This Might Be Niche

Omigod you guys, in this episode of This Might Be Niche, Scott and Alana cover one of the greatest pro-shots of all time, the Legally Blonde: The Musical event that aired on MTV in 2007. Speaking of Laura Bell Bundy, they gush over one of their favorite Broadway icons and relive the best, most clear mix belts that late 2000s MTV audiences have ever seen. Buckle up listener, because as Warner Huntington III famously said: "it's time to get serious."

In this episode of This Might Be Niche, Scott and Alana take a nostalgic journey back to the early 2000s to celebrate leading men who graced our Broadway stages. Join as they reminisce about of Norbert Leo Butz, Adam Pascal, and Raúl Esparza, whose powerful vocals (A+ singing = sagang-ing) defined an era. They also discuss the magical Gavin Creel (who unfortunately passed away soon after the recording this episode), whose voice was the blueprint for so many. The early 2000s may not be the official "Golden Age" of musical theater, but baby, those diamonds shone bright.

Scott and Alana are back, back, back again. This week, after years of negotiation, Scott has finally convinced Alana to watch Season 1 of his all time favorite TV show: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical comedy that ran for several years on the CW and is now available on Netflix. They deep dive on the ups and downs of Season 1, their enduring crush on Gabrielle Ruiz, many fun Broadway cameos, and the Rachel Bloom fandom experience. Discussion and debate is had, but at the end of the day, agreement can be found on one thing: Patti Lupone is currently having the greatest interview season of her life. IYKYK. 

One thing about Scott and Alana... they are Prince of Egypt fans. After a recent episode where Alana lamented the lack of a Broadway or US presence for a stage version, our two hosts spent an afternoon watching the proshot of the Prince of Egypt Musical filmed in 2021 in London's West End. Based on the Book of Exodus with songs from the DreamWorks Animation 1998 film, this adaptation of the movie musical has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Philip LaZebnik. Get ready for some thoughts and get ready for some feelings. Let's dive in.

In this episode, Scott and Alana review Aaron Lazar's recently released album, Impossible Dream, a Broadway star-studded LP that aims to raise awareness and education about ALS. Having been diagnosed with ALS in 2022, Aaron has become an advocate for research and education about the disease, touring around the country and connecting with patients while sharing a message of hope. He brought together his most famous and iconic Broadway friends for this album, including Josh Groban, Kelli O’Hara, Leslie Odom, Jr., Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lin-Manuel Miranda and many more.

A portion of the proceeds from the album will benefit the ALS Network, to fund care, research, and advocacy in service of delivering better health outcomes and community-based care to the ALS community.

- Visit Aaron Lazar's website and purchase his album here
- Read more about his journey with his ALS diagnosis here
- Learn more about the ALS Network and donate here

In this episode of TMBN, Scott and Alana go off on the musicals that juuust get under their skin for some reason. Between people acting like animals, animated characters IRL that give them the ick and plots too convoluted to follow…there’s a lot to get bent out of shape about. Additionally, our hosts debate the merits of SpongeBob SquarePants the musical and Scott prepares to hate watch Les Mis. Join us, get it off your chest! 

Climb into this elevator folks, because we are taking a trip way down, under the ground, to Hadestown. Scott and Alana share thoughts on their experience seeing various iterations of this musical, which cast members blew their wigs off, and how the show is doing on Broadway 5 years after winning Best Musical at the Tony Awards. 

Additionally, Scott shares his review of (and subsequent indignation about the lack of positive critical reception for) the Notebook musical, currently playing on Broadway. They also touch on Universal’s upcoming biopic of Britney Spears directed by Jon M. Chu, and speculate whether certain upcoming productions of Little Shop of Horrors will give a deserved spotlight to some new iconic cast members. If you were out here hitting the phones in 2007 for Melinda Doolittle, this episode is for you.

In this episode, Scott and Alana dive into their experiences seeing this season's recently crowned Best Musical at the Tony Awards, The Outsiders. This Broadway adaptation, directed by Danya Taymor, with music by the band Jamestown Revival, has gotten the people all abuzz (not to mention the teenage girls of TikTok). They discuss Scott's aversion to straight men leads, the understudies who knocked it out of the park and all the elements of nature that took place on stage. They also touch on the social media trends that make them cringe. We have a lot to talk about, let's get into it.

No dialogue? No characters expressing themselves through song? No problem! In this episode, Scott and Alana talk about Illinoise, the dance review musical currently playing on Broadway. Directed and choreographed by Justin Peck, with a book written by Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury, Illinoise is adapted from the Sufjan Stevens album, Illinois. What exactly is a “dance review musical” you ask? Let’s get into it.

For this week’s episode, Scott and Alana took a field trip to Boston to see the Pre-Broadway World Premiere of Queen of Versailles, starring icon Kristin Chenoweth and the great F. Murray Abraham. With music by Stephen Schwartz and a production directed by Michael Arden, this was a Superbowl-event level of hype for your hosts. And now they’re ready to give you the full download, including the good, the not-great, and the almost 3 hours long.