Jay is a stand-up, actor, co-host of pReview'd, co-host of Broadway Baby and is here for this David Yazbek adaptation of the Academy Award-nominated film about working-class male strippers.

Topics include: overtures, Ithica graduates, hard moments in tech, and the hardest a stranger has ever seen Jay cry.

Saviez-vous qu’il existe de très nombreuses adaptations du roman de Gaston Leroux, Le Fantôme de l’opéra? Eh bien, il y en a. Et nous discutons de certains d'entre eux. (Toutes mes excuses à tous les auditeurs francophones.)

Kevin is the author of Big Deal: Bob Fosse and Dance in the American Musical (now in paperback!) and is here for the first "Fosse" musical.

Topics include: filming dance, grandmom Gwen Verdon, the Church-of-the-Month Club, and finding Fosse in Oklahoma in the '60s.

Patrick's children have a very important message for you.

Did you know there were musicals based on comics (besides Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark)? Well, we explore them and their impact in this wonderful live show from Flying V Theatre's Awesome-a-Thon Vol. 3, their annual 24-hour fundraiser.

Featuring Chris Klimek's point of view and the heavenly voices of Kari Ginsburg, Don Mike Mendoza, and Anna Grace Nowalk with Heather Hurley on piano.

Also: Patrick sings and plays guitar and talks and there's a slideshow you can't see because you weren't there but can see but you can follow along with if you go to this LINK!

Have you seen Love Letters? You should see Love Letters. It's a play. And a perfectly cromulent one.

Tony-nominated actor (Starmites) and director (Amazing Grace, Lippa's The Wild Party) Gabriel Barre is our first guest to be in the original Broadway cast of the show we're discussing, and you will soon see why. Rags famously ran for 4 performances on Broadway but nevertheless was nominated for 5 Tony awards and has survived through the years due to staunch advocation by its devoted fans and creators.

Topics include: opening in Boston without a director, learning on the job, John & Jen, and (to the delight of at least one of you) Starmites.

Courtney worked with Susan Stroman. So we talk about Susan Stroman. A lot! With that good Courtney/Patrick energy!

Composer/lyricist Adam Gwon is here for a western adaptation of Wagner's The Ring Cycle and to talk about his new musical Scotland, PA which is based on an early-aughts indy film that adapts Shakespeare's Macbeth into a story about competing burger joints in 1970's rural Pennsylvania.

What a sentence!

Topics include: finding your path, changing your path, living that new path, and making guacamole.

Did I ever tell you about the time I co-produced a production of Grease! and it turned out we didn't have the rights?

By the way, the The Simpsons episode I reference is "Jaws Wired Shut" (s13e09).

DC Metro Theater Arts editor and publisher Nicole Hertvick is here for an emo telling of the 7th President of the United State's rise to power that fully commits to its premise.

Topics include: Emo, Spring Awakening, the Trail of Tears, and (somehow) Cats. We talk about Cats for a minute. And I don't remember how we got there but there it is: Cats.

Doug and I do a lot of great musical theatre back-and-forth but really you just need to read this line from Dorothy Rodgers (wife to Richard, mother to Mary) New York Times obituary: "Mrs. Rodgers founded Repairs Inc., an agency that hired craftsmen to repair broken objects, in 1935 and was its head until 1941. In 1945 she patented the Jonny Mop, which was sold by Johnson & Johnson. It was one of several inventions. In 1958 she created the Basically Yours dress pattern for McCall's, and in 1972 she patented the Turn and Learn storybooks, sold by the Ideal Toy Company."

Seriously!

TRIGGER WARNING The episode contains frank discussions of sexual assault and stalker behavior.

Caroline Dubberly is here for a show about the dichotomy of existence, the destructiveness of revenge, the cycle of abuse, and the power of self-love.

Topics include: the origin of love, the power of tattoos, and the hymns that get us through.

Doubling up on Al Silber with portions of last week's interview that were edited for time. This episode will also dovetail nicely into next week's episode on Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Synergy!

Here's a link to the Tonys performance Al mentions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j661y6KwYA

Actor and author Alexandra Silber is currently appearing as Fraulein Sally Bowles in Olney Theatre Center's production of Cabaret. But she's here this week to talk about this beautiful Lucy Simon/Marsha Norman musical and so much more. Really, we get deep.__Topics include: living with grief, communing with nature, and the glory of Rebecca Luker.

Buy Alexandra's memoir White Hot Grief Parade and her novel After Anatevka. Both titles are also available on Audible read by Al herself!

How can you have a family and do theatre and be a good parent and not feel guilty? . . . You probably can't.

On Saturday, September 14 at the Rockville Town Center, DC Actors for Animals will present Beltway Barks where the theatre and animal rescue communities come together to save lives! They'll have around 40 animals for adoption there that day, as well as awesome pet vendors with toys, treats, gear, as well as trainers and veterinarian services. You'll also see award-winning DC actors perform musical numbers from some of the best theatres in town as we kick off the DC Metro area's 2019-2020 theatre season. Go to www.dcactorsforanimals.com for more details.

We all knew this day would come.

Director Angie Pirko and Patrick take a long walk off the longest-running Broadway musical to see if there's any there there.

Topics include: Christine is a good person, the Cameron Mackintosh of it all, is Raoul an idiot, this show is garbage, and we're here for it anyway.

Programming note: This episode was recorded the day before Harold Prince died.

Nicole Hertvik from the incomparable DC Metro Theatre Arts interviews Patrick and Michelle Polera about their new show What She Said which can be seen this Friday at the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival.

WHAT SHE SAID performance details here.

Director Christina A. Coakley is here for this beautiful but little-known show from the team that brought you Ragtime about a closeted man in 1960s Dublin.

Topics include: Roger Rees, Faith Prince, Fun Home, when Ireland legalized divorce, and if one can buy a T-shirt that says "Benny was right."

Heather is a costume designer. So we talked a lot about designing and designers and notes and all that good stuff.