This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:18] Heather Bedor: I know we're still gonna jam out to our elevator track.

[0:21] Amber Brzezinski: I know.

[0:22] Heather Bedor: Uh, it's growing on me.

[0:23] Amber Brzezinski: It grows on me every week.

[0:25] Heather Bedor: It's drawing on me in some weird way.

[0:27] Amber Brzezinski: I love it.

[0:27] Heather Bedor: Last week I had my headphones that don't want to work, and this week you have your new ones.

[0:32] Amber Brzezinski: So yeah, yeah.

[0:34] Heather Bedor: Um, I can hear my voice.

[0:36] Amber Brzezinski: I'm so burnt out from this weekend.

[0:39] Heather Bedor: Um, my voice is on full burnout.

[0:41] Amber Brzezinski: So you guys get this.

[0:42] Heather Bedor: I get like the dark, mysterious, echoey halls of my mother's house today.

[0:47] Amber Brzezinski: And I get the dark, grungy, like smoke 20 packs of cigarettes a day voice today.

[0:53] Heather Bedor: It's fantastic.

[0:54] Amber Brzezinski: I'm so ready for it.

[0:55] Heather Bedor: And you sound wonderful.

[0:57] Amber Brzezinski: Happy freaking Monday.

[0:59] Heather Bedor: Happy Monday.

[1:00] Amber Brzezinski: It was like a crazy weekend.

[1:02] Heather Bedor: I don't even feel like I had a weekend.

[1:05] Amber Brzezinski: What'd you do?

[1:06] Heather Bedor: Well, I was dog sitting, so I like didn't get home until Saturday night at like super late.

[1:12] Amber Brzezinski: So I only had like Sunday.

[1:15] Heather Bedor: And I got called into dog sitting like a day early because of like a crazy situation that happened.

[1:22] Amber Brzezinski: So I like lost the whole day and like it just it just was really hectic for me.

[1:28] Heather Bedor: Well, I'm glad that you're okay. I um, my weekend was a complete blur because I went over, I was hosting panels at Tampa Bay Comic Con.

[1:36] Amber Brzezinski: So I had six trivia shows just have three celebrity panels that whittled down to two.

[1:41] Heather Bedor: Um, but it was Melissa Joan Hart, who we would sit there and the three of us would talk for about 500 hours.

[1:48] Amber Brzezinski: And then Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting the My Big Fat Greek Wedding reunion panel with Joey Fatone, who I've known forever, 24 and a half years.

[1:58] Heather Bedor: Um, and Nia Vardellis, um, who wrote, directed, produced everything My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and it was her very first con, it was her very first panel, and she was just a delight.

[2:09] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and then I was supposed to interview Don Most, Anson Williams, and Henry Winkler for the Happy Days reunion yesterday.

[2:16] Heather Bedor: And Henry Winkler at the last minute was like, I'm gonna host.

[2:18] Amber Brzezinski: And I was like, Oh, okay.

[2:20] Heather Bedor: But I had the wonderful delight pleasure moment of my life.

[2:25] Amber Brzezinski: I can now say, if I want to email Anson Williams, I can freaking email Poxy.

[2:31] Heather Bedor: Like, come on.

[2:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, but I will tell you why.

[2:37] Heather Bedor: We became fast friends. He and his wife are putting the show, they're bringing it from California to New York.

[2:44] Amber Brzezinski: It's called Crazy Mama.

[2:46] Heather Bedor: Um, his wife actually is a playwright of it, he's producing, directing it.

[2:50] Amber Brzezinski: Um, they're bringing it off Broadway, so it'll be really interesting, and um, I'll keep you posted.

[2:56] Heather Bedor: But speaking of off-Broadway, um, I know we kind of talked about this a little bit last week, but I have been honored to be able to be brought on to the creative team as publicist for a new brand new show uh called Nothing Like Broadway.

[3:10] Amber Brzezinski: And I somehow convinced the mastermind David to come join us today.

[3:15] Heather Bedor: He's sitting in the Bat Cave backstage uh virtually because it'd be weird if he was sitting at my mom's house here in Florida.

[3:23] Amber Brzezinski: Um, but we're gonna bring him on. He's gonna look way better than both of us on camera because he used to do this for a living and teach people, and we'll get into that.

[3:30] Heather Bedor: So um, if you guys would like to put your hands together, we can't hear it, but come on and put your hands together, give a warm welcome to David Rackoff.

[3:39] David Rackoff: Hi, hello, hey guys.

[3:42] Heather Bedor: See, I told you you look like a model, like if like this is how you should look on a podcast or a zoom or anything virtual.

[3:42] David Rackoff: Well thank you, you flatter me and thanks for having me on the show.

[3:42] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, no we're so happy to have you here. I'm gonna get super creepy and dark right now apparently and we're gonna be fine but we're happy to have you um I can't wait to dive in umber and I have some pretty good questions I've been on a roll you know I I have had the pleasure of asking you all the fun selfish questions about like Wonderland wars and your history that way so we'll talk way more about that but do you want to join us in for some Broadway news right now?

[4:23] David Rackoff: Yeah for sure.

[4:24] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, you uh you ready to go into some news? I'm gonna see if I can find better lighting so I'm gonna completely turn my camera off right now but you guys can still hear me um I mean I'm still doing my thing but I'll I'll news while while I go I can multi cast because I am that girl you know what I mean.

[4:23] Heather Bedor: Yeah, you're you are that kind of girl for sure so let's see if that lighting helped okay let's just talk about what's been on everybody's list and everybody's mind and that is Jesus Christ Superstar.

[5:07] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah yeah okay so I have a question actually we have answers my feeds are completely taken over by clips and Jesus Christ Superstar yeah just is that are are people who are not theater people aware that this is going on at all?

[5:22] David Rackoff: Probably not.

[5:23] Amber Brzezinski: I think they have to be.

[5:25] David Rackoff: Like, I think because like John Stamos, like okay, fair.

[5:30] Amber Brzezinski: I will say the individual stars who are in the show, their following flying them, but also think about it.

[5:35] David Rackoff: John Stamos, theater guy, Bye Bye Birdie, and everything else.

[5:40] Amber Brzezinski: Josh Gad, poor Josh Gad getting sick the day before.

[5:45] David Rackoff: But he got better.

[5:47] Amber Brzezinski: I know it.

[5:48] David Rackoff: But I would hope that these people, maybe some of the Lamberts came over that didn't go to Cabaret, whatever, but I don't know.

[5:56] Amber Brzezinski: Because I always noticed the algorithm I came across one a couple weeks ago that was like, no, this sound bite is not actually viral just because you're so far down the theater rabbit hole.

[6:06] David Rackoff: And I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense.

[6:08] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I guess that's what it must be, but I'm just like, there's so much from so many different places.

[6:13] David Rackoff: Yeah, it's it's exciting. I'm it's really funny because I moved here from LA uh about six years ago, and it's like whenever that happens, it's like, wait, we should be getting the good stuff here.

[6:23] Amber Brzezinski: Why what's I know?

[6:25] David Rackoff: I'm jealous.

[6:26] Amber Brzezinski: I'm so jealous of the West Coast getting this like amazing Ken Davenport is taking a cue from us and trying to start a petition.

[6:34] David Rackoff: Did you see this?

[6:35] Amber Brzezinski: He's trying to petition for them to do a pro shot.

[6:38] David Rackoff: And I'm like, no, no, we should petition to have them be at the Palace Theater.

[6:43] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[6:45] David Rackoff: I mean, that theater's massive.

[6:47] Amber Brzezinski: Do it.

[6:49] David Rackoff: Yeah, but I mean, it's just like brilliant.

[6:52] Amber Brzezinski: I love, I just love the concept of like the gender-bent Jesus.

[6:56] David Rackoff: Like, I just think that's brilliant.

[6:59] Amber Brzezinski: I I I didn't think people were ready for it, and I I think it was beautiful.

[6:59] David Rackoff: I think it was a beautiful choice.

[7:06] Amber Brzezinski: I think she did amazing.

[7:13] David Rackoff: Oh, hi, I this the conspiracy theories are awesome.

[7:17] Amber Brzezinski: I'd be morbidly curious your thoughts.

[7:21] David Rackoff: Wait, what's the conspiracy theory?

[7:23] Amber Brzezinski: Go on, Amber.

[7:24] Amber Brzezinski: Like, I just read like some crazy things, like, oh, you know, this is a sign of the devil.

[7:34] David Rackoff: People know that this is actually, you know, really quoting Roald Dahl's The Witches.

[7:40] Amber Brzezinski: Quoting Roald Dahl's The Witches because like her long fingernails and her bald head.

[7:48] David Rackoff: Like, it's just so ridiculous.

[7:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[7:52] David Rackoff: Yeah, I mean, I I don't even, I mean, I don't know that they initially were like, we want to do a gender-bended thing.

[7:57] Amber Brzezinski: It's just like Cynthia Erivo is so fucking good.

[7:59] David Rackoff: We thought it's right.

[8:00] Amber Brzezinski: You can absolutely curse.

[8:02] David Rackoff: Absolutely.

[8:02] Amber Brzezinski: You can fucking curse.

[8:03] David Rackoff: You're fine.

[8:04] Amber Brzezinski: All right.

[8:05] David Rackoff: Fuck yeah.

[8:05] Amber Brzezinski: Um, yeah, Cynthia Erivo is just so good that, like, what wouldn't be better?

[8:09] David Rackoff: What role wouldn't be better with her in it?

[8:11] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[8:12] David Rackoff: Right.

[8:12] Amber Brzezinski: Seriously.

[8:13] David Rackoff: And I've been watching the vocal coaches on socials because you know they like analyze everything, and they are losing their minds over Adam Lambert.

[8:20] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[8:21] David Rackoff: Oh.

[8:21] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my god.

[8:22] David Rackoff: And I I watched this whole thing where he went from this like head voice to this growl to this chest to the and brings it up, and then they said he was masterfully navigating his vocal range from like, yep.

[8:35] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, he just seems so comfortable.

[8:37] David Rackoff: Like wherever he is, crazy high notes.

[8:40] Amber Brzezinski: And like when I saw him in Cabaret, I was a little worried he was gonna overdo the crazy high notes, and he did not.

[8:46] David Rackoff: But even without that, he still has like a really special, beautiful voice.

[8:49] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, but then when you get him and he has like just comfort zone, and it's just like ratcheted up to 11, it just sounds like it's a good one.

[8:55] David Rackoff: I mean, he's Freddie Mercury reincarnated.

[8:57] Amber Brzezinski: Like, let's be real here.

[8:59] David Rackoff: I'm like what a fun choice to have him in like super he's he's a really tall guy so to have him in platforms and then flats so it just makes this you know crazy crazy dichotomy of their heights which is just like I agree for sure.

[9:14] Amber Brzezinski: So but yeah I mean I it might I can't say it's uh on the regular general public's algorithm it's sure on ours.

[9:14] David Rackoff: Yeah all right what's next Amber um I mean is there anything else really going on yes masquerade there is there is yes masquerade did start their first uh did has done their first couple of performances the reviews have been rolling in it is talking about Andrew Lloyd Webber having his Andrew Lloyd Webber moment unlike any experience that I have from what from what people are saying they're saying that it is an experience unlike any other it is both unsettling yet moving yet captivating and I am just so happy that people get to have this show in this way because it means so much to so many people.

[10:15] Heather Bedor: And when she says and when I say that Heather I I was like specifically pointing Heather oh David heard David's heard yeah um yes I'm going Wednesday um it is New York restaurant week this week, so we are going to the Russian.

[10:34] Amber Brzezinski: Oh yeah, and I think it's the last week too.

[10:37] Heather Bedor: Um so directly across the street from where the production is, they have the Russian tea room.

[10:44] Amber Brzezinski: So in our full masquerade gothic ball gown moments, we're gonna all have dinner at the Russian tea.

[10:52] Heather Bedor: Oh cool.

[10:52] Amber Brzezinski: That's fun.

[10:54] Heather Bedor: Uh for sure.

[10:56] Amber Brzezinski: But I'm all about like theater and obviously, but like experiencing theater is I am sure.

[11:02] David Rackoff: Shout out, David.

[11:08] Amber Brzezinski: It's okay.

[11:09] David Rackoff: All right.

[11:10] Amber Brzezinski: Hey, I'm burnt out, all right.

[11:12] David Rackoff: It's not as bad as during the My Big Fat Greek Wedding um reunion.

[11:16] Amber Brzezinski: I was talking about Joey, and I've known Joey forever.

[11:19] David Rackoff: Like I I can literally say anything to his face and he won't react in a bad way.

[11:23] Amber Brzezinski: And I was like, yeah, when you came out, and I was referring to his character in the movie, but it was that cheeky little moment.

[11:32] David Rackoff: And so he sat there and for about five minutes, was being Joey Fatone coming out of the closet, and it was fantastic.

[11:39] Amber Brzezinski: So yes, um, Cheyenne, thank you for the breaking it.

[11:43] David Rackoff: I hope Masquerade gets extended.

[11:44] Amber Brzezinski: I have to see it in New York City, isn't exactly right around the corner for me.

[11:48] David Rackoff: She forgets that I'm coming up from Orlando to do this.

[11:53] Amber Brzezinski: This is my Orlando month.

[11:55] David Rackoff: So it'll be fine.

[11:57] Amber Brzezinski: It'll be great.

[11:58] David Rackoff: Um, but yeah, so also there's some cool stuff happening this week.

[12:03] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and David, you're more than welcome to join me um if to any of it if you're available.

[12:08] David Rackoff: So I'm going to go see Thursday.

[12:11] Amber Brzezinski: I was invited to go see Rolling Thunder with my dear friend Justin Sargent, um, over in New World Stages.

[12:19] David Rackoff: And so Wednesday afternoon, Hamilton is having their massive Hamilt10, their 10-year reunion show.

[12:26] Amber Brzezinski: Did not get a ticket to that, but Thursday, Hades Town is celebrating the 2000th show or the 3000th show.

[12:37] Heather Bedor: And um, the Broadway Fan Club podcast, we will be there live from post curtain call, where they're going to be doing very special events to celebrate and commemorate.

[12:48] Amber Brzezinski: So stay tuned for that.

[12:50] Heather Bedor: But some cool stuff happening, including things in me and David's world with Nothing Like Broadway, because we just finished essentially doing some casting calls.

[13:00] Amber Brzezinski: You want to go and chill out a little bit, David.

[13:02] Heather Bedor: Give some people give us the elevator pitch because this is your baby.

[13:07] David Rackoff: I mean, I could talk about it all I want, but it comes so well from you.

[13:11] David Rackoff: So Nothing Like Broadway is a four-person uh off Broadway musical, and it is about what happens when uh it takes place all it all takes place in the tiny theater that we are actually doing the show in, and it's what happens when our meek lighting booth guy, who actually runs lights for the show, uh dreams of being on stage and falling in love and saving the world.

[13:32] David Rackoff: And the events of the show are what happens when two rival super spies both decide independently from each other to hide out in the theater posing as cabaret singers.

[13:41] Amber Brzezinski: And so the Amber's like it makes all the sense, yes.

[13:45] David Rackoff: Yeah, exactly. Um, and it's basically um it's a four-person show for four four band members, four actors, all acoustic, and it is really about like just what it feels like when you're 12 and like the touring musical comes to your town, or you your family takes a trip to go to New York, and you're just sitting in the audience and you're just like so excited.

[14:05] David Rackoff: The orchestra starts to tune, and you're just like losing your mind. That's what the show, the feeling of this show is like watching that.

[14:11] David Rackoff: It's sort of recapturing the magic of theater.

[14:15] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's like it has sort of an again, a little bit of nostalgia nostalgic feel.

[14:19] David Rackoff: Uh, all the songs are like, I mean, I don't want to say all the songs are, but like none of the songs are like the sort of in-between songs.

[14:25] David Rackoff: It's all like big ballad, catter song, comedy song.

[14:28] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[14:29] David Rackoff: Like everything is like the thing that's like your favorite song from a show.

[14:32] David Rackoff: Um, yeah, so that it just gives you that feeling of like sitting and being like, like when you're like a little kid watching Les Mis and like on my own comes on, and you're like, yay, it's this one.

[14:41] David Rackoff: And so that's what I want. That's what I want the feeling of the uh show to be.

[14:45] David Rackoff: Yeah, is it's just that excitement of theater, and then you're also, you know, watching a story and watching the underdog.

[14:51] David Rackoff: And it's a show that doesn't take itself seriously, like it has fun with it.

[14:55] David Rackoff: It's not like campy, but it is like self-consciously aware that it is in a musical and that they're in a theater, they're literally in the theater as the set for the show.

[15:03] David Rackoff: It's very immersive because it's it's just it happens to be happening in front of you.

[15:07] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and you're the audience is the audience.

[15:09] David Rackoff: And if if bad things are happening on a global scale, uh, they're happening to the people in the audience in the world of the show.

[15:17] David Rackoff: And uh, yeah.

[15:18] David Rackoff: So I have I have the website up, which very informatively and smart movement before it was even brought onto the team.

[15:27] David Rackoff: Um, you have some of the music loaded onto it, which I think is fantastic.

[15:32] Amber Brzezinski: Um, should we share a clip?

[15:34] David Rackoff: Do you want me to share from one of my favorites called You Only Love Me for My Belt?

[15:39] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, please, yes.

[15:40] David Rackoff: Yeah, um, this is not the cast.

[15:42] David Rackoff: This is not the cast that's gonna be in the show off me.

[15:44] David Rackoff: This is from some uh nightclub events that we've did around the city.

[15:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, and also, guys, make sure you check out the website for yourself.

[15:52] Amber Brzezinski: Um, at the end of the show, we'll also release again the promo code.

[15:55] Amber Brzezinski: It'll be good for 50% off door viewers.

[15:57] Amber Brzezinski: Uh, but if you go to nothinglikebroadway.com, you'll be able to check that out.

[16:01] David Rackoff: Let me go ahead and share this page.

[16:03] David Rackoff: Um, Amber's gonna be cracking up the entire time.

[16:06] David Rackoff: I promise.

[16:07] David Rackoff: Because it's so good, but the music is so freaking good, and I want to talk more about that in just a moment.

[16:13] ♪ Musical number: "You Only Love Me for My Belt" — performed by David Rackoff ♪

[18:10] David Rackoff: Alright.

[18:11] David Rackoff: We're gonna keep a mystery alive because is this so good?

[18:14] Amber Brzezinski: Do you want to do you want to give some context behind that song?

[18:17] David Rackoff: Yeah, so that is uh Kishka, who is the lascivious, devious Russian spy who is hiding in the theater, posing as a cabaret singer, and her Probably what I would do since I am Russian, I would probably if I was a Russian spy, I'd hide in the theater.

[18:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[18:33] David Rackoff: Yeah.

[18:41] David Rackoff: And so, like that's you know, there's other reasons that they the two spies choose to hide in the theater, but mainly it's just because they are both like total musical theater nerds.

[18:50] David Rackoff: Like we said this before, like it's a show by musical theater nerds for musical theater nerds about musical theater nerds, yeah.

[18:56] Amber Brzezinski: If you're a theater nerd, which everybody listening in or watching in as 100% go see the show.

[19:01] David Rackoff: Yeah, yeah, please.

[19:03] David Rackoff: Um yeah, so anyway, so her lament is that uh even though she is this beautiful, vivacious, sexy woman, uh, everyone who is attracted to who is drawn to her uh is a certain kind of gentleman who only loves her for her fabulous belt mixing voice.

[19:18] David Rackoff: And so, yeah, so it's basically about how all of her fans are gay fans, and so she is, you know, playing to the crowd in the audience, lamenting about how her husband and all these other men in her life just really adore her for her fabulous belting voice.

[19:31] Amber Brzezinski: Of course.

[19:31] David Rackoff: I compare it to the tongue-in-cheek of For the Gays from Death Becomes Hard.

[19:35] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's it's yeah, it's it's in that same area.

[19:39] David Rackoff: I wrote it years before that, but yeah.

[19:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, well, no, you you were the original one.

[19:44] David Rackoff: I'm not saying that I'm just saying yeah.

[19:45] David Rackoff: Um, but um, but yeah, and uh oh yeah, so we were asking about casting.

[19:50] David Rackoff: Yeah, so last week uh we had our EPAs, and what EPAs are it's equity principle auditions, and so if you're an equity production, as we are, you have to have a certain number of days.

[20:00] David Rackoff: We had to have three days of um EPAs.

[20:03] Amber Brzezinski: Equity has very specific rules, right?

[20:06] David Rackoff: Yes.

[20:07] Amber Brzezinski: We love we love you, equity.

[20:08] David Rackoff: We're not saying no, it's not a bad thing.

[20:10] David Rackoff: We're promoting equity.

[20:11] Amber Brzezinski: No, no, we're saying good things, only good things about equity.

[20:14] David Rackoff: The rules are there for a reason, and we appreciate that.

[20:17] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, um, but yeah, so it was it was three days of every every 20 minutes they bring a bath to it, and they they're they're sort of running it, like we're there, but they're like they were telling us when we could go to the bathroom, literally, like equity.

[20:31] David Rackoff: Um, and so every 20 minutes you have eight more people come in.

[20:33] David Rackoff: No, you have six more people come in, just nonstop.

[20:35] David Rackoff: And so, like if you get a couple minutes behind, the room starts to fill up, uh, the holding room starts to fill up, and so you really try to keep it moving, and um, yeah, it's a lot of this amazing talent in New York, obviously, but it's just it's just really exciting to see, and just say like you know, you're just taking notes seriously the whole time.

[20:52] David Rackoff: Uh, and then we had our callbacks on Friday, and we have um, yeah, we're we're sort of we're still.

[20:58] Amber Brzezinski: There's a couple of things falling into place, and they will be announced soon.

[21:02] David Rackoff: Yes, yes, yeah, but it's really exciting.

[21:04] David Rackoff: It's it's um just like when you have especially because in a show like this where there's only four roles, so each of them have like multiple solos, duets, everybody has like comedy stuff and big belty stuff.

[21:16] David Rackoff: It's like finding, you know, there's not an infinite number of people, even equity, even in New York, who are like funny and belty, and you know, I mean, like it's yeah, so like uh yeah, like Bixby the uh British sort of like James Bond, but a little bit uh incompetent.

[21:32] David Rackoff: But he has to be like hunky, but also have just a really huge, gorgeous kind of operatic voice.

[21:40] Amber Brzezinski: We'll just put it that way.

[21:41] David Rackoff: You right?

[21:41] Amber Brzezinski: I think so.

[21:42] David Rackoff: Think like Nick Adams, hunky but has a carrying voice and a character to it too, yeah, and be like and be funny and be able to do a patter song, which not everybody, I would say most people are not great at doing patter songs, and those who are all don't have like a big legit uh tenor voice, but anyway, but we are the person we found is amazing, and um I'm just so excited to uh yeah, yeah.

[22:05] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I had to explain to my mother we were driving back.

[22:08] David Rackoff: Um, I was in Tampa for the con.

[22:10] Amber Brzezinski: Mom came out to visit, we were driving over to a restaurant, and I was trying to explain to her about patter and what a pattern song is, and I was just like, it's when they did did it.

[22:21] David Rackoff: Like there's a rhythm and a rhyme to it, and I was trying to explain like different songs trying to actually play the song from the shows so you could understand.

[22:27] Amber Brzezinski: Um so it's always fun to get now.

[22:29] David Rackoff: Let me ask you this.

[22:31] David Rackoff: Um, I kind of already know the answer, but with your original well, with your profession that you used to train people how to look proper from the camera or you know, host a proper Zoom, when you were hosting the auditions, you did allow some real submissions, correct?

[22:47] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[22:48] David Rackoff: So now do you look at it from a different eye?

[22:52] David Rackoff: Are you like looking like now?

[22:53] David Rackoff: Like I'm already upset that it's so dark, but I had no other choice right now.

[22:57] David Rackoff: But even so, so let me because this is something that I'm sort of aware of people and and and if anybody in the world is gonna be like caring about what your lighting and your sound and your technical stuff is on a video self-tape, it would be me.

[23:11] David Rackoff: And I do not at all.

[23:13] David Rackoff: Like when we're looking at actor submissions for reels or for like other film stuff I've done in the past, you just don't care at all.

[23:20] David Rackoff: Like you as long as you're just wanting to hear them.

[23:23] David Rackoff: Yeah, as long as you can see their eyes and hear their voice, it does not matter.

[23:27] David Rackoff: A plain background, your wall with some stuff on it, like whatever.

[23:30] David Rackoff: Like as long as it's not inappropriate, weird stuff.

[23:33] Amber Brzezinski: For there's my favorite, we had a video submission for show that's working on.

[23:36] David Rackoff: There was like a bottle of jack that was open and cracked it, and I'm like, oh, okay.

[23:42] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I guess that's like a sort of confession in

[23:46] David Rackoff: Yeah.

[23:48] David Rackoff: It's like a crack for help almost.

[23:48] David Rackoff: Like the trash is like a mound over there, but I think it's my former like camera coaching clients will probably be annoyed to hear that, hear me say that, because with them, I'm like super super fussy about like what their lighting looks like, what their background looks like, all the other things that that you need to worry about.

[24:05] David Rackoff: I'm not here right now, I'm not a client with actor self-tapes.

[24:09] David Rackoff: Um, it just it doesn't matter at all.

[24:11] David Rackoff: As long as we can see your eyes and hear your voice, doesn't matter.

[24:15] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[24:16] David Rackoff: Well, that's good.

[24:17] Amber Brzezinski: See, it's important, guys.

[24:18] David Rackoff: But if you do have any questions, there are people out there that can help make you look good.

[24:23] David Rackoff: Um, but it's more about sounding good and connecting with whatever video recording device that you're using because that is technically your casting director, so you have to have that direct vision, you have to have that connection instead of just performing to a blank slate, kind of dead eyes.

[24:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, but it's just the normal you want to be, you know, on a self-tape, you want to be looking if you're you know spotting off camera or if there's someone reading with you off camera, you know, you want to have a connection, you want to be reacting to them.

[24:52] Amber Brzezinski: Even though we can't, as the auditioners, we can't see them, you should still be just as you would be on stage alone in a monologue, you're still reacting as much as you are acting, and so you need to do that in your self-tape.

[25:04] David Rackoff: But as far as like, you know, even just like even the hassle of like going to set up like a blue background, like yeah, I don't care.

[25:11] David Rackoff: Like, who cares?

[25:13] David Rackoff: I have friends that'll set everything up, or they'll rent out there's like the newest fad um since COVID really, especially in New York City or in California, is that there are studios that will rent out studio space and they're like $300 for an hour.

[25:27] David Rackoff: This makes me insane. I've literally never talked to anybody in the industry whose reaction to that is not like, "What are people?" Like, there's just, I mean, I guess it makes you more confident as an actor, but like that is just seems like go take another voice lesson, go, you know, go work with an acting voice. Yeah, you shouldn't have to rely on fancy rehearsal or studio space of any sort. No one's saying you do, like nobody on the casting side of this is saying that that's a good idea. That is just like, it would be like if like somebody started a business—sorry, if you were out there and you have one of these businesses, you still come to see Nothing Like Broadway, but for everybody else, it's even more so starting a business with like gold-plated headbands for auditions that'll, that they're like, "Oh, that the gold plating will make it," or they're not gold plating, solid gold, that'll make you audition better.

Like it's not like billy out, like ear seed beads and stuff like that for the nausea or to like use this crystal in your right pocket. There's nothing wrong with it. Like, like if that's what you need to believe in it, it's not gonna really, it's not really gonna help. And if that, if that is like your placebo thing, right? Like if that's your Dumbo feather, great, but you do not need to do that.

[26:38] Amber Brzezinski: Dumbo feather, oh, that's the best reference.

[26:41] David Rackoff: That is the best reference. My goodness. And it's, you know, it's funny you say Dumbo because I was gonna start talking to you about what you did with Greggson, Harry Gerson Williams. And I think Dumbo, and then I think fairy tale characters, and then I think he wrote Shrek and Darnia like music, which is insane. Um, so you've surrounded yourself, and they've surrounded themselves with just really key people that know what they're doing, and I think that's fantastic. And you have a brilliant mind when you're coming to writing. We were talking about this last week about with Nothing Like Broadway, the songs are like perfect, perfect rhymes, a perfect this. Do you want to go over your method for that for a moment?

[27:26] David Rackoff: Yeah, so my, this is just my personal ethos and also kind of bias is I think that, um, I, and I have gotten in trouble for people for saying this, but I think that all rhymes should be perfect rhymes, everything should scan exactly perfectly, as everything did in like Rogers and Hammerstein times. Uh, and for some reason now we've sort of let that go a little bit because pop music, it's not that important, and a lot of Broadway stuff has become more poppy, right? But I just, the craftsmanship of writing, it's not just writing lyrics, like scanning it involves the music and the lyrics and how they fit together. But I just feel personally very strongly in everything I do, at least, is gonna have a hundred percent perfect rhymes, hundred percent perfect scans, the songs are gonna help tell the story, they're gonna go from point A to B to C to D. Um, I just think that's really important because when I'm in the audience of a show, it really, I mean, there's a lot of technical reasons that perfect rhymes are something that helps the audience take in a show.

But I just, I really appreciate that. I mean, think about like your favorite Sondheim score. You know, most of the rhymes you're not aware of because they're so subtle and they're coming by quickly. But there's something fun about, yeah, I mean, there's definitely parts of that where you're really aware of the rhymes, sometimes you're not, but they're never fake rhymes, and the scans are always perfect, which is really, really important.

[28:42] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, does everybody know what I mean by scan? Is that, should I be explaining what that is?

[28:45] David Rackoff: You can if you'd like. I mean, we have some new theater people.

[28:50] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, okay. So the scan is basically that music has places where things are more stressed and less stressed, and sentences and words have places that are more and less stressed. And so the ideal, the goal when you are writing songs is to have those stresses line up exactly the same because in a musical, the lyrics are dialogue. And so however you set those lyrics is how they're gonna come out of the actor's mouth. Right. And just in the same way, like right now, if I were saying, like, um, uh, Amber, do you want to go to the store? You'd be like, you would just, you, it would take you aback, right? And you would, you'd be able to figure out what it meant, but it would take you a second to be like, "Are you okay, David? Like what happened?"

[29:33] David Rackoff: Yeah, like why do you work? Do you want to go to the store? You would, you know, in a musical, you wouldn't. The wrong syllabus.

[29:43] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. Wasn't there, I swear there was a Brady Bunch episode about this.

[29:43] David Rackoff: Really?

[29:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, I'm gonna have to find it right now. But yes, go on.

[29:51] David Rackoff: All right, yeah. Uh, but anyway, so, so it, because musical theater is theater and it's drama and lyrics and song, you know, the song vocals and lyrics are dialogue. Uh, if you don't have the lyrics stressed exactly as they would be in real human speech, it's gonna sound weird and it's gonna take you out of the moment so that when you're watching this story, you're gonna be both having trouble understanding what some of the words are, uh, and some of the, you know, what therefore is some of the characters' motivations and what their goals are and what all the subtlety and the nuance of the subtext and people arguing, uh, you're gonna have trouble getting that because songs come at you at a pace.

Like it's not like when you're reading a book where you can go back and reread a sentence, it's coming at you at whatever rate it's coming at you. Right. And so, yeah, so I think it's really important to have things be scanned perfectly when you are writing a song in musical theater, not in pop, but in musical theater.

[30:41] David Rackoff: My brain goes to "Modern Major General" because it's patter, but it's that very deliberate stop and many ginger gender, but it's still that emphasis and that, that's that stop.

[30:53] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, especially so when you have like bigger, like one of the things that's really fun with scanning is when you have bigger words instead of just lots of little words. But like, um, uh, I am the very, I am the very model of a modern major general, right? Like modern major general. If that wasn't stressed right, it would be very hard to understand, and it just wouldn't be like that little, like the little delight, the little thing like in your brain somewhere that gets tickled by modern major general.

[31:18] David Rackoff: A little tingle, yeah.

[31:19] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, like you wouldn't have that if, um, it wasn't, you know, set exactly perfectly and if the rhymes were pretty much perfect. And so you don't, so a lot of times with certain shows, they won't have like comedy songs or definitely not patter songs because you kind of need a technical lyric nerd. Um, and the composer also should have an ear for that, but it kind of, it's both of both of them are in charge of how everything fits together, but it really is kind of the lyricist who is the one who is like the main lookout for having everything scanned right and like comedy, like, you know, comedy is all about timing and so if the words are said wrong, like imagine telling a joke with the syllables stresses on the wrong syllable, it would just be like, you know, like imagine like Kate McKinnon but every, not as part of the bit but with mispronouncing words all over the place, it would take you a minute to be like, "What? Oh, your brain has to play."

[31:36] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, and then you're like, "Oh, that was a punchline, oh, okay."

[31:36] David Rackoff: Yeah, and same thing with comedic delivery, like the lyrics are kind of like the material and the music is kind of like the delivery and so like you're building in the comic timing into the music and so that's all part of the scan is how like are you, do you want to pause before the punchline? Do you want the punchline to come on the beat? Do you want it to be a one syllable punchline so that it really does come right on the beat or do you want it to be multiple syllables? Yeah, so it is, so there's a lot of different things that go into that for me that's really important, um, stuff that I sort of just think about and obsess about.

[31:36] Amber Brzezinski: I gotta appreciate that.

[31:36] David Rackoff: Yeah, I appreciate that and you're well educated too. You did the NMI program, um, and you're working through workshops like you were very much on top of it and refining your tool continuously and I think it's important.

[33:02] David Rackoff: Yeah, I just, um, yesterday because we were basically about to go to the printers with the final script final score, so I'm just doing all of my like last minute, yeah, like formatting and making all the music look pretty and that's like a whole nightmare in itself, um, but yeah, there's a couple of lyrics that were like, I don't know, I just like thought were sort of fun that they were slightly askew, and then I was just like yesterday, I'm like, "Wait a minute, no, everything's gonna, I'm like gonna figure out the phone, put it down, walk away." No, no, no, no, no, no. I was, I was like, "No, no, David, you're not having this guy, like it was intentionally slightly askew, stress-wise, like a charming sort of way, maybe," but then yesterday I was like, "No, David, fix this, make it, yeah, just everything should be a hundred percent perfectly set, every rhyme should be rhyme."

[33:57] Amber Brzezinski: Immediately.

[33:58] David Rackoff: Right. And you can find out more information on the website, nothinglikebroadway.com with the promo code, nothing like friends. I'm gonna keep doing this. This is fun. I love running.

[34:06] Amber Brzezinski: Um, when you, like we can use Nothing Like Broadway as an example, or just like any new piece in general. Do you like to start with like a specific like character in mind? Do you have like a story, or do you have like a piece of music? Like, what's like the first piece of it that you like to like start with that kind of makes it all come together for you?

[34:35] David Rackoff: Yeah, so it's like really good. So normally, I mean, most of the time with musicals, you're adapting something, whether it's a short story or a movie or a play or, uh, you know, whatever. Uh, Nothing Like Broadway is totally original, it's not based on anything. The book, music, and lyrics are all, and so where I started with this is I had been working on finally new. Do I? Yeah, yeah, very few things are like not based on anything. I think for good reason. Like it, it's, it's really scary to just be out there, you know, blowing in the wind, trying to because musical theater is normally like an adaptive medium, so to just be starting it all match, it's real hard and real hard. And there are people very much in the industry who are like, "No," and I'm not gonna name names, but I can later, um, who are like, "No, you should 100% use IP that's already known because it makes it easier to sell a show."

[35:25] David Rackoff: No, some of us want new songs. Yeah, but even just creatively. I mean, if you think back to the 40s and 50s and 60s, it's still almost any musical you can think of as an adaptation of some kind. Something, yeah. Um, but yeah, so with this show though, I had worked um on as book writer and lyricist on a couple of other shows that were not big, but a little bit bigger. And I was like, "You know what? And we had trouble getting it past a certain stage, and I was like, 'Okay, I'm gonna work backwards. Like, how small can I make something? Like, how big and creative can I be with like the least resources with like newest cast, least set, uh, least you know, least expensive set." So I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna work backwards from that."

So then I was like, "Okay, so I started to think about the stories that I wanted to tell and the sort of world that I wanted to live in." And I had been, the last two projects that I'd worked on were like heavy drama, like very emotional, heavy drama, which I enjoy, but my background is kind of comedy and like, you know, like, like, you know, like real fun musical theater stuff.

[36:22] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and so I was like, "You know."

[36:23] David Rackoff: You have to be really good to write comedy though, and people think it's easier than writing something that's more of a drama, but you have to understand exactly what you're doing to be able to get that reaction.

[36:33] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I'm hoping, yeah, hopefully, uh, hopefully I am, hopefully I am in that kind of thing. No pressure, no pressure. Oh my gosh. But that was where I started. I was like, "I want to just think it's funny. I want to do something that has like patter songs all over the place. I want comedy songs all over the place, and I want it to be like the magic of like, like I want to be aware that I'm in like the things that I love about musicals, and that as a kid I loved about musicals and having just moved to New York, you know, like six years ago, but when I started writing it, it was a couple years ago. Like, I want to just be in that like where you're sitting in the audience and of a new show that you don't know anything about and you are like, you know, all the questions that you're asking like the opening number is literally someone in the audience asking all the questions of, um, you know, about like what are the sets like, what are the other, how are the lyrics good, um, you know, uh, uh, do the notes kind of teeter then they peter out too soon, do the words fit the meter and the meter fit the tune like that's the, um, you know, that's part of the opening number so all that kind of like theater stuff, uh, I really wanted it to be and then I was like, "Okay, how big, how grand can I go?" and then I was like, "All right, what about how big could you go like world, you know, world annihilation potential in like a global crisis?

Can we like start from the lighting booth?" Then I was like, "Okay, lighting booth guy who's actually running the lights of the show who's like dreams of being on stage and falling in love and saving the world can we go from that which fits with our teeny tiny concept to our grand nuclear missile pointing at the theater? Like is there a way to make that work and then how do you make like a farce kind of a thing with like some secret identity and like a big reveal of a, you know, happen with only four characters and um, I mean we will see on September 14th if we achieve that but that was the, we will or will we? You should come check us out and see if we can, I don't know, we'll see but yeah, yeah and I like fun small clever stuff.

[38:23] David Rackoff: Yeah, but like that's still really ambitious artistically. No, that's super fun. I love that. Yeah, it's really important, like, and as Cheyenne said, Cheyenne is with us every show she can be here, and she said, I've always heard it's harder to get the laugh. So I mean, it's important because you have these deep moments and you have some like, I want to say serious topics, but you have relevant topics within the show and within this world, but you presented in that classic nostalgic going to theater as a kid, excitability, and like it's kind of like a kid in a candy store for theater nerds. Like, yeah, like it doesn't matter how old you are. When the orchestra starts to tune, you're 11 years old freaking out inside, sitting there with your popcorn, not popcorn necessarily, but candy or whatever, or just sitting there like ready, and then the curtain raises, and you get, I still get this overwhelming sense of emotion of like I'm gonna cry.

Am I gonna cry? What am I like as a curtain raises because you just are ready for it and that impact and that shared moment with the audience? Being on the audience side or being from the show side, it's just this swelling emotion. So it's really important.

[39:34] David Rackoff: While I was dog sitting, I didn't have much technology access because I was in the woods of Connecticut. Um, so I spent approximately 95% of my time listening to the strip through Rose's turn on the new Broadway revival album, and just like listening to it over and over again, just like feeling that moment because like man, is that just like something? And like you guys were saying, like it's just that moment you get like it, it's just a dark. When was the most recent time that you've had that moment besides our show? Have you seen a show that gave you that woof moment where you're just sitting kid in candy stores?

[40:30] David Rackoff: Oh yeah, okay. So okay, so I mean Operation Mitsume, I like freaked out over leaving the show. That's the most I've excited I've been leaving a show, but I didn't know anything about it. I like almost nothing about it going into it. I probably the most like when like the lights going down and it's starting with old friends, the Sondheim review. I was like when that was starting and like the lights are going down, I was just like I can't believe it's happening. Oh my god, and then you have like that big beautiful like metal scroll work, the sheet music. Yeah, and then like and then then gypsy. I mean the gypsy overture, you know. I mean, that's come on, yeah. You know, what overture beautiful.

I think, gosh, I mean I've pretty much since my concussion last year, I become much more emotional. So I just like tear up randomly, but I think realistically, maybe have the ending like during that show just was very impactful. But there's been other shows where I'm just like, whoa, like what did I just and one of those shows is Stranger Things, which is crazy because I'm a musicals girl, I am not a straight play girl, but I was sitting on the edge of my seat, leaning forward and just the entire time, just completely jaw open, like in shock because of just how effective and like I like the show, but I'm not this diehard fan. But how effective it was and the young cast performing and just lead guy is so good, I forget his name right now, but uh Louie McCartney.

Yeah, yeah. And yeah, he came out stage door. The cast came out stage door while the house was loading up, and Louie came out and he's this tiny thing, and you know, obviously he's wearing a wig. Spoiler alert, he's wearing a wig on the show. But he came out and signing autographs, and everyone's like, Do you think do you think that guy is gonna come out? It's like, oh the uh the main guy, Louie, and I'm like, he just signed your poster like five minutes ago. Oh my god, he did. Oh my god, and the kids, the kids over there were like, Yeah, mom, I told you that was him. Like kids are more suited and it's great, but such a sweet cast and such a great show. I don't I rarely go see shows more than once unless I'm really like in it for it.

Like cabaret, that's probably my most emotional one. Because I've I've that wow, I won't get into that tangent, but um, yeah, it just is impactful moments. But when you're there and you're having those experiences and you just don't know where it's going from there, I think it's so important. But to create that feeling of like it's your first time seeing theater or something to that effect, it's just really important.

[43:11] David Rackoff: Yeah, I had one, um I mean it's it's a couple years ago now, but uh the merrily long overture. Um also because that's like I ever started for decades, and like I and I didn't know until after the show was over that they really had like finally fixed it. Um, but like, but that overture is just great no matter what. Right. And so when that started, and just with the hope of like, did they fix like this? We're like one of the best scores ever, and yet it's a show that apparently or no, I've seen it a couple times, it doesn't really work. Um, but then they and then and you're just sitting there and like all that hope, and like literally decades of like yearning that like please make this show work somehow.

Like also, like as a songwriter, it's like if you can't, and it's it's a hundred percent true, but like if you have one of the best scores ever, but the show doesn't work, like that is such like a humbling thing. Like that's sometime, you know, like yeah. Sondheim one of the best scores ever, but the show doesn't work. Like it's just like oh, like that up and doesn't equate.

[44:12] David Rackoff: How do you feel about the Pro Shot coming out in December from Merrily? Oh, I'm excited. I mean I'm looking forward to going, I mean 100%, yeah. What's the what's the downside of like what would the what with a conversation? I don't think there is a downside. I don't know. Because you're asking it like as if it was like a controversial, and I'm like, oh no, I mean there are people who throw a fit about a pro shot because they say it doesn't have that magic of theater. And Amber and I always trust, and you and I have had these talks about making theater more accessible and it's so important to look at that. And the show's just it's also the burnout in my heart, and you know everything sounds snarky and sarcastic.

But no, I'm just curious. We love pro shots and slime tutorials when they're a mean it's like it's one thing like with Wicked, because it's you know, it's still running, I guess. And historically, when a movie like you know, Fiddler on the Roof or something comes out, it sort of often means like the show is gonna be closing soon. Like Merrily was limited run. Yeah, it's you know, I saw it live, I'm gonna see it in the theater.

[45:04] David Rackoff: Yeah. So there are people that I think I've well talked about on the show before, but um with Wicked, there are people that will go to Wicked and leave it at her mission to not ruin the second movie. Oh like Yeah, yep. And I'm waiting for the second movie to come out and people not coming until intermission. Yeah, throw your money away, people. Throw your money away. Go support the show, go sit down and watch the whole damn show. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, well, they should sell the second act of their ticket on like the theater app. Right. Right. For sure. Just like half half half price tickets for half the show. For half the show for sure. Yeah, I would buy a cheap ticket to see the second act of Wicked.

Like well, people used to like second act shows all the time. Like you can't really do that anymore. Yeah. Do you remember the trick? No. So and it was it was also featured in a movie that came out in the early 2000s. So you used to be able to, when you left the theater, you get like a smoke break and stuff. I never smoked, but my friends did it when they were in the city. You'd leave and you'd go in, or and they wouldn't check the tickets because it was a simpler time back then. Um so people would walk up when it was intermission, just walk back in with the smokers and find an empty seat and sit and watch.

[46:19] David Rackoff: Oh, yeah, yeah, no, that that yeah, that's yeah. Um, once in my life, and it was a long time ago. Naughty boy. It was uh it was in um I think it was in Tampa, I think I was living in Florida at the time, and uh it was the tour of Cats, and I was like, I've seen it a couple times. I'm kind of I've kind of outgrown it, but like I don't know, I wouldn't mind seeing Memory. So I was and I was happening to be in the area of the theater, so I was like, see if I can do that. And so I just kind of did it. It's amazing. Then I did it. Why not? Yeah, what why not? Um that's hysterical. Um I have a fun story about uh Cats that I had actually happened to me yesterday, but you brought up Tampa and I want to talk about that.

The videos that are featured on the website um for the nothing like broadway.com. That reading was done at Stageworks in Tampa. Yeah, not the video. The video that we just watched was was from uh just the cabaret in the city, but most of the main ones were done. Yeah, it's Stageworks. Hi Carla Hartley. Um in uh Tampa, yeah.

[47:21] David Rackoff: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Clearwater, Tampa, St. Pete area. Well, it's so strange because Tampa seems to be like this new launching point, like the boy who loved Batman saw that last year working with Michael Ouslin. And it's it was in Tampa. And that's like the world premiere area because the Straz Theater is just gigantic and beautiful and amazing. Love them over there. Yeah. I remember when it was the Tampa Performing Arts Center. We would that was where we would go. Like half the references in the song Nothing Like Broadway in the title song are like either from like our family coming to New York or like the Straz, which used to be called the Tampa Performing Arts Center.

[47:54] David Rackoff: Yeah. So and you know, I'll interject here and and put you on a spot to tell the simple story if you if you may do so. Um can you tell us where the title came from? Because I love the story behind it of nothing like Broadway. Oh yeah, okay. So well, I mean a couple things. So I've so first of all, it's just the sort of dichotomy of of the the double meaning of you know, there's nothing like Broadway, Broadway's awesome, and also like this is nothing like Broadway, you know, like my life is nothing like Broadway or our shows, you know, if you want to be self-deprecating, isn't nothing like Broadway. So it's the double meaning of that. But then are you talking about like where the you're talking about like the sort of yeah, okay, so when I first moved to the city, I was it was a show that I was doing was having uh stage reading, a musical that I was I'd been the lyricist and book writer on, was doing a stage reading here, and so my parents had come to see it and uh with like an orchestra and everything, and then they were gonna hang around the city for a little bit more for a couple more days, but I had to like do stuff and we they weren't sure what my schedule would nobody was sure what my schedule was gonna be exactly.

And so they wanted to go see like a show with me, but they're like, you know, we don't want to go see like one of like the big shows that we know we want to see, because then if you know we're not gonna want to see it, and then if David wants to see that too. Right. And I was like, just go see what you you know, I I don't know what my ideal is. But then they were like, okay, we're gonna see something that we've never heard about. So they were just like looking through the TKTS or like you know, whatever online, and there was a show that had like a catchy title. Like, is it mean to is it mean have they like tell like what the show was? No, all right, I don't know. Uh so there's it was a show called Musical that was like a sort of musical to musical.

It was a news-based, yeah, um, off like almost off off Broadway. Yeah, and so anyway, so that's what they decided to go see, because they're like, we've never heard of it, but also like David probably won't want to go see it. And I was like, how was it? And they're like, We hated it. And I'm like, yeah, like I mean, because my my parents are very sophisticated theater goers, like they've been, you know, and so like they're on their honeymoon, they went to Broadway and saw like you know, seven shows in six days. That's but like I was like, why did you guys go like why did you think you were gonna like this show? Like, they're like, I don't know, it just seemed like a fun title, and it seemed like it wasn't gonna be too weird, you know, it would be something that was a little bit off a little bit off shelf.

At least it wasn't puppetry of the penis, because that would be awkward. Right. But like that's clearly if I you know they would they would see that they would be like that's not for like at least they know what they'd be walking into at that point. So that's like Broadway, uh like I liked that the title is like you know, you get that it's like for like theater kid grown-up theater kids, but it's also like you know, if you're a tourist and you don't want something too crazy, this will still be literally tells you this is nothing like Broadway, yeah.

[50:35] David Rackoff: But it's in, you know, with like the fonts and everything, you sort of get that it's like it's not gonna be so crazy. If you bring a 12-year-old, they're gonna have a good time. If you bring a seven-year-old, they're gonna have a good time. If you're like a theater, you know, so it's it is a tourist-friendly show. So if it does draw some people in, just with the fact that, like, I'm not sure what this is. Oh, there's a logo. Um, you know, I'm not sure what this is, but you know, it seems like a safe enough choice. It is, but also that if you're like a total theater nerd, you'll get like the references in the, uh, the font and in the style of the drawing. Yeah, yeah. For sure. It's just an exciting time, truly. Um, very cool. I think it's an opportunity. Do we have any more news that we want to talk about? We've got 10 minutes left of our show.

[51:20] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I mean, there's like a little bit of news. We'd had, uh, today's the first day of a new administration.

[51:29] David Rackoff: Yes, it is.

[51:30] Amber Brzezinski: Go on.

[51:31] David Rackoff: She's just chomping at the bit to talk about it.

[51:33] Amber Brzezinski: Chomping at the bit.

[51:35] David Rackoff: Um, we have new cast members and oh Mary. Uh, we have Jinx Monsoon, uh, Michael Uri, Jen Harris, and Kumail Nanjiani as Abe Lincoln, uh, Mary Chaperone, Mary's teacher, and Mary's, respectively. And I'm just so excited to hear what they're gonna do with the roles, because, uh, first off, like Bianca Lee was in the role from the beginning as Mary Chaperone, so it'll be very exciting to see someone new as well.

[52:10] Amber Brzezinski: Changing as a girl, essentially, yeah.

[52:12] David Rackoff: Yeah, absolutely. And Jinx has just been, you know, striking gold with like everything she touches lately. So we'll, like, I just can't wait to hear how she does as Mary Todd Lincoln. It's gonna be amazing.

[52:27] Amber Brzezinski: It'll be very interesting. What do you think, David? Have you had the opportunity to see O'Mary or yeah?

[52:32] David Rackoff: I saw it with, um, okay, what's your name? Um, not with Cole, Scroll out with, um, Betty, yes, Betty Gilpin, yes. Yeah, um, yeah, no, I really enjoyed it. Like it was really, like, I just, it was really, really funny, really clever and interesting. Um, Betty Gilpin was great. Like she was really coming at it from like a dramatic actress kind of place where she was like basically like act like, uh, very close. She was like real crying, basically, like or holding back tears like the whole time in like a really real way. Um, yeah, and I really, I wanted to see it with Titus Burgess. I just didn't quite get to. I don't want to see it with Cold Scrolls too.

[53:10] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[53:10] David Rackoff: Um, like the whole, all the stuff at the end, I don't want to spoil anything, but like the last, you know, 10 minutes with Burgess, that would have been something, would have been something else for sure.

[53:22] Amber Brzezinski: For sure. I mean, almost, it almost might not be the point that they're trying to make, because it is something you'd want to see doing that, doing a cabaret Vegas show.

[53:29] David Rackoff: Right, yeah.

[53:34] Amber Brzezinski: That's fair. My god, I just love Titus so much. I got the opportunity to meet him, um, when being positive when Kimmy Schmidt, I cannot talk today. I'm so sorry, guys.

[53:45] David Rackoff: My tongue is ripped.

[53:47] Amber Brzezinski: It's great.

[53:48] David Rackoff: Um, I even is ripped, what?

[53:50] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, from doing so many panels, the side of my tongue is like, it's like I bit on it accidentally.

[53:57] David Rackoff: Oh, it's fine.

[53:59] Amber Brzezinski: I'm just here.

[54:01] David Rackoff: I hear it, it's fine.

[54:04] Amber Brzezinski: Um, but I got the—

[54:05] David Rackoff: Wait, wait, wait, wait. You hear it?

[54:06] Amber Brzezinski: What do you mean?

[54:07] David Rackoff: I hear it, like I hear how my voice is.

[54:09] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I thought you meant like you heard it rip.

[54:12] David Rackoff: Oh, I heard that too. Did you ever like bite through like meat?

[54:17] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my god.

[54:18] David Rackoff: Oh no. Everybody enjoy your dinner tonight.

[54:22] Amber Brzezinski: Um, yeah, just like, uh, like getting your tongue pierced with your tooth.

[54:26] David Rackoff: Yeah.

[54:27] Amber Brzezinski: Um, not to overshare, it's great.

[54:28] David Rackoff: You're technically—

[54:29] Amber Brzezinski: No, no, I hope you feel better too. That sounds, that sounds awful.

[54:32] David Rackoff: All right. So the next piece of news.

[54:34] Amber Brzezinski: Well, go on.

[54:37] David Rackoff: Next up. Uh, there's some really cool stuff going on to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hamilton. Not only did they do that amazing, uh, lottery for the $10 tickets where they were, uh, doing like, oh no, we're not talking about that because I'm bitter because they had a thousand tickets for ten dollars and Heather did not get one. A huge lottery where they gave away so many tickets for ten dollars, but running right now, today, August 4th through the 24th, there is a scavenger hunt going on in New York City where you could like run around to different landmarks, there's clues, there's like a bunch of fun stuff you can do to, uh, like win a chance to win tickets to see the musical on Broadway.

[55:24] Amber Brzezinski: Like that's so fun.

[55:25] David Rackoff: All you have to do is download the app, uh, which is how you enter the lottery, how you do all the fun Hamilton stuff, and how you always done all the Hamilton stuff. So if you don't have the Hamilton app, that's how you do it. That's on you.

[55:39] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I have entered that lottery hundreds, maybe thousands of times, never won it. I mean, I've seen the show a couple times through other means, but um, yeah, that lottery, yeah, it's sort of like a lot of things. You know, and I miss in-person lotteries. I might be the only person in the world that misses them.

[55:57] David Rackoff: Because it makes the bar a little bit harder. Like the Hamilton lottery is just, it's too easy to enter. You can do it from anywhere in the world.

[56:04] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[56:05] David Rackoff: Yeah, and then because it's two weeks, but you know, you've got that, or you've got these digital lotteries, and like Mama Mia was supposed to have their digital lottery open, so I was trying to enter for tomorrow, but it wasn't on Telecharge for some reason, even though it's supposed to be. That was gonna be my next bit of news.

[56:20] Amber Brzezinski: Oh sorry, go on.

[56:21] David Rackoff: She is back.

[56:25] Amber Brzezinski: Continue.

[56:26] David Rackoff: Mama Mia's back.

[56:27] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[56:27] David Rackoff: So I've never seen that show.

[56:29] Amber Brzezinski: Really?

[56:30] David Rackoff: Do you want to come with me tomorrow night? Because that's my goal to go see that show tomorrow night.

[56:34] Amber Brzezinski: It's not the Winter Garden.

[56:35] David Rackoff: Wait, is it the—is it?

[56:36] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I don't like seeing the first couple previews though. I want to see, like, my favorite time to see a show is right before it opens so that, like, there's no reviews, so I don't have any—nothing's influenced by the case.

[56:45] David Rackoff: Oh see, I am that girl that will go to like a first preview because I want to see the drastic difference if there is any before show freezes.

[56:55] Amber Brzezinski: So it's limited engagement. The show officially opens August 14th. So the date you're looking for after August 14th, if you want to see it, that's when you go. Since, uh, it's only playing through I think like the twelfth of September, something like that.

[57:11] David Rackoff: Oh, it's that limited?

[57:12] Amber Brzezinski: Like a month ago.

[57:13] David Rackoff: That limited, yeah.

[57:15] Amber Brzezinski: Is it that limited? It's been touring?

[57:18] David Rackoff: So it's just sort of like this is like the New York stop of their tour.

[57:21] Amber Brzezinski: No, it's not that limited.

[57:23] David Rackoff: Hold on.

[57:23] Amber Brzezinski: No, it's not February.

[57:25] David Rackoff: It's through February.

[57:26] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I was like, I'm scared people.

[57:28] David Rackoff: Yeah, it's through February.

[57:30] Amber Brzezinski: No, no. Um, but yeah, so David, you were saying you haven't seen it, but I mean, it's not the movie, I guess, but I have never seen it on stage.

[57:38] David Rackoff: Um, it's a wild ride.

[57:41] Amber Brzezinski: What?

[57:41] David Rackoff: It's a wild ride on stage.

[57:43] Amber Brzezinski: I'm excited. I mean, they're only—the only like even clips that I've seen are like Carolia Camello, uh, singing Winner Takes It All, like just destroying. In fact, that's my drink order at Drama Bookshop is a Carolie Carmelo.

[57:56] David Rackoff: I don't think they have it anymore.

[57:58] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, they do.

[58:01] David Rackoff: Um, but they do have lottery. They just announced the Mama Mia lottery.

[58:06] Amber Brzezinski: So if you're a lottery gal.

[58:08] David Rackoff: But it's not there yet.

[58:10] Amber Brzezinski: Enter the lottery.

[58:11] David Rackoff: But it's really not there yet.

[58:13] Amber Brzezinski: It's not in the church yet.

[58:15] David Rackoff: No.

[58:15] Amber Brzezinski: But they do have in-person rush, so that's my goal tomorrow.

[58:19] David Rackoff: All right. I like ABBA.

[58:21] Amber Brzezinski: I do. I really truly do.

[58:24] David Rackoff: Stupid people.

[58:26] Amber Brzezinski: Truly. No, my mom got me into ABBA. And so when I got a chance to take her to Mamma Mia when it was originally playing, we had a good time at the end. They like do, as like mega mix is what they call it, and everybody in the audience gets up and it's a full dance party for like 10 minutes.

[58:41] David Rackoff: I am just like a Eurovision girl. Like I'm pure Eurovision.

[58:46] Amber Brzezinski: I love Eurovision.

[58:47] David Rackoff: Oh, of course you are.

[58:48] Amber Brzezinski: Oh boy. I actually have one more question for you, David. So I've heard you mention just casually once or twice the name Steven Sondheim. So I'm guessing he's like a little bit of an inspiration for you.

[59:06] David Rackoff: Yeah. I mean, just like, I mean, I, uh, obviously, but like for very specific reasons. Like who, yeah, who doesn’t? Yes, fan.

[59:14] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no, so I thought you were saying Sondheim.

[59:15] David Rackoff: Oh, sorry, I'm no. Um, who doesn't like Sondheim, but it's just, it's rare. I mean, I guess Shakespeare is the other example of like somebody who is just such the pinnacle of the art form.

[59:26] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[59:26] David Rackoff: If you think of musical theater writing as an art form to be, you know, to be artistically ambitious, but also technically proficient and hyper skilled, like that's Stephen Sondheim all over. But music and lyrics and storytelling and like show, like music lyrics, but also the storytelling of it, also like the show busy, like giving somebody a really fun show-offy number. Like that's not automatic that that happens when you're writing, even if your music is good, your lyrics are good, and you're helping tell the story with each song, doesn't mean that you're gonna have like a song like I'm Still Here, that it's just like such a home run performance forward number. Um, and so yeah, so I am a huge Sondheim nerd and just also like studier of all things Sondheim, yeah, absolutely.

[1:00:14] Amber Brzezinski: Do you have any other inspirations besides Sondheim? I know you kind of mentioned like Rogers and Hammerstein and like any other?

[1:00:17] David Rackoff: Yeah, I mean, Rogers and Hammerstein definitely. I mean, there's something about—they're the ones who really kind of cemented what we think of as musical theater, even shows that are, you know, even like Anne Juliet or something that's like a jukebox musical, it still is having the characters exist and speak as if they were the characters, even, you know, so like just there's something about discovering—not discovering exactly, but like, uh, really like hard form.

[1:00:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, because before that, for the most part, with a couple of exceptions, musical theater was just like a sort of silly kind of review that had like a little bit of a story.

[1:00:58] David Rackoff: Right.

[1:00:58] Amber Brzezinski: But like even like someone like Cole Porter, who's, you know, amazing and somebody who I really, really look up to, most of his shows were everybody in the s—everybody in the show kind of talk like Cole Porter. Like whether you were like, uh, you know, gangster's girlfriend or, uh, whatever, you're talking like a sophisticated Manhattan.

[1:01:17] David Rackoff: Yeah, it's very specifically a Cole Porter show.

[1:01:19] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, you're right about that. I mean, once you get to, I guess, Kiss Me Kate, um, you know, it, it, it—he, I was just watching one on TV about two hours ago.

[1:01:27] David Rackoff: Oh, cool.

[1:01:28] Amber Brzezinski: The pro shot of that.

[1:01:30] David Rackoff: No, the like the movie.

[1:01:31] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, cool.

[1:01:32] David Rackoff: Um, I wish it was definitely Roger Hammerstein. Um, who else might—I mean, there is so, uh, I mean, as much as you can find lots of things to complain about with a lot of his stuff, uh, Andrew Lloyd Webber, huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, especially, by the way, like it's always like a little bit of like a sometimes guilty pleasure, but like after all the stuff this weekend with all the Andrew, uh, Discovery Superstar, because I hadn't like—I haven't really listened all the way through to that album for a very long time. Like it's all in there, like I could do it right now. But like, because also like I always think my favorite song is Heaven on Their Minds, and that's the opening number. So, like, if I am in the mood, I'll hear that and I'm like, okay, I think I'm good for that.

[1:02:13] Amber Brzezinski: And you move on, yeah, sure.

[1:02:15] David Rackoff: I'm just like, I forgot how much I love that score, how weird the music for that score, like how inventive all that music and the crazy time signatures and the dissonance, yeah, cool stuff. Um, yeah, so Andrew Lloyd Webber. I don't think there's anything else that you could say is resembling Jesus Christ Superstar. It is like there's nothing else that's even remotely similar to it, and it was doing a whole other thing, like that's a whole huge, yeah, uh, you know, turn. And then, yeah, um, and like Phantom of the Opera, I love that. I love that I feel like a lot of what I like about it is like the Harold Prince and Maria like Freeman staging of it. So like I'm not sure. I mean, I—if I have the opportunity, I'll go see Masquerade, I guess, the immersive thing, but I'm not sure. Like, I don't know if that's if it's so I will tell you our members, and I will hopefully be able to report back, uh, after Wednesday.

[1:03:08] David Rackoff: They are losing their minds over it because you're being guided through the show, and there's different things, and there's apparently like a young Eric, the Phantom, um, and then there's new characters, and then so you're really immersed into it, but they're guiding you through it.

[1:03:27] David Rackoff: Um, they've cut some of the songs, they've not cut some of the songs, but it's a different way of experiencing it.

[1:03:33] David Rackoff: I have this conspiracy theory that I've made it very well known. Is I feel like this is a really great way of marketing it, fingers crossed, knock on wood, to bring it back because Gypsy is closing, they haven't announced what's going into the Majestic yet.

[1:03:48] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, you're saying this is like a backdoor way of not to bring the masquerade back, but to be actual banner.

[1:03:54] David Rackoff: I just don't so I saw I I'm I saw the original cast of like Michael Crawford, yeah. Um like a thousand million years ago, but I've also seen it on tour several times, and then I was a couple years ago, I was visiting my parents in Tampa and Whitfish Faz, and they had like that other I don't want to, you know, like that the just the the crappy version of the tour, like where they didn't know the side tour, yeah.

[1:04:23] David Rackoff: Like, yeah, where they just like completely did everything. The costumes are the same, which is weird, but like the set and the staging and everything is totally different.

[1:04:30] David Rackoff: Would you like me to say the word half-assed? I will happily say that one. But it's not because half-assed half-assed. I've also seen a half-assed. I saw like so I didn't I didn't even know this at the time, but I was living in Virginia and briefly, and they had like the there's like the first national tour that like goes to like Chicago and LA and stuff, yeah.

[1:04:48] David Rackoff: Then there's the Boston Truck Tour that goes around to like, you know, Tampa, and then there was a really big show as we'll have like a third company that's much more like we're gonna go somewhere for two days. So Phantom, I didn't know this at all. Phantom had like and this wasn't that long, like I mean this is a long time ago. It's like 20 years ago, but it wasn't like a million years ago.

[1:05:08] David Rackoff: So long, long after Phantom had opened, but there was also like the two-day stop tour of Phantom that I saw in Virginia. So that it looked like the Harold Prince version, but basically a lot more things are flat things and three-dimensional things, and a lot of compromises, but it was still like it's still kind of you still have the vibe of it.

[1:05:25] David Rackoff: So that was like the half-assed version of the Harold Prince. Okay, that's fair. Phantom the thing with like the Twirly stairs, like the twirly stair version, it was just like, and it wasn't just the set, but like the whole way they staged it, and just like some of the motivations of the characters. It was all I was just like, boy, maybe I and I went with a friend of mine who was a composer who had like heard about it, but she had never seen Phantom at all.

[1:05:50] David Rackoff: And she was like, and we like went and she c we came out and she's like, I don't want to like be like a buzzkill, but like, is this what like am I like what am I not getting? And I'm like introduction to the show. That's not what this show is, yeah.

[1:06:02] David Rackoff: So um, but yeah, like a f as long as it's like a pretty good 80 or 90 percent, you know. I haven't heard any negative brief rings about masquerade.

[1:06:11] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no, I don't mean that I'm I'm talking about your like your backdoor coming back to the theater. I mean, if I mean, like, you know, and that I'm sure that the orchestra will be a little bit smaller if they bring it back.

[1:06:22] David Rackoff: Well, that that was the whole do you know the reason why they closed in the first place?

[1:06:26] Amber Brzezinski: No, I so this is like the unofficial, official like research that's been done by a whole lot of people. Is the production was trying to remove Andrew Lloyd Webber from getting like money from it, like royalties from it.

[1:06:44] David Rackoff: So they were trying to scale down the production because if you change it by a certain percentage, it's like a reinvention of it, they can come back as a revival. Um but still would be the composer or like a yes, but there's a difference in the percentage of the royalties he can earn.

[1:07:01] David Rackoff: And so they would modify the massive orchestra down to like an orc of 25. And then it was just like you know, if that like if that's I'm that's fine. Like I get it, times have changed, right? It's not just pushing a button where it's just not like not like 15 or 12, but like 25 instead of 33, you know, like I mean, after a music person, there's a little bit of you know, like when you when you go see when the Sweeney Todd revival, like that orchestra starts playing, you're just like that's how Amber and I met Mr. Sweeney because we're in the group.

[1:07:33] Amber Brzezinski: I was gonna say you have to tell our Broadway Sweeney Stephen Sondheim story.

[1:07:42] David Rackoff: So I can play, I can talk, I can talk about that. So this past well, last year, oh my god, it was almost a year ago. Um, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. I don't know if you were um aware of this, David, they had acquired several songbooks and stuff from Sondheim's estate, like letters that were written and stuff.

[1:08:01] David Rackoff: So they played a scavenger hunt of sorts at Flea, where they I'm laughing over this. Um randomly throughout the day, any of the tables at Flea would just put out something that was an item, and it had the official seal from the Sondheim estate, and it was like it lived in his estate, and so we had a couple of members, we were picking up a whole lot of stuff that was utter chaos.

[1:08:30] Amber Brzezinski: We're gonna do it again. I will do it again because Amber's gonna be dog sitting. But we're running around and Amber's like, Well, do you want to find anything from Sondheim? I said, if there's a Sweeney Todd Sondheim estate, anything, it's mine.

[1:08:45] David Rackoff: And we're all over. I mean, we went to every booth multiple times just looking and buying shopping stuff. And we're talking, I don't was it like I don't care, I think it was the big one that had like the closed shows. It was like a miscellaneous thing. And like peering through like a pile of t-shirts that was kind of around it, Amber goes, Well, what about this?

[1:09:06] David Rackoff: And it was the movie version of the songbook from the Sondheim Estate, and I was like, I love you, goodbye. And I sits in my room. I think it's just so cool to have that kind of thing that sounds like because that being in his estate, and it was it was opened. It wasn't like they're just sitting there. That being an estate, like he respected what they were able to do with that there.

[1:09:29] Amber Brzezinski: So I think that was kind of cool with like continuing on the legacy for sure.

[1:09:33] David Rackoff: Yeah, that is cool.

[1:09:34] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[1:09:35] David Rackoff: Speaking of memorabilia and bringing it back around to Phantom. So I've never bought anybody jewelry in my life because like I'm not that kind of gay.

[1:09:42] Amber Brzezinski: Um but um how dare you not be that kind of gay?

[1:09:46] David Rackoff: I mean I'm not the buy someone jewelry, like I just you know, um, like what would I know? But um, Mother's Day was not that long after Phantom Closed, and my parents love Phantom, they've seen it a million times, and uh I thought on Etsy somebody was making selling earrings from pieces of the actual chandelier from the broadcast.

[1:10:02] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, she's one of our members.

[1:10:04] David Rackoff: Yeah, and oh cool. And uh, and I was just like, I was like, okay, I can't like buy my mom jewelry. Because not like then they then she has to wear it, but I'm like, there's no way she's not gonna think that this is yeah, whatever.

[1:10:16] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and uh yeah.

[1:10:17] David Rackoff: So I'm like, okay, this is my one time where I'm gonna take a big swing, I'm gonna say you don't have to wear it if you don't like it.

[1:10:21] Amber Brzezinski: Right, right.

[1:10:22] David Rackoff: Um yeah, but no, I think I I mean she really likes it. Yeah, so like whenever they go, whenever they go see shows now, she'll wear her Phantom earrings.

[1:10:29] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[1:10:29] David Rackoff: I have a pendant, I have the pendant that's made from the chandelier. I it used to be the one thing I would search for at Flea, and they would only have like 20 of them at the Phantom booth. And if you weren't there at five o'clock in the morning, even though Flea didn't open until 10, you weren't getting one.

[1:10:45] David Rackoff: And um, she's one of our members in our Phantom group, and her husband actually worked at the fabrication venue, so they have everything, and it comes with a certificate of authenticity and everything like that. But she made me this beautiful like teardrop pendant. I'll be wearing that this week.

[1:11:02] Amber Brzezinski: Cool, yeah, that's so cool. I love it.

[1:11:03] David Rackoff: No, that's like some of my favorite stuff. I love being able to tangibly hold something from a show.

[1:11:10] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, um, it has like this magic power to it, truthfully.

[1:11:14] David Rackoff: Yeah.

[1:11:15] Amber Brzezinski: And we're gonna have some cool merch, David, for our show. Nothing like Broadway. It's gonna be really cool. I've got some ideas we'll talk about off air. Um I think you're gonna they don't want to miss it.

[1:11:25] David Rackoff: They really don't.

[1:11:26] Amber Brzezinski: Um, so we're gonna start to wrap up because I've already run over 11 minutes of your time. Um, we definitely want to have you back on because you have so much educational information, but you are so knowledgeable and passionate. Like, that's really what I'm saying.

[1:11:40] David Rackoff: You're gonna say you have so many opinions and you can't.

[1:11:42] Amber Brzezinski: You know, but I love it because usually Amber and I are sitting here, like it's like pulling teeth of like, what do you think? And then you have to kind of pivot, and um, you know, you're you're wonderful because you are engaging, but you also know what you're talking about, and it's very important.

[1:11:57] David Rackoff: And our listeners really appreciate because they want to be entertained, but they also want to learn. So I think that's so important. So thank you for doing that for our members.

[1:12:05] David Rackoff: Thank you for having me.

[1:12:06] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[1:12:07] David Rackoff: Oh, of course. So they can go on Instagram and go to @nothinglikebroadway.

[1:12:11] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[1:12:12] David Rackoff: And then we can go to the website www.nothinglikebroadway.com. And then maybe sometime tonight, if you enter um through there, you'll get to our ticket link, and you can enter the promo code nothing like friends, and that will get you 50% off.

[1:12:29] Amber Brzezinski: So that is huge. This is the very first promo code that we have released, and it is exclusive to our group for tonight. So make sure you get those tickets in before they sell out because it is a smaller cabaret style theater. We want to make sure you get in there, experience the magic of the show because you're gonna feel like a child in the best way possible.

[1:12:50] David Rackoff: That like kid in a candy store feels kind of how I've gotten it with going through the script and listening to the music, but appreciating it as an adult, but also talk to as a theater nerd.

[1:13:00] Amber Brzezinski: So yeah, I think it really resonates with people, and it's gonna be relatable but entertaining. And I I'm so excited for the show to open.

[1:13:08] David Rackoff: Um yeah, yeah, we said we're starting rehearsals a week from today.

[1:13:12] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, today's funny.

[1:13:13] David Rackoff: Yeah, a week from today is our first rehearsal.

[1:13:15] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I'm very excited about that.

[1:13:16] David Rackoff: Yeah, the cast is just absolutely amazing. We can't announce everybody yet, but they're just really talented. If they stay tuned to social media, they can, they'll start seeing the cast announcements.

[1:13:26] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and there's there's something special about having you know, it's only four actors, but each of those four actors has to have a really big voice, yeah, has to be really funny, has to be able to like really dramatically be a good actor, and has to be able to, you know, do like you know, pivot to like action, pivot to like it's really like it's almost like having four separate category superstar showcases, but they're all getting mashed together and butting heads in an actual story that has a beginning, middle, and end, and a satisfying resolution, hopefully.

[1:13:56] David Rackoff: No, I think it's gonna be phenomenal, and I'm very excited to see how this goes. Also, something that you and I had talked about too is on the social media for the show, you're gonna start to share some of your videos about songs and the way that songs are written and kind of the history of putting songs together, but making it make sense in some of your favorite songs and maybe even some Sondheim songs to start off with.

[1:14:19] Amber Brzezinski: So audio, it's an audio.

[1:14:22] David Rackoff: Yes, audio, audio, audio, audio. I mean, we could just share a picture of you looking so dapper and just leave the audio over it, it'll be fine.

[1:14:30] Amber Brzezinski: You mean you don't want to sing it for everybody live on video?

[1:14:34] David Rackoff: No.

[1:14:34] Amber Brzezinski: No, we've got better people than me to sing.

[1:14:38] Amber Brzezinski: Uh well, we appreciate everybody being here next week on the Broadway Fan Club podcast.

[1:14:44] Amber Brzezinski: We're gonna have the one and only Emily Grace Tucker.

[1:14:46] David Rackoff: I cannot speak.

[1:14:47] Amber Brzezinski: This time, Amber, go ahead and close the show out because my tongue hurts.

[1:14:51] David Rackoff: Rest your yeah, get rest your tongue.

[1:14:52] Amber Brzezinski: I mean, like, man.

[1:14:53] David Rackoff: Yeah, your tongue is shattered or like I want to say, like, go see a doctor, but I don't know what they can do.

[1:14:58] Amber Brzezinski: I don't think there's anything to be done.

[1:15:00] David Rackoff: There's nothing to be done.

[1:15:01] Amber Brzezinski: I didn't fight all the way through it, but it's a little dented, is what they said.

[1:15:07] David Rackoff: But yeah, guys, join us next week.

[1:15:09] Amber Brzezinski: We'll be here with Emily Grace Tucker at the usual time, 8 p.m. on Monday night.

[1:15:15] Amber Brzezinski: Um so as the usual uh Monday night saying goes, join us every Monday night because when Broadway is dark, we keep the ghosts light burning.

[1:15:25] David Rackoff: Thanks for joining us, David.

[1:15:27] David Rackoff: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

[1:15:29] Amber Brzezinski: Everybody, thank you so much for joining us and listening to my tongue debacle. Have a good time. I'm sure I'll see you guys in the city. Have a good night.

[1:15:34] David Rackoff: Bye.

[1:15:38] Amber Brzezinski: Bye, everybody.