SmartLess

Podbit · SmartLess

"Jon Bernthal"

Explore episode Jun 8, 2026
Arts
Broadway's New Audience: Buses from Staten Island

"Jon Bernthal" · Jun 8, 2026 Arts

Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway isn't just a hit — it's doing something rarer: expanding who goes to the theater at all. Bernthal says people are coming backstage saying it's not just their first time on Broadway but their first time in a theater, period. Buses from Staten Island. That's the Russia effect in real time: theater should be vital and for everybody, not an exclusive thing for the gentry.

2m 9s

Where this was said

Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway and the Theater Audience

At 9:26 · chapter starts 8:55

Bernthal opens by wishing Will a happy birthday and complimenting his recent film — calling the performance a deep dive into fatherhood, husbandhood, artistry, and falling back in love with a partner. Will notes that Bernthal's co-star in Dog Day Afternoon is mutual friend Johnny O. Bernthal then describes the show's remarkable cultural impact: it's drawing buses from Staten Island filled with people for whom this is not just their first time on Broadway, but their first time in a theater at all. For Bernthal, this is the point — theater in Russia was never for the gentry, it was vital for everybody, and he's thrilled to see that ideal realized on a Broadway stage.

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