Stage Appropriate (A Musical Theatre Podcast)

A true tale of two shows in this installment, with a Stage Appropriate favourite and one that grabbed us slightly less. This episode also functions as a weird promotion for Leicester as well as an unexpected opportunity for Juno to discuss the relative merits of chairs in school. We are, as is often the case, judged by our fellow audience members, but don't worry; we're judging them right back.

Tales of musical theatre celebrity spotting, audience impalings and the apparently popular new sport of merchandise-throwing all feature in our discussion of one of the West End's newest (and saddest) shows. Stay tuned till the end for bonus content in the form of Katy having a complete sense of humour failure and probably missing the whole point of The Play That Goes Wrong. Additional note to our...

Top tips, exhaustive shopping rundowns and an inexplicable (and possibly unlistenable) Celine Dion sing along: it's our Musical Con 2024 episode! It was our third year at Musical Con and we love it, even if Juno will forever be salty about being spurned at the Backstage Theatre. Also expect, for no obvious reason, a diversion into how eclectic the music taste of an 8 year old can be,.

You might think a musical based around the concept of a previously popular series of compilation CDs wouldn't work, but you'd be (mainly) wrong; this was fun, as you'll guess when we use that word roughly 75 times here. Also, Jay Osmond: many questions.

We don't know why there are so many musicals about labour rights and industrial action, but at Stage Appropriate we are here for it. We're also here for outstanding new musical theatre performed by super-talented young casts in intimate theatres, so spoiler alert: we loved this one.

If you've ever wondered how long a child can hiccup for, this episode will finally answer your burning question. Also featuring extensive discussion of what "Cornelius" means, as well as much-deserved shout-out for 'The Four Chord Song.'

Problematic plots Vs spectacular stagecraft: which will reign supreme as we discuss a show we've waited so long to see that by the time this is posted, they'd already announced it's closing? Added fun comes from Essex accent analysis, tales of the fun police and some cutting edge political debate from 11 year olds.

Has any show ever necessitated quite so much discussion of pelvic thrusting? Probably not. But, aside from that, we talk about a fun night at a classic show, as well as for some reason arguing about omelettes.

We went to Edinburgh Fringe for the first time! We saw ten shows in 48 hours! We had a depressing pizza experience! It’s an emotional rollercoaster as we relive our Fringe trip, featuring court battles, wild age ratings and emus.

Is this show appropriate? No. But we’re a bit beyond that now, so off we went to the cinema to a screening of Sara Bareilles starring in the show for which she wrote the music. We also discuss another inappropriate modern classic and a Sondheim show that we won’t be rushing to see again.

This might seem like a weird combination of shows and that is an accurate and perceptive reflection. We laughed till we cried at one show and then cried until we couldn’t remember a time before we started crying at the other. Which is which? Listen to find out! Plus bonus content as we discuss Juno’s West End debut with PQA.

Another visit to Leeds Playhouse brings our first encounter with My Fair Lady (regardless of baseless claims that Katy has definitely seen the film). Expect rants about accentism and man-babies, as well as an exciting guest appearance from an often-mentioned but previously unheard visitor.

It feels like we waited ages to see this show but that’s really just a sign of how impatient we are. Either way, it was worth the wait. You’ll hear why in this episode, along with tales of rubbish stalking, excessive caution around luggage and the virtues of Shake Shack as a pre-show meal.

Yes, we've already done a Mean Girls episode BUT that was about the movie and this one's about the show's long awaited London transfer so it's fine. Hear our (extremely detailed) opinions as well as tragic tales of 1990s eyebrow trends and some beautiful harmonising.

We get treated like actual professional theatre reviewers in this special episode about Brassneck's 2025 show, Ghost. One time, autocorrect changed the title of this show to 'Ghost!' which seems like it would be a very different show. Stay tuned till the very end to hear Juno's hard-nosed journalistic skills in action.

Crazy dentists, killer plants and very expensive tote bags all feature in our last New York episode on the long-running Westside Theatre’s revival of Little Shop of Horrors. And if this show is a favourite of yours, we recommend reading ‘Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors’ by Adam Abraham.

If Juno sounds like she’s falling asleep in this episode, let’s put it down to jet lag; it’s definitely not a reflection on this show, which, despite what the reviews might have said, was very entertaining. And also JEREMY JORDAN. Big questions we ask in this episode include what excuse can there be for a boring poster, can a playbill be used as a weapon, and, seriously, had nobody else actually r...

The problem with having a big lag between recording and posting episodes is made clear here as we speculate wildly on the outcome of the Tony’s, which happened months ago. Oh well. Merrily We Roll Along has been one of *the* big shows on Broadway in 2024 and we were lucky enough to see it on our New York trip, so listen to find out why Playbills can be scary and for some bad Harry Potter jokes.

Since we saw this show in May it has sadly closed, but we’ll keep the heart of rock and roll beating with this discussion of a show that is super funny (as you will hear repeatedly). Also featured: Pez dispensers, Frozen links and why you really should never put anything on the ledge at the front of the balcony.

We went to New York in May and started our week of Broadway with the Alicia Keys jukebox musical, Hell’s Kitchen, which recently won 2 Tony’s for its incredible performances. Listen to us rave about this fantastic show, as well as some timekeeping-related transatlantic differences and more discussion than you would expect about the logistics of poster purchasing.

It’s the show all the theatre nerds were talking about this spring; the glorious, delightful and inventive 42 Balloons. Associated nonsense includes Ted Lasso plot holes, more carpark reviews and some McFly rumour-mongering. Keep a look out for this show; it HAS TO come back and you must not miss it.

A perfect example of why a bit of research before ticket purchasing is always a good idea, in this episode we discuss a recent cinema screening of An American in Paris, along with a weird amount of World War II content, book recommendations and a completely irrelevant reference to Bring it On.

Was Linzi Hateley in this show when we saw it in April? No. Do we spend half this episode talking about her anyway? Yes, of course. Other topics include pondering why an all girls school would put this on as a school play when there's one good part for a woman, the massive parachute all British children play with at primary school, and speculation on precisely why Joseph never thinks to buy a...

Hadestown is back in London! But don’t worry because you don’t have to take a railroad line on the road to hell to get there; you can just get a normal train. In this episode, you’ll hear an annoying number of handclaps, as well as references as random as Tenacious D, Frozen and Google Maps.

If you've ever listened to this podcast and thought "these two go on about Yorkshire all the time but do not sound as if they're from within 200 miles of it" then be excited for some quality accent work in this episode, including a guest appearance from South Yorkshire legend, Mick McCarthy. If 'Standing at the Sky's Edge' is a love letter to Sheffield, then this is a...