OriginalCastPod

The Original Cast at the Movies 05: Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

Executive Director of the LGBT Equality Caucus for the U.S. House of Representatives Roddy Flynn (Anyone Can Whistle, et al.) and actor/director/person Kari Ginsburg (Gypsy, et al.) are here for a talk about this Ulu Grosbard directed, Herb Gardner written, Shel Silverstein songs by film that Patrick first found in the $1 VHS bin at The Wall in the Concord Mall. 

Emma Jackson / Brigadoon - EMI Records (1992)

It's bloody Brigadoon! Actor Emma Jackson is here with the greatest "how did this show come into your life?" answer yet.

Topics include: Delaware, Delawareans, Delaware theatre, people I know in Delaware, and Longwood Gardens.

Additional topics include: Does the plot make sense? Is Alan Jay Lerner a good writer? And what does Jeff do with his day in Brigadoon? 

Intermission: Untitled Beth Amann Intermission (w/ Beth Amann)

Patrick and Beth talk about kids, kids producers, then producing, then kids again. It all makes sense. 

Brittany Truske / Next to Normal - Original Broadway Cast Recording (2009)

Adventure Theatre MTC's Assistant Production Manager extraordinaire Brittany Truske is here for a good but tough musical. The 3rd in our Pulitzer Prize-winning musical series and the most controversial.

Topics include: seeing a show blind, auto-tuning one tiny phrase, and are there any happy songs in Act 2?

Trigger Warning: Next to Normal deals with the issues of prescription drug abuse, electroshock therapy, and suicide. If these topics are not your favorit...

Intermission: Billy the Shake (w/ Charlene V. Smith)

When one has a Shakespeare scholar as a guest, one talks about Shakespeare. Especially when the guest and one agree on so much about Shakespeare. 

The Original Cast at the Movies 04: Topsy-Turvy (1999)

Playwright/actor/director/Shakespearean scholar Charlene V. Smith (Man of La Mancha - London) and theatre historian Sara E. Cohen (Pippin) come down to talk about maybe the best historical film ever made.

And, unlike last month, that is not a sarcastic statement. 

Don Mike Mendoza / Do I Hear a Waltz? - Original Broadway Cast (1965)

La-Ti-Do co-founder Don Mike Mendoza is back! This time we're talking about that most puzzling of musicals, the Sondheim/Rodgers/Laurents collaboration that ended all those friendships.

Topics include: Why? Seriously why? What? And why?

Also TRIVIA! 

Intermission: Remember the Time (w/ Daisy Eagan)

The final bit of my December 2016 conversation with Tony Award-winner Daisy Eagan is a nostalgic trip down problematic lane and a hopeful look forward. 

Tia Shearer Bassett / Titanic - Original Broadway Cast Recording (1997)

Actor/teacher/maker/mama Tia Shearer Bassett is here to talk about the musical about the boat that sank, and Leo & Kate barely come up.

Topics include: Michael Cerveris, Brian D'Arcy James, and the audacity of hope.

Mean Girls and Legal Blondes (w/ Don Mike Mendoza)

Don Mike returns in 3 weeks to talk about Do I Hear a Waltz? but before he does, here's a snip from that conversation about Mean Girls which opens this week at the August Wilson. 

Katie Whitley & Brad Whitley / Cabaret - The New Broadway Cast Recording (1998)

 The gang from Decomposition Podcast is here to talk about another Kander & Ebb revival that outran it's original production. 

The Original Cast at the Movies 03: From Justin to Kelly (2003)

Lee Liebeskind (Spring Awakening) and Liz Maestri (Les Misérables OLCR) join Patrick for a deep-dive into this . . . movie? Is it a movie? It certainly wants me to think it is.

Intermission: Send in the Clowns (w/ Holly Twyford)

Actor Holly Twyford talks about her musical debut as Desiree in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at Signature. A daunting undertaking for which she is currently nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. 

Harrison Smith / Parade - The Original Broadway Cast Recording (1999)

 Actor Harrison Smith is here for one of the most important and difficult to listen to musicals ever.

Topics include: JRB, Prince, Uhry, Guettel, and the terrifying capacity of James Finley. 

Intermission: Collaboration (w/ Logan Culwell-Block)

Logan Culwell-Block is back for this excised conversation about collaboration. Also Barbara Dickson. Also Logan didn't really think ASSASSINS came out in 1976. That was an auditory error. 

The Original Cast at the Movies 02: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Activist playwrights Natalie Ann Piegari (CATS) and Amanda Zeitler (STARMITES) come on down to talk about Disney's groundbreaking story about a woman who learns to love the man who kidnaps her after spending time with him and his staff of housestaff who are forced to live for a decade as living objects . . . Wait, what? 

Elisa Rosman / March of the Falsettos ; Falsettoland - Original Cast (1981 ; 1990)

Music director and pianist extraordinaire Elisa Rosman is here for two LPs about a single show that was two shows (really three shows) and is now one show but is still good enough for three shows. 

Intermission: Try It and See (w/ Danielle Mohlman)

Three quick conversations excised from Danielle Mohlman's episode about Jesus Christ Superstar including an amazing surprise I'm so excited for you to hear omigod, you guys. 

Vaughn Irving / Striking 12 - The New GrooveLily Musical (2005)

Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Playhouse Vaughn Irving is here with another Zeitler!

Topics include: drummers, grooves, and what does an artistic director do anyway?

See It's the Rest of the World That Looks So Small NOW at the Silver Spring Black Box!

Intermission: Decomposing Billy Joel (w/ the Decomposition Podcast)

I'm on Decomposition Podcast this week defending the honor of Tony Award-winner Billy Joel. This week's intermission is an excerpt from that appearance. The full episode is available over at Decomposition Podcast. 

Thembi Duncan / The Wiz - Original Soundtrack (1978)

Playwright and teaching artist Thembi Duncan is here to talk about the film version of THE WIZ.

Topics include: Baby Thembi, Can Beyoncé act?, and white man Patrick asking racially sensitive questions in a hopefully respectful manner that Thembi handles with a kindness and grace rarely seen in this day and age. 

The Original Cast at the Movies 01: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Tracy Lynn Olivera (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown) and Holly Twyford (Annie) are with us to talk about the inexplicably dark, weird, and awesome Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).

Intermission: Rent - The Movie (w/ Jimmy Mavrikes)

Jimmy and Patrick divert into the rich vein that is the major motion picture adaptation of RENT. Lord help us.

Lauren Halvorsen / The Wild Party - A Decca Broadway Original Cast Album (2000)

The thrilling conclusion to our deep-dive into THE WILD PARTY. We talk the La Chuisa/Wolfe Broadway version, Mandy Patinkin, the philosophy of adaptation, Mandy Patinkin, which we prefer, and Mandy Patinkin in . . . (not a joke, wish it was) blackface.

Lauren Halvorsen / The Wild Party - Original Cast Recording (2000)

Dramaturg Lauren Halvorsen is here for the first of our epic, two-part dive into both musical versions of THE WILD PARTY. Here we cover not only Andrew Lippa's off-Broadway take on Queenie, Burrs, Black, et all; we also talk through Joseph Moncure March's novella-length poem upon which both musicals are based.

Intermission: Which Party is Wilder? (w/ James Finley)

The next two episodes of this podcast will feature Lauren Halvorsen discussing both Andrew Lippa and Michael John La Chuisa's interpretations of The Wild Party.

So before we dig deep into one of the oddest coincidences in New York theatre history, I'm bringing you this excised bit from James Finley's episode about The Life where James compares the two shows from the perspective of having been in both.

The Original Cast at the Movies 00: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Kari Ginsburg (Gypsy), Kenny Neal (Starlight Express), and Emily Zickler (Sw...