Bop or Flop?

What hiatus? What are you talking about? Jonah and MJ are back with Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812! Find out when Jonah realizes Natalie and Natasha are the same person, if MJ will ever admit that sometimes Jonah is right, and see whether or not the show can make them forget that Josh Groban is actually a very attractive man.

Notes

Epic (Brechtian) Theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_theatre

An Epilogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN0P2EFjtfE

Onceler Deleted Song - Biggering
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=biggering

An off Broadway show? A show that didn't even play in New York? That's a twist. Join Jonah and MJ as they discuss the 2013 Starkid Production, Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier. Will MJ enjoy the raunchy Disney critique? Will Jonah ever defeat Michael Eisner in a duel to the death over his crimes against the Disney parks? Only one of these questions will be answered on this episode of Bop or Flop. I guess you'll have to listen in to find out.

We are who we are, and we are talking about the second Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles. Jonah and MJ break down the music and cultural significance of this much loved, many times adapted show, and discuss the power and joy in standing up for others and embracing your own truth.

Kelsey Grammer falls off a stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu-BqOsvj00

Harvey Fierstein and Barbara Walters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffy5QC40io

Inception kick sync
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A1pIRXPCL8

Je Ne regrette rien
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu6Kgp88

Drew Gooden - Money Plane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDLUEZX4v8A&t=735s

I Am What I Am Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lupNzpcpDRk&list=PLk8SavR3SVNKeY0Y0J_qovQr9p12m6iXP

Fierstein Interview on many things, including drag
https://www.timeout.com/chicago/theater/harvey-fierstein-interview

La Cage Tony Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLw19vv4tUU

Matthew Morrison’s Nightmare Grinch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDesT6UDmA&t=74s

How the Grinch should be with Stefan Karl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGLpOFvlgyY

In part two of the episode, Jonah and MJ continue to dive deeper into the discomforts and complexities of Alvin and Thomas' strained relationship. They wonder how much we can/should sacrifice of ourselves for others, what counts as catharsis, and wether or not the statement "this is it" is encouraging or terrifying.

In the first part of an unexpected two-part episode, Jonah and MJ are prompted to ask tough questions about friendship by the short-lived Broadway musical The Story of My Life. Join the hosts as they uncover the anger, pain, insecurity, and confusion inherent in their own, and all, friendships that are wonderfully represented by the relationship between Tom and Alvin. Stay tuned for next week’s equally tense and enlightening part two!


Notes

Banned Tom Sawyer
https://www.cynthiavarady.net/blog/adventures-of-tom-sawyer/

The History of Indoor Plumbing
https://www.bigrentz.com/blog/very-not-boring-history-plumbing

https://www.johncflood.com/blog/general/history-of-plumbing-timeline

Never Getting Rid of Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQvqDYrCi_k

Descend into madness with Jonah and MJ as they flail their way through the feline fever dream that is Cats! There's simply nothing more to say about this very chaotic episode of Bop or Flop.

Notes

This is what MJ thinks Old Deuteronomy looks Like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JADpVbYy9Yc

Lindsey Ellis - Why Is Cats?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6iqAip-ZNo

Sideways - Musical Analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3aK-EK5V2k

Memory at the Tonys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mlllRdIfqw

It’s The Two Idiot’s Guide to Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder! Join Jonah and MJ as they dissect this fourth wall breaking tony nominated musical and lose their minds a little bit over Bryce Pinkham, patter verses, and just so many quick changes.


Notes

Sky-Pony: Rapture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TWGt-NLp0c

Over The Garden Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBh7kcSwxbg

NOT THE BEES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEPDg_osR0Y

Backstage look at costume changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_l75kLxBWI

How TB influenced victorian fashion
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-tuberculosis-shaped-victorian-fashion-180959029/#:~:text=Before%20the%20advent%20of%20antibiotics,emulated%20or%20highlighted%20these%20effects.

Gentleman’s Guide Tony Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtlcEvPDkfM

Belladonna and your eyes
https://www.healthline.com/health/belladonna-dark-past

We're finally back! We have a new years resolution for the pod, but what is it? Will we stick to it? I guess you'll have to see in this episode where Jonah and MJ discuss Dreamgirls. Between arguing wether or not CC is a coward, if artistic integrity really is everything, if this could have just been the Jennifer Holiday show, and why Jonah brought JFK up for no apparent reason, Dreamgirls made the perfect vehicle to ring in the new year.


Notes


Dreamgirls at the Tonys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUIPKdcKKVI


More Cowbell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s


Here’s a paper regarding cultural appropriation and music
https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/91803/original/Hall%252B-%252BAfrican-American%252BMusic%252B-%252BDynamics%252Bof%252BAppropria
tion%252Band%252BInnovation.pdf


Here’s some that are easier to read but still relevant
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-whitewashing-of-black-music-on-tiktok

https://www.varsity.co.uk/music/20097


A brief history of payola
https://www.vice.com/en/article/64y8y9/a-brief-history-of-american-payola


Musical Diegesis
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/diegetic-sound-and-non-diegetic-sound-whats-the-difference#3-examples-of-diegetic-sound\

Somewhere That’s Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIvpOIUqKKA


The Devil You know from Sideshow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP68t7uZXN4


Muppets Pictures in My Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkHajMn8Yo


PRODUCTION VALUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQa0_YhmPp0

Ep. 17 - How Do Elves Reproduce? Ft. Isa Jackowich - Elf (2010)

MJ cackles maniacally at Jonah and Isa as they face unpleasant memories of their time working on Elf, the adaptation of the Will Ferrell hit. Join them as they discuss the merits and disappointments in the deviations from the original film plot, relive their rollercoaster of a time directing and choreographing a high school production, and hypothesize as to whether or not the concept of “the sins of the father” apply to receiving gifts from Santa Claus. Also, MJ has a specific point to illustrate.

Note

Here's the lyrics MJ made up for Buddy's part in the hypothetical "I'll Believe Reprise" within "There is a Santa Claus".

Show him you're fact
He's the greatest dad of all, at least he was
If you can do that Santa, he'll believe
If you do that Santa, I believe
If you do that Santa, he'll believe
There is a Santa Claus

Jonah and MJ are dreaming of a white Christmas and hoping they don't get cancelled for this surprisingly politically charged episode. Who would have thought that Irving Berlin's White Christmas would have sparked a conversation on the military, voting rights, wether or not Wonderful Chirstmastime is a good song, and if Die hard is really a Christmas movie?

Notes

Why Christmas Music is Nostalgic
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/christmas-music-nostalgia

https://www.futurity.org/christmas-songs-nostalgia-1636882/

Sisters Reprise from the movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyybi7t634

David Bowie and Bing Crosby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kfdEyV3RQ

Art Garfunkel - Grateful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLN4fBXZa2Y

Fake Swedish Cover of Wonderful Christmastime
https://youtu.be/5IYO7GbnJq0?t=3450

I Yield My Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMsUjanegQ

I Yield My Time Remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5E0SnLMq0

Choreography - Original White Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-cXP1uDFpA

When Words Fail - Shrek The Musical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdFs2pmXUjQ

Holiday Inn - White Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y