This is the second half of my recent conversation with author Doug Reside, whose fascinating new book is titled Fixing The Musical — How Technologies Shaped the Broadway Repertory.

Today, Doug shares with us how cast recordings, movie versions, and even illegal bootlegs on YouTube have shaped the American musical as an art form and defined the Broadway repertory as we know it.

If you missed part one you may want to catch up with that before listening to this one.

And of course, many listeners to this podcast will know Doug from his day job as Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the NYPL for the Performing Arts. Reside joined NYPL in 2011 first as the digital curator for the performing arts before assuming his current position in 2014. Prior to joining NYPL, Reside served on the directorial staff of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland. He has published and spoken on topics related to theater history, literature, and digital humanities, and has managed several large grant-funded projects on these topics. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Kentucky.

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For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

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Over the past century, thousands of musicals have opened on Broadway. Why do we remember some and not others?

My guest this week is Doug Reside, the author of a very interesting new book:

Fixing The Musical — How Technologies Shaped the Broadway Repertory.

 In this conversation, Doug shares with us how the printed versions of the scripts, cast recordings, movie versions, and even illegal bootlegs on YouTube have shaped the American musical as an art form and defined the Broadway repertory as we know it.

This book is filled with fascinating research, which might be expected since, in his day job, Doug Reside is the Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the NYPL for the Performing Arts.

Reside joined NYPL in 2011 first as the digital curator for the performing arts before assuming his current position in 2014. Prior to joining NYPL, Reside served on the directorial staff of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland. He has published and spoken on topics related to theater history, literature, and digital humanities, and has managed several large grant-funded projects on these topics. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Kentucky.

How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including long-time patron Kelly Allen.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

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My guests this week are Dustyn Martincich & Phoebe Rumsey who have edited and authored (along with a number of other contributors) a recent book titled Dance In Musical Theatre — A History of the Body in Movement.

As anyone who has listened to this podcast regularly knows, much like the authors of this book, I believe that dance has always been one of the most important and key elements of musical theater—from Oklahoma! and West Side Story to Spring Awakening and Hamilton. By pulling together a range of diverse authors and perspectives, this book not only tracks the emergence of the dancer as a key figure in the genre, it also connects the contributions of past and present choreographers from the beginning of the 20th century and right up to today.

 Dustyn Martincich is a Professor of Theatre and Dance at Bucknell University. Her research interests involve investigating narrative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary possibilities in theatre and dance performance and musical theatre dance studies that focuses on the work of the ensemble. She has movement directed, choreographed, and performed for concert dance and theatrical stages. She has been recently published in Studies in Musical Theatre, and in edited collections like Gender Sex, and Sexuality in Musical Theatre (edited by Kelly Kessler), Dueling Grounds: Revolution and Revelation in the Musical Hamilton (edited by Paul Laird and Mary Jo Lodge), and Toni Morrison: Forty Years in The Clearing (edited by Carmen Gillespie).

Phoebe Rumsey is a Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre and Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Musical Theater degree at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. She received her PhD from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and holds an MA in Performance Studies from NYU, an MA in Theatre from UNLV, and a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University. A scholar and practitioner, her research has been published in The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Politics, Studies in Musical Theatre, The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical and Reframing The Musical: Race, Culture, and Identity (Palgrave). She is the author of Embodied Nostalgia: Social Dance, Communities and the Choreographing of Musical Theatre (Routledge). Along with her engagement in academic studies Dr. Rumsey has worked extensively as a performer and choreographer.

How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including long-time patron Judy Hucka.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

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With Gypsy on Broadway, Wicked on movie screens nationwide and Mama I'm A Big Girl Now off-Broadway, this seemed to be the perfect time to revisit this episode from the first season of Broadway Nation.

This was the first of three episodes highlighting the principal themes of the Broadway Musical.  Here I look at the single most ubiquitous and pervasive theme: “Transgressive Women”.

For more than 100 years an overwhelming majority of musicals have featured transgressive female characters who break the rules, and refuse to follow the path that society has set out for them. And more often than not they are the protagonist, or co-protagonist, of the story.

However, for some reason musicals are not generally perceived in this way. Most people would not identify this as one of the Broadway Musicals principal attributes. I believe that is part of their subversive power. In fact I would contend that the musicals themselves, as well as the characters, are transgressive.

From “Laurey” in Oklahoma! to “Elphaba” in Wicked. From “Annie Oakley” to “Tracy Turnblad”. From “Maria” in The Sound Of Music to “Effie” in Dreamgirls. Dynamic women have always been at the center of America’s signature Art Form.

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This is the third and final segment of my recent conversation with author Laurie Winer regarding her book Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of The Musical, recently released in paperback.

Today our discussion centers on the second half of Hammerstein’s remarkable partnership with Richard Rodgers, including the creation of their musicals South Pacific, Me And Juliet, The King And I, Pipe Dream, and The Sound Of Music. If you missed the first two parts, you may want to catch up with those before listening to this one.

Laurie Winer has been a theater critic for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, and was a founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books.

How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including long-time patrons Gary Fuller and Randy Everett. 

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

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Thank you in advance for your support!

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My guest again this week is the noted journalist and theater critic Laurie Winer, who returns for part two of our conversation about her book, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of The Musical.

If you missed part one, you may want to catch up with that before listening to this one.

Following the triumph of Show Boat, during the 1930s Hammerstein experienced a very challenging decade of devastating flops on Broadway and very limited achievement in Hollywood. And that’s where we pick up our conversation.

Topics included in this episode include the musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, and Allegro! as well the the stark differences between the personalities of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, their working methods, and their fruitful collaboration and contentious relationship with choreographer Agnes De Mille.

 How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including Producer Level Patrons Paula & Steve Reynolds.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.tech/

Thank you in advance for your support!

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My guest this week is the noted journalist and theater critic Laurie Winer, the author of a beautifully written and expertly researched book, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of The Musical.

Diving deep into Hammerstein’s life and work, Winer, offers new insights into the groundbreaking achievements of the creator of Show Boat, Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music, to name only a few of the musicals that made Hammerstein one of the most commercially successful and culturally significant artists of all time. In Winer’s view, Hammerstein can be credited more than anyone else with inventing the Broadway musical.

Laurie Winer has been a theater critic for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, and was a founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books.

How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including longtime patron Chris Moad.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.tech/

Thank you in advance for your support!

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My guest is six-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin, who has created book & lyrics for Broadway musicals The Prom, Disney’s Aladdin, The Wedding Singer, and Elf. Today, he joins me to discuss his captivating new novel set in the world of theater, SHOWMANCE.

The beautifully crafted plot of Showmance opens on the disastrous opening night of a new Broadway musical — Stage Of Fools — with book, music, and lyrics by Noah Adams, the novel’s central character. The scorching reviews the show receives, coupled with a family emergency, send Noah back to his Podunk hometown of Plainview, Illinois, where he figures he can hide out for a bit and lick his wounds. There, to his horror, he discovers that his agent (and longtime boyfriend, Chase) has secretly arranged for him to stage an amateur production of his musical at the hometown community theater he grew up in. And, of course, he also runs into Luke, the hot, sexy jerk from high school, whom he may have misjudged, all of which sets the stage for a delightful and often hilarious romantic comedy.

How to become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members, including longtime patron Neil Hoyt.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

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Thank you in advance for your support!

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Today’s episode is the second half of my conversation with Trevor Boffone regarding his fascinating new book:

TikTok Broadway — Musical Theatre Fandom in the Digital Age.

If you missed part one of our discussion, you may want to catch up with that before listening to this one.

Trevor Boffone is a Houston-based content creator and social media manager. His previous books include Renegades: Digital Dance Cultures from Dubsmash to TikTok and Latinx Teens: US Popular Culture on the Page, Stage, and Screen. He is also the editor of TikTok Cultures in the United States and the co-editor of five collections on Latinx popular culture and performance.

Today, Trevor and I explore several massively popular viral TikTok trends relating the Broadway and West End musicals SIX, Heathers, Wicked, and Mamma Mia! And he also shares with us his observations of the many ways that TikTok has become a performance space of its own for fans of Broadway musicals. We also delve into the phenomenon of musicals that have been created on TikTok such as Ratatouille — The Musical and Bridgerton — The Musical. This all brings up some big questions relating to the very nature of theater itself, and of course, the future of TikTok.

Become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.tech/

Thank you in advance for your support!

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My guest this week is Trevor Boffone whose new book is titled TikTok Broadway — Musical Theatre Fandom in the Digital Age.

I suspect that many of you, like me, are not on TikTok and may not immediately think this book will be of great interest to you. However, I encourage you to give it a listen because I think you will find what Boffone has to say in his book and in this discussion to be a fascinating and important aspect of recent Broadway history. I was quite captivated by it.

On this episode, we look at the history of Social Media and its relationships with the Broadway musical and how from the very beginning of TikTok in America, Broadway musicals became a key aspect of even it most mainstream content.

Trevor Boffone is a Houston-based content creator and social media manager. He is the author of Renegades: Digital Dance Cultures from Dubsmash to TikTok and the co-author of Latinx Teens: US Popular Culture on the Page, Stage, and Screen. He is the editor of TikTok Cultures in the United States and the co-editor of five collections on Latinx popular culture and performance.

Become a PATRON of Broadway Nation!

This podcast is made possible in part by the generous support of our Patron Club Members.

For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact, I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth discussions with my frequent co-host, Albert Evans, that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation, there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

If you would like to support the work of Broadway Nation and receive these exclusive member benefits, please just click on this link:

https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.tech/

Thank you in advance for your support!

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