Filmed Live Musicals

Host Luisa Lyons chats with artistic director, writer, and director Sheldon Epps. Mr. Epps shares what it took to film his musicals Play On! and Blues in the Night, how theatre on television influenced his own career, and why we must continue to film live theatre for television. 

Sheldon Epps has directed major productions on and off Broadway, in London and at many theatres across America. In addition, he has had an active television career helming some of the classic shows of recent years. He was the artistic director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for two decades, and currently serves as senior artistic advisor at historic Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. 

Mr. Epps new book, My Own Directions: A Black Man’s Journey in the American Theatre recounts his rollercoaster ride of a life in the theatre, with all the excitement and occasional anguish that come with the highs and lows. The author’s journey in the American theatre has been amplified by his experience as a Black man who has frequently been “one of the few,” “the first” or even “the only.”

My Own Directions is available from Amazon and Bookshop.org (as an associate I may earn from qualifying purchases made through these links).

Watch Blues in the Night and Play On!. 

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Sean Pollock, director, executive producer, and designer of the upcoming production of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant LIVE!

Sean shares what it was like being a child actor, working with ego driven directors, and the challenges of working with children. He also speaks candidly about prohibitive union rules, as well as the the difficulties of self-producing a TV LIVE production.

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant LIVE! was filmed over two performances at The 14th St Y in early November 2022. 

Watch A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant - LIVE!

Sean Pollock is an NYC based multidisciplinary writer, director, designer, and teaching artist. Select directing/playwriting credits include: UP IN FLAMES (Annoyance Theatre Chicago), COWL GIRL (LIU Brooklyn), THIS IS A PLAY ABOUT NEWSCASTERS (Austin College, TX), THE BED SHOW (Philly Theatre Week), AMERICAN JUGGALO (Here Arts Center). Off-Broadway: A VERY…SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT LIVE! (14th St. Y), TRUMP RALLY (Theatre Row). TV/Film: A VERY…SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT LIVE! (IFT Network), THE OMEGA-3! A CLIMATE CHANGE MUSICAL ADVENTURE (Museum Of Natural History), WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR’S EXTENDED WARRANTY (NomadTV Festival, Global Shorts Festival), PROTECT THE PIGEONS FROM EATING USED CONDOMS (Absurd Film Festival, Red Film Festival, Global Shorts Festival). Training: Ithaca College, NTI, Directors Lab North, Directors Lab Chicago, Directors Lab West. He is currently a Norman Steinberg Scholar pursuing his MFA in Writing and Producing for Television at Long Island University Brooklyn/Steiner Studios, and the current Artistic Director/Co-Founder of Unattended Baggage.
pollocksean.com
insta: @seanp_yo. 

Learn more about Unattended Baggage. 

Follow Unattended Baggage on Instagram.

Sponsor A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant LIVE! here.

Watch the Feinstein’s/54 Below Concert on Vimeo

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Alex Borovenskiy, the founder and executive director of the ProEnglish Theatre and Drama School in Kyiv, the only English-language theatre in the Ukraine.

Alex shares his experience of creating theatre in the middle of a war, how ProEnglish Theatre has adapted and continued to make new work, as well as collaborate with artists and theatres from around the world.

ProEnglish Theatre is an independent theatre based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Following the Russian invasion into the Ukraine in February 2022,  ProEnglish Theatre has served as a bomb shelter, a volunteer center, and a theatre. Despite the ever present threat of war, the company has continued to create new work, collaborated with theatres and artists in Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, performed at Prague Fest with an adaptation of The Book Thief, staged Pro.Act Fest — an international festival, and continued to teach theatre.

Watch the 2022 Pro.Act Fest for free on Scenesaver.

Support ProEnglish Theatre at Patreon or make a donation via PayPal to [email protected].

Visit ProEnglishTheatre.com, and follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. 

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Cynthia Shaw, an actor, singer, and classical pianist whose one woman show Velvet Determination is currently available to stream on demand. 

Tune in to hear about how Cynthia came to play the piano, music practice, the inspiration behind her one woman show, folding pianos, and the importance of making art. 

Cynthia grew up playing classical piano in a tiny Colorado town, but she was determined to achieve the keys to success by attending a prestigious New York City music school. In her autobiographical solo show, Cynthia shares tuneful tales of battling inner demons and nutty neighbours, hitting wrong notes, enduring hard knocks and meeting unique Manhattan characters who inspire, help and sometimes hinder her journey to Carnegie Hall, all illustrated by virtuoso live piano performance. 

• Velvet Determination
•  Spark of Creation
•  Learn more about Cynthia 
•  Instagram 
•  Twitter
•  Facebook
•  YouTube 

Want to stay updated on upcoming musicals? Join us here! 

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with James Jefferies, the writer and composer of the new electro-rock sci-fi musical of a Lifetime. Topics include James’ unusual path to staging a musical in New York all the way from Brisbane, Australia; how the show came to be filmed, and the myriad of influences that led James to writing an original musical. 

James Jefferies is an Australian composer and writer based in Brisbane. His original musical of a Lifetime has been performed in New York at Don’t Tell Mama, the 53 Above Broadway Comedy Club, and the off-Broadway Actors Temple Theater. The musical was filmed during its off-Broadway run and is now available to stream on Stellar.

For more information visit www.ofalifetimemusical.com/.

Show Links
Filmed Live Musicals database
Stream on Stellar
53 Above at Broadway Concert
Don’t Tell Mama Concert
Cast Recording

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Jim McCarthy, CEO of Stellar and author of the new book Beyond the Back Row: The Breakthrough Potential of Digital Live Entertainment and Arts, which explains the why, how, and what of online events.

In this lively conversation, McCarthy shares the value of an English degree, how working in e-commerce led him to the creation of Goldstar,  how the company changed course in March 2020, the creation of theatre streaming platform Stellar, how the NBA can be a model for streaming theatre, the current theatre business model and how streaming can make it better, re-thinking bootlegs, and accessibility. 

Beyond the Back Row is available via Amazon and Bookshop.org (these are affiliate links and Filmed Live Musicals may earn income from purchases made through these links). 

Jim McCarthy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Stellar, the only full-service livestream partner for professional live entertainment organizers, committed to delivering premium interactive online shows to paying audiences around the world.

For nearly 20 years, Jim was the CEO/Co-Founder ofGoldstar helping 10 million people go to Goldstar to discover live events nationwide for 5,000 live entertainment organizers.

When the COVID-19 crisis shut down the live entertainment industry in March 2020, Jim led the charge to develop Stellar, to help producers create and sell high quality-live streaming events. In August 2020, Stellar started welcoming creators and audiences in beta. Since then, millions of people have live streamed a variety of shows available on the platform. In July of 2022, his new book, Beyond the Back Row: The Breakthrough Potential of Digital Live Entertainment and Arts, was released to help break down the why, how, and what of online, streaming, and hybrid live events.

For more info and a full length bio visit Stellar.

Filmed Live Musicals is the most comprehensive online searchable database for musicals that have been filmed live on stage. Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.c

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Christian Tiu and Bianca Lao all about the student theatre group Ateneo Blue Repertory in Manila, and how they managed to make theatre through COVID,  political upheaval, and whilst getting a college education. Topics include the challenges and joys of creating student theatre, and how Blue Ateneo Rep created a hybrid in-person/filmed version of the musical First Date.

Follow Ateneo Blue Rep on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Follow Christian Tiu on Twitter.

Christian Tiu is currently a senior from the Ateneo de Manila University taking up a degree in BS Psychology. His first experience with musical theater was developing a massive crush on Emmy Rossum from the Phantom of the Opera (2004). He has been a part of the Ateneo Blue Repertory for the past three years and has worked in several positions such as a Front of House Head for Next to Normal (2020), Production Manager for f(r)iction (2021), Chief Finance Officer for We Aren't Kids Anymore (2021), and Assistant Director for First Date (2022).

Bianca Lao (Production Manager) is currently a third-year student taking up AB Communication and a minor in BFA Theater Arts under the Performing Track. She is presently the Artistic Director of the 30th Season Company Core. She played cheerleader Kylar in her newbie production of Bring It On (2019) and has done production work as MUCH head for Party Worth Crashing (2021), and eventually became Assistant Production Designer in f(r)iction (2021).

Filmed Live Musicals is the most comprehensive online searchable database for musicals that have been filmed live on stage. Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to content, bonus content in the weekly newsletter, and exclusive access to the streaming calendar, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today! 

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Ly

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with Planet Money host Kenny Malone and composer Kit Goldstein Grant all about the creation of the new superhero musical Micro-Face! Learn about the inspiration behind the musical, the workshop process, and the special one-night-only staged reading! With guest appearance by actor Sebastian Treviño. 

Visit the official Micro-Face website. 

Kit Goldstein Grant is a composer, lyricist, librettist based in NYC.  She likes to write musicals about topics ranging from the serious fallout of colonialist attitudes to giant noses running away. Her musical THE NOSE (that’s the one about the giant nose) has been produced several times in South Africa and NYC, and her musical THE GIANT HOAX had its NYC premiere at Theater Row. Kit has studied at Juilliard, the Tony-Award winning BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, and holds a M.M. in Composition from Brooklyn College. She teaches musical theater writing with Paper Kite Arts. Follow on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 
www.kitgoldstein.com and www.totallyirrelevantproductions.com

Kenny Malone Kenny Malone is a correspondent for NPR's Planet Money podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Human podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C.'s homemade newspaper, Neighborhood News. His work has won the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Use of Sound, the National Headliner Award, the Scripps Howard Award, and the Bronze Third Coast Festival Award. He studied mathematics at Xavier University in Cincinnati and proudly hails from Meadville, PA, where the zipper was invented. Follow on Twitter and watch Kenny’s favorite filmed live musical here! 

Filmed Live Musicals is the most comprehensive online searchable database for musicals that have been filmed live on stage. Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with composer, producer, and lawyer Jay Kuo all about the Broadway musical Allegiance. Topics include how Sunday in the Park with George inspired the filming of Allegiance, the amazing happenstance of meeting George Takei and how Jay came to write George’s story, why producers should get behind filming their shows, and more! 

*Editor's Note* We had some difficulties with the audio, but we hope the quality of the content will make this episode a worthwhile listen!

Learn more about Allegiance and find where you can stream it at Filmed Live Musicals. 

Watch clips from the 2021 Japanese-language Horipro Stage production.

Jay Kuo is the CEO of The Social Edge, a digital publishing and social media company based in New York City. Jay is head of "Team Takei," managing engagement with Star Trek legend George Takei’s 23 million Facebook, Instagram and Twitter followers. Jay is also the composer, lyricist and co-librettist for the Broadway musical Allegiance as well as the librettist on the Broadway-bound Indigo, the first musical to feature and star a teenage girl on the autism spectrum. Jay is also a two-time Tony-winning co-producer for the hit musical Hadestown and the critically-acclaimed, epic play The Inheritance.

Apart from his Broadway and social media work, Jay is a published author, an avid political blogger, and a partner in Gaingels LLC, the nation’s largest private investment syndicate. While he worked as an attorney, Jay was an appellate litigator admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.

Jay has served on the boards of the Northern California ACLU and the Bay Area Lawyers Individual Freedom, and he argued the first Ninth Circuit challenge to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Jay currently serves on the national board of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization serving the LGBTQ+ community.

Jay holds an A.B. in Political Science from Stanford University and a law degree from U.C. Berkeley where he served as student body president, Associate Editor of the California Law Review, and co-founder and Managing Editor of the Asian Law Journal."

Follow Jay on Facebook and

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Host Luisa Lyons chats with writer, composer, and lyricist Gus Gowland about his award winning musical Pieces of String, which was inspired by the hidden story of gay men in the military during WWII. Other topics include the 10th anniversary concert of Les Mis, why we need the arts in schools, and Gus’s PhD thesis about the representation of gay men in musical theatre. 

Gus is an award-winning writer/composer. His first musical Pieces of String was The Stage’s Best Regional Musical of the year and was nominated for the UK Theatre Best Musical Production award. Gus won The Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/Lyricist, and was nominated for the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting. Other work includes Subway, an audio short musical and In Motion, an EP of original songs written with Craig Mather. Learn more at www.gusgowland.com and follow Gus on Twitter. 

Learn more about Pieces of String, including where to stream it on demand, in the database!

Filmed Live Musicals is the most comprehensive online searchable database for musicals that have been filmed live on stage. Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. For early access to site content, and exclusive access to the streaming calendar, become a Filmed Live Musicals Patreon. For as little as $3US a month (if you’re outside the US, you can pledge in your local currency), you’ll be ensuring the continuation of the site and helping more people find stage musicals to watch from home. 

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons. Luisa is an Australian actor, writer, and musician. She holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com or follow on Twitter, Instagram, and

Support the show

Filmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!

Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.