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[0:13] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" ♪

[0:17] Robert W Schneider: Happy Throwback Thursday, everybody.

[0:19] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, happy Throwback Thursday, everybody, and happy October.

[0:19] Robert W Schneider: Happy October.

[0:24] Kevin David Thomas: Fall is in the air.

[0:25] Robert W Schneider: I see the leaves changing.

[0:26] Kevin David Thomas: I don't. My blinds are closed. I just can't believe that it's October already.

[0:31] Robert W Schneider: I know that's what we say every year for every single month of the year as we go on in life.

[0:36] Kevin David Thomas: But wait, what do we say?

[0:38] Robert W Schneider: We're just always like, I can't believe it's October already. I mean, I said it for every month this summer.

[0:42] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[0:43] Robert W Schneider: I can't believe August is already gone. Wow, it's September already, you know, and but it I just can't believe that summer has literally flown by us and we are now in fall, and uh I'm excited.

[0:54] Kevin David Thomas: It's my wife's favorite holiday. If anybody is, yes, we she slash we celebrated the entire month of October. The house has decorations everywhere, including a wreath on the front door. Horror movies are watched every single day. Guess what my least favorite genre of film is, Rob? Horror, hate it, absolutely hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it.

[1:19] Robert W Schneider: Guess what?

[1:19] Kevin David Thomas: Married to someone who loves it. Just last night, got home from tech rehearsal. What was on? The new It from 2017.

[1:27] Robert W Schneider: It's so scary, you guys.

[1:29] Kevin David Thomas: That's the clown one, right?

[1:30] Robert W Schneider: Yes, with Pennywise or whatever.

[1:33] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, but I've grown to really love the tradition of it and just you know, it's silly, it's dumb, it's fun. I don't know, I love it.

[1:41] Robert W Schneider: I think a clown thing that's even scarier is the defunct musical Clown Around from 1974.

[1:49] Kevin David Thomas: Thanks for tying it back to theater, and yeah, yes, go.

[1:54] Robert W Schneider: I think that's what scared the crap out of Pennywise. I think he was a nice clown. And then he was like, oh, a production of Clown Around. That must be about me. And then saw how bad it was and was like, all clowns are now evil. That's what I think happened.

[2:12] Kevin David Thomas: Are there any musicals that deal with Halloween? Other than the Halloween song from Applause, you know, that her breakdown when she's like, uh daddy, you look like a whore. You look like a whore. That one?

[2:23] Robert W Schneider: Is that what we're talking about?

[2:25] Kevin David Thomas: It's called One Halloween, but they spell it like the traditional way. But is there any other? I'm trying to think. There's no Halloween musical, but well, okay, so there's a Mitch Lee musical that I believe is called Halloween, but I don't know the plot of it. So I'm sure someone's gonna tell us.

[2:41] Robert W Schneider: So it's a Mitch Lee musical that wasn't Man of La Mancha that was not successful is why sorry, that's terrible. That's shade. It's the other one. I went to Dragon as well, so I'm just full of shade.

[2:51] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, you're full of it was uh did I see a dragcon? There was like a thing that's the reading room, and like where the library is open and like you could read people. Did anybody go to DragCon in New York City this week? And it was awesome. It was an amazing event. I wasn't there on Sunday. My wife worked for Sasha Velour on Saturday, um, or worked with her. Um, and uh, but yes, they have a photo area, which is actually really brilliant, and BroadwayCon should do this. They have a whole nook where they have eight uh like sort of like step and repeats, basically, and you just you're invited to take selfies, and one of them was a library and it was the reading room because that's what we call, you know, giving people shade. You read them and you tell them what like oh Rob, no, I'm not even gonna do it. It's too early. I'm not even gonna give you shade because I don't know what to give you shade about.

[3:33] Robert W Schneider: I can give you a list.

[3:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, you can pick from one of the many flaws I have and and then go from there. Well, we had a good time. We had a good time at the old DragCon. But um, you know, yeah, yeah. So anyway, I think musicals that I don't know. I mean, I know Mean Girls has a Halloween song. I thought of that. There could be a reference, but I'm just trying to think where how other than like if they ever musicalize Nightmare Before Christmas, there you go. There's like a Christmas and Halloween uh movie musical, Hocus Pocus. They've been talking about that for years to turn that into a musical. Someone must be writing that right now. I mean, somebody has to have the rights. The rights have to be bought by somebody for musical.

Yeah, I don't know. What a great question. Listeners, is there a Halloween musical out there that we're not and not and not like a spooky theme, but like it's actually like it is Halloween. It's about Halloween in some way, shape, or form. I don't know. And I yeah, I don't know. Just kind of a kind of a fun little thought I was having. Somebody ask Peter Filichia, he'll know. Peter will tell us. There's a Halloween musical. And it'll tell you what seat he was in when he saw it, too. You saw it in J3, 1974 at the Colonial. There was one row and I couldn't get the aisle, but I was one off the aisle. He was one off the aisle. He that man's memory. Oh my gosh. And he'll give you the date, you guys.

He'll tell you he'll be like August 13th, 1984. I saw Song and Dance with the replacement. I was in J3. I was gonna be in H12, but I got upgraded. No, he didn't get upgraded. I got downgraded. Is that right? I'm gonna try to go in the rows. Oh my god. Speaking of theater, uh first of all, first of all, Peter's play is coming along real nicely. You've been developing it. You've been uh I I've seen you've uh listeners, if you've noticed he's posted some pictures on Instagram of of uh the cast and stuff, and I I'm still waiting for my invite, but I'm really excited about it. I I say that to you every time, Rob. I'm just messing with you. You can hey listen, the next one we do, you cumber unit. Are you funny?

I'll see it or at least come. Yeah, yeah, I'm goofy. I'm stupid. Okay, great. I trust you. Come on in. If all auditioning was that either. I play its part. Yeah, I'm done. Okay. So very quickly, I have to do a plug, if I may. Um I so I am determined, and I think you're determined to try to see everything this season. Trying. Yep. Um Pretty Woman eludes me, but yes, I'm trying. I think it's eluded me too. That's the only one. I've haven't seen that one either. Um only because I'm upset I wasn't offered the lead. Um I showed up in my red dress. I was all ready to go. Um, so anyway, I saw the Waverly Gallery, which is a Kenneth Lonergan play that's being revived in New York. It's the cast is Joan Allen and Michael Cera and uh Lucas Hedges Hodges, Lucas Hodges Hedges, Hodges, I'm sorry.

Um Hedges, Lucas Hedges, and uh David Cromer, the director's in it. But oh my god, starring in it is in it. He's David's in it, yeah. The great Lila Neugebauer directed it. Um the starring performance is Elaine May. Uh Kevin, she is giving one of the top 10 best performances I've ever seen on a stage. If you can get yourself down to uh the theater, get yourself down to go see the Waverly Gallery. It's a limited engagement, it's only about 16 weeks or so, I believe. And uh the I got my ticket on TDF. It is worth every penny you pay for it. Even if you pay full price, it is worth every penny. Her performance is really staggering. Um so I just wanted to tell people that there's brilliant acting happening on Broadway, and it's happening over at the Waverly Gallery, so make sure you go see it.

[7:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, definitely. And I'm excited. I I'm impressed that it's on TDF. I'm I'm genuinely surprised by that. So I uh jump on there. I mean, it's still in preview, so I'm hoping that the reviews will be strong enough that it'll um necessitate maybe it being taken off TDF. So how could it not be? I mean, how could it not be successful? Especially if you're with your review like that, you know.

[7:22] Robert W Schneider: Well, you know, I don't know why the New York Times hasn't asked me to be their head chief critic, but that's okay.

[7:27] Kevin David Thomas: Just give them a little time, Rob. Just give them a little time.

[7:30] Robert W Schneider: Ben, Ben, let me let me give you some thoughts here. First of all, there weren't enough Goulet jokes. Um then you needed some Hervé jokes. Then you needed some Hervé Villechaize jokes. Rob, this is all my sense. Listen, Ben, I know what I'm talking about. Well, speaking of, he's gonna, he's gonna have we were just saying before we got on that Hervé Villechaize is coming back, and I is making a movie about him and Peter Dinklage. Yeah. Is making is starring in a biopic about Hervé Villechaize as Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Kevin, I go ahead, tell us. It's because we have to be because I cannot believe I'm gonna say this, but it's all because of Rob. It's because he did that impression. He's it's it started two years ago, with two and a half years ago, and they have us to thank.

So I just want to say you're welcome. You're welcome, HBO. And it's all good. Peter, you can thank us in the Emmy speech because then who's gonna play us in the movie? Well, exactly. So Zac Efron, me, obviously. Oh, sure. You know, obviously. Uh and you, I'm gonna uh Hugh Jackman, I mean, uh it seems like if he lost some weight and toned a little bit, sure. Yeah, you're right. All right, well, you know what? It's Hollywood. They're gonna they're not gonna go for the pretty types like us in real life. That's okay. Well, good luck to that cast. Yeah. I have to give a shout out to my students uh that I've been working with for the past couple weeks. Uh we finally opened our production of Legally Blonde this weekend.

It's at the professional conservatory musical theater uh downtown. Uh and uh it's uh I gotta tell you, Rob, I've gone through quite the ups and downs of this show of my relationship of how I feel about it. Um I started having opinions about it, and I must say, I'm a convert. I I really enjoy Legally Blonde. I think it's the ultimate um sort of like empowering musical for women. I not the ultimate, and let me take ultimate out of that sentence. It's not the ultimate, but it is more empowering than I thought it was. Uh I I love that this this woman, uh first of all, the Elle that we have, Madeline is so brilliant because she she plays Elle uh not dumb at all. Elle is not coincidentally getting into Harvard.

She actually is the smartest person on stage. She just happens to love blonde and be uh be blonde and love pink and all of that. It's that is just who she is. But she is the the smartest one on stage and it works because you root for her the whole time. Oh and it's it's and then you see she's the catalyst of change of every single person, all the men in her life are like she she's the reason why they all change for the better. Uh and it's it's awesome. It's I'm just so impressed by it. And so having a good time. Legally Blonde is a great show. It is. I guess I always I always had this sort of Jerry Mitchell fast and furious, louder, faster, funny production numbers. You know, there's just so much going on.

And and if you if you take it, and that's great, but if you take some of that away, the quiet moments, the tender moment, I mean, I I'm I really am genuinely so impressed and surprised at how much uh great uh through line and drama there is and in that these characters do evolve. And uh I don't know. I walked away with a greater appreciation of Legally Blonde the musical than I did when I saw it on MTV.

[10:31] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god, you guys, Kevin's in love with Legally Blonde.

[10:34] Kevin David Thomas: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not, it's not love. Let's not just let's not jump there. It's not Violet, it's not Carolina Change, it's not even Goldilocks.

[10:41] Robert W Schneider: That's not what I'm hearing, Kevin. I'm I'm I'm hearing that Legally Blonde is the best musical ever written, and the other should just go away in shame.

[10:47] Kevin David Thomas: That's okay. Okay. All right. Okay. So wait, what it's open to. Hear what you want to hear, as they say. See what I want to see, Mr. LaChiusa. See what I want to see. Uh yeah, so next this weekend. It's Friday, uh, 7:30, Saturday, 2 and 8, and then Sunday at 2 o'clock, I'll be conducting a band of five.

[11:04] Robert W Schneider: I wish I could see it.

[11:06] Kevin David Thomas: Wait. What?

[11:08] Robert W Schneider: I can't see it.

[11:09] Kevin David Thomas: Hi, where are you going? What you doing?

[11:10] Robert W Schneider: I got concerts this weekend.

[11:12] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, tell me about them.

[11:13] Robert W Schneider: Oh, is there there? I'm doing um on Friday, we're doing a new thing at 54 called Billboard by the Year.

[11:19] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[11:19] Robert W Schneider: It's a new series we're trying to start in which I think I mentioned this before. We take pop songs from a specific year, and we we do a concert of. Yeah, 30 years ago. So we're doing which was a really eclectic year in pop music. Really eclectic. Because like uh the things some of the things that made the chart were like uh Bad Medicine, uh Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and then things like Wishing Well, Don't Worry, Be Happy, uh Gloria Estefan's Anything for You, uh, The Way You Make Me Feel, The Man in the Mirror, Whitney Houston's So It's like a Weirdly Weird, not weird. It's it's really it's a wonderful year. It's a very eclectic year of like what people were listening to. And it's interesting to note, like if you look at the years at the beginning of 88, like it was very optimistic and cheerful songs and fun songs, and then by the end, like the last couple of big billboard hits where Every Rose Has Its Thorn and Bad Medicine. It's like a very glam rock uh movement. I don't know. I think it's interesting. And then on Sunday, we're doing an Aretha Franklin tribute concert.

[12:19] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, lovely.

[12:20] Robert W Schneider: Um, which I'm looking forward to because I think that's gonna be really lovely and a great way to celebrate um her her passing and her wonderful life. The amazing music she's you know, she was the first woman ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[12:32] Kevin David Thomas: No, I did not know that.

[12:34] Robert W Schneider: Yeah the first woman ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well she should be.

[12:34] Kevin David Thomas: As well she should be yeah.

[12:39] Robert W Schneider: Um so Kevin I I got a favorite thing.

[12:43] Kevin David Thomas: You got a favorite thing?

[12:44] Robert W Schneider: Yeah what's your favorite thing Robin I oh it's gonna change your life oh I love when you do this to me Kevin it's gonna be one of those getting a piece of paper to write it down now.

[12:54] Robert W Schneider: Oh Kevin it's gonna be one of those things that I know at 2 a.m you're gonna snapchat me and be like what the hell is this what did you recommend to me?

[13:01] Kevin David Thomas: How did you do it again?

[13:02] Robert W Schneider: Oh no no no I I'm excited about this so this I'm just gonna warn everybody right now if you drink or if you imbibe in the in the smoking out of of 420 we're not advocating it by the way.

[13:16] Kevin David Thomas: And if you don't know what that means then keep listening.

[13:18] Robert W Schneider: I learned it from you dad.

[13:19] Kevin David Thomas: I learned it from watching you anyone 80s PSA nobody just me okay great that's good problem I would I would take whatever you can take and then watch what I'm about to show you.

[13:30] Robert W Schneider: So um very quickly I'm sure you guys know that I love television as much as I love old Broadway.

[13:36] Robert W Schneider: And uh somebody just created a new YouTube channel called like oh I think it's like unsold TV pilots which is where the Carol Channing pilot yeah so I was browsing through and I was watching all the various pilots that never got picked up some were amazing.

[13:49] Kevin David Thomas: I was like why didn't this get picked up but there was one on there Kevin that I was like what am I watching and why have I never heard of this before okay so you we're gonna go back.

[14:02] Robert W Schneider: I'm gonna give you a little TV history for a little bit to understand this.

[14:05] Kevin David Thomas: Sure.

[14:05] Robert W Schneider: And then we're gonna jump into what my favorite thing is. So in 19 in the 1990, 1991 TV season, just like a theatrical season, the 1990 to 1991 TV season, had three potential television musicals, TV musicals, television shows that were going to be musical.

[14:24] The first one that everyone kind of remembers is Cop Rock.

[14:28] Kevin David Thomas: Do you know about Cop Rock?

[14:29] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah, yes, yes.

[14:30] Kevin David Thomas: I I never have had a chance to watch it.

[14:31] Robert W Schneider: Okay, you're not missing much.

[14:33] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[14:33] Robert W Schneider: And another one called Hull High, H-U-L-L Hull High. They actually got picked up and to be like a c to series. They didn't last very long. But there was one, oh my God, Kevin, that was a TV show that was supposed to be a musical every single week. It is one of the craziest, weirdest things I've ever seen in my life, and it is called Shangri La Plaza.

[14:58] Kevin David Thomas: What?

[14:59] Robert W Schneider: Once again, it's called Shangri La Plaza. That's Shangri La Plaza. P L A Z A.

[15:09] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[15:09] Robert W Schneider: What is Shangri La Plaza? Ready for this? It's a half hour musical set in Southern California's mini mall, Shangri La Plaza.

[15:19] Kevin David Thomas: Uh-huh.

[15:20] Robert W Schneider: And it documents the different people in the different stores in Shangri La Plaza. Who's in this cast, you ask?

[15:28] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, who's in this cast?

[15:29] Robert W Schneider: Well, um, Malora Hardin.

[15:31] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[15:32] Robert W Schneider: Um, if you're a fan of The Office, any office fans out there?

[15:35] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[15:36] Robert W Schneider: Um, she played Jan, Michael Scott's wife. Also, she was an amazing Fantine.

[15:41] Kevin David Thomas: I saw her in the movie.

[15:42] Robert W Schneider: I was gonna say she was Fontaine in Lay Middle. So she's a singer at the Hollywood Bowl. Um, Allison Mack from Smallville, who just recently got into a ton of trouble, and I think might be in I don't know if she's in jail, but I think she was arrested. Uh allegedly. I don't know. I'm not gonna. But some Broadway people, including the wonderful Chris Sarandon.

[15:59] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[16:00] Robert W Schneider: Savion Glover.

[16:02] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[16:03] Robert W Schneider: And are you ready for the star of the show?

[16:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[16:07] Robert W Schneider: Terrence Mann.

[16:09] Kevin David Thomas: What?

[16:10] Robert W Schneider: Okay. So this is it is the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life. Um, it's the the stars of the show are really Terrence Mann and his brother. Um, they play mechanics that work at the auto shop at the mini mall. And guess what they guess what their names are?

[16:29] Kevin David Thomas: Like Stan and Dan.

[16:31] Robert W Schneider: George and Ira.

[16:35] Kevin David Thomas: I see what they did there.

[16:36] Robert W Schneider: So they so they work at the mechanics, and then they they have an interest in this in a in a similar lady, and they look at the lady and they're like, oh, they're gonna fight over her. So that's like setting up the plot. Malora Harden plays a woman whose ex-husband left her a donut shop. And one of the best numbers in this whole thing. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. If nothing else, you have to watch this at the donut shop. There's a song called Donut Hole.

[17:04] It's a four-minute song about how donut holes are made.

[17:08] Kevin David Thomas: Riveting.

[17:09] Robert W Schneider: It is. I I don't know what I was watching. I watched it twice, Kevin. Because I was like, because I was like, this is this real? I'm like, this is one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life. And I'm like, I have to watch it again to make sure that I'm right. No, it is one of the worst things you've ever seen in your life. I am telling you, get some drinks. If you do anything else, do that. It is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my life. It is an unsold pilot by CBS in 1990 called Shangri La Plaza. And also, there's like a hundred characters in the theme song. They introduce you to a hundred different actors. Only nine of them actually show up in the pilot. I'm sorry, only seven of them.

There's like a hundred different characters that are, and you're like, oh, he's in it, and she's in it. Seven of them show up in the pilot, so I don't know what happened to the rest of the people. Um anyway, television, you can't, it doesn't work. I don't know why. It just doesn't work. You can't do, I don't know. I have not seen it successfully done where every week was it was an original musical. Not a musical. Like Glee definitely got close because they had production numbers, you know, but they put that with like a music video and it wasn't like real live thing. You know, they were.

[18:19] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, Lee Wilcoff is in there. Sorry, I'm just looking at the I think.

[18:22] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, Lee Week. And then who did the music? I'm trying to oh, the guys who wrote it did the music. Yeah. Mark Mueller and Craig Safin, whoever's Nick Castle played, or oh shit. Yeah, Nick Castle, I think, played um Michael Myers in the Halloween movies. So now he's writing a musical. Um yes, and he directed The Last Starfighter in 1984. Oh, interesting. Oh, look at this stuff. So, anyway, guys, you have to go on to YouTube. I I I yeah, it's all original musical. And no, it doesn't work. I mean, Smash was a drama that used music. Glee, I think was a drama that used uh music. But this is this is different. The idea that's like every week we're gonna do a new music, like a one act musical. It just doesn't work. Um the music furthers the plot. I mean, or try or plot I believe. No, no, no, no. But listen, donut holes, man. Don't all right.

[19:12] Kevin David Thomas: Sounds good to me. Um, anyway, go take a look at our YouTube Shangri-La Plaza, a pilot made for CBS in 1990 that went nowhere. If we ever get Terrence Mann on this podcast, yeah, we should the first question I'm gonna ask him is tell me about Shangri La Plaza. That's why we gotta get him on, just so we can start there. And then we'll say thank you so much. Have a great day. Yeah, goodbye. Bring Charlotte in now. We have to do that. I don't even know how lame is. Don't even them up, beauty and the bees, none of that stuff. Don't care. No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to hear about that stuff. I don't want to hear about your riveting role as Larry in the chorus line movie. No, I actually had one ask about that. I want to ask about that because I have so many questions about that movie. You've seen the chorus line movie, right?

[19:50] Robert W Schneider: Oh yeah.

[19:51] Kevin David Thomas: Oh yeah. That's a that's a topic for a Robert Altman, right? Robert Altman? I mean it's a No. Um what's his name?

[19:58] Robert W Schneider: It's Richard Addenborough. That's the old guy from Jurassic Park, who before he directed a chorus line, guess what his big hit was before a chorus line?

[20:06] Kevin David Thomas: I don't know.

[20:07] Robert W Schneider: Gandhi.

[20:09] Kevin David Thomas: How do you look how do you be like, okay, so we're gonna do chorus line as a movie. The hit the hit Broadway musical. Oh, who's gonna direct it? Remember the guy who did Gandhi? Oh, yeah, we should get him. That he's he's perfect. He's perfect. He gets it. I mean, I will say in his defense, there were lots of great musical numbers that were cut out of Gandhi for running time. Um running time. It's so long as it is. Hey, listen, I've seen that cut footage until you've seen Ben Kingsley do a double fuente. You stop at oh, good pronunciation. Thank you. Thank you. You haven't really lived. Um, okay. So that was mine. Shangri La Plaza.

[20:45] Kevin David Thomas: That's fantastic. I cannot wait to check out. Get ready, Kev. You did you deserve a treat? What's my treat? All right, your treat, you know. This is I can't believe this was off my radar. This is an album that came out uh a year ago, uh a year and a half ago in April of 2017. Uh, and surprisingly, I I really it didn't I'm not I guess I'm not really up to date on new when albums come out, even though it's an album of theater music. Um it was produced by a Tony Award-winning actor, singer. Um and he had this is the fourth or fifth of his albums. Um and I want to celebrate it uh because it is a crossover to me uh in that it is a can he he's updated these songs and made them uh contemporary in many ways.

Uh I am speaking of Billy Porter, the great Billy Porter, who uh not only is a great performer and an actor uh and singer and all-around man, but he he's a musician. So he and he's and he's knows how to assemble great musician. So this is an album entitled Billy Porter presents the soul of Richard Rodgers.

[21:53] Robert W Schneider: Ooh.

[21:54] Kevin David Thomas: I know. So just off the title alone, you know exactly what you're getting into. Billy Porter has taken Richard Rodgers' songs and sort of uh reimagined them and put a little more soul, not a little bit, a lot more soul and more uh there's to me it's there's more R and B going on as well, uh, which I guess they're sort of uh synonymous, but um I uh it's a fascinating album. Uh and it I think it's definitely you I everyone should listen to it, and everyone and and the reason why is because I think that uh go back 50 years, 30 years even. No, not 30, uh 40. Popular songs were on the radio. We we we listened to Broadway songs, they were the popular songs. So we uh be when the Beatles came in 1960, uh that changed everything as they say, and all the history books talk about it, but um we don't have contemporary Broadway music.

You know, Lynn Manuel did it with the Hamilton mixtapes, you know, he he did that, and Billy Porter in an interview says that that inspired him, and that this is sort of uh uh the same thing. It's with Richard Rodgers, where they he and and what Billy did was he collaborated with all of these amazing artists. So let me just give you a couple um uh tracks to listen to. Some are better than others, definitely. Um, but the ones I think you should check out, uh, and let me give you a lot um some of the singers that are on here. First it starts out with Pentatonics, the great uh color group.

[23:07] Robert W Schneider: I like that.

[23:08] Kevin David Thomas: Uh and they do Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, and boy, it's it's really stunning. It's really incredible. Their musicianship. Now, what while I sometimes have problems listening to an entire album of a cappella music, such as In Transit or any Pentatonics album other than the holiday album, it's that so I I it's just my own personal taste. I just sometimes I just want a little bit more. And after two songs, I'm like, okay, I'm good. I've got the a cappella sound in my head, I'm fine. Um, but this Oh What a beautiful morning arrangement is absolutely stunning. It's really beautiful. Um it's very much like what you'd see on Pitch Perfect. Um, My Romance, Leslie Odom Jr. does a beautiful smooth version of this song.

And I I must point out, only on maybe two of the tracks do they actually change the words like the way that like Aretha Franklin did when she sang I Had You know, I have a dream, the lame is when she's like, Ah, I have a dream, and she just made up all the words. Not made them, but you know, did the words that she wanted. They don't do that that much in here. Like it's very the lyric and the the melody is pretty much intact. Um, but the arrangement is what maybe it's a little slower, maybe it's got more organ or it's got more uh hip hop sound or something. Uh and that's what I like about it. Renee Elisa Goldsberry uh is uh sings If I loved you, uh Brandon Victor Dixon and Josh Henry, which I think is kind of fun fact um that they're both singing with a song in my heart.

Um, because they both were in Scottsboro Boys, and you know, Brandon Victor Dixon, if you guys remember, was supposed to play it on Broadway, but then he got the Ray Charles musical, which was supposed to come to Broadway, but then it never did, and that's how Joshua Henry got his big breakout performance. And I think it's cool that they're actually both um singing on this. I Have Dreamed from Patina Miller sings. Cynthia Revivos on here, Toddrick Hall, Deborah Cox, um Zara Park is on here. I love India R. E. whom I've listened to for years and years and years. A great RB singer. Uh, she sings You've Got to Be Carefully Taught. Um, Billy Porter sings a beautiful Edel Vice. It I guys, it's just so different and out there that I think it's it's just really worth the listen.

And I want to celebrate Billy Porter for doing this. He could have done an album of so many other things. And I'm I really appreciate that young people are going to hear Richard Rodgers. And I think this is a way to keep this is one way to keep Richard Rodgers alive and to keep him contemporary and to keep people listening and to get new people to listen. Um and and yes, and if if if one person out of a hundred who listens to this thinks, hey, maybe I'll go listen to the carousel now, or I don't know. That's a little Pollyanna to think. But I I just I appreciate that. I appreciate Rogers and Hammerstein and Ted Chapin's organization for like okaying this because you know that they have a very, you know, they're very particular about how the Rogers and Hammerstein music gets put out into the world.

And so I I thank them for this uh because I do think that it's it's really important. Traditionalists may not love it all, but I think that you have to at least appreciate the work that's being done here and celebrating and keeping our art form alive in maybe different ways. And it yes, it does start with the mixtapes and Lynn Manuel, but uh that didn't start there, but it it helped. And Billy definitely helped it go even more. So you should check out uh The Soul of Richard Rodgers that Billy Porter presented. And then after you watch something beautiful and listen to something beautiful and wonderful, head over to Shangri La Plaza. To really or you know what? Maybe start with Shangri La Plaza and then cleanse your palate with Billy Porter.

[26:21] Robert W Schneider: I can't.

[26:21] Kevin David Thomas: Well, either way, you're gonna win. It's a win-in-the-ither way, it's a win-win for y'all this weekend. It's all good. Alright. Well, until next time. And let us know if you think of any other Halloween uh musicals. Yeah, is I'm really curious. I really want to get on this so I can actually watch something else other than a horror film this month. I'll think for you. All right, bye everybody.

[26:41] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" ♪