This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Teresa Attridge: Hello, everyone. Welcome, Barnacles. Welcome, everyone, to another Backstage Pass party. It's pals.

[0:05] Pauls Macs: Woo, and Teresa.

[0:07] Teresa Attridge: And we have a really exciting conversation for you today. Today we are celebrating the release of the Winner concept EP released by Theater Barn Records.

[0:14] Pauls Macs: Woo.

[0:15] Teresa Attridge: Yes, absolutely. We've got a great group with us today. First off, we've got the writers, Nico Juber and Joe Barros.

[0:21] Nico Juber: Hello, hello.

[0:22] Joe Barros: Hello, pals, Teresa.

[0:24] Teresa Attridge: And we also have Jade McLeod and Gabby Boera, who are performers on the album.

[0:29] Jade McLeod: Hi.

[0:30] Gabby Boera: Hello, hello.

[0:32] Pauls Macs: Celebrities.

[0:34] Teresa Attridge: We're so happy to have you here. Theater Barn Records is releasing an EP, a concept EP of the musical Winner. And Nico, you're actually our first repeat guest. For those who don't know, Nico sings our theme song.

[0:43] Nico Juber: It's true. The second guest ever on the pod and now coming back swinging like, oh, you liked my other show. Well, guess what? This one has an album coming out. I'm working. I'm booked and blessed.

[0:54] Pauls Macs: That does sound like something I've been saying. Yes.

[0:56] Nico Juber: Is it? I mean, I took the words right out of your mouth.

[1:00] Pauls Macs: But also, this is really exciting. We have the artistic director and co-writer of the show, Joe Barros. Joe, I'm so glad you're finally joining us on the podcast. This is epic.

[1:09] Joe Barros: I know. It's crazy. I was actually just washing dishes in my kitchen and I was thinking this is where I usually am when I listen to Backstage Pass.

[1:16] Teresa Attridge: Oh, my gosh, we're an active part of your day. That's so sweet.

[1:19] Pauls Macs: Joe is a big supporter of the podcast. He will text us. Hey, I love that episode. That was so great. It gives me the lift that I need from having a down day. So thank you, Joe, for all the support always. I'm just really excited for people to get to know Joe. Both people know him as an artistic director, but to know him in the context of a writer as well.

[1:39] Joe Barros: Thank you. Thank you both. It's really exciting to chat with you.

[1:42] Nico Juber: And I love what you do. It's like a ministry of musical theater.

[1:45] Teresa Attridge: Oh, my gosh. Jade, Gabby, we're so pleased to have you here. I think we'll talk with you a little bit more as we talk about the process of recording the album. But before we get started, I think I should read a synopsis of the show. Inspired by the queer journeys and bi erasure of its writers, Winner tells a coming out and coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a rigged election at a Southern California high school in 1999.

[2:11] Joe Barros: The musical explores a female-identifying queer narrative and is one of the first to explore bisexuality.

[2:15] Nico Juber: The story centers around Autumn, a high-achieving senior vying for the position of student body president, and her secret girlfriend Stevie, who unexpectedly becomes her opponent in the election.

[2:25] Joe Barros: The musical incorporates a time loop where the day resets three times and a different girl wins the race each time.

[2:31] Nico Juber: The plot unfolds as Autumn, desperate to win the election to secure a college scholarship, discovers the new electronic voting system at school was manipulated.

[2:39] Joe Barros: This revelation sets off a chain of events that forces Autumn to confront her identity and the consequences of hiding her relationship with Stevie.

[2:46] Nico Juber: Autumn's decision to prioritize her relationship with Stevie and her truth over winning the election leads to a public coming out that ultimately breaks the time loop, redefining what it means for Autumn to win.

[2:56] Teresa Attridge: I would love to know how Nico and Joe, I actually, I don't know how you met. I'd love to know that story, number one. And then I'd love to know how you came to collaborate on a musical because Joe, I did not know you were a writer until I found out you were writing shows.

[3:12] Nico Juber: I've been working for Theater Barn for a while.

[3:14] Joe Barros: Then why you chose to write Winner, like how that story came about, how you chose to craft it.

[3:19] Nico Juber: I'll let Joe talk a little bit about it. But the person who introduced us was actually Diana Huey, who is on the album. I've been working with her. She's an actress and she's incredible. She's done a ton of work with New York Theater Barn. Obviously a local Seattle theater legend. She's been developing one of the characters in Millennials Are Killing Musicals for over five years now. But back during the pandemic and the New Work series, Diana actually introduced me to Joe and was like, hey, you need to know each other. You know, you need to know about this show. And that kind of kicked off a friendship that led to this creative partnership.

[4:02] Joe Barros: And I'll let Joe talk about sort of the genesis of what the opportunity was.

[4:06] Nico Juber: Really quick, I do have to say Diana Huey is a Seattle legend. I am from Seattle. But she also has my favorite line in Millennials Are Killing Musicals.

[4:13] Joe Barros: Yeah, I'm basic.

[4:14] Nico Juber: It's clearer than LASIK. That's my favorite line of the whole show. So I just got a shout out to Diana. And also for making this connection happen. That's incredible.

[4:23] Joe Barros: It's funny that you would say that. New York Theater Barn had such a blast presenting Millennials Are Killing Musicals during the pandemic. And those lyrics from BASIC were my favorite as well. She had me at LASIK.

[4:31] Nico Juber: Like Joe said, we started to become friends and really loved the work that she was doing. And I got asked to direct and choreograph in a summer training program in London. They wanted to do a new musical. And I had been writing musicals for a few years. And I was excited about just the world building of musicals and the collaborative process and just the artistic freedom of the creation of musicals. You know, and I had learned all about falsettos and these amazing musicals growing up and discovering that musicals are about us and musicals are healing. And that's a big part of New York Theater Barn. And so immediately I was like, I want to write this and I want to work with Nico Juber. This would be a great opportunity. And she said yes. And I immediately knew that whatever we would create would be awesome.

[5:23] Joe Barros: So this was 2022, September of 2022. We were working towards a goal of writing a show that would open in London. It would have a workshop with actors, young actors in London in July of 2023. No matter what we wrote, we always had a goal. We had a deadline. And so we talked about a few different ideas. I had been so crushed, moved, and sort of inspired by the 2016 election. Where you know who won the election. I kept thinking all about that. And we talked about how interesting the idea would be to create sort of an allegory for that in a high school. Or just the themes of that. It got us thinking about our senior year of high school. It would be very nostalgic and how we would write music that would make us think of this world. And that's sort of how the idea began.

[6:14] Nico Juber: And we thought immediately that it would be a queer love story because we both identify as bisexual. We had a ton in common just in terms of both growing up in California. Joe was Northern California. I was Southern California. So a lot of regional cultural differences there. But still a shared experience. We were both seniors at the same time, right at the edge of the new millennium. And kind of the pressure that's put on that class of 2000. I mean, oh my god, I remember having to sing We Are The World. And stuff like that.

[6:41] Pauls Macs: Oh my gosh. Love that.

[6:43] Nico Juber: Every teen is so excited to be like, can't wait to sing We Are The World. This is great. Also, from my fellow California-born bisexual, happy Pride, everyone. It's still June when we're recording, baby!

[6:53] Pauls Macs: Happy Pride, everyone!

[6:55] Nico Juber: We have the album actually coming out on July 4th. We're saying the Pride's not over. We're extending through July and beyond. Whenever you're listening to this, it's still Pride. So just celebrate still.

[7:06] Pauls Macs: So incredible that you guys managed to get fireworks to blast nationally for your album release.

[7:12] Teresa Attridge: That's so incredible that you were able to provide that opportunity. I don't know how you were able to coordinate that.

[7:17] Joe Barros: Yeah, I mean, a real testament to Theater Barn right there that y'all were able to make that happen. That's incredible.

[7:23] Nico Juber: We also sort of love the act of rebellion that is happening on July 4th. You know, a big part of writing this, and one of the things we talked about in the beginning, was the representation of the story. And just making more queer space. I don't think we can have enough representation, as sort of Gabby said in a recent interview. You know, we were growing up at a time where it was still very new to come out and to be able to say who you are and to feel safe. You know, I was lucky. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I didn't have any queer role models. We barely had any musicals that had representation. I think I would say, you know, between Falsettos and the play Angels in America and its sequel, there wasn't a whole lot out there.

Or Bent, I should say. Or all the Terrence McNally's and, you know, even Larry Kramer's work and all that. But, you know, we were coming out and coming of age in a time that was very dangerous and very scary. And, you know, for a lot of us, meant death. And so for us, to create representation like this is important. And I think we hope that the album creates a global audience, because we think that we need to keep telling stories like this, especially now.

[8:23] Pauls Macs: What is it like to look back and to write queer teens and a queer teen love story that takes place at the turn of the century as an adult now with everything that we have? When you turn back and you turn the lens back, is it joyful? Is it fearful, unsettling? When you go through the process of knowing and having what you have now versus what you didn't know and didn't have then, what is the marriage of that in the writing process?

[8:46] Nico Juber: I mean, for me, it's so joyful and healing. I think Joe and I talk all the time about how this is the show that we wish we had in high school. I feel like all I see right now is stuff about biphobia and shaming women for now dating men or like whatever it is if someone's already come out and not understanding fluidity. So I still think that not hearing people and listening to people when they tell you who they are is still a problem. My senior year, Joe's senior year, we were in school at the same time. We both were the first years that anyone came out. This was brand new. I wrote an article for the school paper and it was still anonymous, but then I wrote it next to another article. You could clearly tell it was the same person.

Everybody knew it was me, but it was me talking about being bisexual and nobody believing me. And everyone's like, Nico, we know this is you. That was where I was when I graduated because every time I would tell people, they're like, that's not a thing. That's not real. That's a step on the way or it's a phase. I feel like that piece of it's not really better, unfortunately. So I'm hoping that this will do some good out in the world in terms of just showing that there are possibilities and making people feel seen.

[10:14] Joe Barros: Yeah. And I mean, in a lot of ways, it's probably not better because biphobia is inherently both misogynistic and patriarchal because it centers around the idea that people choose men. They're like, well, you can't be a bisexual man because you're just gay. You're not a bisexual woman. Like, you'll go back to men. The baseline is continuously men. There's also the idea that people are like, well, bisexual people can't be attracted to like non-binary or gender fluid people because we have like this weird idea of what we think bisexuality means, that it's a binary versus it being like your gender, other genders. I mean, there's a whole mess around it in terms of people's lack of understanding of it, but the assertion of their assumption.

[11:05] Nico Juber: You better preach.

[11:06] Pauls Macs: That was just like all of that was such a bar. Come on, Teresa.

[11:09] Teresa Attridge: You're so right.

[11:10] Pauls Macs: Look, we're out here spitting the truth. Happy pride.

[11:12] Nico Juber: Absolute truth. Happy pride.

[11:14] Teresa Attridge: One of the themes of our podcast is writers creating representation on stage that they feel does not exist yet. Nico, I remember from our last conversation you talked about there being a lack of a bicon. We use that word bicon. I think it's really fantastic that you're creating these bicons for the next generation so they can see those role models that you didn't have.

[11:34] Nico Juber: That does sound like something I would say. I would double down on that. Thank you.

[11:38] Teresa Attridge: So how did the process of the Winner concept EP come about? You've got a show. You've workshopped it. This is kind of an interesting step. Not every musical theater writing team can take this step.

[11:48] Joe Barros: Well, I mean, a lot has happened since we – obviously since we spoke last. There's been continued development on the piece. We recently – just earlier this year, we were at the Johnny Mercer Writers' Grove at Goodspeed Musicals. That was a great opportunity. We actually wrote another song for the show and deepened another character, and so a lot happened there. We, I think, always had in our heads that the music kind of carries the show as a musical should. We've had really great responses.

[12:22] Nico Juber: From the students that we've been working with. We've been so, so lucky to be in partnership with students throughout this process. At NYCDA, we workshopped with students at Florida State University, you know, continued to with Joe and his teaching positions.

[12:37] Joe Barros: Oh, so did you workshop with like Elisa Hauser's students at Florida State?

[12:42] Nico Juber: Yes, yes. I think you made that connection, didn't you?

[12:47] Joe Barros: Yeah, yeah. Elisa is a friend of the pod. Elisa is the writing partner of Kathleen Wren. Yeah, they're partners writing a book. Kathleen Wren is the artistic director of the New Works, New Voices program at Syracuse University. And then she's collaborating with Elisa to write this book about developing musicals in university theater programs.

[12:59] Nico Juber: That's so cool that you got that opportunity, especially considering the people you're portraying in the show, because even though it's a period piece, I'm sure that conversation between how they were perceiving your show, you know, now versus then, that must have been fascinating.

[13:12] Joe Barros: Oh, yeah. I mean, it really feels like it's been in conversation this whole time. But I think we've had in our heads, back to your question, that we wanted to do some kind of EP to get the music out there in the hands of students, because we know the students have been a giant champion of the show at every step and every iteration.

[13:27] Nico Juber: What's so exciting about making this album is that there's a unique way that music functions in the show, because each song is actually part of a playlist. And we sort of have always imagined that each song is performed as its own sort of MTV music video, because remember, music videos were really popular at this time, especially with TRL after school every day.

[13:52] Joe Barros: Let's give the listeners a taste of what we've been talking about. Please set up "Who Gets the Win."

[13:56] Nico Juber: All right, well, "Who Gets the Win" is Autumn's I Want song. It starts in a bathroom. It's a song that Nico, I believe, really wrote most of. It's really incredible. Basically, Autumn, she needs a scholarship to get into college, and she has to become the president through this election. And the song is sort of about how there are many things in the way of her getting that, and how she will basically destroy everything to get what she wants. You can also try a version of Nico saying this, because she says it really well.

[14:23] Joe Barros: Nico approves. Amazing. And is it Jade who's performing this song?

[14:28] Nico Juber: Yep. All right, well, let's go for it. This is "Who Gets the Win," performed by Jade McLeod.

[14:58] ♪ Musical number: "Who Gets the Win" — performed by Jade McLeod ♪

[15:30] Joe Barros: I said this before but this is just such a groove. As soon as I heard the opening I just knew I was gonna love this show, especially it speaks to my millennial heart. What I also love is the way that it explores self-doubt. You can feel the character's thoughts racing in the music. Self-doubt is something a lot of theater artists have to work with. I think it's relatable to any student or any artist and probably why we've had students really latching on to that song and workshopping it in these various contexts. It is a very personal song but I also think it's got that fun poppy thing.

[18:03] Nico Juber: I mean we should talk about Balint, our incredible illustrator, arranger. He really helped create the world of sound for this and so we'd go to him and say, hey think you know Vanessa Carlton or Michelle Branch or Tori Amos or like we kind of would throw out these like very specific pop references, Evanescence, like there were a lot of those things.

[18:30] Joe Barros: Alanis. Alanis, yeah I mean it was so good and well gee you know Alanis, we knew. The voice right there. The greatest thing about "Winner" when it kind of got brought to my email, if you will, showcases a queer story which like as a queer person and like a trans person I love to showcase that. I love to work on new material. It's so exciting to try and bring a story to life in its like baby iteration and then I was listening to these songs, like these demos that I think Nico is singing on and Nico and Joe put together and they're just total bops. They're saying this before like it's they're just good songs right and it made me so excited. I was like I have to do this. I love the 90s.

[19:10] Gabby Boera: Yeah. I slept three hours last night and I was so tired today and in the last hour and a half before this podcast I just started listening to the music and look how awake I am as soon as I heard the show. It just brought me back to life.

[19:19] Nico Juber: Amazing. It's like an espresso shot to your skull.

[19:25] Gabby Boera: It really is. It makes it so much easier to hear that it's a period piece when I was very much a child and alive when the music is so reflective and so good. I'm like oh no yeah no I can celebrate the fact that I'm old and I do remember when music sounded like this because it really does have that nice balance of it has that great mix of musical theater and just like that old school like fun poppy but also it's got a millennial flair. It's got it's like the opposite of millennial cringe. It's what we should be celebrating.

[19:52] Joe Barros: Yeah he was really good at kind of distilling what we were trying to do and working with us and going back and forth to get the exact sound that we were looking for and that kind of transported us to the era but then also felt within the world of musical theater.

[20:07] Nico Juber: Yeah and that's again that's Balint Varga that we're talking about. He's just incredible. He elevated the whole piece. He's a vital collaborator. He's a musical director, arranger, and orchestrator. He's been a part of nearly every part of development including he was there in London. He's a major part of this album.

[20:29] Gabby Boera: I believe that while it must resonate with absolutely students and artists I believe that more people if they were being honest would be grappling with this. I mean the lyric that really sticks out to me is I want to be more than I've been. There's a voice inside that says you're not strong enough and I think a lot of people are just not being honest about the fact that they uh they don't have that inner voice or maybe some people should have that inner voice that might be healthy for some people. It's all about like when does that voice become too loud?

[20:56] Jade McLeod: I was so lucky and blessed that these guys trusted me to sing all of the Autumn material in the show which is like Autumn's kind of this young neurotic girl who's like trying to win the school election but is also you know has a secret girlfriend maybe friends with benefits girlfriend question mark. Relatable. Right? Who hasn't who hasn't been there? I got to sing lead on "Who Gets the Win" and collab with the brilliant talented Alex Wyse on "Wildfire" and Taylor Mondone's on "I Am The Best."

[21:25] Gabby Boera: Oh Taylor yeah. Yeah love her. That's also a Bay Area babe right there. There's a lot of California energy.

[21:31] Jade McLeod: Yeah it was so cathartic in the room. I think I remember Nico saying something to me about like in writing this this was her kind of like love letter to the ugly voice in her head that like tells her to do more be better all the time and I just related to that so hard that it was a really great moment in the booth like I got to use some real emotions some real anxiety to just try and give an honest insight into what that feels like for all of us.

[21:56] Joe Barros: I mean it absolutely comes through the vocals are vocaling. The way that it explores self-doubt and you can feel the character's thoughts racing the music you explore that so powerfully with your voice. Gabby I'd love to talk with you a little bit about your part in the process and how you got involved.

[22:04] Gabby Boera: I got introduced to this musical through my school. Joe was one of my teachers at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. A little we spent a semester doing what's called the new works project where we get to put on a few different excerpts of different new works. Joe and Nico were kind enough to bring that story to us and we were able to do our own little production of it a fully staged like excerpt and I got to play the role of Autumn for that which was super exciting and a fun little perspective to have.

[22:42] Jade McLeod: I think a lot of us who have ever gone to high school ever can relate to Autumn. There's just a lot of trying to figure out your sexuality trying to figure out who you are as a person and as a high schooler and there's a lot going on and she's confused she's excited she's nervous she's kind of a little bit of everything so that was a really fun role to explore a little bit but then for the album I was able to do the ensemble tracks which I think was even more exciting in a way because I had this perspective on Autumn and I then got to take that information and apply it to a more outside perspective of the ensemble which I've said this before it kind of felt like the echo of what was happening in Autumn's brain and like Joe was saying the playlist to like what's happening in their world and so it was a really cool perspective a new perspective to have on the material and also there were a few songs I didn't know that they added to the concept album so that was also new material for me even though I was kind of already familiar with the world I wonder there were some new pieces that I got to explore.

[23:54] Nico Juber: I love how you were talking about how going from playing Autumn to being ensemble and the perspective of that is really really cool I feel like so often high school it does feel like a Greek chorus right every rumor about someone is being like loudly spoken about and you feel like everywhere you go you're being confronted with the version of you people think you are or the version of you that you're trying to be and you're constantly seeing this like funhouse mirror image of yourself and your peers and so I can only imagine for you how fun it must be to sort of be like oh yeah this is what you're afraid of I'm gonna make it sound exactly like that when I record it this time um and so what a cool perspective I love that it's also so fun to see people you know for lack of a better word like graduate with the show it's fun because it is sort of like you get a re-education on the show every time.

[24:37] Joe Barros: Oh yeah just the fact that you're able to see the role interpreted by someone else or the show has grown is really really cool.

[24:45] Jade McLeod: I've seen adaptations of Autumn that I've not seen before, and we have other demos or rehearsal videos from other classes that I've gotten to do Winner as well. I've been able to see a few different adaptations, which have all been incredible, but Jade is like no other. It was so cool, and I kind of geeked out in the recording studio because we were in one room and we kind of separated by voice parts. So, me and Jade were kind of kicking it in this one room, and it was so much fun. I love that continuity. Nico and Joe, can you talk about the things you've learned while working with students, perhaps through the process of recording the album or perhaps through the workshop that you did? I'd love to hear that perspective because it is so relatable to them. I'd love to hear how they might have influenced the piece. And then Gabby, I'd love to hear your perspective from the other side of that too.

[25:38] Joe Barros: Well, we've been very fortunate. We've mainly worked with student actors through the entire process. They first breathed life into the show with alumni from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. Each one has brought something different. We've listened to everything that they've said. When Gabby was a part of the excerpt of shows this past fall, there was another actor from another class who was also playing the role. So, Gabby actually got to see a different class do the same excerpt, and it's always different. We learn new things. There were actors in that class who recommended that we change a lyric and explained why, and we listened. We altered all kinds of things based on their feedback and their unique experiences.

We've seen people from many different cultures and walks of life, just a really diverse group of people take on these characters. We actually are very lucky right now because we're in the process of there will be a production at UC San Diego in August with Blindspot Collective. We were chosen through a submission process for that. They workshopped a few versions of this with high school students, just kind of prepping and gave us feedback from them. We just went through a whole series of rewrites with the dramaturg and have been streamlining and refining more so from when we just were in Goodspeed. So, there have been quite a few rounds of development on the show as we've been going, informed by students. And then now we actually have, after that production, which will be from ages 15 to 25, and of course, we'll get feedback from them. We have a high school in New Jersey.

[27:02] Gabby Boera: Yes, and the high school is New Jersey's Monroe Township High School. What's up, Monroe Township? So, what's exciting especially about working with them is that the teachers are giving us feedback on what is going to work within their high school in terms of does a kiss need to be holding hands? Does some swearing not totally work? Because we want to have versions of the show that can be done in high schools versus colleges and potentially community theater and everywhere possible. Ultimately, we're excited for the learning experience that we're going to have and how this sets us up for success in the future. Plus, having the music out there too and having students respond to it. We also have a spectrum of ages of performers on the album, but we did make intentional space to have two young actors, Logan Leilani Blount and K Ryan Martin.

And you know, I just got to say, as the artistic associate of New York Theatre Barn, making intentional space is one of my favorite Joe Barros phrases. I know that is not necessarily like your phrase, Joe, necessarily, but I use that all the time in my practice, in my artistry, and that's been so helpful to me in my career. So, thank you, Joe, for doing that, for creating intentional space because that's so important.

[28:12] Joe Barros: Thank you for that.

[28:16] Gabby Boera: Yeah, of course. Well, speaking of creating intentional space, Gabby, I'd love to create a space for your response. How does it feel to go from being a student, like workshopping the art and hearing it, to being a professional getting to do the album?

[28:26] Gabby Boera: Oh my goodness! Being—I almost said being in high school—I'm not in high school. Being at school while working on a piece that is dealing with ages that are not far from where we were all kind of at, I mean, it just made sense. The story lends itself to a younger audience. It's not hard to pull from that world. I'm in my young 20s; it's not that long ago that I was in high school and experiencing a lot of what these characters are going through. Jade was saying earlier, it's so fun to be a part of a new project and a new musical and kind of be still on the development of these and being able to figure out kind of what these characters might mean or what their deal is. Especially, you know, Joe was our director for that new works project and gave us creative leeway with a lot of things, and we were able to feel comfortable and excited to be in a space where we were able to develop those characters a little further.

It's still rewarding to be in a production where maybe you gotta fit more of a cookie-cutter mold or maybe you're portraying a real historical figure in a way. I need to be true to that, but with this and with a new project, it's really exciting to kind of find that on your own and also be able to bring a lot of yourself to the table with both the new works project where I got to portray Autumn and also with the concept album of being the ensemble track. I was able to be Gabby in both settings.

[29:49] Jade McLeod: This almost sounds great, by the way. I just gotta say the harmonies are so tight. These songs would never sound better. In fact, I think we should play another one. Nico and Joe, would you please set up "Eye On The Prize"?

[30:03] Nico Juber: So, we're about to have the vote for student body president, student council president, and Stevie has just come out running against her secret girlfriend in the election but wants to make sure that everyone is still voting for Autumn because she does not want to win the election. This was never her intention to run in the first place, and so she's trying to figure out how to stay together with Autumn and how to make this all work. And Autumn, we switch to her perspective. Autumn is pissed about this and feels betrayed. From her perspective, this is kind of a breakup moment.

[30:43] Jade McLeod: What is more teenage than that?

[30:45] Nico Juber: Exactly, right? To raise the stakes even more, you should know that voting usually takes place in the gym, but they've rolled out a new online voting system through AOL. So, we are in the computer lab where everybody is voting on a computer, which already has some students skeptical about its authenticity because machines break and things like that or can be manipulated. What's exciting is that they're in front of computer screens, so I always imagine that theatrically we go inside their heads and the lights fade and the screens are flashing, and everybody's dancing on the tables like a music video. That's how you know Joe's a director. It's not just set up; it's also like the production concept of the song, and I'm so thrilled to see it.

[31:23] Jade McLeod: Who is performing this song?

[31:23] Nico Juber: So, this is Jade McLeod and also Taylor Iman Jones and the entire cast. And because you asked, I'm actually going to say their names. The people playing on this album are Taylor Iman Jones and Jade McLeod, who are playing Autumn and Stevie, as well as Alex Wyse, Diana Huey, Jessie MacBeth, Luis Villabon, Kristopher Stanley Ward, Logan Leilani Blount, Gabby Boera, Federico Hradek, and K Ryan Murray. They sound incredible, and I'm not going to try to repeat those names. Here's "Eye On The Prize" performed by the cast of Winner.

[M:SS] ♪ Musical number: "Eye On The Prize" — performed by the cast of Winner ♪

[35:02] Pauls Macs: There's so much tension. There's so much tension raising those stakes in musical form. You can just feel it. Gosh, there's something so Shakespearean about high school. There is no greater emotional stake than a really inconsequential thing in high school, do you know what I mean? It elevates itself to new heights. I really feel for Stevie. Stevie's just doing their best, trying so hard. I also love the idea of—well, just, you know, I probably shouldn't admit this on the pod, but I still have my AOL email address. It's not my professional one, but I still have an AOL account.

[35:53] Teresa Attridge: Well, there's no way!

[35:54] Pauls Macs: Yes, I do! I'll email you afterwards. It's not my either part email or my professional email. I'm literally email barnacles if you want to write to paulsmacs@aol.com. Send it my way. I dare you! I dare you to email paulsmacs@aol.com. But you know, the idea of voting on machines, that being new, and it's also relevant today—the distrust of the elections.

[36:23] Teresa Attridge: What do you mean? What is—there's distrust in our elections?

[36:26] Pauls Macs: I think a big part of the message of the song too and even the show is that sometimes things are not what you expect, and sometimes things are wrong, and usually the answer is right in plain sight.

[36:40] Teresa Attridge: Thanks for joining us on New York Theatre Barn's Backstage Pass, hosted by Teresa Attridge and Pauls Macs. Join us next time as we continue our conversation about the musical Winner and the release of its concept EP on Theatre Barn Records.