In this episode, writer, director, and performer Andi Lee Carter discusses Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats--the plot, the songs, its similarities to A Chorus Line--as we prepare for the upcoming film. We also talk about the Overture from Cats. 

In this episode, writer Marcus Scott discusses rock musicals as a vehicle for coming-of-age stories and biographies, looking at Hedwig, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Passing Strange, and A Strange Loop, among others. We also talk about the song "Skid Row (Downtown)" from the Little Shop of Horrors. 

In this episode, writer and podcaster David Levy discusses the musical revue, from The Ziegfeld Follies to Forbidden Broadway. We also talk about the song "Something" from the revue Upstairs at O'Neals.

In this episode, Afrofuturist, womanist, black femme storyteller, and social activist AriDy Nox discusses musicals that grapple with racial and/or socio-economic politics in non-obvious ways. We also talk about the song "Why We Build the Wall" from Hadestown.

In this episode, bookwriter and playwright Orian Israelsohn discusses the Bock and Harnick musicals Fiddler on the Roof and The Rothschilds, looking at passive vs. active protagonists, time and place, and the song "If I Were a Rich Man" vs. the song "Everything." We also talk about the song "Molasses to Rum" from 1776.

In this episode, writer/theater critic Jose Solis discusses Latinx characters in musical theater, from Evita to Miss You Like Hell to Manuel vs. the Statue of Liberty (although leaving out West Side Story and In the Heights because they are talked about enough). We also talk about the song "America" from West Side Story.

In this episode, dramaturg and writer Anika Chapin discusses Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins. We also talk about the song "Another National Anthem" from Assassins.

In this episode, teacher and singer Nicholas Harbison discusses the lesser-known musicals of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty: Lucky Stiff, My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance, Dessa Rose, and The Glorious Ones. We also talk about the song "We Dance" from their 1990 musical Once on This Island.

In this episode, writer EllaRose Chary discusses the formation of white and white Jewish identity in America, as well as the racial history of America, constructed through musical theater. We also talk about the song "The Night that Goldman Spoke at Union Square" from the 1997 musical Ragtime.

In this episode, director and Royal Family Productions artistic associate Mark Falconer discusses the musicals of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, from The Fantasticks to Philemon and Grover's Corners. We also talk about the song "I Said It, and I'm Glad" from Comden and Green and Styne's 1961 musical Subways are for Sleeping.