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[0:08] Richie Grasso: Hello and welcome to Half Hour, an entertainment podcast through Two Worlds Entertainment.

[0:12] Jeff Malone: I'm Jeff.

[0:13] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie.

[0:14] Jeff Malone: And we're here to bring you casual conversation on the shows, films, concerts, and music that we may see, listen to, and observe throughout our careers.

[0:21] Richie Grasso: Today's conversation will feature, may and will feature spoilers on the entertainment we were talking about.

[0:26] Jeff Malone: So make sure you've listened or seen what we're talking about.

[0:30] Richie Grasso: But if you don't, that's okay too.

[0:32] Jeff Malone: But we're just letting you know you have been warned.

[0:35] Richie Grasso: Because there will be some spoilers.

[0:37] Jeff Malone: And we're here today. We're kind of plowing through the month of April.

[0:41] Richie Grasso: I almost said the month of May.

[0:43] Jeff Malone: I wonder why.

[0:44] Richie Grasso: Because we are getting to May.

[0:46] Jeff Malone: It's May.

[0:47] Richie Grasso: The last new month.

[0:48] Jeff Malone: But that's coming up. Before we get into Camelot, we're gonna go over to pop music first today, and I'm gonna hand it over to you, Jeff, because we have a new album out today that we are discussing.

[0:59] Jeff Malone: So take it away into the pop music world.

[1:02] Richie Grasso: Pop.

[1:03] Jeff Malone: This is pop.

[1:04] Richie Grasso: Okay. Today we're starting with MICHAEL MEDRANO and his new album that dropped today, Love Sex Drugs.

[1:12] Jeff Malone: Well, actually, didn't drop today because today's Monday.

[1:15] Richie Grasso: But on Friday, the album dropped, and that is Love Sex Drugs.

[1:20] Jeff Malone: This is Michael's first studio album after releasing a few buzz singles since I think he started around 2019.

[1:29] Richie Grasso: So through the pandemic, he's been releasing his singles, and now he's dropped his album.

[1:34] Jeff Malone: And he likes to classify kind of his music as Disco pop and disco sleeze.

[1:42] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[1:43] Jeff Malone: Okay. So lots of fun things going on there, but I wanted to hear from you first. What was your experience with listening to this album?

[1:51] Richie Grasso: I really enjoyed this a lot. I think there's a great vibe to it. It's so I love when a beat and rhythm have really good, it's catchy, and then the lyrics on top of it are also really great. And it's clear lyric, and I can understand what he's saying, and it's just, I don't know. Like, this is really good to me. It was not too long. I thought it was a great length. It was like really easy to just throw on and draw. I was driving when I was listening to it. Um it was also very ABBA to me. It was so ABBA dancey. It had just, it just spoke to me. And I love the album artwork. I just loved this.

[2:29] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I will say Personal Heaven was a top favorite for me, mainly because there is a key change in this song.

[2:38] Richie Grasso: Did you notice it?

[2:39] Jeff Malone: I did. I was like, oh my god, you know me. I love a key change in a musical, and I love it in a pop song because I always say, whenever I hear a key change in pop song, Taylor's had a few, right? And I'm always like, there's a really smart music person on their team because it's always impressive when there's a key change in a pop song. I literally wrote down my standout tracks for this song. I had put Naked as one of them.

[3:04] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[3:05] Jeff Malone: And Disco Slea's is another one, which were both singles that he had previously replaced.

[3:09] Richie Grasso: Okay, so I think I like them a little bit more still because I have only listened to the album today and enjoyed it, but I put down personal heaven.

[3:18] Jeff Malone: Yeah, but I put down two more too, and I want to know what's going on. But we haven't put down personal heaven, and I was like, because why there is a key change? I was obsessed when I heard it. I was like, oh, it gives me the chills. Love it. I feel like we could have a whole episode on key changes.

[3:33] Richie Grasso: We should, you know what? I think we should choose like our top 10 or five or whatever, like best moments of key changes in musical theater and like best pop keychain. Like we know, like Beyoncé's like Love on Top has like eight key changes in or something. Like, I love that. But anyway, we can do that. Just like thinking back, did we ever do that before?

[3:51] Jeff Malone: I thought we oh, did we?

[3:53] Richie Grasso: We might have actually talked about that.

[3:54] Jeff Malone: I think we did. We we have 90-something podcast episodes on.

[3:57] Richie Grasso: So we might not get read for our key change. But like, I don't know, we just love a key change.

[4:02] Jeff Malone: I love it. But wait, I will also say there were two other songs on this album that I loved. Fluids.

[4:08] Richie Grasso: Great.

[4:08] Jeff Malone: Love. I was like, wait, there's so much going on here in the lyric.

[4:13] Richie Grasso: Right?

[4:14] Jeff Malone: It was like about being fluid, but then there was like fluids plural, and I was like, well, there's a lot going on here in this. But I love that song. Loving that because this is gonna be a topic of discussion. But what's your other song?

[4:25] Richie Grasso: Oh, the other one was Do Your Thing, babe. Loved it. I was like, do you think? I just loved that.

[4:31] Jeff Malone: Okay, so Michael, we liked basically the whole album.

[4:34] Richie Grasso: Basically, we named just about every song. Um, I did want to talk about fluid a little bit.

[4:38] Jeff Malone: Okay.

[4:38] Richie Grasso: Fluids, because this was actually a single that he had released, and he had I read this article with him that he did with Billboard, and he talked about how he went to Pride, and after I think LA Pride, so he must be LA based, but he went to LA Pride, and he woke up the next morning and he recalled what he did at that pride. He made out with some women, he made out with some men, okay, and he was like, Oh, this is about being fluid, and like uh, why don't we talk about being fluid more?

[5:14] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and I really liked that.

[5:15] Richie Grasso: Yeah, like saying, Oh, okay, yeah, why do we label ourselves to these things all the time? And why can't we be more fluid?

[5:22] Jeff Malone: So the song was fun. You know, it's something that I think more people should probably listen to and be like, hmm, maybe I'm a little fluid.

[5:29] Richie Grasso: You're saying like that the listener might feel that way after listening to it, or might be more open to that.

[5:35] Jeff Malone: Yes.

[5:35] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[5:36] Jeff Malone: Like the title of the song is fluids like liquid fluids.

[5:39] Richie Grasso: Right.

[5:40] Jeff Malone: But it's also about being more fluid with your sexuality.

[5:44] Richie Grasso: I also found that, yes, and I also found like just like the tone of his voice and the way he's singing some of these songs is really like, oh, like it's just you don't hear a ton of you know, queer LGBTQ male pop singers that have and so many pop songs of the diva songs or the or female, female, female, which is great. But it was just nice to hear this album and feel like okay, I I really just like the clarity of his voice, what he's saying, the music sound. It was just great. I just really love the whole thing.

[6:15] Jeff Malone: And that's something that I feel like I am always more drawn to in pop music is the female voice, and yes, that more.

[6:22] Richie Grasso: I don't know. Is it what would you say? Is it more like enticing?

[6:31] Jeff Malone: Or is it maybe well?

[6:32] Richie Grasso: I also I also feel like when you think of male voices in the mainstream pop now, I mean think about this for a second. I'd love to know your actual opinion on this. When you think of pop 50 years ago, 70 years ago, it was like Frankie Valley, and it was like Elvis, and then it was Frank Sinatra, right? So you always had a leading male voice. Then we went into like oh, um Marvin Gay and Michael Jackson, and maybe went there with the male voice, right? Teddy Pendergrass, stuff like that. And then you went into the 90s, and I feel like the 90s became so female dominated. And where was the solo male voice? We had in sync and backstreet boys. Yes, they were, of course, solo male voices. Like, like don't get me wrong, but I'm saying, like, of the last 20, 30 years, it's been so much about like, okay, Michael Boublet and Josh Grobin, sure, but I wouldn't put their voices on the same level as like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and some of like the people that came before. So now when you hear and also really put them in more of like that, let's call it bubblegum pop area.

[7:32] Jeff Malone: Right.

[7:33] Richie Grasso: Like who is you have country male leading, of course, right? You have rap, of course, like those categories. I'm talking about like mainstream top 40 male voices. Justin Timberlake, sure. Like I know that they're out there, right? Yeah, like um Adam Lambert, okay, sure. But like that's American Idol. I like Justin Bieber. Yeah, but sure. I'm just thinking, like, when I hear this, I'm like, we need more of this male solo vocal.

[7:59] Jeff Malone: Well, I think what always happens with the male voice is it becomes more of like that singer-songwriter style. So, and it leans probably more pop rock than it does in more of this bubblegum pop area. So we have things like John Mayer or like Harry Styles, which I would probably relate this most to is like Harry's new album. He's kind of really, but he's a rock star. He's not really a pop star. He's both, I guess.

[8:30] Richie Grasso: Fluid.

[8:30] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Yeah. There we go. All right. But all of those one direction boys, but still one direction, boy group, pop group, and then what they went on their own after that. So it's like the same thing. I do think there's actually a couple of different like male voices right now that are bubbling under maybe I'll do a whole like TikTok or reel on this or something. But Michael's one of them. There's a song in the pop music drop that we'll get to, sung by a male singer that I will say, but I don't want to ruin now.

[8:57] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[8:57] Jeff Malone: And then there's another one named Z Machine. He's great. And Kalichi is also great. So there are great male voices in the pop scene right now. And also Vincent, who we've talked about. Of course. So it's like they're there, but they're not really crossing over into this like mainstream radio area, and which is so interesting to me.

[9:16] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And I mean, of course, you always have it like in the Broadway space too. You male solo singers and cabarets and things like, of course. Like I'm just saying, like, more of this, please, pop industry, right?

[9:25] Jeff Malone: Right.

[9:25] Richie Grasso: So totally. But I did love this album. I will definitely be listening to Salatus. Pride Month's coming up and Summer's Coming Up because I just really, really loved it. And I had a question for you too. Is like for someone who's not really familiar all the time with the pop space, but like, where do you feel like you would hear more of Michael's music?

[9:43] Jeff Malone: It should be on the radio. It should be on uh DJs should be playing it at clubs. Like it should just be out there. That's what I'm I kind of find interesting. Is like when we go to gay bars, it's like, oh, it's always female. Brittany and you know, or what Kim Petras, and like we sure, like, but like even at times I'm like seeing Justin Bieber on the screens, but like where are these guys getting their music videos and their videos?

[10:08] Richie Grasso: Well, the V the V V the VJs, right? Video, is that what it's called?

[10:10] Jeff Malone: DJs and V, right? They should be promoting more of this.

[10:15] Richie Grasso: VJs, you're bringing up an MTV term.

[10:17] Jeff Malone: Oh, don't even know. Wow.

[10:19] Richie Grasso: But yes, more of that in the spaces where people are gathering and listening to music. And and drag queens could be doing more shows with this music too, right?

[10:29] Jeff Malone: Right.

[10:29] Richie Grasso: Well, we love our female pop stars, but we also need to love our male pop stars.

[10:33] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[10:33] Richie Grasso: And I think he's he's a great one. And I think he has a great image.

[10:36] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[10:37] Richie Grasso: Oh. As well. I think he's looking at his brand a little bit, I think he has a good brand going for him.

[10:45] Jeff Malone: He has a mustache.

[10:46] Richie Grasso: He has nice hair. He's like a gay cowboy at times. I'm like, yeah, I think he's got it going. Love it. He's got it going.

[10:55] Jeff Malone: So there we are. That's MICHAEL MEDRANO for you all. Definitely check out his album because it's it's a great one.

[11:02] Richie Grasso: It's gonna be fun. But what time is it? Now we're getting ready to transfer over to Broad.

[11:08] Jeff Malone: Oh well, it's Camelot.

[11:11] Richie Grasso: The lusty month of I could sing it all. So we're talking today also about Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont production of Lerner and Lowe's classic musical Camelot.

[11:22] Jeff Malone: Um, which is based on the original book by Alan J. Lerner with lyrics by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Lowe, but has a revised book by Aaron Sorkin and is directed by Bartlett Sher.

[11:33] Richie Grasso: Um we went to Lincoln Center's to see this. We I would just like to say we did see Philip Assou, we did see Andrew Burnap, we did not see Jordan Donica, he was out, and we saw his fabulous understudy, Christian Mark Gibbs, who had just went on the day before for the first time in the role and only had like a few hours' notice, and like you would never know because he was phenomenal. And I did miss Jordan because I've heard Jordan sing in the video clips, and he sounds amazing too. But um, what are your let's just talk overall about this? You did not see the film or any production of this prior, correct?

[12:05] Jeff Malone: Because now why he doesn't like to see the movies before I do, he doesn't I've seen the film.

[12:10] Richie Grasso: Uh, if you're watching the video behind him, actually, he has the original movie production uh picture soundtrack behind him there.

[12:17] Jeff Malone: Um, do I need to see the film now?

[12:19] Richie Grasso: I mean, this the film's classic, but I mean you've seen it now.

[12:22] Jeff Malone: So I mean, take it what you will.

[12:24] Richie Grasso: But I will I have my thoughts on this revival, and I really we haven't talked too much about it. If you follow us on Instagram, we do our quick like on the street review, so you get our quick, like, you know, 30 second thoughts. But now we get to talk about it more in depth.

[12:35] Jeff Malone: So, what were your overall thoughts on this production of Camelot?

[12:40] Richie Grasso: I wrote down that I was actually very pleasantly surprised with myself.

[12:47] Jeff Malone: With an old school show at the Lincoln Center's theater?

[12:50] Richie Grasso: Wow.

[12:50] Jeff Malone: I surprised myself everyone.

[12:52] Richie Grasso: Well, why? Tell us why.

[12:53] Jeff Malone: I I really enjoyed this.

[12:58] Richie Grasso: And partially why I really enjoyed this was because I did not know that it was a comedy at most parts of this musical.

[13:05] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[13:06] Richie Grasso: And I found that there was so much joy and humor in the comedic part of this play musical.

[13:13] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[13:13] Richie Grasso: So even with this musical being three hours long, it didn't feel like it.

[13:18] Jeff Malone: Yeah, did it?

[13:19] Richie Grasso: It didn't. I actually thought that there would be it would have a hard time cutting certain things. And the comedy just like made it fresh and light, and it flowed really well. I'm sure there's certain parts that could really be cut. But it just it's a story with a great message. And I just liked it. I love I've always loved this score. The plot's nice. You learn about the medieval times kind of in the nights of the round table and all that, like in history class and and in middle school, whatever, you know, but I'll throw myself under there because I probably did not really pay attention.

[13:56] Jeff Malone: We learn sometimes more from the musical theater and films than we do from the books in school sometimes.

[14:01] Richie Grasso: Like when you learn about Hamilton and now even this from the medieval times, I was like, oh wow. Here's my thoughts on this. I love the Lincoln Center's revival. I never actually really thought that in my life I would see this show revived because I just feel like it's older. And what do we see all the time? Oklahoma, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, some of the bigger, bigger, bigger ones.

[14:23] Jeff Malone: Yeah, but this is like Lincoln Center's.

[14:24] Richie Grasso: It's still pretty.

[14:25] Jeff Malone: It is. And I and I will say something. Aaron Sorkin revising the book, I don't really know where there were revisions. I don't really know where there was anything cut or trimmed. Maybe that's good or bad. I don't know. I didn't really think that this was like, whoa, Aaron Sorkin. Wow. I didn't think that. I was like, okay, it seems like I'm watching the same thing, but maybe there was a lot omitted. I'm not sure or changed.

[14:45] Richie Grasso: Um I have no idea.

[14:46] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah. Yay, to I and apparent apparently this was the full original orchestration, nothing cut, nothing edited.

[14:55] Richie Grasso: Which is beautiful.

[14:56] Jeff Malone: Which is like gorgeous. Like to hear, I think it was an almost 30-piece orchestra, which oh, like I I'm all for like the seven-piece combo orchestras in a rock musical on Broadway, like great.

[15:07] Jeff Malone: But like when you hear these gorgeous, gorgeous melodies and these harmonies and all these instruments playing. And yes, female conductor at Lincoln Center's. I see female conductors on Broadway shows. I don't think I ever have at Lincoln Center's, uh at the Vivian Beaumont anyway. Just amazing. I believe Kimberly Gri Kimberly Griffey was her name. And I watch her. Yeah. I love an overture and an on-track and a and an exit music, quite frankly, too, where I'm watching her like control it. She is controlling that room. Do you ever feel like at Lincoln Center's, like that person is in control of this whole room? And we had seats really where we could see her. Yeah. And commanding it. And I miss a lot of the Lincoln's inner shows.

The stage opens up, and you can see the orchestra, and they didn't on this one. Spoiler alert. If you were really looking forward to that, like a King and I and South Pacific and My Fair Lady, the stage would open. It did not open on this one. Spoiler alert. Sorry. I will say Andrew Burnap is Arthur great. I loved him. Loved him. He was really great. And like I said, Christian Mark Gibbs, Lancelot. I think the best song on the show is If Ever I Would Leave You. And I think that's a really challenging, gorgeous song to sing, and I love it. I thought he did amazing. Um, Phillipa Soo, you're singing gorgeous. Like she's grown for me so much. I loved her in Into the Woods. Now she's here, and I'm like, you're doing the Julie Andrews vocals.

Like she is this is an iconic role. Yeah, Phillipa is on a great track for this right now because Good and Hamilton. We don't need to discuss Amelie. And then Into the Woods loved her in it. And I loved her in this. I was really, I really loved her in this. I also really love Taylor Trensch and uh I believe in Marilee Talkington. Um, they were amazing in the supporting roles. Dakin Matthews is Merlin and Pellinore. I don't know if that's always done that way, but having the same actor play both of those roles makes complete sense. Like everything just worked for me. The ensemble is great.

[17:09] Richie Grasso: Pellinore. Yeah. Yeah. He's just in the show. He's in and out of the show a lot. It's just like annoying, like shticky.

[17:14] Jeff Malone: Yeah, well, some of those styles. I would rather there be like a voice of reason coming from the ceiling than to like have to. I mean, he did a great job, but it's just like if there was one role that I would cut from the show, that okay.

[17:26] Richie Grasso: Well, it's literal medieval history.

[17:28] Jeff Malone: I know, but still, it's just like okay. Well, he was a great actor, and he didn't really stop.

[17:34] Richie Grasso: I know, but the role is that.

[17:36] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Also, the costumes were great, but that sword fighting was great. I was like, You have to give Christian Mark. Who is understudying this role and doing all this sword fighting? Like, wow.

[17:49] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Blown away.

[17:50] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Here's another thing I would like to say. Costumes were wonderful, lighting, the technical elements are great. Let's talk about set. And this kind of leads into something else I want to kind of talk about here. Big topic. The raked stage was great. I loved how they climbed up, like almost like they were climbing over a hill with those steps way in the back. Beautiful. Loved it. Chills. I loved it. I loved the white pulled away, like the snow is gone and now it's spring. Love that. Like moments were great. I do feel at times like just the arching um like as if we're in a great hall. It works, but like, and like some of the gradings that came down to show hallways and stuff, fine. I just don't I wasn't blown away by the set. And I'm sitting here all the time, and I'm like, why am I always like not extremely impressed with sets lately on Broadway shows?

[18:35] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[18:35] Jeff Malone: And I'm sitting here and I'm like, it was great. It did its job, it's fine. But something about certain scenery pieces to me are working and some are not. So I wanted to talk a little about first of all. The question is, did you like the set? Did it work? Did you wish we had like big castles? And to me, like when he was climbing the tree on this on the ladder outside the proscenium, I was like, put a tree there. Like, how cool would that have been to have this huge tree? I don't know. I get it. It didn't need to be there, but it could have been nice. I'm kind of a traditionalist like that sometimes.

[19:12] Richie Grasso: I feel like that's where I'm not a traditionalist with theater.

[19:16] Jeff Malone: I get the point of having a great, well thought out set and like a specific set that people are expecting.

[19:27] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[19:27] Jeff Malone: But sometimes I like the option of you kind of creating that own image. And I feel like we've talked about that plenty of times where I'm like, oh, okay, I get what they're doing. The castle would be there, the tree would be there. Right. This would be there. That's fine. I think.

[19:46] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I just feel like for myself, it doesn't matter to me. But if you're going to the theater for an amazing set, then that's what you want.

[19:54] Jeff Malone: Well, that's why I kind of want to talk about it. A couple days ago on Playbill, an article came out written by Dane Laffrey, who's a set designer bro, and it says the title of the article is for those of you who want to read it and look it up. Excess doesn't always equal excellence in set design. And his statement says, I designed the sets for Parade and A Christmas Carol, and I don't believe a set's value lies in how much it costs or how lavish it is. And he talks about how A Christmas Carol was really lavish because it called for that. And Parade is not because it doesn't always call for that. And he talks, and you could read the article. I highly I he just talks a little bit he said produ um there is a been I'm quoting him here, there have been dire warnings of a dearth of lavish scenery in productions that penny pinch on visuals while charging premium ticket prices.

Because there is a talk in theater today, like why are you still charging all this money? And there's like bare stages. So for me, it's like I we haven't seen Parade yet, that's coming up next. I heard there's a lot of projections and it's more bare, but then when you look at A Christmas Carol, like, whoa, like totally works. But the set of A Christmas Carol is a character, right? Because it is literally part of his journey through this rabbit hole of sorts, right? Whereas Parade might not need that. But then I'll talk about this, for example. Like, look at A Doll's House, all this money being pulled in, premium ticket prices with no set. It works because it's a specific look, right? But then I look at something like Some Like It Hot and I say, I don't know, like something was missing in the set for that. We talked about that. Like it was like one set the whole time. So for me, it's a very big spectacle. It's expected that you're gonna have a huge set.

[21:38] Richie Grasso: Right, but then there's just like a bunch of doors on stage and they make a bit out of it.

[21:42] Jeff Malone: Okay, so they worked with what they have, but when they have like the office scene, like a little tiny desk comes out. I'm like, so to me, it's a case by case basis. Dane, uh Dane in this article makes a great point. You have to do what the show calls for, right? And you have to go with the vision of the show. So I totally get that. I always sometimes think like when I'm watching My Fair Lady, and that set is moving and she's going through the rooms, I'm like, oh, and the boat and can I are like, oh my god. And then I'm like, maybe there could have been something in this Camelot production that was like, oh my gosh, look at that castle in that one moment. I don't know. Just a thought.

[22:20] Richie Grasso: I every show is different for me.

[22:20] Jeff Malone: Sometimes it's it's not, yeah, you're you shouldn't go into a show saying, oh my gosh, where is the set? I paid all this money. Like, you should be more about like, well, did the story get told correctly? I get that.

[22:31] Richie Grasso: Right, and you also never know what budget.

[22:31] Jeff Malone: Right. We saw a beautiful production of Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center's, which amazing budget, beautiful set. Right. But now we're doing Camelot with some actors that probably are making more than most actors on Broadway. And how does that even out? I think people don't really always think about the budget part of the well, that's why too, because A Doll's House, we don't know how much Jessica Chastain is making.

[23:00] Richie Grasso: Well, right.

[23:00] Jeff Malone: And if that's what the part of the budget is for for those premium price tickets. What Dane says here also in the article is he said, I believe that great set design is a crucial aspect of making memorable theatrical events, but design must evolve to meet the moment, and its evolution must not be limited by an outdated idea that excess equals worth. And I get that. And I appreciate him looking at this from both perspectives and saying, look what I did with A Christmas Carol, look what I did with Parade. He also did, I believe, Once on This Island, which like that was so great with the real river. Right. You know, so I mean if it calls for it, I do agree with that. It's the same thing when you go to a pop concert. And if there's a set, how is the stage set? Or what are you going for? Are you going for the performance of that singer?

[23:44] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[23:44] Jeff Malone: Right. And everything else is extra. The same thing is I'm going to see a production performed. Whether there's a set or not, you could see a blank stage and watch people perform.

[23:55] Richie Grasso: Right.

[23:56] Jeff Malone: I'm paying for the performance. So that's why I'm not always totally set on oh, the set was eh. If I'm looking at the set, that means I'm bored with the performance.

[24:07] Richie Grasso: Well, right.

[24:07] Jeff Malone: And the set is supposed to literally set the scene. So you want and what I did get out of the set design of Camelot that I didn't think did work is this large hallways, grand great rooms, big space, which Lincoln Center's shows very, very well. So it works. But listen, I uh overall we could have a whole podcast about set design, but I found this article I think was great. It was April 4th on Playbill.com by Dane Laffrey. Uh, if you want to look that up. But overall, I did really like Camelot. I suggest people go see it. It was gorgeous music. Just the music is. And I did want to ask you a question too as a director. How did you think overall the production was directed?

[24:44] Richie Grasso: I thought it was directed nice. I thought it was directed fine. It wasn't anything out of the box. I don't think this show really calls for anything to be out of the box. I also don't think it was extremely safe either. I think that it was nice that things were played down to the audience. I always think bring your audience in. That sword fight was down. Yeah, some of that was down. I liked the rake stage. It was it was fine. I thought overall it was directed fine. It was it was a classic brought to life, and I did I didn't enjoy it overall. And I finally got to hear The Lusty Month of May.

[25:16] Richie Grasso: The Lusty Month of May.

[25:17] Jeff Malone: I love that song.

[25:18] Richie Grasso: Which is a great song, which I wanted to do a through line from Lusty Month of May to our pop conversation earlier.

[25:25] Jeff Malone: Okay.

[25:26] Richie Grasso: You had a favorite song about fluids, fluid, lusty month of May.

[25:30] Jeff Malone: We saw a very fluid...

[25:32] Richie Grasso: That was wonderfully directed.

[25:34] Jeff Malone: How there was different types of couples all on the stage at the picnic, and it was so rep one wonderful representation.

[25:42] Richie Grasso: Loved that.

[25:44] Jeff Malone: We just connected pop music.

[25:46] Richie Grasso: We're connected and theater together, MICHAEL MEDRANO's Fluid and Camelot's The Lusty Month of May.

[25:52] Jeff Malone: Who would have thought?

[25:52] Jeff Malone: Who would have thought? Exactly. But we love this, so go check that out. It was really, really wonderful. We love the Lincoln Center's stuff. And like, and we were talking on the way home, like what's next? They always keep every couple of years putting a big huge. Or what do we want them to do?

[26:05] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[26:06] Jeff Malone: I don't know. We'll see. Comment. Let us know.

[26:09] Richie Grasso: All right. We want like Annie Get Your Gun or like, no, we want um.

[26:12] Jeff Malone: What did we think? Did we say?

[26:14] Richie Grasso: What's the haul out the Holly?

[26:16] Jeff Malone: The Lusty Month of May. I love that song.

[26:17] Jeff Malone: Oh, Mame.

[26:18] Richie Grasso: Which is a great song, which I wanted to do a through line from Lusty Month of May to our pop conversation earlier.

[26:18] Richie Grasso: We do need a Mame revival really bad. Like a big, big Mame revival.

[26:22] Jeff Malone: Lincoln Center's, Mame.

[26:24] Richie Grasso: Mame.

[26:25] Jeff Malone: Okay.

[26:25] Jeff Malone: Um, off to some pop music drop now, right?

[26:27] Richie Grasso: Oh, we're getting close to the end.

[26:28] Jeff Malone: Ah, half hours coming up.

[26:29] Richie Grasso: Okay. Pop music drop. This is where I ask Richie. Six songs from the pop Friday, New Music Friday.

[26:37] Jeff Malone: Yes.

[26:37] Richie Grasso: And we're gonna go. Bop or flop. Starting with Oliver Heldens featuring Kylie Mano song, 10 out of 10.

[26:45] Jeff Malone: Bop loved it.

[26:46] Richie Grasso: The Bop.

[26:47] Jeff Malone: Bop. Yes.

[26:48] Richie Grasso: Then we have Alesso and Tidala sign. Caught a Body.

[26:51] Jeff Malone: Love it, Bop.

[26:54] Richie Grasso: Awesome Bop. Two for two. Up next, Avery Anna.

[26:59] Jeff Malone: Self Love.

[26:59] Richie Grasso: It took me a little while to get into this. I still put it Bop though. I love the lyrics. I love the message of it. I while I was listening, I was like, I didn't know about this one either. And then as I listened more, I was like, wow, these lyrics are really thought out.

[27:11] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[27:12] Richie Grasso: And yeah. Love it. Great. Then we have Cut and Bump.

[27:16] Jeff Malone: Love this.

[27:17] Richie Grasso: I keep listening to it like Bump.

[27:19] Jeff Malone: Okay, Bop.

[27:20] Richie Grasso: Bop.

[27:21] Jeff Malone: Ellie Goulding, who also released her album.

[27:25] Richie Grasso: Yep.

[27:26] Jeff Malone: Um, this song that I picked here was Midnight Dreams.

[27:29] Richie Grasso: Yeah, love this.

[27:29] Jeff Malone: Bop for sure. It's all Bops today.

[27:32] Richie Grasso: Five for five.

[27:33] Jeff Malone: Yes. And then souvenir single karma.

[27:37] Richie Grasso: Love this too.

[27:38] Jeff Malone: Bop. Great vibe. Everything was Bop for me. You know, it takes it takes a lot for me to say that.

[27:43] Richie Grasso: All right.

[27:44] Jeff Malone: Yes, Jeff. I had help with picking my six songs today from my good friend Ken.

[27:50] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[27:51] Jeff Malone: So we'll have to give him some credit as well.

[27:54] Richie Grasso: But look at that.

[27:56] Jeff Malone: Six for six. Bops.

[27:57] Richie Grasso: Amazing. From pop music to Bops to Camelot and everything in between.

[28:03] Jeff Malone: Love it.

[28:04] Richie Grasso: So great.

[28:05] Jeff Malone: Oh my gosh. We're running out of time.

[28:09] Richie Grasso: Um, all right. Well, listen, this was this was a great episode. We got to talk about a lot of great stuff. I'm glad you had Kenny helping you with that. We also had um Kenny's husband Owen with us at Camelot, and he came with us to watch that. He enjoyed that too. It was nice to have a friend. We always oh at a show, usually with someone, we always have a friend coming with us. Sometimes we're alone, and we have a lot of shows coming up. So there's like I think we have three in one week. So we gotta space these podcasts out. There is so much happening.

[28:38] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[28:38] Richie Grasso: We always give you a quick little glimpse of like what we thought as we're walking out of the theater for like 30 seconds, and you don't want to miss that. So make sure you're on Instagram too much. We give you our thoughts during intermission.

[28:46] Jeff Malone: Yeah, on the street.

[28:48] Richie Grasso: A real we give you everything in Instagram.

[28:51] Jeff Malone: Well, listen, everyone, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed our podcast today. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast on Spotify or Apple Music. Leave us a review if you love what you heard today. And we also want you to join in our conversation and engage with us. So head over to our Instagram and TikTok at Half Hour Podcast and comment on the latest post about this episode. We really want to hear from you. Um, we've really been loving this weekly pop and theater combo, two worlds of coming together.

[29:17] Richie Grasso: Um, those two worlds are more similar than you think. That's our mission here at Two Worlds Entertainment.

[29:21] Jeff Malone: So fluid music. There we go. Lots of Broadway coming up, especially and it's crazy. We were talking about how there's so many shows coming up, but then we have next season starting in May, and there's new shows coming for the next Tony season. So lots going on. Make sure you're following us.

[29:34] Richie Grasso: Good thing we like Broadway and Broadway likes us.

[29:39] Jeff Malone: We hope.

[29:40] Richie Grasso: Well, thank you all so much. Uh, and that's it. We're getting ready to sign off. So ta ta for now.

[29:44] Richie Grasso: Signing off. I'm Richie.

[29:47] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff.

[29:47] Richie Grasso: Saying ta ta-ta.

[29:49] Jeff Malone: Bye.