Episode 913: Holding Space for Wicked - Magic or Misdirection?

With the dust now well and truly settled, Nick sits down with Ruby – a self-confessed Wicked obsessive – to take a long look back at the two film adaptations. Together they explore what Wicked has meant to them personally over the last 25 years, how their relationship with the show has evolved, and whether the films live up to the stage phenomenon that defined a generation of theatre-goers. From big emotional highs to creative choices that divided opinion, Nick and Ruby dig into what worked, what didn't, and why Wicked continues to provoke such passionate responses. 

Nick and Hannah look back on a theatre-stuffed 2025, chatting through the shows they saw, loved, questioned and are still thinking about. From West End heavyweights to immersive experiments and concert highlights, this episode is a fast, opinionated tour of the year in musicals. Along the way they discuss everything from Robin Hood at the Palladium, Les Misérables, Matilda, MJ The Musical and Mamma Mia! to newer and quirkier experiences including Grease immersive, Clueless, The Great Gatsby, Edward Scissorhands, Acorn Antiques and Here & Now, Wicked: Part Two, Back to the Future, Paddington, Hercules, and an unforgettable evening with Alan Menken in concert — plus a few theatrical oddities and honourable mentions along the way. A concise, spoiler-light round-up of a very busy year, packed with strong opinions, shared laughs and plenty of musical theatre love. 🎭🎶

It's Christmas again - but didn't we have one twelve months ago?  Well, just in case Dame Shirley Bassey is correct and it all just a little bit of history repeating, we might as well mark the fact in the traditional MusicalTalk way - with our annual festive quiz!  So, pit your wits against Thos as he attempts to bamboozle, educate, irritate and inform with twelve questions covering 150 years of musical theatre history - from 1875 to last night!  With tributes to the late great Tom Lehrer, and touching on musicals about everything from airships, the Gold Rush, Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred E. Neuman to hybrid power sources and architects, and with songs galore from the last few years -  it's a wonderful way to wrap up a fabulous year of musicals!  Ingredients: May Contain Debbie Reynolds.

Travel back one hundred years as MusicalTalk looks at the world of theatre and musical theatre in late 1925 through the prism of the trade press of the period.  Josh and Thos thumb through an actor's newspaper from a century ago and uncover the invisible world of how the profession presented itself to its peers - through lists of classified messages, official notices, general advertisements, ads for songs, and even updates on which actors had suffered car crashes, colds or nervous breakdowns.  With Vincent Youman's No No Nanette and Jerome Kern's Sally proving the big musical hits of the season, Rodgers and Hart's Mountain Greenery premieriing in the revue Applesauce and the Gershwin Brother's musical Primrose on tour, alongside the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company holding fort in Edinburgh and revivals of the the Belle of New York and Greek Slave (a 19th Century precursor to a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), it's a real treasure trove of unexpected information.  And what's more you'll find out the answer to the age old music hall riddle - do kippers swim folded or flat? It's fascinating stuff!

Join Thos as he talks to the cast and writers of the stunning five star show, The Queen is Mad, about the early 16th Century Spanish monarch known to history as Joanna the Mad - but what if her madness was in fact fury?  Find out how this musical explores if Joanna was genuinely insane or whether she was simply the victim of intrigue and oppression, and how it draws out many contemporary parallels along the way.  With insights into the art and craft of acting, singing, writing and composing, and a chance to hear the powerful Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize Finalist 2024 song, Locked Away, you'd be mad to miss this enthralling episode!

This week on MusicalTalk, Nick Hutson and Andrew Keating uncover a forgotten gem of musical theatre history as they sit down with the legendary David Wood to discuss the original ABBA jukebox musical: ABBACADBRA. Long before Mamma Mia! conquered the world, there was ABBACADBRA — a fantastical, family-friendly musical created at the Lyric Hammersmith in the early 1980s, featuring ABBA's music reimagined and a brand-new book and story by David Wood. Nick and Andrew dive deep into how the project came to life, the challenges of adapting globally beloved pop songs into a narrative format and why this early experiment in jukebox storytelling has been largely forgotten despite its star-studded origins and irresistible charm.

By Zeus! It's time for MusicalTalks's celebration of our Pick of the Fringe 2025 - the arrestingly titled (and genuinely brilliant) The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse!  Join Thos as he figuratively feasts on the brains of John Paul Liddle and Hugh Moore, the people behind this amazingly funny, clever, literate, satirical and tuneful modern masterpiece of a musical to find out how it came to be created!  Wittily combining craft, zombie lore, reality television and classical myth with a catchy score and top notch lyrics (quadruple rhymes anyone?), this musical is a bona fide modern classic.  With fascinating insights and three amazing songs, don't let life get in the way of your enjoying this bumper episode!

This week on MusicalTalk, Nick and Dom sit down to celebrate one of British musical theatre's most brilliantly bonkers gems: Acorn Antiques. With the recent Hope Mill Theatre production bringing Victoria Wood's cult favourite back into the spotlight, they explore how this new staging honours (and occasionally reimagines) Wood's unmistakable wit, warmth and musical mischief. From the show's origins as a beloved sketch, to its transformation into a full-scale musical bursting with charm, Nick and Dom reflect on why Acorn Antiques continues to resonate with audiences decades later. They discuss standout moments from the Hope Mill production, the enduring brilliance of Wood's writing and the extraordinary legacy she left behind as one of Britain's most cherished comedic voices. 

✨ Pop nostalgia meets festive cheer in this lively, laugh-filled episode of MusicalTalk! ✨ This week, Nick and Andrew take a nostalgic step back to the '90s as they discuss HERE AND NOW — the brand-new Steps musical currently touring around the UK!  Plus, Nick introduces a new voice to the MusicalTalk team — Emily! Emily joins to chat about ELF at the Aldwych Theatre — a festive favourite that she's performed in… but never actually seen until now! Both HERE AND NOW and ELF were star-studded gala performances, and our hosts share their thoughts on the spectacle, the audiences, and the sheer joy of theatre at its most celebratory.  

Join Thos as he revisits a conversation with celebrated songwriter Sue Casson about her seminal musical masterwork, Dreams of Peace and Freedom, currently on a national tour, and learn how this piece has become part of a multiplatform experience entitled Songs of the People.  From Magna Carta to Victorian Scottish land clearances, via the Nuremburg War Trials to Southwark Cathedral in 2025, Songs of the People encompasses international history, philosophy and democracy in a breadth of exciting and thoughtful ways - but always with achingly beautiful music at its core. Songs of the People is an epic entertainment for the generations. Don't miss this bumper episode!