Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Podcast Robert W. Schneider

DEAR EVAN HANSEN
COMPOSER: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
LYRICIST: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
BOOK: Steven Levenson

DIRECTOR: Michael Greif
CHOREOGRAPHER: Danny Mefford
PRINCIPLE CAST: Rachel Bay Jones (Heidi), Laura Dreyfuss (Zoe), Ben Platt (Evan), 

OPENING DATE: Nov 14, 2016
CLOSING DATE: Still running as of publication
PERFORMANCES: Still running as of publication

SYNOPSIS: Evan Hansen is a high schooler struggling with both peer and self-acceptance. When a fellow student takes his own life, Evan begins to create a fictional friendship with the dead student, tricking not only the student’s family but the whole world. 

Producer Stacey Mindich revolutionized the relationship between Broadway musicals and their young fans, making recordings available to the public alongside the announcement of the show’s first tryout, attempting to reflect their experiences on stage without parodying or satirizing them, and even leading a video campaign which includes fan videos in the show’s projection design. Frederick D. Miller explores the ways Dear Evan Hansen comments on a societal reliance on social media while existing in an industry increasingly dependent upon social media to profit and survive. Young writers Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson provided nuanced observations on the budding culture around social media without moralizing or criticizing. It was this musical that then fostered the growth of such musicals as Joe Iconis’ Be More Chill.

Frederick D. Miller is an undergraduate theatre major at the Pennsylvania State University. A dramaturg, Miller’s work focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first-century American theatre. His work has informed productions of Angels in America, A Little Night Music, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Caroline, or Change. He is the regional recipient and national semi-finalist for the 2020 KC/ACTF Award for Outstanding Dramaturgy, and a project associate for the #HereToo Project, which amplifies youth activists’ voices through performance. An advocate for theatre education, Miller is a frequent teaching artist with high schools and theaters in the Central Pennsylvania region.

SOURCES
Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Paek, Justin Paul, published by Theatre Communications Group (2017)

Dear Evan Hansen, Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records (2017)
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HAMILTON
COMPOSER: Lin-Manuel Miranda
LYRICIST: Lin-Manuel Miranda
BOOK: Lin-Manuel Miranda

DIRECTOR: Thomas Kail
CHOREOGRAPHER: Andy Blankenbuehler 
PRINCIPLE CAST: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Leslie Odom Jr. (Burr), Phillipa Soo (Eliza)

OPENING DATE: August 6th, 2015
CLOSING DATE: Still Playing as of this writing
PERFORMANCES: +1900

SYNOPSIS: The life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton is explored from his immigration to the United States through his murder by political rival Aaron Burr. 

W. Jerome Stevenson argues Hamilton’s significance as a twenty-first century musical which was able to maintain mass appeal to the public amid a flurry of tourist-oriented Broadway productions. Hamilton’s original score and historical storyline update the structure of a traditional book musical by fusing the narrative with rap and hip hop and reimagining white figures as people of color. The Lin Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Andy Blankenbuehler production set off a global revolution with its contemporary score but was later brought under scrutiny for its lack of accurate representation of Afro-Caribbean and African-American voices.

W. Jerome Stevenson is an Instructor of Performance for the Helmerich School of Drama at the University of Oklahoma and served as the Producing Artistic Director of the Pollard Theatre Company in Oklahoma until 2020. Stevenson is an accomplished director and a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association and serves as adjunct theatre faculty at Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Universities. Stevenson’s numerous directing credits include Hairspray, Green Day’s American Idiot, Crowns, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. In addition to a variety of work in radio, television, and film, Jerome was the recipient of a 2018 Oklahoma Governor Arts Award for Community Service.

SOURCES
Hamilton, Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic (2016)

Hamilton, starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr., directed by Thomas Kail. Walt Disney Pictures (2020)

Hamilton: One Shot to Broadway, starring Lin Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom, Jr., directed by Elio Espana. Symettrica Entertainment (2017)

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, published by Grand Central Publishing (2016)
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FUN HOME
COMPOSER: Jeanine Tesori
LYRICIST: Lisa Kron
BOOK: Lisa Kron
SOURCE: Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home (2006)

DIRECTOR: Sam Gold
CHOREOGRAPHER: Danny Mefford
PRINCIPLE CAST: Michael Cerveris (Bruce), Sydney Lucas (Young Alison) Beth Malone (Old Alison)

OPENING DATE: Apr 19, 2015
CLOSING DATE: Sep 10, 2016
PERFORMANCES: 583

SYNOPSIS: Alison is a lesbian author and illustrator who looks back not only on her own evolution in discovering her sexuality but her father’s tragic journey as a closeted gay man. 

Courtney Laine-Self, who directed the regional premiere of Fun Home, examines the difficulties critics and audiences had categorizing this musical from its premiere as a musical based on an autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel while addressing the historical significance of its lesbian protagonist. The musical’s address of queer womanhood in a coming of age narrative is widely embraced by queer women who feel the show represents their own experiences authentically. The marketing for the production initially avoided tying ticket sales to the subject matter in the plot, but after establishing the piece as a success, the campaign shifted to appeal to an increasingly vocal LGBTQ+ public. Opening in a time of significant political change for the LGBTQ+ community, the show’s significance seems easier to highlight in hindsight. After surveying the response to Fun Home’s mainstream lesbian representation, as written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, this chapter argues that The Color Purple is overlooked as a Broadway musical which centers a female protagonist’s queerness. The continued representation of lesbians on Broadway and the future of representation in the theatrical landscape as a whole is explored.

Courtney Laine Self is a director and choreographer interested in creating new work in the musical theatre genre that incorporates non-realistic and abstract theatrical techniques as well as developing methods on how to responsibly and with innovation revive Broadway-style musicals. Recent credits: Assistant Director, Proof of Love, Audible Theater/New York Theatre Workshop, co-created dance musicals Making Bkjkt and RPT with 92Y, directed the world premiere of Sheila and Moby for Flying V Theatre Company in DC, and the regional theatre premiere of Fun Home at Millbrook Playhouse. MFA: Directing, Southern Illinois Univ., BFA: Music Theatre, The Hartt School. www.courtneylaineself.com

SOURCES
Fun Home, Original Broadway Cast Recording. PS Classics (2015)
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NEXT TO NORMAL
COMPOSER: Tom Kitt
LYRICIST: Brian Yorkey
BOOK: Brian Yorkey

DIRECTOR: Michael Greif
CHOREOGRAPHER: Sergio Trujillo
PRINCIPLE CAST: Alice Ripley (Diana), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Aaron Tveit (Gabe)

OPENING DATE: Apr 15, 2009
CLOSING DATE: Jan 16, 2011
PERFORMANCES: 733

SYNOPSIS: Diana, a suburban wife and mother, is so devoted to her teenage son Gabe that she has neglected her other family members. What makes matters even more complicated is that Gabe died when he was two years old. As Diana slips further and further away from reality her family must try to save her.

Lyricist and book writer Brian Yorkey discusses his collaboration with composer Tom Kitt and director Michael Greif and the challenges in musicalizing a mental health crises in Next to Normal. Yorkey reflects on the delicate balancing act between presenting heavy subject matter and introducing levity to a narrative through humor without belittling mental illness. The development process of the musical helped the creative team realize the themes they were most invested in exploring. Controversial subject matter studied through a rock musical earned the surprise attention from the Pulitzer Prize committee and expanded the potential thematic focus of future Broadway musicals.

Brian Yorkey received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the 2009 Tony Award for Best Score, for Next to Normal. He was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical for Next to Normal, and his work on the show earned him the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Score. He's a graduate of Columbia University, an alum of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.

SOURCE
Next to Normal, Original Cast Recording, Ghostlight Records (2009)

Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, published by Theatre Communications Group (2010)
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IN THE HEIGHTS
COMPOSER: Lin-Manuel Miranda
LYRICIST: Lin-Manuel Miranda
BOOK: Quiara Alegria Hudes

DIRECTOR: Thomas Kail
CHOREOGRAPHER: Andy Blankenbuehler
PRINCIPLE CAST: Robin De Jesus (Sonny), Mandy Gonzalez (Nina), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Usnavi), 

OPENING DATE: Mar 09, 2008
CLOSING DATE: Jan 09, 2011
PERFORMANCES: 1,184

SYNOPSIS: Washington Heights, New York is the diverse environment that holds an eclectic group of citizens. Usnavi, the show’s narrator and bodega manager, observes the lives of his neighbors as they begin to forge new paths in and out of the barrio.  

In the Heights was the first Broadway musical to rely on rap as its primary mode of storytelling. Composer Lin Manuel Miranda first began developing the show while a student at Wesleyan University with a desire to share his perspective as a child of immigrants and emphasize a universal desire to find belonging. Devon Hunt traces In the Heights’ seven year development process, collaborators Thomas Kail and Quiara Alegría Hudes, and outlines the significant cultural influences which informed the work. The musical is significant as a Latinx-authored, authentic telling of Latinx immigrant stories and its success laid the groundwork for Miranda’s later artistic accomplishments.

Devon Hunt is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Oklahoma State University. His areas of research include secondary musical theatre educator training and Black contributions to early 20th-century musical theatre. Selected regional acting credits: She Loves Me (SDSU), A Chorus Line (Welk Resorts Theatre), The Producers (Moonlight Amphitheatre), and the world premiere of The Tale of Despereaux (The Old Globe/PigPen Theatre). Devon holds an MFA in Musical Theatre from SDSU and an MM in piano performance from the University of Maryland. He is an Equity Membership Candidate and a proud member of the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance.

SOURCES
In The Heights by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Lin Manuel Miranda, published by Applause Libretto Library (2013)

In The Heights, Original Cast Recording. Ghostlight Records (2008)
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JERSEY BOYS
COMPOSER: Bob Gaudio
LYRICIST: Bob Crewe
BOOK: Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice

DIRECTOR: Des McAnuff
CHOREOGRAPHER: Sergio Trujillo
PRINCIPLE CAST: Christian Hoff (Tommy), Daniel Reichard (Bob), John Lloyd Young (Frankie)

OPENING DATE: Nov 06, 2005
CLOSING DATE: Jan 15, 2017
PERFORMANCES: 4,642

SYNOPSIS: The rise and fall of The Four Seasons, a real-life band that dominated the 1960s music scene, is told through rotating narrators, who all offer their own theories as to why the band succeeded and subsequently dissolved. 

The early 2000s saw an onslaught of failed jukebox musicals which aimed to capitalize on the disposable income of former rock fans by luring them to the theatre with familiar songs. Jersey Boys was successful because it tells the true, engrossing story of the Four Seasons and juxtaposes the violence of the narrative against the sterile, cherry tunes for which the band was known. Rick Elice examines how contradicting stories from the three living band members lent the show a multi-perspective narrative frame. The show set the standard for jukebox musicals which tell the story of the artists behind the music and led a fleet of such shows to Broadway for decades such as Beautiful and Tina.

Rick Elice co-wrote Jersey Boys (winner 2006 Tony Award, 2007 Grammy Award and 2009 Olivier Award for Best Musical) with Marshall Brickman. His play, Peter and the Starcatcher, received nine 2012 Tony Award nominations (including two for Rick) and won five, more than any play of the season. It’s currently playing in New York and on tour across North America. Also on Broadway, Elice wrote The Addams Family (with Marshall Brickman, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa), currently touring North America, with productions in Europe and South America. In 2014, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego presented the world premiere of his new musical, Dog and Pony (music and lyrics by Michael Patrick Walker). Rick is currently writing a musical for Disney Theatricals with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, based on the film Make Believe, and Super Fly (co-written with Seth Zvi Rosenfeld), directed and choreographed by modern dance legend, Bill T. Jones. Heartfelt thanks to those whose work in the theatre makes him grateful for the day he was born: Sondheim, Stoppard, Bennett, Prince, Fosse, Robbins, Nichols, Tune, Nunn, Laurents, Stone, Kushner, Taymor, Papp, Schumacher, Schneider, Coyne, Brickman, Timbers and Rees. Rick thinks about them a lot. He never thought about Jersey much. He does now.

SOURCES
Jersey Boys, Original Cast Recording. Decca Records (2005)

Jersey Boys starring Erich Bergen and John Lloyd Young, directed by Clint Eastwood. Warner Brothers (2014)

Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons by David Cote, published by Broadway (2007)
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