This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:05] Jesse McAnally: Hello, I'm Jesse McAnally.

[0:08] Andrew DeWolf: And I'm Andrew DeWolf.

[0:09] Jesse McAnally: And welcome to Musicals with Cheese, the podcast where I try to get Andrew to like musical theater.

[0:14] Andrew DeWolf: Week by week and show by show.

[0:16] Jesse McAnally: How are you doing today, Andrew?

[0:18] Andrew DeWolf: Now, Jess, let me just ask you a question. You're trying to be the first person ever to bicycle through an entire podcast. Is that true?

[0:28] Jesse McAnally: That is correct. I am currently on my bicycle, my stationary bike, and I'm gonna make the attempt to bicycle through an entire episode of a podcast.

[0:38] Andrew DeWolf: Has anyone ever done this before?

[0:40] Jesse McAnally: Probably, but I haven't checked. I just thought it was a good idea. I thought it would be a fun little meme, but now I'm here and I can't back out.

[0:48] Andrew DeWolf: Alright, Jesse McAnally, the first person ever to bicycle through an entire podcast episode. Is that is everyone excited about that? Is anyone excited about that?

[0:58] Jesse McAnally: For such a format as podcasting, you know, a visual thing like peddling a bike.

[1:04] Andrew DeWolf: It's not just visual.

[1:09] Jesse McAnally: Everyone will hear you clicking deep fucking breaths the entire fucking episode.

[1:15] Andrew DeWolf: And what makes that different from any other episode? Let's be clear about that one.

[1:20] Jesse McAnally: Alright, well, why don't we kick this off? What are we talking about?

[1:23] Andrew DeWolf: Well, this week we are talking about the musical Ride, as requested by our patron, Joseph Evans Green, cue the music.

[1:32] Jesse McAnally: If you want the riches of a rock fella, I've got a fresh Bessella for you today. A tale that's perfect for a feature spread, told week by week instead, in my new column for the USA. Hell less thrills and inspiring cape before the masses. Each line kills. Ooh, I could sell your readers' writing classes. New horizons are waiting for you. Turn your paper into gold. My journey's yarn into be told. You are moments away from the world's greatest story. And after I share that adventure, well, that's just the appetizer.

[2:19] Andrew DeWolf: So Ride is a musical written by Freya Catron Smith and Jack Williams, with also music and lyrics by them. It is based on the life of Annie Cohen Kochowski, aka Annie Londonderry. The world premiere of the award-winning musical, Ride, was at the Charing Cross Theatre on October 25th of 2022. The workshop was shot and made into a streamable production on July 22nd, 2021. And that's what we're talking about today.

[2:49] Jesse McAnally: Holy Christ! This is this sounded much more easy in concept than it is in practice. I feel for you, Annie Londonderry.

[2:56] Andrew DeWolf: Oh man. So what's the plot of this movie?

[3:00] Jesse McAnally: Or musical, Andrew.

[3:01] Andrew DeWolf: Well, it is a filmed, it's a streamable production, which I think I like that. I'm a I appreciate that concept. Ride is I mean, it's a very personal kind of musical where it's about one person and them just directly telling their story to us, the audience. But in the guise of she wants to be like published.

[3:20] Jesse McAnally: Uh yes.

[3:25] Andrew DeWolf: So we are we are kind of the journalists. Uh, as the audience, and she is telling her story directly to us. And there's only one other character, which is her secretary, who plays a number of other characters during the story.

[3:41] Jesse McAnally: It's more the secretary of the paper, like the publication.

[3:45] Andrew DeWolf: A secretary, somebody is there. Somebody else is there. It's honestly, I don't think it's that important to it is, really.

[3:53] Jesse McAnally: No. It's it's a two-person show, and it's very intimate, and it's about biking. The specifically the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle in 1895.

[4:07] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Which I don't think is possible, but somehow how do they explain how she gets around the oceans?

[4:14] Jesse McAnally: I think the way they described it, I looked up a little bit about her real life.

[4:18] Andrew DeWolf: Does she do laps on the boat?

[4:19] Jesse McAnally: Yes. And they criticize her, like, yeah, it's more like the first woman to travel the world with a bicycle next to her.

[4:29] Andrew DeWolf: Which is fair, but anytime she was on my end, she was going by bike.

[4:33] Jesse McAnally: Okay. And there's dubious claims about whether there was a bet involved at all. She likes to frame it as if there is a bet involved, but no one has record of that happening.

[4:44] Andrew DeWolf: I will take her at her word. There was a bet.

[4:46] Jesse McAnally: I mean, even this musical says that was there even a bet, and then they refused to answer it.

[4:52] Andrew DeWolf: I didn't know this was completely based on a true story.

[4:56] Jesse McAnally: I mean, it is, but even the musical itself is willing to say, we we don't know how much of this is true, and we're making it a very unreliable narrator.

[5:04] Andrew DeWolf: So this is one of those shows where I get confused.

[5:07] Jesse McAnally: Explain.

[5:08] Andrew DeWolf: Okay. The unreliable narrator thing, it seems like they're sort of at first telling the story in a bit of a straightforward way, but as it goes, she starts kind of getting sidetracked into other parts of her life.

[5:21] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[5:22] Andrew DeWolf: Am I reading that correctly?

[5:23] Jesse McAnally: And it's all about framing. Like, that's the main character of this is her framing less about her, though.

[5:30] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[5:31] Jesse McAnally: So she will leave things out and then have to explain them later. And the first bit of this show, she's really explaining, like, yeah, I will tell you whatever version of the story is the most interesting one to tell, rather than the most honest one.

[5:44] Andrew DeWolf: So it would be more interesting if I said I cycled here today, but I didn't. I took a trolley. But what makes the better story? And that's kind of how they set up the framing for the rest of the show, where she will just outright lie.

[5:57] Jesse McAnally: She's trying to be uh sensationalist about herself.

[6:02] Andrew DeWolf: Exactly. Um, so the show is sensationalist in a way, on purpose, and they set it up.

[6:08] Jesse McAnally: Okay. And it's by all accounts, she was that way in real life. Um, I did my research on Annie Londonderry, um, which is not her real name. Uh that was a sponsor name.

[6:22] Andrew DeWolf: Really they just gave her a sponsor and she changed her name to it.

[6:27] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, she while she was on the road, she changed her name to fit the sponsor. She also funded herself.

[6:33] Andrew DeWolf: Like the real life NASCAR driver or something.

[6:34] Jesse McAnally: When they mentioned that she put brands all over her body as she biked around. Like that was a main part of her the way that she funded this endeavor.

[6:42] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I mean, I guess if you're gonna bike around the entire world, how the fuck are you gonna get any money to do that?

[6:47] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, to pay for food, you know?

[6:49] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. And but the way that she frames it at first is, hey, I was just down on her luck, lady, I just got up and now I was like, hey, I want some money, I'm gonna go around the world. Let's do it.

[7:00] Jesse McAnally: And then you discover that she abandoned her children, her husband, her family.

[7:04] Andrew DeWolf: Ha ha ha. Yep.

[7:06] Jesse McAnally: Under the guise of doing this to either get away from them or to build something better for them. It never goes quite into that.

[7:14] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. Uh it kind of And that's when the unreliable narration of this really works.

[7:20] Jesse McAnally: I think what do you even think of this? Like, do you like this show?

[7:22] Andrew DeWolf: I think this is a show that I'm very not mixed on, because I don't think anything in it is necessarily bad, but it's kind of like I don't know if I love it really.

[7:35] Jesse McAnally: You know, I don't know if this is like a a show that's for me.

[7:38] Andrew DeWolf: Uh I I think there the music is kind of good, but in like a passable way, where it's not anything that's blows you away or wows you.

[7:49] Jesse McAnally: And the storytelling is kind of I don't like this style of storytelling that much.

[7:55] Andrew DeWolf: I I kind of prefer a bit more straightforward to this. Um, so that's my biases, kind of.

[8:02] Jesse McAnally: I think I love this show, man.

[8:04] Andrew DeWolf: Really?

[8:04] Jesse McAnally: Okay.

[8:05] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah. And I I'm surprised you didn't, because it is kind of like your favorite parts of a con man narrative.

[8:11] Jesse McAnally: But we are the cons.

[8:13] Andrew DeWolf: I did like that aspect of it. But I I feel like it's not clear on what is and isn't a con times. Because she I mean, she sets up that the whole thing is kind of a con, but you don't really there's no like I think what I like about con man stories is usually a scheme of some sort. Like there's usually like a here's how we're gonna execute it.

[8:34] Jesse McAnally: It's like a heist, but you like a heist, you like a time heist.

[8:37] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, whereas this is more just like I'm a liar, I'm telling you I'm a liar, and I'm going to lie to you for the entire show.

[8:45] Jesse McAnally: And that's kind of what happens. But she eventually does tell the truth, and whether or not that's the whole truth, I think this is a good, actually effective narrative tool to explain someone who didn't tell the truth all the time in real life.

[8:59] Andrew DeWolf: Like something like this could have done well for like the catch me if you can musical, or even the movie, where most of that shit was bullshit anyways. We should have had a little bit of a liar framing to it.

[9:09] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I I mean I I don't think it's not effective. I think that it is a good show.

[9:15] Andrew DeWolf: I think maybe what really did it for me is that the music wasn't really all there. I feel like it needed a bit more.

[9:22] Jesse McAnally: The music, and and you described it, we talked discussed it earlier. You described it as a passable 2010s pop musical.

[9:31] Andrew DeWolf: And next to normal called, it wants its style back.

[9:34] Jesse McAnally: It yeah, it kind of is. And I I feel like it could have had a different style and been a bit better. And I'm not sure what that style would have been. Maybe um maybe something that fits the time period a little better, like something a little bit more like old-fashioned could have been interesting, or just be more fully modern with like the more poppy sound of today.

[9:57] Andrew DeWolf: I think Hamilton ruined a lot of things, in my opinion, and I know we're fairly positive of Hamilton. But I think the damage that it's done to theater is pervasive.

[10:08] Jesse McAnally: What damage do you prescribe to Hamilton?

[10:11] Andrew DeWolf: Uh it's not even a problem with Hamilton itself. It's more that people rip off the aspects that I hate the most about Hamilton.

[10:19] Jesse McAnally: And what aspects are those?

[10:21] Andrew DeWolf: One thing I really hate about Hamilton is that it has this modern approach to its music, but its costume and design is very trapped in the 1800s. And I think that makes it kind of and then everyone does that. Now, this also, everyone is dressed in the 1800s, everyone talks like it's the 1800s.

[10:39] Jesse McAnally: However, it seemed like it's the 1800s.

[10:41] Andrew DeWolf: Exactly. And it worked for Hamilton once. The best thing I love about Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is it has like emo music and they don't really they kind of half dress like the 1800s and then they kind of like mix in modernistic taste.

[10:57] Jesse McAnally: Stylized.

[10:58] Andrew DeWolf: And I feel like we've lost stylization when it comes to this, because well, Hamilton did this.

[11:02] Jesse McAnally: Well, yeah, Hamilton did it where it wasn't stylized as far as the costumes and everything goes.

[11:09] Andrew DeWolf: It was only it was only stylized in the music.

[11:12] Jesse McAnally: And yeah, this kind of does do the same thing where it's not stylized in any real way other than the music.

[11:19] Andrew DeWolf: And the s I mean, modernly, yes. However, I do love a lot of the stage tricks they do. Like, you start in this room and we spend a lot of this show just in the blank room, and then halfway through it opens up and you're actually riding alongside her on the bike and you see the train set and you see and it becomes much bigger.

[11:39] Jesse McAnally: And I really like that kind of stylization.

[11:41] Andrew DeWolf: Yes. I think that stuff is when it's like really starts working for me.

[11:45] Jesse McAnally: I think that I would have been much more into this show if it had like a Americana blues bluegrass like kind of sound, like maybe maybe ragtime kind of sound. I don't know what exactly I'm looking for, but like this old Americana type sound rather than the 2010s pop sound.

[12:04] Andrew DeWolf: And it does feel like this musical came about ten years too late, at least as far as the music sounds. That doesn't mean I dislike the music, because I really do like a lot of these songs, and I think when it goes a little darker, then it really works for me. I think what it is is is there's two good aspects, and I don't know if they mesh, because the songs on their own are not bad.

[12:25] Andrew DeWolf: I just think that they don't fit the style that the show is giving from the visuals and the story and all of that.

[12:35] Jesse McAnally: Okay.

[12:35] Andrew DeWolf: I tried to go into this with like an original experience that I used to have a lot with Broadway cast recordings or theater cast recordings.

[12:43] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[12:43] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[12:43] Andrew DeWolf: And that was listening to the cast double and trying to piece together the story just through the songs.

[12:48] Andrew DeWolf: Which for this specific show, that is not a very effective way to do it.

[12:53] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, they literally lie to you on multiple occasions.

[12:57] Jesse McAnally: I can imagine.

[12:57] Jesse McAnally: Yes!

[12:59] Andrew DeWolf: I thought this was a lesbian love story.

[12:59] Jesse McAnally: I got excited for a lesbian love story.

[13:03] Andrew DeWolf: I did not get that.

[13:04] Jesse McAnally: It is not.

[13:06] Andrew DeWolf: It is not that at all.

[13:06] Jesse McAnally: Even though sometimes it feels like they're trying to do that, but they're not.

[13:11] Andrew DeWolf: I did enjoy it.

[13:13] Jesse McAnally: Um, but I think I enjoyed the story I made up in my head more than what I eventually did.

[13:18] Andrew DeWolf: So every time I embraced this musical, I was on my bicycle.

[13:22] Jesse McAnally: I want to make that clarification too.

[13:24] Andrew DeWolf: So when I first listened to Cast's recording, I rode my bicycle through it.

[13:28] Jesse McAnally: Then when I watched the show, I have a little kind of setup screen so I can look at my uh miles power.

[13:34] Andrew DeWolf: I also had the screen for the film or the video up.

[13:37] Jesse McAnally: I was on my bike.

[13:38] Andrew DeWolf: So every time I engage with this show, I was peddling my feet, and I wanted to make sure that was the truth in the Togrust episode.

[13:46] Jesse McAnally: I have to I have to commit to the bit, man.

[13:48] Andrew DeWolf: He's he's fully committed.

[13:50] Jesse McAnally: I mean, this is the bike bit.

[13:51] Andrew DeWolf: His face is beat red.

[13:53] Jesse McAnally: It is.

[13:54] Andrew DeWolf: It is.

[13:55] Jesse McAnally: It's not that bad though.

[13:56] Andrew DeWolf: I'm really doing alright.

[13:57] Jesse McAnally: I'm probably just breathing a lot harder than it seems, which is probably very unpleasant for a listener.

[14:02] Andrew DeWolf: But you know what?

[14:03] Jesse McAnally: I'll I'll trim it down.

[14:05] Andrew DeWolf: You have 200 episodes where I am breathing halfway normally, except for the COVID episodes, the COVID bath.

[14:11] Jesse McAnally: Oh, those were good ones.

[14:13] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, yeah.

[14:13] Jesse McAnally: I don't remember what we recorded.

[14:19] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, right, because you got the fucking COVID at Broadway Con.

[14:23] Jesse McAnally: I got BroadwayCon gave me fucking COVID.

[14:26] Andrew DeWolf: Broadway COVID, more like.

[14:28] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, but I never missed an episode.

[14:30] Andrew DeWolf: Didn't miss an episode through COVID.

[14:32] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[14:33] Andrew DeWolf: Um, while that being said, I think a lot of what makes this show work is that lead actress.

[14:39] Jesse McAnally: I I we talked about again, we talked about this a tiny bit earlier.

[14:43] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[14:44] Jesse McAnally: The I was gonna say the lead actress is is the show.

[14:48] Andrew DeWolf: Like you're you uh this is such a uh close and personal type show with so few people on stage, there's literally two actors.

[15:00] Jesse McAnally: Two and a half people.

[15:01] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[15:02] Jesse McAnally: Um honestly part of me what uh this is dumb.

[15:06] Andrew DeWolf: I like there's a production of Frankenstein where Benedict Cumberbatch played the monster and the man, and he swap performances depending on the day.

[15:15] Jesse McAnally: I think both actresses are so good that you could flip them depending on the day, and it would probably still be equally as engaging a show.

[15:21] Andrew DeWolf: But the thing is though, it has to be someone who's really good.

[15:25] Jesse McAnally: Cause if this show has even even a mediocre, like like a not a bad actor, but just a mediocre, it's gonna fall apart.

[15:25] Andrew DeWolf: It's gonna fall apart instantly.

[15:36] Jesse McAnally: It will not work.

[15:38] Andrew DeWolf: And the lead is Liv Andreusier, I believe that's how you say her name, and they are incredible.

[15:44] Jesse McAnally: Like next level, this is a star making performance.

[15:48] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, I and I I hope we do see more from her because she does do really well in this.

[15:54] Jesse McAnally: And I this is kind of a I'm guessing this was a bit of a smaller thing, because uh this is a short one, it's a short show.

[16:00] Andrew DeWolf: Usually I like short shows, but they don't usually do that well on Broadway, as far as like And I don't think this really has an aim for this.

[16:08] Jesse McAnally: So this is a West End show.

[16:09] Andrew DeWolf: It is a London made thing, which is strange for such an Americana kind of story.

[16:15] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, a little bit.

[16:17] Andrew DeWolf: Uh she yeah, she is from America.

[16:20] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, this is American and travels across the world.

[16:22] Andrew DeWolf: She's from Boston, like your neck of the woods.

[16:25] Jesse McAnally: Hey, I love Boston.

[16:27] Andrew DeWolf: Wicked Smot.

[16:28] Jesse McAnally: I wonder if she knew uh Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

[16:32] Andrew DeWolf: Wicked Smot.

[16:34] Jesse McAnally: When I drove through Boston.

[16:35] Andrew DeWolf: Like, I see all these movies about like, you know, Massachusetts and how great it is, and then all I can think about is like the fucking shitty parts of Boston that they shoot in Good Will Hunting.

[16:45] Jesse McAnally: I'm like, that that's the most accurate representation I've ever seen.

[16:49] Andrew DeWolf: I actually really like Boston, but the fucking public transport there sucks ass.

[16:55] Jesse McAnally: It's not great.

[16:57] Andrew DeWolf: I had to uh I had to take the T to uh the airport once, and we took the commuter rail from Lowell into Boston, which comes into like the main central like station there.

[17:10] Jesse McAnally: And there's no way to get from that station onto the T that goes to the airport.

[17:16] Andrew DeWolf: You have to leave the station and then walk like four blocks to get on the train that goes to the airport.

[17:24] Jesse McAnally: And it's like, what the fuck is this?

[17:26] Andrew DeWolf: You know what would have been faster?

[17:28] Jesse McAnally: What's that?

[17:28] Andrew DeWolf: Riding your bike.

[17:30] Jesse McAnally: You're fucking right.

[17:31] Andrew DeWolf: I could have ridden that all the way around the fucking world.

[17:33] Jesse McAnally: I could have I could have taken that through fucking China all the way back around into Chicago.

[17:38] Andrew DeWolf: Um I do love every song that is about a bicycle.

[17:42] Jesse McAnally: I I think this mixes our two loves, which is your love of con people and my love of biking.

[17:48] Andrew DeWolf: I f I feel like that's not something we've talked about a lot on this show.

[17:51] Jesse McAnally: We've never talked about how you like biking, but I you do bike biking.

[17:56] Andrew DeWolf: I did like literally 40 miles today, just today, and now I'm still doing it.

[18:00] Jesse McAnally: He's he's going more.

[18:01] Andrew DeWolf: He's he's literally doing more.

[18:03] Jesse McAnally: Your legs must be fucking built.

[18:05] Andrew DeWolf: They my girlfriend calls them table legs because they feel like uh the like putting stuff on a table, like they are very flat.

[18:14] Jesse McAnally: They are the only part of me that is actually muscly.

[18:18] Andrew DeWolf: But I love biking and oh, every song about a bike, like specifically ride and the world's greatest story.

[18:18] Jesse McAnally: The world's greatest story is where she's just pitching a bicycle to us, the audience.

[18:29] Andrew DeWolf: It is wonderful, and I love it.

[18:31] Jesse McAnally: Uh, would you buy the bicycle?

[18:33] Andrew DeWolf: I would.

[18:33] Jesse McAnally: I will I would.

[18:35] Andrew DeWolf: I would buy a hundred bicycles.

[18:37] Jesse McAnally: I love bikes so much.

[18:39] Andrew DeWolf: But my my favorite comedy film is Pee Wee's Big Adventure, because it's all about a bicycle.

[18:43] Jesse McAnally: Okay, question.

[18:44] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[18:45] Jesse McAnally: Bicycle lore, 1895.

[18:48] Andrew DeWolf: When did the modern bicycle get invented?

[18:51] Jesse McAnally: How soon after that was this?

[18:52] Andrew DeWolf: I think it's around this time.

[18:54] Jesse McAnally: I mean Because I mean the the modern bicycle as a concept, I think, came into existence with the fucking what is that big wheel thing called?

[19:03] Andrew DeWolf: A fucking uh I don't remember.

[19:05] Jesse McAnally: But then they then they were like, this sucks.

[19:07] Andrew DeWolf: We need one that doesn't fall down if you go downhill.

[19:10] Jesse McAnally: Uh I think I can't because when we're the Wright brothers were known for they so they made airplanes based on biking.

[19:18] Andrew DeWolf: Like that was the way that they developed it.

[19:22] Jesse McAnally: And from the aerodynamics of biking, they were able to discover, hey, you know, you could fly like this, which is why a lot of the early airplanes were bait built off bikes.

[19:31] Andrew DeWolf: A penny farthing, that's what it's called.

[19:35] Jesse McAnally: Although it was called a bicycle before that, because that was the bicycle.

[19:39] Andrew DeWolf: And now we have this one.

[19:40] Jesse McAnally: I'm not gonna lie, riding across the world for like So in 1895.

[19:45] Andrew DeWolf: Can you look this up for me?

[19:47] Jesse McAnally: What would be the conversion rate?

[19:48] Andrew DeWolf: Because she was getting $10,000 in 1895 for her trek across the world for 15 months.

[19:55] Jesse McAnally: That would be about 363,000.

[19:59] Andrew DeWolf: Holy shit, I'd do it.

[20:01] Jesse McAnally: I would waste 15 months of my life biking across the world for that much money, yes.

[20:07] Andrew DeWolf: Tax-free.

[20:09] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I think that that would be a kind of an easy choice.

[20:11] Andrew DeWolf: That's a lot of fucking money.

[20:13] Jesse McAnally: And I wouldn't give up.

[20:14] Andrew DeWolf: I wouldn't.

[20:15] Jesse McAnally: Oh no, I rip my headphones out.

[20:18] Andrew DeWolf: Do I stop biking to reach for the cord?

[20:20] Jesse McAnally: No, I ain't no wimp.

[20:21] Andrew DeWolf: I'm gonna I'm gonna do this.

[20:23] Jesse McAnally: Pedals going.

[20:25] Andrew DeWolf: He's fucking going for it.

[20:26] Jesse McAnally: I got it.

[20:27] Andrew DeWolf: That cord is gonna get tangled up in those pedals.

[20:29] Jesse McAnally: You're so fucked.

[20:30] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[20:31] Jesse McAnally: Never mind.

[20:32] Andrew DeWolf: Never mind.

[20:32] Jesse McAnally: I didn't say anything.

[20:33] Andrew DeWolf: I got it.

[20:34] Jesse McAnally: I am just as good as you, uh uh Londonderry.

[20:39] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[20:40] Jesse McAnally: So we have a brews for this.

[20:43] Andrew DeWolf: We do.

[20:44] Jesse McAnally: So this is a relatively new musical.

[20:46] Andrew DeWolf: Like, I think it might be one of our more recent shows we've ever covered.

[20:49] Jesse McAnally: And we do want to say we are grateful for recordings of live theater when they come out, especially for new material.

[20:55] Andrew DeWolf: I am very glad we had the opportunity to see this, and I did enjoy watching the ProShot a lot.

[21:00] Jesse McAnally: And if you can get your hands on it, please do watch it.

[21:03] Andrew DeWolf: It's actually a decently shot Pro shot as well.

[21:05] Jesse McAnally: One of the better ones.

[21:06] Andrew DeWolf: The only issue I have is the um dialogue mix is a lot lower than the singing mix.

[21:11] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[21:12] Andrew DeWolf: I I wonder if they could fix that, but I mean at this point they've already put it out there.

[21:17] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, it's it's for everyone to see now.

[21:18] Andrew DeWolf: Someone else fix it.

[21:20] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[21:21] Andrew DeWolf: Make that your little little doodad to do.

[21:23] Jesse McAnally: Alright, so brief views.

[21:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, what have we got today?

[21:27] Jesse McAnally: We have a review from The Guardian uh from uh Rifa Akbar uh on September 6th of 20 uh 22.

[21:35] Andrew DeWolf: So very fucking recent.

[21:37] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[21:38] Andrew DeWolf: Literally.

[21:40] Jesse McAnally: Less than a year ago.

[21:41] Andrew DeWolf: So here we go.

[21:42] Jesse McAnally: The music is strong, if slightly samey, although the meat of the story takes some time to reach.

[21:48] Andrew DeWolf: We poop poodle along.

[21:50] Jesse McAnally: I feel like I'm just gonna say pedal along, because I feel like that's what I would have wanted to have said here.

[21:54] Andrew DeWolf: Well, imagine it's pretty British.

[21:56] Jesse McAnally: We poodle along jointly.

[21:57] Andrew DeWolf: Fine, fine.

[21:58] Jesse McAnally: We poodle along jointly until meeting aristocrats on ocean crossings and encounter a bike confiscation in France.

[22:07] Andrew DeWolf: Which that I can't even believe they did that.

[22:09] Jesse McAnally: This person's biking around the world.

[22:11] Andrew DeWolf: You're gonna take their bike away.

[22:12] Jesse McAnally: I for most honestly, I was about to say it's the most accurate representation of French people I've ever seen.

[22:18] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, for real.

[22:19] Jesse McAnally: Fucking French people.

[22:20] Andrew DeWolf: Fucking French people, man.

[22:22] Jesse McAnally: Where do you get off?

[22:24] Andrew DeWolf: The plot points do not feel big enough until almost an hour into the show when we hear of Londonderry's marriage and the three children back home, which yeah, that is a kind of a a twist.

[22:35] Jesse McAnally: It takes a minute to get to the melodrama.

[22:37] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, though I I think the show's still fun before that, though.

[22:40] Jesse McAnally: It's a lot of fun, which is why I almost think we need it sprinkled out a little bit earlier.

[22:46] Andrew DeWolf: Because it does feel like we just fall off a cliff as opposed to going down a hill.

[22:50] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, it's kind of like the shoe just drops from like the top.

[22:56] Andrew DeWolf: Her uh her tragic early family life and her reasons for running away.

[23:00] Jesse McAnally: This knowledge, along with her love affair with married Harvard professor Fred Rose Sutton, who she meets on her trip, undermines the ideal of the American dream by reflecting on all of the big immovable forces that have worked against her.

[23:15] Andrew DeWolf: The rousing song The Charmed Existence of Fred Rose speaks of his casual class entitlement and male privilege in stark contrast to her battles.

[23:25] Jesse McAnally: Oh, is this just like Barbie?

[23:26] Andrew DeWolf: Does it also hate men?

[23:28] Jesse McAnally: This this show just fucking hates men, dude.

[23:30] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[23:31] Jesse McAnally: Whatever its shortfalls, this is a soulful musical with its biggest asset in Andrew Andreusier?

[23:39] Andrew DeWolf: Is that her name?

[23:40] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[23:40] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, who is captivating to watch throughout.

[23:43] Jesse McAnally: A glittering new musical star has surely been launched.

[23:46] Andrew DeWolf: I agree.

[23:47] Jesse McAnally: Fundamentally I agree with all that.

[23:49] Andrew DeWolf: I don't want to fight any of that.

[23:51] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, I mean, I think it's not like a perfect show, and I mean, I think I've been maybe more negative than I even really feel about the show in this, and that's a problem that I have sometimes.

[24:00] Andrew DeWolf: But uh yeah, it's just kind of there's there's good stuff, there's bad stuff, and the uh lead actress is uh carrying the whole thing.

[24:10] Jesse McAnally: I don't wanna I the lead actress is good, but that secondary lead is also very, very good too.

[24:15] Andrew DeWolf: My favorite part of the show is when um Miss Londonderry has a little bit of a mental breakdown unpacking her emotional trauma, and her secretary has to take over her role for her and telling the story, and it is just like a pitch perfect impression.

[24:32] Jesse McAnally: I love that.

[24:33] Andrew DeWolf: I love that moment so much that she takes us through the climax of the story, and it's not even our lead actress.

[24:38] Jesse McAnally: Well, lead actress is too busy having the big breakdown, so.

[24:41] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, after delivering one of the most heartbreaking songs in the show, sincerely, truly.

[24:46] Jesse McAnally: Um, yeah, I don't disagree with this review, but I do feel like it is a little too lukewarm for what I think the show brings, and I think seeing it live would probably give me a lot more connection to it instead of the more milked toast reaction they had.

[24:59] Andrew DeWolf: I think seeing shows like this live, um, most of the reason it works.

[25:04] Jesse McAnally: Especially a show like this where it's so, it's really just the audience and two people on stage, you know?

[25:11] Andrew DeWolf: It's like, it's kind of a close thing, you know?

[25:13] Jesse McAnally: Yes.

[25:14] Andrew DeWolf: I really like that.

[25:15] Jesse McAnally: I mean, compare this to something like Daddy Long Legs or The Last Five Years, I think it's right up there. I don't think it's like in a very different category than any of them.

[25:23] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, and actually, I think now that you're, you mentioned like, uh, especially Daddy Long Legs, I think this does feel a lot like a show like that. I think Daddy Long Legs is a little worse in my opinion, because it doesn't really do anything with the functionality of two individuals where this feels like they're trying to use that to as an asset as much as they can.

[25:42] Jesse McAnally: I do really like the use of the second character to play all the characters and not just like—

[25:42] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, and it's explained in a way with like she's technically only playing one character, but she's impersonating others.

[25:59] Jesse McAnally: Impersonating all the other characters. And she gets to be a better actress as the story unfolds, which is also an arc for her.

[26:04] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, it's really good. I mean, it's got a lot of very good stuff.

[26:08] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[26:08] Andrew DeWolf: Um, do you want to hit a mid-show and then talk about some of the songs?

[26:08] Jesse McAnally: And then talk about some songs.

[26:14] Andrew DeWolf: All right, let's get into it. Andrew, take us through the mid-show.

[26:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yes. Today's show is brought to you by the extremely kind donation by our donors at Patreon. Patreon is where you can go to, uh, give us money to help keep the show running and also get some extra content.

[26:38] Jesse McAnally: And you can watch Jess bike.

[26:40] Andrew DeWolf: Yes, I have been biking this whole time.

[26:43] Jesse McAnally: He is taking a break right now.

[26:45] Andrew DeWolf: But he will need to adjust my microphone.

[26:48] Jesse McAnally: He will be biking again soon. Also, we probably have a new commentary track up since we're recording one this Saturday.

[26:55] Andrew DeWolf: Hopefully.

[26:57] Jesse McAnally: So we should have a new one up now. Uh, but we also have all the old ones up, so if you haven't been a patron before, uh, you get access to a lot of new stuff.

[27:05] Andrew DeWolf: Exactly.

[27:06] Jesse McAnally: Ed Zachary.

[27:08] Andrew DeWolf: But who's supporting us? Our current patrons are.

[27:12] Jesse McAnally: And let me go through this quick so you don't have to bike for as long as physically possible. It's, uh, Goldman, Danielle Rennix, Jess the Stampede, Ewan Cassidy, Monica Thoreau, Brent Black, Lathaniel Stacey Coomb, Joseph Evans Green, Mary Lou Choquette, John Van Alves, Russ Walker, Musical Hell, Emily Gracie, Kyle Summers, Janay C, Scootin' the Technical Dreamcoat, Liz Lim, nothing is certain except Beth and Taxes, The Thesbian, Robert Benjamin, Jessica T, Mitchell Young, Chai Teacup, Chris Marcote, Leela, RJ Norriga, Bjorn Hermans, Toriana Fraser, Sammy the Anquidamount, Jacobson, uh, Leana Morton, Kaylee Blazier, Cinemageddon Reviews, Villos Miss, Sophina Ali, the Omega Geek, Paige Pearson, Matty Wargle, Eliza Erdman, Anna Loscatova, Sarah Den Blaker, Evan Ball, Zachary Torres, Rora Morasso, Mara Forloyne, Captain Rod Taskick, Bleasley L, uh, Possessed Washing Machine, uh, Nick Rotten, Julia Hardy, Jay Cusia, Caitlin Bridgeman, Sidney Hicks, Anna Bell, uh, Billy Clifton, Andrew Wright, and the Red Caboose Kaboom.

[28:17] Andrew DeWolf: They give us a little financial support that helps us keeping the lights on here, Music Cheese. If you would like to join them, come hop on over at Patreon.

[28:25] Jesse McAnally: You know, that's a sentence. The only thing keeping the lights on at Musical Cheese right now is just biking.

[28:30] Andrew DeWolf: He's literally hooked up to the power grid.

[28:34] Jesse McAnally: If I stop pedaling, we'll lose water and power.

[28:39] Andrew DeWolf: Don't worry, I'll never do this again. This is a bad idea, but I'm committing to the bit, god damn it!

[28:44] Jesse McAnally: He's committed to the bit.

[28:46] Andrew DeWolf: We only got a terrible idea.

[28:48] Jesse McAnally: I don't know. Maybe it'll be fun.

[28:51] Andrew DeWolf: It's kind of funny at the very least.

[28:53] Jesse McAnally: It's a novelty, for sure.

[28:55] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, first podcaster to do an entire podcast.

[28:59] Jesse McAnally: I mean, this is basically just a Peloton thing. If you hop on your bike, you can experience my pain with me.

[29:01] Andrew DeWolf: All right, let's get back to the show and talk about some of the songs.

[29:33] Jesse McAnally: A moments away from the world's greatest story.

[29:41] Andrew DeWolf: You are moments away.

[29:49] Jesse McAnally: You are moments away.

[29:57] Andrew DeWolf: I actually, I was really, uh, into the opening number, and I thought, um, I thought I would like this more based on the opening than I ended up liking it. Um, though I do still really like this opening.

[30:16] Jesse McAnally: It is, I agree with you, and it does kind of sell a different tone than the rest of the show ends up being. But that's not entirely a bad thing because I also like that tone, but it just wasn't the one set up in this scene.

[30:27] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[30:28] Jesse McAnally: Which, you know, that's fine. You do it. But this feels like a very con manny song. I also really, it gives you a chance to fall in love with the actress a lot.

[30:37] Andrew DeWolf: Oh yeah.

[30:37] Jesse McAnally: And she really sells it here. I mean, the whole opening is selling the framing device and the, uh, everything about it, you know, and it's really done well, and I really wish it kept some of this tone throughout the whole thing.

[30:54] Andrew DeWolf: It keeps some of it, but I wish it kept it like more.

[30:58] Jesse McAnally: I don't disagree. Um, the thing I really like about this and things that don't like it's a lot more scatological than the rest of it. Like she brings up like people being afraid of bicycles titillating people's private parts and things like that, which is a little bit more racy than the rest of the show turns out to be.

[31:16] Andrew DeWolf: It's a bit raunchy, but yeah, the rest of it does not have that sort of tone. Like the only time like the F word is used is like in an emotional scene where she's yelling at Fred.

[31:26] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[31:27] Andrew DeWolf: Like this isn't a very racy show, and just starting with that kind there's a lot of things I would kind of touch up a little bit to kind of make this more in tone for the rest of it. Not that's bad. I really enjoy it. And riding it on a bike, listening to it on a bike where it's like, yeah, bicycling is fun.

[31:43] Jesse McAnally: Well, bicycling being fun, what did you think of Ride?

[31:50] Andrew DeWolf: It's just a ride in the scene. A new miraculous spectacular pedal power cycle machine. Why not take one for a spin? It's latest craze. You can get from Massachusetts to Iowa in a matter of days. So let the getaway begin. Don't be deterred. It's construction's far from random. With every part working in pandemic, you'll be riding like a pro. No need for chaperones. It's you who sets the pace. Let's live in our human race. On your mocks, get ready. Grab your bike and go. Just ride. Leave the past behind you. See what lies beyond the bend and ride. And get ready for your new best friend.

[32:51] Jesse McAnally: Ride is, I would say, the song to sell the show and to sell the actress. Um, I love the fact that she does voices and the voices are very distinct, especially for a show where you have to play multiple characters, both as yourself, but in character doing those characters. She does a great job. Specifically the like Chucky Finster voice she puts on, I love it. I find that so wonderfully charming. I think the first couple songs is where I was really into the show. Like this and The Wager feel hand in hand together too.

[33:25] Andrew DeWolf: Yes.

[33:25] Jesse McAnally: And I feel like this, I don't even know where it really lost me the show. Um, it might have been like the Fred Rose stuff. I don't really know. I feel like once the melodrama kind of started, that's when I wasn't quite as into it.

[33:38] Andrew DeWolf: Um, I get that, but, uh, the melodrama is a different kind of thing I like. The big twist with the family though was kind of like, whoa, okay.

[33:46] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[33:47] Andrew DeWolf: I get why that it kind of throws you off.

[33:49] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[33:50] Andrew DeWolf: But I don't particularly mind it. I really do like these first like three or four songs here a lot.

[33:57] Jesse McAnally: Um, yes, but Ride is the one that they're always using in the marketing.

[34:01] Andrew DeWolf: It is the title of the show.

[34:02] Jesse McAnally: It is the title. And it works. I really like the song, and it shows like not to even say I know we don't talk a lot about singing ability. It's not an easy song to sing, and it's all belting more or less. They do a great job though. You again, this is, uh, you have to get the right person to play the part in the show like this because it's just, it really is just the audience and the actor for such a long amount of time, and you have to nail it and impress people, you know.

[34:33] Andrew DeWolf: And if your actor is out of sync even a little bit, this show is a, it's a failure right on its face.

[34:40] Jesse McAnally: I do want to talk about specifically the charmed existence of Fred Rose.

[34:44] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, it's a live the charm existence of Fred Rose. Another day begins in things his lucky stars that he's Fred Rose. And yet you're here. You're tramps around the Middle East and getting robbed on trains. I had to take some time away to find myself, huh? A midlife crisis. A sabbatical. I just got tired of all the same routines and couldn't bear to stay. I needed some adventure in my life.

[35:22] Jesse McAnally: Cause as a story song, I really think this is effective at conveying exposition and character background and overall emotion about how this person feels.

[35:32] Andrew DeWolf: Do you think she's telling the truth on it though?

[35:33] Jesse McAnally: That is a good question. We do set her up as a very unreliable narrator, so why would she?

[35:40] Andrew DeWolf: But do you think?

[35:41] Jesse McAnally: I'm asking you.

[35:42] Andrew DeWolf: I don't think it matters.

[35:43] Jesse McAnally: That's fair, and that's kind of my opinion as well, but, um, I think it's just like, I don't know. It just kind of makes you feel both. I get why she's enamored with him, I get why she feels very connected to him. I don't know. I really liked this as storytelling. There's not a lot of storytelling songs because a lot of these songs are kind of let's stop and have a musical moment as opposed to let's stop and tell stories.

[36:07] Andrew DeWolf: Well, because it's kind of a road trip. Whereas this is like an actual, it's like they stopped at a real like location and took a second to tell a individual story on its own.

[36:20] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, and I think that's where it really kind of, it's a different kind of feel, you know.

[36:25] Andrew DeWolf: Um, but speaking of a different kind of feel, and the closest thing we have, we have two 11 o'clock numbers here for the two actresses in different ways, and I do want to go into them. The first one is Stranger, which is the one where, um, she really unloads her past trauma, explains like how she's a daughter of immigrants, and how she abandoned her family to do this, and how she just kinda w she didn't get opportunities, and how she resents others for the opportunity she that they got, and how destructive it was, and how she uses all of this, especially the lying, as a coping mechanism.

[37:07] Jesse McAnally: She sings a children to sleep while she dreams of a world without bikes.

[37:21] Jesse McAnally: She knows the maps of their skin.

[37:27] Jesse McAnally: Reads each freckle, each mark, sees herself in that.

[37:38] Jesse McAnally: But whatever she tries.

[37:48] Jesse McAnally: Something of a stranger, searching for her destination in a lot that doesn't want to know.

[38:03] Andrew DeWolf: Oh she goes from here.

[38:08] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, she like breaks down in this.

[38:11] Jesse McAnally: Oh, yes.

[38:11] Andrew DeWolf: It is like it is like Ben Platt levels a breakdown on stage.

[38:16] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[38:17] Jesse McAnally: Like she really does sell it, and it's it's very good, even if it's not what I wanted.

[38:24] Andrew DeWolf: I do want to say, I don't think I'll ever watch the Pro Shot again.

[38:28] Andrew DeWolf: I will listen to this cast album a lot, and I know that about myself.

[38:32] Andrew DeWolf: This will be a constant repeat on my bike rides.

[38:35] Andrew DeWolf: Um, it just gives me the feels, and it has a good build.

[38:39] Andrew DeWolf: Like, it's a good mix of fun songs and then pathos at the end.

[38:43] Andrew DeWolf: That I really think the album is an ideal way to listen to it once you know what the story is.

[38:50] Jesse McAnally: So you you you think that the show the album overcomes the show in a way?

[38:55] Andrew DeWolf: Kind of, and I feel similar ways about other shows that I love, like Paul Gordon's Jane Eyre.

[39:00] Andrew DeWolf: That is a show that is very flawed, but fuck that's a great album because I know the book Jane Eyre, and I can just put these songs into the places that I know they go, and you know, pretend that it fits the way that I hope it does.

[39:13] Jesse McAnally: That's that's funny though, but it it's kind of makes sense.

[39:16] Jesse McAnally: In a way, you're turning it into a concept album instead of a uh instead of a musical.

[39:21] Andrew DeWolf: And I do that with a lot of Broadway show or a lot of musicals, honestly.

[39:25] Andrew DeWolf: Uh and I think a lot of us tend to do that for shows that we think we're in love with.

[39:30] Andrew DeWolf: I think a lot of the people for Ride the Cyclone do that, and a lot of people for Be More Chill do that rather than engage with the content in its final form.

[39:39] Jesse McAnally: Well, yeah, because I mean if you listen to the album versus watch the show, I mean, what's the time difference on that?

[39:45] Andrew DeWolf: And you're cutting out so many like book scenes and stuff like that.

[39:49] Andrew DeWolf: And then you can kind of make your own connective tissues.

[39:52] Jesse McAnally: That's why I think so many shipping things happen, like take the Be More Chill fan base, or even the Dear Evan Hansen fan base, where they just took those songs and put their own story to it, and then they actually watch the show and they're like, What?

[40:06] Andrew DeWolf: What?

[40:06] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah, how many people thought Dear Evan Hansen was about a gay kid?

[40:10] Jesse McAnally: And if you listen to the album, I get it.

[40:12] Jesse McAnally: But it's not.

[40:14] Jesse McAnally: It is definitely not, but I don't blame anyone for doing that, because I do that too.

[40:19] Jesse McAnally: I do that a lot more than I would like to admit on this show, honestly.

[40:22] Andrew DeWolf: So, what did you think of this second second 11 o'clock number?

[40:26] Andrew DeWolf: And that is out of time, and that is for the other lead.

[40:29] Andrew DeWolf: Um, where she has to take on the role of Annie Londonderry.

[40:33] Andrew DeWolf: I believe that's how you say that.

[40:35] Andrew DeWolf: And then I'm off to Vietnam.

[40:38] Andrew DeWolf: And though I swan through Saigon, I don't find much joy in Hanoi.

[40:43] Andrew DeWolf: I quickly move from town to town, the clock is ticking, and the days are counting down, with no companion by my side.

[40:54] Andrew DeWolf: I do what I do best.

[40:56] Andrew DeWolf: I clear my mind damn pride.

[41:00] Andrew DeWolf: And when the folks back home come calling, asking questions about all the things I've seen.

[41:09] Andrew DeWolf: I'll say I never had the time.

[41:15] Andrew DeWolf: No, I never had and she does a fantastic job, and she is back to the original Annie from Act One, but it's a different actress, but you buy the story because she's playing it so well.

[41:27] Jesse McAnally: She is playing it just as well.

[41:29] Jesse McAnally: And it's uh it's a completion of two story arcs in one go.

[41:34] Andrew DeWolf: Exactly.

[41:35] Andrew DeWolf: Because now the uh other character is a good actor now.

[41:38] Andrew DeWolf: Uh and embraces okay, so in act one, that character is like, but that's not the truth.

[41:43] Andrew DeWolf: You should always tell the truth.

[41:45] Andrew DeWolf: It is very like, no, it is you must be honest and all these things.

[41:48] Andrew DeWolf: And then she's like, no, you can't have embellishments, that's not accurate.

[41:51] Jesse McAnally: And then in this part she is embellishing like crazy, making up her own narrative where she gets kidnapped by pirates and stuff and like has to escape at the nick of time and just barely gets back.

[42:02] Jesse McAnally: And she's like, Oh, I get why that's important.

[42:05] Jesse McAnally: And it's great.

[42:06] Jesse McAnally: Because you can't tell a fun story and completely tell the truth.

[42:11] Andrew DeWolf: Yeah.

[42:12] Andrew DeWolf: You have to embellish, like you do on a podcast.

[42:15] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, like Jess actually isn't riding a bike right now.

[42:18] Andrew DeWolf: No, I am.

[42:19] Jesse McAnally: I promise I am.

[42:20] Jesse McAnally: Don't take away my valor, you son of a bitch.

[42:24] Andrew DeWolf: I stopped for one minute in the mid show, but besides that, I did not, I did not stop peddling.

[42:32] Jesse McAnally: Patrons will hold me accountable, I hope.

[42:34] Andrew DeWolf: I don't know if they will.

[42:35] Andrew DeWolf: We'll see.

[42:36] Andrew DeWolf: I think patrons will be like, oh, he's doing a fucking bit.

[42:39] Jesse McAnally: Turn off.

[42:40] Jesse McAnally: No, you have to turn you have to turn this on.

[42:42] Jesse McAnally: He's beat red right now.

[42:44] Jesse McAnally: Like it's it's unreal.

[42:46] Andrew DeWolf: I'm not that bad.

[42:47] Andrew DeWolf: It's just hot in here, too.

[42:50] Andrew DeWolf: Then it ends in Ride the moment, a great reprise of ride, but it's a little bit more.

[42:55] Andrew DeWolf: It's both of them.

[42:56] Andrew DeWolf: It is, so they add a little bit more to it.

[42:59] Andrew DeWolf: Um, great ending to honestly.

[43:01] Jesse McAnally: The more we talk about it, the more I think I love this musical.

[43:09] Andrew DeWolf: She wakes up.

[43:11] Andrew DeWolf: The dawn is breaking.

[43:14] Andrew DeWolf: She goes to her office, her territory.

[43:20] Andrew DeWolf: She knows the day.

[43:23] Andrew DeWolf: It's hers for the taking.

[43:26] Andrew DeWolf: She thinks in silence and begins her story.

[43:33] Andrew DeWolf: She rides the moment.

[43:36] Andrew DeWolf: She goes where rivals fear to tread.

[43:39] Andrew DeWolf: A modern woman in her pride.

[43:45] Andrew DeWolf: She keeps her focus.

[43:48] Andrew DeWolf: And she keeps moving straight ahead.

[43:51] Andrew DeWolf: She rides the moments of her time.

[43:58] Jesse McAnally: I think I love the album.

[43:59] Jesse McAnally: I think is the honest answer.

[44:01] Jesse McAnally: And I really I'm gonna watch these composers closely because while I don't think they like hit a home run on their first pitch, I think they're gonna hit something pretty good.

[44:09] Andrew DeWolf: Is this their first go?

[44:10] Jesse McAnally: Is this actually I think this is more or less their first show?

[44:13] Andrew DeWolf: That is impressive, then.

[44:14] Andrew DeWolf: I mean, this is a good job for a first show, for sure.

[44:17] Andrew DeWolf: Like compare it to Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World or The Last Five Years, yeah, this is great.

[44:21] Jesse McAnally: And the fact that they're playing with unreliable narrators and not doing, you know, the basic kind of, oh, here's my story and what I went through.

[44:30] Jesse McAnally: And they're not just doing a one-to-one Hamilton ripoff, which I'm seeing a lot of people do nowadays.

[44:36] Andrew DeWolf: Um Hamilton ruined!

[44:38] Andrew DeWolf: It's a brain rot a musical theater.

[44:40] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, Hamilton is Hamilton, and everybody else can't be that, you know.

[44:45] Jesse McAnally: Maybe Six is the closest thing to Hamilton that isn't Hamilton, but uh we'll get to that.

[44:50] Andrew DeWolf: We'll cover that eventually.

[44:52] Jesse McAnally: I feel like every time Six comes up, we we say that we'll cover that eventually.

[44:56] Andrew DeWolf: I think that's the meme.

[44:57] Andrew DeWolf: When will they cover Six eventually?

[45:00] Andrew DeWolf: It will be our final episode.

[45:02] Jesse McAnally: No, I already know what our final episode is.

[45:05] Andrew DeWolf: And what's that?

[45:07] Jesse McAnally: I can't tell you.

[45:08] Andrew DeWolf: Oh, okay.

[45:09] Jesse McAnally: I I can't tell the audience either.

[45:12] Andrew DeWolf: Okay.

[45:13] Jesse McAnally: But I know what it is.

[45:15] Andrew DeWolf: Will we even know what our final episode is, or will there just be a day where she records dies because a deer kills him on his bike ride?

[45:22] Jesse McAnally: Nah, we just re-record the last episode and we don't lose internet in the world because the government turns it off.

[45:28] Andrew DeWolf: Speaking of that, what's your overall thoughts on um Ride, the musical and your cheese rating?

[45:34] Jesse McAnally: I think that I I did like it.

[45:36] Jesse McAnally: It wasn't something that I disliked, that's for sure.

[45:38] Jesse McAnally: I liked some elements of it.

[45:40] Jesse McAnally: The con man type stuff, like the liar stuff is fun.

[45:44] Jesse McAnally: I really like the idea of like it being a good thing to embellish a story and lie a little bit.

[45:49] Jesse McAnally: And I don't even disagree with that.

[45:51] Jesse McAnally: I think like lying is seen as such a negative thing in a lot of media, and I'm like, nah, it's fine.

[45:56] Jesse McAnally: I think it depends how you do it.

[45:58] Jesse McAnally: And I think that lying to create a fun story that, you know, just is just embellishment of something that actually happened that isn't like propaganda necessarily.

[46:09] Andrew DeWolf: Like it's just you're having fun with it.

[46:11] Jesse McAnally: In the tale of Liberty Valance, if the legend is more interesting than the truth, print the legend.

[46:16] Andrew DeWolf: In a way, yeah.

[46:17] Andrew DeWolf: As long as the legend isn't some sort of ridiculous propaganda.

[46:21] Jesse McAnally: Alright propaganda.

[46:22] Andrew DeWolf: The sound of freedom.

[46:23] Jesse McAnally: Yeah.

[46:23] Jesse McAnally: Um, but uh there were some elements that I wasn't quite so sold on, and I didn't really feel like the music was what I wanted out of the show.

[46:31] Jesse McAnally: Um, though Jess clearly did.

[46:34] Andrew DeWolf: I did.

[46:34] Andrew DeWolf: I though I completely agree with my previous critique.

[46:37] Andrew DeWolf: It is very 2000 mid-2000s rock pop fucking Broadway-esque.

[46:43] Jesse McAnally: But I like it as an album.

[46:45] Andrew DeWolf: If we do a revival, maybe maybe choose some different clothing.

[46:48] Andrew DeWolf: Costume design.

[46:50] Jesse McAnally: So as far as a cheese goes, I'm gonna give it uh I'm gonna give it Gray Owl Cheese from uh the Formaggio Kitchen in Boston.

[47:02] Andrew DeWolf: Bastin!

[47:03] Andrew DeWolf: Um, and I think I would actually recommend trying to watch this because it is short and it has a good pro shot.

[47:08] Jesse McAnally: Oh, great pro shot.

[47:09] Jesse McAnally: I uh one of the best better looking than the Hamilton Pro shot, which looks like garbage doo-doo.

[47:14] Andrew DeWolf: But you can't see as much spit in the.

[47:16] Jesse McAnally: Oh, yeah, you're right.

[47:18] Jesse McAnally: Um, I really enjoyed it.

[47:20] Jesse McAnally: I listened to the album, I watched the pro shot, I will listen to the album again.

[47:24] Jesse McAnally: I am impressed by the actress, I'm con impressed by the composers and writers.

[47:27] Jesse McAnally: I would love to see what they do next.

[47:29] Andrew DeWolf: All of the above.

[47:30] Andrew DeWolf: Um, I am giving this some picnic um artisanal cheeses.

[47:35] Andrew DeWolf: Um, because I feel like when you're on a bike ride, you wanna just have like a little nice picnic of cheeses out and about with some bread.

[47:42] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, that does sound like something I would do in a bike ride.

[47:45] Andrew DeWolf: Get a little basket in the front.

[47:47] Jesse McAnally: Exactly.

[47:48] Jesse McAnally: Like a little Wizard of Oz basket.

[47:51] Andrew DeWolf: Um or E.T.

[47:53] Jesse McAnally: E.T.

[47:54] Andrew DeWolf: Ouch.

[47:57] Jesse McAnally: Um, all right.

[47:58] Jesse McAnally: Thank you guys for listening.

[47:59] Jesse McAnally: Please follow us on iTunes Spotify, Citra Musicals with Cheese, we're on Twitter at Cheesy Musicals, Patreon Musicals with Cheese, Instagram Musicals with Cheese, YouTube page, Musicals with Cheese, Patreon only podcast.

[48:07] Andrew DeWolf: We have a commentary up there.

[48:09] Jesse McAnally: Email us at musicaltheatrelives@gmail.com.

[48:11] Jesse McAnally: Our keeper of the cheese is Juliet Antonio.

[48:13] Jesse McAnally: This show is edited by Andrew DeWolf, and he's doing a great job at keeping me straight and correcting me in the edits.

[48:19] Andrew DeWolf: Alright.

[48:20] Jesse McAnally: Uh, thank you to the Broadway Podcast Network for having us on the platform for knocking us off or literally having an episode where I breathe very hard into the microphone.

[48:29] Andrew DeWolf: Uh the entire time.

[48:32] Jesse McAnally: Jess, are you out of breath?

[48:33] Jesse McAnally: Yes, I am!

[48:35] Andrew DeWolf: God damn right I am.

[48:36] Jesse McAnally: Jess, has your foot slipped off the pedals and slammed right into the floor?

[48:41] Andrew DeWolf: Giving you a get a good old scratch across your leg.

[48:43] Jesse McAnally: You know it has.

[48:44] Jesse McAnally: Oh god.

[48:45] Jesse McAnally: Four or five times now.

[48:47] Andrew DeWolf: It hurts like a son of a gun, but I'm not stopping.

[48:50] Jesse McAnally: Alright.

[48:51] Jesse McAnally: Get some fucking sleep, dude.

[48:53] Andrew DeWolf: I'm so fucking tired, man.

[48:55] Jesse McAnally: All right, Andrew, anything else you have left to say about fucking Ride?

[48:59] Andrew DeWolf: Uh, I'm glad I didn't ride a bicycle this entire episode.

[49:02] Jesse McAnally: Alright.

[49:03] Jesse McAnally: Uh we'll see you next time on Musicals with Cheese.

[49:05] Andrew DeWolf: And I did it for an entire episode, bitches!

[49:08] Jesse McAnally: Check the Patreon video if you want proof.

[49:11] Andrew DeWolf: We'll see you next time.

[49:12] Andrew DeWolf: And I wanna fly across America.