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[0:14] Jess: Hello and welcome back to Musicals with Cheese.

[0:16] Andrew: Make me a musical.

[0:17] Jess: And Andrew, we have an extra special guest.

[0:21] Andrew: I am actually very, very surprised we have them.

[0:24] Jess: Please welcome actress, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker, and current star of Beetlejuice the Musical.

[0:30] Jess: It's Elizabeth Teeter!

[0:32] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my gosh!

[0:35] Elizabeth Teeter: You're surprised to have me here.

[0:36] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm always surprised when someone's like, oh yeah, we'll see.

[0:39] Elizabeth Teeter: Someone agreed to come on our show. Like what?

[0:41] Andrew: Well, I didn't know what this was until about two seconds ago.

[0:44] Elizabeth Teeter: So you wouldn't be here if you did, I'm sure.

[0:48] Elizabeth Teeter: I was looking on the link and I was like, musicals with cheese.

[0:51] Elizabeth Teeter: That sounds fun.

[0:52] Elizabeth Teeter: I should have done my research.

[0:53] Elizabeth Teeter: I should have listened.

[0:55] Jess: Don't worry.

[0:56] Jess: I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go binge all the other music with cheese episodes after this.

[1:02] Elizabeth Teeter: I imagine your publicist is gonna write an email like, actually, can you just not put that?

[1:06] Elizabeth Teeter: We don't want to be associated with those gentlemen.

[1:09] Andrew: Caddy and Crash over here.

[1:10] Jess: Caddy and Crash.

[1:12] Jess: Elizabeth, your first interview was great, but um this one was different.

[1:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Well, it is very much gonna be different because it isn't an interview, and within the next 30 minutes, we have to pitch a musical.

[1:26] Jess: And you have given us the excellent idea that this musical today is gonna be Mushrooms the Musical.

[1:31] Jess: That's our starting pitch.

[1:32] Elizabeth Teeter: I'd like everyone to know this was because I have a mushroom candle sitting right in front of me.

[1:37] Elizabeth Teeter: Uh yeah, so not very uh, I don't know, off the top of my head, not very creative, but that's okay.

[1:45] Elizabeth Teeter: This this is where it bounces off of.

[1:47] Elizabeth Teeter: So we can go in like 50 different directions here.

[1:49] Jess: Are we gonna go through the anthropomorphic side where it is literally a living mushroom?

[1:54] Jess: Or are we gonna go with like a morel like hunter for morel mushrooms with his little pig and trying to find him?

[2:02] Jess: Which direction?

[2:03] Jess: We got one of those two choices.

[2:05] Elizabeth Teeter: I feel like those are two very different musicals.

[2:07] Jess: Yes.

[2:07] Jess: Um it depends on what it depends on what we're doing.

[2:09] Jess: What would a mushroom do?

[2:10] Elizabeth Teeter: If you if you're a living mushroom, you're just gonna sit there.

[2:13] Jess: Okay, I have an idea.

[2:14] Elizabeth Teeter: But if you're a living mushroom, you could have the dilemma of not everyone likes mushrooms, you know.

[2:19] Elizabeth Teeter: I feel like it's a I feel like you either come across people that hate mushrooms or love mushrooms, and that could be a moral problem for this mushroom.

[2:27] Jess: So in the world of Mushrooms the Musical, are mushrooms their main goal to get eaten?

[2:32] Jess: Is it like the cat's trying to die?

[2:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Maybe that's like that's a little morbid, actually.

[2:39] Elizabeth Teeter: They want to be dead.

[2:40] Elizabeth Teeter: They really want someone to eat them.

[2:42] Andrew: No one wants to eat meat.

[2:44] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my god.

[2:46] Elizabeth Teeter: No.

[2:47] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm kind of into that, actually.

[2:48] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm into that a little bit.

[2:50] Jess: Like I don't know.

[2:51] Jess: We have another idea.

[2:52] Elizabeth Teeter: Alright, what's your other one?

[2:53] Jess: Um, well, that was my idea.

[2:58] Jess: But we could go the foraging way.

[3:01] Jess: Um, it could be a hunter situation.

[3:04] Jess: It could be competing people.

[3:05] Jess: They're like competing to like create mushroom like meals out of dishes and stuff, and they have to.

[3:11] Jess: It could be a town where mushrooms are their source.

[3:15] Elizabeth Teeter: And I like that.

[3:17] Elizabeth Teeter: I like this idea.

[3:18] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, mushrooms are their source, and it's like a huge like competition, kind of like Streganona, like she's the pasta maker.

[3:24] Elizabeth Teeter: There's like a mushroom like person, but then conflict arises.

[3:29] Jess: Yes.

[3:30] Jess: To be determined.

[3:32] Jess: Um what who is our main character in this little town of the mushroom village or whatever?

[3:38] Elizabeth Teeter: Tramina.

[3:38] Jess: Tremina.

[3:39] Elizabeth Teeter: Alright.

[3:40] Elizabeth Teeter: Shrimina.

[3:41] Jess: Or Shrimino.

[3:43] Jess: Did she get into mushrooms because of the name, or was she named because she got into mushrooms?

[3:49] Elizabeth Teeter: Chicken and the egg.

[3:50] Jess: A little of both.

[3:51] Elizabeth Teeter: A little of both.

[3:52] Elizabeth Teeter: I think it was like one of those like profit situations where like she was born and someone was like, this is our mushroom girl.

[4:00] Jess: Alright, alright.

[4:01] Jess: Now she has to have conflict within herself for the I want song.

[4:06] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, the I want song.

[4:07] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, so if we're gonna give her an I want song, does she love doing mushrooms?

[4:12] Elizabeth Teeter: She wants to be a dentist.

[4:14] Jess: I think she wants to be a dentist.

[4:16] Jess: And I think no, I think like from birth, people have been like training her to be this like mushroom masseuse type person.

[4:25] Jess: And they're like, you are the center of our town.

[4:29] Jess: And you are responsible for you know, basically keeping everyone alive because mushrooms are their source of like their financial source and all that.

[4:38] Jess: Like it is their main import-export kind of thing.

[4:41] Elizabeth Teeter: And she, I don't know if she has powers.

[4:42] Elizabeth Teeter: This could be a different thing.

[4:44] Elizabeth Teeter: She could have mushroom powers, but like she like helps the mushrooms grow.

[4:48] Jess: It's like it's like an Elsa situation, but with mushrooms, I like that.

[4:51] Elizabeth Teeter: She has like a green thumb.

[4:52] Jess: Right, and she's kind of like brown thumb.

[4:55] Elizabeth Teeter: But she's like, she's kind of like Elsa in that she's like, I don't want to do this anymore.

[5:00] Elizabeth Teeter: I want to be a dentist.

[5:03] Jess: Okay, then the next morning, like after she sings her I want song, sets up her all the mushrooms dead.

[5:09] Jess: Like her thumb, her thumb power doesn't work.

[5:12] Elizabeth Teeter: Now she has to go on an adventure to figure out where to get more mushrooms.

[5:16] Jess: Song and dance.

[5:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Exactly.

[5:18] Elizabeth Teeter: And then she goes into friends along the way.

[5:20] Jess: A cabbage town where you're gonna be.

[5:22] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, she needs a cabbage town, and like maybe there's someone else that's like in charge of the cabbage, cabbages, whatever.

[5:27] Jess: Wait, what goes with mu cabbage doesn't go with mushrooms, though, does it?

[5:30] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, spinach.

[5:31] Jess: That works.

[5:32] Jess: Like a sauteed spinach mushroom.

[5:33] Elizabeth Teeter: She falls in the colour.

[5:34] Elizabeth Teeter: There's gotta be like a meal if she falls in love with the spinach person.

[5:38] Elizabeth Teeter: The spinach queen or king.

[5:41] Jess: We need them to be a reflection of her, where they are also unhappy with their lot.

[5:46] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes.

[5:46] Elizabeth Teeter: They also don't want to be in charge of the spinach land.

[5:49] Jess: Maybe they're rival, like rival kingdoms, so to say.

[5:52] Elizabeth Teeter: Like you rival kingdom.

[5:53] Jess: Oh, the spinach in the mushroom kingdom.

[5:55] Elizabeth Teeter: There we go.

[5:57] Elizabeth Teeter: Now we're talking some Romeo and Juliet type.

[5:59] Jess: Mushroom Kingdom?

[6:00] Jess: What is this?

[6:00] Jess: The Mario?

[6:05] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay.

[6:05] Elizabeth Teeter: Mario Luigi turned spinach mushroom.

[6:10] Jess: So Shremina, um, let she wants more than that, she wants to be a dentist.

[6:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Spinocho, which is Spinoccio.

[6:21] Elizabeth Teeter: And they they kind of like, you know, uh, like a lot of interesting folks there, and they've been warring factions for years, but she decides I'm gonna leave the mushroom to go and to the enemy territory to see if she can find help.

[6:36] Jess: Oh, the enemy territory.

[6:37] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, because maybe she hears of the previous mushroom king or queen who was like abdicated the throne, and it was like a we don't talk about Bruno moment.

[6:50] Jess: And so she's like, Well, I need to find Bruno or whatever the mushroom person is and figure out what went on here.

[6:57] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay, so we got Shremina.

[6:58] Elizabeth Teeter: We need to give this like like tops or something.

[7:01] Elizabeth Teeter: Something about like what fungi father.

[7:04] Jess: Fungy father.

[7:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Is this a love story?

[7:05] Jess: Is this like a no?

[7:07] Jess: This this is like the guiding thing.

[7:08] Jess: Yeah, this is the mentor figure that's a good thing.

[7:10] Elizabeth Teeter: The mentor figure who's like, follow your dreams.

[7:13] Jess: Exactly.

[7:14] Jess: That's the like that's the like.

[7:16] Elizabeth Teeter: But he was so tired of doing the mushrooms that he left and went to live with the spinach people.

[7:22] Jess: Oh, so he's like, he's like traitor.

[7:25] Elizabeth Teeter: Maybe he wanted to be the dentist in Shrimina.

[7:28] Elizabeth Teeter: Shamina is like really into it.

[7:30] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, hey, we gotta do the mushrooms.

[7:31] Jess: Then one day just her powers are gone.

[7:33] Jess: A real kind of Moana situation where she's like, Yeah, I want to.

[7:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, yeah, I can't see.

[7:36] Jess: She sings the I Want song, and then she wakes up and is like, uh-oh, I guess I wish too hard.

[7:42] Jess: My powers are gone and everyone's starving.

[7:44] Elizabeth Teeter: I have to go.

[7:45] Elizabeth Teeter: Maybe she's like, I gotta go get help.

[7:47] Elizabeth Teeter: I gotta get my powers back.

[7:48] Jess: And then along the way, she's like, I don't want to do this anymore.

[7:52] Jess: I'm just but then the village is starving, so that's the conflict.

[7:56] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes.

[7:57] Elizabeth Teeter: She discovers that she doesn't want that to be the only thing in her life by looking at Spinoccio.

[8:01] Jess: Spinoccio.

[8:02] Jess: Also, like a little jaded about being the spinach master.

[8:06] Elizabeth Teeter: She's like, wait, you don't like spinach either?

[8:09] Jess: Like five different stories going on here.

[8:11] Elizabeth Teeter: I really like that.

[8:14] Jess: I'm not gonna follow this one with him when I watch it.

[8:16] Elizabeth Teeter: There are three characters.

[8:20] Jess: We got three characters.

[8:22] Jess: C plots is a good one.

[8:23] Elizabeth Teeter: Was that Spinoccio coming in the back somewhere?

[8:28] Jess: I think I just saw Spinoccio.

[8:30] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my god.

[8:32] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my gosh, Spinoccio, get out.

[8:34] Jess: So basically, she's off to find her father figure, the former king of the mushroom.

[8:39] Elizabeth Teeter: Or my literal father.

[8:40] Jess: The former king of he's trying to find King Pete.

[8:43] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes.

[8:48] Elizabeth Teeter: And he never told her this.

[8:50] Jess: What's going on?

[8:51] Jess: That's a lot of people.

[8:52] Elizabeth Teeter: They have the Unite the Kingdoms at the end, right?

[8:54] Jess: Yeah, I feel like like she convinces Spinoccio, like, hey, you should give up your power too, because you know, if you're unhappy, you shouldn't do it.

[9:01] Elizabeth Teeter: And then all the kingdoms just fall apart.

[9:03] Jess: And then they have together.

[9:04] Jess: But then they realize that the only way that they're gonna be able to like survive is just like teamwork.

[9:09] Elizabeth Teeter: Like everyone has to plant the mushrooms, everyone has to plant the spinach.

[9:13] Elizabeth Teeter: It's not on one person.

[9:14] Jess: They're like democracy, okay?

[9:16] Jess: No kings, queens, just pure uh teamwork.

[9:20] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, because if you're no kings, no mushrooms, just teamwork.

[9:23] Jess: And it's not just a one one like vegetable kingdom.

[9:27] Elizabeth Teeter: We can all be like a gathering, a melting pot of vegetables.

[9:31] Jess: Yeah, they're like, wait a second.

[9:32] Jess: They like it's like a ratatouille, it's like a ratatouille moment where he tries the strawberry and the cheese together, and he's like, these colors are beautiful.

[9:39] Elizabeth Teeter: And they're like, they're like, wait, sauteed spinach and sauteed mushrooms?

[9:43] Elizabeth Teeter: This is incredible.

[9:44] Jess: And then the people already we kind of sow the seeds that the townspeople kind of hate each other, but then they meet the other townspeople from the other cities that are.

[9:56] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes, and then it just gets a little too too sexy, and then Spinoccio and Shrimina get together at the end.

[10:02] Elizabeth Teeter: They're like, wait a sec, you can dance.

[10:06] Jess: Well, who is that girl over there?

[10:08] Jess: She's from the mushroom kingdom.

[10:10] Elizabeth Teeter: This is like turning into like West Side Stories.

[10:13] Jess: This is like so this is gonna be a jukebox show, right?

[10:16] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, oh, that is a good question.

[10:18] Jess: So I it's not that big of a mess.

[10:22] Elizabeth Teeter: What if it's both?

[10:23] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, what if it's like the random amount of like it's original songs, and all of a sudden you're like, is that ABBA?

[10:28] Andrew: Yeah. I feel like I feel like if I watch this, there's gonna be that moment where it's a pop song, you know, and it's like wait like Katy Perry? That's weird. But then it's like an original ballad afterwards, so it just comes out of nowhere. I don't think that's been done a lot.

[10:43] Elizabeth Teeter: No, no, it's a jukebox musical made entirely of other jukebox musicals, so they're pulling from ABBA, they're pulling from Moulin Rouge, like only songs used in other ones.

[10:52] Andrew: Well, I feel like we're getting like the Tanz der Vampire thing where it's like a total eclipse is just a song in the musical, but everything else is original. But I feel like with all of these other original songs that have nothing to do with vegetables.

[11:06] Elizabeth Teeter: It's like a metaphor. Yeah, you know, like if you think like fungi is a lot like being a firework. The whole thing is giving me Gnomeo and Juliet.

[11:18] Andrew: Yeah. It is a little bit like Gnomeo and Juliet, but this is the same.

[11:22] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, this is better, obviously.

[11:22] Andrew: Well, I mean, yeah, I mean Spinocchio and uh I can't even remember the other name right now.

[11:29] Elizabeth Teeter: Spinocchio, I think I think Spinocchio is like top tier, like you hear that and you're like soul.

[11:34] Andrew: Yeah, so we end act one with like all the kingdoms falling because you know there's like a big like crash, and then you're like, uh oh, blackout.

[11:43] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, like, oh, how are we gonna solve this? Better come back for act two.

[11:48] Andrew: Then act two is like, man, we had a real nice clam bake, so that the audience can sit down, we're gonna have our little nonsense song, and then we're gonna start the story up again.

[11:56] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, yeah. So how do we gonna end it? Like, what what what is the final goal?

[12:00] Andrew: I mean, the final goal is all the kingdoms deciding, you know what, we we can't rely on one person to do all of our vegetable needs. We have to actually learn as a community.

[12:09] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, as a community and food is better. Um the goal is farming.

[12:14] Andrew: Yes. And a musical about mushrooms, isn't the goal always going to inevitably be farming?

[12:21] Elizabeth Teeter: Um I think it's a really telling piece right now. The Pulitzer. This is gonna be the next A Strange Loop.

[12:29] Andrew: I think so. I think so. I think so. We have to do something with mushrooms. Like the the final message has to be like they learn it because of some metaphor revolving around mushrooms.

[12:42] Elizabeth Teeter: Um they're very top heady. They're like, don't do drugs.

[12:48] Andrew: Oh snap, we have to do the like yes, they get high as shit scene. Like you have to do that.

[12:54] Elizabeth Teeter: She goes to a place that looks exactly like her. She goes to a place that looks exactly like the mushroom kingdom, like everyone's the same except a little aw.

[13:04] Andrew: That turns out it's the other kind of mushroom kingdom. And they're all just kind of like, here, try some.

[13:11] Elizabeth Teeter: She's like, Yeah, there's like a there's like a song where like they like try to trick the spinach kingdom, and like that's like their way of attack, as they just.

[13:19] Andrew: I was thinking more like vision quests kind of thing, you know.

[13:22] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, like there's like a whole like trippy scene in there, like that's how she learns what needs to happen. And that's like the big let's alligator moment. Spinocchio just walked in the background again.

[13:32] Andrew: She's like, Whoa, I've had a vision.

[13:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my gosh. A vision of other vegetables. I need to go on my adventure. I need to go on my quest.

[13:44] Andrew: There's gotta be a good one. Zero's quest. Then of course.

[13:48] Elizabeth Teeter: And of course, she finds her like mentor figure useless, like I don't care about the mushroom kingdom. And then she has to be able to do that.

[13:54] Andrew: She thinks he's like all that, and he's like a man behind the curtain situation where he's like, I don't care. But at the last minute, he shows up to help because of narrative convenience.

[14:03] Elizabeth Teeter: You're like, Bruno, or I'm just saying that now because Encanto's in the brain.

[14:07] Andrew: Yeah. His name's like what morale.

[14:10] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh no. Morale, I like that.

[14:13] Andrew: Morale. What are you doing here?

[14:15] Elizabeth Teeter: I've come to save you, child.

[14:19] Andrew: What do you think I've been doing? You were right about the mushrooms.

[14:25] Elizabeth Teeter: He's like, I was thinking. I was meditating. And I decided I gotta leave my house.

[14:33] Andrew: And he's played by Danny Burstein.

[14:36] Elizabeth Teeter: You are right, child. I I I brought my hoe and I'm ready to garden.

[14:41] Andrew: Oh, yeah. We gotta have celebrity casting in this. Um, yeah, so Shremina.

[14:45] Elizabeth Teeter: So we need like we need like three songs or something. Okay, we have the I want song, which I think is like more than a morale.

[14:48] Andrew: More than a morale. I like that. Maybe that's our family line, the morale, Shramina morale.

[15:02] Elizabeth Teeter: More than mushrooms. There must be something more. It's always more for these characters.

[15:08] Andrew: I want, I want, I want. It's literally the I want to do it. She's good songs going on here. This is gonna be a this is gonna be some boss songwriter.

[15:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay, so we usually end with this, but now that it's coming up, who do you think should compose this musical?

[15:24] Andrew: Like us.

[15:26] Elizabeth Teeter: I mean, Elizabeth Teeter, it would be a like a I'm getting a pretty big like step up. I I'd be into it. Like, I I'm thinking of you a Shermina, though. I feel like having the acting role and you know the songwriting.

[15:42] Andrew: I wasn't gonna say it, but if we see this on Broadway, we we gotta get some credit here.

[15:48] Elizabeth Teeter: Um so we're gonna pet cast Derek Klena as Spinocchio.

[15:52] Andrew: Okay, perfect. Yeah, I feel like you guys would vibe together.

[15:55] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, Derek Klena, uh Danny Burstein, it's just the whole Moulin Rouge cast. We gotta throw a rock into that. We gotta Beth Malone plays like the like the matriarch of the the That's got like Leslie Kritzer in it too.

[16:10] Andrew: I want to do it with her. She'll be like uh she'll be like another vegetable like personal.

[16:14] Elizabeth Teeter: She's the cabbage leader.

[16:15] Andrew: She's the cabbage leader. She has a funny song that she tries to like distract her along the way.

[16:20] Elizabeth Teeter: Wait, wait, wait. What's a vegetable that absolutely no one likes?

[16:23] Andrew: She's the kale Brussels?

[16:25] Elizabeth Teeter: I love Brussels sprouts. They're notorious for nobody liking them.

[16:30] Andrew: No one likes them, but we are. Nobody likes kale though.

[16:32] Elizabeth Teeter: No one actually kale tastes like bug spray.

[16:34] Andrew: Kale chips, though. Those are good.

[16:37] Elizabeth Teeter: You put bug spray on them, like maybe it's just like.

[16:40] Andrew: How do you know what bug spray tastes like? You've never sprayed it in the air and just been like, oh, I'm walking through this and then some hit my tongue.

[16:48] Elizabeth Teeter: You open you open your mouth while you're gonna spend a lot of things.

[16:50] Andrew: Well, usually you don't I'm not gonna spend half of our pitch time uh expressing how I know bug spray tastes.

[16:58] Elizabeth Teeter: That's our next musical, bug spray. Let's drink it.

[17:01] Andrew: We should have done bug spray. It's like Hairspray, but it's uh like there's someone that wants to be on a dancing TV show. Um, but they can't deal with that bug spray. It's out it's an outdoor show.

[17:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, yes. Well, it's all dancing, but they're like swinging at the floor. You know, this would be great because instead of like a merchandise booth, we'll just have a kitchen.

[17:23] Andrew: Like the we'll just have um like a stovetop and like people just be sauteing vegetables the whole time.

[17:28] Elizabeth Teeter: So you walk in and you're like, ooh, I smell mushrooms.

[17:31] Andrew: Exactly. It's just like the Waitress thing where they gave you like pies to start with. Uh just like who would want like you walk in and there's like a box of like mushrooms raw, and you're like, hmm.

[17:42] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, Emeril Lagasse's there, like frying up sautéing them every single day. Eight shows a week.

[17:47] Andrew: Eight shows a week. The marketing and and merchandising for this show is gonna be much better than the show itself, I think.

[17:53] Elizabeth Teeter: Um that's not true. The show's great, Andrew. You know what? I don't think that is the right attitude we need to make this a successful show.

[18:00] Andrew: Alright, so what's what's our 11 o'clock number? So because we know what the climax is, like they decide you know what we all need to work together, but we need another vegetable pond.

[18:10] Elizabeth Teeter: What's a vegetable pond we can put here? Like um we we've grown roots or something like that.

[18:17] Andrew: Oh yeah, that's we've grown roots one day more.

[18:22] Elizabeth Teeter: Then we just rip off um Les Mis and Showboat.

[18:30] Andrew: And it's got a little morel mushroom on it.

[18:33] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, yeah. No, but it's like they make a salad. They make a salad, like, and they finally put all the vegetables together.

[18:40] Andrew: Oh we blend together and then we make a salad.

[18:40] Elizabeth Teeter: We make a salad with salad with shrooms and no chio.

[18:58] Andrew: Yes. Yes, yes. It comes out of nowhere. Everyone's like, oh my god, it sounds like we built this city, but it's not. It's just close enough to be legally a parody.

[19:10] Elizabeth Teeter: Legally not the city, but it is salad. Doo-doo doo. We made this down with spinach and shrooms?

[19:19] Andrew: Spinach and shrooms. And then they just start listing all the vegetables and carrots and greens and onions.

[19:28] Elizabeth Teeter: I can't remember how the actual song goes after that, but spinach and shrooms.

[19:37] Andrew: But that's the only pop song. That's the only pop song. I just think of like, I don't know why I'm thinking of the Muppets movie where they're like cleaning up the theater, but it's that's you know how to that is they do sing that song there.

[19:41] Elizabeth Teeter: They do sing that song in the Muppets movie. Um we can get the Muppets in.

[19:51] Andrew: Okay. All right. Well, the Muppets are our new favorite vegetables. I recently made a slideshow of um like the Muppets Beetlejuice casting. Like if we were to cast Beetlejuice with the Muppets, so like maybe this could be a crossover thing as well.

[20:07] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm into that. Wick, what was your casting? What was your um I'm pretty proud of my casting?

[20:12] Andrew: Uh this is a little off topic, but um That's fine.

[20:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, like his animal, of course.

[20:19] Andrew: Beetlejuice's animal. Uh we said Lydia would be Rizzo the rat.

[20:22] Elizabeth Teeter: I think that would be perfect.

[20:24] Andrew: What? There aren't many female Muppets to work with. I will give you that. But like Rizzo in like the little dress, like, and he's like sassy and like running up the banister, like screaming.

[20:34] Elizabeth Teeter: I think I might actually be behind this.

[20:36] Andrew: I too am strange and unusual.

[20:40] Elizabeth Teeter: He kind of like drags everyone around him too, which I think is great. Um kind of I said Miss Piggy as Delia and Argentina, I think the split track that makes sense.

[20:49] Andrew: Kermit is Adam, makes sense.

[20:51] Elizabeth Teeter: Janice is Barbara, um, the blonde hair, obviously.

[20:55] Andrew: Um what else did we say?

[20:56] Elizabeth Teeter: I said Miss Miss Poogie as Juno, like the rival.

[21:00] Andrew: Yes.

[21:01] Elizabeth Teeter: Brilliant.

[21:02] Andrew: Um, what are the old what are the two old men?

[21:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Waldorf and whatever called it.

[21:07] Andrew: Yeah, we said they both would play Maxi Dean.

[21:09] Elizabeth Teeter: Like at the same time.

[21:10] Andrew: It's like in Christmas Carol where they split the character into two characters.

[21:15] Elizabeth Teeter: And then we went on to there are many different like side character roles that we kind of plan out.

[21:24] Andrew: So this could be a situation.

[21:31] Elizabeth Teeter: If it is the cast, no one's gonna complain.

[21:33] Andrew: Yeah.

[21:35] Andrew: I would want to go see it.

[21:37] Andrew: Elizabeth, I do have a question, and uh I this might be a personal question, so take it.

[21:42] Andrew: Have you often in competition with Rizzo the Rat in your roles?

[21:46] Elizabeth Teeter: I didn't it's a little sensitive.

[21:50] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, it's hard.

[21:53] Elizabeth Teeter: Um yeah, it's it's it's a sensitive question, and that's why I hesitated to put Rizzo on this celebrity casting.

[22:01] Elizabeth Teeter: But um, you know, I people look at me and say, Wow, you remind me of Rizzo the Rat.

[22:06] Elizabeth Teeter: So I mean you go into these auditions, you get up every morning at six, you stand there in line, and you come out and you see Rizzo sitting there and you're like fucking not that rat again.

[22:18] Elizabeth Teeter: It's over.

[22:19] Elizabeth Teeter: It's not like a tall to be compared to.

[22:21] Elizabeth Teeter: That rat.

[22:25] Andrew: All right, we gotta get back to the shrooms.

[22:27] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay, sorry, side point.

[22:29] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, no, no worries.

[22:30] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, so what composer do you think would take on uh our shroom musical?

[22:35] Andrew: We should give it a title.

[22:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Come on, Shermina and Spinoccio, the ballot of Shimina Spinoccio.

[22:41] Andrew: That makes it seem too much like Romeo.

[22:43] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, like Romeo Julia.

[22:44] Andrew: What about Little Miss Morel?

[22:46] Elizabeth Teeter: Little Miss, like it's in a little mistake.

[22:48] Andrew: I don't hate that, but it's uh but it's also like maybe something with mushrooms involved.

[22:53] Elizabeth Teeter: Um Morel is a mushroom, which is a type of mushroom, right?

[22:58] Andrew: Yeah.

[22:58] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh see, I didn't I didn't actually know that much about mushrooms before.

[23:01] Andrew: Well, we we always do our research before we start.

[23:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay.

[23:07] Elizabeth Teeter: I can tell.

[23:08] Elizabeth Teeter: I can tell.

[23:09] Elizabeth Teeter: Um the title's the most important part.

[23:15] Andrew: Yeah.

[23:15] Andrew: It doesn't matter if the show's good.

[23:17] Elizabeth Teeter: We could just call it shrooms.

[23:18] Andrew: I can already see the playbill.

[23:19] Elizabeth Teeter: I can see the L Herschel.

[23:21] Elizabeth Teeter: It's perfect marketing, really.

[23:26] Andrew: You get the drug scene, you get like the kids involved.

[23:29] Andrew: Everyone's coming to see that opening weekend.

[23:31] Andrew: They think it's gonna be some like huge lesson, and then it's really just it's about vegetables.

[23:36] Elizabeth Teeter: It's a sincere story about persevering and not not putting all the pressure on one person in your community.

[23:43] Elizabeth Teeter: And the uh the poster is like a red poster with white spots, but there's like people dancing as the spots.

[23:49] Andrew: Oh people are like, Man, what is shrooms about?

[23:51] Andrew: I don't understand.

[23:52] Andrew: And nobody knows what it's about until they go see it, you know.

[23:55] Elizabeth Teeter: This will go on the dressing room table.

[23:57] Elizabeth Teeter: Yep, every day.

[23:59] Elizabeth Teeter: Um smells like uh forest.

[24:02] Andrew: It's a candle.

[24:04] Elizabeth Teeter: So anyway, no one can see it.

[24:07] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, you know what?

[24:10] Elizabeth Teeter: Um you can't see it, so sh you know what?

[24:11] Elizabeth Teeter: Elizabeth's doing backflips right now.

[24:13] Elizabeth Teeter: She's been doing it the whole time.

[24:14] Elizabeth Teeter: You you'll never be able to say she didn't.

[24:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Dancer first.

[24:21] Andrew: So my pitch to r for the writer of this might be an off the wall one.

[24:26] Andrew: I'm thinking Michael R.

[24:27] Andrew: Jackson.

[24:28] Andrew: Like he's gonna bring something different to this.

[24:31] Elizabeth Teeter: I uh I don't know if I see it.

[24:33] Elizabeth Teeter: Is this rock musical?

[24:35] Elizabeth Teeter: Is this like maybe a combination?

[24:37] Elizabeth Teeter: Like you're like, wait, why does this sound like light in the piazza?

[24:40] Elizabeth Teeter: And then all of a sudden you're like, rock.

[24:42] Andrew: Adam Gottel, that could be another good one.

[24:45] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, it could be some pretty ballads in there.

[24:47] Andrew: And then we built this city.

[24:48] Elizabeth Teeter: I mean, we built the we built the salad.

[24:51] Andrew: That just has to be in there.

[24:53] Andrew: And that's like the that's what to draw all the normal people in.

[24:56] Elizabeth Teeter: You know, like the non-musical families that come to see it because it's like how it's Shrek by saying I'm a believer just to give you the reward for sitting through Shrek the musical.

[25:05] Andrew: It's just like that.

[25:07] Andrew: Shrek the musical's good though.

[25:09] Elizabeth Teeter: I love musical.

[25:10] Elizabeth Teeter: We love Shrek Musical on this podcast.

[25:12] Andrew: And why are you doing that?

[25:15] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm thinking about the normies that are like, I'm gonna go see Shrek the Musical.

[25:18] Elizabeth Teeter: I'm I want all star.

[25:19] Elizabeth Teeter: And then it's like, we'll give you I'm a I feel like a normal person be like, oh fine, I'll go see Shrek the Musical and then be like, wait, this was fantastic.

[25:26] Andrew: Except Shay Ferrillis for some reason.

[25:29] Elizabeth Teeter: Guest of the show.

[25:30] Elizabeth Teeter: He he really hated that musical for no reason.

[25:32] Andrew: Oh so let's so Ben Brantley going into I know he doesn't do the job anymore.

[25:38] Andrew: Ben Brantley, opening weekend, Shrooms the musical.

[25:41] Andrew: What what would his reviews say?

[25:43] Elizabeth Teeter: Um five stars.

[25:45] Andrew: Oh, really?

[25:46] Andrew: A man who notoriously never gives like number ratings to side know it this time?

[25:50] Elizabeth Teeter: Numbers are going five.

[25:52] Elizabeth Teeter: My perspective is is if you drag your own musical or you drag like you know, we gotta be our biggest supporters here.

[26:01] Elizabeth Teeter: If no one believes in us, we have to believe in us.

[26:04] Andrew: I have the Ben Brantley review, I think.

[26:06] Andrew: The whole first paragraph.

[26:08] Elizabeth Teeter: What's the like title?

[26:09] Andrew: Shrooms more than it's like shrooms, like you'll wish you were high.

[26:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Shrooms or dooms, yeah.

[26:17] Andrew: And then and then the whole first paragraph is just him talking about how he is it's like you're wandering through a forest looking for a good mushroom, and you can't tell the poison ones from the non-poison ones.

[26:29] Elizabeth Teeter: And and it you don't understand what he if he liked it or if he didn't like it, but that's the entire like review.

[26:35] Andrew: It's very uh yeah, like mixed.

[26:37] Andrew: Like you're like, wait, hmm.

[26:38] Andrew: Wait, so is it good?

[26:39] Andrew: Is it bad?

[26:40] Andrew: Did you even talk about the show?

[26:41] Elizabeth Teeter: And then he'll mention like one of the leads was like good or something.

[26:44] Andrew: Yeah.

[26:46] Andrew: Jack Clenna as Spinoza is Derek Lena, Spinocchio shines.

[26:53] Elizabeth Teeter: I wanted more of him.

[26:54] Elizabeth Teeter: Not Spinocchio's Spinocchio.

[26:57] Elizabeth Teeter: Spinocchio.

[26:58] Andrew: He said he spells it wrong with a K somehow.

[27:02] Elizabeth Teeter: Um Jason Robert Brown's one song that he wrote really kind of enchanted me, but the rest was done by Adam Gattell.

[27:12] Andrew: All right.

[27:13] Andrew: The standout was we built this salad, but I feel like I've heard it before, but I don't know.

[27:19] Elizabeth Teeter: It like strikes a nostalgic nerve, but it's like is it just different enough where like you can't take the copyright?

[27:26] Andrew: Like exactly, exactly.

[27:28] Andrew: It's like those SNL parodies.

[27:29] Elizabeth Teeter: Secretly at least favorite song of all time.

[27:32] Andrew: Okay.

[27:33] Andrew: He gets really excited.

[27:34] Elizabeth Teeter: The pit so what happens is it's not a hit at first when shrooms hits Broadway.

[27:39] Elizabeth Teeter: Sadly enough, it seems to be floundering a little bit.

[27:41] Andrew: But then the girl that plays Shrimpina starts doing TikTok trends backstage, and then suddenly it's a hit.

[27:41] Elizabeth Teeter: Then suddenly it's a hit.

[27:50] Elizabeth Teeter: Then they start to do it.

[27:51] Andrew: Then Brigad back Peter.

[27:54] Elizabeth Teeter: Unexpected treasure.

[27:58] Andrew: It's like it's not a hit at first, but then the summer crowd starts to come, and everyone's like, wait, this is fantastic.

[28:05] Elizabeth Teeter: And thankfully, it gets Elizabeth Teeter as Shrimp Shrimpina, their first Tony Award.

[28:11] Andrew: Thank you so much.

[28:12] Andrew: This has been uh hold on.

[28:16] Andrew: I need to introduce you.

[28:16] Elizabeth Teeter: Uh pretend I'm James Earl Jones.

[28:18] Andrew: Okay.

[28:19] Andrew: And the Tony Award goes to the teeter from Shrooms.

[28:26] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah!

[28:28] Elizabeth Teeter: And the music playing.

[28:29] Andrew: Oh my god, we built this salad.

[28:34] Elizabeth Teeter: Let's like play it on a violin.

[28:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Like no lyrics, so everyone's like, why has we built this city just?

[28:43] Andrew: And then you end your speech with my casting creatives.

[28:46] Elizabeth Teeter: We really built this salad.

[28:48] Elizabeth Teeter: We really built this salad to everyone out there.

[28:52] Andrew: It's gonna really it's gonna be one of those things where in 50 years everyone's gonna be a good thing.

[28:57] Andrew: The next time you go to a restaurant.

[28:59] Andrew: The next time you sit down at a restaurant instead of a burger, get a salad.

[29:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, it's really like a commentary on like it's a commentary on like vegetarian, like being a vegetarian, which I'm not, but like Audra McDonald is crying in the front row, like Lady Gaga's like yeah, fantastic.

[29:20] Elizabeth Teeter: She knows uh this is this sounds like it's gonna be a hit.

[29:24] Andrew: Yes, it's a hit, and I hope we're not running over time.

[29:27] Andrew: Elizabeth, this was absolutely lovely.

[29:30] Andrew: Thank you so much for making a musical with us.

[29:33] Andrew: There's so many things that you've got on.

[29:35] Andrew: I'm so unexpected, and um I feel so creatively fulfilled.

[29:41] Elizabeth Teeter: It was a great creative exercise about shrooms to accomplish something.

[29:45] Andrew: Now, why don't you promote your other endeavors?

[29:47] Elizabeth Teeter: Because we all know that this is gonna be really the big project in your life for the rest of the time.

[29:51] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, well, before you catch me in this shrooms the Musical, uh, you can you can come see Beauty Beetlejuice the musical, which is currently on Broadway at the Marquee Theater.

[30:02] Elizabeth Teeter: Um, yeah, you can find me there.

[30:05] Andrew: What about your social medias and all that?

[30:07] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, yes.

[30:08] Elizabeth Teeter: I am on Instagram at Elizabeth Teeter Official.

[30:11] Elizabeth Teeter: I am on TikTok, but I don't really I I'm not that great at it.

[30:16] Elizabeth Teeter: Um you can't find me there.

[30:19] Elizabeth Teeter: Um Yeah, that's where I am.

[30:22] Andrew: So And you you say there might be some songwriting endeavors in the near future.

[30:26] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes, I I wrote some s I wrote I have written songs over the pandemic, and I'm hoping to release them soon, hopefully in the next month.

[30:34] Elizabeth Teeter: So, yay!

[30:35] Elizabeth Teeter: Please check them out if you're interested.

[30:37] Elizabeth Teeter: And if, you know, if not, that's okay.

[30:40] Andrew: You know what you should be interested, because Elizabeth is a great joy to talk to in a very, very great time.

[30:45] Elizabeth Teeter: Thank you so much for having fun with us.

[30:47] Elizabeth Teeter: This was so exciting.

[30:49] Andrew: Thank you.

[30:50] Andrew: We'll see you next time on Musicals with Cheese Make Me a Musical.