A Musician Who Never Stayed in One Lane

Jonathan Segal grew up in a musical family. His parents met at Juilliard, his mother sang in the chorus of the New York City Opera, his father wrote songs, and Jonathan began playing piano when he was five.

That beginning led to an unusually varied working life in music. Jonathan has written for television, performed in theaters and jazz settings, directed music, taught piano, coached singers, and written fiction. A Broadway-style parody song he created for One Life to Live earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Song.

Our conversation eventually reaches Jonathan’s most personal project: Space Vacation. It began as a series of bedtime adventures for his children when a family trip to Disney World was out of reach. Those stories grew into a two-act musical with 22 songs about a blue family traveling across the universe.

The audio above is the complete conversation. Jonathan talks about learning jazz by listening to records, working across television and theater, producing the Space Vacation recording in a small studio, teaching piano over Zoom, and the long process of trying to bring an original musical to a larger audience.

Read the Full Jonathan Segal Profile

The complete article on my website goes deeper into Jonathan’s career, the family story behind Space Vacation, and the persistence summed up by his line: “I’ll be an overnight success tomorrow.”

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