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

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

[0:20] Kevin David Thomas: My favorite things.

[0:21] Robert W Schneider: Happy Throwback Thursday.

[0:23] Kevin David Thomas: I'm sorry. I should have looked at you so I could have thrown the ball in your direction and sent it your way. I'm so sorry.

[0:29] Robert W Schneider: It was a one-handed catch.

[0:32] Kevin David Thomas: It was a, um, what is that a lyric from something? One-handed catch.

[0:35] Robert W Schneider: Uh, the moment.

[0:37] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, one-handed catch.

[0:38] Robert W Schneider: Got a something's coming. It's coming.

[0:40] Kevin David Thomas: Good job. Wow. Have you ever heard of it?

[0:42] Robert W Schneider: But in the revival, it will be done in Swedish lyric will be and be spoken.

[0:48] Kevin David Thomas: That's right. With only a marimba, a theremin, and a zither.

[0:51] Robert W Schneider: They actually have squirt guns and they just keep squirting each other the whole time.

[0:56] Kevin David Thomas: I am here. Okay. I am gonna tell you a rumor that I have heard, and I don't know if this is true.

[1:01] Robert W Schneider: That it's a one-act.

[1:02] Kevin David Thomas: Can you tell me one more time that yep, that it's one act, I feel pretty's gone. I heard. So folks, listen. Um, I'm not because you keep an open mind until you see it, because you never know. But I have heard that they have cut it's a one-act musical now, West Side Story, and that I feel pretty is gone. And I feel some other things are going as well. I don't know if anyone can confirm or deny this.

[1:23] Robert W Schneider: You know where we're at. If not, the ballet ballet's gone.

[1:26] Kevin David Thomas: The ballet, the ballet is gone. No, I come out and dance with ballet for everybody. Um, hey, also, friends, listen, if you're in the New York area, TDF, God bless them, has so many wonderful things up on TDF right now.

[1:38] Robert W Schneider: Everything.

[1:38] Kevin David Thomas: Like legitimate. I saw Slave Play. I saw Slave Play, and I was in the what orchestra on the aisle. I mean, I was it was fantastic scenes.

[1:47] Robert W Schneider: I saw Slave Play as well. I was in the center mezzanine, fabulous seats.

[1:52] Kevin David Thomas: What a play. What a play.

[1:54] Robert W Schneider: It's a very intense piece of work.

[1:56] Kevin David Thomas: But you know, I was sneaky. It's it is it's a sneaky, it's a sneaky play. It sneaks up on you. Um, this acting ensemble, though, is fantastic. I thought.

[2:05] Robert W Schneider: I thought they were.

[2:06] Kevin David Thomas: And they've been with it. They've been with it for a while, and you can tell it's settled in their uh it's it's like breathing. I mean, they're just it it's such fantastic acting, it really is.

[2:15] Robert W Schneider: I I don't know how you feel. I was talking to a friend about this. I am so happy that we are having so many shows. Well, not I don't want to like get hyperbolic, but I'm so happy that things like Slave Play and things like Gary from last season.

[2:29] Kevin David Thomas: I'd say Oklahoma are an Oklahoma are finding their ways to the New York to the Broadway original shows.

[2:35] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, original shows that in a commercial venue. I mean, it's art shows.

[2:40] Kevin David Thomas: Well, they're they're all people who are artists. There are people who actors, the writers, the designers. There are people who are not in it to I mean, of course, everyone wants to make a a penny, but they're not in it for that. You can tell that that what was on stage was art. It was it was pure and simple. Um, a message, uh uh, you know, and and and a beautiful art, which is uh refreshing to see on Broadway right now, I think.

[3:03] Robert W Schneider: Yes, so congratulations to everyone over at Slave Play. If you get a chance, go see it, but also go on to TDF. They have wonderfully cheap tickets for so many fantastic theatrical events.

[3:12] Kevin David Thomas: It's cause it sounds like we are working for TDF.

[3:15] Robert W Schneider: We are not. We're just very impressed, very impressed by what they're doing.

[3:19] Kevin David Thomas: We just like to find a nice, reasonably priced price ticket and uh and and in a nice fun show.

[3:24] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[3:25] Kevin David Thomas: And also we're also very excited because um was made uh public a couple of days ago, but we are now part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Once again, that's the Broadway Podcast Network.com. We are so excited to be joining their team. Uh Dory Bernstein and Alan Seals have done a really fantastic job of taking just about every theater podcast out there and putting them onto this platform as well as creating original content. So if you go over to Broadway Podcast Network, you'll find other podcasts that are theater related, and so many of these individuals are our friends and have been on our show before. We're so happy that we all have a home now.

[4:01] Robert W Schneider: Yes, that's right. Yes.

[4:02] Kevin David Thomas: Um, what other you know, I've never asked you what other theater podcasts do you listen to, Kevin.

[4:06] Robert W Schneider: Uh it's it's interesting. I'm I'm more of a political podcast listener myself.

[4:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[4:11] Robert W Schneider: Um uh but I have uh I I definitely have on rotation. Of course, I've listened to Broadway radio for some time, although they just announced that uh at the end of this year, they might be uh ceasing their operations, which is I think epic after all these years. Um but it's a daily that's a daily theatrical podcast where you kind of get the news of the day. I think um uh Broadway briefing, that email. If anybody gets that, that's sort of uh taken over a little bit. Um I listened to Ensemblist, I listen to Broadway Wasted, Broadway. Broadway for me, I love my little Tony's.

[4:44] Kevin David Thomas: I love it.

[4:45] Robert W Schneider: I know you do.

[4:46] Kevin David Thomas: That was a favorite thing, and I I love my little Tony's.

[4:48] Robert W Schneider: It was.

[4:48] Kevin David Thomas: I love uh Little Known Facts with Alana Levine, uh Theatre Geeks Anonymous. We've been on this. Josh Swallows Broadway is a really fantastic show that is done by your friend Josh Layman.

[5:03] Robert W Schneider: That's right. Yeah. Um, if you go over to Broadway Podcast Network, you're gonna see all of our other and other ones that are coming out pretty soon, like Jen Tepper, who's a guest, is gonna create her own podcast. Donna McKechnie.

[5:13] Kevin David Thomas: Donna McKechnie, who we just interviewed, we'll release her in a few weeks. Um, she talks a little bit about what she is doing, and I think it's fascinating. So, yeah, go on over to the Broadway Podcast Network. Any other big theater news going on this week that we should be aware of, except for the fact that TDF has been marvelous.

[5:31] Robert W Schneider: We love the TDF.

[5:32] Kevin David Thomas: You know, uh little things here and there. But uh big you just went into rehearsals this week, my friend.

[5:37] Robert W Schneider: I did, yes, I did go into rehearsals this week. I am uh lucky enough to be directing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the New York Film Academy, uh, which is where Kevin and I did Marily Roll on a couple of years ago. And so now this time I'm gonna do some dirty rotten. It was a blast, it was a ball. Um it's one of my favorite favorite shows. Um, and this is the first musical, I think it's the first musical I ever saw in an out-of-town tryout. It was in San Diego.

[6:01] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, it was in San Diego when I was living in Los Angeles, and two of my friends and I, we drove down to San Diego for the day. Like you do when you're in college. You drive such you go such distances to see the theater that you No, no, don't you remember? I mean, we did. We we used to we would travel so far to like see an out-of-town tryout of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Or maybe to see Cass Morgan coming out of a stage door.

[6:26] Robert W Schneider: Shut. I love that you remember that. And I I I just recently thought of oh, I didn't even just take the train. I took, I took a bus, uh like a Westchester bus. It was a whole process to go see Cass Morgan in a church. Folks, go and listen to our favorite things. I don't remember. Three years ago. It might have been like in the 60s, and it says Cass Morgan is a favorite thing. Kevin's got a really great story about how he met Miss Morgan. Still, I still never want to meet her in this business because I'm I'm just so embarrassed.

[6:54] Kevin David Thomas: That's understanding. It's okay. It's okay. It's a good story. It's a good thing. So today, favorite things. Yeah, what's your favorite thing?

[7:01] Robert W Schneider: Well, uh, before I want to preface my favorite thing because I have a I have a future favorite thing that I I just want to tease out there. I mean we've never done that before, but I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm I know, I know you guys can't see it, but on Skype right now, Rob is giving me uh a face that is shocking. So we talked about the musical three, which was the trio of musicals that was done at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia. Uh actually, Rob, a lot of people reached out to me about this, uh, because I mentioned the composer Robert Lizzie Nassif uh and and uh and writer, uh writer and composer, uh, who did the fight of the lawn chairman, the third piece. You know, Lawrence O'Keefe did a piece, uh, John Bucino did the piece.

So I will feature three later. I'm actually gonna reach out to a couple people involved in it, and I'm gonna do a little little, let's I it this isn't dateline, but it might be a little expose, a little, a little, I don't want to tease too much, but I I I I thought it because so many people talked about it. It it was supposed to have legs, Hal Prince, it was it was a dedication to Hal Prince, you know, and Rest in Peace. Uh, and so there's uh there's much to be discussed about this interesting piece of theater and the prospects that it could have had uh that did not come to fruition. Um but uh it will be uh discussed later. But that is not my favorite thing. So my favorite thing, let's go back a couple more decades.

Let's go back to 1962. Picture it. Um you've got, yeah, exactly. You've got a big Broadway star, you've got a big TV star. TV is not as, you know, they're two different markets back then because they weren't they weren't crossing over quite as much yet. This is the 60s, 62, right? So someone was like, hey, Carnegie Hall, let's put on a big show with these two big stars. But they were worried that the New York star, like the Broadway star, didn't have a big enough name. That she wasn't she wouldn't pull enough, you know, people. Whereas the weekly star who was on the Gary Moore show every single week was definitely gonna like pull the name people to see the show. Some things happen, and we had this amazing concert in June of 1962 that was Carol and Julie.

That is right. That is right. So Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews. Julie Andrews at peak voice, I would like to say now I I just wanted oh I feel like this is sacrilege Raw, but I'm gonna say it and I don't care. I like Julie Andrews. I I mean I if she were here right now I would hug her and I'd kiss her and I'd say you're amazing you're awesome. But as far as her voice, I I I'm not I'm not like a a diehard fan, let's just say I'm I'm more of a a I know, I know, I know. I'm more of a Barbara Cook kind of guy. Give me a little Karen Morrow to pepper it up. Uh uh I won't say Elaine Stritch even though I love her but like but you know what I mean I I but I'm gonna answer night. And babe for more but Julie Andrews I can kind of like my my problem is I can always kind of hear her sort of acting a little bit when she she'll she'll speak a word out of nowhere and you just feel like no why did you do that?

Uh but it's fun. But this concert this Carnegie Hall concert she was at her peak. Carol Burnett is not only funny but just people forget fade out fade in that Carol Burnett is an amazing singer. She's yes she's a comedian she's the person that will make you cry with laughter but she actually is a fantastic singer so let me pull up my notes. So this is the concert of a CBS special Judy and Carol at Carnegie Hall. It was a one-night thing Mike Nichols uh wrote all of the specialty material which is included on uh the recording no if you have an LP player, please get the record. You can buy the CD for like $40 dollars on eBay, or you can go to your streaming places like Spotify and Apple TV and get the Judy Garland.

Uh sorry, Judy Garland, what am I talking about? I'm reading an article about it. Jul uh Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall. Uh, check it out. It's streaming. Uh, it's a very short, it was a 60-minute special. And some things to just keep an eye out for while you're listening. First of all, we have to give a shout-out to the conductor who was Erwin Costell, who was also the orchestrator of the West Side story. He didn't do a lot of Broadway material because he he actually, you know, the TV was was such a big deal. And you guys, you have to understand that every single TV house, every single theater, they all had an orchestra in the 40s and 50s. If you were a musician, you were working constantly.

[11:21] Robert W Schneider: Orchestra is everywhere. If you went out to nightlife, every time you go to a club and you hear music being played over a speaker, there used to be an orchestra playing all of that music. So this man is a man who made his living doing the TV world. So it was a lot of studio work, as we call it. And so then Mike Nichols did all the writing. They keep all of the dialogue on the recording, which I think is so fun. So they each one of them they have a moment where they have to change costume before the next little funny scene. They each have a moment of seriousness, a moment of satire, you know, being funny, and then a duets in between. But what they each sort of roast each other while the other is changing, and they keep all of that dialogue the both times.

There's a great medley of the history of musical comedy, which literally they go through all of the different styles, going so far as to have Carol, who is just a fantastic singer, she starts to sing "loverly," which is kind of funny because that's, you know, and then they have a whole thing about "Sound of Music," but this is well before Julie Andrews is ever gonna be cast in the movie of "Sound of Music," and they do a send-up of "Sound of Music." Anyway, you've seen it or heard it, I'm sure, Rob. But that is my favorite thing. This incredible, and then they went on to go do two more concerts decades later, in 1971 and then again in 1989. But this one in 1962 where it began, it's just so funny. They're just at their peaks, but they don't quite know it yet, and that's really fun to hear.

[12:51] Kevin David Thomas: I think that's such a great way of putting it. Now I'm gonna be honest with you. I have seen the one they did in the late '80s, I think the 1989 one. I have not seen the others, though. And I'm a huge Carol Burnett fan.

[13:05] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[13:05] Kevin David Thomas: And Carol Burnett, you mind you, this is even pre-Broadway Carol Burnett. I mean, this is 1962. It's very, it's just they're still proving themselves. And yet, I mean, there's one thing that I think that you I want to just send out there. Wait, there was one moment that made me laugh so hard. So they do this medley of the musical history musical comedy, and they go into "West Side Story." It starts with operetta, you know, "Ah, sweet mystery of life," then "Dancing in the Dark," "I Get a Kick Out of You." And then she, Julie Andrews sings "I Can't Say No," but she says "I Can't Say No," of course, because she's British. And then at the very end of it, the punchline is "I just can't say can't," or "I can't say can't." It's very cute.

Carol sings "Loverly," and then "I Need to Know, I Need to Know." And Carol Burnett goes, "Oh yeah." Rob, it's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I howled outside. So "Oh no, I need to know, I need to know," and Carol Burnett going, "Oh yeah." Just listen for it. I love Carol Burnett so much. So the whole thing though is amazing because you hear Carol Burnett is a fantastic singer. I've gone on and on too much, but you hear Julie Andrews also not just as a great voice, but as a you hear why she's a musical comedy actress. And to be perfectly honest, going back to what I said at the beginning about thinking, "Oh, I didn't love her voice." Well, you know, what's the fuss? In so many words, because she's ultra special.

Please do not get me wrong. But by listening to this, it's almost like the concert was about them taking on the qualities of each other and celebrating that and then letting those qualities shine within themselves. And I have a greater appreciation for both of them because of this concert.

[14:55] Robert W Schneider: That's great. It's like almost like they're trading places in terms of what they both do. And I think that's fantastic. Well, I can't wait to watch it now. I love, oh, I love me a good comedy special. There's so many roles I wish Carol Burnett would have played at some point for musical theater. The one, I mean, she did so much Summerstock, which was great, even in the height of her television shows. But there's so many music I would love to have seen her Roxy Hart. I hear they're recorded. I heard tell that there are some people that have some John Kenley tapes in places. So if you do, you guys will you write to us? Let us know.

[15:30] Kevin David Thomas: You know what? Let me tell you a John Kenley story really quickly. One of our avid listeners and a great guy, Will Hutcheson, is from Ohio, and he went back home to Ohio recently and went to a restaurant that apparently was close to wherever the Kenley Players was, and the restaurant is decked out in photographs with the owner and the person who was appearing at the Kenley Players at the time. Right. There's a whole, it's like a Sardis of Kenley Players, and he, God bless him, Will went around and took 30 photos for us to show us like who's all on the wall. We'll post those on Instagram.

[16:05] Robert W Schneider: I love those kinds of anecdotes. That's absolutely amazing.

[16:10] Kevin David Thomas: Isn't that cool?

[16:11] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[16:12] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, that's really cool. I love that.

[16:13] Robert W Schneider: Okay, so my what is your favorite thing, my boy?

[16:16] Kevin David Thomas: Well, no, it's so funny that you my person is sort of a combination of Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews. It's an individual who we talked about her last week, and the more I did some research into her, I was like, "Oh, that you know, she's really my favorite thing for this week." And that's the great Phyllis Newman, who we lost just last week. If you remember, Phyllis Newman was she'd been around for years and years and years and years, and I want to applaud one first of all, she was a fabulous artist. There is no denying that. You know, she made her Broadway debut in "Wish She Were Here," which is I've done as a favorite thing, and I love that show. She also appeared in "Bells Are Ringing" and "The Apple Tree" on "The Town." She won, she was nominated for a Tony Award for the play "Broadway Bound" in 1987, and she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1962 for "Subways Are for Sleeping." Whom did she beat out for that? Anyone? Who?

[17:19] Robert W Schneider: I was gonna say Barbara Streisand.

[17:24] Kevin David Thomas: She yes, but I should have given Barbara Streisand doing "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." I should have sang "Mr. People." People were screaming the answer just now. Yeah, that's okay. That's why I gave it a nice long for people to yell and cry. But she beat out Barbara Streisand before "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." We've talked about "The Mad Woman of Central Park West" a couple times, which is kind of like a cult favorite of mine. Like if somebody gave me a million dollars and said, "What do you want to do with those million dollars?" You know what I would love to do? I would love to do a good, but you get on location. On location. Yeah, but I would play her. I would say we'd all go up to like the Dakota and we would all go in some, you know, so if you want to see her talents in action, go on to YouTube, type in "The Mad Woman of Central Park West."

It's an experience to say the least, but it shows how talented she was. As you know, she was married to the great lyricist and book writer Adolph Green of Comden and Green fame. They were together for a long, long time. He wrote "Bells Are Ringing," he wrote "Subways Are for Sleeping," so it's nice that they got to work together. They had two beautiful children, Adam Green, who's a brilliant writer, and Amanda Green, who is one of the most fantastic lyricists working today. But in addition to all of this, I want to applaud the work that she did off-screen. For example, I hope you all know this by now, but she was diagnosed with cancer, and then after she recovered, she created the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative in 1995, and it's part of the Actors Fund of America.

Since being created in 1995, it's not only served over 2,500 women in the entertainment industry, it's raised about 3.5 million dollars. This was an incredible, incredible task for her to take on. It produced those wonderful "Nothing Like a Dame" galas that celebrated fantastic women working in the industry that needed to get some more recognition for the fantastic work that they were creating. She was the first person to win the Isabel Stevenson Award, which was a special Tony Award for her work with the Health Initiative. She's a pretty spectacular individual. I'm so sorry we lost her. As you know, we were talking about this. We tried to get her as a guest on this show countless times. She was so amenable to it, but unfortunately her health prevented her from doing so.

So I hope you all go back and take a look at her. And if you want, she wrote a fantastic autobiography called "Just in Time: Notes from My Life," which was published in 1988, and you can take a look at it.

[20:08] Robert W Schneider: That's beautiful.

[20:09] Kevin David Thomas: Also, just you know, also people sort of forget this. She says this in her book, and I would love for someone to confirm if this was true. She was the first female to host "The Tonight Show." When Johnny Carson was out, she would go on to "The Tonight Show" and hosted.

[20:31] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[20:32] Kevin David Thomas: So before like Joan Rivers and all that stuff, she was on. So anyway, I would love for someone to confirm that. And also throughout the '60s, '70s, and '80s, she was like a constant presence on TV game shows. So that's how people got to know her as well. So anyway, go ahead and listen to one of Phyllis's fantastic renditions. You can either go on to YouTube or go on to iTunes and you can see her. But she's my favorite thing for this week. And I just bemoan the fact that we did not get a chance to sit down.

[21:01] Robert W Schneider: And so close up.

[21:02] Kevin David Thomas: But I want to tell you just one more little quick story about what a cool person she is, and then I'll let you go. When we were doing a show at 54 Below called "Broadway Bound," and it was musicals that were destined for Broadway that did not come to Broadway for whatever reason. And we focused on a show called "Pleasures and Palaces," which was a Frank Loesser musical that closed in Detroit. And we also did a musical called "How Do You Do I Love You," which was Maltby and Shire's first piece that she was in that closed out of town. When we announced what the shows were, I got an email from her saying, "I hope you don't mind, but I was in both of these shows. Can I come and share an anecdote?" How cool is that? For a 54 Below gig. How cool is that? So she was a really, really special individual. Great, great stories. She was a big supporter of Saving the Colonial and came out to that as well. She was just a really special individual. A fixture of Broadway.

[21:55] Robert W Schneider: A fixture and always had a smile on her face and a witty retort in her back pocket, ready to go. So go ahead and take a listen to Phyllis Newman, and then you're gonna go over to YouTube and take a look at "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall." Great. Enjoy till next time. Bye everybody.

[22:10] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" — performed by Julie Andrews ♪