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[0:00] Richie Grasso: Hello, and welcome to Half Hour, an entertainment podcast through Two Worlds Entertainment.

[0:12] Jeff Malone: I'm Richie, and I'm Jeff, here for our Spotlight podcast, bringing you casual conversations on the shows, films, concerts, music events, and performances that we see and observe throughout our careers. This conversation will feature spoilers, so please make sure you have seen the piece we're talking about or listened to it before moving forward with this podcast episode. You have been warned. We are here today to talk about the new Broadway musical MJ at the Neil Simon Theatre. We saw this performance on February 23rd. MJ has a book by Lynn Nottage starring Miles Frost. However, the role of MJ was played by Aramie Payton at the performance we saw. We did not see Miles Frost. We saw the understudy perform at the February 23rd evening performance.

This musical has direction and choreography by Christopher Wheldon, music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by David Holzenberg, music direction, orchestrations, and arrangements by Jason Michael Webb, and has scenic design by Derek McLean, lighting design by Natasha Katz, costume design by Paul Tazewell, sound design by Gareth Owen, projection design by Peter Negrini, wig and hair design by Charles LaPointe, and makeup design by Joe Duluth II. This is one of the newer shows that has come to Broadway since Broadway has reopened, and it opened a few weeks ago. We really wanted to check it out and see what a lot of the hype was about. So just off the cuff, what were some of your initial thoughts after seeing this last night?

[1:38] Richie Grasso: So some of my initial thoughts starting is with this musical, I was going in with my whole jukebox musical, biopic musical, bias opinions, and it took me for the first ten minutes to kind of get over with like, oh, do we really need another jukebox musical on Broadway? And once I was able to strip that, I was really able to see what was trying to be told here. What was, was it working? And I liked the fact that this seemed a little bit more of like a documentary style musical, which I don't know how many of those we have actually seen yet on Broadway. And just the premise of it is they're doing Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour, and MTV is coming in and filming this docu-series, documentary.

And after going and seeing this after the musical, I went and saw that this actually was a real documentary. It was like a six-part documentary, 16-minute episode piece that was talking about what, how the process for Michael Jackson and his Dangerous World Tour came about. Yeah. So knowing that, I kind of was like, oh, this was done a little bit more interesting. And it was fun. I would say there was a lot of moments in the show. Do I think the show was perfect? Probably not. But I do think that it does have a lot of moments. So, yeah. What were some of the things that you?

[3:07] Jeff Malone: I think there were certainly moments that were nice as a whole. I don't know if it works. I don't know if this was needed right now. I don't know if this was. I mean, listen, there were no empty seats. It was an audience that was cheering throughout as if they were at a concert, similar to how we're starting to see some of these jukebox musicals play out with the Tina Turner and dancing in the aisles with Mamma Mia and all that. To me, you know what I instantly thought? So in the first act, you have this camera crew person from MTV, right? And they're almost like the villain of the show, the camera producer, and they're trying to, and Michael Jackson doesn't want them there. And that just completely disappeared in act two for the most part.

They were there, but I don't know what wound up happening. They were there. What was the point? And you know what I thought of? I'll never forget in Rent when, I think it's Mark, is making the film and he's filming his friends. And then at the end they show the film and you're like, oh, this was their whole life together. Like he made the movie. Why on earth, when you have all these projections, would you not have maybe like shown a clip, shown some of the actual document? Maybe they couldn't. Maybe, but maybe what you filmed, I've seen productions where what's literally being filmed is live stream. West Side Story revival, I think was that when you were seeing it on the back wall, there was that illusion of like, oh, what we're seeing.

And the only reason why I think that was such a missed opportunity was because they're in the middle of doing dance sequences and the camera person's walking through dance sequences. As a choreographer, I don't know how you got around choreographing this camera person in that. To me, it was such a missed opportunity that this camera is so heavily involved in this producer. And then it just disappears and you don't see any of it. That was a, to me, I thought a big missed opportunity.

[5:11] Richie Grasso: Yeah. I didn't really, the plot to me that was like, what was this plot? Was the plot, was there a plot? Did we, well, it's interesting that you're saying this because it's like, was, was this someone saying, I really would love to create a Michael Jackson musical. I love Michael Jackson's catalog. But let's not tell the whole life story. Let's tell it. Oh, but we'll flash back and do all his old stuff from childhood to teenage. Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, it was like the idea was there. Well, at times it was certainly there. It was inspired. I would have to go and watch the docu-series to see if it kind of translates. But it's like, oh, wait, I'm inspired by this. And this could be the way to tell Michael Jackson's story.

And I feel a bit like, why did we touch on things and then forget about them? I think there was a lot of that happening in this show. It was like, the tour never even had a U.S. leg. And it didn't have a U.S. leg because they canceled it. Yeah. We don't find that out. We realized that it was expensive, that there was money problems. No, it was because he was dealing with his painkillers problems. Because he was dealing with accusations of child molestation at the same time. So that was kind of stripped from this show. And they skirted around it. And I wonder why they did that. This is definitely something where there was at times I felt elephant in the room presence. Why are some things not being talked about?

And you can definitely tell the audience was like, I love this music. I don't care. It's great music. And it's like, I don't want to compare this to another type of art form. But there was moments where I felt like, oh, this would work as a tour in a Las Vegas residency, Cirque du Soleil, I think actually has a Michael Jackson theme show. To me, I was just like, I don't know how this is working as a plot book musical.

[7:05] Jeff Malone: And I will tell you something right now. Of course, we'll give credit where credit is due. That choreography is insanity. It is amazing. Yeah. And the performers on the stage. And the performers are so talented. The vocals. Aramie Payton, like that was amazing. What he was doing out there. I was like, is that actually Michael? Yes. And I thought the design, the way the projections were used, the way that thriller song and act two was really awesome. Yes, that's certainly some great moments. But that works to me in spectacle shows, in movies, in arena style performance in when I think of book musical Broadway, I don't know. I don't know. I think that's what people are forgetting. We're watching a Broadway musical.

[7:51] Richie Grasso: And what has the word musical become? Well, yes, because when you're literally the whole two and a half hour show, no joke, seeing ushers flashing flashlights at people taking their phones out or taking their mask off or not following the rules, literally for the whole two and a half hours.

[8:08] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I think it just becomes a concert. I felt like I was actually at a concert. I think that's what was a little off putting, too, is like, I'm watching this show behind the ushers head.

[8:17] Richie Grasso: Yeah, because she was flashing the light the whole time. I understand why that is that coming down to the theater, too, because they don't know how to properly get people to not use their phones. It's just I think you're dealing with a situation where maybe these are people that don't go and see the Thornton Wilder play. And instead, this is the only Broadway they come to.

[8:39] Jeff Malone: But maybe, but guess, you know what I'm saying? But then guess what? If you know that the audience loves Michael Jackson and are going to treat this like a concert because many people that are going to see pop musicals are going to treat it like a concert, then guess what? We have to be OK with having phones in the theater. And but it doesn't it's not allowed for copyright purposes, too. It's not just, you know, concerts allow or don't allow. This is a this is a ticketed event. But I'm not going to keep having my show experience interrupted because an usher has to police the audience.

[9:14] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I understand. I don't even think they were flashing the light mainly for masks. I actually think the masks were not the issue. It was the phones. It was fun. And to me, another thing that I think I'm going to be honest with you in the average musical, what do you have in act one, maybe seven or eight songs and act two, seven or eight songs? I think there's like 20 songs, 30 songs in the show. So when you're doing a minute and a half of a song, a minute, applause, a minute. And if you noticed the actors on stage promote the applause and the hype after a song in the rehearsal because we're the show within a show. Of course, the audience is going to play off that.

[10:04] Jeff Malone: Yeah, of course. And so and so you're squeezing in so many songs. You have the audience now applauding triple the amount of time compared to a regular Broadway show. Of course, there's going to be more reaction. But I don't think that's right or wrong. That's fine, because I think the energy in the room, even with the audience was great.

[10:13] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Yeah. But we're dealing with so many things still during the COVID time. Yeah. We're dealing with mask police, phone police, talking police or not talking police because people were talking the whole time. But it was like, what what is this? Is it a concert or is it a musical? I think we need to stop talking about shows being musicals when they're kind of not. Well, I think we have two different biopic musicals. We have the Jagged Little Pill.

[10:41] Richie Grasso: Mama Mia's, which is take the catalog of music, put an original story to it. There, I feel like I'm at a musical because there's a book. I mean, there's a book here too, but I'm saying there's a plot. There's a character plot. When you have the Beautifuls and the Tinas and this, it lends itself to be open to that concert feel. And people actually say, I felt like I was at the blah, blah, blah concert. Well, of course you do. And maybe that's the intention of the producers. But then you can't also say, oh, and by the way, don't take your phones out and don't chew this and don't go here and don't do that. And you can't be seated in the show started already because concerts, you can come in late, you know?

So you're treating it like a concert, but there's a lot of Broadway rules. I just think like the music, some people can argue this, but the music didn't drive the plot in this musical. No. This was a play again that had Michael Jackson songs in it. I personally like the Mamma Mia, Jagged Little Pill approach because we were watching a plot and then the song was like, oh my gosh, I love that song. And that's cool how they made that work with that character. It's creative. It's inventive. That works for me more because I think there's room for Broadway to have pop music. Of course, we talk about that with two worlds all the time, bridging the worlds of theater and pop. It totally makes sense. But if it's done in a way that's not to, you know, let me ask you, is this to feed the tourists?

Is this a tourist trap? It totally is. And it's unfortunately a cash cow because we sat in almost the last row last night for almost $60. Which normally that seat is $30, $40, right? So I mean, I sit half the time, but I'm saying everyone else in that room paid probably over $60. So yeah, it's still making money. So when they say, oh, Broadway's not making the money, clearly it is, but it's making it a tourist trap shows. I will say two facts though about Michael Jackson himself. Thriller is the best selling album of all time. Guinness Book of World Records has Michael Jackson listed as the most successful entertainer of all time. Knowing those two facts, of course, there would be a Broadway show about someone like that.

Because of those two facts, to me, if I'm thinking like a producer, I'm thinking, oh yeah, it's the most successful person in American music history of the last 50 years. So I am not saying, you know, because there are, there are scandals with this person in the last 20 years of their life. But a producer is only thinking about, I guess, money, cash flow and something like this because it's, look, it's selling. It's employing a lot of people. But here we go again. Is something a little bit more interesting? You just said like two things. He's the best selling artist of all time, but also Thriller is one of the best selling. It is the best selling album of all time. Best selling album of all time.

And he is the most, Guinness Book of World Records most successful entertainer of all time. Thriller is such an iconic song. The music video is such an iconic music video. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to make a musical or a play about the making of Thriller? Yeah. When that is the most successful, right. You know, don't take all of this other fluff out. Like if you're going to skirt around the controversies that we're dealing with, Michael Jackson was dealing with at the time and then like end act one with that and then not talk about it in act two at all. And then just go back to the very end. Right. Why are we doing? And then we had these like Bob Fosse, Fred Astaire flashbacks to like the, I think Michael Jackson got a lot of, there's totally Fosse inspiration.

I think that's like known that there was inspiration there. So, okay. Bring it back to the Broadway roots a little bit. Act two didn't seem like the same show to me as act one. Well, because I think we're dealing with the tour. So we're dealing with him putting on the dangerous tour and they're taking elements from the tour and they're just giving us those moments, which again brings us to the point of, was this just a concert? Was this a restaging? I think the Thriller performance in act two was almost probably identical to what they probably saw on the tour. Right. So we even have the moment where he comes out of the toaster, which is cool. It's fun. He did it, but it was like, great. I'm probably sure many people, well, probably many people didn't see that tour in the US because it was canceled.

But you know what I mean? And it kind of leads me to this question about music, like biopic musicals itself. And I kind of said this before, but like, do you think some of these musicals might do better with original music? Would you be more interested in seeing it with original music? If it was blended with some of the hits, meaning I don't need 30 Michael Jackson songs. Give me the top five mixed in with maybe some original song work. Yeah. Because we never really had that moment with Michael. The moments were Michael singing outward to the audience, but it wasn't really relating to, I think at one point I even heard you say, why did that just happen? Yeah. There was moments I was like, why is this happening?

And then I will say something else. When you're cramming so much music in, you're literally taking time away from book scenes. So Lynn Nottage, who is brilliant and so esteemed and brilliant playwright, doesn't have much time here. It's almost like, let's bring Lynn Nottage on. Oh, but your book scenes can only be like 30 seconds because we got to get to the next song. How do you give a Pulitzer prize winning? Oh, here, come onto this project, but this is all you get because we have to cram 30 songs in. To me, I don't know how that works. Whereas with Jagged Little Pill, what was it? What is that album? 10 songs, 12 songs, and you have book scenes. You have full flushed out book scenes. Yeah.

But I think there was more than just Jagged Little Pill. No, I know. But what I'm saying is there was moments where I think some songs were as short as like a minute. Yeah. And it would end with like, oh, oh, it's time to applaud now, I think, because are we on to the next song? And then we went to the past of Michael's father and the family. That was clearly something, you know, I actually thought the transitions in and out of some of those flashbacks worked well with the Michaels were passing the baton to each other was cool. It had this nice director eye on and I thought that was actually nice. It wasn't like blackout, next scene, you know? Right. And especially because it wasn't like, okay.

And now when I was five and then... Right. Which like Temptations was like, talk to the audience. Cher Show was talk to the audience. Summer, talk to the audience. It was like, that... I don't like the talk to the audience. That doesn't, to me, it doesn't work. For some things that I do want to praise for the show that one was that we didn't break the fourth wall often. Yeah. Except for cheering along with the crowd, but they weren't breaking it. They were just cheering as if they were like, yeah, we got the performance done. Right. I thought the lighting was... Amazing. Amazing. Well, I will say Natasha Katz. Yeah. She's lit. Oh my God. She's a brilliant lighting designer and her lighting design and everything I see plays or musicals is always brilliant.

And those, whoever did the transitions with some of the scenic design, I don't know. Projections and scenic design. Well, scenic design was Derek McLean who did Moulin Rouge scenery, I believe. Yep. So you can see a lot of that projections mixed with scenery kind of thing. When we're doing these transitions and Michael's talking and then all of a sudden there's a new set. Oh, there was some moments I was like, whoa, where did that come from? I was like magic. Yeah. And that's very cool. And I do think that that act one finale is going to go down as being a great act one finale. It was really great with those shards of glass like that and the projections. Where was that in Frozen? Because it was like, whew, the whole stage transformed to like him breaking down.

And I wish we had him still broken down in that too. I also, right. It was an, it was interesting with that. Also, I just feel like maybe there could have been a couple more ensemble members. The dance sequences were great. You have a big, Neil Simon's a big stage, whether it's seven or eight of them at one time dancing, couldn't have like, you know, 12 or 14. I don't know. There was one scene where there was projections of people dancing behind them. I'm like, oh, you are filling a stage with projections of people dancing. I don't buy it. I thought it was kind of cool. I guess we're dancing in unison with the project. Yeah, of course. Yeah. I just was like, if you mess that up that you would know my favorites.

I think that was around the studio 54 song scene. That was great. That was my favorite. I think my favorite song, that whole number. Cause did that transition into a thriller moment? Yeah. There was two thriller moments, the act one and then the bigger one act two. Yeah. Which was super cool. But talking about jukebox musicals, the question I have for you is do jukebox musicals get a free pass, collect pass, go collect $200, you know, Monopoly. Do jukebox musicals get a free pass on certain elements of a musical because it's a jukebox musical? Meaning, oh, this is a new original musical. I'm going to be very critical on the book, on the acting, on the plot. Oh, but this is a jukebox musical, but we let the book and the plot and the acting pass.

Are we okay with that? The question is, do these jukebox musicals get a freebie pass on some traditional book elements? I'm hard on the book right now because I just don't understand if a brand new musical came on and crammed 30 songs in with little book scenes, that would be red. Yeah. And for this, it's like, oh, but it's Michael Jackson music. So it's okay. Do you agree with that? Because, or do you see that trending in this style of musical theater? You have to ask the question one more time. Do jukebox musicals get a free pass on certain elements of a musical, like book, plot and acting? Yes, I do. In reviews, in audience reviews? I think yes, from a certain audience. Avid Broadway goers don't give it a pass.

They critically review it with a harsher eye. People that are not avid Broadway goers, I think give it a pass because it's what they want to see. It's like Disney. Disney gets the pass because it's Disney. But guess what? Disney always gets ripped apart by the Broadway avid goers.

[21:23] Richie Grasso: Five songs from the movie are in there, great. The other six added songs for this, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if they're good or bad. But when you and I go, we leave and we're like... Some of those added songs are great, some of them are... Yeah, but that goes for the jukebox musicals too. When I left Jagged Little Pill, I was more entertained and praised it a bit more because I felt like more work went into it. It's not to say that work didn't go into this musical because it did, but it didn't go into the book. Unfortunately, it didn't go into the book. But when I think of Beautiful, the Carole King musical, I liked that. There was a lot of pushed music in there, but I remember the scenes being... I think you liked it though because the jukebox musical wasn't saturated yet. That was maybe the second or third.

[22:17] Jeff Malone: Right, yeah. Mamma Mia before that was the first big one, Jersey Boys. And Jersey Boys. But you know what? There's something about Mamma Mia where it's like, I don't need to know the life story of ABBA. I love the music. Maybe we do an original plot with Michael Jackson music, but maybe we don't need his life story, but use some of his music and tell it like Jagged Little Pill. I don't know. I really like that idea. It allows book writers and creative teams to get together and really get original.

[22:45] Richie Grasso: If the music works. But I'm going to tell you something. We will see more of these.

[22:50] Jeff Malone: I know. They're not going anywhere. Who's the next pop star? Britney Spears music in that out of town.

[22:57] Richie Grasso: But that's going to be a different style.

[23:00] Jeff Malone: Right, because it's not her life story.

[23:01] Richie Grasso: It's going to be like Head Over Heels. So do we go, oh, okay. Like we allow it. But what I'm saying is, I think we go to something...

[23:09] Jeff Malone: But we don't always allow it because Head Over Heels didn't work. Some people liked it.

[23:15] Richie Grasso: I liked it.

[23:15] Jeff Malone: But it was off before we could say.

[23:18] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And unfortunately, I will say the Tony Awards Committee doesn't always award. If you look at the track record of jukebox musicals, yes, they have won Tony Awards. It's not like Moulin Rouge just won 10 different, though.

[23:30] Jeff Malone: Different. It's different. It's a movie to stage and it's using all these pop songs to tell a story.

[23:40] Richie Grasso: Yeah. But they and when you were saying Disney, some of these decisions, they don't always get the Tony. They do. Julie Taymor, Lion King. Okay. Of course she wins that. She's brilliant in what she did on that show. But at the same time, that's when Disney was getting praised because they were doing things differently. Beauty and the Beast changed Broadway when Lion King changed Broadway. And then they were like, let's pump out these shows. Let's pump out Little Mermaid, Tarzan. And after that, it was a little bit like, yeah, Disney doesn't get that anymore because they don't need it. Just like these shows don't need it. But guess who does get the nominations? The leads that are portraying and impersonating.

[24:24] Jeff Malone: And doing a brilliant job.

[24:27] Richie Grasso: And the choreo sometimes and the creative sometimes. Do they get nominated for best musical? Yes. Do they win best musical? Usually the Tony Awards Committee likes to give it something a little more original. Usually that's the track record on it. And I think that's the word, original. As much as this is original, it's not. It was like one step in the door and one step out of the door to me. When I see something like Jagged Little Pill, I feel like I'm fully submerged in something different.

[24:56] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Because it's an original story told with music. Then again, Girl from North Country is an original story told with Bob Dylan music. And I was on that a little bit because I don't know if the plot was working. That was actually an original, maybe an original plot that I actually didn't even think was working much for it.

[25:13] Richie Grasso: I don't remember the plot.

[25:14] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I know. But...

[25:18] Richie Grasso: I do want to know one more thing from you. Where do we go from here in jukebox musicals?

[25:24] Jeff Malone: You know where we go? They started with the older, i.e. ABBA, Bob Dylan. Do you see how we're moving? Tina and MJ are 80s. Because who's going now? What's the average Broadway, you know, who's buying good seats, maybe 50s, 60s, 70s? A 60-year-old? Listen to Tina Turner and MJ. So now what are we doing? We're slowly creeping... Alanis Morissette, 90s, Britney Spears. In five years, it'll be Taylor Swift. I mean, right? At this rate?

[26:00] Richie Grasso: I still want Taylor Swift to just write the musical. Please don't write a musical with Taylor Swift music. Just write the musical with Taylor Swift.

[26:06] Jeff Malone: Well, she'd be chill to do that, she'd be great.

[26:08] Richie Grasso: Thank you. Thank you. But do you see, would a Frank Sinatra biopic work today? Sure, but I think that would be going backwards in terms of what an audience wants. Sure, I love Frank Sinatra, I would see that, but... For me, I would love to see more pop writers.

[26:25] Jeff Malone: Like Sara Bareilles with Waitress, is that what you're talking about?

[26:27] Richie Grasso: Yes, enter the space. Instead of writing a jukebox musical with Sara Bareilles music, let Sara Bareilles or Sheryl Crow or Taylor Swift or some of these people write the musical.

[26:38] Jeff Malone: Well, Cyndi Lauper, look at that, she wrote Kinky Boots. And how great is that? It wasn't her true colors, all her stuff, which is great. She could have did that. She actually probably could have been like, I'm going to throw some of my things in here. She didn't.

[26:52] Richie Grasso: Right. But let that sell the show.

[26:54] Jeff Malone: She won a Tony Award for that score, I think. I think she actually won the Tony Award for score for that. Because it was great. And Sara Bareilles was nominated for a score, I think, for Waitress. And people love it. And guess what? That sold the show too, because now it's Sara Bareilles music and Cyndi Lauper doing Kinky Boots. Now, sometimes it doesn't work because whoever did Diana, I forget who it was.

[27:12] Richie Grasso: Oh, yeah. I know, I know.

[27:15] Jeff Malone: But yeah.

[27:17] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I think, or like, I just think, this is a creative place, the theater. And when there's money, get creative.

[27:29] Jeff Malone: Get creative.

[27:30] Richie Grasso: Don't half get creative. Don't like start telling a plot and then be like, let's just do big production numbers of Thriller now. Right?

[27:38] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[27:39] Richie Grasso: Just because the audience is going to love it. You know, and like I said, when I said at the beginning of this, there's something about that cameraman floating through, and they were like, stay out of our way. We need you in the corner. You're going to be kicked out of this room. And yet, like, they're in the middle of the Act One Thriller song, and he's walking through it. I was like, project it. Live stream, project it. How cool would that have been? You're literally walking around this space with the camera. I think that would have been so cool. We saw it, like I said, Rent does it. I always remember the first time I saw Rent, and I saw it like, oh my gosh, he was filming the whole time. And there it is. And it's so sad that ending in a way, but that was 30 years ago. Like, come on. If they did that 30 years ago, you're doing all these projections. Anyway.

[28:23] Jeff Malone: Coming full circle.

[28:24] Richie Grasso: Full circle.

[28:27] Jeff Malone: Oh gosh, we talked a lot, but that flew by. Last minute thoughts. Wrap it up. What are your thoughts on this?

[28:33] Richie Grasso: My wrap up here is, it's not a terrible musical. It's not an amazing musical. If you like Michael Jackson, if you like Michael Jackson music, you're probably going to really love it, and you're going to appreciate it. And that's fine. I just think if you're going to see this show, think of it from a Broadway eye, and not just what you want to hear in a concert style version of Michael Jackson music. Because the longer we keep letting all of these shows happen, it's fine. It's really fine that they are. It's just like, I just want more originality. I guess that's my feeling on it. I would say entertaining at times. Talented people on stage. Some moments are really creative. I don't know if this was needed.

And there was an elephant in the room at times about this person's scandals, and it was just looming. I felt that looming. Not like any other jukebox musical. And so it's fun at times, but I wish there was a plot. I wish there was some book scenes that made sense to me, in terms of not just throwing this up on stage.

[29:43] Jeff Malone: I know we're going to go over, but I do want to touch on that for one second. When you say, was this needed? I don't think this solved anything in the Michael Jackson realm. It didn't help nor hinder. It didn't do anything. People that disagree with Michael Jackson, and believe everything that happened to Michael Jackson, they're not going to feel any different about him after the show. And the people that will always support him are not going to change. They're going to still support him. They make the father, the villain, in the show.

[30:17] Richie Grasso: Oh, and we have to do our shout out to who we're going to say our shout out to. Ayanna George, playing Kate and Kathryn Jackson. Oh my gosh. The vocals, when she's saying, I'll be there. Oh my god. Oh, that was worth it to me. Just to hear her. I would hear her sing the phone book. And I wish I could have heard the whole thing, but I had a chorus behind me.

[30:35] Jeff Malone: Oh, there were people chatting during the show, I know.

[30:37] Richie Grasso: But they were singing it.

[30:39] Jeff Malone: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[30:40] Richie Grasso: But anyway, yes. I know we're out of time, but yes, I would say it's just, I don't know. I don't know. But kudos to those dancers and those people in that show doing that eight times a week. You are killing that choreography. It's amazing choreography. One of those dancers, tell me how you get your arms to work that way. I get their bodies. They're dancing. They're making it work. And they're amazing. And there was some great creative team doing amazing things, too. And the band. The band was great. I love hearing that music live. Nothing like live music, no matter what, right? So you hear the live music, it's great.

[31:13] Jeff Malone: Anyway, well, thank you for listening. Hope you enjoyed this podcast today. Please subscribe to our podcast on Spotify or Apple Music. Leave us a review if you love what you heard. We also want you to join in our conversation. Engage with us. Head over to our Instagram account at half hour podcast. Comment on our latest post about this podcast episode. We'd love to hear from you. We're also on TikTok at half hour podcast. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all the places. Half hour podcast and two worlds entertainment at two worlds. And follow us there. All good things. More to come with pop music. More to come with Broadway. Some new shows coming up in the next few months. Thank you all for listening. We hope you had a great listen and more to come next time. So signing off for now. I'm Richie.

[31:52] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff saying ta-ta.