In this episode of Muse, the creators of Iron John stop by the studio to tell us a good, old-fashioned, ghost story with a musical theatre twist. Set in the fictional Southern town of Good, Alabama, this dark, lyrical new musical tells the story of a love triangle that ended in an act of racist violence and seems to repeat itself once every generation—including this one. Writers Jacinth Greywoode and Rebecca Hart perform highlights from Iron John themselves, giving us a peek at their wild, woodsy musical that blends folklore, Americana and mystery to create something entirely original…and entirely haunted.

If you’ve seen the cult indie horror film that Teeth is based on, you probably have some questions about what exactly inspired someone to make a musical about “Vagina Dentata.” Luckily, we’ve invited the show’s creators, Michael R. Jackson (2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for his musical, A Strange Loop) and Anna K. Jacobs, to walk us through it. The story of Teeth follows Dawn O’Keefe, an evangelical teenager who has a powerful secret…namely, that she has teeth in her vagina. With a pop-rock inflected score, impactful political messages about purity culture and violence against women, and a good dose of campy humor, Teeth is sure to be as much of a cult classic as the film it’s based on.

The intersex community remains largely undiscussed in our culture, let alone in musical theatre. XY is ready to change that. Centering the narrative on one intersex person, XY brings its audience along on a journey of self-acceptance, living with the past, and the painful but liberating process of becoming and embracing who we really are. In this episode, XY’s creators (writer Oliver Houser and director/collaborator Hunter Bird) take us through the story of their protagonist Chris, discussing the way XY blurs the lines between the past and present, touching on the personal journey that led to the show’s creation.

As we all sit inside and ponder what comes next, let’s visit The Halcyon with the writers of Bleeding Love! This post-apocalyptic new musical is a demented and heart-stirring fairytale, made for the times we live in. Writers Arthur Lafrentz Bacon, Harris Doran, and Jason Schafer join us in the virtual studio to share clips and stories from their new, fully produced podcast of Bleeding Love. We laugh, we sing and we discuss canned cheeseburgers as not only the characters in the play, but also people around the globe, dream about venturing outside. Special thanks to the BroadwayPodcast Network.

If there are two things you don’t see a lot of in musical theatre, it’s stoner bros and ruminations on income inequality—but Simon & Jorge Pay Their Student Loans is here to fix that. Simon & Jorge is a stoner bromance rock musical by Jesse Gage that tackles America’s student loan crisis with satirical wit and the musical theatre warm-fuzzies we all love. With a balance of hard-rock and traditional musical theatre songs, Simon & Jorge is a show that adults of any age can enjoy—which is convenient, since our student loan crisis is a multi-generation catastrophe! (See? We’re having fun!)

Coming soon, MUSE, a new musical theater podcast featuring the best new musicals in development.  MUSE is hosted by Ciera Iveson and Kevin Merritt and is a collaboration between the National Alliance for Musical Theater and One Foot Productions.