Episode 131: Tina

Oh my god, we're back again! With an episode we recorded in August and then never got round to posting! And a load of nonsense about Needohs, Camp Rock 3 and ice hocky chants! You're welcome, especially if you are the incredibly cool listener who somehow listens to us while sleeping.

Guys, it finally happened; Juno got picked as a guest speller for 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,' on the fourth attempt. You'll have to listen to hear how it went. We also talk about our first trip to Durham Fringe, Brassed Off, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Fun Home, because we contain multitudes. Juno also divulges a few too many embarrassing details of Katy's life, but you can skip those bits.

In case you were worried we'd been kidnapped/fallen out with each other/given up theatre, worry not: we are back! (With an episode that should have been posted two months ago: whoops.) Join us for tales of pearl clutching at rowdy ghosts and the shame of dozing off in the theatre. It was REALLY hot, okay?

One of our weirdest show combinations in this episode, as we cover a mid-2010s modern classic about German teenagers in desperate need of PSHE lessons, a cute play about children who are okay for PSHE but perhaps should put Newsround on, and a show which we were, frankly, baffled by and which no amount of PSHE would fix.

Since we recorded this, Schmigadoon! has been nominated for a million Tonys, and Mexodus has won a load of off-Broadway awards, but really the validation they've both been waiting for is a rave from us, so everyone can stop holding their breath now. Bonus non-musical content includes a heart-wrenching tale of feline rescue.

More Broadway excitement this week, as we cover Catherine of Aragon's swamp accent, the rules of vampires and Ben Platt's vibrato.

3 more shows from our New York trip: all off-Broadway and some old favourites included. South American rodents, killer plants and top level parenting decisions await you.

We went back to Broadway, baby! And here is the first of our round-ups of the shows we saw when we were there, covering two shows that were new to us and one previous favourite, along with understudy slip-related misunderstandings, dopplegangers and Katy finally snapping and shh-ing people (not Juno, on this occasion).

Today's musical theatre nonsense comes via a trip to York for the new production of 'The Secret Garden,' based on a book which Katy definitely read as a child but, of which, apparently has no recollection whatsoever.

In this episode, we ask the really big questions that other podcasts are too scared to discuss. Does all great art come from suffering? Should we cling onto childhood for longer? And, most crucially, do we all have an LNER puppet in the back of our head? Oh, and we also talk about 'Tina', the Tina Turner bio-musical a little bit. If you have a dog called Otis/are a person called Otis, this one's for you.