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Broadway's longest running shows
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A podcast that explores the absurdities of the modern world through a series of generation-gap rhetorical dares. Ever wonder why, exactly, the Kids are up to that thing these days? Or what the hell the Olds were thinking when they created the world they’ve left us all to inherit? Convince Me I Care aims to explain the inexplicable by forcing our arbitrary representatives of each generation to account for themselves and their contemporaries. In each episode, we’ll dive into some strange facet ...
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For this very special episode, we welcome Barbra Streisand to "Chasing Phantom" to help us explore a show that was a monster hit in the 1930s. OK, it's more the spirit and definitely the Voice of Babs that highlights this exploration of "Pins and Needles," more than the actual person (though if someone wants to send me a Cease and Desist in such a …
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#103: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
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"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is responsible for Mark Zuckerberg. Don't believe me? Listen as accomplished actor, director and video wizard Matt Polson and I wander around in nerd culture for a while, discussing this seminal musical. More than any show before or since, "Spelling Bee" demonstrated the unique attractions of live theate…
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#104: Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk
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Once again, the joy of this podcast for me is getting schooled on stuff I don't know about. In talking about "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk," Dr. Julinda Lewis introduces me to a flurry of tap dance masters from the past that were influences on young Savion Glover. Glover first broke into the public consciousness in "The Tap Dance Kid," but…
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Before the iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe with her white dress billowing over a subway grate obliterated any other reference point, "The Seven Year Itch" was a long-running Broadway show. In fact, it was the longest running show of the 1950s and cemented the star power of the actor Tom Ewell who is not regularly remembered today (even though he w…
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Leapin' Lizards, what is going on here? Chasing Phantom has been methodically working through the list of 1,000+ performances on Broadway from the bottom up but, this week, we take a radical leap into the higher realms of theater success with an exploration of the much-heralded, often-rejiggered, musically-rich smash that is "Annie." And I know no …
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If you're reading this, I expect either you or someone you know has been in a production of "Guys and Dolls." There are so many reasons this show is a classic, from the colorful supporting characters to the silly romantic misadventures to the unbelievably catchy songs. The show has been revived 5 times but the 1992 production really set the templat…
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It's both a relief and a delight when a show that premiered on Broadway more than 50 years ago isn't a challenge or a slog to get through. "Butterflies Are Free" is a play about a young blind man out on his own for the first time but, thanks to its breezy good humor, is also a fun and satisfying romantic comedy. For an older show, it has a wonderfu…
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We start off 2024 with an old show that has surprising relevance today because of a very recent -- and somewhat confounding -- revival. "Plaza Suite" first premiered back in Neil Simon's imperial period when his shows were selling out before people even knew what they were about. Three vignettes that share a setting -- the same suite at the Plaza H…
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What a perfect way to end the year in quintessential Broadway fashion! For this episode I'm talking about "Fosse," the 1999 musical dance revue that featured what may be considered the "greatest hits" of choreographer Bob Fosse's career. The show was a smash hit at the turn of the century and was one of several dance-centric shows (e.g., Contact) t…
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For the first of several Neil Simon creations that this series will consider, we start off with one that may be a "meh" to listen to but is still fun to talk about if only for the speculation about what could have possibly motivated to keep this show running for 3 years. "They're Playing Our Song" is a fictionalization of the relationship between c…
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With this episode, Chasing Phantom inaugurates an intermittent series on shows that haven't technically made it over the 1,000 performance mark but are on the fast track to getting there. SIX was the answer to Broadway fans' pent up demand when the theater world emerged from the pandemic and it's still packing theaters in NYC as well as in houses a…
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Look, everyone knows this show was bonkers and, even after running more than 1,000 performances, was possibly the biggest money loser in Broadway's history. It'd be easy to just rag on "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" -- and it certainly deserves to be made fun of -- but I wanted to talk a little bit more about why it failed and also, what little sp…
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How did the IPA become THE most popular type of beer proliferating across the ever-growing craft brewing craze? For years (decades?), it has seemed like all the cool kids drank IPAs. This wasn't always the case; in fact, beer-drinking Boomers like David hardly touched an IPA on their way to passing out in their college dorm rooms. For that matter, …
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Marrying slices of Shakespeare with perhaps Cole Porter's finest score, "Kiss Me Kate" is one of the ultimate old Broadway hits. Fashioned as a response to "Oklahoma" and built with sturdy story beats that have allowed it to be revived as recently as 3 years ago, "Kate" has lore and legend to explicate for days. So OF COURSE we had to bring back in…
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The Boomers might have created her but boy, howdy, what has happened to her since! In Part 2 of our conversation on The Final Girl trope in slasher movies, we interrogate many of the ways more recent filmmakers have taken the fundamental trope and transformed, expanded and extrapolated it in wildly entertaining ways. If you haven't watched Jennifer…
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"It transformed my life." That's the kind of statement you want from someone talking about a cultural experience. "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" broke all sorts of barriers on Broadway in 1972 but it is not well known today. Even so, its impact is felt in the people it influenced like my guest, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, or as she is affectionate…
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Just in time for the Halloween season, Grace and David take their intergenerational conversation to the next level with a deep dive on The Final Girl, the movie trope that was initiated by Boomers but that has expanded, morphed and grown more fascinating as explored by Millennial filmmakers. In Part 1, we discuss the origins of the trope and use th…
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For better or worse, the song "Freedom" is one of the most persistent earworms around but what do we think about the show that spawned such a tenacious tune? "Shenandoah" used to be a regional favorite but hardly ever gets produced these days, despite family-friendly themes, an even balance of comedy and tragedy, and a generally tuneful score. Tom …
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The Intergenerational Movie Club continues with the Boomer classic, "Animal House." Lots of folks think they know this movie, but do they really? Or are they just remembering the clips and highlights? We dig into the connective tissue between the iconic scenes, do a semi-deep dive on the female characters, and perhaps unavoidably, revel in the Belu…
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Watch out -- it's the 50s! The romantic dynamics, not to mention the workplace politics and the capitalistic shenanigans, might seem like artifacts from ancient history in the plucky musical, "The Pajama Game." The show jump-started careers left and right, from folks like Bob Fosse and Shirley MacLaine, to more theater insider famous people like Ha…
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Welcome to the first edition of the Intergenerational Movie Club, brought to you by Convince Me I Care! Whether you're a millennial or a boomer, sometimes you just want to Netflix and chill. So Grace and David have given their research staffs a little break and will spend at least the next couple episodes talking about movies that made a profound g…
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It's a show that you wish was just about the songs -- "There's No Business Like Show Business," "I've Got the Sun in the Morning," etc. -- but, for better or worse, it's set in a time (late 19th century) and place (the Wild West, still somewhat populated by Native Americans), that requires contextualization. The 1999 revival tried and also brought …
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Like most industrious millennials, Grace has more than one iron in the fire. With this episode, David fades into the obscurity all Boomers are bound for and hands over the reins to Grace at the helm of her new podcast, Didn't Read It: a podcast about books. For this conversation, the old white guy in the room has been dead for centuries, leaving a …
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New podcast alert! Didn't Read It - a podcast about books
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Hey there, Chasing Phantom phans! We're taking a little break this week from chasing after all that theater-related historical yumminess in order to introduce you to a brand spanking new podcast, Didn't Read It! Grace Todd, our podcast partner for Convince Me I Care, has embarked on this new adventure and we're very excited to get her expert's pers…
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Among the action stars of the 1990s, Steven Seagal's rise to fame and subsequent descent into infamy has been the most baffling. How was this man able to have a career in the first place? Who thought that giving a pathological liar money, power and a platform was a good idea (spoiler: Michael Ovitz did)? The inexplicability of it all prompts Grace …
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Welcome back to the wacky 1950s! It may be a little mind-boggling that a show so prominently featuring an actor in yellowface ran longer on Broadway than beloved classics like "Grand Hotel" and "Damn Yankees!" But the 50s were an ... "interesting" ... time and, for all its downsides, this is a show that had some surprisingly progressive elements. T…
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Artificial intelligence has been fascinating and scaring people for decades. Years before the current freak-out about ChatGPT and other SkyNet wannabes, there was something even creepier that parents were actually welcoming into their homes: Furbys! These totally-not-a-Gremlin rip-offs provide a great jumping off point for topics like what did cutt…
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The first revival on the list also happens to be my personal favorite show of all time. In honor of the occasion, I have invited a panel of Les Mis experts to talk about the differences between the stage production and the movie, how perceptions of Les Miserables can change over a fan's life, and how children take in (or don't) the complex moral fr…
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Are you, like Grace, befuddled by the idea of seeing the same band over and over again? Did you party down at Bonnaroo and are already looking ahead to Lollapalooza? Whatever you think or think you know the Grateful Dead, Phish, or any other Jam Band, you'll learn something from this spicy conversation about this genre that's not really a genre. Ha…
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In honor of Independence Day, we talk about a show that is as All-American as apple pie, featuring America's favorite pastime: selling your soul to the devil. No, no, no -- I mean, baseball! Through the magic of Zoom, the amazing and talented actress, director and producer Dawn Westbrook joins the pod to talk about bringing Lola to life, a role tha…
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Team Edward? Team Jacob? Team Confused-Old-Guy? For better or worse (many would argue better), there is a generation of folks who missed the "Twilight" craze. But actors like Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattison stubbornly insist on having ongoing careers, often making admirable artistic choices. Their persistence prompts curiosity about their origi…
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It is classic, quintessential Broadway: the Tommy Tune directed musical, "Grand Hotel." Strangers intersect in a hotel in 1930s Berlin with passion, crime and redemption the natural results, not to mention some snappy tunes and crowds of dancers choreographed to within an inch of their lives. And as the perfect companion on the voyage, my guest is …
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What were they thinking? A generation of homeowners have splurged on huge houses that are ugly, bad investments and an ecological disaster. In this episode, David and Grace dig deeper into the myopic belief in "bigger is better" when it comes to housing. Along the way, we venerate a millennial hero, chart the growth in suburban square footage, make…
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"Contact" was such an anomaly on Broadway that it inspired a new Tony Award category: Best Special Theatrical Event. It was a musical with pre-recorded music and a play with almost no dialogue. The producers called it a "dance play" and there's really been nothing like it since. I explore the history and ramifications of this fascinating one-off wi…
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David has wandered into confusing Instagram channels and Grace is challenged to go beyond convincing him to care about #vanlife to reassuring him that he shouldn't be concerned. The result is a rambling romp down the history of itinerrant lifestyles from pre-Colonial America to the Beats to modern-day influencers. And you may be shocked - SHOCKED -…
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How do you avoid talking about a dreadful show? You invite on a delightful guest! The so-called comedy, "Never Too Late," was a play that ran for an unbelievable 1,007 performances back in the early 1960s, remarkable given the lack of any discernible jokes. My pal, Jesse Rabinowitz, Ph.D., who has forgotten more about old movies than I will ever kn…
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In honor of the Mother's Day that just passed, Grace and David celebrate their support of every type of mom there is by digging into the legacy of the Wine Mom. Why has the cheeky insouciant cry of "Rosé all day!" been twisted in some quarters into another reason to put down already put upon moms? How did an overhyped hysteria around Mother's Littl…
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How the hell did they get away with this? Join me with a only slightly legalistic consideration of what they were thinking when they made "Beatlemania." It opened in 1977 when sadness about the supergroup's breakup was still running high. Not really a musical, the tribute concert was more a multimedia trip through the 1960s. My not-a-lawyer best pa…
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Can David convince Grace to come even close to caring about MEAT as much as a boomer dad? Probably not, but it's entertaining to hear him try, and listen in to learn all sorts of surprising, maybe disturbing, facts about men and their relationship with meat. You'll also hear about Slaughterhouse Grace and wonder along as Grace and David consider wh…
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Join Chasing Phantom for a rollicking ride down "Big River," the 1985 musical based on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that ran for 1,005 performances. My buddy, Christopher Haushalter, and I rave about Roger Miller's score, consider whether it's a show that requires racial recontextualization, and remember when John Goodman was j…
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This time the onus is on Grace to convince David to care about the TV network that imbues the '90s with a slight orange hue for many people, Nickelodeon. As many boomer dudes may be, he's completely iClueless about shows like iCarly. But the influence of the network and the abundantly expanded Nick-verse seems to persist and David is a bit befuddle…
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In the inaugural episode of "Chasing Phantom," I review and reflect on "Newsies," the Disney screen-to-stage adaptation that ran for 1,004 performances. I am joined by Dr. Caroline Weist, a professor at University of Richmond, who augments her "Newsies" fandom with insightful commentary on the differences between the movie and stage versions of the…
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In our inaugural episode, we tackle a seasonal affliction that Grace considers an outdated relic, the Fancy Awards Show. While the Oscars were last month, the seemingly endless parade of glitzy galas pimping out gold-plated statuettes continues throughout the spring. Can David convince Grace that these overstuffed, overlong, and overhyped pageants …
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On April 16th, 2023, the historic run of "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway will end just shy of 14,000 performances. While the next closest show will need to run at least 9 more years to catch it, the door is now open for some other production to eventually surpass this incredible number. "Chasing Phantom" will look at those contenders, in additio…
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Every generation projects its frustration onto the one that preceded it and its disappointment onto the one that followed. It's a time-honored tradition, like apple pie, or desperately hoping you'll get to retire before society finishes collapsing. And Convince Me I Care, debuting on April 5th, is here to stoke those fires of resentment! Join co-ho…
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