This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Robert W. Schneider: Hi, I'm Robert W. Schneider, and on Monday, April 11th, I am launching a new podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:15] Robert W. Schneider: It's called Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast, and it's a companion piece to my new book, Fifty Key Stage Musicals, which is now available through Routledge Press, Amazon, or how I like to purchase my books by clicking on the link in today's show description, which will take you to a list of America's many black-owned bookstores.

[0:31] Robert W. Schneider: Go support your local businesses.

[0:33] Robert W. Schneider: In Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast, Andrew Child and I will do an in-depth exploration of fifty musicals that altered the landscape of American musical theater.

[0:42] Robert W. Schneider: We will look at those musicals everyone considers to be a landmark like Shuffle Along, Show Boat, Oklahoma, Company, and Hamilton.

[0:49] Robert W. Schneider: But we will also examine musicals that deserve to be recognized more for their contribution to musical theater history, like Promises, Promises, the 1994 revival of Grease, and Seussical.

[1:00] Robert W. Schneider: Each episode, we are joined by people like the Tony Award-winning Susan Stroman.

[1:04] Robert W. Schneider: Hal Prince would agree that it was Show Boat that he stood on the shoulders of to be able to do Cabaret.

[1:11] Robert W. Schneider: Celebrated musical theater historian Jerrell L. Henderson.

[1:15] Robert W. Schneider: Which, and this is a true statement.

[1:23] Robert W. Schneider: Broadway legend Lee Roy Reams.

[1:25] Robert W. Schneider: Ring ring. Hello.

[1:27] Robert W. Schneider: Hello, Leroy. It's Carol.

[1:29] Robert W. Schneider: Carol Channing. Like I didn't know.

[1:33] Robert W. Schneider: And Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist Brian Yorkey.

[1:36] Robert W. Schneider: And I said to him, "What about a story about a woman who has been battling depression her whole life?"

[1:42] Robert W. Schneider: And Tom literally thought about it for like two seconds and was like, "Okay."

[1:46] Robert W. Schneider: Plus, our guests place a contemporary lens on such musicals as Porgy and Bess, West Side Story, and Miss Saigon, to examine their impact not only on musical theater, but on the community of artists who tell those stories.

[1:58] Robert W. Schneider: So whether you are new to the joys of musical theater or one of its most ardent followers, Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast is for you.

[2:04] Robert W. Schneider: Buy a copy of the book, see why these shows were chosen, and then use the podcast as a place to learn more about these shows and what makes them key.

[2:12] Robert W. Schneider: I hope you'll join me, Andrew, and some of the greatest minds in the world of musical theater on April 11th to examine each of these fifty key stage musicals.