m.: We set sail once again! Bon voyage!
6 p.m.: Jeremy Jordan kicked off the first performance for our return at sea. The Tony Award nominee came prepared with a set of tunes for this Broadway-loving crowd, singing songs including “Broadway Here I Come” and “Moving Too Fast,” and re-creating his viral spin on “She Used to Be Mine.” He also made sure to include “Santa Fe” from Newsies and commented on a question he is often asked: “‘Don’t you ever get tired of singing that song?’ And I say, ‘No, it is my favorite freaking song!’”
8 p.m.: As the grand finale to a day filled with shows on the pool deck, two-time Tony Award winner Alan Cumming presented his concert Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, enchanting the audience with performances of “Is That All There Is” and “How Did We Come to This.” Cumming also shared many stories, from his friendship with Sean Connery to the time he performed “Part of Your World” in his club, Club Cumming, with Emma Stone and accompanied by Paul McCartney on harmonica, with Billie Jean King sitting in the audience. “It was kind of like a joke,” Cumming said, “Billie Jean King, Paul McCartney, and Emma Stone walk into a bar …”
Tuesday, April 4 on The Broadway Cruise
12:45 p.m.: After Jeremy Jordan spent nearly two hours doing a meet-and-greet with fans, I sat down with him for a quick conversation (stay tuned in the coming weeks for the full interview). We discussed his concert from the evening before. “When you’re playing to a lot of people who are just obsessed with Broadway, you really want to give them the things they’re expecting and the big moments in your career,” he said about putting together his set list. “This felt like the place to really just go and do the songs that people love because that’s why they’re here.”
2:15 p.m.: Starting off a sunny afternoon on the pool deck, Loose Cattle, the band led by Michael Cerveris, took the stage to perform a set of songs from their original catalog. They warned the Broadway-loving crowd there wouldn’t be many show tunes, but jokingly offered to come by each room singing “Lida Rose” later for anyone disappointed.
4:30 p.m.: For our final concert out on the pool deck, Alan Cumming once again excited the crowd with a performance, this time performing a concert entitled Broadway Baby. Cruisers took in classics such as “Mein Herr,” “I Don’t Care Much,” and “Tomorrow” as we enjoyed views of the clear blue sky and sea. And while Chenoweth didn’t sing “Taylor the Latte Boy” during her concert, Cumming made sure to include it in his set.
Throughout the show, he once again divulged many stories, this time about his theater career. He revealed that, years ago, he played Joanne in a new take on Company during a workshop attended by Stephen Sondheim himself and directed by John Tiffany. It also featured Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jordan, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Andrew Rannells in the cast.
6 p.m.: For one of the final events of the trip, we returned to the Stardust Theater for a celebration of 11 o’clock numbers — the best kind of celebration. From Sierra Boggess’s performance of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” to Joshua Henry’s “Wheels of a Dream” and Trista Doll bringing the house down twice with “I’m Here” and “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” they all made the 6 p.m. event into an 11 o’clock spectacle.
8 p.m.: After performing a rousing “Rose’s Turn” during the 11 o’clock numbers event, Lena Hall returned to the stage for, at last, her solo show. Hall had already dazzled in the days prior by making many special appearances, including joining Jordan to perform “Suddenly Seymour” on Monday, but she closed out the trip by bringing rock ’n’ roll to the Broadway Cruise, stunning with her thrilling vocals in songs like “Tear Me Down,” “House of the Rising Sun,” and “Creep.”
Sending us out sailing for the final stretch of the cruise, she brought out some of the cruise artists, including Jordan, Henry, and Cerveris for a final company bow and performance of “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Wednesday, April 5 on The Broadway Cruise
8 a.m.: We arrived back in New York City, with many guests on the way out already excitedly discussing their plans to return the following year.
For more information on the next Broadway Cruise, head here.