This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: This is AnnMarie Milazzo. Welcome to The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales.

[0:26] Alan Seales: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Theatre Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and our guest today is AnnMarie Milazzo. And I've said it before, but speaking with creatives is always such a blast, and AnnMarie is no exception. Since our conversation, I've completely fallen in love with her concept album, The Shape of Things, which has been inspired by Joy the Musical, which, even after we recorded this, they started putting out cast announcements. So, like, Betsy Wolfe is in it, Jill Abramovich is in it. It just, it's gonna be great. I can't wait to see who they announce next. So, in this episode, we dive into her creative process, how she approaches vocal arranging and songwriting, and the evolution of concept albums in general musical theatre, which I am all in favor of.

She also shares her philosophy on staying true to your artistic instincts, avoiding the noise of online criticism. She just stays off of social media. Good for her. And the unexpected way failure has shaped her career. But one of my absolute favorite moments is her incredibly spooky ghost stories about growing up in a former funeral home. Yeah, you heard that right. She grew up in a funeral home. At least one that used to be a funeral home. So you don't want to miss that. Make sure to go to Patreon or Spotify to watch the video version of these episodes. Leave a rating and a review wherever you're listening. Spread the word. Help the podcast grow. Special thanks to welcometotimesquare.com, The Billboard, where you could be a star for a day. They provided a studio that you can watch us in for this episode. And now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with AnnMarie Malazzo.

[1:52] Alan Seales: Today's guest is an absolute powerhouse in the world of musical theater with Grammy and Tony Award nominations. You may not know her name off the top of your head, but trust me, you've heard her work. She's been the vocal mastermind behind shows like Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, Once on this Island, Almost Famous, A Beautiful Noise, and so many more. She's now stepping into the spotlight in a whole new way with The Shape of Things, songs from Joy the Musical, a concept album inspired by the incredible true story of Joy Mangano. Joy Mangano, yes, the inventor of the miracle mop. She wrote and performed the music, and she's bringing her signature vocal and storytelling magic to this uplifting new project. AnnMarie Malazzo, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[2:44] AnnMarie Malazzo: Thank you for having me.

[2:45] Alan Seales: You are so welcome. I'm just blown away getting to meet you because all of those, like Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, Once on this Island, some of my absolute all-time favorite memories.

[2:57] AnnMarie Malazzo: Cast albums, yeah. Fun shows to do, too. Spring Awakening was my actual first show.

[3:05] Alan Seales: Was it really?

[3:06] AnnMarie Malazzo: I was touring in a band, and I came back, and I was writing musicals or whatever. I was like, I think I'll do a 29-hour reading. I had no idea what that was. Wow, hard. But there was a woman who was my musical director, Kim Grigsby, and she's like, hey, I'm doing this little show called Spring Awakening. We're looking for a vocal designer, arranger. Do you want to audition? I was like, sure. So I went down, and there were just kids. I was like, this is awesome. Literally.

[3:39] Alan Seales: And then I auditioned. I did Touch Me, and I did Mama Who Bore Me. That was my audition, and I guess I won. And so I got to do the show.

[3:48] AnnMarie Malazzo: So when you say you auditioned as a vocal arranger, what does that entail?

[3:52] AnnMarie Malazzo: They give you just lyrics on a page, and you have to—

[3:54] AnnMarie Malazzo: They gave me a recording, so it's like Mama Who Bore Me, whatever. And then I don't read or write music, but I was in the room with them, and they were like, great, because they were kids, and they didn't either. And they're like, we don't read. So I'm like, sing this, sing this. And it was kind of organically amazingly fun. And I won the contest, and I got to do this show. And then I was like, oh, that was fun. I'm never doing that again, because it was so funny. It was like, oh, I'll just keep doing my band thing. And then Tom Kitt had called me. He's like, I have this show called Feeling Electric. And I was like, no, it's okay. I'm going to go. That was a really good visit. He's like, please just meet me for coffee.

And then I met him for coffee. And then his show, which ended up being Next to Normal, but he gave me a CD, and I listened to it, and I loved it. And I was like, okay, I'll come to your house, and we'll have fun, and we'll play. And that's how it's, I guess, I started, whatever.

[4:48] Alan Seales: Did Stephen Sater ever tell you the story, like when he was a kid, he was a literal bubble boy? Like he got injured.

[4:53] AnnMarie Malazzo: Brilliant. Brilliant guy. Yes. I still, I keep up with Stephen.

[5:00] Alan Seales: You do? I haven't seen him in years.

[5:02] AnnMarie Malazzo: He and I, I haven't seen him in about a year. Hi, Stephen.

[5:05] Alan Seales: Hi, Stephen. Hi, Stephen. Hello. And coincidentally, too, the other day, I emailed, interviewed Alexandra Socha.

[5:12] AnnMarie Malazzo: Oh, gosh. Wow.

[5:13] Alan Seales: So, yeah, we're all back in the Spring Awakening family here.

[5:16] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah. Wow. That's awesome.

[5:18] Alan Seales: I love now, I don't know if I love or hate that we're old enough so that all these kids—

[5:22] AnnMarie Malazzo: They don't even know what it is.

[5:23] Alan Seales: Now have kids of their own.

[5:23] AnnMarie Malazzo: What's Spring Awakening?

[5:24] Alan Seales: Well, Alexandra, Lea Michele, everybody, they've all got kids of their own now.

[5:29] AnnMarie Malazzo: Oh, I know. I met Lea's baby. Beautiful. But yeah, but like kids, but also like kids in theater, it's like going into the archives, like, oh, Spring Awakening. Yeah. Like my mom knew had that show. I'm like, oh.

[5:41] AnnMarie Malazzo: It was interesting when Deaf West revived it.

[5:44] Alan Seales: Yes.

[5:44] AnnMarie Malazzo: And they did it, of course, in a whole new and original way, but like to have people experience that music again in a way that they hadn't before because they were just too young, right?

[5:54] Alan Seales: It was crazy. I worked with them, and I learned a lot from that company.

[5:59] AnnMarie Malazzo: Did you?

[6:00] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah. That community taught me a lot about music and rhythm and teaching rhythm and how people hear. And what does it mean to be deaf? There's, you know, you lose your highs, you have your lows. Some people can't hear at all, but that whole cast had different versions of hearing, non-hearing.

[6:17] AnnMarie Malazzo: Right.

[6:17] Alan Seales: And it was fascinating.

[6:19] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah. And weren't there some people who literally like they were just feeling the bass line in their chest?

[6:23] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah.

[6:25] AnnMarie Malazzo: And that's how they kept rhythm?

[6:26] Alan Seales: Mm-hmm.

[6:26] AnnMarie Malazzo: Wow. Wow.

[6:27] Alan Seales: Yeah. We did it with, like, there were light cues, there were physical cues. Oh, man, I had that. I was in one of my favorite casts, and that was one of my favorite experiences in theater.

[6:38] AnnMarie Malazzo: Well, you kind of blew past this, but you said you don't read or write music.

[6:41] AnnMarie Malazzo: No.

[6:42] Alan Seales: And you're heavily involved in music.

[6:45] AnnMarie Malazzo: But, you know, aren't we all now? I mean, you know, like, I meet kids who are like, hey, I wrote this song. And they're like, they're doing it on computer.

[6:54] Alan Seales: Oh, sure.

[6:54] AnnMarie Malazzo: The sheet music is—

[6:55] Alan Seales: Today, sure. Right.

[6:57] AnnMarie Malazzo: I know back in the day, it was—

[6:58] Alan Seales: Back in the day.

[6:59] AnnMarie Malazzo: Back in the day, people were like, you're never going to have a career in music.

[7:07] Alan Seales: And I was like, oh, OK, not.

[7:10] AnnMarie Malazzo: Because music is internal. I mean, yeah, it lives on the page, but it also lives inside your head, and it's everywhere. And if you can sing, if you can translate it somehow to other people to sing it back to you, you can have a career in music.

[7:25] Alan Seales: Well, I think it's one thing to be able to sing, to be able to recognize if you're on pitch, off pitch, be able to know what a harmony is, what a melody is. I had to try to explain this to somebody once, and I don't know where to start with how to do that. But the actual translation of putting that onto a paper is a completely separate skill set.

[7:44] AnnMarie Malazzo: It's a different thing.

[7:45] Alan Seales: So but when you so when you go in there like you're like, oh, they're 29 hour reading, that's easy. That's no problem. It's only 29 hours of my life. And then so you got this gig. Like, are you going in? And so they give you you said they gave you melody and lyrics. So was the melody or sorry, the music and the lyrics. So was the melody already there or did you have to create?

[8:03] AnnMarie Malazzo: No, no, they gave me a Duncan, you know, CDs of the two songs.

[8:08] Alan Seales: Sure.

[8:09] AnnMarie Malazzo: So I did it on my four track.

[8:10] Alan Seales: So him singing it.

[8:11] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah.

[8:11] Alan Seales: If he was he was demoing it.

[8:13] AnnMarie Malazzo: I can't really remember, but some someone was singing the melody on the CD.

[8:17] Alan Seales: Sure.

[8:18] AnnMarie Malazzo: And then I just did it on my four track. My four track.

[8:23] Alan Seales: Can you believe it again? I did it on my four track. And then I would create four tracks. And then I would record the four tracks on one track. Then I had three more tracks.

[8:30] Alan Seales: Right.

[8:30] AnnMarie Malazzo: And then I would record that. And then I have to. It was like, that was how I did it.

[8:35] Alan Seales: I wonder how many people are listening to what a four track is.

[8:38] AnnMarie Malazzo: Somebody just crashed their car listening.

[8:40] Alan Seales: I know.

[8:40] AnnMarie Malazzo: Four track.

[8:41] Alan Seales: They're like, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have it?

[8:43] AnnMarie Malazzo: I did it on my four track.

[8:45] Alan Seales: Forgot it. Oh, yeah.

[8:46] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah. You don't know what a four track is.

[8:46] Alan Seales: People watching here, they don't know.

[8:48] AnnMarie Malazzo: You need to leave right now.

[8:50] Alan Seales: You're not allowed to be in this room.

[8:53] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah.

[8:54] Alan Seales: It is an analog multi track recording device.

[8:58] AnnMarie Malazzo: I had him like two for like two years. They're like, I got a four track. It was like the biggest thing. And then it was an eight track and then they died. And it was kind of like when deaths came and left. Remember?

[9:08] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah.

[9:10] AnnMarie Malazzo: Technology was like.

[9:11] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[9:12] Alan Seales: Beta and VHS.

[9:12] Alan Seales: Oh, God. Oh, geez. Modems.

[9:15] AnnMarie Malazzo: Now that we've all given our age here.

[9:17] Alan Seales: Yes.

[9:18] AnnMarie Malazzo: So then you you get this. All right. So we're going back in. You're using your four track at this time. But what was your background at that point in your life? Because what made you want to do the 29 hour reading and then want to get into the arranging?

[9:32] AnnMarie Malazzo: Because I love. Well, I did it naturally. I've always done it. My dad was a teacher, conducted the, you know, the bands and the symphony. My mother was, you know, musically inclined. And I always just was like, hey, I'd love to create like some. I hear it differently. Is there any way we could say my dad? My father let me do that in the chorus. Sure. So I would just go, oh, this would be great if the elders did this and the tenors did this. And so you did it on your feet. So the music wasn't a problem because because if you have people in a room, they pretty much act like the garage man or a four track.

[10:06] Alan Seales: Right.

[10:06] AnnMarie Malazzo: You know what I mean? So you can create in a room and that's how I love to create in the room.

[10:12] Alan Seales: That's brilliant. I mean, it's just so it's so natural and organic. It's like what kids do.

[10:16] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah.

[10:17] Alan Seales: I'm just like a kid.

[10:19] AnnMarie Malazzo: I mean, if you think about it, that's what kids do. Using this and using this and all. And then they create their own records.

[10:24] Alan Seales: Right.

[10:25] AnnMarie Malazzo: So I never stopped doing that. I like now actually just go off on a tangent for a second. I see all these ads now with this is 2025. As we're recording this, the end of 24 now and 25 is the AI boom. And I'm seeing all of these ads all over the place. We're like, you can sing into your mic and it will make percussion. And then you can sing your notes. And it literally is just transcribing all this stuff for you and making your beats and all this stuff. And so we're going to have a whole new generation of things in a few years. Can you imagine what the sound's going to be?

[10:48] Alan Seales: I can't wait.

[10:50] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah. I'm starting to explore.

[10:52] Alan Seales: Are you?

[10:52] AnnMarie Malazzo: Oh, yeah.

[10:53] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yes, I because I love all that. I love doing things with your voice. Like, what can you do with a voice? And how do you turn your voice into a drum? Bobby McFerrin, Bobby McFerrin, one of my favorite people to listen to on everything he's ever done for that exact reason. But he was doing that. Yeah, people do do that naturally. Now we just add technology from something that was done years and years and years ago, probably thousands of years ago.

[11:17] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[11:17] AnnMarie Malazzo: So, yeah, but we just can add technology and it can be even kind of cooler. Or I don't know if it's cooler, but it's different. And I love it.

[11:25] Alan Seales: In a different world, I am a one man, 10 person band where I'm using a looping machine and creating things in real time.

[11:34] AnnMarie Malazzo: I forget what they're called.

[11:36] Alan Seales: Was it Imogen Heap? Who has the gloves?

[11:37] AnnMarie Malazzo: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[11:40] Alan Seales: I saw her. I saw a video the other day. It blew me away because it's it's literally just choreography. You're learning the choreography. And then once you know what you're doing, it's I guess it's like playing any other instrument.

[11:50] AnnMarie Malazzo: It is. It's all in everything. Everything's an instrument. Everything makes sound.

[11:55] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[11:55] AnnMarie Malazzo: Which is so cool. And then you loop it. You got it all together. Add some great singers on top of it. So once you get the base, you add the talent or the base, the foundation.

[12:35] Alan Seales: What got you into performing, into theatre? Did you always want to be involved with this life?

[12:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: I don't think I had a choice. I was always doing it and, you know, you get applause for it when you're little. And I was like, I want that. People do this, I want to do that. I wanted to do something that I got applause for. When you're little, you're singing, people applaud. You write a little play, people applaud. Like, why would I want to do anything else? I want to go where the applause is. That's the support. It's kind of simple. I do think that's why everyone's like, I wish I was a rock musician. I wish I was a singer. I wish I was a dancer. Because that's where people go, oh, wow, that's where the applause is. And when you're little, you're like, I want that.

[13:18] Alan Seales: Are you an extrovert or introvert? Or both? Are you an extroverted introvert or an extroverted introvert?

[13:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes, yes.

[13:25] Alan Seales: Because right now, we're vibing, we're gelling. I'd be like, all right, we could sit and talk for like three hours at a party.

[13:31] AnnMarie Milazzo: Of course.

[13:31] Alan Seales: But then I would walk away and be like, yeah, I actually kind of think she just found her element for a second.

[13:36] AnnMarie Milazzo: Aren't we at a party right now?

[13:40] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah, this is a party, right?

[13:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: We're at a party.

[13:42] Alan Seales: We're at a party, got people watching. We're in the studio here. Welcome to timesquare.com. Gentle plug there. But yeah, I agree. So as an extroverted extrovert, I love the applause for that exact reason. Because yeah, it's that dopamine rush or serotonin release or whatever the chemical is.

[13:58] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's like candy.

[14:00] Alan Seales: It is like candy. And I think for me, speaking for myself, when I was little, all kids don't know what they're doing. They're always unsure. They think their parents are perfect until they find out that they're not. And so the world comes crashing down. And so theater performing, literally getting that applause, being in front of a group of people and doing what you're supposed to do. You know what you're supposed to do. There's no question of like, yeah, you can do it wrong. But you have a script, you have your lines memorized, you know what's going to happen. So it's this nice little comforting place where at the end of it, you do it right. And like you said, you get the applause. They're like, look at me. I can get it.

[14:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's like show and tell. Who didn't want to do show and tell when they're little? I want to do show and tell. Because we don't have any, there's no embarrassment. You're not thinking. You can't wait to share as a child. You're not thinking like, oh, wow, people are going to target me if I share what I did in the weekend. You know, it's show and tell. I mean, I don't think I ever got out of the show and tell. You can't care what people think.

[15:06] Alan Seales: I agree and I disagree because I don't care what people think about what I'm creating. And then when I'm done, when I walk away, I still want them to like it.

[15:16] AnnMarie Milazzo: But if you like it, if you like it, I mean, okay, if you weren't online, and you didn't have access to that, how would you know? Wouldn't you go around with that amazing feeling that you liked it? Which is why I'm not on the internet. You'd stay in that place of, I just want to share. Hopefully people will like it. I like it. So I'm sharing it.

[15:43] Alan Seales: Which is why this podcast exists. Exactly. Because I have these conversations for me. I love meeting people. I love talking. This is my way of connecting. This is my way of staying involved. And then I hope at the end of it, other people like it. So they will continue to bring amazing people like you and I continue to grow and have listeners and I want to share and bring these stories out to the world.

[16:08] AnnMarie Milazzo: And if you didn't, if you weren't, didn't have access to comments or anything, you would just leave that feeling of I shared this thing. So that's the reason I'm not online. Because I don't want to get hurt. I would get my feelings hurt. And then I would maybe shut down and don't ever want to. It's not a good feeling.

[16:27] Alan Seales: Have you had feedback about anything like that? That's just been like, I don't know what I'm doing.

[16:30] AnnMarie Milazzo: I did it once. I did one thing and was when I first started and I read something really horrible about myself. And I remember it was like, I got punched in the gut. And I thought, Oh, I can't. I have to. I can't be on these platforms. I'm just not that strong. I'm not and I don't want to be hurt. I just want to like, be kind of fun. I just want to be like, do my little show and tell and hopefully people like it and just be protected if they do or they don't. I'm just like, in my head, like, I'm sharing something that I like, hopefully you like it. And then I can do something else.

[17:09] Alan Seales: I learned as an adult and doing almost six years of this podcast and having friends in the business and everything that you can be the most, most, most, most talented top of your game person and still get a terrible review because of something that wasn't your decision. Right? The direction was bad. The lighting was bad. The sound mix was off. The script just isn't good. The music isn't good.

[17:31] AnnMarie Milazzo: Or you weren't or it was your decision and you liked it, but someone didn't. It's so subjective.

[17:36] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah. It's old white men reviewing Broadway all the time.

[17:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: Or it's everyone, right? Everyone has their 10 seconds of like, anonymously doing something. Everybody has access, which is great. But if you care, and if you read it, could be not so great. Because if you believe the really great ones, you got to believe the bad ones, and therefore cancels it out. So stay safe. Stop waiting.

[18:01] Alan Seales: Yeah, I think it's healthy to not look for constructive, not look for feedback online. I...

[18:08] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's not for me.

[18:10] Alan Seales: Because if you if you find it, I mean, you're right. I, I sort of put myself in the camp of for every negative thing I see, that's people go out of their way to be negative and to kind of spread that a little bit. But when you like something you don't, you're not like, Oh, I got like, what's the opposite of shitposting? Right? Like joyposting? I got a joypost. I love this so much. I got a joypost until like, yes, but I think the shitposters are way more, there's larger numbers in the joyposters. And, and so for every like, one, for every one joypost, there's probably 20 shitposts. And but there's just as I assume there's just as many equal people who like it. They're just not what I'm calling no joyposting.

[18:54] AnnMarie Milazzo: Well, I wouldn't know, because I don't, I don't read them. I don't, I'm not, I don't have access to that. Thank God.

[18:59] Alan Seales: Speaking of joy.

[19:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes.

[19:00] Alan Seales: You like that transition?

[19:02] AnnMarie Milazzo: I do.

[19:02] Alan Seales: Okay.

[19:03] AnnMarie Milazzo: Because you said joypost.

[19:04] Alan Seales: Joypost.

[19:04] AnnMarie Milazzo: It was kind of like, was pretty genius there. If I was writing something, I would say that was genius.

[19:10] Alan Seales: All right. That's a joypost.

[19:12] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes.

[19:12] Alan Seales: A joypost about joy.

[19:13] AnnMarie Milazzo: I think you should start a joy podcast, joypost podcast.

[19:16] Alan Seales: The joypod.

[19:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: The joypod.

[19:18] Alan Seales: All right, time for a short break to pay some bills.

[19:27] Alan Seales: Welcome back to the episode. Yeah, so the shape of things, songs from the Joy, from Joy the Musical. This, for number one, I want to talk about concept albums as in, in general for, for now, because I feel like during COVID and post COVID now, concept albums as a concept kind of became much larger and took off. Yeah, because, you know, what else are you gonna do during COVID? But yeah, put your music together, you can record locally in your home or whatever. But did you find that kind of on your end being on the music side of things? It's just like,

[19:59] AnnMarie Milazzo: Well, COVID created a, for, for the lucky, for the ones who were lucky, created a space of calm. And I have, I'm just going to go to what is comfort food, which for me was I get my guitar and quickly, like, just play with my guitar, because I had time. And there were no deadlines. And there was no pressure. I mean, there was no money. Yeah. So I was like, Well, I can't do anything about that right now. But I can do this. This is the one thing I can do is I can cook bread. And I got a search for bread flour or I'll die. I would go on as everyone did. Remember, where's the yeast? We're out of yeast. And then I played, you know, played the guitar. And that during that time, it was what a year, year and a half of just creativity, 20 months of shutdown or something.

But in the but with the obstacle creates opportunity. And therefore, if you grab the opportunity, which I just grabbed a lifeline, which is my guitar and wrote and, you know, the show came out of that. And, um, yeah, I'm happy about that.

[21:02] Alan Seales: And it was the decision when you were writing it. I mean, obviously, stuff takes years to write and develop and work. So when you're writing it, though, did you originally think of it as releasing it early as a concept album?

[21:18] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, Ken and I got together. We can do it. Great guy. He's like, Do you want to do this? I was like, Sure. And then we had a version of it. But then as we got closer, you know, I guess if you do sing out, why not do a concept album? If you want if you want to make if you if you're a singer, and you wrote a musical, I mean, why not? Because it will sound kind of like, more like you. And then when the show has a life of its own, it takes on an even wider, it'll sound completely different. So I thought, Oh, well, this is me. This is my interpretation of this particular music, yeah, the show. And when the actors do it, it's going to sound like them, which is going to be more amazing. But I just, I don't know, I love to sing. So I did it.

[22:05] Alan Seales: Well, okay, what then? You're doing the you're doing the concept album, you're putting this all together. So then how did you get connected with Ken? When did you realize there was really substance here? And then, of course, the obvious question, why the inventor of the miracle mop?

[22:19] AnnMarie Milazzo: Because the inventor was fascinated by someone, you know, I saw my own family and my own life with her. I mean, she was a woman, she was struggling financially. She was always an inventor, and never listened to her dreams. And finally, she woke up one day and was like, I have an idea, and I'm going to follow it through. And I was excited by that she followed this thing through what everybody said, you can't do it. And she did it. And she created other inventions, because ultimately, she was just created. And I think I think it speaks to people like in our business. I mean, we have creativity. And if you're not shut down, like and you do follow through, at the end, you're gonna have a product of some kind.

And yeah, it was a mop. But it was so much more than a mop. She created the vision of her life that she always wanted, which was a healthy family, healthy working family. She gets to create every day and make her ideas come to life. I mean, what that sings, you know, that sung to me. And I thought, yeah, that has a sound. And I think it's important for people to see.

[23:30] AnnMarie Milazzo: Are there any mopping puns in there? I'm a big fan of puns.

[23:30] AnnMarie Milazzo: Nope, not one. You're gonna be really disappointed. You're gonna all right, well, I'm gonna audition for the show. I'm gonna get in it. And I'm gonna be like, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna make this show a star with mop puns.

[23:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: I think I need Yeah, just throw me some mop puns. And maybe I'll throw one in the night that you're there. Swish swash swishy swishy. Nope, no, no mop puns. Maybe if it goes to Broadway, I'll put one in.

[23:53] Alan Seales: Okay, you need something. So but how do you approach then, when you're writing when you're writing this versus? Well, I guess, right. So in the past, like you've, you've been adding the vocal arrangements, which is different from writing lyrics, and you worked with Ken to write the lyrics.

[24:11] AnnMarie Milazzo: I wrote the lyrics and the music with this show. Ken wrote the book, and I think when we work really well together, he'll hand me a draft and we'll decide, oh, this can be musicalized, and this should be a scene, and it just kind of organically... I mean, it takes a long time. It takes years. Years and years, and hopefully we got it right this time. Hopefully. I mean, at the crux of all of this, and side note, I guess I'll go back for a second. What kind of training do you have other than just life experience, on-the-job experience of creating, developing the compelling stories? Because you go to writing classes and you need an antagonist, you need a protagonist, you need a goal, you need to have an I want song. What do they want? What's their goal? Where did they come from? Where are they going? So did you get any formal training along these lines, or was it just you're good at it?

[25:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: Life's... I don't think... I mean, I think life was my training. I go to... I eat shows. I love theater. I love to read. I love theater. I love storytelling. Who doesn't? I'm going back to the show and tell. I'm just always going to go back to that. I mean, it's just storytelling. And storytelling, if you tell it with a play or you tell it with music, it's storytelling. It's kind of the same thing. And I've written a lot of musicals that are on my wall. I call it my wall of tears, my bookshelf of tears and taught myself how not to write a musical. I've written like seven that, you know, self-taught by my failures. Yeah. I love to fail. I fail early, fail often because you learn from it. And it is the sweet, the bittersweet dichotomy of... I've been failing a lot lately.

Failing a lot and telling myself, like, I got to learn from this. I got to get better. I got to better. And sitting in it and moving on. Do you have any problems with that? Any struggles with that? Because I do. I'm like, I love to fail. But at the same time, it's one of the worst feelings in the moment. I mean, I can't say I love to fail. I do it often. I'm not the kind of person... I think people... Stages of learning is different. I'm not the kind of girl who can go to a class and go, oh, okay, I have to do it. I'm, you know, it's like reading directions. I'm like, no, I can't put this vacuum cleaner together, but I can look at the pieces and figure it out myself. But I'm reading this diagram. I'm not doing it. But you're really good at Ikea.

[26:50] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm very good at Ikea. But if the instruction manual is in there, I can't put... I have to look at all the... And I can do it wrong. So writing and failing is teaching yourself, okay, I did it that way. It's trial and error. That's me.

[26:56] AnnMarie Milazzo: Right. Trial and error. Love how we just made Ikea like a sport. Like, are you good at Ikea?

[27:02] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, I'm good at Ikea.

[27:03] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, I'm really good.

[27:07] AnnMarie Milazzo: I got the gold medal in Ikea in the 2024 Decorate Your House Olympics. I can put together a shattered vase, but I'd have to... Do you know what I mean? But it would take me a while. That's the same thing as writing musicals. Like, oh, that didn't work. This doesn't look like a vase.

[27:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: Have you seen Soul, the animated film Soul?

[27:20] Alan Seales: No.

[27:21] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's the... You know, I'm talking about the... Have you seen Soul? Either of you guys? You know, like, when they're in the heavens, or whatever the case is, like the beings, the spiritual beings that are all abstract and kind of look like a Picasso painting. I feel like those are the same characters that come out of the Ikea instructions.

[27:39] Alan Seales: Okay. Okay, since I haven't seen it, I'm going to take your word for it.

[27:43] AnnMarie Milazzo: Look at your latest Ikea instructions of the guy who's just like, I'm falling, and then watch the movie, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Am I right? I'm right.

[27:51] Alan Seales: Okay.

[27:52] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, yeah. So then when you're going... Okay, so you're going through Joy the Musical. What's the through line of all of this? Is this the story of her inventing the miracle mop? Or is this just about a fictional story about her life?

[28:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, this is... I read her book, Inventing Joy. And this is about her, but it's about you and me, and everyone's family. And it's about struggle. And it's about finding your own way and going out and making a miracle of your own. That's ultimately what it's about. So it's her. Yes, it's her life and her family. But hopefully, it's your life and your... It's our lives and our families and our struggles and our triumphs.

[28:33] Alan Seales: So this is the first time that you've put yourself down on something that's being published as an official thing, right? So does this feel different? I mean, I know you're not looking at social media, you're not looking at criticisms or compliments or anything, and you're doing it, I guess, for show and tell. But okay, two-part question then. Number one, how does it feel to you to put yourself out there in this way? But then two, going back to the show and tell metaphor, when you're showing and telling, you still get feedback from the people, but you say you ignore the feedback.

[29:06] AnnMarie Milazzo: I don't ignore it. I listen. If I get a constructive criticism from people and I hear it three times, I'm going to listen to that. Raise your magic number. I'll listen to that. I'm like, oh, there's something I'm not doing that is confusing three people. Then I will really listen and I will change it because maybe it's living inside my head, not broken. I'm like, okay, it's not being translated well. And to your second part of your first part of your question was, yeah, I feel I'm excited to put myself out there on that level in writing. I love it. I absolutely love it. I'm having a blast. I'm doing it more and more and more. I have a couple of things in the work. I love the arranging, the vocal designing and all that. I love it. But this just seems to be an extension of that. So I'm happy.

[30:02] Alan Seales: Do you pick a consistent theme between Spring Awakening and Almost Famous and Once on this Island and all this? I don't want to say style. Maybe style is the right word, but it could be just because it's all through your lens. But do you look for subject matter that speaks to you on a personal level or do you just look for things every now and then? You're like, yeah, it's just a paycheck. I'm just going to do this.

[30:29] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'll never do it for a paycheck. And I'll tell you why. I can waitress and make more money. So the paycheck, that's never an on the table. And I'm being honest about that.

[30:38] AnnMarie Milazzo: So no, I love work. It's people first. I mean, because we're all splitting zero. So I want to have a really good time. I mean, it's a miracle if anything actually ends up on Broadway. It's even more of a miracle if it lasts. It's even more of a miracle if it goes on tour and you get a little money. I mean, that's just the truth. So people first. And then I'm like, what are these people interested in that people that I love? I'm like, oh, that is a really cool story. And that story sings to me. And that story can have a thumbprint on sound because every show that I like has their own thumbprint. I like to call it a thumbprint that I can be a part of. And that's exciting to me. So I think and stories are stories. So it's more people. And it does the story sing to me. And what's the thumbprint that I can bring?

[31:29] Alan Seales: And you seem like one of those people that follows the advice that I like to take away, which is always be the person that people want to work with the next time, because you're working with a lot of the same people over and over and over again.

[31:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: I like people like Tom Kitt and you become friends, right?

[31:48] Alan Seales: Right. And there's a trust, you know, like he's got the people that you work with have your back and their back, you know, and you try to elevate. Everyone tries to elevate their department.

[31:59] AnnMarie Milazzo: So the whole thing works because you can't do it alone. You are. I always want to be the weakest link. So you want the team to raise you up because you cannot do it alone. You cannot. And so you need the people rowing that boat to get somewhere. So I want to be on the boat with my trusting mowers, you know, with a good producer at the helm.

[32:25] Alan Seales: Yeah. What do they call the people at the front of the rowboat?

[32:32] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, with the.

[32:37] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, those guys, you need that. Those people.

[32:40] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[32:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah. We're going there.

[32:44] Alan Seales: Yeah. Would you ever want to, like, direct or get into that additional stuff? So I mean, like, you can put on multiple hats.

[32:49] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes. Is that one of those things you can't tell me about?

[32:54] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, but I would love to. I would love to. I think about it. And you know, when you start thinking about for me, I start thinking about something. It's way back here. So I've been thinking about it. It's here. It might be here now. So eventually I'd love to do something small. I would just to see what it's like. You know, I acted, I sang, I arranged. I'd love to understand what that is. I and I have a vision that I'd like to one day bring. I don't know my head. I'd love to.

[33:15] Alan Seales: Well, I think, you know, the right people that you could just call up and be like, I need a favor. Can you give me?

[33:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: No one will do that. They'll be like, you are crazy. No, I would. No, I wouldn't do it. I would I would do something small with with a play that I really loved or a musical I loved and try something out. Try something existing or at some. No, I would like to write.

[33:38] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, I was gonna say it sounds like you want to do your own thing like soup nuts. I would love to. Yeah. One day. All right. It would be exciting. I want to be a part of it.

[33:45] Alan Seales: You want to?

[33:46] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah. You seem like somebody I would love to work with. I want I want to do anything. Jump on board with me. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. You're in.

[33:55] Alan Seales: So then when you're not writing, you're not performing, you're not picking up your guitar. What are you doing?

[33:58] AnnMarie Milazzo: What is your cooking? What do you like to cook? What style? Baked goods.

[34:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: Baked. What's your what's your best dish? This is what I do. I'm going to give you a secret. You know, the Toll House chocolate chip cookies? Of course. If you up the butter, a quarter of a cup. Sounds healthy. Up the butter and you lessen the flour a quarter of a cup. What happens is magic and you use light brown sugar. I am telling you, it's almost like a chewy brittle. It's so it goes gooey, gooey, gooey down. It crisps on the bottom. It's really a skinny cookie. I make them. They're magic. And that's what I do. I like to like take recipes and kind of go, what if I did this and this and this with them? God, sometimes they're terrible, but sometimes they're gold.

[34:44] Alan Seales: I'm such when it comes to baking and cooking, I'm such an instructions person.

[34:48] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, you go right on to the like, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.

[34:51] Alan Seales: Like, well, that's that's the only way I know it's going to be good, because if I'm feeding somebody else, I want them to like what I made.

[34:59] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, I take chances. Horrible chances. They're like, what is this? I'm like, just eat it. It's a fail. It's an epic fail. We're like, what is this? I'm like, I can never recreate it. But anyway, those cookies I do recreate because that was like, you know, what if I did this and what if I did this?

[35:15] Alan Seales: But that's what some of the great like you could fail, but that's what some of the great successes are going to come from.

[35:21] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes. Nine out of one out of ten. Yeah. But it's worth it.

[35:25] Alan Seales: It's a better, better odds than being on Broadway.

[35:27] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's much better.

[35:30] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. So you're baking.

[35:34] AnnMarie Milazzo: Then sports or did you ever go down that route or were you always?

[35:39] AnnMarie Milazzo: I did sports in school, but that wasn't my thing. I'm I'm I love music. It's if whenever I can, I'm I can. I just love music. I'm kind of always doing it and I never not want to do it. You know, where did you grow up? I didn't ask that.

[35:55] AnnMarie Milazzo: Vermont.

[35:56] Alan Seales: Vermont.

[35:56] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah.

[35:57] Alan Seales: And then is your family still there or?

[35:59] AnnMarie Milazzo: No. So I grew up in a unwinterized log cabin in Barton, Vermont.

[36:03] Alan Seales: Unwinterized log cabin.

[36:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah. We used to sleep in our skidoo suits because it would snow on us in the morning.

[36:08] Alan Seales: What's a skidoo suit?

[36:09] AnnMarie Milazzo: Exactly. It's a snow suit.

[36:13] Alan Seales: Okay.

[36:14] AnnMarie Milazzo: And my sister would brush.

[36:16] AnnMarie Milazzo: Welcome back to the episode and then we moved to a converted morgue.

[36:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: It was a morgue and then our funeral parlor and then no one wanted to buy it. So my hair was $12,000 and my parents bought it and that's where we live. And then we moved to Maine when I was 13. We had this man named Alpha and he lived in our bathroom. He would scream at us and he wasn't really there but as kids he was and he would say, get out of the bathroom.

[37:12] AnnMarie Milazzo: And my sister and I would hold hands and run into the room to turn on the light and terrified. But I mean it was our living room was the viewing room that would the coffins used to be and down can you imagine what the basement was? So it was a colorful childhood and next door to two blocks down was the commission sales which was a slaughterhouse. So we would hear cows being slaughtered. It was kind of like wow and yeah it was a town called Orleans, Vermont. So that was a colorful childhood.

[37:44] Alan Seales: That's cool. That's cool though that were the ghosts actually scary or did you did you have my parents said, oh, I didn't we didn't know that it was a converted anything. We just thought this is a big house with a lot of chimneys.

[37:58] AnnMarie Milazzo: And then when we moved to Maine when I was, I remember we were in our 20s my mom finally said, well, you know, that house was, you know, kind of converted 20s. Yeah, we didn't know who knew we were just like it was an active house and my mom, but everybody there's no one here like mom this is a very crowded house.

[38:20] Alan Seales: Did they acknowledge it or what?

[38:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, they never acknowledge the ghost.

[38:24] Alan Seales: Well, no, because we didn't see them as ghosts. We just saw them as it was a very crowded house. You're a little kid. You're like, oh, there's two brothers in the guest room. And you just, there's a guy named Andre Labelle, there's like all these people in your in the house and your parents are like, oh, just say hello, you know, not acknowledging them at all.

[38:47] AnnMarie Milazzo: My sister and my brother talk about it all the time. It was a crowded house.

[38:51] AnnMarie Milazzo: So there were always people lit or ghost spirits entities literally that you could, but they weren't spirits. They look like you and me. Do you know what I mean? There were as you just recognize them as children.

[39:03] Alan Seales: Okay, we're starting the theater poltergeist cast. I'm fascinated by this because you didn't know what you were staying in. So you didn't have that kind of unconscious bias to be like, oh, this could be haunted. It just was there. And you grew up.

[39:21] AnnMarie Milazzo: Just seeing normal people.

[39:23] AnnMarie Milazzo: Very active, very active house. And then the funeral parlor was next door. So my sister and I would ride our bikes between the coffins, like if there was a puddle. It was just a normal, but you don't know it. You just that's your child. You don't think, oh, there could be a body in this coffin. You just don't know it. You're just going, oh, we're doing loops around these crazy looking boxes that were, you know, because it was the funeral parlor. That was next door.

[39:49] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. So that's your childhood. And then you hear like cows. Like it was it was very active in Orleans, Vermont at the time, you know, so spiritually active or just energy energy.

[40:08] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, yeah. Were your parents religious?

[40:08] Alan Seales: No, because that's that's what not at all. That surprises me.

[40:35] AnnMarie Milazzo: But not being religious, though, I thought they would have said, that's not real. You're seeing things.

[40:56] AnnMarie Milazzo: Never, ever talk. They wouldn't engage in the conversation. Like, oh, they want us to be scared, I guess. So I would sleep at the bottom of my sister's bed every night. I would be like, Nope. Did you ever feel unsafe?

[41:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, just crowded. You ever going to write a play about this?

[41:04] AnnMarie Milazzo: I wrote one called Symphony for New England, which was a terrible play.

[41:06] Alan Seales: But did three people tell you that?

[41:08] AnnMarie Milazzo: Many, many more. I got this playbook. Yeah, that's not good.

[41:12] Alan Seales: Yeah. Me and my three expedite. I heard it.

[41:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah.

[41:17] Alan Seales: Well, let's let's get it on the ether and send it off into the chimney of your old.

[41:20] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes. Your old chimney is of my old chimney is the gosh.

[41:25] Alan Seales: Well, all right. So let's keep talking about.

[41:27] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, I want to I would love to keep talking about ghost stories. So I have a fun little thing I do at the end of the episodes here to wrap down, wrap down, wrap up, wrap up, wrap down, wind down, wrap up. I've had a lot of coffee this morning is plot in 60 seconds. I have a list of 16 musicals in front of me.

[41:37] Alan Seales: You're going to give me a number one through 16. It's going to correspond to one of my shows. And then you give me a psychic thing.

[41:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, no, no. I'm going to tell you what you picked. And then you have to give me that plot in 60 seconds. The plot to that show.

[41:44] Alan Seales: Okay, so I pick a number.

[41:46] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, one through 161111.

[41:48] Alan Seales: Okay, this is good. I'm going to give you 60 seconds. 11 corresponds to wicked. Go 60 seconds.

[42:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm failing. Okay. No, I can't. I can't do this. Wait, can we do another one?

[42:05] Alan Seales: Okay, cut. Take two. You go.

[42:07] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay, let me put 60 seconds. Good. See? All right. Wait, pick another one.

[42:12] Alan Seales: Oh, you want me to do a different one?

[42:14] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah. Okay. Okay. So number seven, seven, seven. What do I have for seven?

[42:18] Alan Seales: Seven is going to be the sound of music.

[42:20] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, boy. I know this one terribly. The sound of music is for me. Go.

[42:27] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay, so there's this Von Trappe family, and they're kind of Nazis, I think, but not in there in Germany. And they live in a bunch of hills that have sounds with lots of music. And then Julie Andrews comes in and she has to spin around a lot and sing and go, I love this family. I'm going to take care of them.

[42:51] AnnMarie Milazzo: And then she becomes their nanny. And all of a sudden, I think the Von Trappe dad is maybe married or divorced or something, because isn't there something with the...

[43:02] Alan Seales: No, there was a countess, wasn't there?

[43:04] AnnMarie Milazzo: I don't...

[43:05] Alan Seales: There was an older woman who said, Maria's waiting for you in the garden. You should go there. Remember she was going to marry him?

[43:10] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay, well, there's something about marrying and then the kids are like, I'm a kid, we're big little...

[43:14] AnnMarie Milazzo: What about the shorts out of the curtains?

[43:16] Alan Seales: And then they make some dresses out of curtains and then people come in and...

[43:21] AnnMarie Milazzo: There's a concert.

[43:22] Alan Seales: And there's a concert and they do some...

[43:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: And they escape, the Nazis.

[43:25] Alan Seales: And then they escape.

[43:26] AnnMarie Milazzo: And they go to Vermont.

[43:27] Alan Seales: They go to Orleans, Vermont. The end.

[43:29] Alan Seales: Newport.

[43:30] AnnMarie Milazzo: Two, one.

[43:32] Alan Seales: How was that?

[43:35] AnnMarie Milazzo: I was so...

[43:37] Alan Seales: I'll take it.

[43:38] AnnMarie Milazzo: I just started sweating.

[43:39] Alan Seales: I'll take it.

[43:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm sweating.

[43:41] Alan Seales: That was great.

[43:43] AnnMarie Milazzo: All right.

[43:44] Alan Seales: So now, the three standard closing questions that are much, much easier.

[43:46] AnnMarie Milazzo: The first one is very simply...

[43:48] Alan Seales: I got to breathe after that.

[43:52] AnnMarie Milazzo: Do you edit this?

[43:53] Alan Seales: I do.

[43:54] AnnMarie Milazzo: I do.

[43:55] Alan Seales: Yeah, I edit out all the restarts and the flubs, but I'm keeping in that stuff.

[44:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay.

[44:01] Alan Seales: So the three standard closing questions that are going to be much easier for you, I hope. The very first one just simply is what motivates you.

[44:08] AnnMarie Milazzo: The day. Waking up, facing the day, seeing what wasn't there is making something, and then something's there at the end of the day.

[44:16] Alan Seales: Ooh, I like that.

[44:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay.

[44:18] Alan Seales: What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out on a similar path?

[44:22] AnnMarie Milazzo: I would say go bigger.

[44:26] AnnMarie Milazzo: Go bigger. Don't be afraid. Don't do small. Just go bigger. Do the bigger, giant steps. I would say that.

[44:33] Alan Seales: Ooh, all right.

[44:34] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay.

[44:35] Alan Seales: So this last question is the hardest one. You could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want.

[44:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, God.

[44:41] AnnMarie Milazzo: What would you see?

[44:42] Alan Seales: Really, one show?

[44:43] AnnMarie Milazzo: Mm-hmm.

[44:44] AnnMarie Milazzo: One little show?

[44:45] Alan Seales: Could be a big show.

[44:46] AnnMarie Milazzo: I would see, I think I would see, oh, God, one show, one show, one show.

[44:52] AnnMarie Milazzo: I would see, wow, there's so many, a little night music.

[44:58] Alan Seales: Ooh, that is a pretty show.

[45:01] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's a beautiful show.

[45:02] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[45:03] AnnMarie Milazzo: One, two.

[45:04] Alan Seales: One, two.

[45:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: Three, one, everything.

[45:06] Alan Seales: The Waltz.

[45:07] AnnMarie Milazzo: No, but you don't notice it.

[45:08] Alan Seales: You're right.

[45:09] AnnMarie Milazzo: One of my favorite shows.

[45:10] Alan Seales: You're right.

[45:11] AnnMarie Milazzo: That is good.

[45:12] Alan Seales: All right.

[45:13] AnnMarie Milazzo: So where can we connect with you, find more about Joy the Musical, listen to everything? Where do you play social media game? Plug it all.

[45:18] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay. I'm not on social media, so.

[45:22] Alan Seales: We know that.

[45:23] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah, yeah.

[45:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay.

[45:25] AnnMarie Milazzo: So I guess just get the record on Spotify?

[45:26] Alan Seales: The record with your four track?

[45:29] AnnMarie Milazzo: The stream it.

[45:31] AnnMarie Milazzo: I call it a record.

[45:32] Alan Seales: Wait, can't we call it records anymore?

[45:34] AnnMarie Milazzo: I don't know.

[45:35] Alan Seales: Ask the person who doesn't know what a four track is.

[45:38] AnnMarie Milazzo: Do you know what a record is?

[45:42] Alan Seales: She Googled it.

[45:43] AnnMarie Milazzo: You know, okay.

[45:44] AnnMarie Milazzo: Well, because vinyl's making a comeback.

[45:47] Alan Seales: Actual records.

[45:48] AnnMarie Milazzo: Are they?

[45:49] AnnMarie Milazzo: They'll never make the big.

[45:50] Alan Seales: Did you have, are you the kind of kid that had the vinyls on the floor of your room?

[45:54] AnnMarie Milazzo: I made roads for my Hot Wheels cars out of golden books.

[45:59] Alan Seales: Hot Wheels cars?

[46:00] AnnMarie Milazzo: Mm-hmm.

[46:01] Alan Seales: Yeah, I didn't, I didn't use my parents' records, but I, because they would have, I would have destroyed them and they would have been mad.

[46:06] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yes.

[46:07] Alan Seales: But I made, I made giant tracks all around the house with my golden books.

[46:10] AnnMarie Milazzo: I love that.

[46:11] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah.

[46:12] AnnMarie Milazzo: I guess listen to, stream it?

[46:15] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[46:16] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yep.

[46:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: Stream it on Spotify, YouTube, everywhere that you can.

[46:19] Alan Seales: Yes.

[46:20] AnnMarie Milazzo: And come to the show.

[46:21] Alan Seales: Come to the show.

[46:22] AnnMarie Milazzo: Oh, when is the show?

[46:23] Alan Seales: This summer at the Laura Pels.

[46:24] AnnMarie Milazzo: I think we open July 20th.

[46:25] Alan Seales: Actually, let me ask you again.

[46:26] AnnMarie Milazzo: So, so you said this is going to be a show? Is it ever going to be on stage soon?

[46:28] Alan Seales: It is.

[46:29] AnnMarie Milazzo: It's off-broadcast.

[46:30] Alan Seales: Is it ever going to be on stage soon?

[46:31] AnnMarie Milazzo: It is. It's off-Broadway at the Laura Pels and it opens July 20th.

[46:33] Alan Seales: Ooh.

[46:34] AnnMarie Milazzo: This year.

[46:35] Alan Seales: I want to be there.

[46:36] AnnMarie Milazzo: I want to be there.

[46:37] Alan Seales: Will you be there?

[46:38] AnnMarie Milazzo: I will.

[46:39] Alan Seales: Will you be in the cast?

[46:40] AnnMarie Milazzo: I would love, love to be in the cast. I'm just saying.

[46:42] Alan Seales: Okay.

[46:43] AnnMarie Milazzo: What do you, oh God.

[46:44] Alan Seales: Okay. I'm going to start, I'm going to memorize all the music now.

[46:46] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm going home. I'm going to do this.

[46:48] Alan Seales: Okay. I'm so excited.

[46:50] AnnMarie Milazzo: Okay.

[46:51] Alan Seales: You can get more of me at the theaterpodcast.com. I'm on threads, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. Leave a reading and a review wherever you're listening.

[46:56] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm going to read this still.

[46:57] Alan Seales: I've done this for six years. Annemarie, I cannot believe how much fun I've had with you today.

[47:01] AnnMarie Milazzo: I've had so much fun with you. Thank you so much.

[47:03] AnnMarie Milazzo: And I hope that you will.

[47:04] Alan Seales: I'm coming back.

[47:05] AnnMarie Milazzo: Yeah.

[47:06] Alan Seales: I'm not leaving.

[47:07] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm going to haunt you.

[47:08] Alan Seales: You're going to haunt me.

[47:09] AnnMarie Milazzo: I'm going to go buy a, a recycled morgue, recycled, upcycled, upcycled morgue.

[47:13] Alan Seales: Upcycled morgue.

[47:14] AnnMarie Milazzo: And then you can come haunt it.

[47:15] Alan Seales: Okay.

[47:16] AnnMarie Milazzo: In a good way.

[47:17] AnnMarie Milazzo: But.

[47:18] Alan Seales: Will you have confidence so I can buy my book?

[47:19] AnnMarie Milazzo: Well, I'm going to set up ramps with my golden book.

[47:20] Alan Seales: Well, that actually is the best idea.

[47:21] AnnMarie Milazzo: There we go.