This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Ever wonder what it takes to make a new musical sing? Our mission is to make the exclusive inclusive. We're interviewing the creatives who are changing musical theater one 11 o'clock number at a time. This is your Backstage Pass.

[0:40] Isabella Dawis: I'm going far from Tokyo.

[0:58] ♪ Musical number: "Travel Song" — performed by Isabella Dawis, Gemma Nha, and Anna Hashizume ♪

[1:45] Tidtaya Sinutoke: You're listening to Travel Song from the new musical Sunwatcher. Welcome back to Part 2 of our conversation with Isabella Dawis and Tidtaya Sinutoke about their exciting new musical. In 1944, a young woman in Tokyo dares to stare at the sun. Though she lives in a city under attack from American bombs, and in a body limited to the role of housewife, Hisako is determined to become an astronomer. Her struggle leads her to the mighty Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, who is in the midst of her own epic battle and needs a mortal's help. But can Hisako rise to the challenge? Performed by an all-Asian women and non-binary cast, with an innovative score featuring electronic live looping and taiko drumming, Sunwatcher is a new musical about one woman's extraordinary dedication to the power of observation. In this episode, you'll hear another song from the show, and if you listen all the way to the end, we'll play a game where we decide which musical theater character we'd like to observe for 11 years.

[2:38] Pauls Macs: So I'm going to get the universe is never in tune tattooed to me. That was unintentionally so deep and crazy. Like Tidtaya, you really rocked my world explaining that to me. And you didn't even know, but I feel like a different person from that one sentence. Like, I'm so shocked. I'm changed. I'm changed. I am changed.

[2:57] Pauls Macs: Well, we have one more demo to get to. Would you all mind setting up Butterfly? Because this is a song I definitely want to make sure the listeners get a chance to hear it. It is absolutely gorgeous. Speaking of forever changed, we need to talk about Butterfly. Enlighten us about this song.

[3:09] Isabella Dawis: The butterfly effect Butterfly has had on me. I can't even describe it. Can you describe it? Because I certainly can't.

[3:18] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I will try to describe it. This song comes at a place in the story where Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, has appeared to Hisako. And Hisako is discovering what a sunspot is. This turns out to be her life's work. Spoiler alert. A sunspot is, to be very blunt about it, it is what looks like a spot on the sun. It looks that way because of the surface temperature. And it's the result of very, very complicated thermodynamics and electromagnetism and things that are really hard, even for extremely advanced scientists, to comprehend, much less work out. But these spots appear and disappear in what turns out to be pretty recurring patterns. That's the solar cycle, as it's called, which lasts for roughly 11 years. And so this song is Amaterasu basically laying out to Hisako the fact that this solar cycle exists. This 11-year-long pattern and kind of throwing down a gauntlet for her in terms of proving that she is a dedicated solar observer and scientist.

[4:36] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Tataya, do you want to talk about the looping?

[4:39] Isabella Dawis: Any song that is like science of the sun related, we decided that would be performed with two looping machines. So one is with vocal and one with a keyboard. Yeah, this song is the most advanced of all those looping that we have to do. It feels like it's a song that sounds by a choir, but it's actually performed by two people. The show kind of introduces the use of live looping kind of mirrors Hisako's growing education in solar science. So the audience is kind of introduced to the practice of live looping and how live looping works as Hisako is learning more about the sun and the science of the sun. This song is the culmination of several steps that both Hisako and the audience have gone through in terms of learning about science and getting accustomed to processing this otherworldly sound that live looping makes.

[5:42] Pauls Macs: Who sings on this song?

[5:43] Tidtaya Sinutoke: It's Isabella.

[5:45] Pauls Macs: I thought so, I thought so. This happens sometimes.

[5:48] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Oh my gosh. The vocal for Hisako is Gemma and Anna Hashizume had the dialogue of Amaterasu in the song.

[5:58] Pauls Macs: All right, well, here is Butterfly.

[6:19] ♪ Musical number: "Butterfly" — performed by Isabella Dawis, Gemma Nha, and Anna Hashizume ♪

[9:30] ♪ Musical number: "Butterfly" — performed by Isabella Dawis, Gemma Nha, and Anna Hashizume ♪

[12:20] Isabella Dawis: Wow, I am so honored to be the person to do this. It's a privilege.

[12:24] Tidtaya Sinutoke: We're just trying to make our community a better place.

[12:27] Isabella Dawis: We're just trying to play little games, if we're being real. We're just trying to game on.

[12:32] Tidtaya Sinutoke: But this one we're actually calling Star Watcher. Ooh, thematic, because the sun is also a star.

[12:38] Pauls Macs: If there were a musical theater character that you had to observe for 11 years, which musical theater character do you pick?

[12:47] Isabella Dawis: I know, I know, we gotta really think about it.

[12:50] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I feel like Titaya has someone. I feel like Titaya, as soon as you said this, Titaya's wheels were turning.

[12:57] Pauls Macs: I appreciate that as a writing team, you can recognize Titaya's facial expressions to be able to read Titaya.

[13:03] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Through a screen, just like at the beginning of the pandemic. A lot of practice.

[13:07] Pauls Macs: Titaya, do you have someone?

[13:09] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Maybe I'll pick Elphaba, just because I'm curious what's gonna happen.

[13:15] Isabella Dawis: Oh my gosh.

[13:17] Pauls Macs: The visual reaction of everyone to that statement was incredible.

[13:20] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Oh yeah, just every girl with green hair and a green dress and a green background was like, Elphaba!

[13:27] Isabella Dawis: It really happened for us. That's such a good answer. I love that.

[13:31] Pauls Macs: Are you thinking the 11 years after the musical ends?

[13:35] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Oh, we're getting very specific and I love this. The more specific, the better.

[13:39] Isabella Dawis: Oh yeah, get crunchy. We love that.

[13:41] Pauls Macs: What 11 years were you thinking about, Titaya? Because I want to see the metamorphosis.

[13:46] Tidtaya Sinutoke: He's leaving us, right? I mean, that's the end of it.

[13:51] Isabella Dawis: He's not talking about the book because that's totally different from...

[13:54] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Oh, the book is crazy.

[13:56] Isabella Dawis: I've never read it.

[13:57] Pauls Macs: Pals, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, it's okay if you don't.

[14:00] Tidtaya Sinutoke: It's a fun read, but if you're expecting the musical, you're not gonna get that.

[14:03] Isabella Dawis: It is loosely based.

[14:05] Pauls Macs: Pals, actually, while we're talking to you, would you like to share your pick?

[14:08] Pauls Macs: Yeah, yeah. I am a Sondheim fanatic over here.

[14:11] Pauls Macs: For those who don't know, I recently became a father.

[14:14] Pauls Macs: So I would like to observe the baker for 11 years to see his parenting skills.

[14:17] Pauls Macs: And then also, I'm not good at baking things. So it's like a double whammy. I get to be a good parent and I get to be good.

[14:24] Pauls Macs: I get to be good at baking things by observing the baker for 11 years.

[14:27] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Also, gorgeous singing voice.

[14:29] Isabella Dawis: Yeah. Also, I mean, if you're constantly watching the baker, truly, no one is alone.

[14:33] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Truly. That takes on a whole new musical subtext.

[14:37] Pauls Macs: Yeah, we're just stalking now.

[14:38] Isabella Dawis: Also, we all know that there's like a proposed act three of Into the Woods somewhere.

[14:43] Pauls Macs: Depending on what happens, you know the baker is going to deal with more mythological stuff.

[14:46] Pauls Macs: And so I'll figure out what to do in that situation.

[14:48] Isabella Dawis: You had yours stolen. Do you have a new one?

[14:51] Isabella Dawis: Or are you like, no, Elphaba, it's fine.

[14:53] Tidtaya Sinutoke: The person who's coming to mind is Fanny Brice.

[14:56] Isabella Dawis: Very funny. Literally.

[14:58] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Will it rain on her parade?

[15:01] Isabella Dawis: Or, I mean, not like a musical theater character, but someone like Ethel Merman or just someone.

[15:08] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Oh, right in the other category.

[15:10] Isabella Dawis: Okay, now we're talking about gods.

[15:12] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Well, yeah, I just wasn't around during the time, like preamplification on Broadway, you know?

[15:19] Isabella Dawis: Yeah, absolute.

[15:21] Tidtaya Sinutoke: That would just be really cool to be around for that.

[15:24] Isabella Dawis: Why are you just rocking our world right now?

[15:27] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I want to hear Ethel Merman sing to the back row.

[15:32] Isabella Dawis: I want to learn why they call it that, singing to the back row.

[15:37] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Because I wasn't alive for that.

[15:39] Isabella Dawis: You want 11 years of that. You cannot turn it off.

[15:43] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Ethel Merman was the first celebrity impression I ever did when I was three.

[15:48] Isabella Dawis: Okay, you have to do it now.

[15:51] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Also, I was three. This was not good.

[15:53] Tidtaya Sinutoke: But I would walk around the house going,

[15:59] Tidtaya Sinutoke: But I'm a baby, and I thought I was the shit.

[16:02] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I was just running around being like,

[16:06] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Which was insane.

[16:08] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I don't know a lot of other three-year-olds who are like,

[16:10] Tidtaya Sinutoke: you know what I'm going to pretend to be?

[16:12] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Not a princess, but a brassy New York beltress is what I'm going to do.

[16:16] Isabella Dawis: Speaking of what I'm going to do.

[16:18] Isabella Dawis: I also picked an Into the Woods character, so I guess we're all just on the same wavelength.

[16:22] Isabella Dawis: But I wanted to observe Cinderella's prince, because that man has so many dalliances that it would be like reality TV.

[16:30] Isabella Dawis: It's a little voyeuristic there.

[16:32] Isabella Dawis: It would just be me watching him lie and cheat and steal.

[16:36] Isabella Dawis: And I'd be like, oh my god, I can't believe he's doing this again. He's crazy.

[16:40] Isabella Dawis: It would just be the longest series of bad reality TV.

[16:43] Isabella Dawis: And then at the end, in his old age, she's like, why am I alone?

[16:46] Pauls Macs: Jersey Shore, In the Woods.

[16:48] Isabella Dawis: I'm like, I can tell you because I watched you for 11 years. Go to therapy.

[16:52] Pauls Macs: Oh my gosh, we're so in sync today.

[16:54] Isabella Dawis: We're so in sync. It's basically Into the Oz.

[16:57] Pauls Macs: Into the Oz. Fantastic.

[16:59] Isabella Dawis: Into the Oz was the vibe today. New name of the game.

[17:02] Tidtaya Sinutoke: But said in an Ethel Merman impression voice.

[17:05] Isabella Dawis: Yeah, it's Ethel Merman is playing the prince.

[17:07] Pauls Macs: No, you have to say it. You have to say it right now in the Ethel Merman voice.

[17:10] Isabella Dawis: That's what Isabella wants.

[17:12] Tidtaya Sinutoke: Defying gravity.

[17:14] Pauls Macs: Yeah, that's what the people want.

[17:15] Pauls Macs: And on that note to Tidtaya, Isabella, it was so fantastic to have you here with us.

[17:20] Isabella Dawis: Thank you for sharing this incredible piece with us, everyone.

[17:22] Tidtaya Sinutoke: I hope you enjoyed listening to it.

[17:24] Pauls Macs: Absolutely. Is there a place that people could find more information about your show?

[17:28] Isabella Dawis: Go to www.sunwatchermusical.com.

[17:34] Isabella Dawis: There's some information about Hisako. There's some information about where the show is at.

[17:39] Isabella Dawis: Actually, just a couple of weeks ago, we had our first reading held at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis.

[17:47] Isabella Dawis: So we're still kind of coming down off of that cloud.

[17:52] Isabella Dawis: It was an amazing experience.

[17:54] Isabella Dawis: But you can hear some demo tracks from the show and follow us and follow along as the show continues to grow.

[18:02] Pauls Macs: All right. Well, much like Hisako and The Sun, I'm going to be watching y'all in this musical and see what happens next.

[18:08] Isabella Dawis: Thank you. Thanks for supporting and spotlighting new musicals.

[18:13] Tidtaya Sinutoke: We as musical theater writers really appreciate that.

[18:17] Pauls Macs: We got your back. That's our whole deal. We love it.

[18:20] Pauls Macs: Thank you. And thank you, Barnacles, for tuning in for yet another episode of Backstage Pass.

[18:26] Isabella Dawis: Thank you, Barnacles. We'll see you again soon.

[18:29] Pauls Macs: Bye-bye.

[18:30] Pauls Macs: Thanks for joining us on New York Theater Barn's Backstage Pass, hosted by Teresa Attridge and Pauls Macs.

[18:40] Pauls Macs: And if you believe in supporting original culture-shifting musicals, please like, subscribe and share.

[18:45] Pauls Macs: Get your backstage pass. Get your backstage pass.

[19:00] Pauls Macs: Get your backstage pass.