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[0:04] Jess McEnally: Hello, I'm Jess McEnally.

[0:06] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm Andrew DeWolf.

[0:08] Jess McEnally: And welcome to Musicals with Cheese, a podcast where I try to get Andrew to like musical theater.

[0:13] Andrew DeWolf: And today we have an extra special, special, special guest.

[0:13] Jess McEnally: An extra special, special, special, special guest?

[0:20] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, super special.

[0:21] Jess McEnally: I think that's four specials.

[0:22] Andrew DeWolf: Am I wrong?

[0:23] Jess McEnally: Four specials.

[0:24] Andrew DeWolf: I counted three specials, but we'll add a fourth one in there if you want.

[0:27] Jess McEnally: Oh, but he added another special, because he's that special.

[0:27] Andrew DeWolf: Special, special, special, special.

[0:32] Jess McEnally: Special.

[0:33] Andrew DeWolf: Um, this bit's gone up too.

[0:36] Jess McEnally: It's over.

[0:36] Andrew DeWolf: This gag is over.

[0:38] Jess McEnally: And I can just tell he wants to talk, but he's not allowed until we introduce him.

[0:43] Andrew DeWolf: We have to he has to wait through this whole thing.

[0:46] Jess McEnally: But we're talking about how special he is until he gets to say anything.

[0:49] Andrew DeWolf: Jess, please join us in welcoming Grammy-winning hit cabaret artist and our director of Broadway Records, handsome dude and part of the high society, Robbie Rozelle!

[1:04] Robbie Rozelle: So special.

[1:06] Jess McEnally: Hey, you're not allowed to say that word.

[1:08] Andrew DeWolf: That's our word.

[1:09] Robbie Rozelle: Special.

[1:10] Jess McEnally: That's our word.

[1:11] Robbie Rozelle: Wait, I'm so sorry. You're trying to talk Andrew into loving musicals, and you chose High Society.

[1:18] Jess McEnally: It's funny that you say that I chose it.

[1:21] Robbie Rozelle: It's funny that you say that I chose it. This is a Patreon request from our $20 patron, Mina Maneri, who decided that we really had to talk about High Society.

[1:31] Jess McEnally: And I knew I had to call in some backup because I didn't have enough to say about this show.

[1:36] Andrew DeWolf: Sure.

[1:37] Jess McEnally: Our patrons love us. They always send us the best stuff.

[1:40] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, what was the last one we had to do?

[1:42] Jess McEnally: Starlight Express?

[1:43] Andrew DeWolf: Oh yeah, Star Trek.

[1:45] Jess McEnally: Yeah, that was a good one.

[1:47] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, no, not High Society?

[1:49] Jess McEnally: Come on. Listen, okay, we're gonna we'll get into like the ups and the downs of High Society, because I have opinions on it.

[1:57] Andrew DeWolf: But on that note, in case you guys haven't picked up what we're covering this week, this week we're covering High Society.

[2:03] Robbie Rozelle: Oh.

[2:03] Andrew DeWolf: Oh.

[2:04] Jess McEnally: Cue the music, Bree.

[2:07] ♪ Musical number: "High Society" — performed by the cast ♪

[2:44] Jess McEnally: High Society is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Cole Porter with additional material by Susan Birkenhead. It is based on the Philadelphia Story and the film High Society. It began previews on Broadway on March 31st, 1998, and officially opened on April 27, 1998, at the St. James Theater. It closed August 30th, 1998, after 144 performances.

[3:09] Andrew DeWolf: Now, there is no Playbill page for this thing where I usually get my plot synopsis from.

[3:17] Jess McEnally: Yeah.

[3:18] Andrew DeWolf: Instead, I went to MTI, which is my backup for whenever Playbill does me bad.

[3:23] Jess McEnally: And this thing is a novel. So you guys ready for the plot synopsis?

[3:28] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, yes, give it to us.

[3:29] Jess McEnally: Of High Society. Go. Tracy Lord is ecstatic about her impending marriage to George Kittridge, a successful industrialist. Soon her ex-husband Dexter bounds and informs the family that unless Tracy agrees to be photographed by two reporters from a celebrity magazine, they will print a story about Tracy's estranged father who is carrying an affair with an exotic dancer. Later, the reporters, Mike and Liz, arrive to be greeted by a very strangely costumed Diana. Tracy joins her, um, also dressed outrageously, and together they perform a bizarre song and dance routine. To further perplex the reporters, Tracy introduces her uncle Willie as her father, and her newly arrived father as her uncle. Later at Tracy's pre-wedding ball, Tracy hides from George and invites Mike to go skinny dipping with her in the pool.

Meanwhile, Dexter has a heart-to-heart with Liz, who is fleeing the amorous Uncle Willie, and she admits that she's in love with Mike, even though he doesn't know it. She promises Dexter that neither she nor Mike will write any stories about them lords, even if it costs them their jobs. Then George witnesses Mike carrying the comatose Tracy up to her room and assumes the worst. The wedding day dawns with the bride hungover and the groom furious. George confronts Tracy and Mike, but Mike swears that he did nothing wrong. Tracy decides that she can't marry George no matter what. In the end, she and Dexter decide to remarry.

[4:44] Andrew DeWolf: Alright. And that's what you missed on Glee. Spoilers. That is the entire thing. That's the entire plot of the musical sensation of 1929, High Society.

[5:01] Jess McEnally: That was just the quick synopsis was what they pushed. I can give you the quick synopsis on Broadway Musical Home, which is Tracy Lord's ex-husband, CK Dexter Haven, refuses to let her marry the bland George Kittridge as planned, and the two reporters who arrived to cover her wedding find much more than they anticipated among this niche of high society.

[5:20] Robbie Rozelle: Man, I feel like mine's better.

[5:21] Andrew DeWolf: Jess, you have failed us.

[5:24] Jess McEnally: I just gave you the TV guide version, and you went full Wikipedia.

[5:30] Robbie Rozelle: So this is the entire plot.

[5:32] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[5:32] Jess McEnally: Come on.

[5:35] Robbie Rozelle: Um, High Society. Uh-huh. Um, I literally know nothing about this aside from the fact that Anna Kendrick was in the original Broadway production.

[5:48] Andrew DeWolf: And then I watched the original Broadway production.

[5:50] Robbie Rozelle: I feel nothing. I see nothing. I connect with nothing. Um, so that's when I contacted Robbie. I'm like, I need help. I need a backup. And so yesterday I decided, you know what? Just to try to do my best, I watched the original film with Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly.

[6:06] Robbie Rozelle: It's not that much better. However, they do add the very important element of Louis Armstrong playing piano and introducing stuff and being an absolute joy.

[6:16] Jess McEnally: And a cartoon that starts the film, um, and we need to bring back cartoons before adult movies, um, where a droopy dog fights with another dog about getting a million dollars. And you know what? That was the most interesting part.

[6:32] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, bless.

[6:39] Robbie Rozelle: Have either of you ever seen the source material of this, the Philadelphia Story?

[6:43] Andrew DeWolf: When I was very young, though it didn't connect.

[6:45] Robbie Rozelle: I know that Cary Grant and what's his name, Jimmy.

[6:48] Andrew DeWolf: Catherine Hepburn.

[6:49] Robbie Rozelle: Catherine Hepburn is the reason for the season. Uh, she did the play on Broadway and optioned it for Hollywood herself to make it happen. And for years she was labeled box office poison, but that's what like turned her career around. She's excellent in the film.

[7:06] Andrew DeWolf: All that being said, this is not a good musical.

[7:10] Robbie Rozelle: What what?

[7:13] Andrew DeWolf: What? Such new information.

[7:16] Robbie Rozelle: Uh yeah. Uh I saw this show.

[7:20] Andrew DeWolf: You loved it, right?

[7:21] Robbie Rozelle: On Broadway. Did I sleep through some of it? A little bit at the Richard Rogers. Yes, yes, I did. It was um, how you say dull.

[7:28] Andrew DeWolf: And it had growing pains though, like as they were doing the show, like from out of town to Broadway.

[7:35] Robbie Rozelle: So let me give you the backstory as I know it. Marissa Erico, uh, who is somebody I work with a lot, uh, she did the show at Encores called One Touch of Venus, where she played a like a sexy statue that comes to life, right? Um, and they literally wrote reviews where she could choose any show she wanted to do. And somebody was like, uh she said to somebody like in passing, oh, I want to do The Sound of Music. And so they started to mount a Sound of Music revival with her, and then she decided, oh no, I'm going to create my own role on Broadway and jumped ship from Sound of Music to High Society.

[7:56] Andrew DeWolf: The Sound of Music came in with Rebecca Luker.

[8:17] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. So that was the last revival of The Sound of Music, right? Um, and then this show happened. And Arthur Kopit, who wrote Nine, and uh comedy genius, Arthur Kopit, uh was like, Yeah, I will write the musical book of this, and they uh sort of center it around all these Cole Porter songs that exist uh both for the film and then like outside of the film, right? But they were sort of just yeah, it's just like given free reign of most of the Cole Porter estate. And uh, there were lots of growing pains. There were some songs that were cut from the show, like um Mark Kudisch had a full song that later got cut, but is on the album because Mark Kudisch. Um the show opened, uh, but they fired the director and the choreographer before opening night.

And they were the director and choreographer of that King and I revival with Donna Murphy. So it was Christopher Renshaw and Larry Lutwick, I think. Um fired, and in their place came in Des McAnuff and Wayne Salento, who had just done uh How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Matthew Broderick. So they were brought in to like pep it up, bigger, faster, funnier. Nothing was. Um and it just sort of limped along uh for what'd you say, 144 performances?

[9:37] Andrew DeWolf: Yep.

[9:37] Robbie Rozelle: Insane. And that's sort of the backstory of how and why the show existed at all.

[9:44] Andrew DeWolf: And that's what you missed on Glee.

[9:45] Jess McEnally: Yeah. Um the show doesn't work. Fundamentally, it's just broken. Um I won't say that the movie works much better. Um the movie has charm because you got Frank Sinatra and you've got Grace Kelly.

[10:00] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, Grace Kelly. Her outfits alone are worth an Oscar. Come on.

[10:04] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. But you're right. The film itself is uh fine. I we I've been re-watching like old movie musicals during the pandemic, and that was one I had never seen before, and I was like, well, let me give this a try. I vaguely recall this musical in the theater. Um, and it's fine, but only fine. The Philadelphia Story is a great play that does not need songs.

[10:25] Jess McEnally: Yeah, not everything needs to be a musical.

[10:27] Robbie Rozelle: Um and Cole Porter has his positives, but he has his negatives too.

[10:33] Andrew DeWolf: Sure.

[10:34] Robbie Rozelle: And this musical in any form, those songs really don't land with you. Like they don't stick with you.

[10:39] Jess McEnally: Yeah.

[10:41] Robbie Rozelle: What's interesting to me about that is I really like the cast album and I play it a lot. Because ultimately, like all that exists anymore, since this show is never done, like nobody does this show, is um a cast album of great Cole Porter songs sung by really great people. And that's a joy to like listen to, you know.

[11:04] Andrew DeWolf: Um but at what cost?

[11:07] Robbie Rozelle: And didn't you start your album with "Let's Behave" from "Let's Misbehave"?

[11:11] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, Missbeh.

[11:12] Robbie Rozelle: I sure did. Um because that song, actually, that song on the cast album is such a stunner. And so when I was like thinking about how I wanted to start my solo show, I was like, what would be what's like an opener, but not everybody does it because everybody in the world is in a cabaret, so they're like, I'm gonna sing cabaret, and that's gonna open my show, which is stupid.

[11:34] Andrew DeWolf: Um, right, truly.

[11:37] Robbie Rozelle: Oh god, y'all, Countess Luann is doing that at 54, like last month, and uh in a very low key. And I saw somebody tweet like a video of her doing it that just said, not the gentle key.

[11:45] Andrew DeWolf: Not the gentle key.

[11:52] Robbie Rozelle: Um what is what's her name who's playing Diana starting her cabaret with?

[11:57] Andrew DeWolf: Dinah.

[11:57] Robbie Rozelle: Uh Dinah, uh Anna Kendrick?

[12:00] Andrew DeWolf: No, Diana.

[12:01] Robbie Rozelle: Diana.

[12:02] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, Gina DeWall.

[12:04] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, her. Ugh. Wait, she just did something at 54. I was wondering what she started with.

[12:07] Andrew DeWolf: Uh I know that she sang "Roxy," but like kept they're gonna wait outside in line to get to see Diana the musical.

[12:18] Robbie Rozelle: Um, that was a thing.

[12:20] Andrew DeWolf: Gross.

[12:21] Robbie Rozelle: Good for her. You know what? She can sing anything she wants and modulate it up, and I'm fine.

[12:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I she should have just started with "Pretty Pretty Girl, Pretty Pretty Dress," and we’m certain that was in there.

[12:31] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[12:31] Jess McEnally: Back to High Society, because that show is so boring, we'd rather talk about Diana the musical somehow. Andrew, I'm very curious to see your thoughts. What'd you think of this as someone that I know loves high society as a concept?

[12:43] Andrew DeWolf: Oh yeah. It's um yeah, I mean, conceptually, the whole show is uh good lord. This was a really this was a snoozer, you know? It's you don't often get the ones that are just boring, and then like you can't even say that they're like bad. It's just like damn. Did I just watch that? Um that was a waste of an evening. Imagine going out to see this, dressing up paying $65 or whatever like a ticket price was in 1998. To watch this. It's like it's the whole show is just like this love triangle or square. If you can even call the like George a character, he doesn't even have a song, I don't think.

[13:22] Robbie Rozelle: Um Who Wants to be a Millionaire, right? Didn't he like have a duet? Or am I thinking that I thought that was Mike?

[13:28] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, you're right. No, George had a song.

[13:31] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Marcutish, right? Did they get rid of it?

[13:33] Andrew DeWolf: Is that the one they got rid of?

[13:34] Robbie Rozelle: That's yeah, it was called "I Worship You."

[13:37] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[13:38] Robbie Rozelle: And it's uh on the cast album. And in fact, you can hear where it's supposed to be when you watch the um very legal recording that exists of Yo ho the slime tutorial of High Society. Like you can hear where it's supposed to be, and he's like, I I don't just love you, I worship you. And then they just keep going.

[14:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[14:01] Robbie Rozelle: Um, and you know, but he's supposed to be sort of the dinkus that wouldn't nobody roots for. So they were like, Your song's gotta go. Cause this is we're coming on three hours. Let's uh something's gotta go. This is already nap time for most people that are coming to see it.

[14:22] Andrew DeWolf: The movie had some energy.

[14:24] Andrew DeWolf: Like Louis Armstrong comes in, he starts up with his like calypso song, and then he literally is like, end song, start the movie, and then the movie just starts.

[14:33] Robbie Rozelle: And he had some he had some funny lines from what I've seen. I didn't watch the whole movie, but you sent me some clips, and yeah, he seems to be the highlight.

[14:41] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know. Yeah, like what's his name? Sings a song to the girl, like, oh, I love a girl, and then he's like, It's a great song for the wrong lady.

[14:50] Robbie Rozelle: I think what the Broadway show is lacking is any sense of humor. It just is not funny. But it thinks it's hilarious. There's no jokes. I didn't laugh once. Like such it's such like rich people problems.

[15:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, it's like, geez, I hate all these characters, and it's not even funny. I just have to sit here and like deal with it. Just watch just watch it happen, like, come on.

[15:17] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, which again is so sad because all of these actors are so wonderful. John McMartin, who was you know in the original Follies and was Tony nominated for the show as Uncle Willie.

[15:30] Andrew DeWolf: Um everyone's favorite character. Hilario hilarious.

[15:33] Robbie Rozelle: I mean, say it was yeah, because he's the only one making like comic choices, right?

[15:38] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, yeah, doing anything funny at all.

[15:41] Robbie Rozelle: And it's like Randy Graff, who is a comic genius, is just wasted as like the Lovelorn reporter.

[15:48] Andrew DeWolf: I think this entire cast is wasted. I feel like it's such an amazing cast, just a wasted Daniel McDonald, who only did two three Broadway shows.

[15:57] Robbie Rozelle: Uh Seal Pierre, which was a flop, and then High Society, which I think we know how that went.

[16:03] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[16:03] Robbie Rozelle: Uh, and then he was a replacement in Mama Mia, and then he died of brain cancer. So, like, he only did these like three shows, and he was such a talent.

[16:12] Andrew DeWolf: What and he was Dexter. What a waste. Because he was like a gorgeous leading man, and ugh, so sad.

[16:18] Robbie Rozelle: Um, the whole cast is so great. Stephen Mogaris from Falsettos, these wonderful people.

[16:25] Andrew DeWolf: What why? Why, why, why are they wasted on this?

[16:30] Robbie Rozelle: And even like baby Anna Kendrick is given like a Daisy Egan level performance here that is better than the show.

[16:36] Andrew DeWolf: Deserved even. I don't think she deserved Tony, but she deserved that nomination very well.

[16:40] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, absolutely. And if you have you guys ever seen that my favorite Broadway, the leading ladies concert.

[16:45] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, I definitely have.

[16:46] Robbie Rozelle: That's the one good thing that came out of this show in my opinion.

[16:50] Andrew DeWolf: Anna Kendrick play a clip of that right now.

[16:52] ♪ Musical number: "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" — performed by Anna Kendrick ♪

[17:09] Andrew DeWolf: Which means that everybody whispers in turn light forward.

[17:30] Robbie Rozelle: Around the grave big nation.

[17:34] Andrew DeWolf: Wild old man, who give you jewels and sables.

[17:38] Robbie Rozelle: Oh save Life on the Wicked Stage ain't nothing for a girl.

[17:49] Andrew DeWolf: Toby listen to your toes.

[17:53] Robbie Rozelle: We do not believe you.

[18:00] Andrew DeWolf: This is amazing.

[18:01] Robbie Rozelle: Anna Kendrick's performing like life upon the wicked stage.

[18:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, with all the cabaret girls.

[18:07] Robbie Rozelle: The Kit Kat girls, yeah.

[18:08] Andrew DeWolf: It's incredible.

[18:09] Robbie Rozelle: So they're it's like a nice little girl surrounded by like heroin marked ladies with this back scratches.

[18:17] Andrew DeWolf: It's chef's kiss, perfect.

[18:19] Robbie Rozelle: And you can tell what a good theatrical actress she was back in those days.

[18:23] Andrew DeWolf: Wish she'd come back to the stage. Stop fucking around the with our Into the Woods movies, please.

[18:29] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, I I don't know what she would come back to the stage for, if anything, really.

[18:33] Andrew DeWolf: I kind of thought she would go into waitress for a minute.

[18:36] Robbie Rozelle: No.

[18:36] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think she would have been right for her.

[18:39] Robbie Rozelle: No, she's kind of spiky, and it would have been interesting.

[18:42] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe like if they do gypsy again, they bring her back as Louise.

[18:47] Robbie Rozelle: Maybe.

[18:48] Andrew DeWolf: If she's getting old, I don't know how old she is.

[18:51] Robbie Rozelle: She's gotta be she's roughly my age.

[18:54] Andrew DeWolf: No.

[18:54] Robbie Rozelle: Not roughly my age.

[18:55] Andrew DeWolf: Well, let's look at Anna Kendrick because I gotta say, how old were you when you saw High Society?

[19:00] Robbie Rozelle: I will end your life.

[19:03] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, she's ten years younger than me, Jesus.

[19:06] Robbie Rozelle: Okay.

[19:07] Andrew DeWolf: So good for her.

[19:08] Robbie Rozelle: Good for her.

[19:09] Andrew DeWolf: Roughly for her.

[19:11] Robbie Rozelle: But you know, she reads older because she's so like snarky and mean.

[19:15] Andrew DeWolf: Um and I like it. I would probably let her punch me.

[19:18] Robbie Rozelle: But she can reach.

[19:20] Andrew DeWolf: Aww.

[19:21] Robbie Rozelle: She's very tiny.

[19:22] Andrew DeWolf: I did see her in a little night music.

[19:24] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, she was good.

[19:25] Andrew DeWolf: That's a good role for her.

[19:26] Robbie Rozelle: Frederica is like a perfect role for her.

[19:28] Andrew DeWolf: She was yes, yes, Frederica.

[19:30] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, Frederica.

[19:32] Andrew DeWolf: Are we still talking about high society?

[19:34] Robbie Rozelle: Sure, why not?

[19:35] Andrew DeWolf: A little night music is a better version of high society.

[19:37] Robbie Rozelle: Let's just say that.

[19:39] Andrew DeWolf: Kind of, yeah.

[19:41] Robbie Rozelle: It's all about like shuffling the cards.

[19:44] Andrew DeWolf: So sorry.

[19:45] Robbie Rozelle: It's just so like blurring.

[19:49] Andrew DeWolf: Guys, let's say this.

[19:50] Robbie Rozelle: Melissa Erico looks great in a pantsuit.

[19:53] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[19:54] Robbie Rozelle: But I could I'd be damned to see Melissa Erico and anything that looks bad on her.

[19:58] Andrew DeWolf: And yet?

[19:58] Robbie Rozelle: No, I'm kidding. She's beautiful.

[20:01] Andrew DeWolf: She did tell me that that is her playing the accordion in that very long I love Paris.

[20:08] Robbie Rozelle: Yes.

[20:08] Andrew DeWolf: She is not that she is actually playing that.

[20:11] Robbie Rozelle: And to that I say, God bless.

[20:13] Andrew DeWolf: So you mentioned earlier to me when you were watching this that you were texting her. What were you texting her about?

[20:19] Robbie Rozelle: I I just had some questions about changes and things like that.

[20:24] Andrew DeWolf: Um, because I know that it was like uh uh not a great tryout.

[20:29] Robbie Rozelle: Uh where where did they do it?

[20:31] Andrew DeWolf: San Francisco, something like that.

[20:33] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, San Francisco.

[20:33] Andrew DeWolf: Right.

[20:34] Robbie Rozelle: Uh and so I I was like, what were the changes?

[20:37] Andrew DeWolf: And she was like, they made me I I was blonde and they made me brunette.

[20:41] Robbie Rozelle: Um great. Good.

[20:43] Andrew DeWolf: You know when when wigs changed it's like wedding singer, when they thought that Laura Benante's hair was like the issue.

[20:51] Robbie Rozelle: Um so they gave her like a mop wig.

[20:53] Andrew DeWolf: I love when Laura Benante was asked about that show. Her response was um no thanks.

[20:58] Robbie Rozelle: Like that was her cast. She she would say it to your face.

[21:03] Andrew DeWolf: She was wonderful in it, but I think she's great in it.

[21:06] Robbie Rozelle: I think Stephen Lynch is the problem with that show.

[21:08] Andrew DeWolf: I know Brent is called dibs on talking about that because he's like a secret lover of that musical.

[21:13] Robbie Rozelle: And I love it.

[21:15] Andrew DeWolf: And he was excellent, Stephen Lynch.

[21:17] Robbie Rozelle: I don't think he's suited to Broadway, to be honest.

[21:19] Andrew DeWolf: I'm surprised he never came back, but I don't I have a feeling that was not a listen, we've moved on to a different fucking musical again.

[21:26] Robbie Rozelle: You know what?

[21:27] Andrew DeWolf: There's nothing to say about how to do that.

[21:33] Robbie Rozelle: It's going to reviews.

[21:35] Andrew DeWolf: It's Tom for the remote.

[21:40] Robbie Rozelle: It's Tom for Previews.

[21:43] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew. We got a Ben Brantley here. Are you gonna whip out your Ben Brantley Shapiro here?

[21:47] Robbie Rozelle: It's a shorter uh segment.

[21:49] Andrew DeWolf: I'll give it a try.

[21:50] Alright, what did Mr. Ben Brantley think of the show?

[21:53] Robbie Rozelle: Sure.

[21:53] Andrew DeWolf: Ben Brantley in his review for the New York Times wrote that.

[21:59] Robbie Rozelle: Spirits are definitely high in high society, but they also feel forced and even desperate.

[22:04] Andrew DeWolf: The show, first seen in a tepidly received version in San Francisco, has since undergone drastic retailing, and it ominously shed its director and choreographer of record, Chris Christopher Renshaw and Lar Lub Lubavich.

[22:18] Robbie Rozelle: I think that's right.

[22:19] Andrew DeWolf: Uh during New York rehearsals, and Des McGannis and Wayne Clayento stepping stepping in to make last minute revisions.

[22:33] Robbie Rozelle: Perhaps that accounts for the feverish at sea quality that seems to possess the show's team of talented proven performers.

[22:39] Andrew DeWolf: The production's guiding rule appears to be to do whatever is necessary to land a joke or to sell a song.

[22:45] Robbie Rozelle: Well, they didn't do very good at that.

[22:48] Andrew DeWolf: Numbers that should bubble with dry effervescence are more likely to come across as a thick ferment of suds.

[22:56] Robbie Rozelle: I hate agreeing with Ben Brantley, but he's got the nail on the head here.

[22:59] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, he's not wrong at all.

[23:01] Robbie Rozelle: And what's so weird is they also have tried to do other versions of this musical.

[23:07] Andrew DeWolf: Like twice in London.

[23:08] Robbie Rozelle: Why?

[23:09] Andrew DeWolf: It just it didn't work.

[23:11] Robbie Rozelle: It works so well the first time.

[23:12] Andrew DeWolf: I do want to say our patron Mina Mani loves this musical and loves both the stage and the movie version of this musical.

[23:23] Robbie Rozelle: Choices.

[23:24] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[23:24] Robbie Rozelle: I she is actually very smart.

[23:26] Andrew DeWolf: She is, I'm willing to put money on it, smarter than any of the three of us.

[23:29] Robbie Rozelle: She creates molecules.

[23:31] Andrew DeWolf: Like that's what she does.

[23:33] Robbie Rozelle: She's like getting her doctorate and be getting a PhD to like create like Adams and shit.

[23:38] Andrew DeWolf: The show is over, it's going over our heads.

[23:41] Robbie Rozelle: That's what's happening.

[23:43] Andrew DeWolf: Um here's the thing.

[23:46] Robbie Rozelle: Honestly, true question.

[23:48] Andrew DeWolf: Do you care about these people and their problems?

[23:52] Robbie Rozelle: No.

[23:53] Andrew DeWolf: But that's the big question.

[23:54] Robbie Rozelle: Like when you're doing a musical, right? The you want to care about these people and their problems.

[24:00] Andrew DeWolf: And do you?

[24:01] Robbie Rozelle: Well, do I care about the people in the problems on succession?

[24:03] Andrew DeWolf: No.

[24:04] Robbie Rozelle: Do I still watch it for some reason?

[24:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[24:06] Robbie Rozelle: Better writing.

[24:07] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe.

[24:07] Robbie Rozelle: No what?

[24:08] Andrew DeWolf: That's a good thing.

[24:08] Robbie Rozelle: Arthur Copett, who again is like an award-winning dramatist, wrote that he was not the right writer for this.

[24:15] Andrew DeWolf: Don't think I disagree with him.

[24:16] Robbie Rozelle: Funny this.

[24:18] Andrew DeWolf: Funny thing. Last week we talked about Titanic, which was Mari Eston without their usual like partner of Arthur Copet.

[24:26] Robbie Rozelle: And here's Arthur Copen without Mari Eston.

[24:29] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe they just should stay together.

[24:31] Robbie Rozelle: Oh.

[24:32] Andrew DeWolf: What's the Titanic didn't turn on Mori.

[24:35] Robbie Rozelle: No.

[24:36] Andrew DeWolf: You know, and at one best book of a musical, Peter Stone one.

[24:39] Robbie Rozelle: But like what's interesting about Maury is he only ever worked with um different collaborations, like every musical of his had a different book writer.

[24:47] Andrew DeWolf: Unclear why, except Peter Stone.

[24:49] Robbie Rozelle: Peter Stone wrote like three with him.

[24:51] Andrew DeWolf: But mostly it was like this dude wrote this, and this dude, it was always a dude.

[24:55] Robbie Rozelle: Um I I don't know.

[24:58] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think that Arthur Copet was necessarily um I think nine was a fluke.

[25:04] Robbie Rozelle: I like their phantom too.

[25:05] Andrew DeWolf: I like the phantom a lot.

[25:07] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, the copy yes it's phantom.

[25:08] Andrew DeWolf: I think that's better than Andrew Lloyd Webber's.

[25:10] Robbie Rozelle: I definitely forgot about that.

[25:11] Andrew DeWolf: Uh he just like he doesn't necessarily write musicals and like musical comedies specifically are not his thing.

[25:20] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[25:21] Andrew DeWolf: Like he wrote a musical called Wings that's literally about like a stroke victim's recovery.

[25:27] Robbie Rozelle: I don't mean to laugh.

[25:28] Andrew DeWolf: Right.

[25:28] Robbie Rozelle: I don't mean to laugh at that.

[25:30] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[25:30] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, like that's what he does.

[25:33] Andrew DeWolf: He is a dramatist.

[25:34] Robbie Rozelle: And so to be like, please write these sparkly funny bubbly jokes for Melissa Arico and company to sell.

[25:41] Andrew DeWolf: That's not gonna be Arthur Copet's bag.

[25:44] Robbie Rozelle: But there's no there's no drama in the show either, because you can't give two shits about any of these characters.

[25:50] Andrew DeWolf: No.

[25:51] Robbie Rozelle: While we're here, guys, I think we should continue reviews and compare both Ben Brantley's review and our opinions to those of the literally insane people over on Letterboxd.com.

[26:02] Andrew DeWolf: How does that sound?

[26:04] Robbie Rozelle: Great.

[26:05] Andrew DeWolf: And I tell a game that I like to call one star five star, where I'm gonna read you an actual letterboxed review, like from the website letterboxed, and you have to tell me whether it's a one-star review or a five-star review.

[26:20] Robbie Rozelle: It's a binary, it is not like a f three or anything, it is either one or five.

[26:25] Andrew DeWolf: Wow.

[26:25] Robbie Rozelle: Okay.

[26:25] Andrew DeWolf: This is of the movie version.

[26:27] Robbie Rozelle: Yes, this is of the film version of High Society.

[26:35] Andrew DeWolf: Um, alright.

[26:36] Robbie Rozelle: So, Robbie, you're up against Andrew.

[26:38] Andrew DeWolf: You guys are in competition.

[26:39] Robbie Rozelle: Great.

[26:40] Andrew DeWolf: Just so you get the vibe of it, Andrew, you're gonna go first.

[26:43] Andrew DeWolf: Sure, sure.

[26:44] Robbie Rozelle: Alright.

[26:44] Andrew DeWolf: First one. You ready?

[26:45] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, let's do it.

[26:49] Andrew DeWolf: It's so sad, like four minutes into this movie when you realize Louis Armstrong isn't the main character.

[26:58] Robbie Rozelle: One star?

[26:59] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[27:00] Robbie Rozelle: Alright, Robbie, you get how this goes.

[27:02] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[27:03] Robbie Rozelle: Alright, alright.

[27:04] Andrew DeWolf: Is there anyone else fucking my wife? Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.

[27:09] Robbie Rozelle: Five stars.

[27:10] Andrew DeWolf: That is a one star.

[27:12] Robbie Rozelle: Oh.

[27:13] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, you ready to go?

[27:15] Andrew DeWolf: Ready?

[27:17] Robbie Rozelle: I'm ready.

[27:18] Andrew DeWolf: Mom made me go.

[27:20] Robbie Rozelle: Mom made me go.

[27:21] Andrew DeWolf: That's the four of you.

[27:26] Robbie Rozelle: One star, one star, one star.

[27:28] Andrew DeWolf: That was a five-star.

[27:29] Robbie Rozelle: Rousey.

[27:30] Andrew DeWolf: You're up next.

[27:34] Robbie Rozelle: Mom made me go.

[27:36] Andrew DeWolf: Same.

[27:37] Robbie Rozelle: Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Louie Armstrong, Cole Porter. What could go wrong?

[27:43] Andrew DeWolf: One star.

[27:43] Robbie Rozelle: That is correct.

[27:44] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, you're ready.

[27:45] Andrew DeWolf: So much.

[27:46] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, I'm ready.

[27:46] Andrew DeWolf: I'm ready.

[27:47] Robbie Rozelle: A movie where a man gaslights a woman into believing she's still in love with him, but my god, Grace Kelly is absolutely gorgeous.

[27:56] Andrew DeWolf: True.

[27:57] Robbie Rozelle: And five-star.

[27:58] Andrew DeWolf: That is a one-star.

[27:59] Robbie Rozelle: That's a one-star.

[28:03] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[28:04] Robbie Rozelle: Mm-hmm.

[28:05] Andrew DeWolf: The conflict could have been resolved with one big orgy.

[28:09] Robbie Rozelle: They have a point.

[28:10] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, points are made.

[28:14] Robbie Rozelle: Uh one star.

[28:16] Andrew DeWolf: That is a five-star, Robbie.

[28:18] Robbie Rozelle: Shut the fuck up.

[28:19] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[28:20] Robbie Rozelle: Alright, they don't make sense.

[28:22] Andrew DeWolf: They don't make sense.

[28:24] Robbie Rozelle: No.

[28:25] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, you're ready.

[28:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[28:25] Robbie Rozelle: Whoever wrote this movie script is a big liar for saying Bing Crosby is handsome.

[28:31] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[28:31] Robbie Rozelle: What?

[28:32] Andrew DeWolf: Whoever wrote this movie script is a big liar for saying Bing Crosby is handsome.

[28:38] Robbie Rozelle: If I was drinking water, I would have spit it out right there.

[28:41] Andrew DeWolf: What one star?

[28:42] Robbie Rozelle: They probably that's a five.

[28:46] Andrew DeWolf: Sure.

[28:46] Robbie Rozelle: Alright.

[28:47] Andrew DeWolf: Nothing makes sense.

[28:48] Robbie Rozelle: Alright.

[28:49] Andrew DeWolf: Are you ready, Robbie?

[28:51] Robbie Rozelle: Nothing would make me happier.

[28:53] Andrew DeWolf: Alright. I want to nut on Grace Kelly.

[28:58] Robbie Rozelle: Five stars.

[28:59] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[29:00] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[29:01] Andrew DeWolf: That was an easy one. Come on.

[29:02] Robbie Rozelle: 10 out of 10, no notes.

[29:04] Andrew DeWolf: I want to nut on Grace Kelly.

[29:07] Robbie Rozelle: Honestly, put it on my tombstone.

[29:08] Andrew DeWolf: That would have been that would have been 10 stars if I could have given it.

[29:12] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, you ready?

[29:14] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, yeah.

[29:15] Andrew DeWolf: Got a new DVD player and had to test it out.

[29:21] Robbie Rozelle: This is a fucking movie from the 50s.

[29:24] Andrew DeWolf: This is what you're testing your DVD player with.

[29:30] Robbie Rozelle: Five stars?

[29:31] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[29:33] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[29:35] Andrew DeWolf: It works. The new DVD player worked.

[29:39] Robbie Rozelle: Are you ready?

[29:41] Andrew DeWolf: I want to nut on Grace Kelly.

[29:43] Robbie Rozelle: Me too.

[29:44] Andrew DeWolf: I okay. Real talk. That film felt like it was directed by Quentin Tarantino because there's so many just shots in the bottom of her bare feet in that movie.

[29:52] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[29:53] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm like, I feel like I'm watching something I shouldn't be.

[29:57] Robbie Rozelle: Um, rich lives matter, the musical.

[30:00] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, one star.

[30:01] Robbie Rozelle: That is correct.

[30:03] Andrew DeWolf: Andrew, you ready?

[30:04] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[30:05] Andrew DeWolf: I was named after Grace Kelly.

[30:08] Robbie Rozelle: Did anyone ask?

[30:10] Andrew DeWolf: Thank you, Grace.

[30:12] Robbie Rozelle: Maybe her name is Kelly.

[30:14] Andrew DeWolf: Do they like their name?

[30:15] Robbie Rozelle: Five stars?

[30:16] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[30:19] Robbie Rozelle: Alright, you're ready, Robbie.

[30:20] Andrew DeWolf: Jesus Christ.

[30:21] Robbie Rozelle: Yes.

[30:22] Andrew DeWolf: Bing Crosby is a pedophile.

[30:30] Robbie Rozelle: He do be singing to that girl, though.

[30:37] Andrew DeWolf: Thank God.

[30:38] Robbie Rozelle: Okay. You can't even argue with it.

[30:40] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[30:43] Robbie Rozelle: Andrew, you ready?

[30:44] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[30:45] Robbie Rozelle: Walmart.

[30:48] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[30:49] Robbie Rozelle: What?

[30:50] Andrew DeWolf: That's the whole thing?

[30:51] Robbie Rozelle: It's a full review.

[30:52] Andrew DeWolf: Walmart.

[30:53] Robbie Rozelle: Dude, you've got to be fucking kidding me.

[30:55] Andrew DeWolf: What the fuck? What do you do with that?

[30:57] Robbie Rozelle: Walmart?

[30:58] Andrew DeWolf: Walmart?

[30:59] Robbie Rozelle: Walmart.

[31:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yo. What did you think of the new uh the that movie you saw?

[31:05] Robbie Rozelle: The High Society.

[31:06] Andrew DeWolf: Walmart.

[31:06] Robbie Rozelle: Walmart.

[31:08] Andrew DeWolf: Fucking one star.

[31:10] Robbie Rozelle: That's a one star.

[31:11] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct. Yes!

[31:13] Robbie Rozelle: I don't know how I got it.

[31:16] Andrew DeWolf: Alright. Robbie.

[31:17] Robbie Rozelle: Because it's a Walmart.

[31:18] Andrew DeWolf: No.

[31:19] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Um, the Virgin Bing Crosby versus the Chad Carrie Grant.

[31:23] Andrew DeWolf: Is this the same pedophile?

[31:25] Robbie Rozelle: Maybe.

[31:25] Andrew DeWolf: Bing Crosby.

[31:26] Robbie Rozelle: Uh as I've heard. Uh wait. Read that one more time.

[31:29] Andrew DeWolf: The Virgin Bing Crosby versus the Chad Carrie Grant.

[31:35] Robbie Rozelle: Five stars.

[31:36] Andrew DeWolf: That is a one star.

[31:37] Robbie Rozelle: Ah. It's a one star.

[31:38] Andrew DeWolf: Andrew.

[31:39] Robbie Rozelle: Yep.

[31:39] Andrew DeWolf: Some absolutely cracking numbers, and Grace Kelly is a dream.

[31:43] Robbie Rozelle: Did scoff at the end though, when Frank Sinatra was deemed a proper gentleman for kindly electing not to rape her.

[31:49] Andrew DeWolf: I'm yeah, I mean, that it that does happen in the show, doesn't it?

[31:52] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, it does.

[31:56] Andrew DeWolf: I guess we probably could have talked about that, but the show was so boring we didn't.

[32:00] Robbie Rozelle: Um Good Lord.

[32:04] Andrew DeWolf: Uh five stars. The whole first part was very positive.

[32:07] Robbie Rozelle: That is correct.

[32:08] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, we got three more left. Robbie.

[32:11] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[32:12] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, here's the review.

[32:13] Robbie Rozelle: Oh no.

[32:14] Andrew DeWolf: No, you know I d w okay. Hold on.

[32:16] Robbie Rozelle: This is written really poorly.

[32:20] Andrew DeWolf: This is written really poorly.

[32:21] Robbie Rozelle: You gotta read it as written.

[32:22] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[32:23] Robbie Rozelle: If it's on the page, it's on the stage. Let's go.

[32:25] Andrew DeWolf: No, you know what? I'd be in an orgy with them.

[32:30] Robbie Rozelle: No, you know what? I'd be in an orgy with them.

[32:32] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars.

[32:33] Robbie Rozelle: That is correct.

[32:34] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. He's on the wavelength. He's got it.

[32:36] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Brain waves synced up like Andrew.

[32:43] Andrew DeWolf: Your last one that Robbie gets one because yeah.

[32:47] Robbie Rozelle: Actually, yeah, that that makes sense.

[32:49] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, you ready?

[32:50] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah.

[32:51] Andrew DeWolf: Are rich people really this obnoxious?

[32:54] Robbie Rozelle: Yes.

[32:55] Andrew DeWolf: One star.

[32:55] Robbie Rozelle: Correct.

[32:56] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Robbie.

[32:57] Robbie Rozelle: He has tied this up. It's your chance to win it all.

[33:00] Andrew DeWolf: Oh good. Big money. Big money. No whammies. Stop.

[33:04] Robbie Rozelle: Obsessed with Grace Kelly's costumes in this.

[33:07] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars.

[33:07] Robbie Rozelle: That is a one star.

[33:08] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, you guys are tied!

[33:12] Robbie Rozelle: How?

[33:13] Andrew DeWolf: How how?

[33:15] Robbie Rozelle: The only thing they have to say is something positive, and it's a one-star.

[33:15] Andrew DeWolf: One star.

[33:20] Robbie Rozelle: That is the letterbox reviews. Once again, you're tied.

[33:23] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, shake hands, you two.

[33:25] Robbie Rozelle: Ah, yes.

[33:27] Andrew DeWolf: Walmart.

[33:28] Robbie Rozelle: And also with you.

[33:31] Andrew DeWolf: That was so much fucking fun.

[33:33] Robbie Rozelle: I didn't. Yeah, that that game is like my favorite part of the show at this point.

[33:37] Andrew DeWolf: I love doing this.

[33:38] Robbie Rozelle: Is there anybody else fucking my wife?

[33:41] Andrew DeWolf: I don't I just want to make it clear. I don't make up any of these.

[33:44] Robbie Rozelle: I don't need to. I can't come up with these.

[33:47] Andrew DeWolf: No, you know what? I'd be in an orgy with them.

[33:50] Robbie Rozelle: I don't understand the Walmart one still. I don't get it.

[33:52] Andrew DeWolf: I assume it at Walmart.

[33:58] Robbie Rozelle: Did he think they were asking where he got it?

[34:00] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe old man letterbox, like, I got this at the 7-Eleven.

[34:06] Robbie Rozelle: Walmart, my shopping experience was one stock.

[34:10] Andrew DeWolf: Jesus Christ. High Society.

[34:13] Robbie Rozelle: Hi, hi, hi, hi.

[34:15] Andrew DeWolf: Bing. How about we go into a mid-show and then we talk about some songs?

[34:19] Robbie Rozelle: Great.

[34:24] Jess McEnally: Hey guys, sorry to interrupt you in the middle of the show, but we've got a shish shill at you. Today's show is brought to you by the extremely kind donations by our donors over at Patreon.

[34:34] Jess McEnally: At Patreon, you get to see video episodes of us where you can see that Robbie Rozelle is actually butt naked during this entire recording session. You cannot prove us wrong unless you're on Patreon, so you better join on Patreon.

[34:45] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, he's swinging it around. He's doing a full meat spin right now.

[34:48] Jess McEnally: Whoa! Yeah. Um, also you get a full podcast once a week with me and Liz Eston, where we talk about TV shows where we're about to we've wrapping up Encore and we're about to talk about um uh crazy ex girlfriend soon, so that's gonna be a lot of fun.

[35:04] Jess McEnally: Also, you can request episodes like me and a maniri did here and made us talk about high society, where we mostly just talked about other shit. Um Thanks, if you get our highest tier, which I believe is a hundred dollars, like Joseph Evans Green did, you can write a paragraph that we have to say every episode.

[35:24] Jess McEnally: And you know what? We have a professional performer with us today. So that paragraph is gonna be read by one Robbie Rozelle. Are you ready for this cold read, Robbie?

[35:33] Robbie Rozelle: Yes.

[35:34] Jess McEnally: Alright, here is the the the paragraph. Good luck.

[35:38] Robbie Rozelle: There's a star man he plays in blue and white. His name.

[35:44] Jess McEnally: There we go. Uh hold on, you gotta start from the beginning. You gotta do it. It's not ready.

[35:48] Robbie Rozelle: Okay. There's a star man. He plays in blue and white. His name's Yori Teilman's, and he's dynamite. Wilfred Nedidi, he'll take the ball off you. And finally, ooh, Jamie Vardy. Ooh, Jamie Vardy.

[36:02] Jess McEnally: Brilliant. Bravo, bravo. Ten out of ten. It's apparently a football thing. Like football is in the European version, not like the American version, which is nonsense.

[36:11] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, so Ted Lasso.

[36:13] Jess McEnally: Yeah, it's it's from Ted Lasso. Um, but Andrew, who's currently supporting us on Patreon?

[36:19] Andrew DeWolf: Well, I s go to the restrooms very, very covertly.

[36:23] Jess McEnally: Okay. I'm just gonna read a bunch of names. So here we go.

[36:26] Andrew DeWolf: Come on, Andrew. Our current patrons are Melissa Goldman, Terry Needleman, John Donna, Layton Eccles, Daniel Rennix, Justus Stampede, Ewan Cassidy, Taskier, Monica Thoreau, Mina Maniri, but Fred Black, Lathaniel Stacy Coombe, Joseph Evans Green, Carrie Ahern, Mary Lou Choquette, John Van Alves, Russ Walker, Musical Hell, Emily Gracy, Tablam, Kyle Summers, Janay C, Scoot in the Technical or Dreamcoat, Liz Lim, uh, Alison Stoller, nothing is certain except Beth and Taxes, Thesbian, Ren Cullen, Wait in the Wings, Raphael Martinez Salaz, Robert Benjamin, Jessica T, Mitchell Young, Chai Key Cup, Katie McDonough, Timothy Keyes, Jeffrey Machado, Chris Marquette, Timimu Robinson, Kiji Marie Anastasio, Leela, RJ Noriga, Sebastian Canino, Avan Reagan, Charlie B, Patrick Deering, Courtney Schreiner, Joe, Avery Brinson, Marilyn Brown, Mel Cormac, LaFemme Fictionnelle, Bjorn Herman's, August Gorman, Mac the Knife, Erica S. Toriana Vestel, Sammy the Most, Lopez, uh, Liana Morton, and Angela.

[37:34] Jess McEnally: If you'd like to join them and support Nussing, get tons of fun perks. Come join us, I didn't know what the biggest thing is.

[37:41] Andrew DeWolf: There was no sink.

[37:41] Jess McEnally: I didn't even hear a flush.

[37:43] Andrew DeWolf: Y'all, still in the middle of a pandemic.

[37:50] Jess McEnally: I washed my hands and I sang happy birthday.

[37:52] Andrew DeWolf: Did you guys not hear?

[37:53] Jess McEnally: I didn't hear any happy birthday.

[37:55] Andrew DeWolf: I didn't.

[37:55] Jess McEnally: I just heard your piss hit the toilet, Jesse.

[37:57] Andrew DeWolf: Jess.

[37:58] Jess McEnally: That's hot. Go wash your hands.

[38:00] Andrew DeWolf: I washed my hands!

[38:03] Jess McEnally: They're what?

[38:05] Andrew DeWolf: Wow. Alright, let's let's talk about the music.

[38:08] Jess McEnally: Let's get back to the show, kids. Alright, so high society, the opening number in both the film and the stage show. Um, the sta the the movie does it better because it's Louie Armstrong. They're on like a bus, and it's like the whole band's plan in there. In fact, Brie, play a comparison clip between the two of them and just get the vibe.

[38:31] Robbie Rozelle: Because they're just two different vibes. Behold the rich of oyster bay, I miss their daughter's wedding date. Those pillars of propriety. Hi, society.

[38:57] Andrew DeWolf: On which song itself frequency. High society. He's got the blue scuses for my wife. Against the bar of the new life. She started lately a new fan. And now the syllogic is gonna marry a square.

[39:23] Robbie Rozelle: I society. I society.

[39:32] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, the movie was pretty white to begin with, but somehow the Broadway show was like, we need to make that whiter.

[39:39] Robbie Rozelle: I will say, I think that using the song to set up who all these people are, although they only set up who the women are in the family in this opening song for some reason. Like they could have honestly used it to intro everybody and say, This is who all these people are, and off we go.

[39:58] Andrew DeWolf: And Susan uh Birken had lyrics for it. Fun. Uh, and the tune is jaunty, whatever, but still, yeah, I would give it to Louie any day.

[40:09] Robbie Rozelle: I'm about to say, you love this musical so much you're gonna marry it, Robbie.

[40:12] Andrew DeWolf: A little bit, a little bit, like they marry it, which I guess is legal. Um, what did you think, Andrew?

[40:18] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, it's one of the better songs in the show, but yeah, Louie Louis Armstrong does it better.

[40:23] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. I mean, why it makes me wonder why do you think they got rid of the the band side of it, the jazzy side of it, the fun side of it?

[40:31] Andrew DeWolf: Because they wanted it to be more boring.

[40:34] Robbie Rozelle: Uh they didn't want to make it good. They were trying to make it garbage for tax reasons.

[40:40] Andrew DeWolf: This is they were probably just writing like they thought they were writing a very serious uh uh snooty sort of you know nose up musical.

[40:50] Robbie Rozelle: Why though?

[40:51] Andrew DeWolf: Man, I unclear? Unclear. Who wants that? The 90s, like, oh, we need a snooty music.

[40:57] Robbie Rozelle: I feel like we're making American beauty. Like, hey, we don't need the fucking nineties middle class or whatever.

[41:02] Andrew DeWolf: Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't.

[41:05] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, actually like yeah, I feel like you make this show again and you just make it a satire, and it's just suddenly better.

[41:12] Andrew DeWolf: I think that might be what was intended, but then they hired like the wrong director and choreography. You know, every creative that was hired was uh wrong.

[41:22] Robbie Rozelle: And so then they were just stuck with this not great 1950s musical. I'll bet you anything they thought they were doing a throwback.

[41:29] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but yeah, but it's the wrong kind of throwback. We don't want a throwback to this.

[41:32] Robbie Rozelle: But also don't forget this was ninety-seven ninety-eight. Maybe they did back then.

[41:37] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Like now, if we were gonna do this again, I'd want it to be like We'd be crucified.

[41:44] Robbie Rozelle: Damn, isn't all aren't all these people like terrible and like we don't want them around anymore? Like that that's what I'd want to see from this if they did it now.

[41:53] Andrew DeWolf: Like it the whole thing is like just set satirical edge to it. No, I even have the characters. There's no satire to it.

[42:00] Robbie Rozelle: There's not even satire in the story. Like, there's nothing.

[42:03] Andrew DeWolf: No. No, it's it's played completely straight.

[42:05] Robbie Rozelle: Like, there's just that's that's the problem. They think they're sending up, but they're just not.

[42:11] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, that's what's next. What other songs I want to be or who wanna or Who Wants to be a Millionaire? I want to talk about that one.

[42:12] Robbie Rozelle: Who wants to be a millionaire?

[42:25] Andrew DeWolf: I don't have flashy funkies everywhere.

[42:29] Robbie Rozelle: I don't. Who wants the father of a country estate? A country estate is something I hate.

[42:38] Andrew DeWolf: Right. Who wants to wallow in champagne?

[42:42] Robbie Rozelle: I don't. Who wants an island off of Spain?

[42:46] Andrew DeWolf: I don't. Who wants a marble swimming pool too?

[42:50] Robbie Rozelle: I don't. And I don't, cause all I want is It did inspire um a game show.

[42:57] Andrew DeWolf: Literally. That's not even me being goofy. That literally happened.

[43:04] Robbie Rozelle: Do you want to elaborate on that, Robbie?

[43:06] Robbie Rozelle: I mean, it's uh oh god, remember Regis?

[43:09] Andrew DeWolf: Y'all remember Regis?

[43:10] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, he's a corpse now, but he's doing alright.

[43:12] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that's why I said remember, like past, like the past tense.

[43:16] Robbie Rozelle: Remember when he dressed up as Shrek from Shrek the Musical with Brian Darcy James?

[43:20] Andrew DeWolf: Why wouldn't he though? Shrek!

[43:25] Robbie Rozelle: I told Joy the other day that I was gonna be Shrek, but I'm racist.

[43:29] Andrew DeWolf: Um, I got a polyp when I just said that.

[43:35] Robbie Rozelle: Uh, it's a like a cute little song, I understand. Again, that was like the satire that Cole Porter would have been doing at that time.

[43:45] Andrew DeWolf: And what it was written for Frank Sinatra to swing.

[43:48] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, that makes sense. He does a great job, and the scene kind of works. He sells that physically. Like, there's a lot of physical comedy going on in that song in the movie.

[43:57] Andrew DeWolf: Nothing's done in the stage show. They kind of just fuck around on the stage.

[44:01] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, they just keep walking sort of in a circly line. There is like no anything interesting during the entire show.

[44:10] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like everything is just people standing there or like sitting there. Like sometimes they just sit on the stage and then sing, and it's like, what the hell is going on?

[44:19] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Like who is there an I want song? Does anyone want anything?

[44:24] Andrew DeWolf: Like even the main guy who I know like wants to get back with his wife. Does he really? Like I feel like even if he wasn't successful this weekend, he'd probably be like, yeah, whatever.

[44:32] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Uh, no, there's no I want song set up at the front of the show at all. Like at the end of Act One, uh, Tracy's character, Melissa Erico, has that umce upon a time, where she's like, Things were better, and I'd like to get back to there.

[44:51] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, but that's the closest. Oh, and you know, the drunk guy just wants to fuck Randy Graf.

[44:56] Robbie Rozelle: I mean, I don't blame him. Really bad. I who doesn't. Randy Graf is the best.

[45:01] Andrew DeWolf: The best. Should have the whole thing should have just been about Uncle Willie.

[45:04] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, he's the king.

[45:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. King Willy.

[45:07] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. King Willy.

[45:08] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Who's pretending to be the dad. Like, I can't keep up with all the pretending and who's what and what's woo and all that nonsense.

[45:16] Robbie Rozelle: The far shenanigans of it all. I hate it. There's already enough characters that I'm confused, and then you're like switching their names, like Oh, and on top of it, there's no set to speak of.

[45:27] Andrew DeWolf: So that like when they're all chasing each other, like it's Scooby-Do, you know, every episode of Scooby-Do, when they're like opening a door and they run through, and then three doors down, they open a different door.

[45:38] Robbie Rozelle: Like that, but because there's no set, they're just running from one side of the stage to the other, and like the first doesn't play.

[45:46] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Okay. Anyway. Do you remember at any point, Andrew, in the bootleg, or even Robbie, anyone in the audience really laughing?

[45:54] Robbie Rozelle: Yes. Uh, I think there was one a couple times. And it w every time it was when uh oh god, what's his name would speak? Uh John McMartin.

[46:02] Andrew DeWolf: So uh, uh I'm getting myself right. Oh, wait, it's in he's saying it during Let's Misbehave, and he's like, There's something wild about your child. That's so contagious. Let's be outrageous, let's uh and he sort of like mumbled at misbehave, and that got a huge laugh.

[46:23] Robbie Rozelle: Okay, maybe it's because he's a pro.

[46:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but then I look at the famous clip of like Melissa Erico and Anna Kendrick doing that one scene where they're pretending to do and sure. It feels like they dubbed laughter into that scene.

[46:37] Robbie Rozelle: Anything with like a child though is gonna be like adorable.

[46:40] Andrew DeWolf: Is it though?

[46:41] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Yeah. You put kids on stage and people will laugh just because they exist.

[46:45] Andrew DeWolf: I guess that makes sense. Like I have a bet I mean, I have a bet with America's funniest home videos that any time a child wins, it will beat any dog any week.

[46:54] Robbie Rozelle: If there's a dog against it, the child will always win. And if you have a dog in a little ballerina outfit and you put beautiful Melissa Erico and her accordion next to it, like that's gonna get some laughs.

[47:06] Andrew DeWolf: And then they do a fake fake French accent. Oh did any French people write in like, hey, Mr. Copit, this is something that's a good thing.

[47:15] Robbie Rozelle: I don't think it ran long enough. I don't think any French person would watch this.

[47:19] Andrew DeWolf: No. They wouldn't be caught dead. Alright, what's uh what other songs are there to talk about here?

[47:24] Robbie Rozelle: None. It's Cole Porter tunes that nobody likes. I mean, I we do have to talk about Let's Misbehave because um Robbie Rozelle. In fact, Bree, play Robbie's version from his album. Um he does the best version of the song I've ever heard.

[47:40] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, that's nice.

[47:42] ♪ Musical number: "Let's Misbehave" — performed by Robbie Rozelle ♪

[48:28] Robbie Rozelle: Wow, what a great great rendition of the Bravo, bravo. Again, I was just looking for something to open my show that would just kind of be like a little cheeky and fun. And then when uh my arranger Josh Smith added that merrily we roll along underneath it that just kept playing was sometimes merrily dun dun dun dun dun kept playing underneath it. I was like, yeah, that's the shit.

[48:53] Andrew DeWolf: That's the shit right there. It's great. So uh let's misbehave doesn't mean anything in the context of the show, but it means let's misbehave and get a few laughs from the audience. Make them feel like they're alive for a couple minutes. You know, let they just they just got their drinks and people. Oh half the audience is here, but you're sticking around. Let's do it.

[49:17] Robbie Rozelle: Robbie, did you come back for act two or did you leave?

[49:22] Robbie Rozelle: No, I came back because again, it was like a $65 ticket. Um, and I was so enraptured by Melissa's voice. I still am, that it was enough to keep me there uh to hear whatever she was going to sing. Didn't matter. Um, and in fact, when I met her in 2002 at the stage door of the Kennedy Center, I had her sign my high society cast album.

[49:46] Andrew DeWolf: And why she say, oh darling, you actually saw that? She was so happy.

[49:51] Robbie Rozelle: Uh okay, we need to talk about this poster for High Society.

[49:55] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, the little kitty cats. That is I I don't understand what's happening with the cats.

[50:00] Robbie Rozelle: I wanted to say something, but no, no one does. Nobody does. That artist was just like humanizing animals for some reason. That was like a trend at that time, and I don't that didn't help sell any tickets.

[50:16] Andrew DeWolf: Were they trying to confuse audiences to thinking they were seeing cats?

[50:19] Robbie Rozelle: But what wait I don't even understand what that has to do with the show. There's not even like Dinah doesn't have like a little kitty, even that would be like, oh, look a cat. No, nothing makes sense.

[50:30] Andrew DeWolf: No, no, I'm trying to say they're trying to convince the audience that they're gonna see the musical cats. Like oh, there's cats in the poster, that's the musical, let's go.

[50:39] Robbie Rozelle: Uh I don't think people are that dumb.

[50:43] Andrew DeWolf: They are, I'm sorry, they really are.

[50:46] Robbie Rozelle: You think that's the same thing. Some for sure are.

[50:48] Andrew DeWolf: Sure. Not everyone, but my god, my god. Ugly poster.

[50:52] Robbie Rozelle: Ugly. Why are their faces like weirdly pixelated?

[50:57] Andrew DeWolf: That was the how they were drawn.

[51:00] Robbie Rozelle: The 90s.

[51:02] Andrew DeWolf: Their bodies aren't though.

[51:03] Robbie Rozelle: I know. I don't get it. I don't understand. Nothing makes sense. The Dodgers were clearly all just wasted. Nothing makes sense.

[51:14] Andrew DeWolf: Now, Andrew, for you to like fresh a breath of fresh air, look at the movie poster. Which is just such a nice, quaint poster from the 50s of everyone just linking arms, like, oh, what a fun like comedy.

[51:27] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. They're having fun. You like I'm gonna watch this and it will be fun.

[51:31] Andrew DeWolf: You look at the cats, and you're like, I'm gonna watch this, and there isn't gonna be cats, but I want there to be.

[51:39] Robbie Rozelle: But why are they on a boat?

[51:40] Andrew DeWolf: I don't I don't understand.

[51:42] Robbie Rozelle: Because the boat is yaw. They do talk about boating and shit at the in the show.

[51:48] Andrew DeWolf: Doesn't they they live on a bay and one of the dexters shows up on his yacht?

[51:54] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. Or something.

[51:55] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but it's not really plot centric.

[51:58] Robbie Rozelle: No, but they're not cats either. That's not a good thing.

[52:03] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know if they're furries, Andrew. Fuck.

[52:06] Robbie Rozelle: Maybe they are. About the only thing that is plot centric in this is uh somebody's holding a champagne flute. Now you on Twitter compared this to the the the how to succeed in business poster.

[52:19] Andrew DeWolf: Same designer. Who is that designer?

[52:21] Robbie Rozelle: He his name was Doug Johnson. He did uh the footloose crazy F and he did the uh blah blah blah candied poster. He's done some good ones. He did like the the secret garden poster too.

[52:38] Andrew DeWolf: Big River Secret Garden.

[52:39] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's very known for sort of blocky art.

[52:43] Andrew DeWolf: Why animals though? I don't understand it.

[52:44] Robbie Rozelle: And it was just like a thing at that. You know, I as a graphic designer, I know that there are things that I will lean into, certain fonts and things like that. And I can definitely look through my back catalog and go, oh, I was very much in uh this kind of period when I was doing these things. Maybe he was just living an animal period, but I don't get it.

[53:09] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Robbie. Who do you think is the best Broadway poster designer?

[53:13] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, uh shit. It was Tony Walton who did Pippin and the 94 She Loves Me. Um they were always and VR. Original Chicago.

[53:23] Andrew DeWolf: Wow, a lot of yeah.

[53:25] Robbie Rozelle: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh but he oh no, he's still alive, actually. Weirdly, connected to Melissa Erico. Um a dream. They're they're beautiful and they they have a point of view, you know. They uh I miss when theater art was theater art versus now when it's just like uh somebody's photo.

[53:43] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like they did that with movie posters too.

[53:45] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, but then everything is just somebody's picture. But then you get the odd she loves me.

[53:50] Andrew DeWolf: I know that that new revival wasn't like adored by as many people as me, but I love that cover art.

[53:56] Robbie Rozelle: I think that cover art is beautiful.

[53:57] Andrew DeWolf: Of the album?

[53:58] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, the album and the posters and all that.

[54:01] Andrew DeWolf: So yes and no. So I added to that cover.

[54:05] Robbie Rozelle: Okay.

[54:06] Andrew DeWolf: So there's like a this big, beautiful border that runs on that cover. Um that didn't exist outside of the album. I created it for the album.

[54:15] Robbie Rozelle: I ripped it off for my podcast, Dear Friends. I hope you know.

[54:20] Andrew DeWolf: What a dream. I didn't know that.

[54:22] Robbie Rozelle: Um, You're welcome. Sued.

[54:25] Andrew DeWolf: Lawsuit inbound.

[54:26] Robbie Rozelle: Oh no, Robbie, don't sue me.

[54:29] Andrew DeWolf: For threes of dollars.

[54:31] Robbie Rozelle: Um, pennies even. Truly. Uh but I like their um like I liked the title art, the title treatment of She Loves Me, that production. However, the 94 one where like George is like leaping and there's like these letters flying around him.

[54:47] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[54:48] Robbie Rozelle: And it's a drawing. That's stunning. And says so much about the show without giving away anything. And you go, I wanna know what that is.

[54:56] Andrew DeWolf: I agree. But also modern audiences are stupid and need a name.

[55:01] Robbie Rozelle: So Zachary Levi, fundamentalist Christian or not, he he's gonna get the top billing.

[55:06] Andrew DeWolf: He sure did.

[55:07] Robbie Rozelle: He sure did. Uh actually he got second billing after Laura.

[55:10] Andrew DeWolf: But you know what? That's fine. You know what? Laura deserves it. She's worked hard.

[55:14] Robbie Rozelle: Hundred percent. She's worked hard. She's worked hard. She's been doing this since she was like nine or whatever.

[55:20] Andrew DeWolf: Of the four uh cast albums of the show, I think that the Tony Walton one is the best looking one, in my humble opinion.

[55:30] Robbie Rozelle: Yes, but what I'm saying is that the more recent one looks better than a lot of cast albums do presently.

[55:37] Andrew DeWolf: Thanks.

[55:37] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah. I'm very happy with it. The that border was based on like Marocheck labels. So And I know this is your Grammy winning album, but I don't like the color purple design.

[55:49] Andrew DeWolf: It's just some faces.

[55:52] Robbie Rozelle: But what I do like about the color purple is the uh the the names that are in the wooden panels.

[55:59] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, I like that too.

[56:00] Robbie Rozelle: The etched in there and these uh sort of violets, the flowers. I like that a lot. But yes, you're not wrong that it's the three women's faces. Uh that was gonna sell.

[56:11] Andrew DeWolf: You know what had a shockingly good poster? And I'm sorry, Andrew. I'm looking at my my table down here is made of Broadway posters, by the way.

[56:19] Robbie Rozelle: Oh wow.

[56:19] Andrew DeWolf: Um, so I'm just looking at them, and I just Bright Star has an amazing Broadway poster.

[56:19] Robbie Rozelle: Bright star.

[56:26] Andrew DeWolf: But that musical is hot garbage.

[56:29] Robbie Rozelle: Oh.

[56:30] Andrew DeWolf: Did you see it?

[56:31] Robbie Rozelle: We did an episode on it.

[56:33] Andrew DeWolf: Wait, but so you saw like the baby flying in slow motion.

[56:36] Robbie Rozelle: Yep.

[56:37] Andrew DeWolf: In the bat that's honestly the most what the fuck thing that I've seen.

[56:42] Robbie Rozelle: That's on the end act one.

[56:45] Andrew DeWolf: That wasn't called Diana Dott's musical. It was very much a what the fuck.

[56:50] Robbie Rozelle: I'm so happy we're talking about this in the middle of High Society.

[56:58] Andrew DeWolf: Everyone's favorite show, High Society. We're talking about Bright Star over High Society.

[57:06] Robbie Rozelle: Bright Star had stuff to talk about, at least.

[57:08] Andrew DeWolf: It's true. Bright Star is like Steve Martin did the score and a baby got thrown off a train.

[57:13] Robbie Rozelle: Oh I love that a baby got thrown off the train.

[57:16] Andrew DeWolf: Honestly, throw more babies off trains. That's how High Society could have had me pumped up for act two. If they had thrown Anna Kendrick off of a train, Tony.

[57:27] Robbie Rozelle: Imagine halfway through act one, like Dexter just comes in and it's like, remember when I threw that baby off a train?

[57:33] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[57:34] Robbie Rozelle: 10 out of 10.

[57:35] Jess McEnally: No notes.

[57:36] Andrew DeWolf: And then they never reference it again.

[57:37] Robbie Rozelle: And he's like, probably some more voove clicko.

[57:40] Jess McEnally: Right.

[57:42] Andrew DeWolf: And the whole time the audience is like, wait, he threw a baby off a train?

[57:45] Robbie Rozelle: And he just dropped that.

[57:47] Andrew DeWolf: There's a mistake on the cast album that is like the weirdest thing that they never were like, hmm, let's do another take.

[57:54] Robbie Rozelle: Uh oh god, uh Daniel McDonald, his character, Dexter.

[58:00] Andrew DeWolf: Dexter is he's with Dina, and he's like, Oh, do you want some tea?

[58:04] Robbie Rozelle: And she's like, Tea?

[58:05] Andrew DeWolf: There's nothing in it, Dexter.

[58:06] Robbie Rozelle: And he goes, But it doesn't matter.

[58:08] Andrew DeWolf: And like he trips over his words.

[58:11] Robbie Rozelle: Drop that in here right now.

[58:13] Jess McEnally: Yeah, Brie, play that clip right here.

[58:16] Andrew DeWolf: Do you want to pour or should I?

[58:18] Robbie Rozelle: There's nothing in it, Dexter.

[58:22] Andrew DeWolf: Oh my god, how did he fuck up so bad?

[58:25] Robbie Rozelle: And nobody was like, What if uh I don't know, one more take?

[58:29] Andrew DeWolf: You gotta you got another one in you, right?

[58:31] Robbie Rozelle: Oh no.

[58:32] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, it's just one of those weird, like little cat.

[58:34] Robbie Rozelle: It's like Mandy Potinkin coming in too early in the secret garden, Lily's eyes.

[58:38] Andrew DeWolf: It has her eyes, she has a lily's hey surprise.

[58:43] Robbie Rozelle: But what part does he come into early?

[58:45] Andrew DeWolf: Uh he goes, shit.

[58:53] Robbie Rozelle: They've remastered this thing 20 times.

[58:57] Andrew DeWolf: And nobody has ever said maybe they think it's intentional.

[59:00] Robbie Rozelle: You know what? It's like the Star Wars special edition.

[59:03] Andrew DeWolf: At this point, we can't get rid of it.

[59:05] Robbie Rozelle: Truly, there's that.

[59:06] Andrew DeWolf: There's the uh Carol Channing does it in Hello Dolly uh in uh Sunday clothes.

[59:12] Robbie Rozelle: She's it's like when she's like, Erming Godshap Shneveling don't cry, right?

[59:17] Andrew DeWolf: She you hear her just go, erming gods.

[59:26] Robbie Rozelle: I love cast album fuck ups.

[59:28] Andrew DeWolf: Usually or you would think, but also like in the 60s, 70s, 80s, sure, they weren't recording digital yet, so it wasn't like you would just go, let's just do another take.

[59:39] Robbie Rozelle: We you you've got another one in you.

[59:40] Andrew DeWolf: We have we have three minutes, right?

[59:42] Robbie Rozelle: We can record another take.

[59:43] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, we're Carol, we're gonna do another take.

[59:45] Robbie Rozelle: So it's no, I refuse.

[59:48] Andrew DeWolf: They ran out of tape.

[59:51] Robbie Rozelle: She what if that was like?

[59:55] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[59:55] Robbie Rozelle: What if I was saying she played?

[59:57] Andrew DeWolf: Like, I'm gonna do that every time now.

[1:00:00] Robbie Rozelle: Every time jam tomorrow, um yesterday, but never um today.

[1:00:06] Andrew DeWolf: I can't What now I want to put Carol Channing in high society, y'all.

[1:00:12] Robbie Rozelle: What was she sing?

[1:00:14] Andrew DeWolf: Who would she play?

[1:00:15] Robbie Rozelle: Live screen, live screen future.

[1:00:22] Andrew DeWolf: We reintroduced the the the Louie Armstrong character.

[1:00:25] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, yes.

[1:00:25] Andrew DeWolf: Then it's Carol Channing.

[1:00:27] Robbie Rozelle: Well, you know that my great-grandmother is one sixteenth black, and so I am also black.

[1:00:34] Andrew DeWolf: And you can read about that in my memoir.

[1:00:36] Robbie Rozelle: Just lucky, I guess.

[1:00:38] Andrew DeWolf: I didn't have any corn.

[1:00:40] Robbie Rozelle: She says corn.

[1:00:42] Andrew DeWolf: I don't recall eating corn.

[1:00:45] Robbie Rozelle: Could you imagine hearing that in the Sardis stall?

[1:00:47] Andrew DeWolf: I can't.

[1:00:48] Robbie Rozelle: Didn't she like take a big ol' mass of shit in someone's dressing room and leave it there or something?

[1:00:53] Andrew DeWolf: No, I was told that it was a Sardies.

[1:00:55] Robbie Rozelle: The story has made its uh rounds.

[1:00:57] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[1:00:58] Robbie Rozelle: I thought she like had to share a dressing room with people, and then people just came in and then heard her like, Middle you didn't have any corn through the wall.

[1:01:08] Andrew DeWolf: No, I heard that it was in Sardi's bathroom, and so from the next all over, somebody heard corn.

[1:01:15] Robbie Rozelle: I don't recall eating corn.

[1:01:19] Andrew DeWolf: No matter what.

[1:01:20] Robbie Rozelle: Horrifying.

[1:01:21] Andrew DeWolf: So glad we're talking about poop.

[1:01:22] Robbie Rozelle: Hi society.

[1:01:23] Andrew DeWolf: Speaking of shit.

[1:01:24] Robbie Rozelle: You know what?

[1:01:25] Andrew DeWolf: Speaking of the opposite.

[1:01:26] Robbie Rozelle: We're the lowbrow over here.

[1:01:28] Andrew DeWolf: We are the garbage podcast.

[1:01:29] Robbie Rozelle: I'm sure you've talked to professionals.

[1:01:31] Andrew DeWolf: Like you know Grace, and she's probably like they're the fucking worst.

[1:01:35] Robbie Rozelle: They're like always talking about shit and sex.

[1:01:37] Andrew DeWolf: What the fuck, dude?

[1:01:38] Robbie Rozelle: Nah.

[1:01:39] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, come on.

[1:01:40] Robbie Rozelle: Come on.

[1:01:40] Andrew DeWolf: Like, we're the ones that bring it up.

[1:01:44] Robbie Rozelle: It's true.

[1:01:46] Andrew DeWolf: Blame the guest, I believe, is a cardinal rule of podcasting.

[1:01:49] Robbie Rozelle: It's true.

[1:01:50] Andrew DeWolf: The guest always ruins the show.

[1:01:52] Robbie Rozelle: They do.

[1:01:52] Andrew DeWolf: If the show's bad, it's always the guest's fault.

[1:01:54] Robbie Rozelle: It's always the guest.

[1:01:56] Andrew DeWolf: Nobody listens to the old Rozelle episode because they talk about the shit.

[1:02:00] Robbie Rozelle: Ew.

[1:02:01] Andrew DeWolf: I like that.

[1:02:03] Robbie Rozelle: So leave with you and subscribe.

[1:02:05] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars, please.

[1:02:07] Robbie Rozelle: No what?

[1:02:07] Andrew DeWolf: On that note, what is our overall thoughts on high society and our cheese rating?

[1:02:12] Jess McEnally: Andrew, do you want to go first?

[1:02:13] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, sure. Why not? I'll go first. Um High Society was boring, and I don't think I'd recommend it. There's like some okay songs, I guess. If you really want to watch it, it's not the worst thing ever, I guess. It's good, it's a nap time. Um as far as cheese, I'm gonna give it uh I I found a list of the world's most fancy cheeses ranked. This was number one on that list. Uh Montgomery's cheddar. Uh so I guess it's a a very fancy form of cheddar cheese. I would love that. But uh, you know, this is a very fancy show.

[1:02:45] Robbie Rozelle: It's high society, baby.

[1:02:46] Andrew DeWolf: Hi.

[1:02:47] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, see, that's what somebody needs to do.

[1:02:50] Andrew DeWolf: Hi society.

[1:02:52] Robbie Rozelle: Well, we solved it.

[1:02:53] Andrew DeWolf: We fixed it.

[1:02:54] Robbie Rozelle: You just get isn't that just called hair?

[1:02:57] Andrew DeWolf: Everybody gets handed a gummy when you walk in.

[1:03:01] Robbie Rozelle: Great.

[1:03:02] Andrew DeWolf: The thing is, what do you do for that first hour when it doesn't kick in?

[1:03:06] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, yours take an hour?

[1:03:07] Andrew DeWolf: I I'm a weakling, I guess, or I don't know.

[1:03:10] Robbie Rozelle: I guess not.

[1:03:11] Andrew DeWolf: If you were a weekling, it would be like too strong.

[1:03:14] Robbie Rozelle: It takes too long for you.

[1:03:15] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[1:03:15] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, but then I start like wondering who I am. My heart starts racing fast, and suddenly Diana, the musical's gonna eat me.

[1:03:24] Andrew DeWolf: Take it.

[1:03:26] Robbie Rozelle: What is your overall thoughts on high society and your cheese rating, Robbie?

[1:03:30] Robbie Rozelle: Not a great musical. A very fine cast album of great people singing Cole Porter songs that is highly listenable. Uh as a cheese rating, though. You know that parmesan that you can buy that's already graded and it's not kept in the refrigerator section of your uh the supermarket, but it's like next to the pastas.

[1:03:53] Andrew DeWolf: Sure.

[1:03:54] Robbie Rozelle: That's the cheese.

[1:03:56] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[1:03:56] Robbie Rozelle: Um, I want Juliet Antonio, who is our cheese keeper, to be sure to write all that correctly. Um, alright. So really the only Wait, what's yours?

[1:04:08] Andrew DeWolf: I I I don't like High Society, man. I don't like this show. It's so boring. The movie's better, but only slightly because Frank Sinatra's got some charm to it. Carrie Grant is the Chad to, you know, um, what the fuck's that motherfucker? Virgin. What's the pedophile's name?

[1:04:25] Robbie Rozelle: Big Crosby.

[1:04:26] Andrew DeWolf: The pedophile.

[1:04:27] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, I'd have an orgy with all of them. Grace Kelly's bare feet are shown way too much in a way that doesn't make me feel comfortable. Um, so the only cheese rating I can give it is tie dye cheesecake from the High Society Cheesecake Factory. Five stars.

[1:04:41] Robbie Rozelle: Ten out of ten, I did it.

[1:04:44] Andrew DeWolf: It's okay, Robbie. I I want to show you what this cake looked like because I feel like this would be your cheesecake.

[1:04:51] Robbie Rozelle: Um, so you're gonna get a take take a look at this shit.

[1:04:54] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, let's take a look at this cheesecake.

[1:04:55] Robbie Rozelle: What the fuck is that?

[1:04:57] Andrew DeWolf: The life of Eddie Potter party, an orange honey flavored cheesecake that brings smiles to everyone's faces.

[1:05:03] Robbie Rozelle: Uh that is what am I looking at? That looks disgusting.

[1:05:05] Andrew DeWolf: I don't eat don't eat that.

[1:05:08] Robbie Rozelle: No.

[1:05:09] Andrew DeWolf: That's real high society.

[1:05:11] Robbie Rozelle: My husband, well, actually, if we were high, possibly would dip in while watching the Golden Palace.

[1:05:18] Andrew DeWolf: Um my husband just texted me from the next room. Sacrilegious Parmesan is the name of it.

[1:05:23] Robbie Rozelle: Uh that just gave me cap.

[1:05:26] Andrew DeWolf: What's his name?

[1:05:26] Robbie Rozelle: Leonard.

[1:05:27] Andrew DeWolf: Leonard, great note.

[1:05:28] Robbie Rozelle: Great note.

[1:05:29] Andrew DeWolf: Next time I'm in New York, I want to take you both out to dinner, and then we're gonna eat a gummy and watch some horrible muscles.

[1:05:36] Robbie Rozelle: Yes, please.

[1:05:36] Andrew DeWolf: You gonna watch Diana?

[1:05:37] Robbie Rozelle: No, I uh that I already think it's gonna eat me. I don't want to relapse onto that.

[1:05:40] Andrew DeWolf: We'll find something else.

[1:05:44] Robbie Rozelle: It probably is gonna eat you.

[1:05:46] Andrew DeWolf: It's the greatest of all time.

[1:05:47] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, it's so wonderful.

[1:05:49] Andrew DeWolf: Um we'll probably watch Jekyll and High Dusical.

[1:05:52] Robbie Rozelle: I have a lot to say on that.

[1:05:54] Andrew DeWolf: Um Robbie, you are a joy as always. Promote all your wonderful content for the world.

[1:05:59] Robbie Rozelle: This was so great. Thanks for having me.

[1:06:01] Robbie Rozelle: Uh you can uh follow me at Diva Robbie on all the things.

[1:06:05] Robbie Rozelle: Uh that was my AOL name when I was 16, and uh it stuck, and so that's a cautionary fable in branding.

[1:06:11] Andrew DeWolf: You've only had that name for five years.

[1:06:13] Robbie Rozelle: Thank you so much. It's just a little lush.

[1:06:16] Robbie Rozelle: Uh some pearl cream, some keels, some uh yeah.

[1:06:20] Robbie Rozelle: Uh my album, Songs from Inside My Locker is streaming on Spotify and uh a lot of fun.

[1:06:26] Robbie Rozelle: I don't recommend listening to it while you're on uh like a treadmill or an elliptical because I scream a lot.

[1:06:32] Robbie Rozelle: And um, I feel like at some point somebody's gonna fall because I'm gonna come up on shuffle and they're just gonna get kids.

[1:06:39] Robbie Rozelle: Uh, and that'll be good for them. Not for me, don't sue me.

[1:06:43] Robbie Rozelle: Uh Diva Rabbi.

[1:06:45] Andrew DeWolf: That's how you find me. The album's great.

[1:06:47] Andrew DeWolf: I love his interpretation of the Captain Hook song.

[1:06:51] Robbie Rozelle: I think that was incredible.

[1:06:52] Andrew DeWolf: And no one ever covers that song.

[1:06:53] Robbie Rozelle: It's great.

[1:06:54] Robbie Rozelle: We mixed it with uh Little Girls.

[1:06:56] Andrew DeWolf: Little girls from Annie, not live.

[1:06:58] Robbie Rozelle: Although the album is.

[1:07:00] Andrew DeWolf: The album is live.

[1:07:01] Robbie Rozelle: The audience is great, but not Annie Live.

[1:07:03] Andrew DeWolf: No.

[1:07:03] Robbie Rozelle: Annie Live was so bad.

[1:07:08] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I know.

[1:07:09] Andrew DeWolf: I didn't even drink, and I remember absolutely nothing from that night.

[1:07:13] Robbie Rozelle: Wow.

[1:07:14] Andrew DeWolf: Wow.

[1:07:15] Robbie Rozelle: Maybe maybe we'll revisit Annie Live with me.

[1:07:17] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, that would be a lot of fun.

[1:07:18] Robbie Rozelle: I'd prefer that because maybe I'll remember some of that.

[1:07:21] Andrew DeWolf: When's the next live musical, Robbie?

[1:07:23] Robbie Rozelle: What do you think it should be?

[1:07:24] Robbie Rozelle: Obviously, bye bye birdie live with J Lo.

[1:07:28] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, Andrew, you need context for that joke.

[1:07:31] Robbie Rozelle: So when they did Hairspray Live, they promoted it in the middle, saying bye bye birdie with J Lo, and then it never happened.

[1:07:38] Andrew DeWolf: Just never, fully never happened.

[1:07:40] Robbie Rozelle: They've done 87 live musicals since then.

[1:07:43] Andrew DeWolf: And every year I'm like, this could be our year.

[1:07:48] Robbie Rozelle: Nobody asked for this.

[1:07:49] Andrew DeWolf: Is there a story behind that or anything?

[1:07:52] Robbie Rozelle: Nope. They were just like, you know what we're gonna do next?

[1:07:54] Robbie Rozelle: Super stuff. After hairspray, it's gonna be bye bye birdie live.

[1:07:58] Andrew DeWolf: And we're gonna get J Lo.

[1:08:01] Robbie Rozelle: And then they just they just didn't.

[1:08:04] Andrew DeWolf: Then the world let out a sigh, and they were like, maybe not.

[1:08:08] Robbie Rozelle: We were like.

[1:08:09] Andrew DeWolf: Her.

[1:08:12] Robbie Rozelle: Oh, it would have been great though.

[1:08:15] Andrew DeWolf: It would have been content either way.

[1:08:17] Robbie Rozelle: I just remember that ad playing, and I was like, no, thank you.

[1:08:21] Andrew DeWolf: That was a big no thank you from me.

[1:08:26] Robbie Rozelle: You know who definitely wants to see J Lo in Bye Boy Birdie, though?

[1:08:30] Andrew DeWolf: Who?

[1:08:31] Robbie Rozelle: Our wonderful patrons.

[1:08:32] Andrew DeWolf: Thank you guys for listening.

[1:08:33] Andrew DeWolf: We can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher at Musicals with Cheese.

[1:08:36] Andrew DeWolf: We're on Twitter at Cheesy Musicals, Patreon Musicals with Cheese, Instagram Musicals with Cheese, YouTube page musicals with cheese.

[1:08:41] Robbie Rozelle: We have a patron only podcast called Patreon with Cheese.

[1:08:43] Andrew DeWolf: Email us at musical theaterlives at gmail.com.

[1:08:46] Robbie Rozelle: Our title card is created by the amazing Jolene Casco.

[1:08:49] Andrew DeWolf: Go follow her on Instagram at Jolene Casco.

[1:08:51] Robbie Rozelle: Our keeper of the cheese is Juliet Antonio.

[1:08:53] Andrew DeWolf: Thank you for keeping track of all of our cheese ratings, because God knows I was not gonna do it.

[1:08:57] Robbie Rozelle: This show is produced by the amazing, the wonderful, the sadly absent.

[1:09:01] Andrew DeWolf: Please feel better soon, Brianna Jones.

[1:09:03] Robbie Rozelle: Our theme songs were created by Robin Nash of IOU Music UK.

[1:09:07] Andrew DeWolf: Thank you to the Broadway Podcast Network for having us on the platform and for not kicking us off for talking so much shit about Melissa Erico.

[1:09:14] Robbie Rozelle: Alright, you guys, is there anything else you want to say before we wrap this up?

[1:09:17] Andrew DeWolf: Uh it stay off drugs.

[1:09:22] Robbie Rozelle: Noah, don't tell me what to do, Robbie.

[1:09:24] Andrew DeWolf: Drugs are sick.

[1:09:25] Robbie Rozelle: Go on drugs.

[1:09:26] Andrew DeWolf: You know what? Do drugs.

[1:09:27] Robbie Rozelle: Do drugs.

[1:09:28] Andrew DeWolf: Do you guys go grind leg music?

[1:09:31] Robbie Rozelle: Do drugs, bootlegging musicals.

[1:09:32] Andrew DeWolf: Do drugs.

[1:09:34] Robbie Rozelle: Bootleg high school.

[1:09:35] Andrew DeWolf: Eat ass suck a dick and do drugs.

[1:09:37] Robbie Rozelle: Honestly.

[1:09:40] Andrew DeWolf: And the second one too.

[1:09:42] Robbie Rozelle: Yeah, suck a dick and bootlegged high school musical.

[1:09:46] Andrew DeWolf: Don't do the third one.

[1:09:47] Robbie Rozelle: That one's it's not worth watching, really.

[1:09:48] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, yeah.

[1:09:50] Robbie Rozelle: I mean, if you find my copy where I was in the touring production for a hot second, go go for it.

[1:09:57] Andrew DeWolf: The Robbie's face.

[1:09:58] Robbie Rozelle: What?

[1:10:00] Andrew DeWolf: Damn.

[1:10:00] Robbie Rozelle: I preferred in the ensemble in two two cities in the National Tour of High School Musical.

[1:10:06] Andrew DeWolf: With Ariel Jacob.

[1:10:07] Robbie Rozelle: This is not true.

[1:10:08] Andrew DeWolf: You just made this up.

[1:10:09] Robbie Rozelle: I did not make this up, so I guess this is the time for people to know this.

[1:10:14] Robbie Rozelle: So we were like the first um community theater production to do the high school musical version.

[1:10:19] Andrew DeWolf: For that, we got to travel with the touring production, our community theater, um, for like three different cities.

[1:10:26] Robbie Rozelle: So we performed in like the all of this together and a few other numbers, like doing our bits with them.

[1:10:32] Andrew DeWolf: It it was a weird thing.

[1:10:34] Robbie Rozelle: Do you ever do you ever just think and suddenly there's God?

[1:10:39] Andrew DeWolf: Because I just did.

[1:10:42] Robbie Rozelle: What do you mean?

[1:10:43] Robbie Rozelle: Bree, edit that edit this to the beginning of the episode so I oh what?

[1:10:51] Andrew DeWolf: I need that video.

[1:10:52] Robbie Rozelle: I don't even think I have video of it.

[1:10:54] Robbie Rozelle: I just remember the guy that played Ryan, who was nice, was like, alright, I'm gonna high-five you every night after this line.

[1:11:02] Andrew DeWolf: Every night he did that.

[1:11:04] Robbie Rozelle: What's it, Andrew Keen and Bulger?

[1:11:05] Andrew DeWolf: It could have been it's Michigan that I know the key to Bulgers Rule Michigan.

[1:11:10] Robbie Rozelle: Because I know he did it.

[1:11:12] Andrew DeWolf: I was very, very stupidly young.

[1:11:14] Robbie Rozelle: I did not appreciate it for what a cool kind of thing I was involved with at the time.

[1:11:19] Andrew DeWolf: I um uh oh my I can't process this.

[1:11:22] Robbie Rozelle: Okay.

[1:11:24] Andrew DeWolf: So deal with that information, and we'll see you next time on musicals with cheese.

[1:11:29] All: Bye everyone.

[1:11:30] All: Bye.

[1:11:35] All: We're all in this together.

[1:11:39] Andrew DeWolf: What we know where we oh you performed it.

[1:11:43] Robbie Rozelle: What?

[1:11:44] Andrew DeWolf: We can make it we're all in this No I was in the upper age because I was much younger.

[1:11:50] All: All in this together when we