This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Elliott Mattox: Hello, friends.

[0:02] Elliott Mattox: Elliot here. Caleb and I hope you are healthy and safe at home right now.

[0:08] Elliott Mattox: I know that there's a lot of stuff going on right now, but Caleb and I, with the help of our friends at the Broadway Podcast Network, are hosting something each week to help brighten up your day.

[0:21] Elliott Mattox: Every Wednesday and Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Caleb and I will be hosting a live video happy hour.

[0:30] Elliott Mattox: Um, courtesy of the Broadway Podcast Network. We'll be sitting down with some of your favorite podcasters from other shows on the network, and we're gonna sit, have a cocktail, have some laughs, and uh take a break from watching Netflix for the day.

[0:46] Elliott Mattox: What you're about to hear is the audio from those video calls, but you can watch the whole thing for yourself on the Broadway Podcast Network YouTube channel.

[0:56] Elliott Mattox: And to tune in live, you can go to bpn.fm slash happy hour. Again, that's bpn dot fm slash happy hour.

[1:10] Elliott Mattox: We hope you'll join us for the next one. Cheers.

[1:19] Elliott Mattox: We'll take a glass together. This is Equity One, Broadway's Happy Hour.

[1:26] Elliott Mattox: Pour yourself a drink and join us as we chat about life, theater, and everything in between. I'm Elliott Mattox.

[1:33] Caleb Dicke: And I'm Caleb Dicke. Join us for your Equity One.

[1:43] Elliott Mattox: Oh. Hi, cheer!

[1:47] Caleb Dicke: Hi, Caleb.

[1:48] Elliott Mattox: Hi, Elliot. How are you today?

[1:50] Caleb Dicke: I'm doing well. How are you?

[1:52] Elliott Mattox: I'm doing well. I like we usually like chat beforehand, but we haven't like had a chance to be like, hi, how are you today?

[1:58] Caleb Dicke: I know. We really haven't caught up. And what else is happy hour for?

[2:02] Elliott Mattox: Exactly. This is, of course, Broadway Podcast Network Happy Hour. I'm Elliott.

[2:08] Caleb Dicke: And I'm Caleb. And we're the hosts of Equity One Broadway's Happy Hour.

[2:13] Elliott Mattox: Here on Broadway Podcast Network, Happy Hour. We sit and chat with some of your favorite podcast hosts from the Broadway Podcast Network and Broadway Fancies themselves.

[2:22] Elliott Mattox: Uh today we are chatting with two of our friends Mike Abrams from The Wrong Cat Died and Ruthie Fierberg. Come on in.

[2:35] Caleb Dicke: Cheers, everyone.

[2:37] All: Cheers.

[2:39] Caleb Dicke: Pop this.

[2:40] Elliott Mattox: Pop it.

[2:41] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. I'm the only one without a can today.

[2:44] Mike Abrams: Oh.

[2:46] Mike Abrams: My um mine doesn't taste good at all.

[2:49] Elliott Mattox: I'm sorry.

[2:50] Mike Abrams: Oh great. We'll cover the low coat.

[2:55] Mike Abrams: What is it?

[2:56] Mike Abrams: It is a activated ale watermelon lime.

[3:00] Caleb Dicke: That sounds weird.

[3:02] Mike Abrams: It was a it was a craft beer from Cincinnati.

[3:09] Caleb Dicke: I'm not a beer expert, but that's what my brain is telling me.

[3:12] Elliott Mattox: I agree with that. I want to pour some vodka in it, and maybe that might be a little bit better.

[3:16] Caleb Dicke: Like give you like a hard seltzer, like it's your mixer.

[3:19] Mike Abrams: Yes, uh huh.

[3:20] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. That reminds me of college when we used to go to our favorite bar in Oklahoma City Saints, and we would I would have a crispin cider with a shot of fireball in it, and that was like my drink.

[3:35] Mike Abrams: So brother, it was delicious, but like beer and liquor just like fixed together.

[3:44] Caleb Dicke: Most of the time you take the shot of fireball and then chase it with the beer.

[3:48] Mike Abrams: Yeah, but I just went ahead and this is like a this is like a um, I don't know, let's make up a name for it. That's not an not a carbom, it's uh I used to just call it uh I used to just call it fire cider.

[4:01] Caleb Dicke: Fire cider. I like it.

[4:02] Mike Abrams: I like in Fuego, yeah. It's good, it's good.

[4:07] Ruthie Fierberg: Ruthie, what are you drinking? Is that hard seltzer?

[4:10] Ruthie Fierberg: It is hard seltzer, and you should know that it's a very big deal. Like, I don't, it's not that I don't drink, but I don't really drink very often.

[4:17] Ruthie Fierberg: Uh case in point, these are leftover hard seltzers from my girls' trip that I took in February.

[4:25] Caleb Dicke: Nice, and they were still sitting in the fridge.

[4:29] Ruthie Fierberg: Well, they're delicious. I'm a big fan of hard seltzer.

[4:33] Ruthie Fierberg: Discovered at the weekend of Broadway con, actually. Um very late to the ball game, but delicious.

[4:40] Caleb Dicke: Do you have a favorite brand yet?

[4:43] Ruthie Fierberg: I mean, I honestly haven't tried anything else besides truly.

[4:48] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[4:48] Ruthie Fierberg: So truly, truly is the best.

[4:50] Caleb Dicke: Truly scrunchies.

[4:53] Mike Abrams: I I'm I'm preferential to white claw, which I feel like is the original.

[4:57] Ruthie Fierberg: It is, I think that is the original.

[4:58] Mike Abrams: Yeah. OG, for sure.

[5:00] Caleb Dicke: Which flavor?

[5:01] Mike Abrams: Um, I like the I like the like raspberry.

[5:06] Caleb Dicke: I'm asking these questions like I know. I don't, I don't have to.

[5:08] Mike Abrams: I'm having blueberry acai, but I do have a raspberry lime in case we need to come back up.

[5:13] Ruthie Fierberg: You're like boom, boom.

[5:14] Mike Abrams: Yes, god.

[5:16] Ruthie Fierberg: Raspberry uh, blueberry acai. I love that drink.

[5:18] Mike Abrams: That's it.

[5:20] Ruthie Fierberg: Yes, thank you. Oh, I love this drink.

[5:24] Ruthie Fierberg: I was like, why couldn't they say not she was like, I just said blueberry because I didn't want to mess up the second word.

[5:35] Mike Abrams: This is a drag race deep cut.

[5:37] Ruthie Fierberg: I figured, I figured.

[5:39] Ruthie Fierberg: For me though, you gosh, Ellie. I am so proud of myself, and I just made my brother and sister very proud because in quarantine, uh, I have decided to go back and watch Drag Race from the beginning because I'm literally new this season.

[5:52] Ruthie Fierberg: I decided to start watching. I started with episode two of this season.

[5:57] Mike Abrams: Wow.

[5:58] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah. So you you're just just discovering an amazing world of what a time for live.

[5:59] Mike Abrams: What a time.

[6:06] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. I love that drink.

[6:08] Mike Abrams: Uh Mike, what are you having?

[6:10] Mike Abrams: So I have a yingling light.

[6:13] Ruthie Fierberg: Ooh.

[6:14] Mike Abrams: Back in the Midwest, and they started selling these in Indiana about a year, year and a half ago. Like it didn't make it across the border.

[6:19] Mike Abrams: So we used to drive to Cincinnati to buy them. Uh yeah, so this was this was what was in the fridge. I'm at my parents' house who aren't bigger.

[6:26] Caleb Dicke: I was gonna say, are you in Indiana right now?

[6:29] Mike Abrams: I'm in Indiana right now, yes.

[6:31] Caleb Dicke: Oh, wow.

[6:32] Mike Abrams: And all the Indiana behind me.

[6:34] Caleb Dicke: Oh, give us a give us a peek.

[6:36] Mike Abrams: So I've got Dr. J. Um, and then I've got a Indiana Pacers Locker, which is like from my childhood.

[6:42] Caleb Dicke: I can see any of this, but sure.

[6:44] Mike Abrams: It's not like in the it says my name. It's got a number.

[6:47] Caleb Dicke: Oh, it's blocked for me where it says live stream.

[6:50] Mike Abrams: Oh, damn. Brittany, can we do that thing where Mike is really big and we're small on the ends so we can see?

[6:56] Caleb Dicke: Maybe my maybe.

[6:59] Mike Abrams: Yeah, we're that was it, but it was me. Maybe do I need to talk? Is it work like I don't know? If not, it's no big deal.

[7:06] Caleb Dicke: Well, I was gonna square watching more Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy at home, so I was gonna do the Oh my god.

[7:11] Ruthie Fierberg: Obsessed with watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Like that we watch them every day.

[7:18] Ruthie Fierberg: And it's so it's so fun. Like I think I'm gonna watch them normally now, like whenever I can.

[7:31] Mike Abrams: Oh, see, yeah, it's been confusing for me too, because here in Kentucky, Let's Make a Deal with Wayne Brady comes on at 4 p.m. where it's usually part of my morning routine.

[7:44] Mike Abrams: No, 11 prices right. Yeah, it's usually around 10 o'clock New York time, right after hot bench.

[7:51] Ruthie Fierberg: So uh it's really disorienting. Uh when it comes on at 4 p.m. I'm like, it's morning.

[7:56] Ruthie Fierberg: Watch daytime television had to be when I had a fever in high school.

[8:02] Mike Abrams: I wear it again. It feels like that.

[8:04] Mike Abrams: I feel like with and with all the reruns they're having to do because they can't film new episodes. I it feels like I'm just watching the game show network.

[8:12] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh my god, it's so with the big bold. This cruise was filmed before the outbreak. It's like got a disclaimer when they give away.

[8:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But yeah, so I've got my Indiana locker behind me, I've got an Indiana shirt on a pace. I have all sports stuff, I don't have anything Broadway here um at all, so it's all sports-related stuff in this house, it's all sports-related stuff in this room.

[8:36] Mike Abrams: Um, but that's also kind of the way my choice is in New York, anyways.

[8:39] Ruthie Fierberg: Isn't Indiana the Hoosers? Did I say that right?

[8:44] Mike Abrams: The Hoosiers, you know, I know a little bit.

[8:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you're you're in Cincinnati, right?

[8:49] Mike Abrams: I'm in Dayton, so it's still like close. I'm still right there.

[8:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, it's even closer.

[8:54] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. So you're you're basically on the Indiana border.

[8:57] Ruthie Fierberg: And we go to Indiana to buy fireworks. And we went to Cincinnati and Ohio to buy gangling.

[9:03] Mike Abrams: Yeah. It's a trail.

[9:06] Ruthie Fierberg: And I'm Kentucky. So we're really serving tri-state realness here.

[9:10] Mike Abrams: Yeah, we're covering the Midwest hard.

[9:12] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, yeah. Hard.

[9:15] Elliott Mattox: I know you're our like lifeline back into New York. You're keeping the New York strong.

[9:18] Mike Abrams: I am. I am. I like being here.

[9:24] Mike Abrams: I mean, the 7 p.m. shout out makes my life so happy. And like Harlan was a little slow on the uptake for sure. But like now it's like it like slowly has grown. And now, yeah, people are like hanging out their windows. It like it feels really nice.

[9:41] Elliott Mattox: Well, Harlem's right beside that hospital. Ellie, what is that hospital? You've been there.

[9:45] Elliott Mattox: Um, I have. I mean Mount Sinai on uh 168 too.

[9:50] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like walking in height. That's still I do call that Harlem.

[9:55] Elliott Mattox: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure. Um, I you guys, right before this, like I like had like the a weirdly busy week just with like random stuff going on, but I have been like running around.

[10:06] Elliott Mattox: So I like sprinted downstairs after showering, and I was listening to the Bonapetit food cast while I was getting ready, and they were talking about what cocktails they're making, and they were like, my one of my cocktails is a Tom Collins that I'm making because you can like make it different always.

[10:23] Elliott Mattox: So I'm having a Tom Collins.

[10:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Hey, that's open up that restaurant.

[10:28] Elliott Mattox: Yeah, gin soda, um let uh lemon juice and um a cherry.

[10:34] Ruthie Fierberg: Can I tell you a story about a Tom Collins?

[10:36] Mike Abrams: Please.

[10:37] Ruthie Fierberg: Okay, so when I was in college, I went to Barnard, uh, which is one of the four undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, and one of the things that they say is like, you know, we we were living in New York, and um they have all these ways that like you can make money as a student.

[10:53] Ruthie Fierberg: Like I was a Barnard babysitter, um, and I also decided because I like didn't have enough going on, um, and it like for me, like most sincerely, I did not have enough going on for me.

[11:05] Ruthie Fierberg: So I decided to take the Barnard bartending class. You guys, this was the hard like I went to I took organic chemistry, and this is the hardest class I ever took.

[11:17] Ruthie Fierberg: I could not, I was like, who has time to memorize literally, I don't know, like 200 recipes, and um you had to take a written test at the end of it and then do a practical where you made a drink for like my teachers who were like seniors who had been in the bartending agency um for forever.

[11:35] Ruthie Fierberg: So uh I totally cheated on the written test. It's the only test I ever cheated on in my entire life.

[11:43] Mike Abrams: At a girl.

[11:44] Ruthie Fierberg: And then they were just like, you know, if you don't know, they had said like part of the thing about being a bartender bartender is just being confident.

[11:52] Ruthie Fierberg: So they asked me to make a Tom Collins. I have no effing clue what is in this drink, and I'm just like, uh huh, of course.

[12:01] Ruthie Fierberg: And I just like grab a highball and just started mixing things together. I have no idea, like, literally don't know what I'm doing.

[12:08] Ruthie Fierberg: And I'm just like talking, like, how was your day? La la la la la, stir sir stir. I will get based on what you just listed as the ingredients of that drink. I now know that 14 years ago, I was very wrong.

[12:20] Mike Abrams: Ah, got certified.

[12:24] Ruthie Fierberg: So there you go. There you go. There's my question for you. Were you only allowed to have jobs that started with a bee because all the examples are babysitter babysitter bartender what else it was just a very very conveniently named college what can i say lots of jobs start with b yeah yeah um what what has been keeping everyone entertained during quarantine um we basically everyone has to watch tiger king to get on the show so we know that everyone's watched tiger king you haven't watched it Ruthie oh no Ruthie you have to leave so good bye Ruthie I feel like really upset me you guys are you an animal person oh I'm just I mean yes but I'm also just like not a cruelty person sure like I'm also like not my type of reality television is like survivor hardcore survivor fan and then like certain reality shows like drag race or like I was a soapy fan you can dance girl I am not into like I have never watched keeping up with the Kardashians I have never watched a real housewives I do not dig the like catty like the following yeah so like the eccentric I just like look at it in horror so like not it's not my thing it's documentary it's so good yeah it's also like I am very lucky that like I I have my full-time job still at Playbill so like I'm more fully working and then I'm also working on my podcast for the Rad Eye Podcast Network and like other goodies for BPN.

[14:08] Mike Abrams: So like I'm honestly not watching TV.

[14:12] Ruthie Fierberg: That's lovely.

[14:14] Mike Abrams: I'm honestly jealous.

[14:16] Ruthie Fierberg: That's an acceptable answer.

[14:17] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[14:18] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[14:18] Mike Abrams: I'm also working and doing a little bit on the podcast, but I'm watching a lot of TV still.

[14:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Uh-huh.

[14:25] Mike Abrams: So I watched it. I watched it in two days. Um I just recently, yesterday, I put out my if the cast were cats members.

[14:35] Ruthie Fierberg: Which is so so good.

[14:37] Mike Abrams: So I feel important. I put a lot more thought into it than I really wish I would have. Um but I do have like I've thought through which character deserves to be well that feels on brand for you.

[14:47] Ruthie Fierberg: It is, yeah.

[14:48] Mike Abrams: I mean, it fits. It was um it didn't take a lot of research. It just was a little bit more like, all right, who should be this person? Like what's their underlying personality traits that fits this character?

[14:58] Ruthie Fierberg: Right.

[14:58] Mike Abrams: Um, so that was pretty fun. Uh I just finished Ozark season three, and I'm in the middle of Money Heist, which has been fun.

[15:05] Ruthie Fierberg: It's pretty uh what's Money Heist?

[15:07] Mike Abrams: Money Heist is a Spanish or Portuguese dubbed show about a bank robbery that's got four seasons. If you get past the dubbing, which is a little annoying, um it's a really why not just caption it.

[15:20] Ruthie Fierberg: So I was told by a lot of people to just watch the English dub because they said it's it's kind of the way it defaults, and I've heard it's really good.

[15:27] Mike Abrams: So I've watched it. Um there's only a few times where they're like yelling at each other, and it's very obvious that it's not accurate. Um but the storyline's been great. I'm only halfway through. I've watched two.

[15:39] Ruthie Fierberg: But I'll watch Spanish.

[15:42] Mike Abrams: What is the original? What's the original language?

[15:45] Ruthie Fierberg: It's either Spanish or Portuguese.

[15:47] Mike Abrams: Gotcha.

[15:49] Ruthie Fierberg: That might be fun to watch in the language.

[15:53] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I've been like, you know, Parasite kind of opened up, like made me not scared of like things that are subtitled or like not in the original, you know, not my language.

[16:04] Ruthie Fierberg: So have to work a little bit.

[16:06] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[16:08] Ruthie Fierberg: You know, yeah. I mean, my list is very long. I mean, I am I'm weeks behind actually in Survivor.

[16:18] Mike Abrams: I watch that show, I mean, completely unironically, and anyone who watches it understands, but everyone who doesn't watch it thinks I'm an idiot.

[16:26] Ruthie Fierberg: But that's just the lot in life, friends.

[16:29] Mike Abrams: Um incredible television.

[16:32] Ruthie Fierberg: People love Survivor.

[16:34] Mike Abrams: It's so good. So like I watched that. I'm still on the Grey's Anatomy train. I caught up on Station 19, which I'm like embarrassed that I watched that nonsense, but I do because they keep overlapping with Grey's and they did it on purpose to trap all us Grey's fans into having to watch the other show.

[16:55] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, totally.

[16:57] Mike Abrams: But I do enjoy watching Oak. Oak is so good on that show, you guys.

[17:01] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, from Hamilton.

[17:03] Mike Abrams: Oh, sure, yes.

[17:04] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh yeah, he's a regular and he's so good.

[17:07] Mike Abrams: Well, I watch that. I watch All Rise with Lindsay Mendez and Ruthie In Miles.

[17:12] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[17:13] Mike Abrams: That's like a lot of that network nonsense. But then, yes, I went back to the beginning of Drag Race, and I also randomly started watching Cheers from the beginning.

[17:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Cheers.

[17:27] Mike Abrams: Oh, but on Netflix or what's that on?

[17:31] Ruthie Fierberg: And you guys, I don't understand why Ted Danson is so sexy. Can someone please explain this to me?

[17:41] Mike Abrams: Um, it's uh I don't know, there's something about that era that's just like very hot. I just like he's so tall and the smile and the I'm like, what is going on?

[17:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Um so that's been fun. Speaking of very new speaking speaking of very hot um men, uh Britt has a picture to put up.

[18:04] Mike Abrams: Oh so this is uh who Mike has as Joe Exotic's cat, which is the Rum Tum Tugger, which I think is very appropriate.

[18:14] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, I mean seeking fame, super loud, uh center of the story.

[18:18] Mike Abrams: Yeah, they even have the same wig.

[18:21] Ruthie Fierberg: I was gonna say I found that interesting that the personality and the look matches. It's like 101 Dalmatians esque where like the owners look like their dogs, like he actually looked like his inner cat.

[18:33] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I got a couple of matched looks. It's perfect. I went more on personality. The other one that was just too perfect was Doc Antle and Old Deuteronomy, which is literally 99 wives.

[18:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, literally all of the wives.

[18:47] Mike Abrams: Yeah, like just insane.

[18:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh my god. Um this week I've been we've been watching like a lot of the same things. Like I've been like watching Sex in the City. We finished um we finished Fleabag, which I don't know if I've talked about on here, but it's so good.

[19:08] Mike Abrams: And I didn't know that it was based on a play.

[19:10] Ruthie Fierberg: So I'm gonna and I think it's streaming right now somewhere, so I've got to find it. She's raising money for the NHS in uh in the UK.

[19:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah, and the show is just so fun. I haven't laughed that hard at a show in so long.

[19:25] Ruthie Fierberg: It's so good. It's also like a binge. Like it's totally hours of a season. Like that's it.

[19:31] Mike Abrams: Exactly. It's only six episodes each season. I'm like, oh my god, I need I definitely need more. Like, but is it over? Is that like that's it?

[19:39] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[19:41] Mike Abrams: Oh wow. I didn't know.

[19:42] Ruthie Fierberg: I didn't realize that either. Well, now that they won so many awards, they might do more, but like I think like the play was that have the two seasons.

[19:50] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, they left it in a place where it could go either way, where it could be very much the end or like keep it going.

[19:58] Ruthie Fierberg: I feel that way about like the United States of Tara. Have you all either any of you watched that before?

[20:03] Mike Abrams: No, but Toni Collette, she's so good.

[20:05] Ruthie Fierberg: So good, but it very much ends in a place where it's like they could keep going, or it's like a perfect kind of end to that story.

[20:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[20:13] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah. I also started re-watching Scrubs because I'm a Scrubs fanatic.

[20:19] Mike Abrams: And Zach Braff and Donald Faison started a new podcast where called um Fake Doctors, Real Friends.

[20:28] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh it's like a rewatch podcast, but it's so good.

[20:32] Mike Abrams: It's so good. And so now it's making me want to like actually watch the episodes along with them because they go through like there are certain things where they'll be like time stamp that whatever.

[20:42] Ruthie Fierberg: And I'm like, I mean, I generally remember what this episode is about, but man, time stamps, guys.

[20:47] Mike Abrams: Very specific.

[20:48] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah. You know, Fake Doctors, Real Friends was um one of the titles Caleb and I considered for our podcast.

[20:55] Mike Abrams: Obviously, obviously.

[20:57] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah.

[20:57] Mike Abrams: But um Equity One won out.

[20:59] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah. Wait, I don'm gonna know how you two, and like obviously your fans know, but how you two know each other.

[21:06] Mike Abrams: Our adoring public. Um, yeah, no, we uh long story short, we met uh doing dance competitions in high school and then we're uh college roommates and have been best friends ever since.

[21:18] Ruthie Fierberg: So that's like 10 years plus over a decade.

[21:18] Mike Abrams: Over a decade.

[21:24] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, a long time.

[21:25] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[21:25] Ruthie Fierberg: I love that in a nutshell.

[21:27] Mike Abrams: Yeah, quick and shorter. I heard I heard kids in on the last happy hour.

[21:32] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah.

[21:32] Mike Abrams: I write like sped through it. We're like, we'll get the highlights.

[21:35] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, we're getting speedier. We're like, this is out the you know, we have to go through the whole thing every time, but it's fun.

[21:43] Mike Abrams: I love what we're this is like really really a fun, been a fun thing to do is just like sit with all of you because for those of you who aren't on the inside of the Broadway Podcast Network, we do meet quite often and spend time with the other podcasters um for meetings and other like little happy hours, but this is really fun to like one on one get to sit have a good.

[22:06] Ruthie Fierberg: I feel like I'm like the most active BPN podcaster whose podcast isn't live yet.

[22:13] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[22:14] Ruthie Fierberg: I just like I'm everywhere with doing like the videos with you, like when Elliott, you and I bonded and like did the video with you, Caleb at BroadwayCon, and I'm like filling in the calendar and doing all this stuff, and it's like one day the podcast will go up.

[22:30] Mike Abrams: You have a title yet? What's your title, go to?

[22:31] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh yeah, it's called Why We Theater.

[22:35] Mike Abrams: Oh, I love that.

[22:37] Ruthie Fierberg: And because it's the idea is like I like using um theater as a verb because I think like to theater is like to engage with the art on stage, and then why we theater is because I think um to enact change in the world.

[22:52] Mike Abrams: Because I believe that stories are the one thing that can make change.

[22:56] Ruthie Fierberg: So it's like why we theater because we're agents of change as artists.

[23:01] Mike Abrams: Amen.

[23:02] Ruthie Fierberg: I cannot I cannot wait to hear it.

[23:05] Mike Abrams: I know, right?

[23:06] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm sold.

[23:07] Mike Abrams: I know we've recorded the thing that's hard is like my podcast or panels, um, and I'm getting people from like far outside of the theatrical world who are like experts in these issues to help us say like this is how we change this. Um so it's a lot of research and a lot of scheduling and all that, but we're recording episode three on Tuesday.

[23:27] Ruthie Fierberg: So on soon.

[23:31] Mike Abrams: That's so exciting.

[23:34] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, yes, you do.

[23:35] Mike Abrams: Caleb and I learned that the hard way.

[23:37] Ruthie Fierberg: Thank you.

[23:38] Mike Abrams: We still haven't, I mean, we still haven't learned our lesson. We still don't bank things, we just kind of go, we try.

[23:45] Ruthie Fierberg: I mean, you guys are you guys are killing. Look, we're in happy hour.

[23:50] Mike Abrams: I was saying, I was saying to my boyfriend today, I was like, the happy hours are like the my favorite podcasts I've ever done, just because like I feel like it's so low stress, even though there's like more to it, like it's like just sitting, literally just sitting and being like it's really fun.

[24:06] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, I like I like this too because you all can educate me because I go to these other BPN events, and everyone's like, Oh yeah, and this and that, and I'm like, I have never even heard of that, I don't know what you're talking about.

[24:18] Mike Abrams: Like, I'm so lost at these events because I don't know uh very much about the industry or the history or anything else. I'm just a fan.

[24:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, I'm constantly just like everyone I'm like hitting out and be like, should I know who that is? Am I supposed to know who that is? Are they famous? Is it important?

[24:34] Mike Abrams: Yeah, but I love that you're a part of it because it's also like I mean, like looking at like the pacers in the background and you're sure, and then like saying, like, my life is sports, but I also just really love cats and musical sometimes.

[24:48] Ruthie Fierberg: But I'm like, Yes, I hate this idea of like sports and theater being like that. I'm like, no, you can actually like because I really love sports too. I mean, whatever thing is like so I look at it as very similar.

[25:01] Mike Abrams: And the fact that like what I like about both of them is that you're watching the elite at their profession doing it live.

[25:08] Ruthie Fierberg: Exactly.

[25:09] Mike Abrams: That's what I'm a fan of. Like you go to a basketball game, you're watching the like some of the most insane athletes in the world do these feats that you can only like. I've never dunked, like I'm I'm not very close to dunking. Um, but and then it's the same thing. Like, I watch these people sing and dance. I'm like, I can't, I can't even fathom doing that. And so it's you're watching the best of the best, especially once you're in New York.

[25:31] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, that's how people feel watching this um Broadway Podcast Network happy hour.

[25:36] Mike Abrams: Yeah, watching the best of the best, exactly. Sit and talk. Um, well, let's kind of start our interview. I mean, I think that's kind of a perfect segue into being like fans of theater. We always ask our guests um what first got them interested in the arts, what first kind of caught them as a young person. So um, Mike, let's start with you.

[26:00] Mike Abrams: Sure. Um, so again, I grew up in a sports household. Um, way much like a lot. My dad uh does some work with the Pacers, hence all the stuff. Um, but my mom's a music teacher, and so that is uh she teaches piano, she's always taught piano. There's like three or four pianos in this house. Um, and so that's been like we went to the theater when it came to Indiana, the five shows that come to Indiana every year. Yeah, we went, and it was usually who went with her. Um, so I was trying to think of what the first show I saw was, and I I have no idea. I think it was Joseph, uh, honestly, but I was like super young.

[26:36] Ruthie Fierberg: We love Joseph.

[26:37] Mike Abrams: Um the Andrew Lloyd Webber string connected. And so that was kind of you know, I've always uh been interested. And then we went when we used to go visit New York, we would go. Um so again, same thing. Like, I've just appreciated watching people do stuff that I can't think of.

[26:54] Mike Abrams: And then when you add in, like I love Jersey Boys, I loved um Book of Mormon stuff where it's like, okay, I love the music, or the South Park humor is like so clever that I'm a big fan of that. Like that is where it's pieced together some stuff. So when I moved to New York, um I and I realized how easy it was to go on like a random Tuesday just after work. Uh, I started going more often, and that's what kind of got me interested.

[27:18] Ruthie Fierberg: That makes me so happy.

[27:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah, so great. I've been part of that.

[27:22] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah. What was like when you were seeing shows when you're younger? Like you listen to you love Jersey Boys, you love like Book of Mormon. What was something when you were younger that you were like, oh, okay, like this is this is fun seeing this with mom.

[27:35] Mike Abrams: You know, I so I don't remember most of the time with everything. I'm just like, did I walk out entertained? Like, I don't have a high bar for anything to watch, like hence type thing. Um I want to be entertained. Um, I love sitcoms, I like very simple things. So a lot of the stuff I've seen, it's like, oh, that was good. Like that was well, like they tied it up nicely. Um, a great show, great singing, great dancing. So that was always again like the part that hooked me. I wouldn't say there's any like the shows that stood out, like Lion King obviously stood out when we saw that because of just how like mesmerizing everything is, but I think but yeah, I mean, I I mean I would I would just go to pretty much anything. I've like never thought, oh, this was so bad, I gotta leave. Like, even if it's something that's not totally for me yeah well you just you walk out an hour and a half two hours later and you know you still saw somebody doing something pretty incredible.

[28:22] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh yeah there's always something like there's always something to take from those things. I always like when I see stuff I try and always like just like learn something like what did I learn from seeing that like did I like it like what did I not what didn't I like it maybe that's what I learned about myself you know what didn't I like what I what did I appreciate um it's a good good barometer.

[28:45] Mike Abrams: Now my my rule because of cats and a couple others is that I like to at least have a general idea of what I'm going to see.

[28:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Sure.

[28:55] Mike Abrams: Yeah not to do that early on I saw I don't remember the names of the ones I saw the one with Jeff Daniels and uh Michelle Williams where Blackbird yeah didn't know what that was about that was uh that was um didn't you know thought fun home's a misleading name it is uh a couple things where I'm just like I won lottery tickets or I went and then I'm like in there going like I'm sitting in the theater about five minutes before it starts on my phone being like what's this about um so now I try to at least have an idea before I go um because I think cats was the most extreme version of that.

[29:30] Ruthie Fierberg: When did it's the first time you saw cats when you were younger or the most recent revival?

[29:33] Mike Abrams: No I've not I saw the most recent revival I saw the second to last preview. The story is a friend of mine from uh from college she is uh she works on Broadway sets and so I was saying, like, hey, I gotta see these classics. Like, I've never seen, I still haven't seen half of them so so this maybe maybe Kat's ruined it for me. But uh I was like I've never seen Phantom, I'd never seen my baby.

[29:54] Ruthie Fierberg: I have a feeling you haven't seen Phantom and you need to.

[29:57] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I haven’t never seen like most of these. And so uh the second to last preview was a Saturday matinee, and she's like, We have I have tickets, and then she got super sick and told me that like 30 minutes before. So I went and sat there by myself, had no idea what it was. I had not drank before, I had not had any substances of any kind. It was a Saturday, and I all I knew was Leona Lewis was in it. That was it.

[30:19] Ruthie Fierberg: My god, hilarious.

[30:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah, and yeah, and so I walked out and I was like so uh head scratching, confused. Uh and at the time I had I had um I'd moved to you know to New York for work kind of on a whim. Like it was I got recruited, took the job, and just left very quickly. So there's a lot of people that the stuff that New Yorkers accept as normal parts of life are not normal.

[30:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, and when you're new coming from you know from Indiana and the suburbs, you're if you're observant, you're gonna realize like we shouldn't just be okay with this, or like we shouldn't just accept this. Maybe like what?

[30:56] Mike Abrams: Like what? Like what? Like, no, I'm just kidding. There's a lot of like, I think some of it's very mental health related, but like there's a lot of like homeless people um using the restroom, not in a corner just on the subway, or um, you see you know, you just see people yelling and screaming. I saw uh one of the cart guys just pull his knife towards somebody and like as a threatening way, and then they like shook hands and hugged after they finished their argument. But it was like you just don't that's just not normal life.

[31:27] Ruthie Fierberg: So, anyways, I was I was giving people feedback from Indiana through like a newsletter blog style thing of like, here's what I'm noticing, here's the crazy stuff I'm seeing, here's here's what sleep no more is about. You're not gonna believe this. Um, that was a big surprise event. I just paused my normal updates of like here's what's happening in life and just wrote about cats, and so I have it somewhere, I'll find it and send an email to all of you.

[31:52] Mike Abrams: Oh my god.

[31:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, it does exist somewhere. Uh, but it was like I got known as like I had very strong opinions about the the musical, which was not true. I just thought it was a very fun subject to write, which is what my podcast's about. It's just a very fun um like uh it's a it's a good thing to to be able to use for parody. And so I when the when the trailer came out, uh I got about 25 text messages with links to it because it's like I'm the person in from Indiana that cats that knows cats.

[32:21] Mike Abrams: Uh and so I was joking around with um with Alan and I made a fake welcome to my TED Talk. And my my welcome to my TED Talk note was Grisabella's the wrong cat to die. Welcome to my TED Talk. And it was me standing in front of about 300 people getting ready to do a an actual presentation, not a catch-related presentation.

[32:43] Ruthie Fierberg: I love it so much.

[32:45] Mike Abrams: I love it.

[32:45] Ruthie Fierberg: Like, but I've seen it twice. Like I saw it with Leona Lewis, and then I saw Mamie do it. Um I saw it later with another friend almost exactly a year later. And that's it. I've literally never seen any other productions. I've watched the video, I watched the clips on YouTube, but uh I still you you could name people from the original, like actual actors and actresses, and I'll be like, who?

[33:08] Mike Abrams: Like, I don't know, I don't know who that's we don't know who Terrence Mann is.

[33:10] Ruthie Fierberg: I so I I've learned a couple, like I'm starting to figure out some of it, but like I know, like where I really know this story is the my version of how this story works. And so I have theories that I don't think are real, like have never been thought through, are things that if you tie a couple rumors on like this cat might be related to this cat and might be sleeping with this cat, and then you piece that together with what you do know about the story, it becomes very interesting to think about.

[33:38] Mike Abrams: And that's the only thing I really focus on.

[33:40] Ruthie Fierberg: We love it.

[33:41] Mike Abrams: And we'll we're gonna get more to cats related conspiracy.

[33:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, once we hear about young Ruthie and what made her the theater um expert she is today.

[33:58] Ruthie Fierberg: Um I uh grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. I'm the eldest of three children, and we all kind of um ended up loving theater, doing theater. My brother is an actor. It's like the connection between me and Elliot and me and Caleb. Um outside of VPN. But uh, I think part of the reason we all uh we were a theater family. My mother was a singer, um, semi-professional. She didn't discover singing in theater until like she was in college. But um, you know, then she became kind of obsessed and she had us young and she did community theater. The joke is um she was pregnant with each of us while she did a different community theater show.

[34:47] Mike Abrams: Yes, exactly.

[34:55] Ruthie Fierberg: But like truly, like the the my mom tells the story of like how the dancers used to like scream into her stomach, like, you're gonna be a dancer, you're gonna be a dancer, and like my brother's dancer. Um, and then my sister was the a chorus line baby, but like there's a video of me like at the age of two in a diaper just screaming, God, I hope I get it on the top of my lungs. I think you know, like my my mom was a singer, my dad was a fan. My dad loves the Phantom of the Opera. That's his favorite show of all time, and the music of the night is his favorite song ever. Um, and so we were just in a household that like had a stereo and like like big speakers, like not boombox, like big speakers, and like just played that music all the time a chorus line and Phantom and Le Miz and Miss I Gone and Um, you know, all those 80s shows.

[35:51] Mike Abrams: The British invasion was strong in our household, I guess.

[35:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Um and I think too, like my mom, because she discovered all of this later in life, she was like, Well, that's not I want my kids to know it like immediately. And she was never, you know, she never took dance lessons or singing lessons, and and took she took voice lessons again in college, but she never took dance lessons. And every time she tried out for a community theater musical, like she would sing great and she would act great, but she couldn't dance, and she like wouldn't get whatever part and she'd be pissed. So she was like, I will not allow this to happen to my children.

[36:28] Mike Abrams: So she put me in dance class.

[36:31] Ruthie Fierberg: So I started ballet when I was two, and um, you know, like added in tap when I was five, and like the whole, you know, that whole trajectory, and I danced all the way through college. Um, was a dance minor at Barnard, but like, you know, then I started doing the JCC musicals uh when I was like probably like eight years old. They did Annie. I was Pepper, you know, the bitchy or N obviously.

[36:56] Mike Abrams: Um and uh funny story, Mike. My the first musical I ever saw was Cats.

[37:04] Ruthie Fierberg: Um we had the so just children sing this. Well, so you had like I don't know the name of your theater in Indiana.

[37:13] Mike Abrams: Clues or the Mirage.

[37:16] Ruthie Fierberg: They're in. So we had the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut, where all the national tours came through. And uh my parents took me when I was two to see cats.

[37:27] Mike Abrams: Oh, yeah.

[37:28] Ruthie Fierberg: And I just like sat like mesmerized, I guess. I don't really, I have no memory of it. Um, and then when my brother was two, they took both of us to Phantom when it came through. And then I mean, like, imagine my surprise when cats came back again when I was probably like 12 and saw it and was like, this is terrible. Why is it like what do I how do I reconcile my existence that I love theater? And the first show I ever saw was this very bad musical.

[38:01] Mike Abrams: Um, I have come back around to like I I there are absolutely like things I love about cats and I understand its place in the canon, but like long, long, long, long, long rambling story short, because that's what happens when I drink.

[38:13] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, is that like I I just grew up singing and dancing and doing the musicals of the JCC, and then like, you know, I was on the dance team in high school, and my high school didn't do musicals. We did a jazz show, but we were the venue for the musicals for high schoolers and college students around the state of Connecticut.

[38:36] Mike Abrams: And I did that for seven summers.

[38:39] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, until I finally, like, I was a featured dancer until I finally had the lead in 42nd Street. I was Peggy Sawyer after my sophomore year of college. And that's when I like hung up my hat a little and like, like I said, continued continued dancing at Barnard, but never had professional ambitions for it. And then just got really lucky that I became a journalist.

[39:02] Mike Abrams: And I was like in magazines and stuff before it I worked for play.

[39:07] Ruthie Fierberg: Like a lot of people at Playbill and a lot of people in theater journalism in general, like tried to do the thing, and then were like, okay, I'm sick of auditioning pivot. That was not me.

[39:17] Mike Abrams: Like I was a journalist who loved theater and like ended up getting to play bill and now to the Broadway podcast network.

[39:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Was it like a Barnard Ballet?

[39:27] Mike Abrams: I was gonna make Barnard Ballet joke.

[39:30] Ruthie Fierberg: Hey five. There was a Barnard, there was a really intense Barnard Ballet Collective, which true story. Um, I don't know if you guys know Justin Peck, um who choreographed the carousel revival and is the resident choreographer of New York City Ballet. He was my best guy friend in college.

[39:44] Mike Abrams: Wow.

[39:48] Ruthie Fierberg: Um we met freshman year because he was in the core of New York City ballet, and he was in the one of the other undergraduate schools is called the School of General Studies, which is like all these part-time students of like whether you're in the ballet or whether like you went to the military and then came back to school, or like there are a whole bunch of reasons you can be in GS.

[40:08] Mike Abrams: Wow.

[40:21] Ruthie Fierberg: And like I thought I was gonna be pre-med, so I was in 9 a.m. bio, and he was like the only guy in a sea of a hundred women at Barnard. And um, and we ended up going to like the same study session one day and ended up in the elevator together, and he was like, "Do you know what the hell is going on over this?" Like, I don't know, maybe study together, and then like that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as they say. So, yes, Barnard Ballet for real existed.

[40:49] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, big big fans of Justin Peck here.

[40:57] Mike Abrams: Which was intensified.

[40:59] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm jealous when you say that like you went to theater not knowing what it was about. Like, those are my favorite, like those experiences are so few and far between for me now because we do so much pre-show coverage of like press days and interviews, and it's like my job to know. And I it it's like to get to go to a show and not have any idea of what's going to happen is such a luxury.

[41:25] Mike Abrams: I like am a little bit jealous.

[41:28] Ruthie Fierberg: Although I do understand what you're saying of like Fun Home sounds fun, not so fun.

[41:32] Mike Abrams: Short for funeral, yeah.

[41:34] Ruthie Fierberg: I learned that very quickly. Um I think that's that is a luxury too. Like, and I try to do that as an audience member. Like, I try to not, you know, I grew up a big Broadway fan, like buying every cast recording as soon as it came out to like listen and like know what's happening. But now that I can like see things, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna try and I'm not gonna watch the press day, I'm not gonna watch their performance on GMA or whatever until I can see the show.

[42:04] Mike Abrams: So that I have a little surprise.

[42:05] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah.

[42:07] Mike Abrams: Yeah, and then afterwards I listen to it on repeat. There's like a couple songs I love.

[42:11] Ruthie Fierberg: Absolutely.

[42:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I mean, that's the other thing is like I definitely grew up, like I know nothing about real music, like mainstream music because I grew up listening to, yeah.

[42:12] Ruthie Fierberg: I grew up listening to cast albums exclusively.

[42:26] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[42:27] Ruthie Fierberg: Like that and the Spice Girls.

[42:29] Mike Abrams: Like that was it.

[42:30] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, that musical coming out.

[42:32] Mike Abrams: Oh my god.

[42:33] Ruthie Fierberg: Could you spice up your life?

[42:34] Mike Abrams: They made it a movie.

[42:36] Ruthie Fierberg: Alan Cumming is in it.

[42:38] Mike Abrams: That movie is rich.

[42:40] Ruthie Fierberg: Aces.

[42:41] Mike Abrams: Aces.

[42:42] Ruthie Fierberg: But um I kind of can't watch it because it's not what you think it is anymore. When I rewatch it, I'm I'm kind of sad when I rewatch it for me.

[42:49] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[42:50] Ruthie Fierberg: The aliens are so funny in it.

[42:52] Mike Abrams: That was why I went to see Chicago. It was because Mel B was in it.

[42:56] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh.

[42:57] Mike Abrams: But yeah, like I just listened to cast albums and we listen to cast albums in the car, and like, and now I I don't have a car to like sit and sing in belts. And so like I don't listen to anything anymore, really. It's kind of, I don't know, it's a strange like there was before New York and after.

[43:15] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, now I like listen to I have started listening to like, you know, I love a woman of pop. I love like a Taylor and Ariana.

[43:25] Mike Abrams: You love a Demi.

[43:26] Ruthie Fierberg: I love a Demi.

[43:27] Mike Abrams: I love Demi.

[43:28] Ruthie Fierberg: So I have started doing that more, but also I just like listen to podcasts constantly on the train, like and at the gym. I'm always listening to podcasts.

[43:36] Mike Abrams: I'm a reader.

[43:38] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm a subway reader.

[43:39] Mike Abrams: I'm a reader as well.

[43:40] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm a sudoku or not a reader.

[43:42] Mike Abrams: On the subway.

[43:43] Ruthie Fierberg: I can't read on the subway.

[43:44] Mike Abrams: I never been a reader, never will be a reader.

[43:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Never.

[43:48] Mike Abrams: I'm over it.

[43:49] Ruthie Fierberg: That's what I've been doing in quarantine. I've been reading.

[43:52] Mike Abrams: Sublake school ruined me.

[43:55] Ruthie Fierberg: It made me hate reading.

[43:58] Mike Abrams: Uh, what have you been reading?

[44:01] Ruthie Fierberg: I finished this amazing book called The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, who wrote The Night Circus, which I actually did not read The Night Circus, but a lot of people love that book.

[44:14] Mike Abrams: So The Starless Sea.

[44:13] Ruthie Fierberg: I love The Night Circus.

[44:14] Mike Abrams: Okay.

[44:14] Ruthie Fierberg: So The Starless Sea is amazing. It took me a lot longer than most books to like get into it. Like usually if I don't get into a book by like page 40 or 50, I'm like, uh-uh. But I stuck it through because people said she's amazing. And that's the thing. Like, she just creates these worlds that are so bizarre and like just don't abide by the real rules of the world. But like you have to get used to that. But it was incredible and the kind of book that like almost like theater, where like you could read it again and again and find new things and appreciate something different over time.

[44:48] Mike Abrams: So I read that.

[44:49] Ruthie Fierberg: Um I just got um my book of the month delivered, so I'm excited to get into that. But then I also started reading um like my way of uh having some theater right now is that I have all the like the making of books that they send me, like the grimmery essentially, but like so I have Waving Through a Window for Dear Evan Hansen, and I have...

[44:54] Mike Abrams: You read the Spider-Man one?

[45:12] Ruthie Fierberg: No, but so I started reading the Dear Evan Hansen one, and I just like gosh, reading like Steven Levinson's liner notes essentially, like makes me so happy.

[45:24] Mike Abrams: Yeah, it's really fun.

[45:25] Ruthie Fierberg: I brilliant I know I have the uh I notoriously have like all things published about Spring Awakening. So I have the like purple summer booklet that has...

[45:35] Mike Abrams: Oh my god, what I wouldn't do for that.

[45:36] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, I think it's probably available on Amazon.

[45:39] Mike Abrams: Yeah, all right.

[45:40] Ruthie Fierberg: I mean, that was my formative musical.

[45:43] Mike Abrams: Same.

[45:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Absolutely.

[45:44] Mike Abrams: Um, Mike, what have you been reading?

[45:46] Mike Abrams: So I read all across the board. Um, I just finished Little Fires Everywhere because I wanted to see it before I watched it.

[45:52] Ruthie Fierberg: This series is so good.

[45:54] Mike Abrams: I haven't done the series yet, but I that book is incredible. But I'm uh I'm very on brand right now. I'm reading a book uh called Black Noon about the uh it's uh Indy 500 race in the 60s. So that's been very, very interesting to read kind of the history of the track and um that type of fun stuff because I've been to almost every race um since...

[46:06] Ruthie Fierberg: Since you were more fiction or more nonfiction?

[46:21] Mike Abrams: I switch back and forth. I try to switch back and forth between the two, between like books that might help my work versus just mindless um nonfiction. So I it's yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[46:31] Ruthie Fierberg: I read like my first nonfiction. I read um Say Nothing, which was on like a bazillion million best books of the year in the decade. Um it's about the Irish Troubles, which ever since seeing The Ferryman on Broadway, which I saw three times.

[46:47] Mike Abrams: Um that's like 10 hours of your life.

[46:50] Ruthie Fierberg: 10 hours of my life, and I would go see it again if I could tomorrow.

[46:54] Mike Abrams: So good, yeah.

[46:55] Ruthie Fierberg: Obsessed with that show. It's my favorite play ever written that I have seen.

[46:59] Mike Abrams: And um, but I got so obsessed with the Irish Troubles. I am so fascinated by them.

[47:05] Ruthie Fierberg: And that's what Say Nothing is all about the the raw, and um it's really it's really good. I highly recommend.

[47:14] Caleb Dicke: Caleb, what are you reading?

[47:15] Mike Abrams: Right now I'm doing some research on um the Gilded Age and the Asters. So I'm just kind of like, it's like history, and it's kind of it's uh it's kind of tricky to read. So I'm like, it's taking me a second to read it, but it's I really love like all the um the ins and outs of social um the networking in the 1800s.

[47:34] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[47:36] Caleb Dicke: Cool.

[47:36] Mike Abrams: I'm a nerd.

[47:37] Ruthie Fierberg: I I have a copy of Ross Matthews' new book where it's called Name Drop, which is like so.

[47:45] Mike Abrams: I'll probably read that at some point.

[47:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Love Ross Matthews.

[47:48] Mike Abrams: He has like recipe in it with each chapter, so I'll probably make the recipes.

[47:52] Ruthie Fierberg: I'll read it.

[47:53] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[47:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Um great.

[47:56] Mike Abrams: So okay, so Mike, your podcast is all about your your thesis is that Grizabella is the wrong cat to have died.

[48:04] Mike Abrams: Correct.

[48:05] Ruthie Fierberg: And you explore why other cats should have died.

[48:08] Mike Abrams: Now, which have you made a public stance about which team you are?

[48:13] Mike Abrams: No, I have I've ranked them at the end of every episode.

[48:16] Ruthie Fierberg: And then um the the fun fact about doing this is that I started and I again knew very little. And if you go to the fan fiction uh page on Cast, there's a fan Wikipedia page. There's 4600 pages that are there to dig through if you really wanna to get deep.

[48:36] Mike Abrams: Um so I have learned more as I've gone.

[48:39] Ruthie Fierberg: So the earlier episodes are like, here's just some fun facts, and then as like I got there, I'm like, oh, if I tie that fun fact to that fun fact, that gets real interesting.

[48:48] Mike Abrams: So I I have the ranking I've done by the episodes.

[48:53] Ruthie Fierberg: Um I think the one I underrated, which is like who's probably the most worthy, is Gus.

[48:59] Mike Abrams: I'm team Gus, always has been, always will be.

[49:03] Ruthie Fierberg: The only reason I feel a little bit better about I had him as I I'm rating everybody out of nine cats, so I rated him out of seven out of nine cats.

[49:11] Mike Abrams: Yeah, and the reason I like feel a little bit better about it is that Christopher Gurr, who played Gus in the Revival, when I interviewed him, he did not think that Gus had another life to live.

[49:21] Ruthie Fierberg: So he didn't think he was eligible.

[49:25] Mike Abrams: So I thought was really interesting.

[49:30] Ruthie Fierberg: That's an interesting thing.

[49:31] Mike Abrams: Like, oh my god, like I've never done Cats, so like that's such a good actor, too.

[49:36] Ruthie Fierberg: Is like which life is this cat on?

[49:40] Mike Abrams: Like if a cat has...

[49:47] Ruthie Fierberg: The other question is the best part of the movie.

[49:49] Mike Abrams: Is Old Deuteronomy even eligible? Because he's technically judge.

[49:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Also, it pissed me off.

[49:56] Mike Abrams: It uh watching the movie has really like um is really brought my like yes.

[50:03] Ruthie Fierberg: I've watched it once.

[50:04] Mike Abrams: Um I it's on my list to rewatch again here now in quarantine, but I'm not I'm not sure I want to.

[50:10] Ruthie Fierberg: I did an episode with I have to see it.

[50:12] Mike Abrams: I thought I've seen it.

[50:13] Ruthie Fierberg: You haven't seen it?

[50:14] Mike Abrams: Oh my god, Ruby is wide open.

[50:20] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, open your seltzer now and go for it. It's uh it's wild.

[50:23] Mike Abrams: It has some pros and cons.

[50:24] Ruthie Fierberg: It has some really stuff really well done, and then there's some stuff that's like cringe worthy.

[50:29] Mike Abrams: I thought that Ian McKellen was perfect.

[50:32] Ruthie Fierberg: That scene was perfect, and um everything else is not to be missed, Ruffy.

[50:39] Mike Abrams: You can't heard and I know, and like yeah, I mean, I guess now is the time.

[50:45] Ruthie Fierberg: It was always just like uh, you know, the time.

[50:48] Mike Abrams: But what I was what I was saying about the movie is about Deuteronomy is that is that uh why do some of the cats do their pitch before Deuteronomy is even there?

[50:57] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, it's a good question.

[50:59] Mike Abrams: Um I don't know.

[51:00] Ruthie Fierberg: The other thing about Deuteronomy I don't get is that in the age of today, he sits on stage during intermission and like come up and take selfies with him and everything, and like that to me is crazy just to be able to do that, like to give up your intermission and sit there on stage.

[51:17] Mike Abrams: I was so confused the first time I saw I'm like, is he supposed to be there? Does it mean we're like, are we is it intermission? Are we allowed to talk?

[51:23] Ruthie Fierberg: Like are we allowed to I had no idea what was happening.

[51:26] Mike Abrams: It's so crazy.

[51:28] Ruthie Fierberg: Like But my ranking, what I would love to see is I think uh Tugger and Mistoffelees together should ascend to the heavyside layer, like they're the best two cats, like that's it.

[51:42] Mike Abrams: That's my those look those got the highest ratings for me.

[51:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh I in one episode you said that they're lovers, maybe, yes.

[51:51] Mike Abrams: Uh so there's a lot of I call it um Tug Stophiles, but I've heard it's Tugopheles. I've read different different versions, but yeah, there's a lot of theories that they are together, and there's a lot of really, really dark fan fiction about them being together.

[52:05] Ruthie Fierberg: I mean, the best part about the fan fiction like this is that like no one can be right because that's just not how the show was written.

[52:14] Mike Abrams: Like they're written as po like so you can just spin off into like literally anything you want to say in terms of fan fiction because like exactly there there's no there is no backstory about them, like the a lot of them are just barely named in the poem.

[52:30] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah.

[52:31] Mike Abrams: Um, and then so yeah, it's it's pretty it's pretty wild.

[52:34] Ruthie Fierberg: I I think the I read some fan fiction in the uh Mistoffelees episode that was it was 15 like it was so much that it was like just trying to find one that I thought would be humorous to read was like dark, it was a very dark day trying to skim through there because it's almost 15 chapters, it was like 30,000 words.

[52:54] Mike Abrams: Oh my god.

[52:59] Ruthie Fierberg: I mean, let me tell you if you can't be the best musical on the planet, be the most polarizing musical.

[53:04] Mike Abrams: Yeah, be the most memeable, yeah, yeah.

[53:09] Ruthie Fierberg: Like I just it's America's got talent for murder.

[53:12] Mike Abrams: That's the way like it's the only way I can describe the the show.

[53:15] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, that's right.

[53:17] Mike Abrams: So, like the the winner doesn't get uh hundred thousand dollars in a show in Vegas, but they get killed, you get to die and get a new life.

[53:26] Ruthie Fierberg: That's questionable.

[53:28] Mike Abrams: In the movie, it was questionable.

[53:29] Ruthie Fierberg: Should they just center up in a chandelier?

[53:31] Mike Abrams: And I was like, What?

[53:32] Ruthie Fierberg: So they should end up in the original they send her up in a tire swing, like tire swing, yeah.

[53:36] Mike Abrams: And then the idea did you see that episode of Stars in the House where Betty Buckley was like, here is a piece of the heavyside layer?

[53:43] Ruthie Fierberg: You guys, I not to brag, but I've been to the heavyside layer, so um, because the heavyside layer is at the Winter Garden Theater, and uh yeah in in Leslie Critzer's video blog, I played a cat who who lit was residing in the heavyside layer and haunting the Winter Gardens.

[54:05] Mike Abrams: So that's really worthy content. I did see that it was fantastic. It was yeah, but going up there is crazy, like it's really weird. There's a lot of cats. They're dead. There's a lot of cats. I could feel the spirit of the bodies. It's just one cat, it's just one cat die over and over every night. I know, but like that was a lot of performances. There are thousands of things over the years. Over the years. Um Mike, am I to understand that you brought did you bring a game to share? Um did I bring a game to share? Am I wrong? I can the top ones. Oh, I mean, I was gonna you I think we were gonna rank them, but I actually let's do it. I think what might be more interesting is can I tell you my wildest theories?

Yeah, let's do it. Let's have a conspiracy theory. How how um knowledgeable are you about the different characters? I know kind of like who they are and what songs they sing. Okay, I'm gonna give you two. My my newest favorite is I just came up with for my uh Peter episode. I did an episode about Peter that's coming out soon. I don't know when. Um Peter is the worst cat. Uh, I have him ranked worst. Uh but I have some I have some ideas of where Peter could be in the story since he's not really part of the story, he's just an opening number. Um so yeah, so here are my two cut from a chorus line. Yeah, like headband boy. Yeah, he his point is they need an extra dancer in the opening number, and Peter is named in the naming of the cats.

That's it. There's no more story there. There's actually of the 4600 pages, there's not one for Peter, which really really blew my mind because I found some very, very like obscure things, and I'm like, this has a page, but Peter doesn't. Wow. Um, but here are my here are my two. So one is there is rumors about Buster Jones and Grizabella being like best friends growing up, and then he leaves the tribe or is not in the tribe, and Grisabella is like exiled from the tribe. There's also stories that Joey Loram and Grizabella were really good friends growing up. And then when you start researching Buster Jones, Buster Jones might have slept with Joey Loram. They might be mates. So my and then the last part of that is Joey Loram gives up her chance to sing and perform to Grizabella.

So my take is that it's mirrored love triangle, where they were best friends. Joey Loram sleeps with her best friend growing up, and her apology is to give up her chance to her chance. I love that. I love the poetry of that. So that's one of my theories. I think that all really scans. Like, because Grizabella, formerly a glamour cat, right? Buster Jones has maintained to potentially. Yeah, he's maintained his glamour. Right. So like they could have definitely run in the same circles. He goes to strip clubs, it's it's in his lyrics, which again, Ruthie is why you shouldn't have gone as a child. That was my first probably show, too. So honestly, but I feel like it's you know, that kind of thing, and like like Disney movies, even where I'm like, this is made for adults, right?

Where you get in trouble is like age like 11, 12, where like you're kind of understanding it enough to ask a question. Yeah, yeah, wild. Yeah, there's a lot of questions. Uh the whole Tugger song is a question. Yeah. Any any teenage guy. But that that theory really scans. Yeah, and my my real my question is is like, has did Andrew Lloyd Webber think about these things? Or does it just me? I don't think he did. Okay, I don't think he did either. He's not responding to my DMs where I'm asking you questions. I he's not responding. I don't I've yet to get in touch with either of them. I've tried. Trying. You and I should parlay outside of this, and I'd be able to help you. Yeah. Do you think I have I have way way more theories than just that one?

My other one that I think is is interesting to think about is there's a fight scene between McCavity and Monkestrap. And there's also some like background noise of McCavity and Demeter in an abusive relationship. Yes. And then there also might be that Monkestrap. Who is it? It is Victoria is Monkestrap's daughter between Monkestrap and Demeter. Victoria's that much. Yeah, well, yeah. Well, yeah. There's there's a lot of awkward parts of this movie, if you really think about it. But then my question would be is so like if there's the McCavity Monk fight scene, is it because they both are with Demeter and it's a fight over her, and not to try to defend old Deuteronomy? Huh. That's my other question.

It does line up. What I really what I really liked about um we have team Mongo Jerry and Rumpelteazer. Well, this is this is I love the twins. This is a great segment, actually, because what I loved about the movie is like the like making clear who like the villains are, like maybe the like more bad cats. Like I really liked that because like in the show the everyone kind of muddles together, but in the show, it's in the movie, it's very clear who are the troublemakers. Yeah, that it's McCavity. Yeah, yeah, yeah he's he's committed every human crime. Well yeah but Mongo Jerry and Rumpelteazer are very clearly troublemakers as well like they're iced operation which I liked in the movie was very like they were very much part of the villain story when I saw it the first time that was a song stuck in my head at the end so they got a very high ranking for me I love them.

[1:00:09] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah and how did you feel about the new ver the different version in the movie I didn't mind it as much because I've seen some of the it's more British version of it so I kind of read and knew that was coming um I didn't like that they changed the version of the song like to me that's one of the most entertaining songs down for me I have a question so this is your sister did you see if you saw it together did you try to do the double cartwheel growing up oh no so my sister was commenting under my brother's name I don't think my sister's my sister is obsessed with the VHS like like basically wore it out. Yeah she loves cats love the like effects did we try to do we never tried to do the double cartwheel together but she and my brother are both in Connecticut at our parents' house in quarantine so like who knows maybe they want to try that together and put it on TikTok just let's see it let's see it I'd like they're experimenting with TikTok lately.

[1:01:07] Mike Abrams: I would love to see there is an excellent legally blonde the musical things happening the um the reunion coming up next week on the Broadway podcast network Townhouse. Wednesday at at like nine, I think. That's gonna be really legendary um uh uh great. I think we're gonna move forward to uh one of our new segments, which is Caleb's um blonde girl from Ohio tips for quarantine. So can we roll that video, Britt? Hit it, Britt.

[1:01:44] Mike Abrams: Oh age.

[1:01:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Isn't that adorable?

[1:01:59] Mike Abrams: I did that show. Love Wonderful Town. Love it. Love Wonderful Town.

[1:02:05] Caleb Dicke: It's one from Wonderful Town, the music.

[1:02:08] Mike Abrams: Don't even know what you're talking about.

[1:02:10] Caleb Dicke: Okay, so I'm going to be posting on my Instagram an open forum, and you post a question and I'll give some feedback. So that's what we're doing.

[1:02:21] Mike Abrams: Advice column.

[1:02:22] Caleb Dicke: So um my cousin Lindsay, who lives in Brooklyn, is also from Ohio, but she lives in Brooklyn now. And she said, I just have a question. Do you think the best water is hose water? And I think this is a big debate. Because I love New York water. New York water is so refreshing. You're like on the upper west side. You are you got brunch, and you're like, all I want is a tall glass of water. But um, I think if you didn't grow up drinking from the hose, you really missed out.

[1:02:56] Mike Abrams: Okay.

[1:02:56] Caleb Dicke: Um I drank from the hose in Connecticut, but I still think New York water is better. I think New York water is better. Ohio, your water sucks.

[1:03:09] Mike Abrams: Wow.

[1:03:10] Caleb Dicke: I'm sorry, I love Ohio with a very real, real, like deep love. I have many friends from Ohio, and I've been to Columbus. Like, I used to go every year because I had like five friends from there, and it was better for me to go there than for five people to try and come here and like stay where. And I would come back from every weekend away dehydrated because the water had just like couldn't drink.

[1:03:34] Mike Abrams: You just that's a valid point.

[1:03:37] Caleb Dicke: Um I think um there's different types of hose water. The bet the worst is right from the get-go because it's kind of warm when it comes out, and it's kind of because the sun has been heating it up. You know that feeling.

[1:03:50] Mike Abrams: Um but I love content. We used to this is maybe taken too far. We used to stick the hose in our mouth and we like turn it on, and you hold as much water as you can in your mouth before it explodes.

[1:04:02] Caleb Dicke: That's great, hose water. But that's also the beginning of the hose water. But this is after you played around with it for a while.

[1:04:10] Mike Abrams: Okay, okay.

[1:04:11] Caleb Dicke: Um, but I think no hose water is necessary, but New York water is the best water. So that's my review, and that's it.

[1:04:20] Mike Abrams: Well, there you have it. That's Caleb's blonde girl moment of the week. Uh make sure to make sure to uh DM him your questions. What do you need reviews for? What do you need tips for surviving quarantine? You can uh message him at Caleb Dicke. His handle is right there. Boom, blah, blah, blah.

[1:04:40] Mike Abrams: Um, it's gonna be time for merch madness. Can you hit that vid, Britt?

[1:04:56] Mike Abrams: You know that song, Mike.

[1:04:58] Mike Abrams: That one hurts.

[1:05:00] Mike Abrams: I thought it too. Yesterday, actually, it's I think tonight was supposed to be the NBA playoffs first night. We get the Jordan documentary tomorrow. That's that's what we're all that's what all the sports fans are waiting for.

[1:05:12] Mike Abrams: That's of course the the NCAA uh March Madness.

[1:05:16] Mike Abrams: Okay, March Madness.

[1:05:18] Mike Abrams: Like Yukon, sad for us, you know.

[1:05:20] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[1:05:21] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[1:05:21] Mike Abrams: I'm from you know, UK.

[1:05:23] Mike Abrams: We're big best.

[1:05:26] Mike Abrams: So um, in honor of uh the wrong cat died, and it seemed it actually is very appropriate because we brought this up earlier. We have a special Andrew Lloyd Webber edition of Merch Madness.

[1:05:38] Mike Abrams: Starting off with one of my favorite shirts. This is my Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat shirt. This is from this is from some national tour production, I think, that I bought this from. But it's it's a classic, like 90s tie-dye. They like legit tie-dye that. This is like amazing. And maybe it's not from any production, maybe it's like from uh I don't know. No idea where I got it, but I'm obsessed with it.

[1:06:08] Mike Abrams: Um tie-dye love. It's the classic, the iconic logo. Um this this is a shirt I wear very often. This is a staple for me. One of those things where like you went away to college, I came back from New York to like clean out some stuff in my house, found this in a box somewhere, and I was like, how have I lived without this for so long?

[1:06:33] Mike Abrams: Um, so that's my Joseph shirt. And then I have a newer Andrew Lloyd Webber offering. Uh this is a shirt from the School of Rock. This is um this is the the shirt that Dewey wears in the beginning.

[1:06:47] Mike Abrams: I was gonna say how random.

[1:06:53] Mike Abrams: Which I love, those kinds of show shirts here. We have a skull and crossbone of eggs and bacon, which I love for so many reasons, but I feel like right now in quarantine, this is like this is very much a mood. You know, it's like breakfast food real dead inside.

[1:07:13] Elliott Mattox: Um quarantine mood. And then you have the traditional logo right here on the sleeve, which I think is nice, always a nice option. Um usually when shirts have a weird, like a fun graphic T, the show logo is on the neck, but I do appreciate it when it's on the shirt sleeve. It's just a little fun. Um, so while I love this shirt, I love the novelty factor of it. Um, and I love the show. School of Rock was so fun. But Joseph is one of my bucket list shows. And also this shirt is just too good to pass up. So the clear winner this week is my Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat shirt.

[1:08:02] Caleb Dicke: Are you gonna wear it when you see it?

[1:08:05] Elliott Mattox: Uh, when I see it, I'm gonna be in it.

[1:08:07] Caleb Dicke: I was gonna say, Elliott, do you want it to be Joseph or do you have another brother that you're coveting?

[1:08:12] Elliott Mattox: I want to be any brother.

[1:08:14] Caleb Dicke: Any brother.

[1:08:15] Elliott Mattox: Any brother. I'm not really a Joseph. Uh, but I want to be any of the brothers. It is my dream show. I know there's a revival coming in the next couple years, and I feel like, I mean, are you like a great Naphtali? What is it? What is it?

[1:08:30] Caleb Dicke: I was Naphtali when I did it.

[1:08:33] Elliott Mattox: We'll have to see. I don't want to put myself in a box. You know what I mean? I want creatives to like put me where they see me, but I'm putting it out there now. I want to be in that revival. I want to be in that revival.

[1:08:42] Caleb Dicke: Alright, well, we're putting it into the universe. Elliott Mattox, thank you.

[1:08:47] Elliott Mattox: Alright, uh, we are moving to our game. Caleb, what do you have for us today?

[1:08:55] Caleb Dicke: Okay, so Mike says he doesn't know Broadway, but I think he does more than we think we give him credit. And Ruthie knows Broadway. So I've texted Mike some shows, and he's going to explain them to Ruthie the plot without using the title, and Ruthie's gonna guess what the show is.

[1:09:15] Elliott Mattox: Okay.

[1:09:16] Ruthie Fierberg: I love this.

[1:09:18] Caleb Dicke: Okay, and I'm doing three at a time, so Mike, take it away with the first one.

[1:09:23] Mike Abrams: Um, I've heard of this show, but I don't know what it's about. Um, make something up. It's about a place that is Brigadoon.

[1:09:33] Ruthie Fierberg: That's not um, it's on the lower half of the world. That's about all I got. I'm not very good at this game.

[1:09:41] Mike Abrams: Is it Evita?

[1:09:44] Ruthie Fierberg: No, it's the name's kind of named in the title. The place is in the game. And it's tropical.

[1:09:49] Mike Abrams: Tropical the island?

[1:09:54] Ruthie Fierberg: It's one of the half of it's one of the oceans.

[1:09:54] Mike Abrams: Oh.

[1:09:54] Ruthie Fierberg: Half of it's one of the oceans.

[1:10:01] Mike Abrams: Yeah, it's like a direction in an ocean.

[1:10:03] Ruthie Fierberg: So name the oceans.

[1:10:05] Mike Abrams: I mean two.

[1:10:06] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, sounds specific.

[1:10:07] Mike Abrams: Yeah, there we go.

[1:10:11] Ruthie Fierberg: I've never heard of this next one. Um, nor even really know how to try to describe it. Um, like describe the words and like it's I feel like this is like $25,000 pyramid. You have to just describe the words. So I'm like, alright. So if it's um and my girl.

[1:10:32] Mike Abrams: They're uh here we go. Here's how we're gonna do this. There used to be an MTV dating show for the first word.

[1:10:38] Ruthie Fierberg: Am I right?

[1:10:39] Mike Abrams: Singled out.

[1:10:40] Ruthie Fierberg: No, it's one word show. They're on a bus.

[1:10:43] Mike Abrams: One word show.

[1:10:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, oh, oh, next.

[1:10:45] Mike Abrams: Yep.

[1:10:46] Ruthie Fierberg: And then it's the opposite of this is great.

[1:10:51] Mike Abrams: Next to normal.

[1:10:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, there we go. What am I describing?

[1:10:55] Mike Abrams: I'm assuming not a bus full of people that have like no next to normal is a brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, directed by Michael Greif that was robbed for a lot of Tony Awards in the same year as Billy Elliot. Um about it's about a family, it's about a family. Uh it centers around a mother who struggles with bipolar disorder. Um, yeah, and it was actually like, I mean, it was it still is actually because I saw the Kennedy Center production this past winter, you guys, that was incredible with Rachel Bay Jones and Brandon Victor Dixon.

[1:11:31] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[1:11:32] Mike Abrams: I mean, and it was so and like a lot of people were like, uh, they gotta do it in DC because it's too soon for a revival. It is not too soon for a revival. The way that they did it and the way that the mental health conversation is right now, plus the way that they, you know, cast it with like also that was their kids are biracial. Also, it was 12 years ago, but like with the kids, you know, being biracial because they're a biracial couple, like that changes a lot of stuff.

[1:11:59] Ruthie Fierberg: And I mean, the first line in the show was different.

[1:12:02] Mike Abrams: Yeah, this would be one where I'd be like next to normal and walk in and not have guessed that.

[1:12:07] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, it's uh incredible, incredible, and like I think fully responsible for like bringing mental health into the mainstream of musical theater work.

[1:12:18] Caleb Dicke: Alright, next one.

[1:12:19] Mike Abrams: Okay, next I've I know this one. Um, I think it was made into a movie, right? Am I right in that?

[1:12:25] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, it was made into a movie.

[1:12:26] Mike Abrams: Is it is it Matthew Broderick?

[1:12:29] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, the producers?

[1:12:30] Mike Abrams: No, so not that one. It's more Wall Street-ish.

[1:12:35] Ruthie Fierberg: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying?

[1:12:38] Mike Abrams: I know I sent you three more. Did you get it?

[1:12:43] Ruthie Fierberg: Okay, yeah, I know these. Um, at least I know the friend what the first two are about. Okay, I just talked about this. When Mel B was in it, and it's a city very close to Melbourne.

[1:12:52] Mike Abrams: Chicago.

[1:12:53] Ruthie Fierberg: Ding dang. We're staying kind of on theme. Actually, this I saw this revival recently. It was in the loved it. It was uh very artistic rendering of it.

[1:13:02] Mike Abrams: Oh, was it Once on This Island?

[1:13:06] Ruthie Fierberg: No, it was after. It was like Oklahoma, yeah.

[1:13:11] Mike Abrams: And then the last time, I don't know, but I've heard the music's supposed to be incredible on this.

[1:13:15] Ruthie Fierberg: It's um, I'm gonna the Bridges of Madison County.

[1:13:18] Mike Abrams: Oh, it's a one word title.

[1:13:19] Ruthie Fierberg: No, I wish. Um, music's incredible and it's a one word title.

[1:13:25] Mike Abrams: That's turn of the century.

[1:13:27] Ruthie Fierberg: I was gonna say Ragtime.

[1:13:29] Mike Abrams: Yeah, there you go.

[1:13:30] Ruthie Fierberg: Hey, okay, yes, last three. Here we are, last three.

[1:13:35] Mike Abrams: Okay, wait, I need to say something about Ragtime.

[1:13:37] Ruthie Fierberg: Okay.

[1:13:37] Mike Abrams: Because if there are Ragtime fans out there, but also even if you're not, um, I had Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty do a track by track breakdown of Ragtime for Playbill, and it is epic. Like it is I got to the end of reading it as an editor and was crying. It is so brilliant what they do with that show. That show is gorgeous, and like also like 41 songs.

[1:14:06] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, yeah.

[1:14:07] Mike Abrams: I uh I can't wait for their breakdown of Suznical.

[1:14:11] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, don't worry, we're getting them on. We're getting them on a whole bunch of breakdowns.

[1:14:15] Mike Abrams: Alright, next three.

[1:14:16] Ruthie Fierberg: Next three.

[1:14:17] Mike Abrams: Okay. Um, I think I saw this long time ago when I was very young. Um, so it's not hello, would be the what's the opposite?

[1:14:29] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah.

[1:14:30] Mike Abrams: And then I golf this morning, and I really wanted to hit it's uh Bye Bye Birdie.

[1:14:42] Ruthie Fierberg: Right?

[1:14:42] Mike Abrams: I don't remember what it's about, but I do remember seeing it.

[1:14:45] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh, it's so good. That one was one I always wanted to be, and I always I wanted Kim MacAfee, so it would be a great Kim MacAfee.

[1:14:52] Mike Abrams: Thanks, Caleb.

[1:14:54] Caleb Dicke: Okay, I love next one. This one is doable. Um, I don't even know if it's actually about this, but I would assume Al with Break a Bat would cover this musical.

[1:15:05] Mike Abrams: Damn Yankees, yeah.

[1:15:07] Ruthie Fierberg: Ding ding ding. Al with Break A Bat Podcast, which is found on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:15:12] Mike Abrams: Yep.

[1:15:13] Ruthie Fierberg: Okay, and last one. I've never heard of this one. Um, we talked about the uh the book. Was Elliott you wanted to read the breakdown of the book, but this is the female version of it.

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: Yeah, that's a good clue it's a deep cut you wanted to read the book um it's Marvel but not really.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: What was the book you wanted to read?

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: What was I not paying attention? Didn't someone crash on the floor so I said when you were talking about the making of books I brought up something.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: Oh oh oh oh what did you bring?

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: Oh, Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: Okay, so now and it's the girl version.

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: Oh, Kiss of the Spider Woman.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: There we go.

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: Never heard of that one either.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: Great to I really love how we arrived at all of them. Um, Kiss of the Spider Woman is another Terrence McNally musical and starred Chita Rivera. Um, but Mike, I actually think you would really love Bye Bye Birdie, so you should look for the streamable version of Chita of um not Chita uh uh with Dick Van Dyke.

[1:15:21] Mike Abrams: Okay.

[1:15:21] Ruthie Fierberg: I think I'd like a lot of and Margaret. It's just yeah, but that one in particular I feel like I mean I grew up on the Jason Alexander Vanessa Williams version which is also excellent because I mean Tyne Daly but um I mean there's nothing like Dick Van Dyke.

[1:16:41] Mike Abrams: Yeah why not? We're in quarantine you have time.

[1:16:43] Ruthie Fierberg: And Margaret just like dancing by herself the other day when I was on the 48 hours that was a funny one yeah which I I mean when this cat's coming it's gotta be one of his right I mean I spent the first week of our Playbill coverage, um, like writing all of the lists of everything to stream, like the 47 classic movie musicals, the 26 modern movie musicals, the 15 things you could watch from your couch, the 26 more like captures, because like not just movies, but like the actual captures of stage productions, the musical theater themed television shows.

[1:17:23] Ruthie Fierberg: It's all there on Playbill. Please please please read my life's work.

[1:17:28] Mike Abrams: I do want to know if there's one that I can find.

[1:17:31] Ruthie Fierberg: So um, Adam from Call Me Adam, um, and I was talking and he talked about Tommy, and I didn't know much about that, but I love The Who. And so is there a streaming version besides the movie from like the 70s or whatever?

[1:17:44] Mike Abrams: I don't think there's a streaming version of the there's no recording of that musical.

[1:17:49] Ruthie Fierberg: No, not officially. There's probably somewhere you can find it.

[1:17:54] Mike Abrams: Deep onto the internet.

[1:17:55] Ruthie Fierberg: Yeah, we I do my life's work does not include bootlegs.

[1:17:59] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1:18:00] Elliott Mattox: Um, and with that, we are done for this week's happy hour. Thank you all so much. I know I could sit and chat for hours and hours. Um, but you know, I've lots to do. We're in quarantine, so I have to go, you know, go to another room of my house.

[1:18:19] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[1:18:19] Elliott Mattox: Um so um thank you all so much for joining us. Uh Mike, where can people find you and your podcast?

[1:18:27] Mike Abrams: Yeah, at The Wrong Cat Died on Instagram um or on the Broadway Podcast Network. So um, I think the direct link is thewrongcatdied.com. But uh yeah, you can listen to wherever you find podcasts, and uh Peter should be coming soon. And I had a lot of fun. There's I made everything up for this episode because there is no written word on Peter in uh in the internet anywhere. So I had a lot of fun drafting it.

[1:18:49] Elliott Mattox: I love it. Well, we look forward to it. And uh, Ruthie, what about you?

[1:18:53] Ruthie Fierberg: Um, so you can find me at Ruthie Fierberg on Instagram, which is you know, over here um at Ruthie's A Train on Twitter but also so my podcast will be coming within the next few weeks on the Broadway Podcast Network called Why We Theater and um if you want regular updates I also do a monthly newsletter you can go to RuthieFierberg.com and subscribe it's F-I-E-R-B-E-R-G so take out the fears but RuthieFierberg.com and I do like all sorts of recommendations and highlights of you know what I'm writing um for Playbill and just kind of like you know thoughts for the moment of which I have many so yeah so um thank you everyone for tuning in and thank you Elliott and Caleb for asking me to do this this is so fun.

[1:18:53] Elliott Mattox: It's our pleasure and uh you can check out um uh Playbill for Ruthie curating all of your quarantine yes entertainment curating all the quarantine entertainment shout out to Brittany who is helping produce us today pop in and say hi to your host the Broadsway and is an is amazing thank you so much for your help today uh you can find our podcast at equity one podcast on Instagram and Facebook and at equity one underscore on Twitter. Just send us an email at equity one podcast at gmail dot com and give us a rate and review anywhere you listen to your music I mean your podcasts you can find me at Elliott Mattox Caleb anywhere on Caleb Dicke and until next time.

[1:20:31] All: Cheers.

[1:20:35] All: Bye bye.