This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Robert W Schneider: So once again, please head over to Patreon.com. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com to help us out. Thanks.

[0:06] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you.

[0:07] Robert W Schneider: Hi, I'm Robert W Schneider.

[0:08] Kevin David Thomas: And I'm Kevin David Thomas.

[0:09] Robert W Schneider: And this is Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook at Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends.

[0:15] Kevin David Thomas: And on Twitter at Broadway Curtain and on Instagram.

[0:18] Robert W Schneider: Instagram at Broadway Curtain Podcast. And where can you listen to our podcast, Kevin?

[0:22] Kevin David Thomas: On Stitcher and Broadway World.

[0:24] Robert W Schneider: And on iTunes, and on the one on our WordPress website, which we're thinking about redoing at some point. And a shout out to our social media intern, Jennifer Darrys, a student at Rutgers.

[0:34] Kevin David Thomas: Rutgers.

[0:35] Robert W Schneider: She has for the last if you guys have noticed maybe some more pictures posted on Instagram and some more regularity. It is not because that I listened to my New Year's Eve resolution. It's because we have a wonderful person helping us out with that.

[0:47] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, and she's great, and she comes and she takes photographs of our guests a lot of the time and videos, and she's wonderful. And so big thanks to Jennifer, and a big thank you to this gentleman who is joining us for the third year in a row on our Tony Awards show. And that is the wonderful Tony Awards historian, Bryan Hobgood.

[1:01] Bryan Hobgood: Hey ya! Welcome.

[1:06] Robert W Schneider: Welcome back. Oh my goodness. We're recording live on location from Gander, can't we?

[1:12] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[1:13] Kevin David Thomas: You hear them all.

[1:17] Bryan Hobgood: I'm listening. I am still pissed that did not win last year.

[1:20] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, same.

[1:21] Bryan Hobgood: And I kind of wanted to do it as a write-in this year. I'd be like, I keep thinking that it didn't win in my mind. I keep it playing in my head that it won. And it's better. But thank goodness it's running and it's doing really, really well.

[1:31] Kevin David Thomas: And it's doing so.

[1:35] Bryan Hobgood: And I'm like, good. I mean, that's great that it's doing well. It's really good.

[1:39] Kevin David Thomas: Um, do we hear music?

[1:42] Bryan Hobgood: We do hear music.

[1:43] Kevin David Thomas: I'm not picking it up, but what is that good?

[1:45] Bryan Hobgood: We should tell our listeners we're recording today at the New York Film Academy, what we thought was after hours, but some of the kids are staying around and banging on the piano. So if you hear a piano in the background, it's perfectly clear that you're just banging the keys on the piano.

[1:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, well, it seems appropriate we'd have show tunes for the musical, the musical theater, um, the musicals um side of our uh Tony Award.

[2:04] Bryan Hobgood: Agreed.

[2:05] Kevin David Thomas: Agreed. And this season, the 2017-2018 season, we had 13 musicals. We had three revivals, and I'm in ten original, but I'm also throwing Springsteen and Rocktopia in there.

[2:16] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, okay. Should you?

[2:18] Kevin David Thomas: Well, they're gonna be a good thing. Is Home for the Holidays not included?

[2:21] Bryan Hobgood: No, I included Home for the Holidays. I always seem like special shows. And very quickly on Home for the Holidays, I was very disappointed because I thought it was that horrible movie with not a horrible movie.

[2:32] Kevin David Thomas: I'm listening to the horrible piano playing, the brilliant movie with Holly Hunter.

[2:36] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, the piano, the piano.

[2:38] Kevin David Thomas: No, the pianist.

[2:39] Bryan Hobgood: Wait. Home for the holidays.

[2:40] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I don't know what that movie is.

[2:41] Bryan Hobgood: You've never seen that?

[2:42] Kevin David Thomas: Have you seen Home for the Holidays?

[2:44] Bryan Hobgood: It's with Holly Hunter where she has to go back home for Thanksgiving, and it's her and Robert Downey Jr.

[2:50] Kevin David Thomas: Is this a Hallmark movie?

[2:51] Bryan Hobgood: No, it's directed by Jodie Foster.

[2:53] Kevin David Thomas: Shut up. You've never seen it?

[2:55] Bryan Hobgood: No.

[2:55] Kevin David Thomas: It's hysterical. You should watch it. I'm just telling you. Put it on the list.

[3:00] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, Kevin's back. What did you do, Kevin? Did you tell him to stop playing?

[3:01] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I almost certainly did.

[3:03] Bryan Hobgood: Who's playing?

[3:05] Kevin David Thomas: They're the film people that were filming stuff. They or they're I just shut the door. They were filming something because they're the New York Film Academy has a musical theater two-year school called the um Professional Conservatory Musical Theater, PCMT.

[3:16] Bryan Hobgood: But obviously they have the film academy and they will use the rooms with the pianos and then noodle on the piano, which is always nice.

[3:23] Kevin David Thomas: Well, if we'll ask I love noodling.

[3:25] Bryan Hobgood: Okay, great. Well, we all love a noodle. So we're talking about 13 musicals.

[3:28] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, but a year. Not a very lucky number for us. Um this is one of the weirdest seasons of musicals.

[3:34] Bryan Hobgood: It is in a long time.

[3:36] Kevin David Thomas: It really is. I was like, isn't nineteen eighty-five? What is going on?

[3:40] Bryan Hobgood: Are you upset Quilters wasn't nominated?

[3:44] Kevin David Thomas: I was like, it's black and blue on this. What's the worst? Leader of the pack. I mean, it was just very strange.

[3:50] Bryan Hobgood: It is a strange year. So let's talk about which musicals opened this year. The first musical of the 2017-2018 season was The Prince of Broadway.

[3:59] Kevin David Thomas: The How Prince musical review presented by Manhattan Theatre Club.

[4:02] Bryan Hobgood: Which had been, you know, circling Broadway for years.

[4:06] Kevin David Thomas: Years.

[4:06] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. You know, much heralded. They went over to Tokyo, uh, Japan to do it.

[4:10] Kevin David Thomas: Tokyo for a long time. While some of those cast members were still in it.

[4:14] Bryan Hobgood: Um I was I was that an intentional pun. Much heralded.

[4:17] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow. I would wish it was.

[4:21] Bryan Hobgood: Okay. I was I was left um I still was hungry.

[4:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[4:26] Bryan Hobgood: After seeing it. I know we're not opining on these things now, but yeah, I uh yeah, I was just a little like, huh? That was nice.

[4:33] Kevin David Thomas: It was it was nice. I felt a little bit of a wasted opportunity. I love these performers, I love these people, I love this music. I didn't love the final song. But I, you know, I love these uh but I I really, you know, yeah, missed opportunity.

[4:48] Bryan Hobgood: A missed opportunity. Okay, so that was Prince of Broadway. Then, like I said, I mentioned it earlier, it's been such an event this year, and that's Bruce Springsteen on Broadway.

[4:56] Kevin David Thomas: It's Bruce Springsteen.

[4:57] Bryan Hobgood: I know it's not eligible for anything, but it's Well, you joked that this was a mu this was, you know, you put this in the musical category, and I said, Oh, it's special. But actually, I've heard it seems like it is like a musical and that it really is very reflective.

[5:17] Kevin David Thomas: Amazing. Well, great. Congratulations, Bruce Springsteen.

[5:20] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. Um and now uh The Band's Visit was our first like musical musical, I would say, in this season.

[5:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh yeah. David Willow.

[5:30] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a real like in uh original book musical based on a film, but yes. Score by David Yazbek.

[5:37] Kevin David Thomas: Started at the Atlantic Theater last year.

[5:39] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. And it got a lot of buzz last year. And I remember last year at this time, you said that next year, this year, Katrina Lenk would be winning.

[5:47] Kevin David Thomas: And she still will be.

[5:53] Bryan Hobgood: And Brian called it. So obsessed with her. She's amazing. And friends, remember Indecent? I mean, like that was where I was like, where is this woman? Who is she? I re-listened to the podcast from last year a few days ago, and I heard myself wax poetic about poetical, if you will, about um her and Indecent and being mad that she wasn't nominated.

[6:15] Kevin David Thomas: I was like, oh, that's right. I was so pissed about it last year.

[6:17] Bryan Hobgood: She will be nominated last year. She wasn't nominated.

[6:19] Kevin David Thomas: Which was insane.

[6:21] Bryan Hobgood: But she's gonna say that. And we said that. But now it's like it's okay. Vindication! Don't worry. No other good shows came in. You're fine.

[6:26] Kevin David Thomas: And also, thank God it was recorded in DC. We're going back for a second. Indecent was recorded. And future generations can see how brilliant that show was because I thought that was fantastic. Did you see it?

[6:37] Bryan Hobgood: No? Okay, great. Um the that's The Band's Visit. Um and then um a favorite, which I'm surprised did not win the Pulitzer Prize this year. That's Home for the Holidays.

[6:45] Kevin David Thomas: Stop it, stop. Live on Broadway.

[6:49] Bryan Hobgood: Uh, which was at the Broadway, where was it? At the Broadway Theater?

[6:52] Kevin David Thomas: No, that wasn't the August Wilson.

[6:54] Bryan Hobgood: Was it the August Wilson theatre? Performing girls. And this was a uh just a Christmas show. I honestly, until I did my research, I had no idea that it ran.

[7:01] Kevin David Thomas: I didn't even remember it. I don't I think I blocked it out.

[7:04] Bryan Hobgood: It literally sold like 20% of its tickets on a weekly basis.

[7:08] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, wow.

[7:09] Bryan Hobgood: It was really, really poorly attended.

[7:12] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[7:12] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. Uh and it's just like there's no marketing for it. They just like sort of put it on Broadway and help people. I mean, it's not like Rocktopia was a tour, right? But it'd been going on, had the structure, and then they just like rented the theater and went in there, which was sort of the equity problem of are the actors uh equity, what is it, you know, all of that.

[7:27] Kevin David Thomas: Um okay, yeah. So for the holidays. Um and then we had our first musical revival of the season, and that is Once on This Island.

[7:36] Bryan Hobgood: One of my favorite musicals of all time.

[7:37] Kevin David Thomas: You like that one.

[7:38] Bryan Hobgood: I love the piece itself. One of the first uh this is the first Broadway revival of the musical. Since nineteen ninety or ninety one um Erns and Flaherty, directed by Michael Arden who did the magnificent Spring Awakening revival a few years back.

[7:50] Kevin David Thomas: Um did we all did you see it?

[7:52] Bryan Hobgood: I did see it.

[7:53] Kevin David Thomas: Beautiful.

[7:53] Bryan Hobgood: I I'm uh sort of on the opposite end of the spectrum from you. I don't usually love the show.

[7:56] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, but I thought this production was beautiful.

[7:58] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. I thought it was great. So for our listeners who aren't aware, it's done pretty much in the round.

[8:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[8:04] Bryan Hobgood: Um I love that theater that circle in the square and uh it's after a hurricane has hit this island or a hurricane.

[8:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, there's lots of sand.

[8:13] Bryan Hobgood: Bless that crew, man.

[8:14] Kevin David Thomas: Well, I'm a woman. I have an um a friend of mine who's in the show and says that they go home every night and they neti pot, and when they neti pot just sand comes out, yeah, comes out.

[8:23] Bryan Hobgood: It's uh that's crazy.

[8:24] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, but the production is so good.

[8:26] Bryan Hobgood: Oh yeah. I'm sorry, so it's I'm sorry you're you're never gonna breathe correctly again. But last show of your career. I cried during Mama Will Provide, so I I feel like it was your suffering was worth my happiness.

[8:37] Kevin David Thomas: No, um and then from Chicago, Spongebob SquarePants.

[8:43] Bryan Hobgood: Boy, the it's a phone. A Nickelodeon cartoon on stage. People, it's like you hear about it and you're like, I don't want to like it. And you see it, and you're like, I loved it.

[8:52] Kevin David Thomas: I like it.

[8:52] Bryan Hobgood: I like it all. It's a special place in my heart, too, because that was my first date with my beautiful, wonderful boyfriend who happens to be sitting next to me right now as we record this.

[8:59] Kevin David Thomas: I love that.

[9:00] Bryan Hobgood: Yes, Jacob is here. This is wonderful. Jacob, thanks for sitting and listening to us.

[9:04] Kevin David Thomas: You know, and my wife and I did you like it?

[9:06] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, yeah.

[9:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. Jacob's nodding his head. He enjoyed it immensely. My wife and I went on a date to see it together, and we just we had the best time. It was lovely. We were so pleasantly surprised. And we just like we were just happy the whole time.

[9:17] Bryan Hobgood: I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

[9:19] Kevin David Thomas: We'll talk more about it later on, but I loved it. Same. Um and I never watched SpongeBob growing up.

[9:25] Bryan Hobgood: Me neither.

[9:25] Kevin David Thomas: We watch it every once in a while, but you know, I had no idea.

[9:25] Bryan Hobgood: I had no idea what was going on.

[9:29] Kevin David Thomas: Same. I had no idea. I was confused by the fact that a crab's daughter was a whale. I didn't understand that.

[9:33] Bryan Hobgood: Didn't bother me.

[9:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, but just be more accepting, Bryan.

[9:38] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, okay. Yeah, come on. You're so right. 2018.

[9:41] Kevin David Thomas: Um my god. Then Escape to Margaritaville.

[9:45] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, sorry. Um I can't even hide my disappointment. It's just I think the Jimmy Buffett musical that made the rounds.

[9:51] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, before it landed.

[9:55] Bryan Hobgood: In the city, you know, to produce it. Uh the Marquee Theater.

[9:58] Kevin David Thomas: Good job getting the Marquee Theater.

[9:59] Bryan Hobgood: Of course, that what other theater could it be? It has to be in the cruise line of theaters.

[10:01] Kevin David Thomas: The cruise filled with beach bottles. I mean, really, and I guarantee that that show's gonna do really great on Norwegian cruise line.

[10:08] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[10:08] Kevin David Thomas: Totally. Or they're just gonna open up because Jimmy Buffett's gonna open up that hotel and area. So they'll just probably just throw it in there, put a theater space in there.

[10:16] Bryan Hobgood: They should put Escape from Margaritaville, it'll run forever, it'll be great.

[10:26] Kevin David Thomas: How he's really popular.

[10:28] Bryan Hobgood: Well, based on the audience who's going to see it. I feel like I'm not sure.

[10:31] Kevin David Thomas: I like the way that like the Grateful Dead were popular because the deadheads love that the Grateful Dead so much that they go to see a concert over and over and over again.

[10:38] Bryan Hobgood: Buffett fans, they have a name, right?

[10:40] Kevin David Thomas: They're called Dead.

[10:40] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, and they go to see his concerts. They travel with him. They they it it's a lifestyle.

[10:45] Kevin David Thomas: So it is very much a way of life that they love his. I was in Key West once, and I think there's a he has a bar there, and I think it's called like parrot heads or something like that.

[10:55] Bryan Hobgood: I didn't realize his music is a way of life.

[10:58] Kevin David Thomas: It literally is a way of life. Well, let me be clear. I went on a Wednesday matinee to this show. Because I no longer have a job, as I pointed out earlier, so I can do that.

[11:07] Bryan Hobgood: Nice.

[11:08] Kevin David Thomas: It was full of people not retired age who were in their Hawaiian shirts and had their parent hats on and were drinking their lives away. And I was like, you people are committed.

[11:20] Bryan Hobgood: May I say that I will say I love an audience coming to Broadway that doesn't usually come to Broadway.

[11:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[11:26] Bryan Hobgood: And if this show is bringing it up, I'm I mean and if this show is bringing people to Broadway that don't usually come to Broadway, if one out of a hundred of them is like, maybe I'll go to see another Broadway show. I'm okay with that.

[11:36] Kevin David Thomas: So they're gonna be able to do the piece was better and stronger, and you know, Paul Nolan, you know, Paul was in something like Bright Star again.

[11:45] Bryan Hobgood: Yes, that's what I wish. But I'll take it, you know. Um but you know what I want to applaud them for, honestly, in their ensemble, there was a gay couple in the ensemble that was never used as a joke, never used as a punchline, and no focus was ever brought to them the way no focus was brought to any of the other ensemble couples in the show.

[12:03] Kevin David Thomas: So I'm like, good for you, Margaritaville.

[12:06] Robert W Schneider: That's gonna come up again later.

[12:08] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[12:08] Robert W Schneider: Um and then after Escape to Margaritaville, ooh, this one was highly anticipated and sort of melted away.

[12:16] Bryan Hobgood: No pun intended.

[12:17] Robert W Schneider: It was melted away. This would be enthusiastic melted away. And that would be Frozen, Disney's Frozen, which the theater owners were so confident that it was gonna be such a hit.

[12:27] Kevin David Thomas: They spent a lot of money on the street.

[12:28] Bryan Hobgood: Chopped up that theater, didn't they?

[12:29] Robert W Schneider: Renovating the St. James.

[12:30] Bryan Hobgood: It had a little bit of a rocky out of town tryout in Denver.

[12:35] Kevin David Thomas: And then kind of a rocky.

[12:36] Bryan Hobgood: It's beef pre-Denver as well. I mean, they've been peddling it for a while.

[12:40] Robert W Schneider: It was on the cruise line. It was on, you know, they've been really trying a lot to like focus on the street.

[12:46] Bryan Hobgood: Well, it was that's right. Yeah, it's still there.

[12:48] Robert W Schneider: So it's a different incarnation.

[12:50] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, all different directors each time.

[12:52] Robert W Schneider: But I uh it's I mean sell it's selling incredibly well. It's very hard to be taken. It's gonna run for a long time. But yeah.

[13:00] Kevin David Thomas: Same thing. It's gonna introduce a whole young generation to the magic of live theater, and the hope is that somebody sees I think so. Patty Murin in this and loves her and then follows her to whatever her next year.

[13:10] Bryan Hobgood: Something really good. Um so good for them. Uh Rocktopia, which had a lot of battles with Actors Equity.

[13:16] Robert W Schneider: We've we got to hear that saga.

[13:18] Bryan Hobgood: That was nuts. Um how do you feel about that? You're a member of Actors Equity.

[13:22] Kevin David Thomas: It's tough. It's tough. Uh, you know, I I feel I see I understand both sides. You know, the idea this Rocktopia was a tour rock show tour. There is a full orchestra, there's the lead singers, and then you have like the the orchestra I mean the the the the chorus in the back who are who are literally just supporting and singing, and you know, um one of our students was in a Majesty. Um but it's uh so it came they rented the Broadway theater and they wanted equity actors equities, like you can't just you have to pay them Broadway prices.

[13:50] Robert W Schneider: But the producers were like, if we do that, all you know, 40 or f how many people were in the choir, that's that's way too much money. We're that is like that is not realistic. Uh and so that was that was essentially the battle. Um, I I I think so you have to make a special, you know, case, you know, because there's special shows that come to New York that they don't have to join equity in order to to be a part of it.

[14:09] Bryan Hobgood: Right. Did Bruce Springsteen have to join Equity?

[14:12] Kevin David Thomas: I don't know. I would be curious to know that.

[14:14] Bryan Hobgood: Um, something like that. I wouldn't be surprised. I'm thinking of like the time like that guy who did the food show, you know, last year, last season.

[14:21] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah.

[14:22] Kevin David Thomas: And I I don't, I wonder if he joined Equity or if he's just a comedian who so those kinds of situations, I get it. So I can I can understand why.

[14:30] Bryan Hobgood: But then all those actors, all those course people are like, that's my Broadway debut.

[14:34] Kevin David Thomas: But then I'm like, then you should be compensated for that. I don't know. So it's interesting. It was a tough, it was a tough situation. And it was a review of popular music.

[14:41] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, yeah.

[14:43] Robert W Schneider: Um and then we had oh, you're feeling fetched. We had Mean Girls.

[14:45] Kevin David Thomas: I like your intros, right?

[14:49] Bryan Hobgood: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[14:51] Robert W Schneider: Um did you see it?

[14:52] Kevin David Thomas: I did.

[14:53] Bryan Hobgood: Did you see it?

[14:54] Kevin David Thomas: No, not yet.

[14:54] Robert W Schneider: Um I really enjoyed it.

[14:56] Kevin David Thomas: Good for you.

[14:57] Robert W Schneider: Uh I did. I mean, I have problems with it too, but I really enjoyed it. My only problem with with Mean Girls, honestly, was the fact that the entire time I was sitting there, I kept reminding myself how good the movie was.

[15:08] Bryan Hobgood: Sure.

[15:09] Robert W Schneider: And so I kind of want something that's gonna if you're gonna turn something into a musical, it's gotta add something.

[15:15] Kevin David Thomas: You often say that, Rob, about like popular movies.

[15:17] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. That sometimes a movie is so popular that it's hard to make an adaptation of the musical because your memory of how good that movie is, I've always thought of you when you say that, because that you know, I feel that way too.

[15:27] Bryan Hobgood: But I think that what Mean Girls did better than a lot of adaptations of movies recently is that they kept enough of the movie, but that's the stuff they changed, they made more relevant to today's.

[15:38] Robert W Schneider: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And it worked. It it wasn't it was different enough that the new jokes were funny, but it still hearkened back to the tone of the movie.

[15:47] Kevin David Thomas: So I I actually appreciated the adaptation more than I usually do for the show.

[15:51] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, that's great.

[15:52] Robert W Schneider: Nice.

[15:52] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, okay, cool. I think it's fun. Don't get me wrong. I think it's really fun.

[15:56] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, the screenwriter adapting it. I mean, Tina Fey, you know, is a genius, knows what she's doing.

[16:00] Bryan Hobgood: And her book is fantastic.

[16:02] Robert W Schneider: That's probably the best part of the show, by the way.

[16:04] Bryan Hobgood: And the keybook.

[16:05] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah, the book is really great. That's I wanted the score to live up to what the brilliance of that book.

[16:10] Bryan Hobgood: Exactly.

[16:11] Robert W Schneider: And that never really have a lot of thoughts about it. And then we had uh two revivals opening back to back, both very controversial in the Me Too movement.

[16:21] Bryan Hobgood: Um, I didn't even think about that. That's funny.

[16:24] Robert W Schneider: Um Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, uh, followed by Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady.

[16:30] Kevin David Thomas: I love that we do the thing now with revivals of saying the writer's name. Remember we talked about that. Last year we talked about this now it's now we didn't say we did, we said Flaherty and Ahrens once on the silent as opposed to who's Carousel, like like did Jerry Herman do a Carousel that we're unaware of.

[16:43] Bryan Hobgood: Like really, like I mean, yeah, you're like Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

[16:47] Robert W Schneider: Oh okay. There's another Angels in America.

[16:51] Bryan Hobgood: I just think it's interesting that we've gotten so used to that now at little.

[16:54] Robert W Schneider: Um yeah, we had those two revivals. They uh you know, those articles have come out lately saying, you know, when we look back on these older shows that were written by older white men, you know, about these situations, you know, how do we deal with them? You the ick the ick factor that sometimes is involved with the misogynism, you know, and how we treat women and all of that. And you know, there's some ideas that do you you can't like erase that, but you have to deal with it in a way. I don't know. How do you deal with it?

[17:19] Kevin David Thomas: Uh have you seen Carousel or My Fair Lady?

[17:21] Bryan Hobgood: No.

[17:22] Kevin David Thomas: I saw Carousel.

[17:23] Bryan Hobgood: I've seen both.

[17:24] Kevin David Thomas: You've seen both.

[17:26] Bryan Hobgood: Okay. Um we'll talk about this when we get to revival.

[17:30] Robert W Schneider: Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we'll we'll table that discussion because we have to talk about the last musical that opened this season, and that is Summer, the Donna Summer musical.

[17:40] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[17:41] Bryan Hobgood: It's a thing. Good job, producers.

[17:43] Robert W Schneider: Um, which is selling quite well. The numbers are really, really good. Did not get the best reviews. Got critics seem to have a really good time tearing this one apart.

[17:54] Bryan Hobgood: Well, it scathing, I think.

[17:56] Robert W Schneider: Not undeservingly.

[17:58] Bryan Hobgood: No, but they they just seem to go to town.

[18:00] Robert W Schneider: Well, I think they really wanted to send the message of like stop bringing us jukebox musicals.

[18:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[18:05] Robert W Schneider: They really wanted to get that message across. And a lot of them did the literally said in the reviews these musicals don't work. Stop doing them.

[18:12] Bryan Hobgood: What I applaud about Margaritaville is the fact that they said, listen, we're just gonna sing Jimmy Buffett's songs.

[18:20] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[18:20] Robert W Schneider: There's Marguerite in the lobby.

[18:22] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah. Come on.

[18:23] Robert W Schneider: As opposed to Summer, which is very it's very serious.

[18:27] Bryan Hobgood: LaShawn's.

[18:27] Robert W Schneider: I mean, my God is. Oh, it's serious, it's pretentious, it's it it skips around. I hated it so intensely. I'm not even gonna say about it.

[18:34] Bryan Hobgood: I am not gonna talk about it because I saw the final dress rehearsal, and I feel like I'm not gonna be able to

[18:36] Robert W Schneider: Oh, come on.

[18:42] Bryan Hobgood: No, because what I applaud them doing, I hear, is that they made such drastic changes based on audience reaction in the preview period.

[18:50] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[18:51] Bryan Hobgood: And so I think it's and I appear. I feel like you can still comment a little bit.

[18:54] Robert W Schneider: I applaud them on that.

[18:55] Bryan Hobgood: I applaud them on that.

[18:56] Robert W Schneider: Okay. I think there's a lot of Miss Summer's life that they just want to put up on stage.

[18:59] Kevin David Thomas: And I wish it was filtered out a little bit more.

[19:02] Bryan Hobgood: And I don't, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[19:04] Robert W Schneider: Um I don't know a lot about Donna Summer.

[19:07] Kevin David Thomas: I don't either.

[19:08] Bryan Hobgood: I know. I should go see the most more.

[19:12] Robert W Schneider: The music is great in the show.

[19:13] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[19:13] Bryan Hobgood: They sound great. And the women are great. The three women who played Donna Summer, I think are.

[19:17] Kevin David Thomas: I'd say two of the three.

[19:18] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, okay.

[19:18] Kevin David Thomas: I didn't like the young one. The one who didn't get nominated.

[19:21] Bryan Hobgood: She was not good.

[19:22] Kevin David Thomas: You were not a fan of children.

[19:23] Bryan Hobgood: Not a great child.

[19:25] Kevin David Thomas: He's he's angry.

[19:26] Bryan Hobgood: He's angry.

[19:26] Robert W Schneider: Um, the uh Mean Girls and SpongeBob tied with the most nominations for a musical this year at 12.

[19:32] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[19:32] Robert W Schneider: Um so let's jump into these nominees.

[19:35] Bryan Hobgood: Okay, we're gonna go.

[19:35] Kevin David Thomas: Um but can we agree there was a pretty weak season for musicals?

[19:38] Robert W Schneider: Oh uh here's what I'll say though.

[19:41] Bryan Hobgood: Uh we just talked about plays.

[19:43] Robert W Schneider: Uh this year was dominated by play revivals. The new plays were crap um for the most part.

[19:49] Kevin David Thomas: But this year, there were more new musicals than musical revivals that were strong.

[19:56] Bryan Hobgood: Fine with me.

[19:57] Robert W Schneider: But compared to last year, let's say when we had four nominees of new musicals that were all solid. Really great, better than solid.

[20:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, um, it's just it seems weak by comparison.

[20:06] Bryan Hobgood: Yep.

[20:06] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, yeah, we're good. Best orchestrations.

[20:09] Kevin David Thomas: Yay.

[20:10] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, we love the orchestrations. Uh John Clancy for Mean Girls, Tom Kitt for SpongeBob SquarePants, uh, Anne Marie Malazzo and Michael Sterabin for Once on This Island, a former guest of ours.

[20:22] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, that's right.

[20:23] Robert W Schneider: Jamsheed Shafari for the band's visit and Jonathan Tunic for Carousel.

[20:27] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[20:28] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[20:29] Bryan Hobgood: I'm I know what mine is.

[20:31] Kevin David Thomas: Uh yeah, I think.

[20:31] Robert W Schneider: What's yours?

[20:32] Bryan Hobgood: Okay. Oh, what wait, okay. I'm gonna ask Brian first because he's our guest.

[20:35] Kevin David Thomas: Ah!

[20:35] Robert W Schneider: How polite.

[20:36] Bryan Hobgood: No, did you just I've now feel pressure. Uh no, I think it's gonna be uh Jamshid Sharifi for the band's visit.

[20:42] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[20:43] Bryan Hobgood: Me too. I agree with you.

[20:44] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah. I went in a different direction.

[20:45] Kevin David Thomas: Where'd you go?

[20:46] Robert W Schneider: I went to SpongeBob.

[20:47] Bryan Hobgood: Well, Tom's Kitt's work is is extra special. I have to say, Tom Kitt is not only the orchestrator of that, but he's the arranger. He's the reason why that show has 30 different writers, 17 different writing teams. He made he made all of them sound to my ear, as close to one voice as anybody possibly could.

[21:03] Kevin David Thomas: And if they can quantify that in know, and if they know that he did as orchestrator, he was that was also his job.

[21:10] Bryan Hobgood: He's that was extra special.

[21:11] Robert W Schneider: I agree with you all 100%. That's what impressed me the most. But if that wasn't a factor, then Bam's visit 110%.

[21:19] Kevin David Thomas: This is cool because it's like it was just instrumentation that we're not used to hearing. So our ears are like, oh, that's an amazing orchestration.

[21:26] Bryan Hobgood: No, he's playing on like a period, like I mean, on a like a an instrument from indigenous to that region.

[21:30] Robert W Schneider: Right.

[21:30] Kevin David Thomas: So we think that it's extra special.

[21:32] Bryan Hobgood: Really, it's just like a clarinet, a guitar, and it's not.

[21:35] Robert W Schneider: I would be I'd be fine if if Spongebob won this category, but I think the fact that they play the instruments on stage is just gonna grab the attention of the voters.

[21:43] Kevin David Thomas: Brilliant, true.

[21:43] Robert W Schneider: And they had that let the the whole ending, the fun finale is just that is jamming like that. I love that.

[21:48] Bryan Hobgood: Great observation.

[21:50] Robert W Schneider: Uh best choreography of a musical.

[21:52] Kevin David Thomas: Oh uh Christopher Gately from My Fair Lady, Christopher Gatelli for SpongeBob SquarePants, uh Stephen Hoggett for Harry Potter and play, Casey Nicolaff from Mean Girls, and Justin Peck for Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel, which is a very dancy version.

[22:07] Bryan Hobgood: Very dancing of Carousel.

[22:09] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[22:09] Robert W Schneider: Ballet ballet everywhere.

[22:11] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[22:11] Kevin David Thomas: Um blow high, blow low for 20 minutes.

[22:14] Bryan Hobgood: June's busting out all over.

[22:15] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, June busted.

[22:17] Robert W Schneider: Um okay, so what do we think? I I know who I'm voting for. What are you voting for, Rob?

[22:20] Kevin David Thomas: Christopher Gatelli for SpongeBob SquarePants.

[22:24] Robert W Schneider: That's your vote or who you think's gonna win.

[22:25] Kevin David Thomas: That's my vote, and I hope they win.

[22:28] Robert W Schneider: Okay. Um, I think that that I liked the choreography in SpongeBob a lot. I don't think it's gonna win, though.

[22:34] Bryan Hobgood: Who's gonna win then?

[22:34] Robert W Schneider: I it's gonna be Justin Peck for Carousel, but here's the thing. But I'd love to say this because this is actually a category that always means a lot to me. I think that the choreography is wildly overrated in that show. It got a lot of praise. I thought the ballet in Act Two was standard. I thought it was what I expect from ballet when I see one of these old Rogers and Hammerstein musicals that has a ballet moment in Act Two.

[22:56] Kevin David Thomas: And also confusing.

[22:58] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. If you didn't know Carousel, sure. I don't think you knew what was happening in that ballet. Also true. I just feel like No offense to Mr. Peck. I feel like a lot of choreography does not equal great choreography. And I think that's a point of confusion that a lot of the critics had with the show. Because I found it to be I found Carousel to be pretty awful from top to bottom if I'm being perfectly honest.

[23:20] Bryan Hobgood: You can't be perfectly honest.

[23:21] Robert W Schneider: But I thought the choreography in particular was like fine. If I were voting, I would actually vote for Stephen Hoggett for Harry Potter.

[23:27] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, really?

[23:27] Robert W Schneider: As weird as that is, because I think the the it's really a movement, they do a lot with movement in the show.

[23:35] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, and it's seamless.

[23:36] Robert W Schneider: But I don't think it's I think, and by the way, I'm very bitter that Camille Brown was not nominated for Once on This Island in this category.

[23:42] Bryan Hobgood: Oh I think I think she deserved to be nominated.

[23:44] Robert W Schneider: I'm very upset that she wasn't. I think it's going to be Justin Peck.

[23:48] Bryan Hobgood: Which is his debut.

[23:49] Robert W Schneider: I just think he's from the ballet world of ballet like dancing.

[23:53] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[23:54] Bryan Hobgood: Very interesting. Look, we just saw My Fair Lady. And I will say the choreography of My Fair Lady, especially in Act Two, is fantastic.

[24:01] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you.

[24:02] Robert W Schneider: Underrated.

[24:02] Bryan Hobgood: Thank you.

[24:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I would like to see I would like to see him win, but I don't think it's gonna happen.

[24:06] Robert W Schneider: I was the choreographer on it.

[24:08] Kevin David Thomas: But I let Chris take the nomination.

[24:10] Robert W Schneider: I've got so many, I've got so many Tony's.

[24:14] Robert W Schneider: I'm very busy.

[24:15] Kevin David Thomas: I know Rob, I know.

[24:17] Robert W Schneider: I'm choreographing a chorus line next season.

[24:19] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah, a new one, right? Watch out for Bior. She'll bite your head off.

[24:22] Robert W Schneider: No, Biork was kind of and is willing to take a back seat. I'll be playing Cassie. I hope you come. Choreography and starring in.

[24:30] Kevin David Thomas: Starring in a chorus line. Um please come.

[24:36] Robert W Schneider: Okay. Best direction of a musical.

[24:38] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, good. Jacob liked that one.

[24:39] Robert W Schneider: That's good. Jacob's my costume designer. He's just thinking what I look like in the red dress. He's already fitted me. Proud of you.

[24:46] Kevin David Thomas: It's really tarped. It's been dyed. But we're good.

[24:50] Robert W Schneider: Best direction of a musical. Michael Arden, Once on This Island. David Cromer for The Band's Visit. Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants, Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls, and Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady. If they don't give it to Michael Arden, I'm gonna have some serious issues.

[25:02] Kevin David Thomas: It's not gonna be David Croomer. It's gonna be David Cromer. Although Tina Landau did a really great job as well. It's a pretty strong, this pretty nice category.

[25:10] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, okay. I mean look. Michael Arden should, I mean, like it should. I mean, but it's David.

[25:15] Kevin David Thomas: I think David, the acting and work and the scene I know how you feel.

[25:19] Robert W Schneider: I know, don't you dare get me started.

[25:21] Kevin David Thomas: Or don't you get started? I know how you feel about The Band's Visit, but I thought it was so subtle and so beautiful.

[25:27] Robert W Schneider: All five of these people deserve to be nominated, by the way. This is the one category that they got right, I think.

[25:32] Kevin David Thomas: Yes. Um I wouldn't be surprised if Bart Sher won for My Fair Lady.

[25:35] Robert W Schneider: Really? I will say this. If any one of them win, I'm fine.

[25:38] Kevin David Thomas: Same, seriously, if you're all just gonna all be like great, they all. Well, maybe not Casey Nicholaw so much for Mean Girls just because it's not as exciting, but it's good.

[25:45] Robert W Schneider: I liked Mean Girls, but I think the other four are probably more deserved.

[25:48] Kevin David Thomas: See, I thought he got some really nice moments out of some of the bookwork.

[25:52] Robert W Schneider: Oh, totally. Yeah. I think I don't think it's an undeserved nomination.

[25:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, yes, yes. I think just compared to the other four, I think the other four do more with the material.

[26:00] Robert W Schneider: Okay, got it. Got it, got it. Um, so if any one of them wins, we're all happy.

[26:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, totally. But we think it's going to be a good one.

[26:06] Robert W Schneider: Happy when anybody wins, Rob.

[26:09] Kevin David Thomas: Shut the fuck up.

[26:11] Robert W Schneider: Really?

[26:12] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, of course. Look at you, Mr. Optimism. Best Pollyanna over here.

[26:16] Robert W Schneider: All right. Sound design of a musical. Uh Kai Harada for The Band's Visit, Peter Helensky for Once on This Island, Scott Laird for Carousel, Brian Ronan for Mean Girls, and then Walter Sharbach and Mike Dobson for SpongeBob SquarePants.

[26:31] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, fun fact. Mike Dobson, I love that he's credited here. You know who he is? Mike Dobson is the guy who's all those stage rights.

[26:38] Robert W Schneider: Yes. He's the he's he's billed as percussionist and Foley artist.

[26:41] Kevin David Thomas: He's the Foley artist. He's the one who's doing all the sound effects.

[26:44] Robert W Schneider: Yes. I'll talk about him later, but uh, or on another podcast. I honestly I thought that sound, I mean, if we're going to include him on that, then that was stunning work.

[26:55] Kevin David Thomas: That sound, those. I mean, he does that every single night, sometimes two times a day. I mean, he never stops working in that show.

[27:01] Robert W Schneider: Right. I yeah, he's I watched him like the practically the whole time.

[27:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, me too. He was pretty brilliant.

[27:06] Robert W Schneider: I actually did Once on This Island.

[27:10] Kevin David Thomas: I did Once on This Island. That's what you think is gonna win or are you?

[27:13] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, yeah. Um, I think again, I think it's gonna be Kai Harada, The Band's Visit. But um kind of bummed that My Fair Lady didn't make it into this category, actually.

[27:21] Kevin David Thomas: Over Mean Girls. Mean Girls is a little bit of a weird nomination here for me for sound design. I had trouble. I was in the and I was back in the bath, back the mezz.

[27:28] Robert W Schneider: And I had trouble hearing some of the stuff.

[27:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, meaning the with Groundhog Day. You can remember last year. Because I couldn't hear in the mezzanine as well. And I was like, is that the theater I think. But maybe this is the acoustics in the theater. Because I had such a hard time hearing that.

[27:41] Robert W Schneider: We had to talk about this last year.

[27:42] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. I was back row. I couldn't hear anything. Um Best Lighting Design of a Musical.

[27:47] Robert W Schneider: Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants, Jules Fisher, Peggy Eisenhower, Once on This Island, Donald Holder, My Fair Lady, Brian McDevitt, Carousel, and Tyler Miccolo for The Band's Visit.

[28:00] Kevin David Thomas: I have no idea who's gonna win this category. Not a clue.

[28:02] Robert W Schneider: I think it should be Once on This Island.

[28:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, Once on This Island's. I don't think it's going to be. They're so legendary too. Peggy Eisenhower.

[28:07] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god. I went for Kevin Adams and SpongeBob. I'm gonna go with that. That'll be my second choice. I would enjoy that. I would be happy about that.

[28:14] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. As much as I love The Band's Visit, it's pretty darkly lit and bleak.

[28:19] Robert W Schneider: You know, it's oh I thought it was romantic the way it was.

[28:21] Kevin David Thomas: Oh no, it's not bad. I'm just saying it's not super showy.

[28:24] Robert W Schneider: No, I didn't. And so is it? Yeah, I thought the lighting was romantic.

[28:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. Yeah, the moonlight and stuff. I thought they did a nice job.

[28:33] Robert W Schneider: Anyone could take this category, and I wouldn't be surprised. Uh best costume design of a musical, Greg Barnes.

[28:39] Kevin David Thomas: A previous guest of our show.

[28:40] Robert W Schneider: Yes. Uh Greg Barnes from Mean Girls, our previous guest Clint Ramos for Once on This Island. Anne Roth, boy, she's she's take a nap, Anne. Like you just a reminder, she had two nominations in the Best Costume Design for a Play, and now she's our third for Best Costume Design in a Musical for Carousel. David Zinn for SpongeBob SquarePants and Katherine Zuber from My Fair Lady.

[29:02] Kevin David Thomas: I have a lot of affection for a lot of the nominees in this category.

[29:05] Robert W Schneider: Yes, I agree. And very a lot of legendary, yeah, epic costume designers.

[29:09] Kevin David Thomas: I um I'm always a fan of Greg Barnes.

[29:12] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, but to me, what Clint Ramos does with the Once on This Island costumes. It's beautiful. Just so cool. It's so cool what he does with those things.

[29:21] Kevin David Thomas: Um also David Zinn for SpongeBob. I love that too. But then Catherine Zuber, everything she touches is beautiful. And her My Fair Lady costumes are stunning.

[29:27] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, I said I'm I was going with her because I've seen those photos and they looked all immaculate. So I was going for Catherine Zuber and My Fair Lady. I think it'll probably be her because she wins every time she's nominated.

[29:40] Kevin David Thomas: I'm gonna go with Clint.

[29:42] Robert W Schneider: Good for you. Yeah, and if you want to learn more information about Clint, go back and listen to our previous episode, a favorite thing that we had with Clint. Or was it a regular episode of the Clinton? No, it's a full episode with Clint. Yeah, and he really, his process and everything was really fascinating, so go back and check that out.

[29:54] Robert W Schneider: Uh best scenic design of a musical. Uh Dane Laffery, Once on This Island, Scott Pask, The Band's Visit, Scott Pask, Finn Ross, and Adam Young, Mean Girls, Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady, and then David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants.

[30:09] Kevin David Thomas: A couple double duty here.

[30:10] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, for them, yeah. Question for you in scenic design. Are any of these gentlemen also projections?

[30:14] Kevin David Thomas: That's Mean Girls. That's why those two other people.

[30:18] Robert W Schneider: No, no, that's what I meant. So Finn Ross and Adam Young did the production design. Finn Ross was nominated for four Drama Desks for Best Projection Design because they do a separate category. And five, four of the five nominees were Finn Ross.

[30:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god. I kid you not.

[30:30] Robert W Schneider: The corner of that market. The Mean Girls set is literally projection, projection, projection.

[30:35] Kevin David Thomas: Italy. One of the only times I've seen a show with all projections as a set that I've liked.

[30:40] Robert W Schneider: I think when it happens, I hate it.

[30:42] Kevin David Thomas: Woman in White didn't do it for you.

[30:45] Robert W Schneider: Okay. That's a conversation for a whole another day.

[30:47] Kevin David Thomas: Um 2006 Realness.

[30:49] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god. Woofa. Um, I actually like the Mean Girls set.

[30:55] Kevin David Thomas: Me too. But if I to me, the best set here is My Fair Lady.

[30:59] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. It is the way they do the set in that show is incredible. They're so good at reinventing that theater, you know, that's the way that's a good thing.

[31:08] Kevin David Thomas: Every time there's like a magic effect that you're just like, for me, I just start crying instantly. The stage moves back for the orchestra. When the ship came up for Ping and King and I sobbing.

[31:18] Robert W Schneider: I mean, I can't wait to see My Fair Lady see what they do. I'm seeing it in July.

[31:21] Kevin David Thomas: When are you seeing it?

[31:22] Robert W Schneider: I'll go see it with you then.

[31:23] Kevin David Thomas: I already got a ticket, though.

[31:24] Robert W Schneider: All right. So no, you won't. Um do you want to do that thing where like I watch Act One and you watch Act Two?

[31:30] Kevin David Thomas: Just switch seats. Sure. Uh Performance Time. Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical, Ariana DeBose for Summer, The Donna Summer Musical.

[31:39] Robert W Schneider: Renee Fleming, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, Lindsay Mendez, Carousel, Ashley Park, Mean Girls, and Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady.

[31:48] Kevin David Thomas: This is the category that I took the biggest issue with.

[31:51] Robert W Schneider: Talk to me.

[31:52] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. Talk to us. I think that only one of the girls from Mean Girls was nominated, and I think three of them should have been.

[32:00] Robert W Schneider: I agree 110% with the case. I think Kate Rockwell as Karen was robbed of a nomination. And I think Barrett Wilbert Weed as Janice was robbed of a nomination.

[32:10] Kevin David Thomas: I don't really understand why Renee Fleming is in this category.

[32:14] Robert W Schneider: That was a stretch.

[32:14] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. I liked her, she's fine, but I don't know.

[32:17] Robert W Schneider: And it's like, thanks for doing Broadway shows, Renee.

[32:20] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. Thanks for retiring from opera.

[32:21] Robert W Schneider: She's no longer an opera diva anymore. She's gonna do musicals. Every year there's always a category that sets me off. And I go, just because you show up doesn't necessarily mean you should get an award nomination. And this is that category for me.

[32:35] Kevin David Thomas: You've shown up and you're getting an award nomination.

[32:37] Robert W Schneider: I feel the same way about Ariana DeBose, sort of, because first of all, Summer is just so not good, but she is good in it.

[32:42] Kevin David Thomas: I will get good. She really shouldn't be in the featured category.

[32:45] Robert W Schneider: Leading. She and LaShawns are both leads.

[32:47] Kevin David Thomas: She's a lead, Ariana.

[32:48] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. And I this is gonna be controversial. I didn't like Lindsay Mendez.

[32:54] Kevin David Thomas: I don't think I'm the only person who saw Carousel who didn't like Lindsay Mendez.

[32:58] Robert W Schneider: I like her personality. I love Lindsay Mendez. Usually her voice to me was not right for Carrie Pipperidge. It just did not have the right tone, didn't have the right sound, and I'm biased because I'm obsessed with Audra McDonald's version of all of those songs.

[33:10] Kevin David Thomas: But watching Lindsay, it seemed like I said this to Jacob when I saw the show. It read to me like a toddler playing Carrie Pipperidge.

[33:20] Robert W Schneider: She played it like a toddler, and it was distracting, and the accent that she used was really bizarre and obtrusive.

[33:27] Kevin David Thomas: There's many questions about this production.

[33:29] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, it comes down to the direction, ultimately. Yeah. She if she wins, I'll be fine.

[33:36] Kevin David Thomas: I think she is going to win.

[33:38] Robert W Schneider: I think who should win is Ashley Park.

[33:40] Kevin David Thomas: I agree with you 100%. Ashley Park's performance is genius.

[33:43] Robert W Schneider: Is there a chance Diana Rigg will be?

[33:44] Kevin David Thomas: I was just gonna say, having now seen My Fair Lady, that role is really not that big.

[33:51] Robert W Schneider: She's hilarious.

[33:52] Kevin David Thomas: She's really funny. It's more like, oh, thanks, Diana, for coming back to Broadway.

[33:56] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, she's really funny. If she won, I wouldn't be nominated, I wouldn't be upset, but I kind of want Ashley Park to win.

[34:02] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, me too. I want Ashley Park to win. I think I would like her to win. I think it's gonna be Lindsay Mendez, but I'd really like Ashley Park to win.

[34:09] Robert W Schneider: Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical, Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady.

[34:15] Kevin David Thomas: Alexander Gemignani, Carousel, Gray Henson, Mean Girls, Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Ariel Stachel for The Band's Visit.

[34:23] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, this one too. I these were the two categories that I was the most upset by. Because I Alexander Gemignani was fine, but like he was fine.

[34:34] Kevin David Thomas: This have you you haven't seen Carousel yet, have you?

[34:36] Robert W Schneider: Unfortunately, not yet. Please go see it because I want to talk to you about it. I just have a lot of questions.

[34:39] Kevin David Thomas: To me, the person who should win this category isn't even nominated, and that's Alex Newell for Once on This Island.

[34:46] Robert W Schneider: I agree with you always. Where is he?

[34:47] Kevin David Thomas: 1000 million. I don't understand why he's not nominated.

[34:50] Robert W Schneider: I think I hate to be that person who's jumping to conclusions, but I have a feeling that the nomination committee struggled with the idea of gender identification with him.

[35:00] Kevin David Thomas: They think that he identifies as trans because he's played characters who are trans characters on TV, and the character in Once on This Island is sort of a man playing woman as showing a man.

[35:11] Robert W Schneider: So very quickly for our audience who's unaware, he really skyrocketed to notoriety on Glee.

[35:16] Kevin David Thomas: Well the project and then where he played a transgender character. He does not identify as a transgender person.

[35:24] Robert W Schneider: And then in Once on This Island, he's singing Mama Will Provide, where he's dressed as a woman. Because he's playing one of the goddesses in the show who has always been it's always a woman.

[35:35] Kevin David Thomas: It's a woman, it's a female role. But he's gone on record numerous times saying that he is cisgender.

[35:39] Robert W Schneider: He identifies as a cigarette. He identifies as a male.

[35:42] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. So you think that's maybe why he's a good one.

[35:44] Robert W Schneider: I think that plays a factor.

[35:45] Kevin David Thomas: Okay. Yeah, and it's a shame because I think he's really, really deserving of a nomination. Um I think ultimately it's gonna be Norbert Leo Butz who wins this category.

[35:53] Robert W Schneider: I think but I would be okay with Gray Henson winning it because I really loved him in Mean Girls. I thought he was hilarious.

[35:57] Kevin David Thomas: I love Gavin Lee and SpongeBob too. He's great.

[36:00] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, I thought it was good. Oh no, I'm no Ariel Stachel, I think. I think that is that's who I'm gonna, my vote's gonna go with.

[36:07] Kevin David Thomas: Why do you guys think that it's funny? I didn't have I didn't even have him as a prediction to be in this category. I actually had Etai Benson from The Band's Visit.

[36:13] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, I thought he was kind of like a good one. But I loved their work. I just loved his work.

[36:16] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. I just thought it was beautiful. I really didn't know. I love Norbert.

[36:20] Bryan Hobgood: I mean, I love Norbert. I mean, yeah, I worked with Alex. I mean, I love him. But uh I thought that I just I just the band's visit, I just yeah. I think that's the way it's gonna go.

[36:28] Robert W Schneider: All right. Now, this was really interesting. This is best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical.

[36:35] Bryan Hobgood: It is not for everybody. It is six. You get a numb. You get a numb. We start with Lauren Ambrose from My Fair Lady.

[36:44] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[36:44] Bryan Hobgood: Then we go to Haley Kilgore for Once on This Island. LaShawn's all makes sense. Lashans, Summer, uh, Katrina Link, the band's visit, Taylor Lauderman, Mean Girls, and then Justin Euler for Carousel.

[36:56] Robert W Schneider: Okay, Rosen.

[36:58] Bryan Hobgood: Well, that wasn't surprising to me.

[37:00] Robert W Schneider: Let it go indeed. If one of them was gonna get nominated, it was gonna be Patty Murrin, but with this category, she didn't have a chance.

[37:06] Bryan Hobgood: I'm actually surprised Lashawn's got in.

[37:08] Kevin David Thomas: Me too. As good as she was in Summer, because she's sort of a thing that saves it a little bit.

[37:13] Bryan Hobgood: Um the fact that it's six nominees and not five. I'm sort of surprised that she managed to get in. I'm also sort of surprised that Erica Henningson didn't get in for Mean Girls.

[37:23] Kevin David Thomas: She's the actual lead, she's Katie Heron. And I actually liked her uh as much if not more than Taylor Louderman.

[37:29] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, oh, okay.

[37:30] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. I thought Taylor's Regina was good, but I think that also it's not really a leading role, it's a really a glorified featured role.

[37:36] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, interesting.

[37:37] Kevin David Thomas: She has two songs in the show.

[37:39] Bryan Hobgood: Does she really?

[37:39] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. She felt like a lead.

[37:42] Bryan Hobgood: She really shows up in act two a lot.

[37:44] Kevin David Thomas: She's not really in a whole lot of act one.

[37:46] Bryan Hobgood: No. Um, and she's great. Her performance is great. I think Erica was really charming and really delightful.

[37:54] Bryan Hobgood: Um, so of the two of them, I'm a little surprised she didn't get in, but uh it's sort of irrelevant because Katrina Lenck is gonna win this category, and that's all there is to it.

[38:03] Kevin David Thomas: You know what's interesting? It makes you wonder if like the Donna, if the summer musical didn't open so close to this time, if it opened in fall, would we be having these nominees in these categories?

[38:11] Bryan Hobgood: I won't.

[38:12] Kevin David Thomas: You mean fall of 2017?

[38:13] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, like if that show wasn't the last show to open, I just wonder if because it's the voters are the nominees, are all I don't know.

[38:19] Kevin David Thomas: It's interesting that those two categories you think that because it was one of the last things people saw, it's still present in people's minds.

[38:26] Bryan Hobgood: So there's a possibility. I think that plays a heart. I think also part of it is that it's LaShawn's and she is loved.

[38:30] Kevin David Thomas: She's a very good one.

[38:30] Bryan Hobgood: She is loved on this community.

[38:32] Kevin David Thomas: You're correct. You're totally correct.

[38:34] Bryan Hobgood: And yeah. I mean, whether or not she thinks it or not, she performs that show as if she's in the greatest show ever written.

[38:40] Kevin David Thomas: She's in Hamlet.

[38:41] Bryan Hobgood: She commits.

[38:42] Kevin David Thomas: She commits 110%.

[38:43] Bryan Hobgood: Totally. Bless you.

[38:44] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, so God bless her for that.

[38:46] Bryan Hobgood: Okay. So we all, though, agree it's going to be Katrina Link.

[38:49] Kevin David Thomas: If there's an upset, it's going to be Lauren Ambrose for My Fair Lady because of the Hollywood factor, but she's actually really good in the show.

[38:54] Bryan Hobgood: That's what I hear. She's really good, but she shouldn't win.

[38:57] Kevin David Thomas: It should be Katrina Lank.

[38:58] Bryan Hobgood: I have a feeling if she does not win Katrina Link, I have a feeling you're going to throw your TV out the window.

[39:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[39:04] Bryan Hobgood: I don't want to be with you when you're in the world.

[39:09] Kevin David Thomas: I'll be out of town.

[39:10] Bryan Hobgood: I'll be on a plane.

[39:11] Kevin David Thomas: I'll be flying back from LA while the Tony's are.

[39:14] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, get are you gonna watch it on the plane?

[39:16] Kevin David Thomas: I'm flying Jet Blue Mint, so I think I actually have CPS.

[39:21] Bryan Hobgood: Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical.

[39:23] Kevin David Thomas: The nominees are Henry Haddon Patton for My Fair Lady, Joshua Henry for Carousel, Tony Shaloub for the band's visit, and Ethan Slater for SpongeBob Square Pants.

[39:32] Bryan Hobgood: That's it.

[39:32] Kevin David Thomas: The musical.

[39:35] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, right.

[39:37] Kevin David Thomas: You're right.

[39:37] Bryan Hobgood: Poor.

[39:38] Kevin David Thomas: Poor Paul Alexander Nolan cannot catch a break.

[39:41] Bryan Hobgood: And and it's good.

[39:43] Kevin David Thomas: That's what I'm saying.

[39:44] Bryan Hobgood: He's so stacy.

[39:46] Kevin David Thomas: He shouldn't have been nominated for Margaritaville.

[39:48] Bryan Hobgood: But I'm but every time he's in a show and he gives a good performance, he's overlooked.

[39:52] Kevin David Thomas: He's gonna be in his time will come. We're gonna get in a hit show and he's gonna be everyone's gonna be like, where's this guy been?

[39:57] Bryan Hobgood: And we're gonna be like, um, hello. We've seen him 90 million times.

[40:00] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[40:01] Bryan Hobgood: Um Ethan Slater. I mean, ah, unless Tony Shalou.

[40:05] Kevin David Thomas: Josh Henry.

[40:06] Bryan Hobgood: Okay, so so I didn't see Tony Shalou because he was already gone from the cast by the time I got to the band's visit.

[40:12] Kevin David Thomas: Um, I saw his replacement.

[40:14] Bryan Hobgood: I just can't imagine them awarding that role, best leading actor in a musical.

[40:17] Kevin David Thomas: To Titony Chalute?

[40:18] Bryan Hobgood: To Tony Shalou.

[40:19] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[40:19] Bryan Hobgood: Um I think it's gonna be Ethan Slater, but if it's not, it's gonna be Harry Haddon Patton for My Fair Lady, who is fantastic.

[40:26] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I haven't seen him.

[40:27] Bryan Hobgood: He is Josh Henry doesn't stand a chance.

[40:29] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, wow.

[40:30] Bryan Hobgood: Okay.

[40:31] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[40:32] Bryan Hobgood: I think other than Soliloquy, he gives a really one-note performance and gets it's really unlikable.

[40:38] Kevin David Thomas: You did not like Carousel this year.

[40:39] Bryan Hobgood: I really really detested it.

[40:41] Kevin David Thomas: You can be a you can be Ethan uh Ethan Slater.

[40:44] Bryan Hobgood: I think it's gonna be.

[40:45] Kevin David Thomas: I just thought he was I was like, this is this is superhuman what he is doing right now.

[40:49] Bryan Hobgood: Agreed. Eight shows a week, and there's only six shows for Christine Day.

[40:54] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, that guy is I just cannot even oh and some of those notes are pre-recorded.

[40:58] Bryan Hobgood: Hello.

[40:59] Kevin David Thomas: Truth.

[40:59] Bryan Hobgood: Um best original score, music and/or lyrics written for the theater.

[41:03] Bryan Hobgood: Angels in America, Adrian Sutton.

[41:06] Kevin David Thomas: That's good job, Adrian.

[41:08] Bryan Hobgood: That's an insult.

[41:09] Kevin David Thomas: You're welcome.

[41:10] Bryan Hobgood: The band's visit, David Yazbeck, um Frozen, Kristen Anderson Lopez, and Robert Lopez, Mean Girls, Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin.

[41:19] Bryan Hobgood: Here we go.

[41:19] Kevin David Thomas: Spongebob Square Peter.

[41:21] Bryan Hobgood: You really are gonna do it.

[41:21] Kevin David Thomas: You're gonna be in Lyric Spy.

[41:23] Bryan Hobgood: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler, and Joe Perry of Aerosmas, Sarah Bareles, Jonathan Colton, Alex, Ebert, uh, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cindy Lauper, and Ron Hyman, John Legend, Panic at the Disco, Plain White T's, they might be Giants, T I and I can't read the last thing, and Little C.

[41:43] Bryan Hobgood: You know, they're gonna know who wins based on how big the table is backstage with all the Tony Awards.

[41:48] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, does everybody get one?

[41:49] Bryan Hobgood: I think so.

[41:50] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, that's insane.

[41:51] Bryan Hobgood: But it's gonna be going to David Yazbek.

[41:53] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, it's gonna be so.

[41:55] Bryan Hobgood: It's a it's luck, yeah.

[41:57] Kevin David Thomas: I just want to say, I Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez should be very lucky that there were only four eligible musicals in this category this season.

[42:05] Bryan Hobgood: Because you are not the new music for Frozen is not good.

[42:09] Kevin David Thomas: You are not a fan.

[42:10] Bryan Hobgood: No, and it wouldn't have been nominated if because you know the the deal with that is if there's pre-existing music, the the musical has to be like 50% of it has to be new, or it's like six some percentage of it did not know music for it to be eligible.

[42:22] Kevin David Thomas: So they're not awarding the music that's already from the movie.

[42:24] Bryan Hobgood: It's only the new music.

[42:25] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I didn't think that's a really fun fact.

[42:28] Bryan Hobgood: The new music from Frozen is not good. So it there were only four eligible musicals in this category.

[42:33] Bryan Hobgood: Plus, they added Angels in America into the mix.

[42:36] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[42:37] Bryan Hobgood: Um, but the band's visit's gonna win this.

[42:41] Kevin David Thomas: David and I love the music.

[42:42] Bryan Hobgood: Best book of a musical, the band's visit, Itmar Moses, Frozen, Jennifer Lee, Mean Girls, Tina Faye, and Spongebob Square Pants the Musical Kyle Jarrow.

[42:51] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[42:51] Bryan Hobgood: This is a two two-person race, I think.

[42:54] Bryan Hobgood: Uh Itamar Moses' Itamar Moses and Tina.

[42:56] Kevin David Thomas: Tina Fay.

[42:56] Bryan Hobgood: Um Tina Faye has the star power.

[42:58] Kevin David Thomas: I mean.

[42:59] Bryan Hobgood: Normally I would say Itamar Moses is gonna win because it's it really is the better book of a musical, I think, in terms of the quality of the writing, but Tina Faye has that star factor, and it's the book that really makes mean girls.

[43:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[43:11] Bryan Hobgood: Like it really is.

[43:13] Kevin David Thomas: So I kind of am leaning towards her a little bit.

[43:16] Bryan Hobgood: I I I I am too, actually.

[43:17] Kevin David Thomas: That book is gonna win.

[43:18] Bryan Hobgood: That book is funny.

[43:20] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, okay.

[43:20] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, good.

[43:21] Kevin David Thomas: Uh best revival of a musical, My Fair Lady, once on this island, and Rogers and Hammerstein's carousel.

[43:29] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[43:30] Kevin David Thomas: What's it gonna be?

[43:32] Bryan Hobgood: That's once on this island.

[43:34] Kevin David Thomas: I hope once on this island, and it's probably gonna be My Fair Lady.

[43:37] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, I agree with that.

[43:37] Kevin David Thomas: I think it's I think it's gonna be My Fair Lady.

[43:39] Bryan Hobgood: I am happy if it's My Fair Lady.

[43:41] Kevin David Thomas: I also loved once on this island.

[43:43] Bryan Hobgood: Um, one thing I was gonna say about this when we talked about the shows, when we were listing the shows earlier.

[43:48] Kevin David Thomas: You mentioned Carousel and My Fair Lady as being like two kind of timely pieces because the hashtag me too movement.

[43:54] Bryan Hobgood: Whereas Carousel, and I'm sort of stealing this from Jacob who's sitting right next to me, but um he made the point to me, and I agree with it 100% that Carousel had the opportunity to really make significant commentary using the colorblind casting that they chose to do, and sort of didn't do it.

[44:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yep.

[44:11] Bryan Hobgood: They sort of missed a good number of opportunities to make some pretty political commentary, and they just didn't go that way.

[44:19] Kevin David Thomas: My Fair Lady, however, they the way Bart Scher staged it and the way they ha the actors are performing it, it really feels timely.

[44:30] Bryan Hobgood: But they haven't changed anything either.

[44:31] Kevin David Thomas: Not a thing.

[44:33] Bryan Hobgood: Because they changed carousel a little bit, right?

[44:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, and they covered it.

[44:35] Bryan Hobgood: For the worst, by the way.

[44:36] Kevin David Thomas: I have read articles about this that said basically exactly what you guys have said.

[44:40] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[44:40] Kevin David Thomas: That you know, that they had a mo they could have done something.

[44:42] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah.

[44:43] Kevin David Thomas: And My Fair Lady feels fresh.

[44:44] Bryan Hobgood: It's the actually the freshest I've ever.

[44:46] Kevin David Thomas: I don't usually love the show.

[44:47] Bryan Hobgood: And I feel like it is a fresh, good musical for now.

[44:51] Kevin David Thomas: Um I won't be surprised if it wins.

[44:53] Bryan Hobgood: I would be very happy if once on the silent one.

[44:54] Kevin David Thomas: I loved it.

[44:55] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, yeah, too.

[44:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[44:56] Bryan Hobgood: Um, and then finally, Best Musical, the band's visit, Frozen Mean Girls or SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical.

[44:56] Kevin David Thomas: The band's visit.

[45:05] Bryan Hobgood: The band's visit.

[45:07] Kevin David Thomas: I'm with bands visit, however, you know how these pol these politics too, and the I wonder what will tour better.

[45:15] Bryan Hobgood: It's that that argument. People always say that, but I feel like that's not been a factor for the last 10 years.

[45:20] Kevin David Thomas: No, it isn't.

[45:20] Bryan Hobgood: But this band's visit is I Middle America.

[45:24] Kevin David Thomas: I don't know.

[45:24] Bryan Hobgood: I'm thinking of those theaters in Middle America and what do they want to see?

[45:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, but think about like Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder when it beat Beautiful.

[45:29] Bryan Hobgood: Like Beautiful's certainly a better touring show than that.

[45:32] Kevin David Thomas: Beautiful was a better show, period.

[45:34] Bryan Hobgood: I love Gentleman's Guide.

[45:36] Kevin David Thomas: Mean Girls or SpongeBob?

[45:37] Bryan Hobgood: Loved it.

[45:38] Kevin David Thomas: But I think I mean I want bands visit to win.

[45:38] Bryan Hobgood: I want bands visit to Win.

[45:42] Kevin David Thomas: Well, if one of those other ones is gonna be band's visit, I think it'll be Mean Girls only because it's more touring.

[45:46] Bryan Hobgood: I don't think SpongeBob is gonna make it.

[45:48] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, even though I enjoyed it immensely.

[45:49] Bryan Hobgood: But I think it'll be Bans Visit.

[45:51] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, so maybe Band's Visit is gonna be joining Dear Evan Hansen.

[45:56] Bryan Hobgood: Well, if you look at the past, you know, yeah, I yeah, I think there's possibility that seems in the same genre of musical.

[46:03] Kevin David Thomas: You know, like it's a musical drama, not a musical comedy.

[46:05] Bryan Hobgood: You know, if we were to use the old terms.

[46:08] Kevin David Thomas: I would not be angry if SpongeBob won.

[46:10] Bryan Hobgood: That's all I'm gonna say.

[46:12] Kevin David Thomas: You love that.

[46:12] Bryan Hobgood: I love it.

[46:13] Kevin David Thomas: I'm being dead serious.

[46:14] Bryan Hobgood: I honestly, again, it's weird because we talked about this season being weak, but three of these four musicals, if they want, I'd be like, okay.

[46:20] Kevin David Thomas: The only one that would piss me off if I wanted to be frozen.

[46:23] Bryan Hobgood: Oh, I yes.

[46:23] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, agree.

[46:24] Bryan Hobgood: The other three, I'd be like, all right.

[46:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I agree with you.

[46:26] Bryan Hobgood: I'm with you.

[46:27] Kevin David Thomas: I agree with you.

[46:27] Bryan Hobgood: I totally get that.

[46:28] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[46:28] Bryan Hobgood: All right, listeners, tell us what you think.

[46:30] Kevin David Thomas: Tell us, tell us your reactions, and we will see you at the Tony Awards.

[46:33] Bryan Hobgood: Bye.

[46:35] Kevin David Thomas: Good day, Mr. Thomas.

[46:36] Bryan Hobgood: Good day, Mr. Schneider.

[46:39] Bryan Hobgood: Well, it has happened. We finally hit over 100 iTunes reviews, and would like to thank each and every person who took the time to do so.

[46:46] Kevin David Thomas: Huzzah.

[46:48] Bryan Hobgood: Now we want to climb those charts even faster.

[46:51] Kevin David Thomas: And that is where you lovely folks who have not yet rated us come in.

[46:55] Bryan Hobgood: The process is very simple. On your podcast app, tap the search tab, enter our name behind the curtain, Broadway's Living Legends.

[47:03] Kevin David Thomas: Tap the search key, tap our beautiful logo, tap the reviews, tap write a review, then tap your way into our hearts.

[47:11] Bryan Hobgood: Tap your troubles away.

[47:12] Kevin David Thomas: That's nice, Rob.

[47:13] Bryan Hobgood: Once you are there, you can rate us from one star to five stars.

[47:16] Kevin David Thomas: Think of one star as Hervey V Rob, how do you say this name?

[47:20] Bryan Hobgood: Herve Village.

[47:22] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, dear God.

[47:23] Bryan Hobgood: I walked right into that one.

[47:24] Kevin David Thomas: Think of one star as Erve Via Jez.

[47:27] Bryan Hobgood: And Ima Sumac in Sideshow and five stars as front row seats to the opening night of Gypsy.

[47:33] Kevin David Thomas: But they keep me.

[47:34] Bryan Hobgood: Yeah, they keep me for the first time.

[47:37] Kevin David Thomas: I thought that was pretty good.

[47:38] Bryan Hobgood: We want to get good reviews, Rob.

[47:39] Kevin David Thomas: We want to get good reviews.

[47:40] Bryan Hobgood: Excuse me, Arthur Lawrence.

[47:42] Kevin David Thomas: Excuse me for trying to liven up our commercial ads a little bit.

[47:47] Bryan Hobgood: Eight-minute long commercial.

[47:49] Kevin David Thomas: It's an infomercial at this point.

[47:51] Bryan Hobgood: I'm gonna be like that lady that sells you the copper pots.

[47:54] Kevin David Thomas: Look at this!

[47:55] Bryan Hobgood: You can put 400 pounds of manure in it and it slides right out.

[48:00] Kevin David Thomas: Then you can make an island.

[48:01] Bryan Hobgood: You got another line, Kevin?

[48:03] Kevin David Thomas: I'm waiting for you to say, plus you can leave your comment and let us know if you'd like me what guests were like to hear.

[48:03] Bryan Hobgood: Plus, you can leave a comment, let us know what you are liking, what you're not liking at this point, or what guests you'd like to hear next.

[48:14] Kevin David Thomas: So head on over to iTunes and let us know what you think of our little show.

[48:18] Bryan Hobgood: Speaking of little, I'll tell you a story about Charles Lawton later.

[48:21] Kevin David Thomas: Thanks, guys.