Yes, there are now 100 episodes of Shannon in New York City and Erik in Prague discussing the American Musical. To celebrate, we decided to each compile a list of 5 songs that, for us, represent what makes the musical the wonderful art form it is. The musical can do things that nothing else -- no other art form -- can do, and we think these songs i…

We come to the conclusion of our miniseries of anthems, and we've saved one of the best for last. We're talking "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, which became an anthem for LGBTQ Pride almost as soon as it was first sung in 1983. All clips are from 2016's Trailblazer Honors events featuring Ginger Minj…

From the hard work and determination of show business to the let it all hang out and just be spirirt of the hippie movement, our anthem series continues with "Aquarius" from Hair. Written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot, "Aquarius" become synonymous with the hippie movement with an assist from The Fifth Dimension. Be prepared for lo…

Anthem number two! This time, we're looking at an anthem for this business we call show: "There's No Business Like Show Business," written by Irving Berling for 1946's Annie Get Your Gun. While that's still a popular show, the song has definitely broken free and is now widely recognized as perhaps the definitive song about the ups and downs of a li…

Time for a new miniseries! This time, we're looking at songs originally from Broadway shows that found a greater life outside of them as anthems. Anthems of movements, times, places, industries -- Broadway has given us many anthems over the years. Arguably one of its earliest is one that everyone knows but may not know that it originated in a Broad…

Well, it's that time again -- time to say goodbye to Sondheim for another year. But we're going out with a wide-ranging and multi-faceted discussion of all things Merrily We Roll Along centered around one of the only purely happy songs in the show: "It's a Hit." All clips are from 1982's Merrily We Roll Along: Original Broadway Cast Recording featu…

For the first time in over 4 years and 90 episodes (!), we return to Merrily We Roll Along, Sondheim's greatest flop and now one of the biggest hits on Broadway. We'll looking at Merrily for our next two episodes, actually, since it has multiple songs that fit this miniseries quite nicely. First up, we have the Act 1 closing number, "Now You Know."…

We're continuing our miniseries on Sondheim's conversation songs. This episode, we ask a very simple question: can a song simulataneously be about absolutely nothing and abosolutely everything? And we answer it with a resounding, "Yes," -- at least it can if the song is question is "Someone in a Tree" from Pacific Overtures. Join us as we try to pi…

From "Waiting for Life" to "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" -- it's Sondheim time once again. This year, we're focusing on conversation songs, a sub-genre Sondheim may have himself invented. We begin with the aforementioned octet (!) from 1971's Follies and talk about why this song may be the key to understanding the whole show. All clips are from …

We wrap up our miniseries on "I Wish" songs with "Waiting for Life" from Once on This Island by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Topics include whether being made into a tree is a good thing, The Little Mermaid, and whether Ahrens and Flaherty were the right fit for this source material. DW: This episdoe contains mentions of racism, sexual assault…

And we're back again with another "I Want" song, but we're still in the 1970s. This time we're tackling The Wiz and it's end-of-show I want song, "Home." Topics include Stephanie Mills, Diana Ross, and why the 80s really, really sucked. Editor's Note: Yes, this episode sounds different. New computers, new set-ups, etc. We're still ironing out the k…

We're just getting started with I Want songs, and we're tackling another classic. This time, from 1972's Pippin, we're talking about "Corner of the Sky." We talk Stephen Schwartz, Bob Fosse, and where cats and children fit. Strap in. All clips are from the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Pippin featuring John Rubinstein as Pippin and are p…

We're back! We're starting our 5th year a little late, but as opinionated as ever! We're looking at "I want" songs here in 2024, and we're starting with one of the most famous and beloved examples: "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from Lerner & Loewe's Golden Age classic My Fair Lady. But is it beloved by your intrepid hosts? Only one way to find out... Al…

Oh, it's a jolly holiday season here at So Much Stuff to Sing! This year, we're looking at one of the all-time great film musicals, Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. With songs written by Richard and Robert Sherman, and featuring seminal performances by Dick van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynnis Johns, and (in her film debut!) Julie Andrews, the film is bot…

To round out our off-Broadway miniseries, Shannon and Erik take a look at "Beautiful" from the online hit Heathers: The Musical, and don't always like what they see. Are they just the wrong audience, or is this the wrong adaptation? All clips are from 2014's Heathers: The Musical (World Premiere Cast Recording) featuring Barrett Wilbert Weed are us…

From one queer, cult, off-Broadway hit to the next, it's time for Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch and what is arguably its thesis song: "The Origin of Love" Shannon is escited because of Eddie Izzard, and Erik is excited because of Plato. All clips are from 1999's Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Original Cast Album fe…

Happy Halloween, everyone! By sheer coicidence, our Off-Broadway miniseries timed up with spooky seaon, creating a wonderful synchronicity whereby our episde about "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Show is coming out just before Halloween. Wait...did you not know that Rocky Horror was a smash London and L.A. musical before beco…

We're back -- a little late -- but we come bearing a new miniseries! This time, we're heading off-Broadway to explore the wide range of shows and songs that fall under that collective banner. We start with one of the either best -- or least -- well-known musicals of all time, depending on which co-host you ask. Yes, it's 1960's The Fantasticks whic…

We finish our miniseries on 11 o'clock numbers with one of the defining shows and numbers of Broadway's current era: "She Used to Be Mine" from Waitress. The discussion gievs us a chance to talk pop versus Broadway, how Sara Bareilles conquered Broadway, and proper theater etiquette. CW for discussions of domestic violence, abuse, and murder. All c…

And now for something truly and genuinely completely different. Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's Caroline, or Change first premiered on Broadway in 2004, and while the show wasn't a success either at the box office or the Tonys, it made an impact. Another recent Broadway production similarly failed to enflame the ticket-buying public, but it helpe…

Another 11 o'clock number, please! This time, we're talking 1950's Guys & Dolls, Frank Loesser, and Nicely-Nicely Johnson -- yes, it's time for everyone's favorite gangster revival number, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat." All clips are from 1992's Guys and Dolls: The New Broadway Cast Recording featuring Walter Bobbie as Nicely-Nicely Johnson a…

We're back and starting a brand new miniseries. This time, we're looking at the so-called "eleven o'clock number" in a vairety of its permutations. First up, we have an archetypal example of the genre -- "Fifty Percent" from 1978's Ballroom. Trust us, you may now know the show, but you need to know the song. All clips are from 1999's My Favorite Br…

Our final title song is also our most recent. We're back to Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop, which has opened -- and closed -- on Broadway since we last discussed it, but not without winning the Best Musical Tony. All clips are from 2022's A Strange Loop: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Jaquel Spivey as Usher and are used in accordan…

Another title song, and this time it's a title song that opens the show and sets up the rest of the show. We're talking about In the Heights again, exploring how Lin-Manuel Miranda uses its opening number to set up both the main characters and most of the plotlines that we need to know. All clips are from 2021's In the Heights: Original Motion Pict…

We're continuing with our title songs miniseries, and we're back with Kander and Ebb for the first time in a while. This time, we're talking about "Kiss of the Spider Woman," and Shannon makes a shocking confession about this song. All clips are from 1993's Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical - Original Cast Recording featuring Chita Rivera as Au…

We're back with a new miniseries! We're tackling title songs over the course of the next four episodes, and we're starting with the one that you're probably thinking of already. We're back to Rodgers & Hammerstein, but we're starting with their first show together. It's the beginning of the Golden Age of musicals, and the moment everything changed …

It's the end of our annual Sondheim birthday celebration, and our last murder ballad. This episode, we're back with Assassins looking at "The Ballad of Guiteau." Charles Guiteau is a thorny historical figure, but Erik and Shannon do their best to try to make some sense of him, his song, and this entire show. All clips are from Assassins: The 2022 O…

We're continuing our Sondheim birthday miniseries, this time focusing on his murder ballads, and we're moving on to a show that is dominated by murder ballads -- 1991's Assassins. Join us as we look at "The Ballad of Booth"and try to pick apart both this extremely rich song and the show's message. Audio note: It was raining when we recorded this ep…

To quote Shannon, "Murder! Murder! Murder!" Yes, we're carrying on with this year's Sondheim theme of murder ballads, and we're carrying on with Sweeney Todd. This episode, we discuss the sort of duet, but not really, "My Friends." All clips are from the 2002 production of Sweeney Todd in Concert featuring George Hearne as Sweeney Todd and Patti Lu…

It's Sondheim time again -- the most wonderful time of the year here at SMSTS. This year, Shannon got her pick of themes, and she chose Sondheim's murder ballads. So, y'know, buckle up. We're starting off with the opening of 1979's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street appropriately named "Prelude/The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." Attend the ta…

What grabs you as a kid listening to songs on the radio may still grab you as an adult... but the nuances often come out after you’ve had years to process them, all informed by life experience. This was true for Rob and Steely Dan’s 1972 debut record Can’t Buy a Thrill. It was an album he immersed himself in his twenties during his first flush of C…

When you find out your friend is in a band and has made a record, it’s like finding out that they’re a practicing wizard, a superhero, or secret agent. It often turns music fans/friends into evangelists – “Everyone! Listen to what my friend made!” In the heady days when melancholic northern new wave roamed the earth, Graeme’s friend Bob, alias “Sim…

We conclude our look at inspirational songs with "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray, the 2002 Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman musical based on the John Waters film of the same name. It's been a few years since we talked about the show's propulsive and endlessly optimistic closing number, so how does this song -- coming just before the final seq…

Music runs deep and has the power to enlighten, educate, and empower. This doesn’t have to be a didactic thing and the best of it isn’t. Great songs can do all of those things as one listens and enjoys them. It does all that at the soul level. Music is weird – and sometimes very, very sneaky. Shannon connected with the world of acapella from her ti…

We return to Annie, a show we last talked about a few years back with Miss Hanigan's delicious villain song. This time, however, we're taking a look at the show's signature tune --and one of the most recognizable musical theater songs of all time -- "Tomorrow." Is it inspirational or an example of what's wrong with America? Buckle up. All clips are…

There reaches a point in a young music fan’s life when they begin to detect the emotional complexities of the songs and albums they love. This usually corresponds with a capacity for sensing these things in real life between real people. One discovers that some things can seem happy on the surface, while being full of tumult and struggle underneath…

Some great shows have a few mediocre songs, and some great songs come from otherwise mediocre shows. Such is the case with this episode's selection -- or is it? Join us as we continue our journey of inspiration with "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" from Man of La Mancha. All clips are from 2002's Man of La Mancha: The New Broadway Cast Recording …

We often find an attachment to certain music during times of emotional upheaval and loss. And it can be a double-edged blade. We love it and find it painful at the same time... because, hey, music is weird – and mysterious. For Graeme, the ending of a relationship led him to this exact place. Around that time, Sarah McLachlan’s 1997 record Surfacin…

Welcome to 2023! As we enter a new year, we could all do with some inspiration, so we're starting the year off with a miniseries of inspirational songs. First up, we look at The Sound of Music for the first time, with "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." The last Rodgers & Hammerstein collaboration, this 1959 musical is one of the best known and best loved of a…

As is often the case with music, love can grow in increments. The Deeper Cuts trio touched on that in our discussion on Tom Waits’ Mule Variations album all the way back in Season Two when Shannon first saw the artist’s incendiary performance of “Chocolate Jesus” on Letterman. But even as listeners grow into a sound over time, artists themselves re…

It's the most wonderful time of the year! For our third annual holiday special, we're being the rules a bit and looking at a festive movie musical -- namely, 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine and the Muppets. We talk about the meloncholy air surrounding the making of the movie, the performances, and, of course, all of the son…

Twas two weeks before Christmas (a little bit less) and all through the podcast, Shannon, Graeme and Rob were receiving holiday presents... from our listeners! That's right, this year we've outsourced our traditional gift exchange. Listeners Martin Hajovsky, Drew Walco and Sarah Irvin have given Graeme, Shannon and Rob respectively albums that they…

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. After exploring a theater and a concert hall as a setting for great live records, this time we consider the large-scale outdoor live show.…

The second and final part of our look at songs that escaped the shows they were written for brings us to arguably one of the greatest songs never to be performed on Broadway -- "Meadowlark" from the ill-fated Stephen Schwartz musical The Baker's Wife. The show may be forgettable, but the song certainly is not. All clips are from Lindsay Mendez's 20…

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. During a hellscape of a summer marked by a never-ending work crisis, Graeme learned about the Indigo Girls' new live album through a Deepe…

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. There are wake-up calls and there are WAKE UP! calls. When Rob was growing up, his Dad’s copy of James Brown and the Famous Flames’ Live a…

And now for something completely different. We're embarking on a mini-mini-series: a 2-part look at songs that managed to have a life even if they shows they came from didn't. First up, it's "You've Got Possibilities" from the almost totally forgotten 1966 musical "It'sa Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman". A score by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams…

We conclude our tour of musical theater blindspots with Jason Robert Brown's 2014 The Bridges of Madison County and the sweeping love duet "One Second and a Million Miles." Will Shannon persuade Erik that this score deserves to be known far and wide, or will his cold, stony heart be unmoved? All clips are from the 2014 Orignal Broadway Cast Recordi…

We're trying to take care of musical theater blindspots, and this time it's Shannon's turn to introduce Erik to something new. So, how will he respond to "I Believe" from 2011's The Book of Mormon? Will he be converted, or will he slam the door in her face? All clips are from the 2011 Original Broadway Cast Recording of The Book of Mormon featuring…

We just couldn't stay away from the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Time Rice songbook as we cover our musical theater blind spots. This time, it's Evita with Patti Lupone singing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." What will Shannon make of this truly strange show that she'd never experienced before? All clips are from the 1978 Original Broadway Cast Recording of E…