MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast

WE'VE DISCUSSED the trailer and interviewed the cast and crew. Now it's time to hear our review of the long-awaited movie version of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

EARLIER in January, Thos made a visit to the Richmond Theatre to check out their pantomime, Cinderella. He talks to the cast about the creation of the pantomime experience.

WE WELCOME A NEW PRESENTER to the studio: Jennifer Reischel. She and Nick will discuss the new musicals that appeared in London's West End in 2007 and the new ones due to appear in 2008.

EIGHT-TIME OSCAR WINNER and musical theatre and Disney legend Alan Menken joins Nick for an interview and discusses his influences, education, future work and also answers listener questions from the forums. We also play a song written and performed by Alan's daughter - Anna - who is soon about to release an album.

WE'RE BACK from our week off, and Nick tells all about the latest New Year deals happening in the West End at the moment, plays a review from listener Noah Golden who watched the MTV airing of Legally Blonde.

TIME OFF for Xmas? Not us! We bring you an indepth interview with Marc Shaiman, the Tony and Grammy award winning composer and co-lyricist of Hairspray and South Park - Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

TIM AND THOS talk about the successful run of Bad Girls - The Musical, based on a UK TV show, which ran recently at the Garrick Theatre. We also talk with Andrew about Lorna Luft and consider the musical theatre career of Barbara Windsor, recently turned seventy.

TIM, THOS AND ANDREW discuss the controversial West End revival of Jonathan Larson's Rent. We also note the closure of Desperately Seeking Susan and compare two versions of the classic British musical Salad Days.

NICK SITS DOWN with Gavin Creel - the American playing the Brit Bert in Mary Poppins in London

NICK WENT to the official launch of the movie version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and spoke with the film's stars and creative team. Hear Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, Alan Rickman and Sondheim himself in this unusually starry episode of MusicalTalk!

TIM AND THOS get to grips with the two different Frankenstein musicals that have recently opened in New York - one by a certain Mel Brooks. We are joined by Adele Anderson to remember the life of her colleague, celebrated UK musician Russell Churney and Thos compares the authentic twenties musical comedy Lady Be Good to the pastiche of The Drowsy Chaperone that recently closed in the West End.

LONDON IS HOME to many great British and American musicals, but there are two stand out British productions that are actually set in Britain. We delve into them both. Along with a fun "name that show" game, we also discuss Robert Goulet, whose passing saddened the Broadway world last week. We hear from our friend Michael DeGaetano as he shares a story he has from when he worked with Robert.

MusicalTalk's first ever Vidcast with illusionist Paul Kieve and Nick Hutson.

NICK REVIEWS the world premiere of Disney's latest - Enchanted while Thos and Tim pay tribute to the late Deborah Kerr and Ned Sherrin, recent losses from the musical theatre world.

TIM TALKS with Mat Fraser, creator of Thalidomide!! - A Musical, about his work, his favourite musicals, his views on Wicked, Billy Elliot and some taboo topics. WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE!

THOS INTERVIEWS Nicholas Parsons and Jon, Nick and Dom discuss the Sweeney Todd Trailer.

JOIN NICK, Andy and Jon for the final and fiftieth episode of season one to discuss the past year of MusicalTalk and Andy's new job in We Will Rock You in London at the Dominion Theatre. We also talk about the film Confetti in which Andy makes a brief appearance.

JONATHAN COHEN is back, and discusses with Nick the music of West Side Story on its fiftieth anniversary. Jon asks Nick about his musical production of Just William (and plays the overture) and we also announce the US premiere of Jerry Springer - The Opera.

THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL is home to a massive array of productions, of all levels of quality, and including many musical theatre productions. Thos took the handheld recorder to the Fringe for a weekend and reports on a series of productions.

DISNEY, as well as producing H*gh Sch**l M*s*c*l, which we don't talk about, have created a series of stage shows that have played both Broadway and the West End. Recently closed is Beauty and the Beast, which Dom reviews, while Rebecca reports on the Colorado tryout of its successor The Little Mermaid. Dom also reviews Legally Blonde.

WHAT DEFINES A FLOP? Nick, Rebecca and Thos work their way through examples from the nineteenth century to 2005 to consider what we mean by this term. Is it about money; is it about critical success?

THE MARVELLOUS Mr Andy Edwards returns to the MusicalTalk studio to spill the beans about his adventures on the national tour of The Producers. We also discuss a panoply of musical theatre fans' pet peeves!

LET'S HAVE A HEATED DEBATE! Tim recently took friend Darren to see Wicked. Neither had ever seen it before and neither rated it high. Lisa, meanwhile, (making her debut as a presenter) has now seen it five times and loves everything about it. So it's time to discuss whether this mega-musical is Wonderful or merely Popular. Tim and Darren review the show first, then Lisa reports from the final perf...

EMMA recently appeared in the role of Johanna at the Royal Festival Hall's all-star concert staging of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Tim, Thos, Nick, Rebecca, Jonathan and regular MT listener Andrew were all there to review the show.

BORODIN's music was never written for a musical, but he still managed to win a Tony in the fifties (66 years after he'd died) for Kismet, the musical (or is it an operetta?) based mostly on his score for Prince Igor. It was recently revived, to dire reviews, at the ENO. Tim and Thos discuss. Also, as a followup to our Kids' Stuff episode, Tim and Nick interview Adam Bampton-Smith of Big Wooden Hor...