So Much Stuff to Sing

It's episode 150! Yay! Something we completely forget to mention during our pretty intense and serious conversation about this episode's topic: "I'm Alive" from the Pulitzer Prize-winning show Next to Normal. Tom Kitt and Briant Yorkey worked on developing their show and concept for about a decade before it reached Broadway, winning widepsread acclaim, though not the Tony for Besy Musical. It also, however, sparked some controversy, especially its depiction of bipolar disorder (and mental illness more generally) and its discussion of psychiatric medicine and treatment, including elctroconvulsive treatment. We also talk the state of Broadway and get our passing shots in at Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. N.B. This episode is full of discussions of mental illness, suicidal ideation, self-harm, psychiatric treatments (including ECT), and child death. We wouldn't blame anyone for skipping this one if they're not up for it.  All clips are from 2009's Next to Normal: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Aaron Tveit and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Support the show and buy us a coffee! Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical The Reddit discussion Erik quotes

We enter the 21st century with The Producers, one of the biggest things ever to hit The Great White Way. A combination of Mel Brooks' genius, classical musical comedy trops, and the star power of Broadway vets Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the show feels like a throwback to an earlier time -- and it was just what audiences wanted in 2001. But is it what audiences want in 2026? Join us as we talk about the show, "I Wanna Be a Producer," and 9/11.  N.B. This episode does contain discussions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and sexual harrassment. Listener discretion is advised.  All clips are from 2001's The Producers:  Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Matthew Broderick and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Support the show and buy us a coffee! Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

A dark stage. Night. And then a clarion cry pierces the silence. A call and response forms. Dawn is breaking, and a new age of Broadway is born. Disney's The Lion King was perhaps the least likely of its properties to become an extremely long-running -- and critically acclaimed -- stage adaptatation. While a smash hit in theaters and home video, its characters are all animals, with not a single human to be found. However, theater director Julie Taymor found a way to stage it in a way that not only worked, but that has wowed audiences worldwide for almost 30 years. Join us as we talk Disney on Broadway, The Lion King, and "The Circle of Life" by Tim Rice and Elton John with additions by Lebo M. All clips are from 1997's The Lion King:  Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Tsidii Le Loka and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Support the show and buy us a coffee! Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

Is there anything more 1990s coded that the Broadway smash Rent? An immediate hit and media sensation, partly due to the tragic death of show composer Jonathan Larson just before it debuted, the show made Broadway cool, spoke urgently to a younger audience, and changed the face of Broadway. Broadway is still very much living in the world that Rent helped build. We talk the show, the fandom, and the musical's legacy as we discuss "One Song Glory." Listeners are advised that this episode contains references to and discussions of HIV/AIDS, IV drug use, and self-harm.  All clips are from 1999's The Best of Rent: Highlights from the Original Cast Album featuring Adam Pascal and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Support the show and buy us a coffee! Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

We now enter the 1990s with William Finn and James Lapine's landmark musical Falsettos. It's an interesting show with a rather convoluted creation process, leading to something quite idiosyncratic and entirely its own thing. Shannon is a strong Pro, Erik is a confused Maybe, and the song is "Unlikely Lovers." Content warning: this show, this song, and this episode feature discussions of HIV/AIDS and related topics that may be difficult for some listeners.  All clips are from Falsettos 2016 Broadway Cast Recording featuring Christian Borle, Andrew Rannels, Tracie Thomaas, and Betsy Wolse and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

While the 80s were undeniably the age of the megamusical, they were also a time when more artistically inclined shows found alternative methods of making their way to Broadway. One of the first of these -- and perhaps the most artisitic -- was Stephen Sondheim's return to Broadway (after a relatively short absence). Along with his new collaorator, James Lapine, Sondheim gave us his most personal and most emotional work yet, and he and Lapine earned the Pulitzer Prize for their effort. In this episode, we discuss "Move On" from Sunday in the Park with George. Do we cry? You bet we do! All clips are from the 1984's Sunday in the Park with George: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical https://everythingsondheim.org/move-on-from-sunday-in-the-park-with-george/

A new day has begun, indeed. The 1980s brought many changes to Broadway, especially the arrival of the London-import megamusical that would run, well, seemingly forever, and its champion, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Join us we talk about how Broadway was changing, how Cats fed into that, and try to pinpoint what, exactly "Memory" -- with lyrics by Trevor Nunn -- is actually about. Editor's note: This is the second (and hopefully final) episode of the same recording session where Shannon's audio was weird. Our apologies. All clips are from the 1983's Cats: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Betty Buckley and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Betty Buckley sings "Memory" at 1983's Tonys "Memory" - Barbra Streisand "Memory" - Heather Headley Who Sang the "Memory" Climax Best? Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

The end of the 70s and, in some ways, the end of an era. Starting with Cabaret, we have traced the changes happening in theater in the wake of the end of the Golden Age. More mature themes and language, less traditional storytelling, new kinds of music, and simply a broader range of acceptable topics -- all of these changes and more occurred extrmely rapidly. And while it's hard to pinpoint exact when this period ended, Sweeney Todd feels like as good as a place as any. An artistic masterpiece, a Tony triumph, a cultural landmark, but ultimately a commercial failure, and maybe the last big swing that Broadway was willing to tolerate for a while. We talk all this, and more, with "Epiphany." Two editor's notes: Sweeney Tood is not exactly a family friendly show, so listener discretion is advise, though I have removed the swear word from the song itself. Also, Shannon's audio track had some issues and she sounds a bit strange. Our apologies. All clips are from the 1979 original cast album of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street featuring Len Carious and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical

1975. The Broadway musical is maturing and evolving, and while it's probing deeper than ever before, this new style of musical has yet to produce a record-breaking smash. Enter A Chorus Line. The first show to set any number of performance records, A Chorus Line was an unlikely smash, seeing as it had no famous stars, was written by a group of relatively unknown theatrical creators, and was about dancers at an audition. And yet, director and choreogreapher Michael Bennett saw the potential in the everyday struggles of Broadway dancers, and he turned it into a landmark. In this episode, we talk about the destruction of the fourth wall in "At the Ballet" with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Ed Kleban. All clips are from the 2015 40th anniversary celebration remaster of the original cast album of A Chorus Line featuring Kelly Bishop, Nancy Lane, and Kay Cole and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical Record Breaking Performance of A Chorus Line featuring Kelly Bishop and Kay Cole Audra McDonald, Megan Hilty, and Kelli O'Hara Seth Rudetsky Deconstructs "At the Ballet"

We enter the 1970s: the era of Sondheim and Prince, of a modern Broadway for modern audiences, and of something new and vital that comes to take the place of a Broadway musical formula that had ceased to please. Everything kicks off with Sondheim's 1970 masterpiece Company: directed by Prince, with a book by George Furth and choreogeraphy by Michael Bennet, the show would usher in a new type of Broadway musical, whether audiences and critics were ready or not. Here, we talk about "Barcelona" as capturing much of what defines this new era on Broadway.  All clips are from the 1970 cast album of Company featuring Susan Browning and Dean Jones and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act for criticism and commentary. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. Listen to the SMSTS playlist on Spotify! Follow SMSTS on Instagram: @somuchstufftosing Email the show: [email protected] Recommended Reading/Viewing: Ethan Mordden, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theater (Mordden's other volumes are also excellent resources for more in-depth discussion) Broadway: The American Musical