Broadway gossip takes “remote work” to a whole new level.
The user who knows everything that happens on Broadway probably wouldn’t be seen drinking a liquor at Sardi or eating a meal at Joe Allen. In fact, the eminent industry insider would possibly not be seen anywhere in New York.
“I live with my parents, I don’t have a car and I live in the middle of nowhere,” actor Jonathan Lewis described. But, armed with a video camera and a network of informants, the Pumpkintown, South Carolina, resident has one. of the top theatrical news resources on the social media platform TikTok, under the moniker “Sweaty Oracle. “
Given that around 43% of TikTok’s 1. 92 billion users regularly employ the platform for information, it’s conceivable that there are now more people receiving gossip about the Great White Way via “Sweaty Oracle” on TikTok rather than any mainstream media or advertising post. Unlike print newspapers, television, radio, and even podcasts, the social media platform provides users with a sense of community, which serves as a basis for sharing gossip.
“Everybody in this industry, whether they have to admit it or not, likes to gossip,” Lewis said. “The parties have been filled with gossip, and the commercial bars reek of gossip every night,” he said. But, because of industry politics and concerns about being connected to leaks, “a lot of other people can’t gossip publicly,” Lewis observed, and he’s become “their spokesman. “
“I’m amazed at how many people, Tony Award winners, come up to me on calls and tell me the juiciest things,” Lewis said.
While “Sweaty Oracle” still gets anonymous tips, TikTok’s Walter Winchell proved that many of his stories come from “inside friends I’ve known for over a decade. “He met some of them while running at Walt Disney World, he met some while accompanying guests to Sleep No More, and he met a few while doing a song showcase at the downtown piano bar, Marie’s Crisis Cafe.
“At this point, with pretty much everything I’m directing, I have to check it out with two or three other people I know personally who are in charge of production,” Lewis said.
Some of the stories shared through “Sweaty Oracle” on TikTok have reportedly been featured on the covers of industry publications.
Speaking with the enthusiasm of an evangelical preacher, Lewis informed all the mainstream media reporters that Lea Michele would update Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl, Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford would star in Sweeney Todd, and Michelle Yeoh and Ethan Slater would appear in the movie Villain. “Those three stories ended up helping me grow up pretty quickly,” he recalls.
Sometimes, “Sweaty Oracle” even stores data faster than its producers.
For example, Lewis informed his audience a few weeks ago that the Broadway production of My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) had been canceled. “The Broadway broadcast was canceled, the level crew was sent home and loading will no longer take place,” he announced.
After the video was posted, someone appearing on the screen contacted him to verify whether it was true or not.
“It amazes me that someone in Pumpkintown, South Carolina, can know [what’s going on] through five or six resources directly similar to production before someone who gets paid through production and works there every day tells them,” Lewis said. I was disappointed by the climate we live in, because it’s very disrespectful to the artists who run the shows,” he continued.
While “Sweaty Oracle” continues to post videos on TikTok every day, it has its attractions elsewhere.
“I don’t think TikTok is going to last forever,” Lewis said. He recalled “when other people were making a lot of money from Vine,” another short-form video platform that shut down in 2017, and proved that “I’m looking to move more into the long-form area and more classic areas. “In the same way that the tabloid TMZ created the documentary series TMZ Presents, the author of the content is recently presenting a two-hour documentary about the drama. around Natasha, Peter, and the Great Comet of 1812.
“I’d like it to be a more professional operation,” Lewis said, adding that “I hope . . . [in] a year I’ll do it from midtown Manhattan. “