Broadway’s biggest gossiper brings “remote work” to a whole new level.
The person who knows everything that is happening behind the scenes on Broadway will not be spotted sipping on a spirit at Sardi’s or munching on a meal at Joe Allen. In fact, the prominent industry insider will not be spotted anywhere in New York.
“I am living with my parents, I do not have a car, and I am living in the middle of nowhere,” described actor Jonathan Lewis. But, armed with a video camera and a network of informants, the resident of Pumpkintown, South Carolina, has become one of the top sources of theatre news on the social media platform TikTok using the moniker “Sweaty Oracle.”
With about 43 percent of TikTok’s 1.92 billion users regularly using the platform to get news, it is possible that more people now get gossip about the Great White Way from “Sweaty Oracle” on TikTok than from any mainstream media outlet or trade publication. Unlike print news, television, radio, and even podcasts, the social media platform offers users a sense of community, which serves as a foundation for sharing gossip.
“Everybody in this industry, whether they want to admit or not, likes to gossip,” Lewis commented. “Parties have always run with gossip, and industry bars are reeking with gossip every single night,” he said. But, due to industry politics and a fear of being linked to leaks, “a lot of people cannot gossip publicly,” Lewis observed, and he has become “the mouthpiece for them.”
“I am surprised at the amount of people, including Tony Award-winners, who are coming to me by name with just the juiciest things happening,” Lewis said.
While “Sweaty Oracle” still receives anonymous tips, the Walter Winchell of TikTok confirmed that a lot of his stories come from “insider friends who I have known for over ten years.” He met some of them while working at Walt Disney World, he met some of them while escorting guests at Sleep No More, and he met some of them while singing showtunes at the downtown piano bar Marie’s Crisis Cafe.
“At this point, with almost everything that I run, I am able to vet it with two or three people who I know personally working on the production,” Lewis said.
Some of the stories “Sweaty Oracle” shared on TikTok would have been published on the front pages of industry trade publications.
Speaking with the enthusiasm of an evangelical preacher, Lewis reported before any mainstream media journalists that Lea Michele would be replacing Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl, Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford would be starring in Sweeney Todd, and Michelle Yeoh and Ethan Slater would be appearing in the Wicked film. “Those three stories culminated in helping me grow a following pretty quickly,” he recalled.
Sometimes, “Sweaty Oracle” even shares news about shows faster than their producers.
For example, Lewis informed his viewers a few weeks ago that the Broadway production of My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) had been cancelled. “The Broadway run has been called off, the stage crew has been sent home, and load-in is no longer happening,” he announced.
After the video was posted, someone working on the show contacted him to confirm whether or not it was true.
“It shocks me that somebody in Pumpkintown, South Carolina, can know [what is happening] through five or six sources directly connected with the production before somebody who is getting paid by the production and who is working on it every day is notified,” Lewis commented. “It made me upset about the climate we live in, because it feels very disrespectful to the artists who run the shows,” he continued.
While “Sweaty Oracle” continues to post videos on TikTok every day, he has his sights set elsewhere.
“I do not think that TikTok is going to last forever,” Lewis said. He recalled “when people were making a lot of money off of Vine,” another short-form video platform that shuttered in 2017, and he confirmed that “I am looking to move more into the long-form space and more traditional spaces.” Similar to how the tabloid news organization TMZ created the TMZ Presents documentary series, the content creator is now working on a two-hour documentary about the drama surrounding Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
“I would really like to make this a more professional operation,” Lewis said, adding that “I truly hope that … [in] a year from now, I will be doing it from the middle of Manhattan.”
