Down the Yellow Brick Pod

Send us Fan Mail After a winter hibernation, Tara and EmKay are BACK with a special bonus episode before Season 2 begins later this month. In honor of Valentine's Day, they are joined by two fellow Oz lovers, their partners, Patrick and Jimmy! The group shares their individual memories of Oz, their experience reading the book now, share theories, and make deeper connections to today's wo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to December's Yellow Brick Crossroads, a monthly bonus episode where Tara and EmKay interact with the incredible snail mail, social media reach-outs, reviews, corrections, and Oz memories you fine listeners share! December's YBC includes a new addition to our Oz library, announcing the WINNER of our giveaway from our Apple reviews (thank you for reviewing!), an i...

Send us Fan Mail It's a very special bonus Yule episode, ya'll! Tara and EmKay unpack The Santa Claus Stories , an anthology of stories all written by L. Frank Baum that will take you on a very merry journey. Tara guides us through the charm of Little Bun Rabbit and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , while EmKay talks us through the Wogglebug's meeting with Santa as well as th...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Part 2 of our final chapter, Home Again. Sea, Tara, and EmKay discuss the meaning of home, what it means to be revisionists of Oz, their top favorite moment of Season 1, and even dip their toes into Season 2! Join us next week for our last episode of Season 1! Show Notes: Sea Sharp Return to Oz  (1985) Dorothy Must Die  by Danielle Paige The Wizard of Oz  (1939) Instagr...

Send us Fan Mail We have made it friends. Welcome to Part 1 of our final chapter, Home Again. A very special guest and dear friend, Sea Sharp, joins Tara and EmKay to discuss the impact of these three short paragraphs, unpack what they have run towards in their lives, and Sea blesses our ears with a reading of their poem Almostly from The Swagger of Dorothy Gale and Other Filthy Ways to Strut . Jo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Part 2 of our second to last chapter down the yellow brick road! Glinda reveals the true nature of the Silver Shoes as Dorothy bids her new friends farewell and claps her heels together to find herself on the plains of Kansas once more. Tara and EmKay unpack the history of mourning in the United States, question the use of the Golden Cap, share more Good Witch of the No...

Send us Fan Mail Our journey down the yellow brick road is approaching its end as Dorothy and friends finally meet the glorious, glamorous, Good Witch of the South, Glinda, who has secrets to reveal and loose ends to tie up in Dorothy's adventure. Tara and EmKay start feeling the feels as they kick off the Yuletide Season and reflect on their time in the original sacred text of Oz. Childhood...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to November's Yellow Brick Crossroads, a monthly bonus episode where Tara and EmKay interact with the incredible snail mail, social media reach-outs, reviews, corrections, and Oz memories you fine listeners share! November's YBC includes listener responses to unpacking L. Frank Baum racist writings, celebrating our first giveaway, a special message from PJ over a...

Send us Fan Mail Encountering a hilltop of over one hundred men with hammerheads, Dorothy and friends escape their plight by using the Golden Cap's last charm to summon the Winged Monkeys to carry them closer to Glinda's girl power palace. Tara and EmKay dive deeper into the meaning of the word "hammerhead," share moments of feeling underestimated, and take a pause to appreciat...

Send us Fan Mail As our friends journey through muck and mud to stumble upon a large meeting of animals (Hungry Tiger included, perhaps?..), the Lion finally gets his starring moment as he slays a terrifying (and sleeping) spider! Tara and EmKay question if this spider is the Great-Great-Great Grandfather of Aragog/the Stranger Things monster, share what feels like home, the need to normalize mens...

Send us Fan Mail Picking back up in the Dainty China Country, our friends encounter a milkmaid, a clown, and a Princess, who all shed light on the lifestyle of the land's inhabitants. Tara and EmKay unpack what contributes to fragility, complicated U.S./China relations history, and ultimately are reminded of the idea of "sonder" - the realization that everyone we encounter has their...

Send us Fan Mail Tara and EmKay were elated to sit down with photographer, fellow Oz lover, and new friend, Curtis Brown to hear all the behind the scenes details of 2019's Broadway Celebrates Oz photoshoot! Curtis spilled some of his favorite secrets of collaborating on the shoot with costume designer Beck Jones, bringing out themes of LGBTQIA+ celebration within the characters, and several...

Send us Fan Mail In part one of this two-parter episode (get ready ya'll), Tara and EmKay question the first few sentences of Dorothy and friends looking up at the wall surrounding the Dainty China Country. After recalling childhood memories of delicately handling dolls made of china and admiring miniature models, Tara guides us through comparing the wall of the Dainty China Country to the U....

Send us Fan Mail Down the YBP hosts Tara and EmKay were so incredibly honored to get to sit down and talk with poet, performer, playwright, and new friend, Sea Sharp.  They discovered Sea's book of poetry, The Swagger of Dorothy Gale & Other Filthy Ways to Strut, earlier this year and were immediately in awe of their work. Join them for a conversation about Sea's introduction to Oz,...

Send us Fan Mail As our friends journey to the South to visit Glinda, they are met by a grove of trees who may or may not be "fighting trees" (we'll leave it up to you to decide). Tara and EmKay reminisce about bidding farewell to places and experiences they had before the pandemic hit, share thoughts on virtue signaling, and start mentally preparing for next week's chapter (Th...

Send us Fan Mail After the Wizard abandons Dorothy and friends by flying off into the horizon in his hot air balloon death trap, the Green Whiskered Soldier has a genius idea for the group to visit Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, in the hopes of finally returning Dorothy home again. Tara and EmKay turn into the Sorting Hat to assign Dorothy and the Witches their own Hogwarts Houses, reflect o...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to October's Yellow Brick Crossroads, a monthly bonus episode where Tara and EmKay interact with the incredible snail mail, social media reach-outs, reviews, corrections, and Oz memories you fine listeners share! October's YBC include Tara's trip to Matilda Joslyn Gage's house, EmKay's thoughts on Judy (2019), listener reactions to recent episodes...

Send us Fan Mail Believing in the Wizard's promise to carry her somewhere closer to Kansas, Dorothy helps DIY a hot air balloon, which ultimately ascends above Oz without her (thanks to Toto chasing a kitten.. mysterious..). Tara and EmKay discuss what it means to feel true belonging, the challenging art of disagreeing with friends, the state of the theatre industry during this pandemic, and...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to September's Yellow Brick Crossroads, a monthly bonus episode where Tara and EmKay interact with the incredible snail mail, social media reach-outs, reviews, corrections, and Oz memories you fine listeners share! September's YBC include an epic fan creation trailer for a live action of Oz, a connection forged through anti-racist work, comparing the Emerald City...

Send us Fan Mail The big moment has arrived for our group to finally receive brains (pins and needles), a heart (a silken sack of sawdust), and courage (a questionable green liquid.. yikes?) as the Great Humbug performs his utmost wizardry to deliver some great PR for his image. Tara and EmKay cozy up on a rainy day to question their relationships with external/internal validation, the beauty of &...

Send us Fan Mail Our hopeful dreamers return to the Wizard’s throne room to lay claim to what he promised, but instead end up finding a humbug cowering in the corner; a man from Omaha making believe at being a Wizard. Tara and EmKay discuss the origins of the word ‘humbug,’ magician-related theories behind Baum’s inspiration for creating the Wizard, and the plethora of nuanced American ideals feat...

Send us Fan Mail In our continued honoring of the winged monkeys' unjust enslavement in The Wizard of Oz , Tara and EmKay hold the author himself accountable for past racial stains without quickly reaching for a Tide To Go pen. These stains are uncomfortable to stare at, but a part of the history we want to continue to unveil. Please proceed with listening caution.  This is the final episode...

Send us Fan Mail In honoring the winged monkeys' unjust enslavement in The Wizard of Oz , Tara and EmKay wanted to hold the author himself accountable for past racial stains without quickly reaching for a Tide To Go pen. These stains are uncomfortable to stare at, but a part of the history we want to continue to unveil. Please proceed with listening caution.  This is our second episode in thi...

Send us Fan Mail Finding themselves lost among fields of buttercups and daisies, Dorothy and friends call the Winged Monkeys to carry them safely to the front gates of the Emerald City. On the way, the Winged Monkeys share their trickster backstory involving a young man named Quelala, a Bridezilla named Gayelette, and the mysterious Golden Cap they have been forced to answer to. Tara and EmKay gig...

Send us Fan Mail A holiday is declared as Dorothy shares the good news of liberation with the Winkies, who heroically rescue the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow and restore them back to tip-top condition!  In this episode, Tara and EmKay discuss the need for days like Election Day and Juneteenth to be National Holidays in the US, memorable rescue missions from their lifetime, and compare the different w...