Fangirls of a Certain Age
Fangirls of a Certain Age
The One About Musicals
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Step into the dazzling world of Musicals with Amber and Becky as they explore when curtain calls meet fangirl passion. From the very first productions in 1735 New York City to today’s groundbreaking hits, this show takes listeners on a lively journey through the evolution of musical theater, blending rich history with unforgettable personal stories.
From the elegance of the Golden Age to the spectacle of Mega Musicals and the innovation of the modern stage—highlighting iconic productions like The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, and Hamilton. Along the way, Amber and Becky spotlight legendary creators such as Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, unpacking the brilliance behind the music and lyrics that shaped generations.
But this isn’t just history—it’s a love letter to fans. Whether it’s the thrill of stage dooring, the emotional impact of a live performance, or the dream of that first Broadway trip, the hosts share relatable fangirl moments that bring theater magic to life.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to your new favorite podcast, Fangirls of a Certain Age. It's me, Amber, and joined as always is my beautiful cohort, Miss Becky. Hi, Becky.
SPEAKER_00Hi, is it still everyone's new favorite?
SPEAKER_02Like it's just their favorite, right? Unless this is like the first episode you're listening to, and you're like, wow, this is my new favorite podcast. And if this is the first episode you're listening to, thank you for joining us. Welcome. We hope you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. We are so excited to be with you as per ush. Here we are. Um, okay, Amber. I will start us off with Fangirl 50, which again, if you're new, is 50 seconds worth of what we're fangirling about this week. Are you ready for mine?
SPEAKER_02I am ready, Freddy.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I am actually fangirl 50ing something that I have wanted to talk about for a few. And that is my favorite podcast, actually, that has been my favorite podcast for years and years and years and years and years, is called Bitch Sesh. Um, and now also Garbage Sesh. If you've never heard of that, that is the actress Casey Wilson, who is in a bunch of things, but you might know her best in the show Happy Endings, and her bestie, Danielle Schneider, who is a very prolific writer in Hollywood, writes for shows, wrote for the Oscars. You might know her as the creator of Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2.
SPEAKER_02So she wrote I love that you're like, that's how you probably know her. I have never seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua too. Well, well, it's a Disney film, but um I was gonna ask. You said her name was Casey Wilson. Yes. Who does she play in Happy Endings? Is she Penny?
SPEAKER_00Yes, she is Penny. Okay, I just wanted to put a face to the name. Okay, go on. She's Penny. She was also on Saturday Night Live. Um, but um, in any event, I just wanted to shout those two ladies out because, for uh all intents and purposes, it is two beautiful, gorgeous women that I would love to emulate in this podcast. They have such a beautiful way of being themselves, friends, etc. And yet they live an extraordinary life to the rest of us, right? They live in Hollywood, traffic in circles of places and people that we wish we could and we could never, but they also seem like very real individuals and have hot takes on things. And their main thing that they talk about is Bravo. Um, all the housewives and all the like, and they had the opportunity to lead and host some panels, etc., at BravoCon. So it there were two full episodes of them regaling their experience at BravoCon. And it again, it just struck me how how wonderfully seamlessly they can go be in and out of I'm actually one of them to I'm actually one of you. And here's my hot take on this, that, and the other. They actually did a little bit of an Instagram type of thing where um it was the morning after the first party, and they were in their hotel room just chatting it up like it would be you and me downloading the night. Casey was in bed, Danielle was getting her makeup done, and they were just talking about this one's cute and that one was fun, and they're just so wonderfully beautiful, real, and I just couldn't say enough about them. And so that's what I'm fangirling because I was so reminded of how much I love them and and especially now that we actually have a podcast.
SPEAKER_02I love that so much. I am going to check it out. Uh, okay, so are you ready for mine? Let's go. So, as per usual, we're on the same page because I am also Fangirl50ing, a podcast. My favorite types of podcasts to listen to are like behind the scenes. I like to listen to celebrities talking about their experiences on set, working with other celebrities. I love to hear about like Easter eggs and tidbits and trivia and stuff like that. Um, so a lot of my favorite podcasts are about very specific behind-the-scenes stories. Um, but this one I started listening to probably, oh my gosh, almost two years now. It's called What Went Wrong. And it is an entire podcast where each episode is based on a film. They just pick a film. And sometimes it's a great film, a very revered, beloved film. And sometimes it's a horrible film. But regardless of the behind stories, the it's the entire history of how that film got made and what went into getting it made. From um production to writing to casting to any types of like weird drama or pitfalls, uh, lawsuits in some cases. And a lot of these are such fascinating and interesting stories. And I tell you, they cover a lot of movies by like the same directors keep coming up, and it gives you a really interesting insight to a lot of famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock and James Cameron and Steven Spielberg, and it is just so fascinating. So I highly recommend What Went Wrong. It is a podcast that I love and adore. And if you are a big movie fan, you will find something interesting because they really do uh span the zeitgeist. They do a lot of animated, they do a lot of older, they do horror, they do action, sci-fi, they the whole gambit. So it's really, really fun.
SPEAKER_00Uh, I will absolutely check that out because you know how much I love a BTS. Um, sincerely, that sounds like something that's right up my alley. So I will 100% check it out. So, so who's in the driver's seat today, Amber?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that would be you, Miss Becky. Because today's topic is musicals. And on the fangirl scale, I am a musical fan. But in the grand scheme of things, I feel like I was introduced to musicals later in life. I think I didn't watch my first musical until I was maybe 13 or 14. And I was anti-musicals. I was like, that's stupid. But my mom got me uh into musicals uh with singing in the rain. So that was like my first thing I ever watched, and I was hooked. So I have not seen as many. Um, I definitely haven't seen as many live, but uh I feel like I've seen a good amount like on screen and whatnot. So if I had to say for musicals on the fangirl scale, I'm probably a six because I know there's so much to be discovered and so much that I don't know about. So I still have plenty of room to grow. But even if I haven't seen it or I haven't heard the entire soundtrack, I'm probably familiar with it. I've probably heard of it. I probably I consider myself pretty um into the pop culture world. So I would say six for me. But Becky is far from a six on the musicals fangirl scale. Where do you fall, Becky?
SPEAKER_00Um, I was actually telling Amber this earlier today. Um short of Disney, I think Broadway is probably the second biggest sort of fandom, if you will, that I belong to, other than specific people that I might fan after. But um, but I really I have always loved it. My grandparents took me um when I was very young to community theater, very small little theater in Hayward, California. Oh gosh, I was in elementary school. And so I just fell in love with theater very early on and then have had some of the best experiences in my life and the most magical, truly, at the theaters. But wait, but wait, where are you on the fangirl scale? Oh, well, I mean, I think it's clear. Like, I I can't even tell you clearly. I'm that high. I'm so far above that I can't even say I was gonna say the minutes in rent, but I didn't want to get the number wrong. Oh boy. Oh boy, I appreciate that. 525,600 minutes. There you are. That's her number. She is on the fangirl scale. I'm proud of you. That's a good one. Hey, see, I told you. I just didn't want to get the number one computer's myself. That's a very, very good one. Okay, so as Amber mentioned, we are gonna talk about musicals proper. We're gonna be very heavy on Broadway because that's kind of how I'm going to coin this, but we are gonna sort of stick to musicals specifically because A, I think if we talked about Broadway, it would be sort of rude and not very classy to leave plays out of it because clearly they are a huge part of Broadway. And some of the most impressive pieces of art in general have come from playwrights and straight plays. However, I'm a musical girl. Uh, and even though you said you were introduced to them later on in life, you were not because you watched Disney animated films, and that was a musical. That's terrible. Yeah, that's true. So um, I think that's where my love also began, you know, where they kind of walked tandemly hand in hand. Uh so would you like some history of the Broadway?
SPEAKER_02I would love the history of the Broadway because I don't know a lot about the history of the Broadway. So lay it on your girlfriend.
SPEAKER_00This is a crash course, and actually, I highly recommend you do some further research, if you will, because it is kind of fascinating. You might be uh surprised to know that the first theater opened on Broadway, of course, in New York City, in 1735. So it's been around a while, y'all. And no, Amber, I'm not that old. Um I would never!
SPEAKER_02I would never, and Becky was there. She was front row in the first play.
SPEAKER_00Okay. But Showboat is largely regarded as the first large-scale American musical, and that debuted in 1927. So most people would break down the errors of the American musical into the following categories. The golden age of musicals is considered to be 1940s to 1960s. Um, these musicals have key characteristics that the first time that music was integrated into the narrative, music is moving the plot along, as we have said before, and other things. Um, and these shows were your Oklahomas, your West Side Stories, Sound of Music, um, and My Fair Lady, The Rain in Spain. Stays mainly in the plane. So proud of you. Very good. Okay. I told you.
SPEAKER_02I'm so happy. I've never seen My Fair Lady. Oh well, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh, the post-Golden Age is considered 1960 to 1980s. There was a new emphasis on experimental styles like rock. Um, and it explored more complex and social themes. So, you know, it was not just whimsical or romantic, but really kind of digging into the time. And if you're thinking about it, right, 1960s to 1980s, a lot is happening in America at that time. And so, as per usually, art is reflecting that. And the American musical is no different. Um, these were made famous by shows like Hair, Fiddler on the Roof, um, and Cabaret. So then we move into the 80s and 90s, and that era is the mega musical. Um, and they are dominated by large-scale productions and big emotional themes. Um, examples for this one would be Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Le Miz. Um, so just really big, epic sights to see, if you will. Um, and then the modern era is considered basically from the 2000s to now. So I think we're kind of due for a turn, if you, if you will, because we're getting into a a while here, and there is sort of a shift happening right now, but I digress. Um, and the modern era is from the 2000s to now, as mentioned, and diversity is king. So, in both story and music, um, and this is made famous by shows such as Rent, Spring Awakening, a little tiny show you may have heard of called Wicked. Uh, and of course, Hamilton, to name just a few. So that's a very quick and brief history. Um, I will say within the history, the one other thing I would like to make sure everybody knows is with a musical, especially specifically on Broadway, and as it comes into some of our fun facts, um, you will have a new musical, which of course, as it is coined, would be all new music written um for the show, a new story, etc., and revivals. And revival would be, as you might imagine, a show that was once performed before or many times before, that now has a new cast. So there will be a revival of Phantom of the Opera or a revival of Oklahoma, because of course people just love these so much, and the music and all of that sticks with people that they want to see it again, which works out really well for fangirls, right? Because when we talk about wanting to see something over again, as we have done a few times in our podcast thus far, it actually can happen. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I think we'll get into down the road, which is Broadway is equal parts inaccessible, which I will talk about, and super accessible. That is why there's such a fan base, is because largely the people in the shows and the experience is a shared one. So it's accessibility to that fandom right there, right then. It's a fangirl blessed every time.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I love that. And I appreciate you explaining the difference between those those um terms because I it's always confused me. I so thank you for clarifying that before we move on. Of course, would you like some fun facts?
SPEAKER_00I would love some fun facts. There needs to be some song or something. We need to like beep, beep beep, beep, beep, fun facts. I don't know. I love that, first of all.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna go ahead and take that snippet. Oh boy. I'm gonna make a little button that goes beep ba-doop-doop fun facts.
SPEAKER_00Right? So here's a fun fact that I actually just learned this year, which is really funny because obviously I'm a fangirl of Broadway and I didn't know this, but that being on or off Broadway is actually designated not by the geography of the theater, but by the number of seats in the house. And the house is another word for the theater. So off Broadway means the theater has 100 to 499 seats, and Broadway or being on Broadway means that your house or your theater has 500 seats or more. I actually did not know that till this year.
SPEAKER_02So, okay, so here's my question because I want to make sure I understand this. Is that definition specific to like New York? Or if if you're watching, let's say, you know, they have a little shop of horrors that's playing over here in Orlando at Dr. Phillips. I have no idea how big Dr. Phillips is. I'm so bad at numbers. But just to say, in in the for the sake of argument, that it is over 500 seats. So would I be like, I watched a Broadway show of Little Shop of Horrors because of that definition, or is it specific to New York?
SPEAKER_00So when a show leaves the Broadway to go on tour, or for that matter, comes in, maybe it started at the West End in England, that is when it's considered to be on Broadway. So yes, it's kind of funny because it is not geographical, but every other piece of it is geographical. Okay. That no, that makes sense. But anyway, I love that fun fact because I don't know if many people know that. Now, fangirls out there, when you're like, duh, that's okay. That's okay. Remember when you learned it for the first time, you were like, oh.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're all learning. We're all learning.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so the Tony Awards started in 1947, and that is the Broadway equivalent of the Oscars or the Grammys or the Emmys. Um, and it's typically held in June. So on that theme, Harold Prince has the most Tony Awards of any individual with 21. Um, so that's eight for best direction, eight for best musical, two for producer, and three special Tonies, so lifetime achievement, if you will. So as mentioned, and as you can see, he is a, I don't want to say a behind-the-scenes person, but he is not an actor. He is a person creating this art, if you will. Um, and these are some of the most famous shows in Broadway history, such as Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, and Phantom of the Opera. So he's just got a laundry list. Um, there are many famous composers and lyricists such as Rogerson Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Weber, George Gershwin, but the composer and lyricist with the most tonies at eight is Stephen Soundheim. He is best known for shows like Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Row Along, and Company.
SPEAKER_02I am shook. I did not know that. So, first of all, um, I really expected you to say Mainkin somewhere in there. Anyway. He is in there, but he is not at eight. I I thought for sure I was like, it's gotta be Alan Mainkin. Okay. Steven Sonnheim, can you name a couple of his of his Sure. Uh Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd. Yeah, okay, that's it. That's all you had to say. Okay. So Steven Sondheim, from a musician's standpoint, writes incredibly difficult music to play. Correct. It is incredibly difficult music. Key signatures that he uses. He doesn't use just bass clef and treble clef. He throws tenor clef in there. He does all these crazy minor chords, these crazy time signatures. It's really, really hard music to play, but it's actually brilliantly written music because of the way that it affects the human brain, because it is it's written so differently. It's not in 2-2, it's not in 2-4, it's not in 4-4, it's not in a meter that our brain is used to hearing. So when you hear these keys or these tones or these time signatures in a way that's completely rare and unique to your ear, suddenly you're like, oh, this is interesting to listen to. But because I know him as a musician, I have a hard time listening to it. Like I kind of wince a little bit. Like I love Into the Woods. I love that that show. I actually played music for that show, like live. I was, and it was one of the most difficult things I've ever, ever played. But the music was so unique and like different. That's so wild that he has the most when I know his style of music. And I'm I'm sure everyone's listening to like listening to me say this, like, duh. Like he is, that's what he's known for, is being so style stylistically different. But I'm like, I'm shook that he has the most.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh, and actually, some people don't know uh that he actually was a lyricist before composing and being a lyricist, so before the double duty, um, and he did the lyrics for uh Gypsy and West Side Story. Didn't know he worked on West Side Story.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that I did I did know about West Side's Story, um, but I didn't know about Gypsy, and you can tell he's a lyricist. He is a poet.
SPEAKER_00Yes. I think it's interesting that you just gave all that information, and I'm glad you did, because I think it's the reason I don't respond to him. Because as you might imagine, I'm very like romantic, straightforward, etc. And his stuff can be different, it can be dark, it very dark in some cases. Um Sweeney Todd is like.
SPEAKER_02I think that's why he does it. Uh, minor chords and um minor keys in general are dissonant, and so it's gonna tap into the darker themes. That's why he does it, because a lot of his stories are darker.
SPEAKER_00That's also why he's very prolific and a lot of people love him because um of that reason, but also from an acting perspective, like it's pretty much a feather in your cap if you've gotten to do something sound time. Um because you're good at what you do, because to your point, everything is you know pretty difficult to sing difficult all of that. Okay, moving on from him. Um, Audra McDonald has the most nominations for any performer at 11. And she also has the distinguished title of having been nominated in all four acting categories. So best actress, and in it it's actually called featured actress, uh, instead of like supporting actress, etc. Yeah, but what's cool um is she's won six times, and what's really cool to me is that this is one of the only mediums, obviously, where a woman is period on top. Like there's the hard stop. It's not the male one has this and the woman. Nope. Right, she's the one. She's the one. Um, okay. Uh the most nominations by a musical is of course you want to guess? I have like a couple. Okay, just throw one out. No, the most nominations for a musical is Hamilton. Yeah. Hamilton at 16, so 16 nominations, but the most winningest was the producers. Um, and that was 12. And that beats out Hamilton by one because Hamilton uh was 11 wins. Wow. Wow. I love the producers. That's a good one. That's a good one. It's not my favorite, but it's a it's pretty good. I've seen it. Um, Phantom of the Opera was the longest-running musical in history at 35 years, um, preceding another Andrew Lloyd Weber one, which was Cats. Cats. Um, so 35 years for Phantom, but Chicago and Lion King are numbers two and three, and they're both still running. Revival of Chicago is still running.
SPEAKER_02I would love to. See Chicago live.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I would love to. Yeah. The most successful Broadway shows, um, that's a subjective cat uh story, obviously. Uh, but the three highest grossing are the Lion King, Wicked, and Phantom of the Opera. But of course, other factors such as long-term popularity and adventures into other mediums come into play and add such favorites as Hamilton, Chicago, even Greece, Annie, Moulin Rouge, because of course it's hard to pinpoint the success when you're talking about. I mean, Wicked is a great example of that right now, right? Like if you're gonna put all the box office and all that stuff involved in it, it was already highest grossing for a Broadway show, and now you've got all this other stuff. Um, commercial success. All of that. So there's a lot of things to that. But the but the three highest grossing are Lion King, Wicked, and Phantom. Um, well, Phantom had 35 years to do it, so there you go. One very popular way to guarantee success in the modern era is to cast well-known names, often referred to as stunt casting, to sell tickets and attract fangirls, such as ourselves, um, who can also engage in longtime Broadway tradition of stage dooring. Um, and that is where in the actors from the performance, who by the way, do not have to and do not get paid to, can come out after the show is over for however amount of time they would like to or not, for that matter, um, and sign autographs and chat with fans, take pictures, etc. So again, that accessibility piece. And so the more that the Broadway shows are catching on to the stunt casting, the more it's getting bums in the seats. And then last but not least, 1010 musicals have also won a Best Picture Oscar, with the most recent Revival of Chicago, um, being the most recent one that's won an Oscar in 2002. It's been a while. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's been a while.
SPEAKER_00Um, and a lot, as you know, and everyone out there probably hearing me knows, even if you you know aren't a huge fan of musicals, you do know that a lot of those stage musicals get adapted into movies. But yeah, so that's kind of it on fun facts. Nice, awesome, really good facts, very interesting. Oh, so you might wonder how are we gonna do this if Amber's not been to many, but you have been to some. Um Amber's gonna answer as she can, whether it be from a movie or a Broadway experience, and I'm gonna do the same. So um the first one I want to talk about is the best musical experience live that you've seen. Because I know that you've seen a few, and it doesn't have to be on Broadway proper. Don't worry, it's not. Do you have a favorite musical experience? Because part of the whole piece of fangirling this is the live aspect of it. It there's nothing that beats it.
SPEAKER_02Um, so I do have an answer. I have only seen, I would say, like things I can significantly remember seeing live are three things. One is The Lion King. I have seen The Lion King. Two is Avenue Q, which is probably my favorite musical of all time. Um, and third is Little Shop of Horrors. And the answer for me is Little Shop of Horrors. It's got an incredible background and great history, and I have been obsessed with that film since I was a kid. Um, I this might be news to our listeners, especially if this is your first time tuning in. But I love a nerd. And I love, I love an underdog, and I love an underdog that's a nerd. And uh Seymour Clborne is my probably one of my favorite fictitious characters ever written. I think he is incredibly layered and incredibly complex and much more relatable than I think people recognize on the surface because everybody has a level of desperation and they don't know what it is until they are at rock bottom. And what are you gonna do to get what you need to do? And Seymour Crowborn shows us what that looks like. So I have always been obsessed with this character. I've always been in love with the show, and for years and years, I have said I want to watch the stage version of it because I want to see the puppetry of Audrey II. I want to hear Suddenly Seymour, I want to hear the song Feed Me, which by the way, I will go on uh and on and on about the brilliance of that song. Um I wanted to see it live. And so, Becky, to your point, there was some stunt casting happening like the last year, like the first half of 2025. New York was really messing with me, and I'd never been to New York before. And um they cast this guy as Seymour Crowlbourne, and I was like, I'm mildly interested. Well, how am I gonna? It's Milo Mannheim. Like, you're gonna put Milo Mannheim in Seymour Clowlbourne's role and think I'm not gonna come. So I called my girl Kelly, who, by the way, is at the West End right now as we record. She just watched the Hunger Games show and said it was amazing. And she is seeing Hercules as well, which I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm gonna lose my mind. But anyway, Kelly shouts out. I know, I know. So I asked her, I said, uh, do you want to go to New York to see Milo Manheim in um Little Shop of Horrors? And she said, Yeah, let's go. And we did. And uh I grabbed front row seats. They were actually the cheapest in the house. Yes, they were on the left side, but no regrets if you've ever been in this theater, by the way. No regrets. And it was a fantastic show. I had an incredible experience. Um, Milo Manheim was a genius as Seymour Clellborne. He had a very unique take of him that I was worried about, like before I watched it, because I have such a love for this character. But he knocked it out of the park in every way possible. And I enjoyed every single second that I watched of him and Liz Gillies as Audrey. And also, fun fact, um, my husband figured this out, by the way, um, because I may or may not have been watching like an illegal recording of it later on. Um, and I don't know, I didn't do it. I would never, I was front row, please, for God's sake. I've I have way too much anxiety for that. But my husband saw the actor that plays Mushnick and he said, he is so familiar to me. And I was like, you know, I thought that too. I feel like I've seen him before. He's in friends. He is in friends. We're fangirls of friends. If you're not familiar, we also have an episode on that. Um, but yeah, he's uh he's the director of one of Joey's plays in the early seasons. But all of that to say, fantastic, incredible show. I I mean, talk about fangirl 50ing. I fang must have fangirl 50 that for months on end. I could not get enough. That's all I wanted to talk about. And the rest is history, I should say about that. But yeah, so sorry to go on and on and on, but that was the best theater experience I've ever had, and it was incredible. And um, I wish I could watch it again.
SPEAKER_00Same. I also saw that show and it was wonderful, but I will not talk about that show, at least this time, because uh I've got all sorts of twins I can talk about. But um, I I love that for you because it's exactly why I wish I could get more people to the theater and talking about accessibility, which is, and and you talked a little bit about it, the possibility of a you know, video that came from a theater show, etc. Um, which is why I love like Disney Plus for putting more shows rightfully um on the platform so that you can actually watch. Because unfortunately, whether it be by geography or it be by financial means, you know, it can be super inaccessible Broadway. Um and that goes for obviously, you can't go to New York if, and that there's a whole another financial component to getting there if you want to go to Broadway proper, even if you can get to the whatever's going on in your hometown, those tickets are obviously usually an exorbitant amount of money for a large-scale production. So I wish there was a way to make it more accessible. For me, I do not like to watch things that have been, you know, procured not in the way they should. Um, however, I do think there's a world that I wish that we could see these things after these people are done and with their run and even a paid streaming service. And I know there's a couple of places out there where there is some of that that goes on. Um, but I just think that it's art in and art is meant to be shared. And so it's unfortunate that it can be so inaccessible to so many people. So, you know, again, not to drag everybody down, but um I really wish and hope that at some point we can figure, figure out how to mainstream it a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02Right, a way that everybody can win, you know, because I obviously want to make sure that production companies and the theaters and the actors and everything are being compensated appropriately, right? We want, we still want a live audience to be there. But also to your point, there's only a finite amount of seats in a show anyway. So if you're trying to see a show that's sold out every single night, whether you have the financial or geographic means, you might not be able to get it just by luck of the draw, you know? So absolutely.
SPEAKER_00But this particular question is about best musical experience live. And why I love that for you is because you really encapsulated the first timers experience at a musical, which is there is such a magic to it, to coin a musical theater term, to be in the room where it happens, uh, is unlike anything else. It's an electrifying experience, and you are sharing that space communally, right? So it's very fangirl-esque in that way. But the magic, whether it's like something on stage that's incredibly entertaining or interesting, the obviously people's voices, etc. Um, but there's just nothing like it. So I have um a couple, obviously, as you might imagine. And I'll try to make them as brief as possible. So um the very first time I got to New York, believe this or not, I've been a fangirl all of my life. Um, and I did not have an opportunity to go to see anything other than again these little theater productions, which were great, by the way. Community theater is wonderful, especially for exposure for children, etc. Like that's where you can do it. And if you have accessibility to it, you should. And you should support, you know, just like supporting a mom and pop shop, supporting community community theater is a great way to go. Um, but my grandparents in elementary school took me to my very first, and it was the show Gypsy. Now, if you don't know anything about Gypsy, it is a little interesting to take a younger person to it. Um, it does have some interesting themes, but um it's probably in the you know top 10 musicals of all time for recognizability, and it's definitely um in probably the top five female roles of all time, um, as in like if you can get that role, you got some chops. Um, and the character's name is Mama Rose. And so I fell in love with musicals and just loved it. And then interestingly enough, uh there was a television production of Gypsy that came out, and that particular production, Mama Rose, was played by Bet Midler. And let me tell you, I think she was born to be Mama Rose. And hear me out there now, all you fangirls. That is my favorite Mama Rose. So leave us a comment on the socials if you think I'm wrong. I'm totally open to the convo. But I find her to be my favorite. Uh, I was kind of high school-ish age, and my sister is 10 years younger than me, and we would watch it together. And that was really cool because there wasn't too much at that age that we could connect on. So we knew all the songs, we would act them out, all the things. It was really fun and glorious. Cut two when I was able to finally get to New York the first time, it was to go and see my very favorite Broadway singer that I saw on the Rosie O'Donnell show for the first time, which by the way, shouts out to the Rosie O'Donnell show, and a lot of you might be too young to have watched it. Not a lot of the shows would have Broadway people come and sing, and Rosie O'Donnell happens to love Broadway so much, and she would have these people on. So I saw this beautiful singer. Her name was Sutton Foster, and a lot of times in Broadway, even at an either in a live experience or performance that you hear on a cast album, something shifts in you. And when I heard her sing, I just could not. And so I was like, I've got to get to see her. And so I got to go and see her. I literally went to New York City for the first time, going on a trip to see family in my husband's family in New Jersey. And we were there for less than 24 hours, and I said, get thee to the theater. So less than 24 hours, I got two shows in because I had never been, and this was my chance. And so I wanted to see her show Thoroughly Modern Millie. She had already been out of the show. Um, and once a Broadway person comes out of the show, they don't normally come back in. And for whatever reason, it happened that way. And she came back in for a very short run, um, which is like truly, I wouldn't say it's unheard of, but it's very rare. So I was like, we've got to go, and all the stars aligned. But of course, I could see a matinee as well. And so, as luck would have it, Gypsy was playing at the same time. So the very first show I ever saw as a child was also the very first show that I saw on Broadway proper. And the person playing Mama Rose, who by the way I didn't think was a great Mama Rose, but for the story's sake for sure, was Bernadette Peters. Now, if you don't know who Bernadette Peters is, she's been in all sorts of things, but she would be one of the biggest Broadway darlings. And um, what a lot of people may not know about Gypsy is the way it starts, is Mama Rose comes from the back of the house and comes down and goes onto the stage because she is a stage mom. So she's yelling, sing out Louise to her daughter as her daughter's performing on stage. And I happen to be sitting on the aisle, and she walked right past me, and I burst into tears because it was like I'm getting goosebumps right now, everybody. It was the most magical experience I think I had ever had in life up until that point, because it was like years and years and years of cast recordings that I didn't know anything about musicals and had to piece together what was going on, etc. etc. Everything flashing, my sister and I in our in our living room, like all of it flashing to this one moment. Um, and recently, as mentioned, went to New York City uh and it was the very first time I got to go with my son. And interestingly enough, Gypsy was also again playing. And my son is a a Broadway person because he I am his mother and I raised him right, and also he's a theater kid, he loves Broadway. Um, and the first show that we got to go to together was Gypsy. And this particular performance, again, was unbelievable because I got to see and got to show my son the Audra McDonnell playing Mama Rose. Wow. So what we just talked about, our friend who has 11 nominations and six Tonies, was playing Mama Rose. Again, the goosebumps are coming, y'all. I cannot describe unless you've been to a Broadway musical the way it can shape an experience. So I've gone on too long, but I will say the second best musical experience was, of course, getting to see Sutton Foster that evening after Gypsy. I could have levitated out of my body and left because it was literally like I can't. She won the Tony for that particular performance, by the way, and amongst others that she has done. Um, and an honorable mention to one that is right on up there, literally in the top three, which would be our friend Seymour Crowborne, but you've talked about it. I'm going on for too long. So that's where I'll end it.
SPEAKER_02As long as we have been friends and as long as we've been sending voice memos to each other, you have talked about Gypsy so many times. And I knew that you had seen it with Jake, but I didn't realize that you had such an emotional connection that had dated back to childhood. And that is so special. And then the fact that you had like two of the best experiences in one day, I will tell all of you, for you listening right now, Becky does have like a wild energy that the universe just caters to where she'll be like, you know, I really wish that this thing would happen. And then like an hour later, it'll happen. So I'm not surprised, but also like pretty incredible experiences.
SPEAKER_00Okay, should we move on to another category? Yeah, sure, why not? Okay, so for you, what is the most nostalgic musical? So, what makes you think of maybe your mom, as you mentioned, or one that you sing a lot or even played a lot, because you play a lot of music as well. I did.
SPEAKER_02I've actually played a lot of musical music. Um, so as I mentioned, Singing in the Rain is the first musical that I was introduced to. For me, Singing in the Rain is the epitome of what a musical should feel like. Not what a musical is or anything, but what you just described, I feel like Singing in the Rain illustrates really beautifully with all of the like the dance numbers and the way they use the sets and the way they use the costumes and the colors and all of that is very, very theater-esque in a movie form. Um, and so for that to be the first thing I was introduced to, to be like, this is a musical. And I was like, it sure is, you know. Um, and so singing in the rain is definitely very nostalgic to me. Um, hand in hand with that is uh West Side Story. I do love West Side Stories. That is the one that I was like, this is a beautiful story. I loved everything about it. I loved the characters, the casting. It was great. Um that's kind of romantic for you. It's very, but but it's also it's also a little gritty though, uh, which is the thing, is I I like a romance. I do like a romance, but I don't, I I like a I like a little bit of danger, a little bit of stakes too. Um but if I was really it's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That is the most nostalgic musical to me. Again, that is my mother through and through. My mom loves Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. And I've seen this movie like twice, and it's where I fell in love with Russ Tamblin, which I I think I've told you before, Becky. When I was young, I was obsessed and in love with Russ Tamblin. And uh, and I know Becky has met Russ Tamblin before. Becky's met a lot of people, like she's got some great stories, but I digress. Um and uh, but I I don't necessarily remember songs from that movie. I don't necessarily remember being like in love with that movie, but I know it. And like the barn dance and Russ Tamlin in his bright blue shirt plays in my head, him doing his little backflips and gymnastic stuff all over the barn. Like that's what I remember watching as a kid. And that that was the third musical my mom showed me, but that's my mom's favorite. So I'm gonna say that's the most nostalgic for me. And fun fact, it's also where my son got his name. So my son's name is Gideon, named after Russ Tamblin's character in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
SPEAKER_00You see, she's she's on a down low with her musical. I told you. I knew that. I did know that, y'all. Um, so most nostalgic musical for me. The the very first thing I ever had that was musical related was the cast album of Phantom of the Opera. And I played that thing on repeat. I played it, get ready, Amber. I played it analytically, taking apart every single piece. What is actually going on, what is actually happening. Because when I grew up, these things were not accessible unless you lived in New York. Like there was not anything on TV or YouTube clips or anything like that. Okay. Um, so you literally would put on a cast album and you would try to piece together what the story was. And so going to the theater experience after that is very cool because you're like, oh, that's what happened, or I never liked that song before. And now I really do that I have context as to what's going on. But it's very nostalgic for me because it's the first large-scale production I ever saw. Again, my grandparents took me literally, I can remember to the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco, California. And it was probably the first large-scale production that came through San Francisco. And again, this was uh early 90s, probably.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, my mom saw it at the Orpheum a handful of times. My sister and my brother both saw Phantom at the Orpheum. I was too young. Uh, but my mom took both of my siblings to go.
SPEAKER_00Y'all, every episode.
SPEAKER_02I was too young for it, so they didn't take me to the theater.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. Um, but in any event, I distinctly remember, and you can put this into the The last question, too, but I distinctly remember there is there's you know a lot of really cool effects that happen in the show in general, but I distinctly remember in the song Angel of Music, there is a part where you kind of hear the Phantom sing for the first time, and he's turning and he's going to reveal himself to Christine. And the reveal is kind of like mirror trick, and he he basically comes into the mirror. And again, the goosebumps right now, you guys. I remember a shift in me like nothing else. This is the moment my fangirl Niss was born for Broadway at this moment right here. I think I've mentioned this before, maybe, maybe not, but um if I could have any job in the world, if I could have any dream in the world, it would be to be a Broadway actor. Um, and it was that moment right then, I will never forget it, um, because it was this moment of pure magic. And and then also that show was the first time that I understood acting. And what I meant by that is I saw it twice. And the first time I did not like the phantom, and I thought he's mean, he's like, I don't like him, she needs to go with the other guy. And the second time I saw it, I cried and felt so deeply upset for the phantom and that he couldn't be with Christine. And so it really showed me the power of the choices that actors make and how so much that is important to a story, and so very important to a musical.
SPEAKER_02Um, I have so much to say in reply. I loved how you described that you heard the cast recording before you saw it live, and so you had to just piece in the middle. It's so interesting to hear you describe it that way and and referring to accessibility because that's how I actually listen to a lot of musicals. I'm very familiar with the Legally Blonde, with Heathers, with Dear Evan Hand Hansen.
SPEAKER_00That's a great one too.
SPEAKER_02But I've never seen them live and I've never watched them in their full story. So I would hear these songs and then I would put them in order and be like, okay, so so this is connecting to that. So this must have happened in that time. So kind of the same thing. It's so interesting that you say it that way, that you did it back then. Uh, my other question, I'm assuming that it's it was the Michael Crawford cast recording.
SPEAKER_00Correct. Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman.
SPEAKER_02So that is my mother's favorite. My mom loves Phantom of the Opera. Um, she's seen it, I don't even know how many times live, and she loves Sarah Brightman and um Michael Crawford. And growing up, I listened to it and I remember being like, this musical is not for me because the Phantom sounds like a total goober. I thought Michael Crawford's voice was so like, I'm not afraid of this man. He's not gonna do anything to me. He's gonna push his glasses up over his mask. I thought he was such a dork, and I was not a fan. I was introduced to the Phantom with the film, with Gerard Butler, who's not a singer at all, um, and uh Emmy Rosum, who I thought was really wonderful as Christine. And while I didn't think that Gerard Butler was a particularly like strong singer, which is weird because the Phantom should be strong. He's the angel of music, but I was scared of him, where I was like, you better watch your back. Because, you know, he says he loves you, but if you piss him off, he's gonna, you know what I mean? So that that is also an interesting take to me as far as that. So when you saw it live, was it it wasn't Michael Crawford?
SPEAKER_00No, uh he started long, long before, and again, geographically, I'm over here on the West Coast, so he would have been in the Broadway production like proper. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02So when you're when you listened to your phantom, and especially with you saying that that you felt differently depending on the phantom, I want to know did the voice play any part of that? So, yes, the acting, but did the timbre of the voice or the sound of the voice, was it gravelly, was it nasally, like was there a difference in that? Because that affects me. That affected how I cared about the phantom.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think, I think you can play both of these things within the phantom, which is power, right? So the phantom has power and is powerful, and you know, that comes across in someone's voice. And so that's where, to your point, you can be scared of him or not like him. He's mean, whatever, you know, whatever you want to put to it. But there's also some soft spots that you can really lean into vulnerability, and you can really lean into the layers underneath and the desperation of him wanting love. Um, and so those are the parts that I really kind of resonate, uh, resonated with surprise.
SPEAKER_02But you know, this is what I what I do love about art and theater is that there are different takes, there are different interpretations. And depending on who you are as a human and your life experiences and how you are interpreting that, you can interpret it so differently from one person to the next. So that's the magic of theater music in general.
SPEAKER_00So well, you brought up the movie, and so this will dovetail into what I think will be our last question. And that is uh, do you have a favorite movie musical?
SPEAKER_02I never mind if people have a different opinion than mine. You know, if you think that so and so couldn't sing in the movie because you saw it live, I'm so happy that you have that experience and that that's what you took from it. It doesn't make my answer any less. You know what I'm saying? So don't feel feel what you want, love what you love. That's the whole point of fangirls of a certain age. Um, is that you don't need to feel bad about liking something even if somebody else does or doesn't. Um for my favorite movie musical, um it is a tight tie between Hairspray, the the newer one. I love that one. The newer hairspray. Yes, and Chicago. Now, my mom is again the person who introduced me to musicals, and she picked the first ones for me to watch, and and she picked good ones. But Chicago was the first movie musical that I chose that I went and saw in theaters when it came out. I saw it in a movie theater. Like this is a movie on a screen. This is not live theater. Um, and I was just blown away. You talked a lot about the eras, right? As far as movies being musicals, it had been kind of a dry run in the 90s and into the early 2000s, where there weren't a lot and it wasn't really a surge. And Chicago came out, and that was the thing that lit it on fire. I will die on this hill. Chicago is the thing that like reignited movie musicals. And I know a lot of people don't think that it was that great, and I know a lot of people loved it. I am a Chicago stan. And here's the thing: Renee Zellwigger has never really done it for me. She's fine, but I've never seen her in anything and been like, wow, she really killed that. She was the perfect casting for Roxy Hart because I believed that she was delusional, but she didn't think she was delusional. You know what I mean? Where I was like, I'm going on this ride with you, girl. You know what? I'm here for it. And I thought everyone was perfectly cast, and I thought the music was incredible. John C. Riley, unsung hero in that film, and I know everybody will agree with me on that. Talk about the most heartbreaking song when he sang Mr. Cellophane. I don't think anybody expected his song to be the showstopper that had everybody crying. I I Chicago means so much to me. It was very formative for me. And you know, and then of course, there's the makeup and the costume design and the set design. And that's why it won an Oscar. Exactly. I exactly. I never seen the stage show, but I did love how he made the musical numbers Roxy's Visions. I thought that was brilliant. It was such a great way to be like, and that's why it's a musical. And you were like, okay, because she's at delusions of grandeur, you know. Chicago has got to be my favorite.
SPEAKER_00Um, I have so many because obviously it was the only way that I could watch musicals growing up that if I couldn't get to them, obviously. Um, but I have a one that is uh a dark horse, I would say. And a lot of people may not have seen it, but it is quite literally a musical about fangirls. No joke, period. And it is six degrees of separation from Julie Andrews, and that is a little musical called Bye Bye Birdie. Have you ever seen Bye Bye Birdie?
SPEAKER_02I've never I've never seen it, but I'm familiar with it because we played it a lot.
SPEAKER_00I need you to watch it when I tell you it is literally about fangirls. It stars Dick Van Dyke, who you love. I know you love Dick Van Dyke, um, Anne Margaret, who is fan flippantastic, um, Janet Lee, um, Paul Lind. Like it has got some fantastic people in it, and it is basically the story of how Dick Van Dyke's character, he's a lyricist, he needs to write a song to stay afloat. He has a like a secretary type of woman that is in love with him and he's in love with her, but he can't commit type of thing. So she helps him out, and they write a song for the biggest pop star basically in history at the moment, and then they pick a fan of this particular guy, Conrad Birdie, and that fan gets to give him a kiss on the Ed Sullivan show and represent all fangirls everywhere, and Anne Margaret would be said fan, and then it becomes a whole thing after that. And the song that is written is called One Last Kiss, and so that is why it's going to be him kissing one of the fangirls that gets picked. Um, but uh it has great music. I implore you, you have to watch it. I don't know if you remember, but a few years ago, or maybe maybe in the last 10 years or so, they used to do these lives on NBC where they would have a live musical. Derek Huff was in, you know, one. They did Grease, which is another great movie. He was in Hairspray. Grease. Hairspray was sick too. Yep. So, and then the next one that was supposed to be done was by Bertie, and then they stopped doing them for some reason. And it was the one person that they had already cast was uh Jennifer Lopez as the female lead Rosie, and that would have been perfect. Now, I cannot tell you who could have played Dick Van Dyke, like dream casting is definitely something in the fan base uh for Broadway. So I'm not sure who would have done a good job, but Nick Jonas, boy band, callback, was supposed to be Conrad Birdie.
SPEAKER_02Oh, um, just for fun, just for fun, I looked it up. It says Bye Bye Birdie is a story about a fictional rock star drafted into the army and it was inspired by Elvis Presley's Elvis Presley's 1958 induction. Correct.
SPEAKER_00But I I actually, everyone, as you hear me, I'm gonna be insufferable to Amber to watch this movie now because it is it is literally one of my favorites. It's a just a feel-good movie. Um, the kids could watch it, P.S. Um, it's just it's literally a movie about a fangirl.
SPEAKER_02It's literally my husband loves older movies, and I I'm kind of an older movie snob in that way where I'm like, well, what's this one about? You know, but I tend to like them when I sit down and make myself watch it. So if I tell him that you're making me watch it, he's gonna he's gonna make it.
SPEAKER_00It's a great one. You must, you must. All right. Well, I would just say to wrap up my world, I have been so lucky to have seen a lot of different things, even though I've only been to New York three times and I've only literally seen actually uh one, two, three, four, six, six, eight shows literally in my lifetime on Broadway. But I have seen Audre McDonnell, I have seen Liam Michelle, I have seen Milo Mannheim, uh, I've seen Bernadette Peters and Sutton Foster, as mentioned. So I'm very, very lucky and and all the supporting cast as well. Everyone who does a Broadway show is is to be commended because it is not an easy thing to do. Um, but it is just such a it hits me right in the fangirl feels. So, Amber, do you have a blessed or a manifest for this one?
SPEAKER_02Well, it's gonna need it's it has to be a manifest for me. Um because I have only been to New York once. Granted, I saw a fantastic show. I loved it, I had a great time, but my manifest would be I would love to do a proper trip to New York and have the whole thing be musicals. And the manifest would be to go to New York with Becky and let her plan the whole thing and just be like, we're gonna see musicals, we're gonna be there for four days, and the whole goal is to see musicals. And do I have ones that I would like to see? Sure. And it doesn't even necessarily have to be musicals either because I would love to see Stranger Things, by the way. I've heard it's incredible. I heard it's I heard a show. I've heard it's incredible. I have heard that fangirl Darius is fangirl.
SPEAKER_00Love Darius, I love Darius.
SPEAKER_02He loves Stranger Things and also Fangirl Kelly watched uh Stranger Things too, and she also uh did. And Fangirl Tiffany, all my people that have seen Stranger Things have said it's incredible, one of the best shows they've ever seen. So I would like to see that. I'd be so happy. That would be amazing. Um, I would love to see Jonathan Groff.
SPEAKER_00Spring time is actually the best time to go to Broadway if you want to see people. I got to see Maybe Happy Endings, which won the Tony for Best Musical this year, uh, starring Darren Chris, actually. Um, and so he also won the Tony. So I got to see the Tony winning musical of the year with the Tony Award-winning actor. So that's winning. When you go during that time, it it really is magical on top of magical.
SPEAKER_02Well, clock is ticking, Becky. So you better start looking. Y'all, should we make this happen? Should we make this happen? I I would die. I would die. I would watch anything that we got tickets for. Um I would like I would love to see people that I recognize and know, obviously. Um, but I'll watch anything. I would love to see Death Becomes Her. I think I I've heard really great things about Death Becomes Her. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00When we were just there, Jake and I, and this spring, there were so many things that we were like, oh, like, how do we choose? There was so many good things.
SPEAKER_02So that's that's my manifest. I just want to go to New York with with you, Becky. And and honorable mention, we're shouting out our fangirls tonight. My fangirl Dana, I think you and her would be thick as thieves. I would be left in the dust if I went to New York with you and Dana because the two of you would be like, we're going here, here, here, here, here, here, here, everywhere on Broadway because she's there like once a month, just and just take solo trips on her own. She is my hero. My hero that she's just like, I'm gonna go to New York for the weekend and I'm gonna watch like four shows. Like, dang, that's incredible. I I wish I could do that. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00So I would love to go with her as well. Dana, let's go. Let's get this together. We can do this for sure. Girls' trip. Um, okay. So as mentioned, one of the biggest and best things about going to Broadway in New York, and we will be doing this, is stage dooring. Um, it can be a little hectic. Absolutely. But it is it is unbelievably cool to do so. Um, and so I have lots of fangirl blessed moments um because of stage dooring. Um, so I'm gonna pick one only, obviously, because as we do, fangirl blessed or fangirl manifest. Um and it would be the first experience I had store stage dooring since we're going on this journey of how that nostalgia makes me feel and everything. Um, and that is I stage doored thoroughly modern Millie. I flew all the way to New York City to see my girl Sutton Foster, and I stage doored and I met her and I talked to her, and I think I left my body. I think I did. That only happened one other time, but I literally looked at her and I said, I flew all the way from San Francisco to see you. And she looked me dead in my eye and said, Thank you so much. That is so lovely. I appreciate that. She was beyond wonderful and as mentioned, they do not have to stage door, they do not have to do it, it is not part of their contract, they do not get paid for it. So um she signed, of course, my playbill and all the things. In fact, I don't know if it ever went anywhere, but a gentleman came up after and asked if I would sign a release because they had filmed me saying this to her. Oh so I don't know, it could have been on some, you know, local thing or whatever, I'll never know. But um, but I'm like, yeah, of course. Uh and it was, again, just the first time I had done that and the most magical experience because where else I, you know, where else as a fangirl can you literally go to the thing you fangirl about and be the closest, I would say, to guaranteed to meeting somebody from that thing right then, immediately. Yeah. And for that matter, getting the opportunity to tell that individual what that piece of art just did to you. And I would like to think that were I on the receiving end of that, were I the one in the show, my cup would be filled and running over every single time that I went to a stage door and heard people telling me those things. Um, so it is a genuine, lovely community. Remember, I said a few back, I accidentally said fangirl convention at something. It's like that. You are waiting to speak to these people and they come out, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes after the show ends. So you get to know the people that are sitting there and they talk about their experiences and stuff. And it's it's it truly is so, so wonderful. And while stage dooring can happen anywhere at all the different theaters, etc., um, it is pretty prominently happening, you know, obviously in New York. Um and very, very cool. I like to keep it sacred and lovely because that's what it is to me. So we're gonna make this trip happen. I'm telling you, like you and I have been trying to figure out what to do, whether it's Halloween horror nights, whether it's gotta be a trip, Disneyland World, whatever, but maybe we do something like this. It would be pretty cool. Maybe, maybe somebody will come back to Broadway that we would want to go see, possibly.
SPEAKER_02In the event that something like that happened, the decision will have been made for us. There will be no like hemming and hawing about what the trip would be. It would be made for us if something like that occur.
SPEAKER_00100%. Like it's a it's a no, it's a like, um, give me your card, your credit card. I got the credit card. When do you need to go for it? Like, there's no, there's no nothing. I don't care if we don't have money, we will figure something out. Um that's what credit cards are for. I know that I'm wrapping this up, and I promise, uh, yeah, I promise. Oh God, I promise I will wrap this up, but I would be remiss. I need to speak on this for two seconds. This is, you know, as important as anything. The being in the room where it happened was transcendent. And when I tell you transcendent, I mean this changed me forever. And that was if you are listening to this and you are a Broadway fangirl, you will know when I say my son and I got to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl with Cynthia Arrivo as Jesus, Adam Lambert as Judas. Um, I mean, the cast goes on and on. Josh Gadd is Herod, Raul Sparsa was in it. Um, like Philippa Sue. Philippus. Who else?
SPEAKER_02Oh, oh, I know who you mean. Milo Manheim. Yes, as Peter. That's right, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Um, but no, all jokes aside, uh, I don't care for Jesus Christ Superstar as a musical. I never really have. Um, it my son really likes it. So of course I was like, well, let's go. And I had always wanted to go to the Hollywood Bowl in general. And it is the most beautiful venue to see something at. You can also film all the way through it. So there are multiple clips of this online. Um, and I have never been so moved. It was again to be in the room where it happened, if you will, although out under the stars, like it was something, something, something. So if anybody wants me to talk about that more someday, I will. But we're wrapping up, so I won't. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that I get to say that I saw that.
SPEAKER_02It was and Becky, you took a lot of you took a lot of amazing videos and clips too throughout. So, you know, maybe as we're uh promoting this episode and you are hanging out on our socials, fangirls of a certain age at Instagram or fangirls of a certain age on TikTok, maybe we'll sprinkle through some of those uh those clips and videos so that you can see the true magic of it. Because yes, Milo Mannheim was amazing. That is true. However, the videos that that Becky sent me of Adam Lambert and Cynthia Arrivo were like, I mean, I was just watching them on my phone and goosebumps all over my arms. They were just so incredible. I I can totally see that being such a moving performance.
SPEAKER_00Uh Cynthia Arrivo, as many of you know, because Wicked is out in the Zeitgeist right now, etc., she is known for being, you know, a Broadway darling herself. She has a Tony, um, but for the color purple, so not for Wicked, which is what she's known for right now. Her voice, I can't it's indescribable. It is indescribable to watch her sing like that. It is unbelievable. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um I'm I just I'm sorry, I'm just gonna add on to that really quick. I had never heard of Cynthia Arrivo prior to Wicked, I didn't know who she was. Um, there was a live-action Pinocchio that came out a few years back. Um, that was on Disney Plus, and Cynthia Arrivo played the Blue Fairy, and she sang When You Wish Upon a Star. It was the first thing I've ever heard her sing, and it was silent in my household as the four of us, me and my husband, and my two young children, watched this. And I turned to my husband, and I literally had tears just singing When You Wish Upon a Star. And I was so incredibly moved by that performance. I could not believe how incredible her voice was. So I knew I knew then that she was a force to be reckoned with. So I can't imagine how incredible she could have been in, you know, uh the Hollywood Bowl.
SPEAKER_00The song, the big number, if you will, that Jesus sings in Jesus Christ Superstar is called Gethsemane, which is the place. It's a place. Um and to see her take on it, actually, you know, but I female singing this particular song, which is basically Jesus saying to God, like, I don't get it. Why do I have to die for all of this? Really reckoning with this. Again, whatever you believe, this is the art I'm talking about. Um, and so her take on that as a female, it's so different. And it was unbelievable. What I would love to ask Milo Mannheim is when Gethsemane is actually sung on stage, all Milo Mannheim played Peter, who's one of the apostles. All the apostles are asleep, essentially, on stage. And so they're laying there as she's singing this. And I would literally like to ask him what it was like to lay there and listen to her sing that song every freaking night that she sang it was three nights. Yes, he got to do this, he got to act that, but to be able to just lay there and listen to her is her probably like unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Because he was asleep, like uh not asleep, but his eyes were closed. So all he sees is darkness, but he hears this just profound and beautiful voice singing with such pain and anguish that you can just hear, you don't need to see it, you can hear it in her voice and how her voice trembles and how her breath hitches, and like right.
SPEAKER_00Well, what you don't know everyone is that I just literally texted Amber the YouTube video of I'm Here, which is the song, the big 11th hour number, by the way. We didn't talk about that. It's called the 11th hour number, the big song that happens um at the very end of a show. Usually the person is belting, singing their heart out. Um, in both, you know, singing quality and story movement. It is like the thing. When you watch that, you're gonna text me and you're gonna be like, holy hell. No, I'm gonna say it, holy fuck. That's what you're gonna say. Because the way that she's and that's from the Tony Awards, that particular rendition that you'll see. But the like the emotion as well. Um, if you've ever seen the color purple, obviously, you know, it's a moving piece of art in general. Um, so yeah, you're gonna need to take a minute with that one. It's it's beyond. It's really beyond. Okay. Um, I'll definitely listen to it. Sorry, everyone. I'm a I'm a lady of a certain age, and I will drop the F bomb where warranted, and it is deserved. Hey, it says explicit. Yeah, true, true, true, true, true. Um, it's the the word reserved for many for you know nefarious reasons, but for me for Broadway, sure. Why not? It's fair enough. Um, in any event, I love you so much, Amber, as we come to a close. And I love Milo Mannheim.
SPEAKER_02And I love you, my love. And I also love Milo Manheim. We love you all. Thank you for joining us again. And if you love what you've heard the way that we love everything, please make sure that you rate and review and subscribe to our socials. Have a great one. Bye, everybody. Bye.
SPEAKER_00I'm not singing this out. Sorry. I can't, you know. Do it. Bye, everyone.