BethAnn Freed Cohen joins Scene to Song to discuss parody in musical theater. We discuss “what exactly is a parody?” and what it means in musicals. We dig into what elements make a good parody, using examples such as Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance and the episode “Original Cast Album: Co-op” from the show Documentary Now! As BethAnn notes, ” there are musicals that are funny but are not parodies and there are musicals that copy styles but are not funny.” We also talk about the Stephen Sondheim and Mary Rodgers song “The Boy From…” from 1966 revue The Mad Show.

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