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[0:04] Jesse McAnally: Hello, I'm Jesse McAnally.

[0:07] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm Andrew DeWolf.

[0:08] Jesse McAnally: And welcome to Musicals with Cheese, a podcast where I try to get Andrew to like musical theater week by week and show by show. How are you doing today, Andrew?

[0:16] Andrew DeWolf: Well, you know, I've been doing better. My entire family just got executed by a group of revolutionaries.

[0:21] Jesse McAnally: Just now?

[0:23] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, it literally just happened. I escaped because some little boy let me out of my house.

[0:28] Jesse McAnally: So uh no, that's bad. You shouldn't do that. What do you what do you you've been what are your plans?

[0:33] Andrew DeWolf: I feel like I'm just gonna kind of go to an orphanage, grow up and forget everything about all of my past. Um, you know, just kind of normal stuff like that. What do you think?

[0:43] Jesse McAnally: I think that sounds like a great idea.

[0:45] Andrew DeWolf: And then maybe I'll come out and uh start remembering stuff because of uh scam artists.

[0:52] Jesse McAnally: Oh, that's brilliant. We love good common. Do you think you might fall in love with one of the scam artists?

[0:57] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe. It's kind of uh Do you feel sexual tension?

[1:01] Jesse McAnally: Yeah. Real enemies to lovers kind of thing.

[1:04] Andrew DeWolf: It's also it's like a situation where I'm not sure if I'm gonna be hunted down by a literal corpse or just a government agent. Like I he it's one of the two.

[1:13] Jesse McAnally: Which would be worse? Like, which would you rather standing at the foot of your bed when you wake up in the morning?

[1:22] Andrew DeWolf: That's a tough choice. Rasputin or a Russian, um, a Russian communist government agent.

[1:29] Jesse McAnally: Um, I mean, I feel like one of them is more likely to get the job done.

[1:34] Andrew DeWolf: So we're gonna I'd have to go with the corpse.

[1:40] Jesse McAnally: In case you haven't picked up what we were throwing down this week, we are talking about Anastasia, the musical and the movie.

[1:47] Andrew DeWolf: Hear the music.

[1:48] Jesse McAnally: Heart, don't fail me now.

[1:51] Andrew DeWolf: Courage, don't desert me.

[1:54] Jesse McAnally: Don't turn back.

[1:56] Andrew DeWolf: Now that we're here.

[1:59] Jesse McAnally: People always say life is full of choices.

[2:05] Andrew DeWolf: No one ever mentions fear.

[2:10] Jesse McAnally: Or how the world can seem so fast.

[2:31] Jesse McAnally: Anastasia is a stage musical written by Terence McNally with music and lyrics by Steven Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, based on the 1997 film Anastasia, directed by Don Bluth.

[2:43] Jesse McAnally: The musical opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theater on March 23rd, 2017 in previews, later officially opening on April 24th, featuring most of the original Hartford principal cast.

[2:54] Jesse McAnally: The production was met with mixed reviews by critics, citing uneven subplots and an overly long running time as their primary issues.

[3:02] Jesse McAnally: The show closed on March 31st, 2019, after 808 regular and 34 preview performances.

[3:09] Jesse McAnally: The plot of Anastasia is inspired by the beloved films.

[3:13] Jesse McAnally: Anastasia transports audiences from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past.

[3:24] Jesse McAnally: Pursued by the ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing common and lovable ex-aristocrat.

[3:33] Jesse McAnally: Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find her way home and love and family.

[3:40] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, so this is one of those very rare times where you've actually seen this show live.

[3:44] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I watched it at the Hershey Theater in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

[3:49] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, and I did too.

[3:51] Jesse McAnally: I saw this at the Detroit Fisher Theater a few months before you did.

[3:54] Andrew DeWolf: Um same cast, same production.

[3:57] Jesse McAnally: Um, I also had seen the movie when I was very young.

[4:00] Andrew DeWolf: Um, and then I rewatched it for this.

[4:02] Jesse McAnally: I have never seen the movie until this.

[4:05] Andrew DeWolf: I did watch the movie in preparation.

[4:07] Jesse McAnally: Fuck that rotoscope animation's wild, isn't it?

[4:10] Andrew DeWolf: It's pretty good, but there are certain times where their eyes are kind of like wall-eyed is the right term.

[4:16] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[4:17] Andrew DeWolf: Uh you know, like how you can stop frames in random Disney films and get a wild image.

[4:21] Jesse McAnally: I bet you could do that a lot more with Anastasia.

[4:24] Andrew DeWolf: You don't even have to stop it. There's like entire scenes. There's this one shot where it's near the end where the guy steals the grandmother's car and it shows him like driving and he's looking forward and his eyes are like looking in opposite directions, and it's like it stays like that for like at least like eight seconds.

[4:45] Jesse McAnally: The movie's weird.

[4:47] Andrew DeWolf: Um I also do want to say that this is a patron request from our wonderful patron, Sammy the most Lopez.

[4:53] Jesse McAnally: Um, thank you for continuing to be a patron and supporting us, Sammy.

[4:56] Andrew DeWolf: Um, if you'd like to join them in supporting us and get to choose what we cover, come join us at Patreon.

[5:01] Jesse McAnally: Um, ad over. Um, but while we're chatting about this, what did you think of the film?

[5:06] Andrew DeWolf: I know it's weird to ask you since you watched it after the show, but I am curious what are your general thoughts on it.

[5:11] Jesse McAnally: It's interesting.

[5:13] Andrew DeWolf: The best part of it is definitely Rasputin.

[5:17] Jesse McAnally: Um, but he's barely in it.

[5:19] Andrew DeWolf: Uh like he's got some fun scenes, and I love the design of the character where he's like falling apart.

[5:26] Jesse McAnally: But he has like he literally only has like three scenes in total.

[5:30] Andrew DeWolf: And then he shows up at the end, and the end, like I'd say it's fairly well animated with great backgrounds.

[5:35] Jesse McAnally: That end scene, like the final villain confrontation scene, looks like dog shit.

[5:40] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[5:40] Andrew DeWolf: It's an interesting movie in how lopsided it is. I can't say it's bad though. I think that it has some good stuff in it. And the villain song is phenomenal. It's a shame that it's so early in the movie. I can feel that my powers are slowly returned. Tie my sash and a dash of cologne for that spell. As the pieces fall into place. I'll see her crawl into place. The Fedania under your grace. Farewell. In the dark of the knife, terrible sniper! Eagle will feel that a night mezzarel. In the dark of the night, he'll be through. It's a really good song, but it's so early in the movie, and they never like touch it again. So it's like, dang, I wanted more of that. I also think the I want song is probably one of the best animated scenes, the Once Upon a December song, where she's in the ballroom and then the ghosts appear.

That scene is incredible, and the music really sums it up. And Liz Callaway's singing voice, who is the singing voice of Anya, is really, really good. Yeah, there's great stuff in there, but it's kind of like sloppily thrown together, it feels like. In the end, which I still think it's good though. I'm not gonna say I didn't enjoy it. I did. Yeah, I don't think it's aged particularly well. It is a Disney film now because Disney bought Fox, so this is a Disney film, but at the time it was made to kind of compete with the Disney Renaissance that was going on. I would say it did a good job because I think a lot of people think that this is a Disney film. VHS tapes didn't have studio logos the way they do now. So there's an actual backstory to this that I think is worth mentioning. The real-life story. What do you know about the Romanov?

[7:46] Jess McAnally: They all got killed. I'm pretty sure Anastasia included, they all got killed.

[7:50] Andrew DeWolf: Yep. I think Anastasia slightly after everyone else, but yeah. And were the Romanovs good people?

[7:58] Jess McAnally: They weren't good people, no. Killing people, bad. Being monarchist rulers of a country, also bad. So you got an interesting dynamic there. There's a moral conflict. What do you do with the royals? I guess you have to kill 'em! I mean, that is kind of they dive much deeper into that side of it in the stage show than they do in the movie, which is the guilt of having to murder people for the good of a community, quote unquote good.

[8:34] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, the stage show is great. The bad guy in that is a lot more compelling than Rasputin, who Rasputin just doesn't really seem to have a reason to hate the Romanovs. Like he's just he was spited by them or something, and that's really it. Whereas, like, they actually weave the politics into it a bit more in the stage show, which I think makes the villain a lot more compelling. But it also makes the heroes less compelling. That's the one thing that I think stands out with Anastasia more than any other Disney princess type movie. This is like a really political feeling movie. And maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just reading really far into it, but it feels like monarchist propaganda. Like it literally feels like it.

Like when you're watching it, they're like, remember the magical good old days back when the monarchs ruled everything? Like, do you remember that? Like, that's how they opened the fucking movie. There was a time, not very long ago, when we lived in an enchanted world of elegant palaces and grand parties.

[9:42] Jess McAnally: I mean, it comes with the romanticized ideals of the So we have Disney, where they romanticize the monarchy in the general sense of aren't princesses pretty. Where this isn't the literal reign of a monarch pretty cool. And it's also it's different because this is a real family. Like, this is a real family of monarchs that actually existed in the real world and actually fucked things up pretty bad in World War One and got a lot of people killed for it. And famously anti-Semitic. It's kinda like what if Disney made a Hitler movie where they're like, Well, things are pretty good under Hitler's reign.

[10:24] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, the Third Reich. It's interesting in that sense, where it's like a actually political movie that is disguising itself as a Disney princess movie.

[10:37] Jess McAnally: Yeah, I agree, but the Disney princess elements are still there on this fucking monarchist propaganda film. That doesn't, and I'm not saying this as in this movie cannot be good because I disagree with the politics. The movie is good. It's just weird. It still is weird, and let's transfer now to the stage show, where they really try to flesh out what communism means to people and what the monarchist living situation was like. In the stage show, it's more political intentionally, but it also feels a little more nuanced, and when I say a little, I mean a little. Like they do sort of show that the monarchs were living it up like big time, and there were people that were like dying in the streets type shit, like freezing to death.

[11:31] Andrew DeWolf: But at the same time they still do the Disney fairy tale, like, weren't princesses magical and fun, and isn't it cool to have a royal family? And then they mix in a healthy dose of like 1950s era red scare type shit, like communism was evil because authoritarian 1984 George Orwell shit.

[11:55] Jess McAnally: You've only read one book.

[11:57] Andrew DeWolf: Which I'm not gonna sit here and defend the Soviets necessarily, because I think there was a lot of truth to that. But it's certainly framed in a way where you can tell it was made by Americans who their only source of knowledge on communism was American propaganda about communism. That being said, the show has issues outside of just that. But let's talk about the good really quick. We had Rasputin, the falling apart, the falling apart corpse in the movie. What do we have as our villain in the stage?

[12:31] Jess McAnally: Our villain is a guy named Gleb, I think.

[12:34] Andrew DeWolf: Um, who is a he's not is he an agent for the KGB?

[12:38] Jesse McAnally: No, he's he's like a like a local politician of some sort, isn't he?

[12:42] Andrew DeWolf: He's uh I wouldn't even call him politician, he's just like a government agent, like that's really gung-ho for the Soviets.

[12:48] Jesse McAnally: Like he he stands up for what he believes in.

[12:51] Andrew DeWolf: But he's not he's also kind of nice hot guy.

[12:54] Jesse McAnally: Like Yeah.

[12:55] Andrew DeWolf: He's like a yeah, and he's like genuinely nice to Anastasia at first, because he doesn't know that it's Anastasia.

[13:02] Jesse McAnally: And he might have a crush.

[13:04] Andrew DeWolf: He does have a crush.

[13:05] Andrew DeWolf: Um, but he's the bad guy and he chases her to Paris.

[13:08] Andrew DeWolf: Um he wants to stop her from like admitting that she's Anastasia is the initial goal, but then when she won't back down from that, the goal is to kill her because you have to finish what you started or some shit.

[13:22] Jesse McAnally: Well, you before we recorded this, pitched this dilemma in your own brain where it's like, yeah, she's the main character, but also if there's a royal left that like they'll take over power, they always do look at Napoleon.

[13:36] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, yes, there's like a real thing.

[13:39] Andrew DeWolf: Reactionary movements will latch on to a former power figure.

[13:44] Jesse McAnally: And this happened in Napoleonic France, where Napoleon was exiled but not killed, and then when he came back, he got a lot of people following him, and he literally stormed the government and retook power.

[13:57] Andrew DeWolf: So if you there is a dilemma in that sense where if a person is claiming that they are the rightful ruler of your country and they're just kind of out there uh and they show back up, like you're gonna have a civil war on your hands, you know.

[14:12] Jesse McAnally: So that's the dilemma that Gleb has in this story.

[14:15] Jesse McAnally: Um it's kind of like QAnon thought they were doing with what which Kennedy brother was that they thought was gonna come back and reinstate Trump.

[14:23] Andrew DeWolf: Essentially, essentially the storm is like the idea of the QAnon, the storm would be one of these former heads of power comes back and and you follow them and and retake what what's rightfully yours.

[14:37] Jesse McAnally: Um Anastasia doesn't actually try to do that, thankfully.

[14:40] Jesse McAnally: Um, but that's that's like the real life political dilemma that Gleb would have, I think, in this situation.

[14:46] Jesse McAnally: Like Gleb is not just I want to murder children, it's like a little bit more deep than that.

[14:51] Andrew DeWolf: He's like, I want to honor like the country that I believe I stand for, which is also stupid bullshit, but yeah.

[14:59] Jesse McAnally: I'm not saying that I would agree with him.

[15:01] Jesse McAnally: I just I I can see the actual dilemma, and I think they do an actually very good job of portraying the uh dilemma as well in the music.

[15:11] Andrew DeWolf: That I I love his scenes, but once again, much like Rasputin, he's not in it enough.

[15:16] Jesse McAnally: He's really not.

[15:18] Andrew DeWolf: They don't show the villains enough.

[15:20] Jesse McAnally: This Rasputin is also a great villain, and he's barely in the movie, and like we needed more.

[15:26] Andrew DeWolf: The okay, I think the fundamental flaw is the heroes aren't that interesting.

[15:32] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, they do more in the stage show than they did in the film, to to their credit.

[15:39] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, they got rid of like all the Megarian improv, gibberish, like non-stop talking kind of things.

[15:46] Andrew DeWolf: Um, made Anya much more of an active character and much more confused about her amnesia and all that.

[15:53] Jesse McAnally: But that first act, okay.

[15:54] Andrew DeWolf: Let me be the negative Nelly here.

[15:57] Andrew DeWolf: I went into this show, not not really diving into it, I hadn't watched any bootlegs.

[16:01] Andrew DeWolf: I listened to the sound or the cast album before.

[16:04] Andrew DeWolf: Um and then I sat down, and that first act is rough.

[16:08] Andrew DeWolf: That first act drags on.

[16:11] Andrew DeWolf: It's clear that they have a lot planned for the second act and they just needed to fill time to get there.

[16:18] Jesse McAnally: It almost it's like well, it's it's sort of a problem with Disney adaptations where there's like there's not enough content to stretch it to this two-act form.

[16:26] Andrew DeWolf: Except it has it's the opposite problem as Disney adaptations.

[16:30] Andrew DeWolf: Usually in those ones, the second act is where they don't have anything to do because there's no more songs or anything.

[16:35] Jesse McAnally: But in this one, it feels like they stretched the first act out so that the second act could be good.

[16:40] Andrew DeWolf: Because the second act really, really picks up and is really good and the plots happening and it's tense, and it's all the things that you want a story to be.

[16:47] Jesse McAnally: This is one of those rare musicals that doesn't have second act problems.

[16:51] Jesse McAnally: It has first act problems.

[16:52] Andrew DeWolf: And I think all of it could be solved if they just decided to do a shorter version and just trimmed the first act down and then made the second act the keep the second act the same.

[17:01] Andrew DeWolf: Or just make the first act a little bit more you could add plot.

[17:06] Andrew DeWolf: You don't just need to make it road trip for most of that story.

[17:10] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, the whole thing is a road trip and then they get to Paris and then shit happens.

[17:16] Andrew DeWolf: Like, I I don't know, maybe like even delay the meeting a little bit longer.

[17:20] Andrew DeWolf: Um really because we don't set up Anya until she steps into the audition on accident.

[17:25] Andrew DeWolf: We could have set her up in her own way, you know, without the other character.

[17:29] Andrew DeWolf: There's like a backstory missing that they could have added, which is um, you know, how did she lose her memory?

[17:34] Andrew DeWolf: Like, what the fuck happened?

[17:36] Jesse McAnally: Trauma response.

[17:37] Andrew DeWolf: I'm willing to accept that one.

[17:38] Andrew DeWolf: Um did I talk about the we didn't actually talk about how this happened in real life.

[17:43] Jesse McAnally: We we almost did, and then we almost did.

[17:45] Andrew DeWolf: Well, tell us what happened in real life.

[17:46] Andrew DeWolf: In real life, the grandmother character in the movie or whatever is real.

[17:51] Andrew DeWolf: She was a real person who was actually offering a real reward, I'm pretty sure for uh Anastasia coming forward.

[17:57] Andrew DeWolf: Like, so all this really happened.

[17:58] Jesse McAnally: This is a really bad thing for a family movie.

[18:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, but I think in real life it's just she just got scammed.

[18:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, legitimately just scam artists got away with it, and and that's it.

[18:11] Jesse McAnally: But maybe there's more to the story than I'm remembering, but that's what I remember.

[18:15] Andrew DeWolf: This musical asked the question, what if she did exist?

[18:18] Jesse McAnally: And they just covered it up.

[18:20] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, what if it wasn't a scam?

[18:22] Jesse McAnally: Um, it kind of was though.

[18:23] Andrew DeWolf: It was it was just a scam.

[18:25] Andrew DeWolf: And yeah.

[18:26] Jesse McAnally: What that's not cinematic though.

[18:28] Jesse McAnally: We gotta make it emotionally palatable.

[18:31] Andrew DeWolf: I I wish that they even left the question a little open-ended.

[18:34] Andrew DeWolf: Like, what if what if she really isn't?

[18:36] Jesse McAnally: They really do make it very clear that she is.

[18:40] Andrew DeWolf: Like almost from the get go.

[18:41] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, they don't want you to have even a uh question in your mind that she's actually, but it would have been a little interesting.

[18:47] Jesse McAnally: Like, what if she genuinely thought she was, but there was still like a question, like what if she's not?

[18:52] Andrew DeWolf: Well, that's kind of the reason why act one's so dis non-engaging, because like we know for a fact that the musical's called Anastasia, it is Anya.

[19:00] Jesse McAnally: If we had just like put more doubt.

[19:03] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[19:04] Andrew DeWolf: And then maybe in the second act you can like legitimately confirm it, but if the first act was like there was more of a question, like, is she?

[19:11] Jesse McAnally: Do we know?

[19:11] Andrew DeWolf: Like, what if it's fake?

[19:13] Jesse McAnally: What if it's not real?

[19:14] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I wish I I really wish there was more in that first act, cause really I I was so bored.

[19:20] Andrew DeWolf: Like, after Anya has her one I want song, and if I can learn to do it, there's not much offered by this show.

[19:26] Andrew DeWolf: There's like songs where people talk about their connections, my Petersburg, the guy has the song, the older guy has a song.

[19:33] Jesse McAnally: Like, we do have these like character moments, but I'm like, there's nothing going on here.

[19:38] Jesse McAnally: You know what it's missing?

[19:39] Andrew DeWolf: I'm just realizing it now.

[19:41] Andrew DeWolf: The first act, like that whole section of the movie is filled up with Rasputin doing stuff.

[19:46] Jesse McAnally: Rasputin has his song.

[19:48] Andrew DeWolf: We introduced Rasputin, he gets his song.

[19:50] Andrew DeWolf: Then there's the boat part where he tries to uh nightmare an Elm Street 3 him.

[19:55] Andrew DeWolf: Uh like getting her walk off the boat in her dreams.

[20:00] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[20:00] Andrew DeWolf: Good quote.

[20:02] Andrew DeWolf: You remember that part, right?

[20:04] Jesse McAnally: He pulls the veins out and walks him off the building.

[20:09] Andrew DeWolf: That's my favorite.

[20:09] Andrew DeWolf: That's my favorite kill in the entire series.

[20:11] Jesse McAnally: That's your favorite Freddy kill?

[20:13] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, yeah, that's my favorite.

[20:14] Andrew DeWolf: It's so gross.

[20:16] Jesse McAnally: Uh, but he tries to do that to Anya on the boat.

[20:20] Andrew DeWolf: Um, which that I don't think there's a there's and then there's the train crash that he causes.

[20:25] Andrew DeWolf: Like all this stuff that happens on the way to Paris is all Rasputin fucking with them.

[20:30] Jesse McAnally: Uh, and that just doesn't exist in the stage show.

[20:33] Andrew DeWolf: What if Gleb was controlled by Rasputin?

[20:36] Jesse McAnally: Maybe maybe it just needed more shit where Gleb caused more like he causes Anya to walk off the ship in her dreams.

[20:43] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know.

[20:43] Andrew DeWolf: It's hard to replace because that and I understand why they didn't want Rasputin to be the bad guy, because it's like it's so silly and there was no reason for it.

[20:53] Jesse McAnally: Like, they I still don't understand why Rasputin cared.

[20:56] Andrew DeWolf: What was Rasputin's plot?

[20:57] Jesse McAnally: What was it?

[20:58] Andrew DeWolf: What was his point?

[20:59] Andrew DeWolf: I guess the idea behind it is he made a deal with some demon or something to kill the whole family, and the demon thought the whole family was dead, but then the demon didn't because Anastasia was alive.

[21:09] Jesse McAnally: But also, the grandmother was still alive the whole time.

[21:12] Andrew DeWolf: Like, does she not count?

[21:17] Jesse McAnally: I love that.

[21:18] Jesse McAnally: That's such a good line.

[21:22] Andrew DeWolf: Um yeah, I I the musical needed some more cooking.

[21:28] Andrew DeWolf: And you know what?

[21:29] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe I'm wrong here.

[21:31] Andrew DeWolf: But while we compare my opinion to those of the New York Theater critics, it's time for previews.

[21:31] Jesse McAnally: It's time for previews.

[21:44] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Andrew, we got a Ben Brantley here.

[21:46] Jesse McAnally: You wanna take a look?

[21:47] Andrew DeWolf: Sure.

[21:47] Andrew DeWolf: Ben Brantley.

[21:48] Andrew DeWolf: What do we got?

[21:49] Andrew DeWolf: Ben Brantley of the New York Times said the amnesiatic title character of Anastasia, who may or may not be the long-lost daughter of the last Russian czar, isn't alone and suffering a serious identity crisis.

[22:04] Jesse McAnally: The postcard scenic show that bears her name, which opened on Monday night at the Broadhurst Theater, has its own troubling case of multiple personality disorder.

[22:16] Andrew DeWolf: Great one, great one, Ben Brantley.

[22:18] Andrew DeWolf: What exactly is he trying to say with that?

[22:20] Jesse McAnally: It's disjointed.

[22:21] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I think I kind of agree.

[22:23] Andrew DeWolf: There's a lot of subplots, there's a lot of stuff going on.

[22:25] Andrew DeWolf: I I wanna say though, when I watched this, I like live, I still really enjoyed it.

[22:32] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[22:32] Andrew DeWolf: Um, and really, the the final moment with the villain is so dramatic and such a good, like sell that it's just it's phenomenal.

[22:44] Jesse McAnally: And you gotta go listen to uh that song.

[22:47] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, the Neva flows, I believe it's called.

[22:49] Andrew DeWolf: Children, their voices!

[22:52] Andrew DeWolf: A man makes painful choices.

[22:54] Andrew DeWolf: He does what's necessary on you for Russia, my beauty.

[23:02] Andrew DeWolf: What choice but simple duty?

[23:05] Andrew DeWolf: We have a pass to ferry on you free the sunfolds the sun.

[23:29] Jesse McAnally: Uh it's it's still slash the Neva flows.

[23:33] Andrew DeWolf: Because it's like the it's it's a combination of both of his prior songs.

[23:37] Andrew DeWolf: Um there's also an amazing animation of it on YouTube that really just tells the emotions just as good as on stage.

[23:45] Jesse McAnally: Um so watch that if you can't afford to see it on stage.

[23:48] Andrew DeWolf: It's so good.

[23:51] Andrew DeWolf: They use the ghosts uh very well in the staging too.

[23:55] Jesse McAnally: Um when it like Once Upon a December, obviously they do the same thing they did in the movie, but here when the like ghosts of the Romanovs are singing the backup chorus and staring at them, watching, so fucking good.

[24:07] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, very, very good.

[24:09] Andrew DeWolf: Um I agree, it's a little disjointed and the it's a little lopsided in that the the second half is just kind of better.

[24:16] Jesse McAnally: But there's good stuff in here, it's worth seeing.

[24:18] Andrew DeWolf: I do want to say, and I know we're not in song sections, um, but I usually hate the first act or the second act opener, um, because it usually has nothing to do with um what we just saw.

[24:29] Jesse McAnally: But I really love land of yesterday.

[24:33] Andrew DeWolf: Once I had a palace here, nearly a flat.

[24:38] Jesse McAnally: I fled the sun diamonds, and that was that.

[24:43] Andrew DeWolf: It's very tragic.

[24:44] Jesse McAnally: Once ladies in waiting, all bending on knee.

[24:50] Andrew DeWolf: Now only one lady and waiting.

[24:55] Jesse McAnally: No fan fail!

[24:58] Andrew DeWolf: And no coaches!

[24:59] Jesse McAnally: And we sold our brooch.

[25:01] Andrew DeWolf: No afternoon carnage.

[25:05] Jesse McAnally: No cave all, but I say we're not dead now.

[25:09] Jesse McAnally: We're not dead now! We're in France instead now! Let us not be served. The knights young. And Russians are mad so live in the land of yesterday. Live in the Grand Imperial heyday. Let's live in the land of yesterday, Russia. Like this fun speakeasy number. That song just like I was kind of like drifting out, that pulled me right back in. I'm like, alright. I think it's a genuinely funny song. And it sets up like this is like the nuance that I feel like was lacking in the film version, which is like these people that used to like mooch off of the upper crust of Russian society that all moved to Paris. Like, they're not really good people, and they kind of were shitty. Like, they don't really like they didn't really like Russia for anything other than the fact that they were just rich.

I mean, it's nice to be rich, I'm sure, but now you're just slightly poorer, but in Paris. Yeah, but their land of yesterday is not some actual magical time. It's just we were rich. Like, remember that? That was sick. At least we're alive, I guess. But we're both supposed to be on their side and not. Like, what's his name? The Fraser Crane character from the movie, the side helper, the former aristocrat guy. We focus a lot on him and his love affair and stuff like that, which is strange. He's kind of a comic relief character, though, and he's also a scam artist, so are we on his side necessarily? I don't know. Maybe that's the point of this. Our main character's an amnesia-ridden character that has no history, and the other two are just scam artists that are using her. We don't even have a talking bat played by Hank Azaria who gets a girlfriend at the last second of the movie and a sequel movie. Bartok the Magnificent. We'll talk about that someday. One day.

[27:16] Andrew DeWolf: Alright. How about we compare our opinions to those of the crazy folks on Letterboxd.com. It's time for the letterbox game. One star, five star. Or I'm gonna read Andrew real letterbox reviews, and he has to guess whether they are a one star or five star, just based on the review alone. Are you ready, Andrew?

[27:31] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[27:32] Jesse McAnally: Alright, here we go. I liked it, smiley face.

[27:36] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars.

[27:37] Jesse McAnally: That is a one star.

[27:39] Andrew DeWolf: Bruh.

[27:39] Jesse McAnally: Bruh. Alright, ready for the next one. The only true evil was God granting Rasputin a horsecock and expecting him to not abuse powers, but that that come with it.

[27:49] Andrew DeWolf: Are they talking about real life here? Is that I don't know, Andrew. I did hear Rasputin was well endowed, and he offered his services to the queen very often. The king watched from the closet, dressed as Superman.

[28:00] Jesse McAnally: Oh, Rick and Morty joke? Is that allowed?

[28:03] Andrew DeWolf: Uh um uh uh uh five stars.

[28:03] Jesse McAnally: Five stars.

[28:09] Andrew DeWolf: That was a one star.

[28:11] Jesse McAnally: God damn it. Alright, next one. I think I'm autistic.

[28:14] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars?

[28:15] Jesse McAnally: That is correct.

[28:16] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah!

[28:16] Jesse McAnally: That has nothing to do with Anastasia.

[28:19] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe it does, Andrew, and we just don't have the brain cells to know it. Next one.

[28:24] Andrew DeWolf: That's true. The villain was entirely pointless to the story, but on the other hand, in the dark of the night is a banger.

[28:30] Jesse McAnally: Do you see the dilemma I'm in?

[28:31] Andrew DeWolf: Five stars in the darker of the night is a fucking banger, and it's the biggest thing missing from the stage show.

[28:36] Jesse McAnally: I agree, and that is correct. Only watch the nostalgia critic review.

[28:40] Andrew DeWolf: My man.

[28:42] Jesse McAnally: One star for that.

[28:44] Andrew DeWolf: That was a five star.

[28:46] Jesse McAnally: Why did the nostalgia critic even review this? Is it bad?

[28:48] Andrew DeWolf: It's good, I thought.

[28:50] Jesse McAnally: I don't know. I don't know, Andrew. Oh, whatever. This movie is the definition of bi panic. We all wanted to fuck the Bartok bat.

[28:57] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[28:59] Jesse McAnally: Um buy five stars?

[29:01] Andrew DeWolf: That is correct.

[29:03] Jesse McAnally: Is bi panic a good thing?

[29:04] Andrew DeWolf: Like, I assume that's because you're attracted to too many characters, or yes.

[29:08] Jesse McAnally: Alright, you ready?

[29:09] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[29:10] Jesse McAnally: Nicholas II, Mass Murdered Jews. Imagine a Don Bluth movie about Hitler.

[29:15] Andrew DeWolf: This is what I'm saying. Monarchs are not good people. Like, it's not a good thing. I'm not saying that execution is the best solution, but I'm saying we need to think about it. Uh hear that, Joe Biden.

[29:29] Andrew DeWolf: Uh one star.

[29:31] Jesse McAnally: One star.

[29:31] Andrew DeWolf: They did not enjoy that.

[29:32] Jesse McAnally: That is a hard yes. And that wraps up reviews. Andrew, you want to go into a mid-show and then talk about some of these songs?

[29:39] Andrew DeWolf: Let's do it.

[29:45] Jesse McAnally: Hey guys, sorry to interrupt you in the middle of the show, but we've got a shell at you. Today's show is brought to you by the extremely kind donations by our donors at Patreon. We have a lot of cool stuff over at Patreon, including, but not limited to picking what we talk about on the show, like Sammy the Most Lopez did at her tier. Um you also get a bunch of podcasts and things you won't get anywhere else, as well as video episodes of the show that are longer than what you get on the true feed. So you're getting the unedited, fun stuff. As well, on Patreon, you get to ask us questions that we answer every week. And this week's question is from Scoot and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. And they asked us how many chugga chuggas come before choo-choo asking for a friend. Andrew?

[30:31] Andrew DeWolf: So my opinion is probably see. Okay, so if chugga chuggas are together, then it's two. So it's chugga chugga chugga chugga choo-choo. That's my thought. But I have an alternate as well. I think that you can do them in two or four. So you can do chugga chugga, chugga chugga choo-choo, or chugga chugga, chugga chugga, chugga chugga, chugga chugga choo-choo. And that way with that one you do a longer choo-choo.

[30:55] Jesse McAnally: Okay. Um, and if you're shorthand, I'd say chugga chugga choo-choo is good enough for a shorthand.

[31:00] Andrew DeWolf: Well, yeah, that's shorthand, though. I think it's situational. I think as long as you're doing groups of four, you're good. Two to four. It's certainly not one. It's not chuggachoo choo. If you hear someone say chugga choo choo, they are insane.

[31:14] Jesse McAnally: Uh, yes. Andrew said it. Speaking of people that we should kill on site, Andrew, why don't you read our current patrons list?

[31:18] Andrew DeWolf: Our current patrons list is way too long. So I'm not gonna read it today. We're just going up. I'm just kidding. Uh Melissa Goldman, Danielle Rennox, Jess the Stampede, Ewan Cassidy, Monica Thoreau, Mina Maniri, Brent Black, Lithanial Stacey Coomb, Joseph Evans Green, Mary Lucio Choquette, John Van Alz, Russ Walker, Musical Hell, Kyle Summers, Janae C, Scoot and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Liz Lim, Allison Staller, nothing is certain except Beth and Taxes, Thesby, and Ren Cullen, Raphael Martinez Salaz, Jessica T, Mitchell Young, Chai Tika, Katie McDonough, Chris Marcote, uh, Mimu, Kiy Marie Anastasio, Leela, RJ Noriga, Charlie B, Bjorn Hermans, Erica S. Toriana Frazier, Sammy the Most Lopez, Liana Morton, Haley Blazier, Cinema Geddin Reviews, Villainous Miss, Sophina Ali, The Omega Geek, Paige Pearson, Matty Wargle, Eliza Erdmann, Anna Loscatova, Chesca Varay, Sarah Den Blaker, Chamila M. Brown, Evan Ball, Zachary Torres, Gathering Forth, Gathering Party before venturing forth.

I don't know why I keep doing that. Uh Aurora Morasso, Mara Forloyne, Captain Rodastic, and Lisa L. These people give us a little extra financial support that helps us keep the lights on here, musical cheese. If you would like to join them in supporting us, again tons of fun perks, such as Patreon commentaries are upset today early or even earlier. Come join us over at Patreon. Alright, let's get back to the show.

[32:53] Jesse McAnally: So, the opening number in both the film and the stage show is a rumor in St. Petersburg.

[33:10] Andrew DeWolf: Saint Peter's burger is gloomy. St. Peter's burgers bleak! My I'm gonna win a good frozen standing here. Since the revolution, our lives have been so great. Hey!

[33:33] Jesse McAnally: And man, this song really does set itself away from the Disney world. Like it sounds unlike any Disney kind of musical at the time. So I really appreciate it's a proper opening number.

[33:46] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. It actually sets up the location and what's going on and why things are happening and all of that. And it's kind of like, um I mean, it's sort of similar to the Beauty and the Beast one, but it's not as like there's no I want element to it.

[34:01] Jesse McAnally: No. I mean, the kind is it's like the world wants to have the world like it was. And oh no, not even that. It's sort of like the um number where everyone says bonjour or whatever, except for Belle isn't there.

[34:16] Andrew DeWolf: There's no Belle. We have Dmitri, though, who I guess is okay.

[34:21] Jesse McAnally: Dimitri's fine. Dimitri's not Anya, though. She's she's the real hero here.

[34:26] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, you can say that, but she doesn't know who she is or what she's doing. Um, so we should talk about what other things Terrence and Flaherty have done. Um, which I feel like I should have probably done earlier in the show, but now that we're talking about the music, it seems apt. Um they have done two other things that we've covered on the show, one of them being Ragtime, the other one being Once on This Island. One of those I sort of like, and the other one I remember actually really liking, so Yeah.

[34:54] Jesse McAnally: So, and this is kind of their first kind of step into the world of film. Other things that aren't quite as loved include Rocky the Musical and Susical. Um, which are interesting, but I wouldn't call them good. Now, I think the songs in this movie and in the stage show are properly great. Um, yes. There's a lot of new songs for the stage show, but everything everything is good. I remember seeing this and not knowing what the music or anything would sound like and thinking it would just be kind of like a Disney ripoff sound, and that's really it. But it's got a lot to it. It's got a very distinct sound. I think that it really kind of nails it. Um I think some of it has sort of a Russian sort of feel to it, um, though not like exaggerated.

[35:42] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[35:42] Jesse McAnally: Um, I don't love how this is done in the movie though.

[35:46] Andrew DeWolf: How do you mean?

[35:47] Jesse McAnally: Most of the movie like is animated for as if the camera was 500 yards away from anyone at any point.

[35:54] Andrew DeWolf: Okay, you're right about that.

[35:55] Jesse McAnally: So I don't know why they did it this way. It is one of the most baffling aspects of the film. The characters are a little ugly at times, so maybe they didn't want to be too close.

[36:06] Andrew DeWolf: Maybe.

[36:07] Jesse McAnally: But in the stage, they use that stage to their full advantage and really use it as set up their characters and make them visually distinct from everyone else. Like Late, Gleb, Anya, um, Dimitri, and Fraser Crane. I remember really liking Fraser Crane. I thought he was funny.

[36:23] Andrew DeWolf: You can't keep calling him that.

[36:25] Jesse McAnally: That was just me calling him by his like TV name. I don't remember what his name is though.

[36:30] Andrew DeWolf: I know, I know. It's all good, it's all good. Um, we should probably know these things, but I refuse. Um pretty sure his name's Vlad.

[36:36] Andrew DeWolf: His name's Vlad.

[36:40] Jesse McAnally: Uh yeah. You could I could have guessed that. Yeah, it's the most Russian-y, Russian Russian name. Once Upon a December is an incredible song.

[36:50] Andrew DeWolf: Dancing their painted wings.

[36:57] Jesse McAnally: I almost song. Song one sings. One subponity. Literally, one of the most stage stagey songs ever put into an animated film and works even better on stage than it does in animation, despite it working really well on animation. This song is very memorable in a way that a lot of these type of songs don't usually like it's catchy.

[37:30] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[37:30] Jesse McAnally: Um, I still have it in my head. Uh and I really I I didn't even watch um this recently. I watched the movie version, but like it sticks, it sticks with you though.

[37:42] Jesse McAnally: And it comes back quite a few times because this is like her music box number. And it's what ties her to her grandmother, which is important plot, good character work, and visually striking. It's everything you want in one of these songs. It's literally everything you want in one of these songs, and it just works.

[38:00] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but then we also gotta give Dimitri his own song, and that's my Petersburg. I know a lot of people really fucking love this song. I'm not a fan.

[38:10] Andrew DeWolf: Getting good at getting by in Petersburg. I barter for a blanket, stolen for my bread. Learn to take my chances and use my head. Boils down to there are some who survive, some who don't, some give up, some give in. Me, I won't. Black and blue. Welcome to my Petersburg.

[38:48] Jesse McAnally: Standing here. This I mean, this one is a it's not in the movie. This is a stage.

[38:54] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, this is a stage original. Which is fine. Um, but as far as stage originals go, they can't compete to anything what like we have with like um Glea Gleb. Um let's think about uh the Neva flows and still are both really good songs. Uh they just they just nailed it with this Gleb character.

[39:15] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Um, like I don't want to talk about Still and the Neva flows uh individually. I want to talk about the reprise where everything comes to a head at the end, which is incredible. It's so fucking good. I remember in when I was watching it live, I was like, holy shit. I didn't expect like an actual real big dramatic moment like this. Like, wow.

[39:38] Jesse McAnally: And he kind of seems like a little bit of a wimpy boy up to that point, but then he just pulls a gun on her.

[39:43] Andrew DeWolf: Well, that's kind of the idea is like his dad, his dad like was one of the executioners, and he did all this, and Gleb feels like he's weak because he couldn't kill uh or he couldn't bring himself to kill Anya when he had a chance or whatever. And now he has another chance, and he's he's gonna be the big man, but I I I want to say at the end he realizes that murdering people doesn't make you a big person.

[40:07] Jesse McAnally: I mean, thank god, but um, I find it fascinating that in the end they're both trying to honor their parents, which is at least some kind of theme, and tying together a villain and our our enemy, quote unquote, to try to give them both the same equal opposite. It's more than you get with Rasputin.

[40:24] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, what is Rasputin's final scene look like, Andrew?

[40:28] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, she steps on his necklace.

[40:32] Jesse McAnally: Oh, real Princess and the Frog ending, eh?

[40:35] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Yeah, that's a movie. In the dark of the night is a banger, but that's about it. Like Respect Rasputin doesn't have bring anything to the fucking table. They had Christopher Lloyd and they wasted him. It's a shame.

[40:48] Jesse McAnally: The one scene that I really like, um, and I think they do very well stage-wise, is Quartet of the Ballet, where you have them all discovering each other at the ballet and the ballet still going on. It's a really clever scene and really, really done well in a song.

[41:04] Andrew DeWolf: Can this be the evening? Can this be the place? Am I only dreaming? Looking at her face, everything I wanted. Suddenly so clear. My past and my future so new.

[41:33] Jesse McAnally: It's it's interesting how they uh turned this into a real scene as well, because in the movie, it's literally just like the ballet scene takes like two seconds.

[41:43] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[41:44] Jesse McAnally: And here they like make it like a real like thing. They make it tense because Gleb's there, everyone's there at the ballet.

[41:48] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Yeah, it's like an actual, like, real moment that they pulled out of nothing. Um, so I think a lot of this lays on the back of the late book writer Terrence McNally, which I believe this is the last thing he worked on. He is one of the most prolific playwrights ever. And I was surprised when they got him for like a B plus like Disney musical adaptation, you know?

[42:13] Jesse McAnally: And he does bring a lot to the book. I just wish that that first act wasn't, you know, what it was. I think he was trying. It's just there wasn't much to work with in that first act.

[42:24] Andrew DeWolf: Um, you're right, you're right. Um on the other side of this, I do want to talk about what other things Terrence McNally did, just so you can realize what a departure this was from everything else.

[42:33] Jesse McAnally: Sure.

[42:34] Jesse McAnally: Um what else? What else was on the on his uh He did the Catch Me If You Can musical, The Visit, The Full Monty, Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman, like all of those very political leading musicals.

[42:45] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, is this actually a departure though?

[42:48] Jesse McAnally: I guess, because I guess they brought him in to make it more political.

[42:52] Andrew DeWolf: I think he succeeded as well. I mean, the stage show is more willing to acknowledge its political leanings than the movie is. Like, you know, it actually makes the villain an opposing, essentially an opposing political faction, rather than just uh a corpse of uh uh is Rasputin the most slandered man of all time?

[43:12] Jesse McAnally: Like I guess.

[43:14] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, he's got a pretty badass song about him. You gotta feel a little bad for him. Like he's dead, he can't be sad about it.

[43:27] Jesse McAnally: I don't know.

[43:27] Andrew DeWolf: You can't prove that he didn't do this shit that we said he did.

[43:30] Jesse McAnally: Didn't he? He got assassinated too. Like the thing is they thought he was magic because when they assassinated him, he did come back to life allegedly.

[43:39] Andrew DeWolf: I it's not even that he came back, I think that he s he survived more than they thought he would.

[43:44] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:45] Andrew DeWolf: Um, but he still died. He was only mostly dead, not all dead.

[43:50] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[43:52] Jesse McAnally: I guess. I I think it's a good one to end on. I really like The Land of Yesterday, which is a song that is written just for the movie. Or just for the stage show. Um, really, really engaging, makes you like these characters you've never seen before, and I have to imagine it's a song to give the other actors a little bit of a break because they're on stage for the entire time and it gives the ensemble some work to do, you know.

[44:14] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. I I actually really liked this one as well. I remember thinking it was a very fun, just a fun number. Um and also Gleb comes and does a uh a reprise of it and and makes fun of them uh and is is like this is how you fuckers live.

[44:29] Andrew DeWolf: Once they were in power, we showed them the door. Now look at them on ass once more. So pathetic, still fronting his meadows, still not you. Still clinging to remnants of who they were.

[44:53] Jesse McAnally: Go back to the land of yesterday, we can join all stay.

[45:05] Andrew DeWolf: He shows a good representation of both sides of a debate.

[45:08] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, it's an actual thing. Of two horrible, horrible ideal outcomes. Because we got the shitty idea of the monarchs, and then we have the shitty ideas of communist Soviet Russia.

[45:18] Jesse McAnally: I think we should maybe briefly talk about Journey to the Past, because that's kind of what they use in their marketing and everything.

[45:24] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[45:24] Andrew DeWolf: This is the Act One closer in this. It comes much earlier in the movie. They frame it as like a proper I want song in the movie, but they know this is their let it go, so they have to push it to the end of Act One.

[45:36] Jesse McAnally: Which ironically, I don't think this is their let it go. I think Once Upon a December is their let it go.

[45:41] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, but this is the I Want song. This is what the that was its job in the movie.

[45:46] Jesse McAnally: And they wrote a new I Want song that I remember less.

[45:50] Andrew DeWolf: So true. I think it's in my dreams or something like that.

[45:53] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[45:54] Jesse McAnally: And that's fine. But this works and it finally makes Anya uh an active protagonist as opposed to like I'm dra being dragged around and uh I'm gonna watch things happen, but sadly it's halfway through the story.

[46:05] Andrew DeWolf: I I like the song though. I think it works, but it sort of um sets up the fact that act two is just gonna be better than act one because they finally give Anya like a reason to care if by the end of Act One, and then uh and then we go into Act Two and it's like, oh shit, stuff actually matters now. Shit's wild.

[46:24] Jesse McAnally: I like the song. It's a really good and it makes you really engaged, and but it would have worked earlier better, probably.

[46:31] Andrew DeWolf: Like it feels like she's rejecting the call for most of Act One.

[46:35] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[46:36] Andrew DeWolf: It it does feel like we're like stuck at the beginning of the story up until the end of Act One.

[46:43] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, and then we have to fast forward through the rest of it.

[46:46] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[46:46] Andrew DeWolf: On that note, Andrew, what is your overall thoughts on Anastasia the musical and your cheese rating?

[46:52] Andrew DeWolf: So I think that it's good. Um I think the movie is sort of uh it's like comparable to some of the Disney Renaissance stuff, but it's not quite at that level. Like I don't think it's as good as like Little Mermaid or uh Beauty and the Beast, especially, but it certainly has uh a lot of charm to it. Um so it's it's still fun, like a fun thing to watch.

[47:14] Andrew DeWolf: But the stage show, I think, improves on it a lot, and other than some pacing issues, there's a lot of great stuff in there, and I would recommend it. I'd recommend uh listening to the cast recording, especially of some of the newer songs that they have. Uh can't recommend the the villain songs enough, Still and the Neva flows. Both phenomenal.

[47:37] Jesse McAnally: Um for a cheese rating, I'm gonna give it uh Sovietsky Cheese, which is uh Russian cheese that looks like Soviet Sovietsky. So there you go.

[47:49] Andrew DeWolf: Um that's fine. I think that's a really, really good choice. I agree with you most of the mostly like, but I still think the show needs some work. I'm excited to see a lot of like local licensed productions. I feel like it'll really sing in local theater as opposed to like um everything else. Um like I feel like the show's too small for the big theaters in a weird way.

[48:10] Jesse McAnally: Like it's so interpersonal. I think I'd prefer it in a black box.

[48:13] Andrew DeWolf: But that being said, I am giving this oh Oestenski cheese. Um soft cheeses from the caucuses, such as Bolarsky and Ostensky are a mass produced. It's made from sheep's cows or whole milk, and according to the recipe, they infuse cheeses pieces of salted cow stomach to freshen the warm milk. But don't let that put you off. Because it just seems a little mean to put pieces of a cow's stomach in their cheese.

[48:38] Jesse McAnally: That is the most Russian thing I could think of.

[48:40] Andrew DeWolf: Um on that note, um, save Ukraine.

[48:43] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[48:44] Andrew DeWolf: I am surprised we made it this far without mentioning that, but Russia's up to some bullshit. Uh fuck them. I I do want the Russians to lose. Vladimir Putin is an asshole who can suck my balls.

[48:57] Jesse McAnally: Can we quote you on that?

[48:59] Andrew DeWolf: You can. Put that on the poster. Vladimir Putin can suck my balls.

[49:04] Jesse McAnally: On that note, um, you know who else can suck my balls?

[49:08] Andrew DeWolf: Uh our patrons. Our wonderful patrons, thank you guys for listening. Please follow us on iTunes Spotify Citra at Musicals for Cheese. We're on Twitter at Cheesy Musicals, Patreon Musical Cheese, Instagram Musical Switch, YouTube page musical strategies. We've got a patron only podcast called Patreon, which is email us at musical theater lives at gmail.com. Our keeper of the cheese is Juliet Antonio. This is huge Eva flows. This show is edited by the incredible Andrew DeWolf. Our theme songs were created by Robyn Nash of IoU Music UK. Thank you to the Broadway Podcast Network for having us on the platform.

[49:38] Jesse McAnally: Alright, is there anything else you want to say before we wrap this on up?

[49:41] Andrew DeWolf: Dumb with the monarchs.

[49:43] Jesse McAnally: Uh but don't don't do murder.

[49:51] Andrew DeWolf: The children, the voices, a man makes painful choices. He does what's necessary, honor for Russia.

[50:00] Jesse McAnally: My beauty, what choice is simple duty? We have a past to bury on your guy in the touring production did such a fucking great job with that song. Like he was he was so good.