Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast

By: Robert W. Schneider
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  • Summary

  • Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast is a supplement to the Routledge Press publication Fifty Key Stage Musicals. Each episode focuses on an iconic musical that altered the landscape of the genre and features interviews with theatre professionals and scholars. Hosts: Andrew Child and Robert W. Schneider.
    2022
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Art Entertainment & Performing Arts
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Episodes
  • Ch. 50- DEAR EVAN HANSEN

    Ch. 50- DEAR EVAN HANSEN
    May 31 2022
    DEAR EVAN HANSEN COMPOSER: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul LYRICIST: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul BOOK: Steven Levenson DIRECTOR: Michael Greif CHOREOGRAPHER: Danny Mefford PRINCIPLE CAST: Rachel Bay Jones (Heidi), Laura Dreyfuss (Zoe), Ben Platt (Evan),  OPENING DATE: Nov 14, 2016 CLOSING DATE: Still running as of publication PERFORMANCES: Still running as of publication SYNOPSIS: Evan Hansen is a high schooler struggling with both peer and self-acceptance. When a fellow student takes his own life, Evan begins to create a fictional friendship with the dead student, tricking not only the student’s family but the whole world.  Producer Stacey Mindich revolutionized the relationship between Broadway musicals and their young fans, making recordings available to the public alongside the announcement of the show’s first tryout, attempting to reflect their experiences on stage without parodying or satirizing them, and even leading a video campaign which includes fan videos in the show’s projection design. Frederick D. Miller explores the ways Dear Evan Hansen comments on a societal reliance on social media while existing in an industry increasingly dependent upon social media to profit and survive. Young writers Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson provided nuanced observations on the budding culture around social media without moralizing or criticizing. It was this musical that then fostered the growth of such musicals as Joe Iconis’ Be More Chill. Frederick D. Miller is an undergraduate theatre major at the Pennsylvania State University. A dramaturg, Miller’s work focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first-century American theatre. His work has informed productions of Angels in America, A Little Night Music, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Caroline, or Change. He is the regional recipient and national semi-finalist for the 2020 KC/ACTF Award for Outstanding Dramaturgy, and a project associate for the #HereToo Project, which amplifies youth activists’ voices through performance. An advocate for theatre education, Miller is a frequent teaching artist with high schools and theaters in the Central Pennsylvania region. SOURCES Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Paek, Justin Paul, published by Theatre Communications Group (2017) Dear Evan Hansen, Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records (2017) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    39 mins
  • Ch. 49- HAMILTON

    Ch. 49- HAMILTON
    May 30 2022
    HAMILTON COMPOSER: Lin-Manuel Miranda LYRICIST: Lin-Manuel Miranda BOOK: Lin-Manuel Miranda DIRECTOR: Thomas Kail CHOREOGRAPHER: Andy Blankenbuehler  PRINCIPLE CAST: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Leslie Odom Jr. (Burr), Phillipa Soo (Eliza) OPENING DATE: August 6th, 2015 CLOSING DATE: Still Playing as of this writing PERFORMANCES: +1900 SYNOPSIS: The life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton is explored from his immigration to the United States through his murder by political rival Aaron Burr.  W. Jerome Stevenson argues Hamilton’s significance as a twenty-first century musical which was able to maintain mass appeal to the public amid a flurry of tourist-oriented Broadway productions. Hamilton’s original score and historical storyline update the structure of a traditional book musical by fusing the narrative with rap and hip hop and reimagining white figures as people of color. The Lin Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Andy Blankenbuehler production set off a global revolution with its contemporary score but was later brought under scrutiny for its lack of accurate representation of Afro-Caribbean and African-American voices. W. Jerome Stevenson is an Instructor of Performance for the Helmerich School of Drama at the University of Oklahoma and served as the Producing Artistic Director of the Pollard Theatre Company in Oklahoma until 2020. Stevenson is an accomplished director and a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association and serves as adjunct theatre faculty at Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Universities. Stevenson’s numerous directing credits include Hairspray, Green Day’s American Idiot, Crowns, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. In addition to a variety of work in radio, television, and film, Jerome was the recipient of a 2018 Oklahoma Governor Arts Award for Community Service. SOURCES Hamilton, Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic (2016) Hamilton, starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr., directed by Thomas Kail. Walt Disney Pictures (2020) Hamilton: One Shot to Broadway, starring Lin Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom, Jr., directed by Elio Espana. Symettrica Entertainment (2017) Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, published by Grand Central Publishing (2016) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    55 mins
  • Ch. 48- FUN HOME

    Ch. 48- FUN HOME
    May 29 2022
    FUN HOME COMPOSER: Jeanine Tesori LYRICIST: Lisa Kron BOOK: Lisa Kron SOURCE: Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home (2006) DIRECTOR: Sam Gold CHOREOGRAPHER: Danny Mefford PRINCIPLE CAST: Michael Cerveris (Bruce), Sydney Lucas (Young Alison) Beth Malone (Old Alison) OPENING DATE: Apr 19, 2015 CLOSING DATE: Sep 10, 2016 PERFORMANCES: 583 SYNOPSIS: Alison is a lesbian author and illustrator who looks back not only on her own evolution in discovering her sexuality but her father’s tragic journey as a closeted gay man.  Courtney Laine-Self, who directed the regional premiere of Fun Home, examines the difficulties critics and audiences had categorizing this musical from its premiere as a musical based on an autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel while addressing the historical significance of its lesbian protagonist. The musical’s address of queer womanhood in a coming of age narrative is widely embraced by queer women who feel the show represents their own experiences authentically. The marketing for the production initially avoided tying ticket sales to the subject matter in the plot, but after establishing the piece as a success, the campaign shifted to appeal to an increasingly vocal LGBTQ+ public. Opening in a time of significant political change for the LGBTQ+ community, the show’s significance seems easier to highlight in hindsight. After surveying the response to Fun Home’s mainstream lesbian representation, as written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, this chapter argues that The Color Purple is overlooked as a Broadway musical which centers a female protagonist’s queerness. The continued representation of lesbians on Broadway and the future of representation in the theatrical landscape as a whole is explored. Courtney Laine Self is a director and choreographer interested in creating new work in the musical theatre genre that incorporates non-realistic and abstract theatrical techniques as well as developing methods on how to responsibly and with innovation revive Broadway-style musicals. Recent credits: Assistant Director, Proof of Love, Audible Theater/New York Theatre Workshop, co-created dance musicals Making Bkjkt and RPT with 92Y, directed the world premiere of Sheila and Moby for Flying V Theatre Company in DC, and the regional theatre premiere of Fun Home at Millbrook Playhouse. MFA: Directing, Southern Illinois Univ., BFA: Music Theatre, The Hartt School. www.courtneylaineself.com SOURCES Fun Home, Original Broadway Cast Recording. PS Classics (2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins

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