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[0:18] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Hello and welcome to The Drama Book Show.

[0:21] David Rigano: My name is David Rigano.

[0:23] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And today we are talking about the making of a musical, the 12-year journey of Love Quirks.

[0:30] David Rigano: Now you've made a musical or two in your day.

[0:33] Mark-Eugene Garcia: We both have made musicals or two.

[0:36] David Rigano: We have made exactly two.

[0:38] Mark-Eugene Garcia: We have definitely made exactly two.

[0:40] David Rigano: I've had a couple others.

[0:41] Mark-Eugene Garcia: You've had a couple others.

[0:42] David Rigano: It's not an easy thing.

[0:43] Mark-Eugene Garcia: No, it's not.

[0:44] David Rigano: And sometimes any stage work or any work really, but stage work in general takes time.

[0:49] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah.

[0:50] David Rigano: It really does. And so when I hear a title like the 12-year journey, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense.

[0:55] Mark-Eugene Garcia: This is by SEth bisen-hersh.

[0:57] David Rigano: Yeah.

[0:57] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Who wrote Love Quirks amongst many other shows.

[1:01] David Rigano: Yeah, he had a—was he did he have a web series, I feel like, too?

[1:05] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yes.

[1:05] David Rigano: Yeah. I remember watching that.

[1:07] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Everyday a Little Seth.

[1:09] David Rigano: Yes.

[1:10] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I do remember that.

[1:11] David Rigano: What a fun title.

[1:12] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yes.

[1:13] David Rigano: I love a good punny title.

[1:16] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And I think that you can tell from that who he has taken some inspiration from.

[1:20] David Rigano: Oh, definitely.

[1:23] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah. It's funny because I think speaking of musical theater writing, I met him at a concert that I did with your brother.

[1:34] David Rigano: Oh, Epic Fail.

[1:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Epic Fail.

[1:36] David Rigano: Broadway's Epic Fail.

[1:38] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So much fun. It was a show that was based on musical numbers based on movies that should not be musicals.

[1:47] David Rigano: And all of the songs were written specifically for that evening.

[1:51] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yes, exactly. A series of teams.

[1:55] David Rigano: Yeah. And so I realized at that point I'd written with you, but I'd never written with Paul.

[1:59] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And so I thought, you know what? This will be fun. You had written with me, your lyrics to my music.

[2:01] David Rigano: You had written with Paul and I, you writing book and Paul and I writing music and lyrics.

[2:09] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But you and Paul had not collaborated, just the two of you.

[2:09] David Rigano: Exactly. The arthruple had never switched into that position yet.

[2:15] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And I thought, what fun. I picked Something About Mary, which he hadn't seen.

[2:19] David Rigano: I did not know that until after. I was like, yeah, I was like, bro, like you haven't seen Something About Mary? It's iconic.

[2:25] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And the scene that you picked was iconic.

[2:28] David Rigano: Was the iconic scene of that we wrote a song called Hair Gel. I met Seth at that event, and then I've got a chance to see his work throughout this time.

[2:37] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And a friend of mine was in Love Quirks.

[2:40] David Rigano: Really?

[2:40] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Who I—she was an understudy, so I specifically went the performance that she did, Rory Nogi.

[2:48] David Rigano: And she is also a musical theater writer.

[2:51] Mark-Eugene Garcia: That's crazy. I have directed two excerpts of two of her musicals.

[2:58] David Rigano: The first one that we did together, it was called Sirens Den.

[3:01] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Uh-huh.

[3:02] David Rigano: And it is like a 90s downtown rock musical about—it’s based on the Greek myth of the sirens.

[3:13] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And it's about a young woman who moves to New York to be a rocker, meets her rock goddess, and finds out why you shouldn't meet your heroes.

[3:22] David Rigano: Oh, nice.

[3:23] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah. It's funny when I first moved here, like I was in Los Angeles writing musical theater, and I got to the point where I was like, I don't know what else I can do here.

[3:34] David Rigano: And also I think I'm at the top of my game. And so I was like, I'm gonna go to New York, and who else writes musical theater? Nobody, so I'm just gonna go there and I'm gonna—that's it.

[3:42] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And then I get here and realize everybody writes musical theater in New York.

[3:48] David Rigano: The second Rory is really good at picking a genre.

[3:52] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Right.

[3:52] David Rigano: And being like really immersing in that genre that again is not like a strictly musical theater genre.

[4:01] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Sirens Den exists in the world like the CBGB's type world.

[4:05] David Rigano: Nice, okay.

[4:05] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Of the 90s rock and roll scene, and that is what the score sounds like.

[4:11] David Rigano: Huh.

[4:11] Mark-Eugene Garcia: The other musical that I directed an excerpt of is her newest show, which is called The Impatience, and it is like a Nashville-style musical.

[4:22] David Rigano: I joke that it's a jukebox musical for a band that never existed.

[4:26] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So I do remember, yeah.

[4:28] David Rigano: So it is—it's an actor-musician musical because it is about like a country band who has been disbanded for 15 years when they broke up over a bunch of personal issues, and we are watching them come together for the first time in 15 years, and we are watching all of the old drama bubble up, and we are hearing it set to the music of their catalogs.

[4:56] Mark-Eugene Garcia: That is so cool.

[4:57] David Rigano: But again, they didn't exist, so it is all original songs, but she is writing it as if these were songs that they had on the radio and were selling albums 15 years ago.

[5:09] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah.

[5:09] David Rigano: Oh, that's cool. It's interesting, just musicals are so interesting in the way that like they're all written differently.

[5:14] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I remember like with Holy Cows, you guys wrote songs to a show that already had songs that didn't have songs anymore in the same place, and then eventually created new spaces.

[5:24] David Rigano: I know that when I stepped into write songs for Standby, it was another show that already had—yeah, it's also always interesting when you are joining a pre-existing team.

[5:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah.

[5:35] David Rigano: Also because I came in as additional lyrics and then became bookend lyrics. But again, it was like, hey, these are some of the existing things that we have that we're keeping, and now you're writing new material to match that and combine with that.

[5:50] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And that's not something you get in other genres, I feel like, where it's like you don't know the way the collaboration works.

[6:00] David Rigano: I think that musicals in particular is such a more collaborative art than almost any other than TV, maybe.

[6:09] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah. I think TV is probably more collaborative usually.

[6:13] David Rigano: Yeah, in the long term, but I think also like you bring in—to go back to some of our previous episodes, you bring in like lighting design.

[6:20] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yes.

[6:20] David Rigano: And that becomes part of the collaboration because the light is part of this choreography, is part of the song, is part of the focus, is there's so much that goes into it.

[6:28] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Because with theater, the audience is a collaborator in a way.

[6:34] David Rigano: Yeah.

[6:34] Mark-Eugene Garcia: There are certain things that you don't know until it's in front of an audience, and boy, will an audience tell you if something's not working.

[6:43] David Rigano: Yeah, truly.

[6:44] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Actually, I don't know that at all.

[6:47] David Rigano: So once when you're in the rewriting process during previews or during a workshop production, you are now doing rewrites with production elements involved.

[7:02] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So you might be doing rewrites because your lighting designer says this moment isn't working, we could do this instead, and then you write that into the show.

[7:12] David Rigano: So yeah, it becomes so collaborative. And even like when I write plays, I pretty much get an idea and just sit down and start writing.

[7:25] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And whatever order I wrote my last play backwards.

[7:28] David Rigano: Nice.

[7:29] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I wrote third act, second act, first act. The play before that was one scene.

[7:35] David Rigano: So I literally just started at the beginning, and there were a couple of moments when I said, I don't know what happens here, and I skipped a few pages of I'll just get to the next big moment.

[7:45] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But then when Paul and I write musicals, I—with plays I never outline.

[7:50] David Rigano: I usually have a lot of—I usually have a lot of structural—I'm a pantser.

[7:50] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah.

[7:50] David Rigano: I usually have a lot of structural ideas in my head because I like playing with structure, but I don't actively outline and say, boom, this scene.

[8:06] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And Paul and I have found out that the best way for us to write a musical is to outline exactly what we want to happen in each scene, what ground we want to cover, where we think it's gonna be a song, even come up with what we think a title is gonna be.

[8:23] David Rigano: Oh, totally. I think because musicals are so specific and so intricate that—and they have to be ready for all that collaboration that like the backbone has to be really solid, and it goes to show why it takes so long.

[8:34] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Like just in general, like I know that on my shows, like Eight Tales took me like 10 years to be like, okay, now it's ready to go and put it up on stage.

[8:42] David Rigano: Whereas Goat Blood, it went from conception to stage to publication in all just under a year.

[8:50] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So you never know. And so it makes sense that a show might take 12 years.

[8:54] David Rigano: Facing East.

[8:56] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Still going, still going.

[8:57] David Rigano: We'll get there someday.

[8:58] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, yeah.

[8:59] David Rigano: But it makes sense that we have a 12-year journey.

[9:02] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah. So let's hear Seth talk about his 12-year journey.

[9:05] David Rigano: 12-year journey.

[9:06] Mark-Eugene Garcia: No.

[9:11] SEth bisen-hersh: I always have a fear no one's gonna show up. I had a text from my friend Alondra who said she couldn't come last minute, like five minutes ago, and I was like, oh my god, what if no one else is coming?

[9:22] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But you're here.

[9:23] SEth bisen-hersh: And we're—I know. I'm so nervous, which is weird because I'm always in front of people, but I'm never in front of people at the Drama Bookstore, which is really cool.

[9:33] SEth bisen-hersh: And I just found out that this is gonna be a podcast, so I should really watch what I say.

[9:37] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, that's okay.

[9:39] SEth bisen-hersh: I'll be here to help you watch what you say.

[9:41] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Thank you, thank you. Put up a little red flag. Don't say that, don't say that.

[9:44] SEth bisen-hersh: Too much tea. I'm just gonna spill water tonight.

[9:46] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Don't be popping.

[9:49] SEth bisen-hersh: I'm not gonna spill tea. Spill it.

[9:52] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Okay. This is so exciting.

[9:53] SEth bisen-hersh: I know 95% of the people here. Thank you all for coming.

[9:56] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So we're here to talk about the book.

[10:02] SEth bisen-hersh: This is a science copy, so you have this big sharpie branding in here.

[10:06] Mark-Eugene Garcia: So let's talk because I actually I knew you at the beginning of Love Quirks.

[10:12] SEth bisen-hersh: That's true.

[10:13] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Way back when it was just a song cycle.

[10:15] SEth bisen-hersh: Way back when it was just love.

[10:17] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Actually, before it was even a song cycle. I still knew some of the songs.

[10:21] SEth bisen-hersh: So let's start off by maybe explaining both for the lay person and for the slightly more advanced theater cabaret students.

[10:32] SEth bisen-hersh: What are the differences between a song cycle and a book musical? What is a song cycle? What does a song cycle go through to be turned into a book musical like Love Quirks?

[10:49] SEth bisen-hersh: A song cycle is a cycle of songs, which is a very didactic way of defining it, but it's true. I used to write, as was in my really long intro, I had cabaret acts, and the cabaret acts are basically song cycles where you talk in between and you like tell a little story or you do stand-up-y things, although for me it's sitting down because I'm always sitting down and not standing up.

[11:13] SEth bisen-hersh: But then you're just like threading it and making it feel like a story, and then a song cycle is you just take away all that stuff, and it's just the songs. So to me, that's easier because you don't really have to piece it together. But if you think of it with the pieces and you just remove the pieces, it's a tricycle, and then you take the wheels away, and then it becomes a bicycle.

[11:35] SEth bisen-hersh: And so you don't actually need all the talking, although the talking is the fun part because that's what I prefer doing, but it's okay. Song cycles were very popular in like 2010. Yeah, I was like, I can clearly make a song cycle because I already have 200 songs, and that'd be a really long song cycle.

[11:56] SEth bisen-hersh: But I noticed from the charity concerts I had been doing, Brabbin Meows and Barbie Can for the Mean Society and for City Harvest, that all the Broadway stars were picking the same sort of quirky love songs, and I was like, okay, these are—this is popular. So then I put popular and then Stephen Schwartz gets two pennies. And so then I put all the popular songs together, and I was walking down Broadway, and I remember I was talking to my friend Aviva, and I was like, I could just easily do a song cycle of my quirky love songs, and I will call it quirky love songs.

[12:32] SEth bisen-hersh: And then I was like, or Love Quirks, which is a title that Brian and Mark ate, but they're not here, so it's okay. Um, and then I was like, great. So then I took what I had, and I realized where the pieces were missing, and I tried to tell a cohesive story in the song cycle itself, but then when we put it on in 2011, gosh, wow, this long time ago. We did it in an art gallery in Soho, and I don't think anyone here actually came to that. This is predating most people of 2011 and my friendship. And we did it in an art gallery in Soho with just the four people, and Brian cut some songs, but that's okay. And we looked at it, and people were like, Who are these characters? And they wanted to know more about it. So the way it turns into a musical is that you add more of the script and you have a more defined journey for the characters, and then you use the script to give the characters backstory, and then you care more about them when it comes their turn to sing.

[13:40] Ashley Wool: It's interesting that you mentioned that even when it was presented as a song cycle, there were people who picked up on an inherent story and inherent characters.

[13:53] SEth bisen-hersh: And I think that's probably because it's all my friends. Yeah, yeah. That's what you were saying upstairs. Like you were basing all of the songs on your friends.

[14:01] SEth bisen-hersh: I people would rant to me and I would turn it into a song. Like that's give me the substance of your life. And now we're definitely gonna do one of those. We're gonna do only one of them today, yes. But a lot of the song cycle were songs, and in particular, a couple of them are. I'll just say her name Rory, because everyone knows her in this room anyway. A lot of the songs were written for Rory and were about Rory's experiences dating. And a lot of the songs that are in the show, any emotional song in the show is probably from my own emotions. But I think the character of Lily has a lot of Rory in her, which is probably why the character is named Lily. I'm not gonna lie about that because I'm under oath.

Am I under oath? I'm not under oath, it's okay, but I still I have trouble lying. And so a lot of them were Rory, and actually some of the Stephanie songs were also Rory, but then one of the Stephanie songs was my friend Stephanie, and then one of the Ryan songs was my ex-girlfriend's friend Ryan. And so that's how Stephanie and Ryan got their name. And I think Chris is just the generic straight guy name, and I think Mark had a Chris in his life, and I think he was just like this straight guy is Chris. And so the straight guy didn't really have that much material because all the songs that I had written about me, I don't think were straight enough for the straight guy. So yeah, his songs were written more for the show, and then it just came together, and when we did the song cycle, I was like, There's gonna be two women and two men, and I already had the Will and Grace dynamic with Haven't You Noticed, which was inspired by a scene in the United States of Tara, which is a really good TV show starring Toni Collette that was on Showtime, and that her son on the show, who's also the star of Atypical, was gay, and he was trying to tell his girlfriend who was Zasha Mamet that he was gay, and she kept being like, That's wonderful, we have so much in common. And she wouldn't let him break up with her. And I was like, This is totally a song, and that's where that one came from.

[16:10] SEth bisen-hersh: So inspiration hits from lots of different things in life, and that's why I justify watching so much television. I actually, one of the things I was looking at was about Haven't You Noticed. Would you say that sometimes the point of a song can just be to entertain the audience?

[16:28] Ashley Wool: That's called a charm song.

[16:29] SEth bisen-hersh: Yes. Haven't You Noticed Mark and Brian hate Haven't You Noticed. I believe that Erin hated Haven't You Noticed until he watched the put-in rehearsal for Dylan the Understudy. And after he said, I finally understand why that song's so funny, but when he was performing it, he just he didn't really like it that much. And they always were like, We need to cut this song, but it gets so many laughs. It's a list song. It's literally a list song. It's literally what they would call in improv, you just keep hitting the game over and over and over and over.

[17:03] Ashley Wool: Yeah.

[17:03] SEth bisen-hersh: But then I think it becomes exciting because it's also one of those songs that goes on top of each other, which I like to write. Uh, and I think almost all my shows have a song that go on top of each other like that. I think what makes that song work in particular is it's not just a charm song for the sake of a charm song, it does play into the backstory.

[17:24] Ashley Wool: Yeah, it's very funny. And especially the younger, like the younger high school versions. Like, I completely believed that these two characters were in a limousine around her prom, and the stakes are there for both of them, and that's what makes it funny.

[17:45] SEth bisen-hersh: That staging was Brian Shoulders. That was added in 2022. It wasn't like that in 2020. I think he had the idea.

[17:52] Ashley Wool: Yeah, it was. Some was it in 2020? I know I was there.

[17:55] SEth bisen-hersh: All right, Ashley was there. It was in 2020.

[17:57] Ashley Wool: Ashley remembers staging more than I do. I remember every single lyric and when it was changed, but I could tell you shit about the staging.

[18:04] SEth bisen-hersh: I was told I could say shit and fuck. So apparently Tanya Pinkins said a lot of shit and fuck on her podcast. So that's what we were competing with tonight. But charm song for the sake of the charm song versus something that really tells you who's gonna be a good thing.

[18:18] Ashley Wool: Yeah, it's important to have backstory for the characters.

[18:21] SEth bisen-hersh: And not only that, but it's a backstory that really endears you to both of these characters very early on.

[18:28] Ashley Wool: I hope so. I saw something once, something on Instagram where somebody just tweeted something and then posted it. It was, I'm not trauma dumping, I'm giving you the lore.

[18:40] SEth bisen-hersh: Haven't You Noticed is giving you the lore. Yeah. Especially about Lily and her relationship with Ryan.

[18:48] Ashley Wool: Well, it sets you up with their relationship early, and that's what you need to do in the first part of the show. And if you read the book, you'll see the opening number took the longest to get right. It used to be Love Quirks, the title song was the opening number, and then we hired a dramaturg, and she said to Mark, you don't actually have to make the title song the opening number, and then Mark went, Oh, and then we moved Love Quirks to the scene where they drink that replaced It's Not You, It's Me, which replaced That's What He Said, which is a wonderful song that Mark and Brian hate, but it's so cute, and it's so funny. And I don't know why I'm very sad that one got cut, but it's okay. And then we put in It Never Works, and then Love Quirks had eight different lyric versions, as you'll see when you read the book, because you have to buy the book because you're here, and then It Never Works also had eight different versions. Whereas a song like Hey never changed.

[19:46] SEth bisen-hersh: We're only 15 minutes into this. You've already mentioned things that Mark and Brian hate like four times.

[19:51] Ashley Wool: I know because they're not here to defend themselves, but they would just literally say, Yes, we hate that.

[19:57] SEth bisen-hersh: They would admit it, they would admit it, and they would say that they hated working with me, but we made it through. It's true. There's some tea for you. We're still friends, we're still friends.

[20:07] Ashley Wool: Yeah, well, long as you're still friends.

[20:09] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah, let's just be friends. Let's just be friends. Yeah, we're still friends, it's cool. It was hard. I it was hard. I don't think the writing was hard. I think the producing was hard.

[20:18] Ashley Wool: The producing is really hard.

[20:19] SEth bisen-hersh: I don't know if you've heard that. It's really hard. It's really hard. Yeah, it's the worst. The writing to me is really the easy part. And if the writing didn't come naturally, then I wouldn't do it.

[20:32] Ashley Wool: So did you want to speaking of Let's Just Be Friends? Did you want to go into that?

[20:35] SEth bisen-hersh: Oh, that's a great segue. Yeah, so Let's Just Be Friends is the song that had the second most amount of changes, maybe the third after Love Quirks, but it's just because of that moment in the beginning of the show, and it's this the first two songs are the hardest to get right because you have to set so much up in so little time, and it takes you a really long time to be like, Yes, this is what I need this song to be. So I'm gonna read the chapter. I even have a bookmark from the Strand, and I'm gonna read the chapter, and then I'm gonna sing the song, and then you'll see. I'll read you the first version of the song, and then you'll oh no, I just hit that mic. It's okay, it's still alive. All right.

Chapter 21, Let's Just Be Friends. This is like my reading voice. Chapter 21, Let's Just be friends. No, no British, no, it's not, we're not. We're all moving the show to London next spring, by the way. That's exciting news. All right, chapter 21, Let's Just Be Friends. Let's just where the hell are my reading glasses? All right. Let's just be friends went into the show for the 2014 off-Broadway production. After the reading in May, it was clear that there needed to be a scene with Stephanie and Chris after the opening number. And that scene needed a song, since neither It's Not You, It's Me or The Two of You were going to work. Mark came up with the title and I ran with it. If it wasn't for this song, Chris would have absolutely no solos, so I wanted to give the actor a chance to shine and crafted another patter song.

I think it works both as part charm song at first, catchy and whimsical, to get you to like him as he has become less of an asshole in each draft. And also then becomes a subversive I want song, the song that defines what a character wants at the beginning of the show. See, my book's also musical theater 101. In the original version, Chris at the end of the song clearly winks to the audience to say, I really don't want to be just friends. Here are the original lyrics, which I wrote on July 4th, 2014. I'm very comprehensive. I keep notes of when I write everything.

[20:38] SEth bisen-hersh: Let's just be friends. I brought you the Times and a croissant. I think it's pretty clear what I want. Let's just be friends, is that such a crazy thing to be? We barely met, and you've pegged me as a classic jock thinking with his cock, it might be a shock, but given the choice, I read Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Joyce. I love films with subtitles, Wagner recitals, tangoing days at the Met. You won't be upset if we just be friends. Let's just be friends since dating a roommate would be odd. I never would, so awkward, my God. If I have no shirt, I don't mean to flirt. Friendship couldn't hurt, relationships blow, complicated, annoying, hello, all those romantic notions, sacred emotions, talking about how you feel.

There's much more appeal if we just be friends. If I was into you, I'd bring you chocolate and flowers, I'd take you out to dine, a fine dinner with expensive wine, I'd tell you how beautiful you look, lend you my favorite book, but I'm not into you, so you're off the hook. So let's just be friends. You're so not my type anyway. I prefer girls with lots to say. Girls who are mature while still being pure, who have less allure but aren't a lush. They need charm for me to have a crush. These lyrics got cut. If not physically active, they're not attractive. That's a little asshole. There are more things that you lack. Let's keep track. I like girls who are more intellectual but still overtly sexual.

Girls who are gentle and less judgmental, less pretentious, more conscientious, more glamorous and amorous, delightful, insightful, sweeter, a healthy eater, attends the theater, but still loves Derek Jeter. Is that enough reasons for thou? So trust me, we must be, let's just be friends for now. Wow. Okay, so I ended up losing a bunch of those couplets at the end because it was just getting to be a bit too much. And I ended up free writing the verse again before the 2015 reading before I realized that the song was gonna get cut. And I like that version of the song a lot. So here are the next two versions of the final verse. The first was actually in the 2014 reading, and the second is the one we use as the standard cabaret version. This is just the end, but let's just be friends, you're still not my type anyway. I prefer girls much more cliche, girls too immature, very insecure with much less allure, and you are too bright.

[25:08] SEth bisen-hersh: See, that's negging. I think we'd be in for a fight. Your retorts are too witty, your smile's too pretty. To be existential, there's too much potential. Your stare is freezing, I am just teasing. To be appeasing, you are far too pleasing. You make all my senses go wow, which is a much better rhyme than thou. So trust me, we must be let's just be friends for now. And then, yes, that I know, it's exactly what it is. This draft was written a few days after the run on October 3rd, 2014. Just the end again. Let's just be friends, you're still not my type anyway. I prefer girls far more cliché, girls too immature, very insecure with much less allure, and you're too bright for everybody being for a fight.

Your retorts are too witty, your smiles too pretty to be existential, there's too much potential. Here's the changes. Be enthusiastic, it's not so drastic. I'm just sarcastic, you are too fantastic. You make all my senses go wow, so trust me, we must be let's just be friends for now. Wink.

[26:02] SEth bisen-hersh: As you remember, no, you don't remember because you haven't read the book yet, but as you will remember after you read the book, this song was replaced in the 2015 reading with "He said she said," but I successfully lobbied to have it reinstated for 2019, especially since a lot of the setup for the duet was changed. Also, without this song, as I've said, Chris would have zero solo numbers, and that just felt wrong. Of course, by 2019, the context had completely changed around the song, so I had to revise the lyrics. And as everyone knows, I love revising lyrics, right? These were also revised with Brian during the 1 a.m. toilet phone call. Sorry, asterisks. There was a 1 a.m. toilet phone call in my apartment because my wife at the time was sleeping.

And so Brian called me the day before rehearsal started because he doesn't look at anything till the night before. And he was like, some of these lyrics are not gonna work. And then he was like, you need to change them now. And so this is part of the 1 a.m. toilet call where I was like, shit, I need to rewrite this whole song right now because you have rehearsal in the morning. Thank you for looking at this two weeks ago, Brian. He's not here to defend himself.

[27:17] SEth bisen-hersh: Originally, Chris had instigated his breakup and had subconscious ulterior motives towards Steph. So the joke at the end for now worked. But now he is completely heartbroken with a broken engagement because his fiancée cheated on him. Also, originally, Chris and Steph had just met, but in the current version, she knew him peripherally in college and already had a preconceived notion of his personality. And it's an open debate whether or not they hooked up in college, although apparently Mark said they might have, so maybe they did. To that end, the lyrics now had to convey new information. He has changed since college, he has had his heart broken, and most importantly, he really just wants to be friends. He is incapable of even thinking about dating and is asking gently for support from her. That is a much more genuine, honest take, and now it becomes a little clearer why and how Steph slowly falls for him throughout the show.

[28:10] SEth bisen-hersh: It's amazing how important the first two songs in the show are. For once we got this and the opening number correct, the rest of it fell into place, even though there have been much fewer changes to the rest of the show over the years. All right, so this is the current lyrics of the song, but I'm gonna sing it for you when I'm finished reading the chapter. So just remember that's where that goes. All right, by the way, that reference to tangling completely foreshadows the tango. I like to do things like that. When you actually write a song after most of the show is completed, you can add little things like that to connect all the disparate pieces of the score. Also, the line about the ring was changed in 2022.

Sorry, I haven't sound that yet, but you'll hear that. Because Mark added a great subplot where Chris is actually trying to retrieve his grandmother's ring. So the lyric changes from "to his wedding ring" now. Yeah. Yeah, so it changed from "she gave back the ring" to "she has the ring." That's the purely a plot reason for that change.

[29:08] SEth bisen-hersh: Besides the lyrics changed for the new plot context, I also made a tiny internal rhyme change to remove "cock." While to me, the word "cock" is not a big deal, we had one potential investor balk at it. Actually, he was supposed to be here today, but I don't see him. As I previously mentioned, both my mom and aunt thought the show had too much profanity, even though it was only nine "fucks" and five "shits." And at Thanksgiving, they were still saying that when I mentioned the comment I had gotten, according to my mother, "Dick" is okay, but "cock" is offensive. As we both want my mother's generation to come to our Madine performances and the show to be done all over the country, I decided to lose the word "cock."

It was just not worth fighting for it when it was at a quick internal rhyme. If it was an important part of the song where I felt that was the only word that conveyed what he was saying, we might have kept it. However, it goes by so quickly, and "croc" works just as well, so why not replace it? This way, when teenagers play the cast recording for their possibly conservative parents or grandparents, they will agree to take them to the show.

[30:16] SEth bisen-hersh: Music-wise, this song is typically a typical Seth Patter song. It works better when it's fast and comes off as a stream of consciousness litany of thoughts. I use repeated intervals with changing chords and the accompaniment to great effect in the verse, if I do say so myself. I absolutely love the bridge. For the first time, the music swells, and the whole pace of the song opens up, and we get a glimpse into the heart of Chris. And then he snaps out of it. I actually couldn't figure out another completion in the final verse for this final draft where I had to be "essential, there's too much potential," so I just cut some measures. I think that's probably a sign that musically they were not needed.

In one cabaret, the singer completely cut them and no one noticed. So that just shows you that occasionally less really is more, though personally, I always feel more is more. And I still have the original version available for cabaret. People prefer the punchier and funnier ending. So who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Why would you not eat the cake you had? That makes no sense. I say, let them eat cake, and while we're at it, to quote my musical Mortal Government, eat dessert first. I'm really craving chocolate all of a sudden, so I think I'm gonna take a break before I start writing the next chapter, which I'm sure I did. And now I will sing the song.

[31:49] SEth bisen-hersh: Which means I have to move the microphone. Because I'm my own stage crew. Alright. Fortunately, I have much experience being my own stage crew. Are you gonna be my stage crew? Here, I got you, I got you. I've got you, babe. I got you. Alright, I think we're okay. Are we not okay? I can't like lean it down that map. No, I needed to lean down that part. That's what she said. Not this part. Alright, okay. Oh no, I have to turn on the keyboard. Can I lean it down just a little bit? Okay. Oh no. Oh, there it is. I was like, oh my god, the keyboard's broken. I brought you. This is the final version of the song. The friendly version. I brought you coffee and croissants. I think it's pretty what I want.

Let's just be friends. That's such a crazy thing with me. You'll see I change and see you. I'll have the chuck. That is such a crap. It might be a shock. We give them the choice. I remember with hero enjoy. Have a girl with subtitles. Water titles. Bingo in case in the neck. You won't be upset if we just friend.

[33:18] SEth bisen-hersh: I don't need to hurt friendship, putting hurt. Relationship well, convoluted annoying hello. I was interviewed. I take you out to dine a fine dinner with expense wine. Have you a beautiful my favorite book? But I'm not sure you so we're off the hole. Let's just begin by having a rough time to see my fiancée. It was not a thing, not a one-time thing. She's the last ring. I had to move out, and now my whole future is now. If you wouldn't mind here, please let's be kind here. I must confess now. I'm just a mess now. And as I've spoken, I am too more program to start anything now. So trust me, we must be what's just somehow. And I'm moving the microphone. At least you think that last verse detailing his situation makes all the difference. It's crazy because most of the rest of it is the same. It's literally just it shows you that just the tiniest lyric changes can make a huge difference in how you understand and relate to a character. Absolutely.

[35:07] SEth bisen-hersh: Alright. Do you have a next question? I'm just checking my sure that we're on schedule. That's nice of you. On schedule, yes. It's 8:03. Alright, so let's keep going. Let's go nap. Oh, you want to do the nap now? Yeah. Alright. Alright. Everyone get out your pillows. We're gonna go to a nap. Just so you know, the book has various sections. We're focusing on the creative section and the 32 chapters that are on the 32 songs that were ever in the show at one point, including ones that were in the show for a very short time, and then Brian and Mark Cutham. But it starts off with the history of the show, and then there's a whole 10 pages on how to produce a show off Broadway. If you ever want to do that, I don't recommend it.

But if you want to know how that's in there, and then it's about my writing process, and then after these chapters, I don't even remember I read this book so long ago. My cat Smee wrote one more chapter before he passed away a few years ago. And then I have a chapter on the pandemic. I don't know if you heard about that, and on reopening and the response and on the future. Alright, just so you know, it's a preview of the book, especially for those listening to the podcast. Thank you for listening to this podcast.

[36:19] SEth bisen-hersh: Alright, chapter 14. No, I'm okay, but thank you. I just like to pretend I can't read it, but I can read it. My friend just offered me her reading glasses, just for the record. Alright, chapter 14. I'd rather take a nap. I'd rather take a nap originated from having a lot of single female friends. When you're single, it all feels futile and like a never-ending barrage of bad experiences. Some of you might know this. Thus, the lyrics came out of conversations with them about modern dating. A lot of the horror stories mentioned in the song are true, although some were obviously created for rhyming purposes. Specifically, I vividly remember one friend lamenting the hassle of putting on makeup, and multiple friends regretting the ones they actually liked, ghosting them almost every single time.

"I'd rather take a nap" made its premiere as an encore. This is like very comprehensive. In my third cabaret, "Meaningful Sex," which was about the opposite of meaningless sex, my French musical, i.e., a relationship. It premiered May 19th and 22nd, 2005, and followed the relations. I call myself a me-storian because I always know about me, and these dates are all very accurate. I filed a relationship I had from June, her story, and my story.

[37:37] SEth bisen-hersh: And I followed a relationship I had June 2004 to May 2005 from beginning to end, starting with It's So Nice to Start A New, and ending with Sex with the X is a slippery slip.

[37:49] SEth bisen-hersh: After doing two shows alone, I realized it would be better to add other singers to sing my material. So Rory Nogi joined me in that cast. This was one of my dirtiest acts because at the time I thought that was my strong suit. Unfortunately, appealing to the South Park and family-like crowd is not a good business strategy because most straight men don't go to cabaret and only like their dirty songs via animation. It's true, I learned that the hard way. And almost everyone else, including my parents' friends who have never again seen any of my shows, prefer less obscene material. However, I did not know that back then. This act was so filthy that it included a song called I Love Your Cock, which ended up getting dropped from the revival version because Roy refused to sing it.

I did end up moving that song and a few others from this act into my Rontius Cabaret, not your grandma's cabaret unless she's really naughty, on April 4th, 20014, which was a one-night only cabaret event that the cast opted not to have recorded. And by that I mean they said if I recorded it, they wouldn't do it. Anyway, see, I always segue. Anyway, anyway, hair flip. Anyway, in 2005, I had been working with a new book writer, Paul, to revise Meaningless Sex. While the songs had been well received in 2003, the book was not quite matching it. I ended up reworking a bunch of the songs from the show, and Paul ended up making it a six-person show instead of a four-person one. And to that end, there was an expanded role for Rory, who had stolen the original production with the song Small Parts, which was obviously filled with sexual innuendo.

And since Paul had just seen Meaningful Sex, he wanted to use the new song that was its encore meaningless sex. Anyway, again anyway. Anyway, even though we did a revised demo recording of the musical, it just never quite worked. In some ways, I feel like meaningless sex is the precursor to Love Quirks. If you consider that the case, then this production off Broadway really took more 20 years to make than 12. Regardless, here are the original lyrics. I'm not going to read the original lyrics because we'll just be here all night. And the original lyrics were written in February 19th, 2005. Lyric-wise, the song has not gone through many changes, which is why I'm not reading you the original lyrics.

During rehearsals for the initial off Barbe run in 2020, Maggie suggested that Lily wouldn't fat shame. Alright, I will read you that, those lyrics. So it was looking at all the fat and ugly guys or the hunks who are punks, I realize with everything happening in my life, I'm not yet looking to be a wife. I'd rather avoid the feudal strife and all that cracked and take a much needed, relaxing, well-deserved, untaxing nap. I also did lose the, I might say that. I do say that. Alright, see? Don't comment on yourself because you already wrote the book. So lyric-wise, it hasn't gone through my blah blah blah. Maggie suggested Lily wouldn't fat shame because Lily is very woke in the 2020 version. So I took the opportunity to rewrite the ending, happily removing that last cliched wife life strife rhyme from the score, and I fixed some scans issues in the coda.

I took a poll of the three single girls on my Broadway bowling team. We have some people from Broadway Bowling here tonight, actually, as to the most annoying things they saw on dating profiles, and it came back unanimously. Thus I added those in. And where whenever we had a single person in their 20s in the audience, I saw they agreed with the sentiment, and then the older people didn't really get it, but it's okay. Here are the lyrics from the final note, but we're gonna sing that in a second. Music-wise, this song consists of a vamp. Since I had the title and a great hook first, I wrote the music first from just the title, which forced me to think in a simpler melodic structure, which leads to less wordy lyrics.

The little trick I have when I don't want to be too wordy, which is never. The vamp to me represents the frustration of dating, that endless repetition of losers in the hope of finding a connection and then asterisk marrying them and then getting divorced. But that's another story, never mind. The hook to this song is extraordinarily catchy because of its repetitive circling around the tonic. That is also a metaphor for the character circling around and waiting to plop down on the bed. I'm so fucking cerebral. Okay. Lyrically, the intro was scrapped as superfluous a while ago, and it isn't even performed when it's done in cabarets. In that's the original intro, it's over here somewhere. It's boy, have I got some stories for you.

That one, yes. The original intro is Boy Have I Got Some Stories for You, showing why I won't try to date anyone new, but it was scheme. There was, it's on the 20, the whatever version from Meaningless Sex 2020, but no one has that but me. Yeah, that was before there was a Spotify. So all those demo recordings aren't anywhere except my computer. I'm old-fashioned. I have a computer. In 2014, it came to my attention from Brian Shaw that the lyrics formal and normal had been emphasized wrong. That's something that happens when you're using a song that's almost a decade old without major lyric revisions. But I thought the joke was too tight to change them, though in this case, I altered the rhythm for that one verse, which is not something that I often do.

I don't think it's a huge deal, but the perfectionist in me cringes a bit every time I hear the song now. I'm okay now. That this was. Can I just say when I averted that way the first time in the 2020 right? I was so proud of you for changing that.

[43:25] Ashley Wool: Oh, thank you, Seth. It had to have come with a fight.

[43:30] SEth bisen-hersh: No, it wasn't a fight. It was an acknowledgement that I had written the song so fucking long ago. Nowadays, in the first process of the song, I try to not have misemphasized syllables, but it still always happens somehow, but it's less than it was. However, it's better that the lyrics float conversationally, which I think is very important. I think in the Secret Adversary, you'll find that we didn't have very many issues like that.

[43:36] Ashley Wool: Oh no.

[43:36] SEth bisen-hersh: Alright. However, it's better that the lyrics fell conversationally from the singer with a slight variance instead of the audience being taken out of the story because of the wrong syllabic stress. Incidentally, after the 2015 reading, it was remarked that poor Lauren was just left on stage to react to the number. It was bandied about that turning the number into a duet, so I wrote, Why do I bother? See chapter 33. However, that was a very poor attempt. And another thing I tried was writing some lines for Stephanie to sing during the vamps. Those were as follows. You're kidding, that's awful, but that's just one. Some bad luck is natural. Date should be fun. Please, Lily, keep trying. Someday you'll win.

I hear you. That does suck. I'll join you in a nap. Yes, they never went into a reading, but they did inspire Lauren to ad lib and expand on the sentiments in those spots. So it was not all for naught, but as you can hear, it's terrible. This way for the show, she doesn't have to stand there blankly while Louie performs the number, but when the song is taken out of context, it remains a solo. In 2019, we cut down some of the vamps with lessened those awkward moments as well, and means the singer doesn't have to stand around trying to fill all that space. Somehow I'd rather take a nap is still funny over a decade after it was written because the jokes are both timely and timeless. I'm so full of myself.

Dating will always suck, whether it's in person, via apps, or in whatever way the future holds. And naps will always be appealing, just to ask any cat. Indeed, the nap mug was our best-selling merchandise by far, and definitely some people were very interested. Something some people were very interested in. That's probably because the next chapter is I'm not interested in you. Sorry, I do the weird this funny thing where I segue to the next chapter. We're gonna sing the song, and by that I mean she's gonna sing the song. So I don't need to bring the mic.

[45:55] SEth bisen-hersh: How excited. Yeah. I need to go over here. Yes, we're gonna do the mic. Hi. Actually, I I've heard this a million times, but this is my first time performing it, so I'm I just got the lyrics right here.

[46:09] Ashley Wool: Whatever you read. Uh had it marked for K, but she changed what she wanted to sing.

[46:21] SEth bisen-hersh: He's lusting and dressing on light so he's heading on bread and feeling well.

[46:40] Ashley Wool: He's persistent while I existence. I'm sure I'd rather take a nap.

[46:52] SEth bisen-hersh: Our first thing that seems real great, except for one green.

[46:59] Ashley Wool: It's left hands. There's a grand gold wedding ring.

[47:05] SEth bisen-hersh: Why do you come in?

[47:11] Ashley Wool: He's a louse with a scouse, and also not some lights. I'd rather take a nap.

[47:18] SEth bisen-hersh: I have too much to do, so when a bad thing's room, I treat so many forks and jerks.

[47:30] Ashley Wool: It never ever works.

[47:33] SEth bisen-hersh: So I take one's boring.

[47:41] Ashley Wool: I'm snoring while half a sleep.

[47:45] SEth bisen-hersh: One's murdy and hardy. And one's a clear.

[47:51] Ashley Wool: One's more doesn't laugh at all.

[47:57] SEth bisen-hersh: What is great? What a thing that he doesn't know I didn't know.

[48:04] Ashley Wool: I am so simply stressed to get all my sea dress and wear me up.

[48:13] SEth bisen-hersh: Why don't we all that hell? To walk and I say we're well.

[48:18] Ashley Wool: It's time to pour I know there's only my ters to respect me and protect me.

[48:34] SEth bisen-hersh: But I don't care.

[48:37] Ashley Wool: Why do most dudes just post in chairs with fish?

[48:42] SEth bisen-hersh: But the next start nuts, I don't simply wish all the stuff in the outline.

[48:51] Ashley Wool: I was not trying to find a days.

[48:53] SEth bisen-hersh: I'd rather do other things while I pretend that track and tea be well deserved and not trapping very long.

[49:04] Ashley Wool: So relax.

[49:15] SEth bisen-hersh: How exciting. How are we doing? How are we doing? Do I have time to read my last letter from Stephen Sondheim?

[49:22] Ashley Wool: It's 817.

[49:24] SEth bisen-hersh: It's very short. So I brought this in because I like to show up my letters from Sondheim. But I did invite him to the show in 2020. I invited him to everything I did for 20 years when I stole his address and started writing him. And he would always write back, and he would always be very comprehensive in his reasons for not coming to my shows. But this was his last letter to me in 2020. Of course, as you all know, we opened for two weeks in 2020 and shut down three days before opening night, and then took 27 months to reopen the show, which is all in the book. February 12th, 2020, dear Seth, thank you for the good wishes and the invitation. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that I'll be able to see your show.

[50:06] SEth bisen-hersh: I'll be up in the country from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday, midday, every weekend, except for two openings of my own. Please forgive me and great good luck with the show. I hope it lives up to your expectations. As always, Steve S, because I wrote him so much he started signing a Steve S instead of his full name. And I think that's really like very sweet of him. And he always is like asking for forgiveness. I'm like, ah, yeah, I forgive you. I forgive you, God of Musical Theater. It's okay. But it's I tried to put my shows when he was able to come, and as he got older, he was just in the city less and less. And we didn't have Wednesday shows. But if we had Wednesday shows, then he would have been like, but I can't come on this Wednesday because I'm seeing this show.

He would have listed it all out. So it is the same. But yeah. So I don't know. I know I thought a lot about that. I'm afraid that like somebody was gonna catch him in a lie at some point. But there he wasn't really on social media except for those three Instagram posts. So I don't know. I don't know. I it's just he was really sweet. I think I talk about that in the book a little bit about expectations. And I don't think that anyone could have expected that the show would close three days before opening night because of a pandemic. I don't think that was really in anyone's bingo card. And it was really quite a miracle that we reopened the show at all. And that it was all because of me, but that's okay. It's true. Brian and Mark would say, yes, that was because of me. For better or worse. Yes.

[51:30] SEth bisen-hersh: But I was gonna say persistence. Oh, yes, that's a good one. That's better than honesty. Persistence and consistency. You just got to keep fucking doing it. I don't fucking know how to stop. I just keep fucking doing it. You just keep willing it to happen, and then you just keep begging people for money until they're finally like, shut up, here have a thousand dollars. Like you just have to be so annoying sometimes.

[51:51] Ashley Wool: Yeah, being annoying pays off, guys. Do it, be annoying. If you've learned nothing today, learn to be annoying.

[52:00] SEth bisen-hersh: Yes, be persistent and annoying. And you ask everybody, you just never know. You never know. And it's cross-pollination is really good. I was talking to someone today about the diamonds biggest of the rits. That's what it is on my projects. Because you know, I have Malka, which is the short film about my grandmother starring my good friend Tova Feldshu, who was just texting with me like an hour ago. I'm just name-dropping me and Tova were best buds. And then we had the three-week run of the three-week run of the Diamond as Biggest of the Rits at the ATA Sgt. Theater, September 13th through 29th. And I was inviting people to opening night today, and then some of the producers couldn't come. And then I was like, would you be interested in looking at the materials for Love Quirks moving to London? And actually, one of them said yes, and so you just never know, and you just have to spread your wings and cross-pollinate. That's what you do.

[52:48] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah, and we're still looking for more college productions. If any of college students, we had our college premiere in Hofstra in April. Sarah was there, was really fantastic, and we all cried and was beautiful. And so I hope for the show to have a life and to be done in colleges. And then we of course we're going to be in London because I'm willing it to happen, and we'll be there in March and April at the other palace, which is Old West End. And that's very exciting. It's very exciting. And by the time I come back, my British accent will be better. I hope. I hope one can hope that I will improve on my British accent.

[53:25] Ashley Wool: Alright. So with that, you say it was a miracle that you were able to remount the show after the pandemic shut it down. And I remember because we I went to the first preview on your birthday every time. And I was heartbroken, but I yes, a string of miracles happened, but I was having this conversation with a good friend of mine recently. The people who stuck around in this business after the pandemic are only the people who love it more than anything in the world, and more than they hate all the politics and the crap that goes on behind the scenes, and the pain in the butt of producing, and the pain in the butt of finding money and begging people for money and being annoying. The people who stuck around are the passionate ones and the persistent ones. And I think we're better for it myself.

[54:17] SEth bisen-hersh: I think it's the passion. If you don't love the project, why are you doing it? I would never write a project for money unless it was a lot of money. But I think passion shows. Like I love all of my projects, and that shows when I talk to people about them, and then they get excited about it, and then they're like, I do want to be a producer on your show because you're so passionate about it that you wrote a whole book about it. Like it's I think it's contagious to have that kind of passion.

[54:44] Ashley Wool: Absolutely. But you're right. It's very hard to produce your own stuff, and I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to.

[54:52] SEth bisen-hersh: Okay. Yeah. Are we good for questions? We're getting the thumbs up for questions. Is anyone? I have most people here I'm I'm very good friends with, but not everyone. So any questions?

[55:05] Ashley Wool: And there's no question. Oh, Eddie has a question.

[55:08] Eddie: What's your favorite musical that you didn't write?

[55:10] SEth bisen-hersh: That I didn't write? Sunday in the Park with George, obviously. That's an easy question. Who doesn't like Sunday in the Park with George? I saw Sunday in the Park with George when I was in fifth grade. My fifth grade music teacher got my mom and me comps to see it in New Jersey, and the theater was in Edison or something. Metucheon, maybe. I think it was Metuchin must the name of the theater. My brain isn't working, but that's okay. And I went to see it, and I it changed my life. And I was like, who is this Stephen Sondheim? And my mom said in intermission, I wish we had seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's true. It's a true story. My mom is not the biggest Sondheim fan. I think by the third time she saw Marily, she understood what was happening.

But she's not gonna listen to the podcast. It's okay. Yeah, no, it's the best show ever written. You're if you're an artist and you watch the show, it's your life. It's your life, it's your life. Especially after you go through a divorce, you're like, oh my god, Sondheim was right about everything.

[56:03] SEth bisen-hersh: He's alright. I have seen Bernadette at Carnegie Hall on October 28th, and I'd say you should come with me, except it's sold out. But I did get tickets. Yeah, it's exciting. Any other questions?

[56:16] Ashley Wool: Oh my gosh. R.C. has a question.

[56:19] R.C.: Where can you buy tickets for The Diamond is Big as the Rich?

[56:21] SEth bisen-hersh: R.C. is my collaborator for The Diamond as Big as the Rich, which we're doing a three-week run at the ATA Theater on 54th Street. And you can get tickets at Ritzmusical.com. And if you use the code EarlyBird, you can get $10 off because I'm really nice. I'm letting you all in on that little secret. It is gonna be 16 performances. It's a phenomenal cast. And I love the cello so much that we have a cello and a drum and a keyboard again. And it's a really beautiful show about how disgusting rich people are. And I think it's yeah, I think it's really good timing for it. I hope people will come to it. I hope people will come to it because we're self-funding. But yes, it's gonna be great.

[57:02] Ashley Wool: It's gonna be great. Any other questions that are not self-serving?

[57:05] Eddie: Yes. What show do you think you're going to do next?

[57:10] SEth bisen-hersh: Oh my gosh. I'm retiring. I we hope that Malka does really well in the festival circuits. We have Tova attached to the teacher, so I think we're gonna do a full feature of Malka. And then R.C. and I also have a musical called Agatha Christie's The Secret Adversary, which is based on Agatha Christie's novel, You're gonna wait for it, wait for it the secret adversary. And it's her second, it's our second novel, and it takes place in 1920s London, but we've moved it to 2020s San Francisco. And it's a really Ashley was in the reading, actually, and so was Eddie. It was a really fun show, and it's fast, funny, mystery comedy, and that is Broadway aimed, and by that we're aiming for it, and it will take a really long time to raise 50 million dollars.

[57:57] Ashley Wool: Any other questions?

[57:58] SEth bisen-hersh: Yes.

[57:59] Eddie: I brought it made a book called A Masked, and I liked it everything little cruise. And I've been so intense awe like marketing and elevating the word out of there.

[58:11] SEth bisen-hersh: Thank you. I cannot take credit for the marketing of Love Quirks. That goes with Mark, which really works with marketing. I always think Mark, Mark Childers, of course, the book writer of Love Quirks, his brother Brian Childers, the director who brought Mark on the project. And Mark actually works for a digital marketing firm. So he was firmly in charge of marketing, and that I he is amazing at it. And he did all the slides on the that we had in projector. He did all the slides too. Mark was really remarkable remarkable. There we go. It's really remarkable. He also filmed version we virtually showed. So yeah, that marketing has nothing to do with me. In London, we hired a firm that they're gonna do a lot of marketing too, and I think it's gonna be lovely. That's another thing I've learned while producing. If you can't really do something yourself effectively, then you should hire someone else to do it.

[59:04] Ashley Wool: Yeah, your passion relationship.

[59:07] SEth bisen-hersh: Thank you. I appreciate that. Any other questions? Are we good?

[59:12] Ashley Wool: No, Adriel's smiling, but he doesn't have a question.

[59:15] SEth bisen-hersh: I think we're I think David is coming up to say we're done. So I'm gonna thank y'all for being here.

[59:18] Ashley Wool: Thank you.

[59:18] SEth bisen-hersh: I'm gonna thank y'all for being here. Yes, thank you so much for coming. I appreciate it. I'm sure you all follow me, but if you don't, it's at SethBH.com. On all social media.

[59:37] Ashley Wool: Welcome back from our 12-year journey.

[59:39] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah. Took a lot shorter than you thought it would, right?

[59:43] Ashley Wool: Definitely.

[59:44] SEth bisen-hersh: It was nice to get an in-depth look at Love Quirks and how Seth works.

[59:51] Ashley Wool: Yeah.

[59:52] SEth bisen-hersh: And of course, he brought with him Ashley Wool, who had been part of a different journey of bringing a new musical to the stage ultimately to Broadway.

[1:00:01] Ashley Wool: She's a little bit of a little bit of how to dance in Ohio.

[1:00:03] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah.

[1:00:04] Ashley Wool: And the enthusiasm between the two of them is so much.

[1:00:09] SEth bisen-hersh: Infectious.

[1:00:09] Ashley Wool: Oh my gosh.

[1:00:10] SEth bisen-hersh: It was wonderful.

[1:00:11] Ashley Wool: And it was just, it's nice being a musical theater writer, getting to see how other people interpret the art.

[1:00:19] SEth bisen-hersh: And I think it's fun to hear someone talk about how they do it when it's completely different.

[1:00:25] Ashley Wool: Yes.

[1:00:26] SEth bisen-hersh: It's fun to go, oh, I hadn't, I never tried that.

[1:00:28] Ashley Wool: No.

[1:00:29] SEth bisen-hersh: But it's also validating when you hear that someone else has a similar process to you as well.

[1:00:35] Ashley Wool: Absolutely.

[1:00:36] SEth bisen-hersh: Absolutely.

[1:00:36] Ashley Wool: And just to know that that we're all on a journey.

[1:00:38] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah.

[1:00:39] Ashley Wool: Yeah.

[1:00:39] SEth bisen-hersh: And so whether it's 12 years or almost 20 years.

[1:00:45] Ashley Wool: Or just under 12 months.

[1:00:47] SEth bisen-hersh: You never know.

[1:00:48] Ashley Wool: Yeah.

[1:00:48] SEth bisen-hersh: You never know.

[1:00:51] Ashley Wool: That's gonna be my next musical.

[1:00:53] SEth bisen-hersh: Just under 20 months.

[1:00:54] Ashley Wool: That's that's that's that's the plan.

[1:00:56] SEth bisen-hersh: I don't know if I do it with a musical with a play, maybe with a play. I can I can go pretty quick, but I don't know.

[1:01:00] Ashley Wool: I don't know.

[1:01:05] SEth bisen-hersh: Let's delve into our next episode.

[1:01:07] Ashley Wool: I don't have a segue to a second.

[1:01:10] SEth bisen-hersh: We're gonna get we're gonna get it a little academic.

[1:01:12] Ashley Wool: Academic.

[1:01:13] SEth bisen-hersh: Yeah, academic.

[1:01:15] Ashley Wool: Uh a dictionary.

[1:01:16] SEth bisen-hersh: Yes, but a very specific dictionary.

[1:01:20] Ashley Wool: This is the Queen's English, the Young Readers LGBTQIA Plus Dictionary of lingo and colloquial phrases by Chloe A. Davis.

[1:01:30] SEth bisen-hersh: Who joined us from the cast of Hell's Kitchen. We did a special night on a Monday for this event, because we don't do them on Mondays, but it was the Broadway people.

[1:01:42] Ashley Wool: For the Broadway people, we did.

[1:01:43] SEth bisen-hersh: So it was her night off, and we put this event together, and we're so happy to have her. And we're going to talk about that in the next episode.

[1:01:49] Ashley Wool: Give us a follow on Instagram at Drama Book Show Podcast.

[1:01:53] SEth bisen-hersh: Please subscribe to the drama bookshop on Eventbrite so that you can be notified when we add events to our calendar.

[1:01:58] Ashley Wool: Give us a good review and some stars and all that fun stuff, because it helps the algorithm and helps us get seen on whichever podcast streaming platform you use.

[1:02:08] SEth bisen-hersh: And remember, all the books we talk about can be found at the drama bookshop, and so can we.

[1:02:13] Ashley Wool: And we will see you at the bookshop.