A Musical Theatre Podcast

In 1949, KISS ME KATE won the first ever Best Musical Tony Award. Now it's 2024... and we still love it! Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita (Broadway's MATILDA, DAMES AT SEA) joins us to celebrate women and Cole Porter (in that order) as we dive headfirst into this silly and often deeply romantic show. Bonus points to those who can recite "We Open in Venice" correctly. Follow Lesli on Instagram...

NINE surprised Broadway in 1982 when it opened last minute and proved to be a formidable foe to the other big hit of the season, DREAMGIRLS. It was also a musical that couldn't seem to escape drama, whether onstage at the hands of lead character Guido Contini or off. Here this week to discuss the highs and lows of this stylish and somewhat avant-garde musical is original Broadway cast member Kim C...

Happy Groundhog Day! We're celebrating with a special Friday release about, you guessed it, the musical GROUNDHOG DAY. It's a show you've either enjoyed seeing in the West End, on Broadway, in Melbourne, or you missed it. Well, if you think not seeing it means you're getting an early spring this year, you're wrong! Six more weeks of winter for you. Original West End cast member Ste Clough joins us...

Today we're ushering in Black History Month with an episode dedicated to FINIAN'S RAINBOW, a 1947 musical with a pitch perfect score ("Old Devil Moon," anyone?), zany satirical book, and surprisingly groundbreaking history. Broadway cast alum from the 2009 revival Joe Aaron Reid (CHICAGO, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, IF/THEN) joins us for a magically delicious conversation you won't want to miss. Follow J...

It's a tale as old as "dressing like merchandise from Bed Bath & Beyond." This week we're looking at the blockbuster musical BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, a show that changed Broadway (to steal a line from another musical megahit with a strong female protagonist) "for good." Original cast member Kim Huber (SUNSET BOULEVARD, MARIE CHRISTINE) joins us to provide context, insight, and hilarious anecdotes to...

It's our last episode of 2023, just in time for Christmas, just like the new film version of the stage musical THE COLOR PURPLE. It's a piece that has only deepened in our cultural psyche since it premiered on Broadway in 2005, but for those who experienced "the purple effect" from the beginning, this has always been a monumental work. Actress, teacher, and motivational speaker Angela Robinson (PL...

And now for this year's, "Musical You Didn't Know is Actually a Christmas Musical..." THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. This 1985 crowd pleaser is maybe the first (if not only) Broadway musical who's ending depended completely on the audience (and we're not just talking about the length of the curtain call). Put on your detective caps and join author and podcaster Eila Mell (Designing Broadway, The Tony...

If two's company and three's a crowd, then what's four? A party? Well then that's what we've got this week, and the party's theme is the musical NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812. Kyle, Jeremy, and Dana from the musical mockumentary series "Act of Faith" join us to prove just how much they love this unique, electropop opera from 2016. And whether you're already in with or late to Tolstoy (...

Coming in at a healthy 1 hour and 40 minutes, this match, I mean episode, on DEAR EVAN HANSEN explores it all. In one corner, a podcast host fighting for empathy. In another, a podcast host fighting for justice. Who will win?! We couldn't have asked for a better guest this week than talented performer and host of The Roundtable on the Broadway Podcast Network, Robert Bannon. Robert brings humor, h...

Time to celebrate (and modulate) this year's spooky season with an episode on the gothic pop musical sensation JEKYLL & HYDE. Not only is this listener request's road to Broadway an epic journey, so is our guest's relationship to it. Rebecca Spencer originated the role of Lisa (Emma) Carew in the world premiere of JEKYLL & HYDE in 1990 only then to find herself coming full circle with the show on...

PIPPIN. It's a musical with a lot to discuss which is probably why so many of you have requested it! This week, we welcome two wonderful guests with "magic to do" that will help make it happen. Podcaster and author Chris Adams (Out for Blood) joins us from the UK to talk about the hills & valleys and eagles & rivers that went into making a musical as fascinating as it is entertaining. Then, Tony-w...

A great musical will often grow and change as its audience does, and as the people of Maui continue the long road of processing the recent devastation left by deadly wildfires, we realized it was time to relook at the musical COME FROM AWAY. In this newly edited reissue from 2020, Jeff not only speaks with original Broadway cast member Geno Carr about the magic of creating COME FROM AWAY, he also...

IMPORTANT: In the wake of the Maui fires this past month, thank you for your patience as Jeff prioritized his schedule. We hope you enjoy this new episode of "A Musical Theatre Podcast." In the year 1966, many iconic characters arrived on Broadway, among them: Mame Dennis, Don Quixote, and the focus of today's episode, Charity Hope Valentine. Her musical SWEET CHARITY allowed both Bob Fosse to con...

In 2017, the original cast album of BE MORE CHILL was one of the most streamed cast recordings of the year, and it had yet to premiere on Broadway. In fact, it hadn't been performed since its world premiere in New Jersey two years earlier! The epic story of how this modern Faustian musical became a fan favorite is one for the ages, and this week, we have its composer to tell us the tale. Tony-nomi...

Chances are if you're alive in 2023, you've been to Urinetown... the place not the musical. That's because despite being a hit back in 2001, the near apocalyptic state that URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL hilariously captures is somehow more relatable than ever: greedy corporate CEO's, environmental disasters, progressives with grand platitudes... sound familiar? This week professor, director, and choreogr...

PASSION has maybe the most complex approach to exploring love in all of Musical Theatre, so of course the legends Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine were behind it. Here this week to discuss these collaborators and their evocative "passion project" is Ben Rimalower, whose latest project is a podcast spotlighting another of their collaborations, INTO THE WOODS. Warning: this episode requires you to...

CARNIVAL! is a 1961 musical that is simultaneously beautiful, hopeful, sad, and a great exercise for us in 2023. Set those literal minds on standby as Tony-winner Debbie Gravitte (JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY, ZORBA, CHICAGO) joins us to remember this special piece from our musical theatre history and the 2002 Encores! production in which she starred with Brian Stokes Mitchell and, fresh off "The Prin...

A brand new episode mid week?? What is happening? Short answer: The Tony Awards. This Sunday we celebrate the most recent Broadway season by honoring the best of the best, and it just so happens our guest this week is one of the nominees! Taylor J. Williams has helped create more Broadway musicals than most of us have seen in person, and he also happens to be a life long "Renthead." Who better, th...

The musical WAITRESS emerged from the 2016 Broadway season (supposedly dominated by HAMILTON) as something similar to its protagonist's famous pies: a hit on the outside thanks to secret ingredients on the inside. One of those ingredients happens to be this week's guest, Tony-winning actress Jessie Mueller (BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, CAROUSEL, ON A CLEAR DAY...) Listen as Jessie revisits...

Today "A Musical Theatre Podcast" welcomes its first orchestrator! John Clancy (SHREK THE MUSICAL, MEAN GIRLS, THE PROM) has been a long time collaborator with composer Jeanine Tesori and was just nominated for a Tony Award for his work on their new musical KIMBERLY AKIMBO. It isn't often that we get to cover musicals from our current theatre history on the show, so don't miss this special convers...

In 1974, a teenage Robert Viagas (future founding editor of Playbill.com) entered a Broadway theatre and watched the brand new musical from the legendary team of HELLO, DOLLY! Twenty five years later, a teenage Jeffrey Scott Parsons listened to that musical's original cast recording and couldn't figure out why MACK & MABEL was a flop. In this week's episode, Robert and Jeff discuss the enigma that...

Mel Brooks' valentine to musical theatre THE PRODUCERS broke all kinds of Broadway records offstage in 2001, while onstage its zany characters wrote the book on how one should not behave in professional theatre. This week we sit down with longtime "Max Bialystock" Michael Kostroff and his writing partner Julie Garnyè to discuss comedy, goose step chorus lines, and their new book "The Stage Actors'...

MAN OF LA MANCHA may be almost 60 years old, but get ready to hear it in a whole new light. New York's Broadway Bimbo Kiki Ball-Change joins us to discuss the "drag" of Don Quixote, and what the hope of "The Impossible Dream" can symbolize for each new generation, including the current queer one. This is a funny and profound conversation about a musical that can stand the test of time. Follow the...

To quote listener Casey in her request for us to cover SHREK THE MUSICAL, "This show has absolutely no right being as good as it is." And she's right. Even with two Pulitzer Prize winning writers behind it, you might be shocked to find how deep the psychology of "the first musical with a fart song" actually goes. This week fellow podcaster Martín Acuña joins us from Bogotá, Colombia to discuss fai...

How do a Jeffrey Scott Parsons, Caseen Gaines, and Audra McDonald all make it to adulthood without knowing SHUFFLE ALONG? This isn't the beginning of a comedic bit by Miller & Lyles; it's the beginning of a wonderful conversation about a game changing musical too few people know about. Author of the new book "When Broadway Was Black" Caseen Gaines joins us this week on a trip back to 1921 and a mu...