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[0:00] Quincy Brown: Back in the game.

[0:02] Kevin Bianchi: Back in the frame.

[0:04] Quincy Brown: Get the hell out of the way.

[0:06] Kevin Bianchi: Hi, Quincy.

[0:07] Quincy Brown: How can you bring up Legally Blonde on a day like this when I'm already so overwhelmed?

[0:13] Kevin Bianchi: Well, let's acknowledge the fact that we've been away for quite some time.

[0:18] Quincy Brown: Okay. Hi, everyone. Lovely to speak to you again.

[0:21] Kevin Bianchi: Uh, yeah. It does feel good to be back in the game, back in the frame.

[0:26] Quincy Brown: Yes. Sorry we've taken such a pause. Life has been busy.

[0:30] Kevin Bianchi: I've started a new job. So doing that whole settling in thing has been very fun and stressful and exciting and nerve-wracking.

[0:39] Quincy Brown: Yes, but do you—well, I don't want to ask you if you like it, because I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty. Are you making friends?

[0:47] Kevin Bianchi: But I am loving it. I am making friends. Everyone is very fun and cool and nice.

[0:52] Quincy Brown: Yeah, it's been amazing. It's just been like a huge adjustment. So needed to take a little breaky break from the pod.

[1:00] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. That being said, I feel like we have been inundated with Wicked news, theater news, all the good stuff.

[1:10] Quincy Brown: It's been so much. And we needed to come back. And honestly, Kevin, I feel like this is the perfect way to like get us back into our groove because, yeah.

[1:18] Kevin Bianchi: We love a recap.

[1:19] Quincy Brown: Just doing this again. It's been fun to be back on mic with you.

[1:22] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Uh, Quincy, so much has happened. So I think yes, we have to go back and start with we went to see one of Talia's last performances and saw McKenzie Kurtz. What were your feelings? Because it was both of our first time seeing Talia, right?

[1:39] Quincy Brown: Yeah. I was super excited that we got to see Talia in before she ended her contract. I would like to say that Talia was giving me such Julia Murney vibes as Elphaba. And I can't put my finger on why, but it just felt very akin to me.

[1:56] Kevin Bianchi: And I also thought it was very cool to see one woman who is on one of her first performances and the other is on one of her last because it felt very fresh. And I felt like we were on—because we had just gone to Talia's 54 Below concert, so it did feel like we were on this closing out journey with her.

[2:15] Quincy Brown: Did we see her last performance?

[2:17] Kevin Bianchi: No.

[2:17] Quincy Brown: No. We went on like a Wednesday or something.

[2:20] Kevin Bianchi: It was one of the last though.

[2:21] Quincy Brown: Okay. Yeah. And then also, you kind of touched on it. Seeing McKenzie Kurtz's Glinda scene, actress who has never played Glinda before.

[2:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[2:29] Quincy Brown: In one of her first performances as Glinda was a really cool experience for me.

[2:33] Kevin Bianchi: I agree. And I thought she was so good, Quincy. I liked her so much. I kind of want to go back and see her now.

[2:40] Quincy Brown: I was like gaffawing at—like you sat next to me. She had me in the palm of her hand. I thought she was so good.

[2:47] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. If you had to guess, no one wants the Wicked Glinda, popular Glinda, or thank goodness Glinda.

[2:54] Quincy Brown: I do think that her popular had a special sprinkle on it for me because it felt a little chaotic in a way that I feel like it has had the reins on more recently.

[3:07] Kevin Bianchi: She is a crazy girl, Glinda.

[3:09] Quincy Brown: Yeah, she had fun. You know, like she was that girly that we all went to college with. You know what I mean? One wrong word away from a meltdown at all times.

[3:19] Kevin Bianchi: It was beautiful. I felt it deep in my bones. I felt so seen. I thought she was great. But then she does hit you with that thank goodness, and the vocals were there.

[3:30] Quincy Brown: I hope we get to have her on the podcast at some point.

[3:32] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and I hope we get to see her again at some point because we did see her very early on, and it was good. It was like a very strong, strong performance, especially for someone who was brand spanking new to the role.

[3:42] Quincy Brown: It had such a sense of um like self. Like it already had her stamp on it, I feel like. It was really impressive.

[3:50] Kevin Bianchi: But yes, I would like to go back because I want to see Alyssa too. And it is interesting. I feel like at least I'm mentally getting in this. We're so used to having Elphabas and Glindas get to be principal on Broadway and having done it before in some iteration that that kind of just feels like what needs to happen in order to get a really great performance or a really like locked-in character portrayal.

[4:11] Quincy Brown: So it was so refreshing to see McKenzie, again, who is brand new, give such a stellar performance. And I was like, oh. And give choices. Let's have fun with this, ladies.

[4:20] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Like she came in, like I said, I mean, I think that history will remember her Glinda. Because it feels—it just feels like she's doing a new thing, like her own thing with it. I don't know. It feels really cool. I'm excited to see her again.

[4:35] Quincy Brown: Yeah, and it was great to see it opposite Talia, who, as you mentioned, have been doing it for so long, and it'll be great to see her do it. I think it's a cool dynamic to have a seasoned Elphaba, especially now that she's opposite Alyssa Fox with a brand spanking new. That's kind of a cool—from like a casting perspective. If you think about the actresses, it's a very cool dynamic to introduce.

[4:52] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, so you've seen—I hope you've seen—if you haven't, go see the videos that we had of Laura Bell Bundy singing A number one popular and B number two, a Legally Blonde mega mix.

[5:06] Quincy Brown: Going into the afternoon, were you expecting to hear Laura Bell Bundy to see Laura Bell Bundy perform popular?

[5:12] Kevin Bianchi: No. I'm sure like we had an inkling that Legally Blonde was happening. I mean, you one would expect, right?

[5:18] Quincy Brown: I was not expecting popular. And what a specific treat for me personally. It should be told that this event that we were at, we were there because it was an event in support of a musical called Dear Mom, I'm Gay.

[5:34] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. Who among us haven't said those words?

[5:37] Quincy Brown: So yeah, so we went to this event, we heard some songs from the show, and Laura Bell Bundy was there because she like was a mentor to the playwright or something like that. Like she did a class with him or something, and she sang one of the songs from the show.

[5:52] Kevin Bianchi: And she gave us like full—

[5:53] Quincy Brown: And then she continued to sing others.

[5:55] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she—but she gave us like full emotional performance. She committed to the song from this Dear Mom I'm Gay musical. Real tears at 3 p.m. at a matinee. And it did feel special because like there was probably—there was probably like a hundred—under a hundred people in the audience. Like it was a really special afternoon for us to have bore witness to.

[6:16] Quincy Brown: Agreed. Agreed. Anyways, the reason why he got on that tangent is because when it came time for Laura Bell to sing popular, it was a—it was like an auction item. It was like have Laura Bell Bundy sing popular to me. And they did a live auction in the room, and I'm sitting with Kevin, and I was like, Kevin, we should do this so she can sing popular to you. It feels very perfect. How incredible.

[6:36] Kevin Bianchi: I honestly wanted it to happen. There was like a moment where I was like, we could go splitsies on this, depending on how this bidding goes. You know what I mean? I'm okay, because then we got to like fully take in the performance.

[6:48] Quincy Brown: It was great. It's also funny because Laura Bell goes, sit in this stool, I'm gonna stand here, you know what to do. And the woman goes, No, I don't actually, I don't even know the song, which gagged us.

[6:59] Kevin Bianchi: Gagged. The whole audience was like, no.

[7:02] Quincy Brown: And then Laura Bell goes, Oh, it's great. It'll be like a real scene. Like you'll be able to react in real time, which was very funny. She was—Laura Bell's a very funny lady. She can host a concert, that's for sure.

[7:11] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. And so then it gets to the part with the flower and the hair, and Laura Bell says, Look at you, you're beautiful. And this lady is just like sitting there nodding. And then Laura Bell like leans in and goes, Now you leave the stage. And it brought the house down.

[7:28] Quincy Brown: It was great. It was so cool to see Laura Bell get her Glinda on. I mean, first of all, to see that performance from The Wicked Vault is insane.

[7:36] Kevin Bianchi: Agreed. I never thought in the year 2023 I would be watching Laura Bell Bundy perform Popular Live.

[7:41] Quincy Brown: Not—you could give me a thousand guesses if you asked me last year to predict what I would be watching this year. Nary a guess that one of them would be Legally Blonde and Popular, sung by Laura Bell Bundy.

[7:54] Kevin Bianchi: I will say though, Quincy, the—I think because this scene partner was not familiar with the source material, we did go straight to the flower pinning. And you and I both know that if it had been me, I would have gone right into this is never going to work. And we would have done the full toss toss of it all.

[8:13] Quincy Brown: Which really would have benefited, I think, the entire concert as a whole, which again I go back to you should have done it. Imagine.

[8:20] Kevin Bianchi: Because she would have been thrown too. She was not expecting to do the book scene.

[8:23] Quincy Brown: Right.

[8:24] Kevin Bianchi: She would have been gagged. If you got Laura Bell Bundy to do the toss-toss, oh my god.

[8:28] Quincy Brown: I'd be gay history.

[8:32] Kevin Bianchi: Next time. Would have been worth the coin. So, anyways, she did popular, was not expecting that. That alone made it worthwhile.

[8:40] Quincy Brown: Then she gives a Legally Blonde mega mix, which is like all the hits from Legally Blonde, minus the title song. Because why? The title song was her encore finale performance.

[8:50] Kevin Bianchi: And we talked about Real Tears earlier. Laura Bell Bundy gave real tears for Legally Blonde, the title song from Legally Blonde the Musical.

[9:00] Quincy Brown: She tapped in.

[9:01] Kevin Bianchi: Tapped in like she had a matinee the day before, you know, right back where she was.

[9:06] Quincy Brown: And I didn't get to see Legally Blonde live on Broadway. So that was a real treat for me. Also, the voice is there. It's exactly where it always was. She sounds incredible.

[9:17] Kevin Bianchi: And we got to hear so much of that, like that like Laura Bell like push into the note. What was the line that she does?

[9:24] Quincy Brown: Where it's like she like—yeah, she like chucks it up there.

[9:27] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, that's exactly it. She just throws it. And it always lands.

[9:32] Quincy Brown: Yes, that was so great. So thank you to our friends at Dear Mom, I'm Gay the musical for inviting us.

[9:39] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, who I believe they begin performances this summer. Check them out.

[9:42] Quincy Brown: Mm-hmm. Yes, this summer. Is it time to switch gears into all the hubaloo that's been going on?

[9:49] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah. So much has been happening, and I'm catching—like, I'll just open my phone and be like, oh my god, what is going on? And I'll catch glimpses of things that are happening.

[9:57] Quincy Brown: People keep saying it's so exhausting being gay. Like the last three days have been exhausting.

[10:04] Kevin Bianchi: Well, here's the thing. I am begging the Wicked movie to slow it down. I cut to me, like begging them to speed it up. With these leaks, I cannot have something new coming out every single day because it is exhausting and too much to keep track.

[10:17] Quincy Brown: Here's so much to handle. Here's what I have to say about that is like it does feel like a lot, but I think it's because it's been nothing for 20 years, and now it's like here's so much in three days.

[10:31] Kevin Bianchi: So I think that's part of why it feels like a lot.

[10:35] Quincy Brown: Or—like four days, whatever it's been. So I think that's part of it. I think the other part of it is like, I think they probably knew that the Daily Mail was gonna run these pictures on Monday, and that's why we got to see the costumes on Sunday.

[10:52] Kevin Bianchi: Like that just felt very conveniently timed or very appropriately timed.

[10:56] Quincy Brown: Yes and no, though, because to me, if you get the tip that those photos are being released, like those outdoor photos, why release those like indoor Kyamako photos?

[11:05] Kevin Bianchi: Well, here's why—here is my answer to that. It's because those are the two costumes that are gonna have to film on that set. Because they have to film the house down scene, and so all these drones that are flying over the set are gonna see those two costumes, and so Wicked showed them to us first.

[11:23] Quincy Brown: But we got a different costume yesterday.

[11:25] Kevin Bianchi: No, it just had a crown, it was the same dress, the pink one.

[11:28] Quincy Brown: Is it?

[11:29] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[11:29] Quincy Brown: I think it's another pink dress.

[11:35] Kevin Bianchi: No, it's the same dress.

[11:36] Quincy Brown: I'm a hundred percent positive.

[11:38] Kevin Bianchi: What is all this hubaloo I'm seeing online about people being concerned that they're putting Glinda in all pink throughout the whole movie because we've now seen two pink dresses of Glinda?

[11:48] Quincy Brown: I don't know, but those people are wrong because it's one—it's one dress. It's crazy how confident you are in this.

[11:54] Kevin Bianchi: Quincy, I've spent more time thinking about this in the last three days than I care to admit.

[12:00] Quincy Brown: It's definitely the same dress.

[12:03] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, going off of your theory, then like does that mean we're gonna get a Cynthia leak at some point? Because that's crazy to me.

[12:09] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Okay, something about seeing Ariana Grande leaks and Ariana Grande in costume, and we'll get to it, but hearing Ariana Grande sing, something about that feels okay and fine and right to me.

[12:20] Kevin Bianchi: Because I don't want to see a leaked photo of Cynthia Erivo. I want to see a proper—

[12:23] Quincy Brown: But we like establishing all of the clues together in that one video that was like a drone video, you could see people like practicing or like choreographing with a broom and a wand choreographing the catfight scene, the house down scene.

[12:42] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, then see, this conversation is making me—Marcia, Marcia, Marcia posted on her story.

[12:48] Quincy Brown: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.

[12:51] Kevin Bianchi: If you are in England, blah blah blah. Do not post any video, do not post any photo. They're making something special, like we don't want to see it. And I was kind of like, I don't know if I agree with that because I was gagging over this like Ariana Grande video.

[13:03] Quincy Brown: But if I see leaked footage of that catfight scene or something, that's too much. Like I don't need to see all of that soon.

[13:09] Kevin Bianchi: Maybe that's gonna be—I hate to fan the flame. Maybe that's gonna be like a nighttime shoot, and so they'll— it’ll be less visible. Because like that scene could be at night, right?

[13:21] Quincy Brown: I don't know. I don't want to get into all of that.

[13:23] Kevin Bianchi: Well, no, because it happens right after Glinda is like talking to Dorothy and her gaze. And that happens during the day canonically.

[13:32] Quincy Brown: You're right.

[13:33] Kevin Bianchi: Right?

[13:33] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Look at me, dramaturgy.

[13:36] Kevin Bianchi: Come on, dramaturgy.

[13:38] Quincy Brown: God. But yeah, so that is my theory is that those are the two costumes that stand to get leaked, and so that's why we got to see them ahead of time.

[13:47] Kevin Bianchi: I really am not okay with seeing any leaked photo video of Cynthia Erivo.

[13:53] Quincy Brown: No. I wonder. I wonder if she'll film that scene, like just like in her normal skin, and they'll post the do the green and post for that.

[14:06] Kevin Bianchi: Oh, okay. So I did want to bring this up. Someone did DM me and was like—someone, my friend DM'd me and was like, Do you think they're painting Cynthia Erivo green every day, or do you think they're gonna do it in post? What do you think?

[14:16] Quincy Brown: Well, okay, so I did—I have like her answer to this because she's been on her film festival tour recently, and everybody's been asking her about Wicked. I saw her at some point say that she is getting the green paint every day because she felt like it was like part of it for her.

[14:35] Kevin Bianchi: I get that. And in this same clip, she said she was very involved in the process of like figuring out like how Elphaba looked on her.

[14:47] Quincy Brown: Now that we've seen how Glinda looks on Ariana, I'm excited to see how Elphaba looks on Cynthia. But I want it in a controlled way. I don't want to see it like drone footage of the—I don't. Because I'm also like that Elphaba reveal needs to be an Elphaba reveal. It cannot be a shitty, grainy video. No, it has to be, it has to be triumphant. But it's funny you say that Cynthia was saying that about Elphaba because I last night was watching Ariana do these for her REM makeup brand. She does these old style YouTube Q&A videos where she's like doing her makeup and answering questions.

[15:19] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[15:25] Quincy Brown: And someone asked if Glinda is wearing REM in the Wicked movie. And she goes on this tangent about how she worked really hard with the makeup designer and she didn't give any prescriptions like we must use REM or anything because she really wanted her and the makeup designer to find Glinda on her and blah blah blah blah blah. And even hearing her get so heady about this character she's playing got me so excited. Like I can't wait till Ariana Grande is doing the movie press tour because that's just gonna be so fun. And I'm also wondering if she's gonna keep her Ariana Grande public personality press shtick that she does, or if she's gonna go like Lady Gaga Star is Born press route where she like becomes very serious actress vibes. Ugh, I can't wait to see how this turns out.

[16:08] Quincy Brown: Another thing I wanted to talk about was this isn't what Ariana's gonna look like as Glinda, like these photos and stuff that we're seeing is not what Glinda is going to look like in the movie because imagine all the CGI that's gonna happen.

[16:20] Kevin Bianchi: Well, yeah, and it's also like right. Imagine, like I yeah, I've been seeing so many people saying like that it looks kind of—there, you know what I mean? Like it's the bubble itself, it just looks like a thing, and it's like obviously that's not—you know what I mean? Like it's not just a cherry picker, like I'm—there's more to it.

[16:43] Quincy Brown: What do you think they're gonna do for the next year and a half? They're just like, oh my god. Okay, done. The bubble looks great. Like, of course, there's gonna be more. Like a costume perspective and everything. I think the dress is gonna be augmented technologically, or her look is gonna be augmented, you know what I mean?

[17:02] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, I love the little details on the dress. One of the little details on the dress is there's little bubbles on the seams at the bottom. And I love that idea of like maybe there's just gonna be like bubbles kind of like floating around her at all, like that she just has bubbles that follow her. It just is beautiful.

[17:22] Quincy Brown: Well if she doesn't come in one big giant bubble and she's just like kind of floating on bubbles vibes.

[17:27] Kevin Bianchi: I love that.

[17:28] Quincy Brown: Like she takes a step in the air and a bubble appears, and then she takes another step in the middle.

[17:33] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, because I also think from a movie perspective, I understand the Wizard of Oz movie exists. It's like I don't love the look of just like a woman in a giant bubble for a movie, you know.

[17:43] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah.

[17:43] Quincy Brown: It's like Glinda spends so much time in the bubble delivering so much important, you know, context that like I kind of like it being more open-faced, and maybe I'm just tied to how it is on Broadway.

[17:54] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[17:55] Quincy Brown: When I see the movie, I'll get over it. Maybe it's gonna be like where like the bubble of it is kind of like, um, like a—not a door, but like she stands in like the part of it we've seen, and then there's like a bubble that goes over her while she's traveling, and then she pops the bubble and comes out. I don't know. I'm grasping at straws.

[18:14] Kevin Bianchi: Let's talk about the Cynthia photo that we did get though, because we have gushed over that because Ariana has been so in the zeitgeist right now. Before we move on, I love that picture of Elphaba. Like I know we can't really see Cynthia the way we could see Ari.

[18:33] Quincy Brown: Well, I mean, let's say, can we really see anything in either of these photos?

[18:38] Kevin Bianchi: I refuse to comment on this.

[18:41] Quincy Brown: It's like they're dark. We can acknowledge that they're dark photos.

[18:44] Kevin Bianchi: They're dark photos.

[18:45] Quincy Brown: It's not good or bad. It's two frames out of what will surely be four hours of movie. Like people are getting their—it's obviously purposely darkened though.

[18:54] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, they're trying to—ambiguity's sake.

[18:56] Quincy Brown: Right. They're trying—they're not trying to give us everything. I love that picture of Cynthia as Elphaba because it feels like such a recognizable moment. Like that image of Ariana going up the stairs. It's like you can't really place that to an exact moment in the show. That's kind of why I liked it better than the Cynthia one. It communicated more about to me, I think about what this movie is going to be slash look like than that classic Elphaba image we got of Cynthia, because like I could have, if I had to envision an image of Elphaba that we were gonna get, it would probably be that.

[19:32] Kevin Bianchi: You're right. One thing that is interesting, because I know you and I—I'm not sure if you've talked about this on the pod, but you and I have like discussed like what the hair situation is gonna be with Cynthia. Do you want to talk about your interesting insight that I saw you tweet, but we haven't talked about it?

[19:45] Quincy Brown: Yeah, because okay, thank you. So speaking of the hair, and speaking of both of them working so closely with the hair and makeup teams. In these leaked shots of the Munchkin Land set, there is this like big propaganda painting of Cynthia Erivo as the witch, and it says, "Beware the wicked witch." And it's very clearly meant to like—it's not supposed to be a flattering picture.

[20:11] Kevin Bianchi: Right, right, right.

[20:18] Quincy Brown: But in it, she has no hair, like no visible hair to us. And I just think because we had just previously seen an image of her with hair, and then this you don't see hair, and Cynthia famously wears her hair buzzed and or bald. I just think it's a possibility that Elphaba may follow suit at some point in this movie. What that did bring up for me is imagine we get a scene, Kevin. Cynthia Erivo, buzzer in hand, let all laws be agreed. I'm wicked through and through.

[20:59] Kevin Bianchi: Not while she's singing.

[21:00] Quincy Brown: Oh my god. Can you imagine?

[21:05] Kevin Bianchi: The gag.

[21:09] Quincy Brown: That'd be kind of iconic, and it feels very cinematic to be doing that kind of shit. Quincy, that's an inspired idea. I like wasn't even thinking of it in that way.

[21:18] Kevin Bianchi: But do buzzers exist in Oz? Like, is she gonna—

[21:20] Quincy Brown: I don't know. Do bubbles exist in Oz? Like whatever they want.

[21:28] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, the whole set is like mechanics. There has to be buzzers.

[21:33] Quincy Brown: Sure. I don't know. I also think there'd be something really cool about like because Glinda kind of like does a makeover on Elphaba's hair. And so then it would be very cool to then see her shed that. Like Glinda quote unquote like fixes her hair in order to make her more appealing to people. And so then, yes, it would make beautiful sense for her to be like, okay, you want me to be a witch? Fine. Here, look how I don't have pretty Glinda hair anymore.

[22:05] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah.

[22:06] Quincy Brown: I don't know. I mean, it actually does really, really work. I think it would be really cool.

[22:10] Kevin Bianchi: I think it could be really cool.

[22:12] Quincy Brown: Interesting. I don't know. It's a fun theory meant for fun. Is it time to talk about the singing of it all that we heard today?

[22:21] Kevin Bianchi: Mm-hmm.

[22:22] Quincy Brown: Here's the thing. You and I have been on the right side of history and have never once doubted Ariana Grande in this role. And have, I would say, actively and publicly championed her.

[22:34] Kevin Bianchi: Cheerleaded.

[22:35] Quincy Brown: Yeah. Cheerleaded. Today we got leaked footage of her singing "No One Mourns the Wicked." First, well, the first thing I saw was like the distant video footage. Which also I'll say, thank God this movie is filming in the UK because I would be camped outside of that set every single goddamn day if it was in the US.

[22:55] Kevin Bianchi: Oh my gosh. Same.

[22:56] Quincy Brown: Like it's so—anyways. We got video from a good Samaritan who recorded, and goodness knows the by Miss Ariana Grande, and it sounded 10,000 times better than that.

[23:10] Kevin Bianchi: It did.

[23:11] Quincy Brown: It sounded so beautiful. Initial reactions. So I push play. And goodness, and I was sold. I was like, perfect. Oh my god. It's so every syllable, crystal clear. Understood every word. Everyone's saying she has in no—

[23:29] Kevin Bianchi: Okay, I will say it once, once and only once for the record on this podcast. Pop is a style of singing, not a voice type. And so any voice with the correct efforts and training can sing any style that it wants to. Let it be shown in the record. May the courts reflect that Miss Ariana Grande has a spectacular voice. Perhaps one of the voices of her generation, inarguably. She has a voice that is capable of many things. Whatever you throw at her, she catches it and she throws it back. I cannot wait to hear how she sings the rest of this movie.

[24:16] Kevin Bianchi: Can I read a tweet thread that I thought—

[24:18] Quincy Brown: Yes?

[24:18] Kevin Bianchi: I mean, you just said it correctly, but I think this like extenuates your point. Um, it's from @FeelTheHeath. I hate to be that guy, but it is truly insane to me how shocked everyone seems to be about how exquisite Miss Grande sounds on contemporary theatrical music. The instrument is and always has been undeniable, and it is specifically right for contemporary musical theater. All the affect that goes into her pop music is so obviously an affect LOL. From the jump, it was like, baby, this is gonna be the best and most appropriately sung movie musical of the movie musical Renaissance without question. This movie is absolutely gonna be competent as fuck and might even be, who knows, great.

[25:02] Quincy Brown: I endorse every syllable of that.

[25:07] Kevin Bianchi: It was really thrilling to hear Ariana Grande hear this voice that you've like I've grown up with and like you listen to and everything, but hear it doing just like musical theater proper.

[25:20] Quincy Brown: Yeah, no pop.

[25:21] Kevin Bianchi: Like it was just like it was so impressive to me that yes, she was able to like get rid of all the pop affect and just truly do a straight up legitimate performance of this song. We've heard like 30 seconds of her singing it, but like that is all I need. And I think that's all the general public needs to leave her alone for the rest of this movie campaign.

[25:42] Quincy Brown: Yeah, let her work. It's really like really impressive. And she's gonna turn me into a Glinda girl with this soundtrack, which is crazy to me. But like, when was the last time? Maybe I'm talking to the wrong person, but when was the last time you just turned on "No One Mourns the Wicked" to listen to the chorus, you know?

[25:57] Kevin Bianchi: I do wanna say though, speaking of turning on the cast recording, is I love Ariana's vocal performance, what we've heard of it has little Kristen Chenoweth fingerprints all over it. Like you can just tell that she has listened to that score and internalized that cast recording her whole life.

[26:19] Quincy Brown: Which is beautiful and I love. I will say what I don't like is being born out of that discourse. Is I'm seeing a lot of chitta chata about how she's just doing a Kristen Chenoweth impression because she's so good at impressions. So oh my god, this whole performance is just gonna be a Kristen Chenoweth impression. Which I'm like, what a crazy place to go on this first day that we get 30 seconds of her singing a Glinda song, and you're just gonna start that up. It's insane.

[26:45] Kevin Bianchi: I know.

[26:46] Quincy Brown: And also, what a compliment that that second video that got released with her like singing along to her recorded tracking. And it's like kind of echoey, yeah, yeah.

[26:54] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, and everyone's like, this is just a Kristen Chenoweth track that she's singing to. And I'm like, guys, first of all, you're proving our point that she's doing so well and so impressive that you think it's Kristen Chenoweth.

[27:05] Quincy Brown: I know.

[27:06] Kevin Bianchi: TMRI, she sounds so good. It was a little upsetting to see some people trying to like already reduce this incredible moment. And also, I do think these leaks are planned. I think this is all kind of in like in the Wicked movie's cards to be disseminating out into the public. And this was a brilliant, like this audio of Ariana singing was a brilliant thing to leak, especially this far out from the movie, because you have won the general public over. You have squashed for the most part all of that negative conversation about oh, is she gonna be able to sing this in the way that like it needs to be sung, blah blah blah blah blah. And now it's just like everyone is championing her and on her side for the rest of this rollout, which might I remind you is another year. Almost three years. Just support these girls. Like they are filming this movie for like a hundred and forty days.

[27:56] Quincy Brown: That being said, I don't want to see a leak of Cynthia Erivo.

[27:58] Kevin Bianchi: Same, keep it to yourself for now.

[28:00] Quincy Brown: Same, Wicked movie.

[28:01] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, cover the set.

[28:03] Quincy Brown: God, anything else? And all to say, like, we're coming back with more regular episodes. I'm getting more into the swing of things with work, so I'm feeling good about doing this. We'll see you all very soon with your regularly scheduled content.

[28:16] Kevin Bianchi: Yes, we will.

[28:17] Quincy Brown: Alright, if you listen this far, please do a rating, a review, a like, a follow, send us to your friend, and um we'll clock you next time.

[28:26] Kevin Bianchi: Bye!

[28:26] Quincy Brown: Bye, Quincy.

[28:31] 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 Abbotangelo, 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 ScentMenPod 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 ScentMenPod. Thanks for tuning in. Till next time, I'm Quincy.

[29:12] Kevin Bianchi: And I'm Kevin.

[29:24] Quincy Brown: Keep it to yourselves.

[29:27] Kevin Bianchi: But if it's out there.

[29:28] Quincy Brown: But if it's out there, we'll talk about it.

[29:29] Kevin Bianchi: Yeah, yeah, yeah.