This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" — performed by Robert W Schneider & Kevin David Thomas ♪

[0:18] Robert W Schneider: Hi, I'm Robert W Schneider.

[0:19] Kevin David Thomas: I'm Kevin David Thomas.

[0:21] Robert W Schneider: And this is our favorite things.

[0:27] Kevin David Thomas: I wanted to say it with you today. I just thought it was a good one.

[0:29] Robert W Schneider: Why don't you want to do the intro instead?

[0:30] Kevin David Thomas: No, no, no. I thought it was good. I thought you did a great job. I just wanted to say it with you. I thought it'd be fun to just be a good one.

[0:34] Robert W Schneider: I thought it was fun. That was another Sesame Street.

[0:39] Kevin David Thomas: Like that acting exercise where you have to like mirror each other and like say that. Usually you don't say the same thing, but you just do the same thing.

[0:46] Robert W Schneider: We just like do the same thing. Which would be really boring because I mean we wouldn't be talking, we'd just be mirroring each other. And I don't think anybody would be listening to us at this point. They'd be like, what's the point? I'm already bored.

[0:51] Kevin David Thomas: Actually, would you do me a favor? Would you say your name one more time?

[0:57] Kevin David Thomas: Kevin David Thomas.

[0:58] Robert W Schneider: Just one more time.

[0:59] Kevin David Thomas: Kevin David Thomas.

[1:00] Robert W Schneider: That's for my dad. My dad loves you. He's like, but is convinced that your name is not.

[1:05] Kevin David Thomas: Seymour Hoffman David Thomas.

[1:08] Robert W Schneider: He'll call me. I swear to God, my dad was.

[1:09] Kevin David Thomas: John Wilkes Booth.

[1:10] Robert W Schneider: Yes, he's called you. First of all, first time he ever mentioned you, he's like, boy, because my dad's from Brooklyn. He goes, Boy, you and James Earl Ray really do a good job.

[1:15] Kevin David Thomas: James Earl.

[1:19] Robert W Schneider: I'm like, Dad, James Earl Ray is the guy who shot Martin Luther King.

[1:22] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[1:23] Robert W Schneider: Next time. Boy. Uh yeah, you and the Philip Seymour Hoffman. That's a good podcast.

[1:29] Kevin David Thomas: I'm like, Kevin David Thomas. Yesterday, yesterday you were John Wilkes Booth.

[1:35] Robert W Schneider: John Wilkes, that's really funny. Just like that. Kevin David Thomas.

[1:39] Kevin David Thomas: Some people call me KDT.

[1:40] Robert W Schneider: You call me my initials.

[1:41] Kevin David Thomas: KDT?

[1:42] Robert W Schneider: Great. Then he'll look at me and goes, Boy, that JFK. He's real funny.

[1:45] Kevin David Thomas: He's real funny.

[1:48] Robert W Schneider: Oh, it's all good. Sorry. I'm so sorry about that. But now he knows.

[1:51] Kevin David Thomas: Now, yeah.

[1:52] Robert W Schneider: Now he knows. Fair. Now you know. Life is crowding. Well, now you know. Thank you. That was my tribute for Marily.

[1:58] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I do love a good Marilee reference.

[2:00] Robert W Schneider: Who doesn't? Uh, listeners, we still want to hear from you and Kevin. You and Kevin. Kevin, I still want to write to you.

[2:06] Kevin David Thomas: Are you please do so? I would love to get a letter that's not from Sally May.

[2:11] Robert W Schneider: We want to hear what your skip songs are.

[2:13] Kevin David Thomas: Yes. What songs do you skip over?

[2:15] Robert W Schneider: So once again, Kevin, would you tell everybody what a skipped song is?

[2:17] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, you know that song where you're listening to a cast album or even just like a pop album or any kind of album, and you're like, nah, I don't need that song right now. Like, uh, let me give an example to you. Uh Oklahoma. How many of you listen to It's a Scandal, it's an outrage? Uh nope, cut it. Done. Nope. Next. Get to the next one. So what's yours? Like, what's your skip song?

[2:36] Robert W Schneider: Or from Wicked, you young ones. Actually, you know, that's old people now. It's Wicked's like 2003, but something bad is happening. No. Next. Next. Now you know what's horrible. Now watch someone be like on Broadway Worlds, like, oh my God, that is the best song from Wicked. I love that song.

[2:53] Kevin David Thomas: I'm sorry. You know what I do? Isn't this horrible?

[2:57] Robert W Schneider: What?

[2:58] Kevin David Thomas: I actually like a lot of the songs people skip over.

[3:01] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah?

[3:02] Kevin David Thomas: So when I listen to Wicked, I literally use the only songs I listen to. I listen to Popular. I listen to The Wizard and I, and I listen to Wonderful.

[3:09] Robert W Schneider: Wonderful.

[3:11] Kevin David Thomas: They call me Wonderful.

[3:14] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god, that's like the uh the number in uh that oh gosh, sweet smell of success.

[3:19] Kevin David Thomas: Now I'm really reaching.

[3:21] Robert W Schneider: Which one?

[3:21] Kevin David Thomas: The John Lithgow number.

[3:22] Robert W Schneider: He doesn't know.

[3:23] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I love that one. Don't look now. Don't worry about it.

[3:25] Robert W Schneider: So that's one now. No, you are. Something that you have is. See, that's not like also that's how I feel about that hairspray number with the the you're you're young, you're used to it. Timeless to me.

[3:35] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, gosh. Somebody else, that's the one somebody said that they skip over on the card. Like, I skipped through all of hairspray to get to hair lines are shorter, a beer cost the codder, and you're timeless to me.

[3:48] Robert W Schneider: Hair dues are higher, mine feels like barbed wire. You say I'm as chic as can be. No, to hell with you. What the hell do you know?

[3:56] Kevin David Thomas: So I listen literally will skip over all the good songs to get to Timeless to make.

[4:02] Robert W Schneider: Oh, you know which one I used to love from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels? Like this, Zamun, Azron as a balloon.

[4:08] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[4:08] Robert W Schneider: I love that one.

[4:09] Kevin David Thomas: Do you?

[4:10] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. So I have no taste.

[4:12] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[4:12] Robert W Schneider: No. There is there is a few. Get off great big stuff. There's tons of things. I'm gonna make you a mixed CD.

[4:18] Kevin David Thomas: Oh man.

[4:19] Robert W Schneider: Or mixed tape or a Spotify playlist from the young people.

[4:22] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah, sure.

[4:22] Robert W Schneider: Of all these songs you don't like, and I'll explain to you each and every one why they're good.

[4:26] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I can't wait.

[4:28] Robert W Schneider: I know you really can't. As long as the basketball, the Michael Jordan song from Fo Month.

[4:36] Kevin David Thomas: I know exactly what's gonna happen.

[4:38] Robert W Schneider: How dare you? I'm not even gonna go to any of the other.

[4:43] Kevin David Thomas: I don't think so.

[4:45] Robert W Schneider: I don't think so. There's a guy who sells stuff by my subway stop on the street. Maybe he has one for me.

[4:49] Kevin David Thomas: I'm sure he does.

[4:57] Robert W Schneider: I love that music. Well, welcome back to Throwback Thursday. Sorry.

[5:01] Kevin David Thomas: Um so let us know what your skip songs are.

[5:03] Robert W Schneider: What's that?

[5:04] Kevin David Thomas: Skip songs.

[5:04] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, tell us.

[5:05] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. Let us know what you got. I I wanna know. Please.

[5:08] Robert W Schneider: And welcome back to Throwback Thursday.

[5:10] Kevin David Thomas: And welcome back to Throwback Thursday, everybody. I still can't get over that you don't like any of the songs that I like. That's so funny.

[5:14] Robert W Schneider: That's okay.

[5:15] Kevin David Thomas: That's okay. It's it's healthy to a disagree.

[5:18] Robert W Schneider: I know, and I've been like trying to rack my brain of thinking all the other ones that I would also but I'm not sure.

[5:22] Kevin David Thomas: Probably listening all of them, don't you?

[5:23] Robert W Schneider: Listen to that.

[5:23] Kevin David Thomas: No, no, there's definitely ones that I definitely skip, but I'm not gonna do it.

[5:26] Robert W Schneider: I love to cry at weddings.

[5:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, those are sweet charity.

[5:31] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. Bye. There's some songs in that is that I forget are from Sweet Charity though.

[5:34] Kevin David Thomas: Like Oh, from Sweet Charity?

[5:36] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, like whenever that like the hippie song in the second act.

[5:38] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, the rhythm of life.

[5:39] Robert W Schneider: I'm like I skip.

[5:40] Kevin David Thomas: Man, the rhythm of life. Where did that come from?

[5:42] Robert W Schneider: That God only knows. I skip rhythm. You know what? And promises, promises, you know what I skip all the time?

[5:47] Kevin David Thomas: Uh wanting things.

[5:48] Robert W Schneider: Which makes sense. I just listened to that the other day, and I was like, I think they could come with a chance to do it.

[5:55] Kevin David Thomas: Wanting things, like wanting them.

[6:02] Robert W Schneider: That just can't I'm like, okay, great. All right, guys. That in that Christmas Day one is really weird.

[6:06] Kevin David Thomas: Christmas Day is here.

[6:09] Robert W Schneider: And so are we.

[6:11] Kevin David Thomas: All right. I'm done.

[6:12] Robert W Schneider: I like it though.

[6:13] Kevin David Thomas: I'm sorry.

[6:15] Robert W Schneider: No, this that should be a whole album of yours. Rob sings the skip songs.

[6:17] Kevin David Thomas: Sing the songs.

[6:18] Robert W Schneider: Nobody wants to fucking hear.

[6:20] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. But if you do an A Paul Inn voice, we'll be happy.

[6:22] Robert W Schneider: So Oh my god, can you imagine? I gotta work on more impressions.

[6:25] Kevin David Thomas: No, I'm no, I'm quite happy with the Paul Inn too. My special skills literally, it's Paul Lynn. It's uh Archie and Edith Bunker.

[6:32] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god. Sergio Frankie.

[6:34] Kevin David Thomas: Sergio's a great one. Next week I'll bust out my Betty Davis for you.

[6:37] Robert W Schneider: Oh. I w I'll work on my Betty Davis and I'll bust it out for you.

[6:41] Kevin David Thomas: How are you, Kevin? What's your what's your thing today?

[6:43] Robert W Schneider: Sorry. No badly. So uh this is a kind of a different one than we've ever done. This is a person, but they are they are still alive.

[6:50] Kevin David Thomas: A person.

[6:51] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, this is a person. Um, and I believe this is just someone that everybody should know. Everybody should know who this my favorite thing is. Now everyone is starting to know who she is, and she's under the age of thirty. She's not only a songwriter, but she's also an actress, actor, performing artist, uh, player of instruments, accordion, piano.

[7:12] Kevin David Thomas: Um she is, I think we are going to be talking about her in this year and next year, and it's gonna be some we're gonna we're gonna know who she is quickly. Um her name is Shaina Taub.

[7:24] Robert W Schneider: S H A I N A Taub. T A U B. Shaina Taub, hailing from Vermont, who's uh lived in New York since she was like 16. She won the 2014 Jonathan Larson grant for songwriting.

[7:38] Kevin David Thomas: She was I found her because um Sutton, my wife, loves Bill Irwin, and then consequently David Shiner. So she's she loves Bill Irman. So they were streaming Signature did Old Hats, which is theirs, that they did their two, you know, two-person show or like a small person show.

[7:56] Robert W Schneider: And they they streamed it live a couple months ago, and she did all of the music. She was on stage and sang and interacted with the two guys. They also did a couple scenes together, but she sang her original songs in in the in the in the show or the you know the musical act. Uh, and we were so taken by the music. Got her album. She's had uh an EP release with just a couple songs called uh What What Otters Do. And then the other album that she just that was released last year is called Visitors.

[8:26] Kevin David Thomas: So you can listen to that. Um not only is she only a songwriter, but when Natasha Pierre, the Great Comedy of 1812 transferred off Broadway after it was did well at Arsnova, she was in that. She performed in that.

[8:40] Robert W Schneider: She also was just in um uh like a couple months, like l from May to like July, New York Theater Workshop did this uh sort of folky opera type thing called Hades Town that Rachel uh Chafkin. Um she played one of the fates in that. Um she's also writing a musical called uh an American uh women's suffragette movement based on that. So she's but she's a I want to say she's like a performing artist in that she not only writes material and performs it, but she's interactive, immersive with the community.

[9:15] Kevin David Thomas: One of the first things I I was flipping channels like three months ago, and this is after I became a fan, and I saw this old documentary. I went I say old, but it was like seven years old, maybe 2008, 2009. She must have been like 20. Um, and she's working with Liz Suedos, Suatos, Suetos, you say potato, I say Suetos. I think it's Suedos.

[9:35] Robert W Schneider: Rest rest in peace, Liz Suetos. Um but she was very much uh this documentary was them at a a New York City's public school, and they're working with theater kids putting on an original musical, which Liz Suetos was known to do if you know her work at all. And which runaways runaways and a whole bunch of rock, you know, Rat Masterani, but like a lot of weird wacky things she did. But she was known for being very organic and coming up with the music as it was happening.

[10:00] Kevin David Thomas: And so Shana is like the music director in this documentary at this school, and you're watching her interact with the kids and interact with Liz and all of that. And so you see her brilliance just as a musician. But also what it fascinates me is that she's you know, she's also this this writer as well.

[10:14] Robert W Schneider: So what audio friends, I don't know if this podcast will come out in time, but she's got a show in Central Park, uh Playwrights uh Public Theater does uh public works, is what it's called, and it's she's doing 12th night. She wrote the music and lyrics, and she's playing Feste, and this is uh uh a public theater, you know, adaptation of Twelfth Night, but it combines people of the community and dance groups of the community and different organizations throughout the community.

[10:43] Kevin David Thomas: So it's this sort of like a community production, if you will.

[10:46] Robert W Schneider: That's great. So it's very, yeah, I want to see it. I mean, uh, it's it runs the weekend of September 2nd through the 5th. Um, this yeah, that's it. I I have no ulterior motive to to pet I don't know her. I've but I I'm just a huge fan of what she has to offer.

[11:01] Kevin David Thomas: Just last week, for instance, she did a concert with Jason Albert Brown, just the two of them. He asked her to play, and they they not only did their own songs, they sang each other's songs, and they surprised each other and had excuse me, did an arrangement of one of the others' songs and performed it for them.

[11:17] Kevin David Thomas: So, like, that's cool.

[11:19] Robert W Schneider: It is cool. And so one of the songs that you might know of hers is "The Tale of Bear and Otter." Audrey McDonald sings that a lot in her concert tour. And I challenge you to listen to "The Tale of Bear and Otter" and not have a tear in your eye if you have a loved one because she reduces what the life of partnership is into a four-minute song. And you can't believe this wisdom is coming out of someone so young. How old is she?

[11:45] Kevin David Thomas: I think she's like 27 right now.

[11:46] Robert W Schneider: 27, 20. That's wonderful.

[11:49] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. So, I'm a huge fan, and her music straddles, it's not necessarily musical theater. It's very pop, it's very funky, gospel, jazz, with a little Broadway storytelling influence in there. But I look forward to seeing her work and what we're gonna see from her next time.

[12:09] Robert W Schneider: I think that's so cool, Kevin. So random, but fun. Have you met her?

[12:13] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[12:14] Robert W Schneider: No, send her a fan letter.

[12:16] Kevin David Thomas: Right? I sent her a fan tweet and she liked it. And Sutton and I may have gotten a little excited over something like that.

[12:22] Robert W Schneider: Oh, if you want a little introduction, there's a YouTube video that I found because Vermont people love their Vermont people. And these people from Vermont did a YouTube on her called "The Year of Shaina Taub."

[12:35] Kevin David Thomas: Ah.

[12:43] Kevin David Thomas: That's really cool.

[12:45] Robert W Schneider: Shaina Taub. Awesome.

[12:46] Kevin David Thomas: I cannot wait to become more familiar with her work.

[12:50] Robert W Schneider: What do you got for me today, Rob?

[12:52] Kevin David Thomas: I'm excited. I have something a little different. Now, when we first started doing this, we said that this Thursday show was going to be about things that are more obscure.

[13:01] Robert W Schneider: Right.

[13:02] Kevin David Thomas: So I'm going to give you a title that is not obscure, but the way the title is produced is obscure.

[13:09] Robert W Schneider: Oh, okay.

[13:10] Kevin David Thomas: I'm going to take you back to the 90s.

[13:12] Robert W Schneider: Great.

[13:13] Kevin David Thomas: Mid-90s.

[13:13] Robert W Schneider: Ooh, good time.

[13:14] Kevin David Thomas: So once again, I'm in high school.

[13:16] Robert W Schneider: Great.

[13:16] Kevin David Thomas: You're in high school.

[13:17] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah.

[13:18] Kevin David Thomas: Listening to your Spice World, I'm assuming.

[13:20] Robert W Schneider: Your Spice Girls and waiting for that No Doubt CD to Phantom, please.

[13:25] Kevin David Thomas: As if I was that cool.

[13:26] Robert W Schneider: Who's Fantasy?

[13:27] Kevin David Thomas: Phantom of the Opera.

[13:28] Robert W Schneider: Oh, Phantom. Ah, yeah.

[13:29] Kevin David Thomas: Though I may have listened to Annie Lennox as well.

[13:30] Robert W Schneider: Annie Lennox?

[13:34] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[13:34] Robert W Schneider: Were you a Lilith Fair guy?

[13:36] Kevin David Thomas: Nope. Just Annie Lennox all the way.

[13:38] Robert W Schneider: No Alanis Morissette.

[13:44] Kevin David Thomas: No, of course I listened to it because that was my generation, but I did not have that album.

[13:48] Robert W Schneider: Jagged Little Pill.

[13:49] Kevin David Thomas: No. I didn't even listen to any of that stuff. But I love theatrical singers like Annie Lennox, Bette Midler.

[13:54] Robert W Schneider: Oh, shoot.

[13:55] Kevin David Thomas: You know, though I just liked, I don't know, I really dug that.

[13:58] Robert W Schneider: That's really cool.

[13:59] Kevin David Thomas: Okay. But so who are you? Sorry, 1990.

[14:01] Robert W Schneider: So we're in the 90s now.

[14:03] Kevin David Thomas: In the 90s. I'm there. I'm definitely there.

[14:05] Robert W Schneider: 1995.

[14:07] Kevin David Thomas: Ooh.

[14:09] Robert W Schneider: The year before on CBS, they decided to do a TV movie of Gypsy with Bette Midler.

[14:15] Kevin David Thomas: It was fantastic.

[14:16] Robert W Schneider: Which is brilliant. Absolutely fantastic.

[14:17] Kevin David Thomas: And wonderful and fantastic.

[14:18] Robert W Schneider: Oh my God.

[14:19] Kevin David Thomas: I think I know where this is going.

[14:20] Robert W Schneider: And immediately the other network said, "Yeah, oh, this is great. We should do more of these TV musicals because they sell really well."

[14:27] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[14:28] Robert W Schneider: And they said, "Great, what do we want to do for next year?" And ABC.

[14:32] Kevin David Thomas: Did they say Cinderella?

[14:34] Robert W Schneider: No.

[14:35] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[14:35] Robert W Schneider: They did say Cinderella at some point. But I think before Cinderella, they said, "Hey, what about Bye Bye Birdie?"

[14:44] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[14:45] Robert W Schneider: Oh my gosh.

[14:46] Kevin David Thomas: I remember.

[14:47] Robert W Schneider: Oh my gosh.

[14:48] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[14:48] Robert W Schneider: Yes. I'm going to talk about the 1995 TV movie album.

[14:52] Kevin David Thomas: How can I forget?

[14:53] Robert W Schneider: Of Bye Bye Birdie.

[14:56] Kevin David Thomas: What's not even a cast? I have the soundtrack or whatever.

[14:58] Robert W Schneider: Epic. Right, Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams.

[15:00] Kevin David Thomas: Go, go, you go. Sorry.

[15:01] Robert W Schneider: No, but you remember.

[15:02] Kevin David Thomas: My childhood came back to me like that.

[15:04] Robert W Schneider: You remember it, right?

[15:05] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god. And then they put it on the holiday time. It was going to be this big deal.

[15:08] Robert W Schneider: It was this big deal.

[15:09] Kevin David Thomas: It was this big deal.

[15:10] Robert W Schneider: And the show, whoa. It's not a good idea.

[15:15] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, now I was just talking to somebody about this. And let me know what you feel.

[15:18] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[15:19] Kevin David Thomas: I love Bye Bye Birdie. I mean, like, it is the reason why I do musical theater. Like it was my child, it was one of the childhood musicals. So I definitely.

[15:28] Robert W Schneider: I love it.

[15:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. And I was talking to a younger person, somebody I think was like 20, 21, and he was like, I really don't like Bye Bye Birdie. I just don't like it.

[15:36] Robert W Schneider: Strong reaction.

[15:37] Kevin David Thomas: Um I was like, well, I think.

[15:40] Robert W Schneider: You're like, what's the story, Morning Glory?

[15:41] Kevin David Thomas: What's the story, Morning Glory? What's the word, Hummingbird? Did you hear about Hugo and Kim? Get the fuck out of my house. Because you didn't hear about Hugo and Kim. And you're not interested in listening about Hugo and Kim. Get out of my house. So anyway, I love Bye Bye Birdie. I think it's so funny. I think it's so smart. And unfortunately, there are two film incarnations of it.

[15:58] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[15:58] Kevin David Thomas: And both are really weak.

[16:00] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[16:00] Kevin David Thomas: The first one, if you remember from the 60s, is Dick Van Dyke.

[16:02] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah, of course.

[16:03] Kevin David Thomas: But it's like Janet Leigh is Rosie, who's supposed to be Hispanic, but they just put Janet Leigh in a black wig.

[16:09] Robert W Schneider: Oh.

[16:09] Kevin David Thomas: And they're like, Congratulations, you're Rose Alvarez.

[16:12] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[16:12] Kevin David Thomas: And the whole movie's about Ann-Margret.

[16:15] Robert W Schneider: Really hot, though. I mean, Oh, Ann-Margret?

[16:17] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[16:18] Robert W Schneider: You know what's so funny? I remember growing up really young and being like, I'm pretty sure I'm gay, but every time I would see her do "How Lovely to Be a Woman," I was like, maybe I'm not.

[16:25] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah. That was honestly, I swear to you, that was my biggest, yeah, my biggest conflict in life.

[16:30] Robert W Schneider: It's because she was hot.

[16:31] Kevin David Thomas: She was gorgeous. Um, the movie's bad more, it's bad.

[16:34] Robert W Schneider: It's just bad movie.

[16:35] Kevin David Thomas: I haven't revisited it in a while.

[16:37] Robert W Schneider: There's a turtle. There's like a turtle, and they give the turtle speed to like speed up the conductor. It's weird. Do you remember what I'm talking about? Like you sat there and like, you who did that? So the movie's really bad. So this 90s version is more reflective of the actual script.

[16:51] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[16:52] Robert W Schneider: Except it's bizarre. It's bizarre casting. It's Jason Alexander as Albert Peterson, who at this time is like uber successful because he's George Costanza on Seinfeld. And I don't think people knew he was a song and dance man originally. But his agent in him probably was like, hey, we gotta show the world you can do something else. And they stuck a horrible toupee on him.

[17:14] Kevin David Thomas: They did.

[17:15] Robert W Schneider: Do you remember that?

[17:15] Kevin David Thomas: This god awful toupee.

[17:17] Robert W Schneider: And then for Rose Alvarez, instead of going with the Hispanic actress, right?

[17:21] Kevin David Thomas: Which they should have done.

[17:22] Robert W Schneider: Vanessa Williams.

[17:23] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, of course.

[17:23] Robert W Schneider: So that's Vanessa Williams. Way to nail it on that one, guys. Chynna Phillips is Kim McAfee. Tyne Daly is Mae Peterson. Uh, who is Birdie?

[17:33] Kevin David Thomas: Uh it's Mark.

[17:35] Robert W Schneider: Mark Kudisch.

[17:35] Kevin David Thomas: It's probably one of the best things in it.

[17:36] Robert W Schneider: It's Mark Kudisch's Conrad Birdie. And George Wendt, who plays Mr. McAfee, and I think the only direction they gave George Wendt was can you look miserable in every single shot, no matter what the hell's going on?

[17:49] Kevin David Thomas: Poor guy.

[17:50] Robert W Schneider: Um it is a bad, it's a I'm so sorry. But I will say this. They add three songs to the show. Two I think are wonderful, and two of them I actually think work really well in the stage version, one doesn't. The two that they add that I really like is Mae Peterson, Mrs. Peterson finally gets a song called "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore," which is where she just guilts Albert Peterson, and I think it's brilliant. And the second one is a really great song that after Albert tells off his mom, he sings a song called "A Giant Step" about how like he's finally been able to like tell his mom off and he's broken through. And the song is wonderful. The song which I don't think is very good, is called "Let's Settle Down," which Rosie sings. And if you listen to it, it literally sounds like some horrible 90s elevator music song. And you're like, this doesn't sound at all like anything.

[18:45] Kevin David Thomas: What era is this in?

[18:46] Robert W Schneider: Like, if we live the mess and the stress of big city living, I'm tired of your talking. Let's settle down. And you're like, whoa.

[18:56] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[18:56] Robert W Schneider: Like, where whoa.

[18:58] Kevin David Thomas: This sounds like a skip song, Rob.

[18:59] Robert W Schneider: This is this is a skip.

[19:01] Kevin David Thomas: It is a song that I skip.

[19:02] Robert W Schneider: Ironically, that was the song that won the Emmy Award that year for best original song was "Let's Settle Down."

[19:08] Kevin David Thomas: No, you're I swear to you.

[19:09] Robert W Schneider: So the movie. Now here, I did not know this. There's a couple was it written?

[19:13] Kevin David Thomas: I'm sorry, but was it written by Strouse and Adams?

[19:16] Robert W Schneider: Well, they're getting four. For this TV version. Isn't that weird? Now there's a couple of things I didn't know. You brought up a really good point, which is Jason Alexander, right? Apparently Gene Saks, who directed the TV version, knew Jason Alexander and called and said, I want you to be in Bye Bye Birdie. And Jason Alexander was like, Oh my God, this is great. I can't wait to play Mr. McAfee. And Gene Saks was like, No, you're Albert Peterson. And even Jason Alexander was like, I'm not Albert Peterson. Yeah. And I think I think Jason Alexander is so talented and so funny. But you need some, I think there's a little charm that you need. And I don't think Jason Alexander has that. In an interview he had, he even acknowledged that.

And the other thing I did not know that Jason Alexander was saying in this interview was when they did the show, they demanded that the show be inflated, expanded, not deflated to fill a three-hour time slot. So they were like, you have to keep adding more. So they kept having to like fill this show out. So anyway, that's that's my pick, which is this Bye Bye Birdie movie from the 90s. Why watch it? Because I think it's actually better than the movie from the 1960s. I think it's more loyal to the actual text. Uh you can skip over "Let's Settle Down." It happens like really at the beginning of the show.

[20:33] Kevin David Thomas: Or uh listen to it for uh for educational reasons.

[20:36] Robert W Schneider: Or listen to it for educational reasons. Well, who knows? It might be your next audition song. The worst production of Bye Bye Birdie I ever saw.

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

[20:43] Robert W Schneider: And we try not to be cynical on this show.

[20:44] Kevin David Thomas: No, no, no.

[20:45] Robert W Schneider: I will tell tell me if you think I'm off. I saw a production in California where the director decided not only were they going to do the original script of Bye Bye Birdie in its wonderful length without cutting anything, including like 90 dance ballets.

[20:58] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[20:59] Robert W Schneider: They were going to include all the songs from the movie version from 1960.

[21:02] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[21:03] Robert W Schneider: And all the songs from the Tommy Tune and Ann Reinking touring production from the 90s. The show started at eight o'clock. I am not joking when I say this. Are you ready for this?

[21:12] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[21:13] Robert W Schneider: I got out of that theater at 5 to midnight.

[21:16] Kevin David Thomas: No, you're lying.

[21:17] Robert W Schneider: I swear to God.

[21:18] Kevin David Thomas: Swear to God.

[21:18] Robert W Schneider: No way.

[21:19] Kevin David Thomas: It was like a four-hour.

[21:21] Robert W Schneider: It was like the Nicholas Nickleby.

[21:22] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I was gonna say like the Angels in America.

[21:24] Robert W Schneider: With every single song ever written for it. And it's a good thing. But Bye Bye Birdie guys, we don't need to be completist about this. Cut it down, cut it down, cut it down. But seriously. So anyway, that was that. Watch the Bye Bye Birdie TV movie and then cleanse your palate. Go on iTunes and listen to Shaina Taub or look her up on YouTube. Good stuff.

[21:40] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you, everybody. And don't forget, send us in those skip songs. We want to know what you're skipping.

[21:46] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[21:46] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" ♪