This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Quincy Brown: My name's Quincy.

[0:10] Kevin Bianchi: And my name's Kevin.

[0:11] Quincy Brown: And this is Sentimental Men from Theater League. We are here to talk and maybe scream about our favorite women in musical theater.

[0:19] Kevin Bianchi: Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy new year, everyone.

[0:24] Quincy Brown: I'm excited to have a new year. Well, actually, I take that back. I think it's easy throughout the year to get caught up in like all of the never-ending, like shitty stuff that was just happening and happening and happening. But then if I look at it, well, quite a bit of good stuff actually happened too.

[0:39] Kevin Bianchi: Right.

[0:39] Quincy Brown: I was talking, I had therapy yesterday, and I was kind of communicating just that, and I was like, I just feel like I get to New York and then black out for the entire year, and then I get back home to Hawaii for the holidays, and that's when I have time to like think and reflect on the year I just did and all that stuff. And I was like, and I just feel so empty, and I want to like make sure that I'm going into this new year so that when I get back to New York, I can like be checking all the boxes I want to check in the year. And my therapist was like, shut up. You've had such a great year. You're being so hard on yourself. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

[1:08] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, you did have a very good year. But I also, because I know you and I'm part of your life, I do know that you had a rough year too.

[1:15] Quincy Brown: My end of year Instagram caption is gonna be at lowest of lows, highest of highs.

[1:19] Kevin Bianchi: That's perfect. I think that's exactly what you had this year. I kind of like this framing for this episode. It's coming out on the cusp of the new year, and it's I think the lens of a reflection of this last year is a fun way to look at this episode.

[1:32] Quincy Brown: I think so.

[1:33] Kevin Bianchi: I agree. Um, did you watch the Idina Menzel documentary?

[1:36] Quincy Brown: It was not, yeah, I had a really good time. What are your takeaways? Because you've watched it more recently than I have then.

[1:41] Kevin Bianchi: One thing that I remember really sticking out to me was that I really loved that it felt, despite the hardships that she was describing, it did feel like a celebration of like this great life she has built for herself and earned through all of the work that she's done. Because I feel like these kinds of documentaries can really focus on the struggle and and like, you know, you think that celebrities are like glitz and glam, but behind the scenes. But this was nice to see, like, no, but she actually is a really she's really content in her life outside of her work, which I love to see.

[2:08] Quincy Brown: I love to see her like West Coast life, because I have never really pictured or imagined that. And I was like, oh, it looks kind of luxe, Idina Menzel.

[2:23] Kevin Bianchi: I know, I know. It was great. I love it. You know what also though the big takeaway for me was, you know how like we always like when we talk to like Jackie Burns, was like this, and I forget who else, but a couple of the alphabets are like, oh yeah, like I am like not a musical theater girl. Like I warm up with Janice Joplin, and I'm like, you know, much more in that world. And we always talk about how unique that is, but then in this documentary, like Adina was saying essentially the same thing. And so then it was like, oh no, that's like the prototype is to be that way.

[2:55] Quincy Brown: I mean, yes and no, though, because she was singing like Dorothy Wizard of Oz. There's all those home videos of her like doing theatery stuff when she's a kid.

[3:02] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, but that there was a moment where she like she literally said, I think people think of me as only a theater girl, but like there are so many other types of music that I like to sing.

[3:12] Quincy Brown: Sure. I don't know. I it just struck me that it's like we've heard that for a couple times, and it was interesting to hear her say it too.

[3:19] Kevin Bianchi: It is interesting to me that like her, it's very clear that like, yes, the theater of it all happened and is happening, but she does have passions for songwriting and solo music as well.

[3:30] Quincy Brown: Yes.

[3:30] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and it was nice to see that Adina is very passionate about that lane of her life and her work as well. She does contain multitudes is what I realized watching this.

[3:39] Quincy Brown: She does. We all contain multitudes, Quincy.

[3:43] Kevin Bianchi: And I loved, I was at that Madison Square Garden concert in the Nosebleed. So my friend was like, we should look for ourselves.

[3:48] Quincy Brown: Did you see yourself in the dock?

[3:50] Kevin Bianchi: No. I was like, obviously, we're not gonna see ourselves. We're in like the shittiest scene. But yeah, and then the whole Madison Square Garden of it all is I was like, I'm just obsessed with like Idina Menzel, the rock star.

[4:01] Quincy Brown: Totally. I just think that's like because like we I think it's fair to say both of us like learned of her in a very specific lane. And so then to see not only does she have this other side, but it's successful enough to play Madison Square Garden is just very cool to see.

[4:16] Kevin Bianchi: But I think both lanes help her rise. Like all what is that saying? All rising tides help all boats or something.

[4:22] Quincy Brown: Is that the saying?

[4:23] Kevin Bianchi: I'm gonna say yes. I think they help each other, and like there could not be one without the other.

[4:27] Quincy Brown: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I really enjoyed seeing the backstage dynamics of like a concert proper because that's not something that I've ever been like privy to and how it all works, and the like, oh Josh is on stage right now, and then no one told her that she was going on stage and she has to run, but it doesn't matter really because it's a concert, so you can kind of just wait around. It was very interesting to see and oh, she can do homework with her son and then like take a phone call.

[4:45] Kevin Bianchi: It was cool.

[4:50] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I that is also a a world that is so foreign to me because it's like we obviously we both know how the gears turn in a theater, like at a at a show. A concert just is on such a larger scale, but there is that more relaxed nature about it. I guess because it's it's so big, you can't control all of the pieces at once. It was very touching, heartwarming, sad, beautiful to watch her in vitro journey as she was doing this throughout the tour.

[5:20] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[5:20] Quincy Brown: Also interesting to me that like that wasn't planned. She wasn't like planning on showcasing that. It was like something that came up after she had already agreed to do the documentary, and she was like, okay, I might as well just like show this. I don't know what's gonna happen.

[5:30] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But to me, that was like the emotional crux of it. And I'm sure because I don't think I clocked that.

[5:35] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I think they talked about it in the talk back at the premiere thing that I went to, but she was like, Yeah, might as well just document everything and see what happens. And to me, that whole arc was very like kind of anchored the entire documentary. And I applaud her for showing that and allowing that to be shown.

[5:55] Kevin Bianchi: I agree. And I think it's also just I love like the visibility of it. Like that's a very hard thing to go through, much less to publicize. And I just thought that like that level of honesty from her in the storytelling, like is what made it so easy to connect to her, like as just like a mom who's trying to raise a kid, who's like trying to have another kid, trying to balance work. It was like she she's going through this same thing that millions of people go through, or that whatever. And I love seeing like more of Walker's personality. He's gonna be a star, that kid.

[6:29] Quincy Brown: Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's lots of really personality in the in the gene pool.

[6:36] Kevin Bianchi: Tell us about the after party at the premiere that you went to and your brief interview.

[6:43] Quincy Brown: So we went to the premiere. Kevin was in Paris. I forget, it was at this cool theater in New York that I had never been to, some like cinema. It was very like artsy indie vibes. I felt very cool. They played the documentary at the theater, and then after there was a talk back with there was a talk back with Adina and two of the directors, and it was moderated by Joshua Harmon, who I love, and so that was a nice treat.

[7:03] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, of skin tight.

[7:04] Quincy Brown: Of skin tight fame, of significant other fame. The talk back I thought was really interesting because like Joshua Harmon was asking great questions, something funny and just like fun facts that they talked about, which we posted on our socials. Was that one of the questions was what is one scene or something that got cut out of the documentary that you miss or wish could be in?

[7:24] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[7:25] Quincy Brown: And Adina was like, I mean, there's just like a ton of swearing that we had to cut, and like I I could we had to cut all the scenes where I was drinking wine and everything because it was Disney Plus. And she was like, But Taylor Swift has a documentary on Disney Plus, and she's drinking wine in every other scene, so I don't know why I couldn't.

[7:38] Kevin Bianchi: But then Disney told annoying.

[7:39] Quincy Brown: She's not a princess.

[7:40] Kevin Bianchi: Taylor's Taylor.

[7:41] Quincy Brown: Yeah. I get it.

[7:42] Kevin Bianchi: Yes. Still the same umbrella.

[7:44] Quincy Brown: I get it. But I thought it was funny.

[7:46] Kevin Bianchi: That is funny. And then she talks about how, like, she talks about raising a mixed-race kid in this current world that we're living in.

[7:52] Quincy Brown: Oh, she talks about when the opportunity of a documentary came her way. She was kind of confused because she was like, I feel like every documentary I've watched is like about yes, a very successful person, but then they're spotlighting some very dramatic problem or issue that they have in their life, and you're following that art as well. And she was like, I'm not like a heroine addict or anything, so I don't have anything to like show in that regard.

[8:15] Kevin Bianchi: That's so funny.

[8:23] Quincy Brown: So then that happened, and then we walked to the after party. It was at Tao, downtown. Super fun, great food, good vibes, chilling. Got to have a moment with Miss Menzel and ask her the question: is she a wizard and I defying gravity?

[8:38] Kevin Bianchi: No good deed, alphabet.

[8:40] Quincy Brown: She was very tickled by the question because we kind of told before we started recording the video, we like told her what it was. And she really did take a moment. She was like, okay. And we were about to start recording, and she was like, No, no, no, wait, I don't have an answer yet. And she like really thought about it in like a very intense way. To the point where I was like, hey, it can just be silly if you want it to be silly. It doesn't need to be like so deep. And then she answered, as we all know, I'm not that girl.

[9:03] Kevin Bianchi: And I sent the video to Kevin immediately after it ended, and Kevin's response was all caps, not I'm not that girl.

[9:11] Quincy Brown: I forgot that's what I said.

[9:15] Kevin Bianchi: What was your reaction, Kevin, to that answer?

[9:18] Quincy Brown: Well, here's what I think. And I can't remember if I've said this to you off pod or not, but I think it makes sense to me because Stephanie J. Block famously said that she was I'm not that girl. Now Adina Menzel has said that she's I'm not that girl. And I would wager that if we speak to Cynthia Arrivo ever, she will say I'm not that girl.

[9:36] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, interesting. Listeners, remember that's that statement. I think the access to like the director and the character work and the the rehearsal process as opposed to just being plugged into the show, I think is is why those actresses have had a deeper connection and why they associate with I'm not that girl so much.

[9:59] Quincy Brown: Well, that is a beautiful statement, sentiment observation. And I do agree.

[10:03] Kevin Bianchi: Thank you. I think there's something really, really special that Stephanie and Dina both answered the same way, with I'm sure, no con. Like, I'm sure Adina has not seen that Stephanie answered that she was an I'm not that girl. And I think I now when we talk to Cynthia Riva, because I'm sure we will at some point.

[10:24] Quincy Brown: We will.

[10:24] Kevin Bianchi: I am excited for that moment. Round table with her and Ari. I'm manifesting. If Cynthia's an I'm not that girl, Alpha Ba, which to me, I would guess that she would be.

[10:32] Quincy Brown: She will be.

[10:33] Kevin Bianchi: She will be. I can already feel it. And also, okay, when you actually think about it, the character of Alphabet, I'm not that girl actually is like the crux of that character.

[10:40] Quincy Brown: That's the unmasked moment.

[10:42] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, help me with this thought. Like, that is the only time that she is like bearing her soul that she's like really showing all her cards, right? Because Wizard and I is like the I want song, but it's like surface level I want, not like inner, deep down in her, right?

[10:54] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I think it's like another layer peeled back because I think like with the wizard and I, we meet her and she's like yell yell yell, you know, I'm mean, you can't hurt my feelings, like that whole thing.

[11:05] Kevin Bianchi: And then she's by herself.

[11:06] Quincy Brown: That's true.

[11:07] Kevin Bianchi: And you see her like and we get to homeostasis. We get to see an optimism, and then the next time she's alone on stage, we get to see her like sorrow in I'm Not That Girl.

[11:09] Quincy Brown: And then the next time she's alone on stage is we get to see like her rage in No Good Deed. So I think it's like we're like each time you peel back a little bit. Whereas Defying Gravity is like a storytelling song as opposed to a reflective song.

[11:34] Kevin Bianchi: And No Good Deed is a cathartic song.

[11:36] Quincy Brown: Yeah, yeah.

[11:37] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, it was really great. Uh, if you I'm sure you all have watched the documentary by now, but if you haven't, please do. It's a great watch.

[11:43] Quincy Brown: It's so good, it's so good.

[11:45] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, moving on. Many of you have clocked us.

[11:48] Quincy Brown: We have yet to give you our take on Jonathan Bailey as Fiero.

[11:53] Kevin Bianchi: Not that doesn't mean anything. I think, like, whenever we intend to speak about it, we just get carried away on a tangent.

[11:58] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[11:59] Kevin Bianchi: Quincy, what do you have to say?

[12:00] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[12:00] Kevin Bianchi: I think it's great casting. I think it like he has a quality to him that I think is really hard to you can't like play, it just has to be in you.

[12:12] Quincy Brown: And I think that the best Fierros are the Fierros that are like inherently likable.

[12:18] Kevin Bianchi: And like, because you have to understand, like, oh, that's why this man can walk into a room and be in charge of it in 16 bars. You know what I mean?

[12:28] Quincy Brown: Like, I think his Fierro And I think Jonathan has that.

[12:31] Kevin Bianchi: I think his Fierro is gonna be like when he first comes on the scene in that Dancing Through Life pre-scene, it's not gonna be so much douchey, I'm an asshole hot guy, more just like oblivious, I've never had to like consider anything else in my life.

[12:46] Quincy Brown: This my life is just easy because it's easy kind of a thing.

[12:48] Kevin Bianchi: And that to me, I think is gonna be very endearing.

[12:50] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and the type of guy I would be attracted to, unfortunately.

[12:54] Kevin Bianchi: I agree.

[12:55] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I'm super excited about it.

[12:58] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and I mean, obviously, he's gonna like yeah, he's obviously gonna sing the shit out of it.

[13:01] Quincy Brown: Like when we was announced, we posted on social like that we need confirmation if the white pants are still gonna be a thing in the movie.

[13:07] Kevin Bianchi: And for whatever reason, Fierro is the one character that I that really gets me thinking about what these movie costumes are gonna be.

[13:15] Quincy Brown: Cause I'm like, how do you translate that Fierro costume into like a 2022 motion picture situation?

[13:22] Kevin Bianchi: I don't know, but I trust that the people in charge of answering that question are gonna do a good job.

[13:28] Quincy Brown: Because did you see the costume designer posted mood boards for some of the characters?

[13:33] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, really?

[13:34] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and like the one for Glinda had um like a pink flower that was blooming, and it was like, oh, that's like an interesting way to think of what I'm assuming is like the popular dress, is that it's like a flower as opposed to like a two just like a tutu dress, you know?

[13:51] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, that's exciting.

[13:52] Quincy Brown: I'm excited for the world building to start happening.

[13:54] Kevin Bianchi: Me too, and it seems like they are going to be interpretations of the stage costumes, but not just like pulling from the warehouse to make the you know, to make the exact same things.

[14:05] Quincy Brown: I think that's very good.

[14:06] Kevin Bianchi: I can't wait to see the Glinda gowns.

[14:08] Quincy Brown: And are they gonna be like I hope Ariana has at least one number that's like a tight slip situation, not like a go out gown.

[14:17] Kevin Bianchi: Thank goodness, baby, pencil skirt.

[14:19] Quincy Brown: Yeah, like that look would kill on Ariana.

[14:22] Kevin Bianchi: Kill, yeah.

[14:23] Quincy Brown: Like gorgeous gowns for sure, but I hope she's not in gowns the entire time.

[14:26] Kevin Bianchi: We also got more Wicked movie casting since the last time we spoke.

[14:29] Quincy Brown: Yes, we did.

[14:30] Kevin Bianchi: Um, we got the announcement of our Nessa Rose, Marissa Bodie, which I am so excited about because I love that they have cast an actual wheelchair user in the role because I think that's super important.

[14:42] Quincy Brown: And I have you heard of it.

[14:44] Kevin Bianchi: Is this a introducing Marissa Bodie situation?

[14:47] Quincy Brown: In the movie world.

[14:49] Kevin Bianchi: Gotcha.

[14:49] Quincy Brown: Okay, no, I haven't heard her sing.

[14:51] Kevin Bianchi: She's good.

[14:51] Quincy Brown: She has like a really I've only seen one clip of her, and she has like a really sweet tone in it.

[14:56] Kevin Bianchi: I don't remember because it was like a month ago at this point.

[14:59] Quincy Brown: But she has a really sweet tone, which I think like is gonna sound so good in the uh it's because I'm in this chair and you felt sorry for me, like the softer parts, but I cannot wait to hear like what the strong part of her voice sounds like in Wicked Witch of the East.

[15:14] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, I can't wait to have that recorded on a soundtrack.

[15:17] Quincy Brown: God.

[15:19] Kevin Bianchi: I know it's gonna be it's gonna be a game changer.

[15:22] Quincy Brown: Yeah, super excited.

[15:23] Kevin Bianchi: So we have our Nessa Rose and Cynthia on that shot.

[15:28] Quincy Brown: We also got a slew of other characters who were announced, Bowen Yang and Kayala Settle, which I'm very excited about.

[15:36] Kevin Bianchi: Who is Mrs. Coddle?

[15:37] Quincy Brown: Okay, I mean, this is based on absolutely nothing, but I think my prediction is that it's like she's not a character in the book.

[15:46] Kevin Bianchi: We're probably model is like she's not a character in the book.

[15:50] Quincy Brown: My prediction is that she's like the dorm mother.

[15:55] Kevin Bianchi: Like the chaperone of the dorm.

[15:57] Quincy Brown: Gotcha, not a morable.

[15:59] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, because Marble's head shistris.

[16:01] Quincy Brown: Okay, other guesses for who that could be?

[16:03] Kevin Bianchi: Midwife?

[16:05] Quincy Brown: Midwife.

[16:05] Kevin Bianchi: That's an interesting idea.

[16:07] Quincy Brown: Maybe she'll be like Elphaba and Nessa Rose's nanny in like a flashback scene of who.

[16:15] Kevin Bianchi: She sings a song about loving yourself when your parents are neglecting you to the two girls.

[16:20] Quincy Brown: Yeah, why not?

[16:21] Kevin Bianchi: Or as midwife, she could sing a song about tolerance and acceptance of this green child that you just birthed to the father.

[16:27] Quincy Brown: Yes.

[16:28] Kevin Bianchi: I think that song would fall on deaf ears as far as our good pal Rex is concerned.

[16:34] Quincy Brown: Also Bowen Yang, which I'm super excited about.

[16:37] Kevin Bianchi: This was like a little bit of a rumor for a while, so I'm glad to see that that is confirmed.

[16:41] Quincy Brown: I think a really fun and exciting choice to cast Bowen Yang in this role.

[16:45] Kevin Bianchi: I do too.

[16:45] Quincy Brown: And I can I already know that I'm gonna laugh a lot.

[16:48] Kevin Bianchi: You know what I mean? Like picture him holding the hat being like, what is this?

[16:52] Quincy Brown: Fun fact, I was listening to Las Culturistas, Matt Rogers was called in to go in for Fierro.

[16:58] Kevin Bianchi: Isn't that interesting?

[16:59] Quincy Brown: Oh because he was talking about how like he struggles with like seeing what his type is these days, and case in point was he got called in for Fierro and he never thought of himself as a Fierro, but I'm glad to know that like Matt and Bowen are both considered in this process for the Wicked movie.

[17:12] Kevin Bianchi: It feels good.

[17:13] Quincy Brown: You have on our outline Dream Dillamont.

[17:17] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I don't know if Dream is maybe um it's doing doing a lot of work uh there.

[17:24] Quincy Brown: I stay up at night and dream about so-and-so as Dr. Dillamond.

[17:29] Kevin Bianchi: What I meant by that is that when all of this cast was announced, people were tweeting at Jon M. Chu, being like, What about Dillamond? And he said, We're not gonna release that name yet.

[17:43] Quincy Brown: And so I feel like it must be somebody exciting if they're holding it back from us.

[17:49] Kevin Bianchi: Uh huh.

[17:49] Quincy Brown: My theory is that it would be like Joel Gray.

[17:53] Kevin Bianchi: Hmm.

[17:53] Quincy Brown: Joe Mantello, perhaps.

[17:55] Kevin Bianchi: Joe Mantello, perhaps.

[17:57] Quincy Brown: I would love that.

[17:58] Kevin Bianchi: And he's been like acting on screen a lot lately.

[18:00] Quincy Brown: So maybe.

[18:01] Kevin Bianchi: As much as I ragged on this Wicked movie a little while ago, everything that's coming out about it is very exciting.

[18:07] Quincy Brown: And I'm very happy so far on this journey.

[18:10] Kevin Bianchi: I am too.

[18:11] Quincy Brown: I think they're coming together nicely.

[18:13] Kevin Bianchi: I just wish the timeline of the journey was condensed.

[18:16] Quincy Brown: Moving on.

[18:17] Kevin Bianchi: I know.

[18:17] Quincy Brown: Let's do a retrospective 2022 theater.

[18:21] Kevin Bianchi: Let's do a 2022 theater retrospective.

[18:24] Quincy Brown: Shall we?

[18:25] Kevin Bianchi: Okay.

[18:25] Quincy Brown: Kevin, we shall. What were your favorite theatrical performances, productions, anything of 2022?

[18:32] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, I want to go back and look through my Instagram story highlight of Theatre so I can be fresh.

[18:37] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I'm trying to think too.

[18:40] Kevin Bianchi: I have not seen as much as you have this year for sure.

[18:42] Quincy Brown: So I'm working with less, but working with Lats. A definite highlight for me was the Paradise Square performance at the Tony Awards.

[18:51] Kevin Bianchi: Even though that's not like something that I like sat in the theater and watched, I thought that was, I mean, that was a moment that like kids are gonna watch in their dorm rooms forever and ever and ever.

[19:01] Quincy Brown: That was like an I'm here moment.

[19:03] Kevin Bianchi: Truly an iconic moment, yeah.

[19:05] Quincy Brown: The first thing that made me go, ooh, was MCC Theater's production of Which Way to the Stage.

[19:11] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, you loved it.

[19:13] Quincy Brown: I loved it. Did you ever get to go?

[19:14] Kevin Bianchi: I feel like I was really trying to get you to go for a little bit.

[19:16] Quincy Brown: No, I know.

[19:17] Kevin Bianchi: I just ugh.

[19:18] Quincy Brown: But that was that play at MCC, and it was a girl in a gay at the stage door of If/Then talking about the deity that is Idina Menzel.

[19:25] Kevin Bianchi: And one of my favorite parts of that whole show is that they never really refer to her by name.

[19:28] Quincy Brown: It's always Capital H her or Capital S she, which is so so funny to me.

[19:33] Kevin Bianchi: And it very is Sentimental Men in vibe.

[19:35] Quincy Brown: Biblical.

[19:36] Kevin Bianchi: I feel like we've talked about it on this podcast before, so I'm not gonna go into in-depth on it, but I really love that play.

[19:42] Quincy Brown: A lot of people were saying it should have moved to Broadway.

[19:44] Kevin Bianchi: I'm glad it didn't.

[19:44] Quincy Brown: It felt perfect in the space that it was and where it was.

[19:47] Kevin Bianchi: I don't think it needed to.

[19:49] Quincy Brown: It feels too intimate for Broadway.

[19:50] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and also super niche.

[19:51] Quincy Brown: Like it is for us for sure, but like us guys, we are a very small, small subsect of this world that we live in.

[19:59] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[19:59] Quincy Brown: We can't keep a show open on our own.

[20:03] Kevin Bianchi: Another highlight for me was seeing Lampica at La Jolla Playhouse in California.

[20:08] Quincy Brown: That was special.

[20:09] Kevin Bianchi: And that I hope does move to Broadway.

[20:12] Quincy Brown: Yeah, I hope so too.

[20:13] Kevin Bianchi: Hopefully, this coming season.

[20:15] Quincy Brown: Yeah, that score is so great.

[20:16] Kevin Bianchi: I think it's gonna be a huge moment for Eden if she moves with it.

[20:19] Quincy Brown: It's such a I really love the show.

[20:21] Kevin Bianchi: I think it's perfect.

[20:22] Quincy Brown: And I think if you're a Sentimental Men listener, it will appeal to your sensibilities in a really special way.

[20:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, really, really great show.

[20:30] Quincy Brown: Kevin, I actually have two more.

[20:32] Kevin Bianchi: My first question for you though is do you remember what our I think both of our like first performance experience of this year was?

[20:40] Quincy Brown: Our first performance in January.

[20:42] Kevin Bianchi: Miss Julia Murney at 54 Below?

[20:45] Quincy Brown: At 54 Below.

[20:47] Kevin Bianchi: Was that early this year?

[20:48] Quincy Brown: Was that that was my first of the year?

[20:50] Kevin Bianchi: We can say that was like January, I think.

[20:52] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[20:52] Kevin Bianchi: That was a special night because we got to see Julia Murney perform How Did We All Come To This Live and In the Flesh, something I actually never thought I would see in my lifetime.

[21:02] Quincy Brown: Yeah, that felt really special.

[21:03] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[21:04] Quincy Brown: And then we bought her a steak after.

[21:05] Kevin Bianchi: In like a special club.

[21:06] Quincy Brown: Anyway, sure.

[21:10] Kevin Bianchi: Martinis and a steak.

[21:12] Quincy Brown: No, that was really cool.

[21:13] Kevin Bianchi: Um, okay, I'm just gonna do really special shows.

[21:15] Quincy Brown: I saw that I loved and stood out to me, Titanic, which uh friend of the pod Mark Evans is going into.

[21:22] Quincy Brown: Louis is already in it. Mark Evans is replacing John Riddle. So we wait, let's go back to that. Because I want to see it in the new space. Yeah, I'm going, regardless of if it's like a podcast theater, like I'm going to see this cast.

[21:35] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, no, Titanic is a really great show. People are referring to it as the best show currently playing in New York City. Y'all, you'll hear no arguments from me. Um, and then my last thing I'll say is K-pop the musical was really, really special. Saw it a ton of times. Rest in peace. Did not get its fair shot, but a lot of shows on Broadway right now are not. Poor one out for the Broadway industry right now. It is a tough, tough time. But I do think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel is just gonna be very long, unfortunately.

[22:05] Quincy Brown: Anyways, Kevin, what was a great performance that you saw this year? We did talk about this on the podcast, but I cannot not mention it is Into the Woods, not not on Broadway, well, Broadway too, obviously. Um, but Into the Woods at City Center, Heather Hedley is the witch.

[22:20] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[22:20] Quincy Brown: It will forever be one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

[22:24] Kevin Bianchi: I'm glad you said that. That was yeah, that was really, really special.

[22:27] Quincy Brown: Yeah, because I feel like Heather is yeah, Heather is like, I feel super selective about what she does. Like she just kind of like pops up every once in a while, and when she does, like it's perfect. And so I was very um grateful and thankful to see her on stage at all, but also to see her in a show that I love so much.

[22:47] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, she was magic in that role. Magic.

[22:49] Quincy Brown: Oh, also another really special thing that like has stuck with me. Courtney Reid and Connor Ryan on the Moulin Rouge tour are doing really cool, interesting stuff with the roles. If any of you are like in a city that that tour is going to, I would highly recommend going because it's like really cool stuff.

[23:05] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, what are we looking forward to in 2023?

[23:08] Quincy Brown: I'm excited to find out who is coming into Wicked in this new year. It feels like Tali and Brittany are probably leaving soon. So one, we need to go and see Talia before she leaves. And two, I'm just always excited for new Wicked casting. Baseline.

[23:21] Kevin Bianchi: That was an easy answer I just gave.

[23:23] Quincy Brown: Yeah, it was an easy answer. Trying to think of new musicals that are coming.

[23:27] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, okay. I'm gonna read to you this list that I just found online. Number one, Bad Cinderella.

[23:33] Quincy Brown: Oh, I'm excited for that.

[23:34] Kevin Bianchi: It seems like a fun, fun campy time.

[23:36] Quincy Brown: Oh, you know what I'm excited for, Kevin? That I think I can talk about David Foster's Betty Boop musical.

[23:44] Kevin Bianchi: Ooh, yeah. Connor um saw the presentation of that and he said it was really good.

[23:49] Quincy Brown: So I'm also hoping that that comes. Like a David Foster score is exactly what Broadway needs right now. Maybe don't quote me on that, but I'm very, very excited about that because the score seems very promising.

[24:01] Kevin Bianchi: You know what I'm hoping? I don't know if this is like real or not, but it's something that I'm hoping is I hope Sing Street comes to Broadway. Just because it feels so buzzy and like I've heard so many good things about it.

[24:13] Quincy Brown: Only thing is I'm worried that would be like a cool show to make it to Broadway.

[24:18] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and it would bring D. Roscioli back to Broadway. I'm just worried about small shows in this current climate that we're in on Broadway. Like to me, right now, it feels like you gotta be a big, flashy, starry thing to last. But yeah, Sing Street is really good. I would be excited for that to come in.

[24:31] Quincy Brown: Obviously, 2023. Looking forward to Stephanie J. Block as Norma Desmond at the Kennedy Center. Duh!

[24:41] Kevin Bianchi: That should have been our first answer.

[24:43] Quincy Brown: Well, we saved it for a lot of people. Stephanie J. Block, we built it and Derek Kleina and Ali Carvalho. That is crazy.

[24:48] Kevin Bianchi: I'm also very excited to see LE because her voice is insane. And I feel like she was on the scene and then kind of went away for a little bit. And it seems like she's coming back because she also just got announced for something else.

[24:58] Quincy Brown: The Mean Girls movie.

[24:59] Kevin Bianchi: For Mean Girls.

[25:00] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[25:01] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah.

[25:03] Quincy Brown: Which I'm also excited about because that cast is good.

[25:04] Kevin Bianchi: Which is great.

[25:05] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[25:06] Kevin Bianchi: Which is great. Ali's very excited.

[25:06] Quincy Brown: That cast is great. Renee Jacquel is Dane.

[25:08] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah.

[25:09] Quincy Brown: It's a good thing.

[25:09] Kevin Bianchi: I'm also, oh, you know what I'm excited about for 2023? Renee Rabb becoming the next Ariana Grande. It very much feels like her career trajectory is following the Ariana Grande route.

[25:21] Quincy Brown: And I think like she has it to be, like she is you talented enough, duh, unique enough and edgy enough, cool enough, different enough to be the next pop it girly. And I'm very excited. Her EP, Kevin, if you haven't listened to it, is so so good.

[25:37] Kevin Bianchi: And like a genuine populace.

[25:39] Quincy Brown: No, it's good. It's good. I listened to it, yeah.

[25:41] Kevin Bianchi: I'm excited to watch her explode this year because I think that's gonna happen.

[25:43] Quincy Brown: Same. Something else that I'm looking forward to that I have completely made up, but I'm just gonna speak it into existence. Is that I hope when the time comes for a replacement cast, that Kelly Clarkson will make her Broadway debut as Anne Hathaway in Anne Juliet. I'm saying it on the podcast so that it will make it to the ears that need to hear it.

[26:04] Kevin Bianchi: Can they afford Kelly Clarkson?

[26:06] Quincy Brown: I don't know.

[26:08] Kevin Bianchi: That's not my job to figure out.

[26:10] Quincy Brown: That would be great. I also though would love I want Kelly Clarkson to debut in like an original original piece.

[26:15] Kevin Bianchi: You know what she should do first is she should do she should do like a residency, like like a Bruce Springsteen.

[26:21] Quincy Brown: Oh, like live on Broadway.

[26:24] Kevin Bianchi: I would see that.

[26:24] Quincy Brown: That feels like a good place for her to start. In general, though, I'll just say I'm excited to for future cast, and I don't mean this in any shady way, but I'm just excited to for more people to do Anne Juliet. Like because those roles are so fun and like the songs are so great that I can't wait to see like how they move on with that.

[26:44] Kevin Bianchi: Feels like an easy show to start to power.

[26:46] Quincy Brown: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

[26:47] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, so we asked for some questions from the listeners to discuss in this episode.

[26:53] Quincy Brown: I sure did. First one we got is favorite YouTube video.

[26:57] Kevin Bianchi: I'm assuming they mean like wicked YouTube video or theater YouTube video.

[27:00] Quincy Brown: Let's do theater YouTube video. You go first. I need to think.

[27:03] Kevin Bianchi: For me, it is absolutely, I can tell you hands down. Well, actually, no, I have two. Tied for first are the Barbara Cook Kennedy Center Honors performance, medley and um Megan Hilty Let's Be Bad from Smash.

[27:19] Quincy Brown: The scene from the show.

[27:20] Kevin Bianchi: Without fail. It's those two.

[27:22] Quincy Brown: Like, yeah, the performance from the show.

[27:24] Kevin Bianchi: Okay. On that note, my comfort YouTube videos that are just coming to the top of my mind right now. Catherine McPhee, Don't Forget Me, Smash from the show. Follow on this train. Jeremy Jordan singing Caught in the Storm from Smash at 54 Below is something I revisit a lot.

[27:42] Quincy Brown: I revisit Audra singing Glamorous Life a lot.

[27:45] Kevin Bianchi: Ooh, that's surprising.

[27:47] Quincy Brown: Yeah, it's the melody for me.

[27:48] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, because typically, but like the melody really like hits for me in a way.

[27:53] Quincy Brown: I want to do one more.

[27:55] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I return to it.

[27:56] Quincy Brown: Idina Menzel's performance of Let It Go at Disneyland a lot. Because that performance is pristine.

[28:04] Kevin Bianchi: She is in perfect vocal health.

[28:05] Quincy Brown: It sounds so so great.

[28:07] Kevin Bianchi: She sounds high.

[28:07] Quincy Brown: I show that video to anyone who asks.

[28:09] Kevin Bianchi: She was warm.

[28:10] Quincy Brown: Yeah.

[28:10] Kevin Bianchi: It was great.

[28:10] Quincy Brown: And she looks so good. And it was, and she's calm too. It was, it was beautiful. And it's like this the backscape of Disneyland or Disney World or wherever that was. It's really great.

[28:20] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I have another one too. Something that I go back to all the time is um, and I'm pretty sure that I we spoke about this in the very first Sentimental Men episode, is Shoshana Bean rehearsing Stars in the Moon. It's it's one of the stupidest features. That and her, she used to be mine. Um, Club Brower.com.

[28:41] Quincy Brown: Um, okay, let's do one more question.

[28:43] Kevin Bianchi: Favorite theatrical mishaps that we've seen on stage.

[28:47] Quincy Brown: This one's tough. The first one that's coming to mind is not because if professional, when I was younger, I went to a community theater production of nine to five at home in Hawaii. There's it was like a giant office. Like in the office, they have like a giant bookcase thing, like giant, and like one scene, the entire thing came down, like fully came down, crashed, huge noise, had to stop the show.

[29:13] Kevin Bianchi: It was drama, and I was in the first row, and like debris flew. It was like crazy.

[29:18] Quincy Brown: Yeah, that's like the biggest mishap I can think of in my life. Trying to think if I've seen one on Broadway.

[29:22] Kevin Bianchi: I mean, I'm sure I have, but I'm sure I have two.

[29:25] Quincy Brown: I'm trying to think. I recently, the last time I saw K-pop, they started the song Gin and Tonic, which is the best song in the show, and then a set piece wasn't moving.

[29:32] Kevin Bianchi: So halfway through the song, one of the girls was like, Hold and like K-pop is very like you're seeing behind the scenes of a show, and they like break the fourth wall and everything.

[29:40] Quincy Brown: So the audience was kind of confused, but she was like, We need to start over, blah blah blah. And then they held us for like 10 minutes, and then they restarted the song, which I was happy about because I was like, Wow, now we got this song one and a half times. I'm good with that.

[29:49] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[29:52] Quincy Brown: Yeah, that's all I got right now. Do you remember when we saw this?

[29:56] Kevin Bianchi: Is not like by any means the biggest mishaps we've seen? When we went to see Into the Woods, and it was like a lot of people's first nights. Andy Carl came in for the shoe scene without the shoe in his hand.

[30:09] Quincy Brown: And so, like one of the stepsisters ran off to get it, but then the other stepsister like ran off in the other direction to get it.

[30:15] Kevin Bianchi: And there was like this back and forth of like who who's actually getting the slippery.

[30:20] Quincy Brown: I do not remember that happening at all.

[30:21] Kevin Bianchi: Wow.

[30:21] Quincy Brown: I kind of love when something happens. Like I I'm the first person to start cheering whenever anyone like goes up on a line or something happens and they kind of have to like stop and reassess. Because I'm like, oh, thank you for reminding us that we're all alive in this space together, and it's not just like a weird entertainment that I'm just consuming without feeling.

[30:37] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah.

[30:38] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Um, cool. I don't know. I'll think of one and I'll I'll I'll say it another time.

[30:43] Kevin Bianchi: Happy New Year's, guys.

[30:45] Quincy Brown: It's been another great year of Sentimental Men.

[30:48] Kevin Bianchi: Happy New Year.

[30:49] Quincy Brown: It sure has.

[30:50] Kevin Bianchi: This was a good year for us too.

[30:51] Quincy Brown: This was a good year.

[30:52] Kevin Bianchi: The royal us.

[30:54] Quincy Brown: Capital Us.

[30:55] Kevin Bianchi: And on that note, we'll see you in 2023.

[30:58] Quincy Brown: See ya.

[31:05] Quincy Brown: You've been listening to Sentimental Men from Theater League. This episode was produced by Quincy Brown, Kevin Bianchi, and the team at Theater League. Thanks to Anthony Abitangelo, the most swankified podcast editor in town. And another thanks to Michaela Reynolds for making us look downright osmopolitan in our new key art. And to Julia DeMarzo for our logo design. If you want to get in touch, send us an email. We love to hear from you all. You can reach us at Scent MenPod at theaterly.com. That's T-H-E-A-T-R-E-L-Y. You can also connect with us across social media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Scent Men Pod. Thanks for tuning in. Till next time, I'm Quincy.

[31:47] Kevin Bianchi: And I'm Kevin.