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Sondheim! The Birthday Concert [Casey and Rosa's Version] - Part 2
26 Plays6 months ago
We hope you’re ready for round 2! That’s right, Casey and Rosa are back with the second act of their dream Sondheim Birthday Concert. Using song suggestions from listeners and friends of the pod, Casey and Rosa fantasy cast 12 Sondheim numbers with divas and divos of the Broadway stage, complete with backstage gossip about our cast’s careers. You will never guess where Casey tries to cast Lea Michele, even Beanie Feldstein couldn’t have seen it coming!
Follow along with each song using our handy playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0J5FvbEZWSdE9uuuNQHXF4?si=ae1e9fd6e8314433
Credits
Artwork by @drawnatthehalf
Hosted by Casey Gwilliam, Florence Lace-Evans and Rosa Maria Alexander
Produced by Rosa Maria Alexander
SUGAR COOKIE (Piano Ver.) Music by 샛별Daystar https://youtu.be/7lqpOlVYtD0 Promoted by BGMD No Copyright Music http://tiny.cc/yf4qpz
Email: sundayonthepod@gmail.com
Instagram: @sundayonthepod
Twitter: @sundayonthepod
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090008413791
Recommended![Sondheim! The Birthday Concert [Casey and Rosa's Version] - Part 1 image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=112,quality=85/image-files/6328b4d65e0394314b97508d/ccefc715-dfe5-4604-907d-b5aa43ee4c2c.png)
Transcript
Introduction and Context
00:00:21
Speaker
Hi everyone, it's Rosie here, bringing you part two of Casey and I's dream casting for Sondheim, the birthday concert. Although Casey and I split both acts into two episodes, we actually recorded both episodes in one night and we're so delirious by the end that we forgot to record an intro to this part two. So here's me kind of sneakily recording one now as I edit.
00:00:41
Speaker
Just a reminder that you can click the link in our bio to listen to all the songs we talk about in this episode in case you want to pause and listen before you hear us come up with our own casting ideas and also let us know who you would want to see performing these iconic Sondheim numbers.
Casting 'Agony' from 'Into the Woods'
00:00:54
Speaker
Alright, without further ado here's part two of Sondheim the birthday concert, Casey and Rose's version.
00:01:05
Speaker
Okay, so this one's another two for it, so we'll cast both songs and then we will decide which one gets the cut. The first song is Agony from Into the Woods. So Agony, if you don't know, it's a comedy classic and it is the rare male comedy duet, which you kind of never really see that much. The song appears pretty early on in Act 1 and it acts as an introduction to our Prince brothers. So both single and yearning for the women that they've fallen in love with from afar, the two men in increasing melodramatic and kind of bravado showing ways,
00:01:36
Speaker
tell each other of the difficulties of loving someone who's trapped in a tower, Rapunzel, or someone that you only have the shoe of as an identifier for, so that's Cinderella. So they're kind of vanishing bravado pours out of them as they begin to compete with one another on who is in more agony and it's kind of this gorgeous critique of like the male eagle making the chase mean more than the actual prize, which hate referring to women as prizes but that's what those men do. ah ah So we need to cast the brothers then So we have Cinderella's Prince, mid thirties, baritone, he's vain, gorgeous, mel-dramatic, easily bored and distracted. And then we have Rapunzel's Prince, his brother, again, mid thirties, baritone, very similar vibes, vain, gorge, easily bored. Okay, for mine, i this was another one for me that I kind of cast in context of the concert and not in context of the show because I don't think either of these are conventionally attractive.
00:02:34
Speaker
Which sounds awful to say, but you know. um In context of having to be this gorgeous prince, I don't think either of these guys like fit into it. But I think that they both have the bravado and the kind of smarminess that it would be really funny to watch in concert. So I had Christian Ball and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
00:02:59
Speaker
That's good, they would be very funny, I think. Lin-Manuel Miranda, as much as I find him a bit annoying, he would be very funny. Yeah, and Christian Bourne can be quite like... m He's quite funny. And he's got that smarminess and like I think they could really like play the play it up on stage and it would be quite funny. Did everyone had giggle?
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah yeah yeah, it's kind of like that when they do those big like almost like sobs and then they like peek out to see if anyone's looking and seeing attention to them, like that kind of funniness. That's it, those are good shouts. I am very proud of my casting for this. So I've gone with a mix of like classic empty because it's got some, it's obviously a very jokey song and you don't need to be able to sing particularly well but it does have some nice like, but and but you need to have like a bit of a bit of girth behind you I think.
00:03:51
Speaker
So I've gone for a mix of what the film did and the Broadway show and like an homage to the Broadway show so I picked someone who is just a conventionally great musical theatre performer and then I picked like Hottie. Okay I'm so excited I think you're gonna love this. So as Cinderella's Prince because they have to sing more and they have to do a bit more acting I have Jeremy Jordan he's like the original musical theatre Hottie I also think he's very
Debating 'Agony' and Casting the Baker's Wife
00:04:18
Speaker
funny. He's kind of got that presence, I think. They really need that kind of like. burgoy So I think he would be super funny. And then as Rapunzel's Prince, who is purely there for that one song and a bit of dialogue and is essentially Arm Candy. I've got Glen Powell. Oh, good. I can see that. I think they would be so, I think Glen Powell, one of the finest new and upcoming comedic actors of his time.
00:04:46
Speaker
I really do believe that. I've never seen him in a particularly dramatic role, so I'm not going to judge that. But I actually find him very, very funny in a lot of his roles. Like he has like a very, he doesn't take himself seriously. so Yeah. I like that. We're going to go with Jeremy Jordan for Cinderella's Prince. That's for the girlies out there. And also for the girlies, for the non-musical theatre girlies, you can have Glenn Powell as Rapunzel's Prince. So the second song is Any Moment, Moment in the Woods, which is technically two songs, but they always put it together. So I'm counting it as one.
00:05:17
Speaker
moment in the woods, any moment moment in the woods, comes in the middle of Act 2 and it is Cinderella's prince who is pretty bored and already disillusioned with his marriage and he bumps into the baker's wife in the woods and he seduces her. They share a kind of brief tryst, a couple of kisses and they part ways. The baker's wife is left alone to kind of contemplate her betrayal and the consequences or inconsequences of her actions, their meaning or lack thereof.
00:05:42
Speaker
She ex essentially kind of talks through the meaning of moments in comparisons to a life led. What make it the life? Is it kind of these important moments or is it the times in between said moments? There's like a really gorgeous line that is ah my favorite which is, oh if life are only moments every now and then a bad one but if life are only moments then you never know you had one.
00:06:00
Speaker
which is, oh god, he's so good sometimes. I love you.
00:06:07
Speaker
So to cast then, we have the baker's wife. She's typically cast in her mid 30s to mid 40s usually. She's determined, she's clever, she's measured, she's mature, she's introspective, and she's a mezzo soprano. And then we have Cinderella's prince. So he doesn't really sing much, but he does like a ah little bit at the start where it's like,
00:06:27
Speaker
but but but but but but but but dooooo And he seduces her. Yes, for any moment, moment in the woods. I have Betsy Wolf. Gorgeous casting. Yeah. And you know what's so funny? I chose Jess and Lily. And they've both been jealous. So it's obviously they... Yeah, that's so funny because that is the value of it. Not just because it's waking. But yeah, I had Betsy Wolf in mind. I just think she'd slay that. I think it'd be so nice.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm so happy to give that to you. That is such a good shout. I love Jesse Wolf. A Jesse Wolf. Oh my god. I love Jesse Wolf. But oh my god, imagine them... I could see them doing like a like Betsy Wolf and Jesse Mueller doing like ah a Thelma and Louise musical. Oh yeah, see I'd love that.
00:07:20
Speaker
I don't know, that was easily cast. Thank you, big wife. And then so it would be, oh, so it would be Betsy Wolf. Are we talking slightly younger Betsy Wolf? Cause she's got to be paired with Jeremy Jordan. Um, to be fair, how old is Betsy Wolf? I'm thinking of Betsy Wolf when I watched her in Waitress, which was 2017. Yeah, I think, I think, I think ah Jeremy Jordan's actually a lot older than me. Yeah. Fantastic. So Betsy Wolf as Baker's Way.
00:07:50
Speaker
And she's having a little smoochy smooch in the forest with Jeremy Dorton as Cinderella's prince. I love as well that they don't give them any other names. They're just like Cinderella's prince. That's revenge for Curly's wife, Inn of Mice and then.
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah and actually for Baker's Wife as well. Oh yeah true.
00:08:11
Speaker
So what are we gonna do Case? Are we gonna pick Any Moment, Moment in the Woods with Betsy Wolf as the Baker's Wife and Jeremy Jordan as Cinderella's Prince? Or are we gonna pick Agony with Glenn Powell as Rapunzel's Prince and Jeremy Jordan as Cinderella's Prince?
Exploring 'Move On' from Sondheim's Acclaimed Show
00:08:26
Speaker
That's a hard choice. I quite like Agony you know. I think we should go with Agony.
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, and I would, Betsy Wolf, I love you so much, and I love Moment in the Woods, but I'm just gonna need to see Glenn Powell and Jeremy Jordan dick out on stage, please.
00:08:44
Speaker
Okay, so we're moving on, pun intended, to another two-four, ah another two-four, another two-four from Sunday in the Park with George, the first of which is move on.
00:08:59
Speaker
So if you're not familiar with Sunday in the Park with George, this is basically the show that the popular musical theatre boy who cheated on you when you were 16, this is his favourite show. I feel like we've all gone out with someone who's obsessed with Sunday in the Park with George, who sees himself as George Sarat, and then has used that as an excuse because he's got to put his art before you.
00:09:23
Speaker
Sunny in the Park with George is of course the namesake for our show. We are Sunny in the Pot and it's perhaps one of Sondheim's most loved and critically respected shows. This is kind of the definitive show about the pain and the joy of being an artist. So, Finishing the Hat is perhaps one of the best mail ballads of all time. It's a song so good that Sondheim, after he finished it in the early hours of the morning,
00:09:45
Speaker
He called her around 20 of his friends, wanting one of them to pick up just so he could talk to someone about what he had created. He was like, I think this is really, really good. And he was right, but he was very proud of it and he should have been. it's It's a beautiful song. So we're here in Act 1 with George Surratt. He's a struggling 19th century artist whose prioritization of his work instead of his romantic relationships has put his romantic relationship with Dot, who's kind of like a sparky woman of the French tone in jeopardy.
00:10:10
Speaker
In the song Finishing the Hat, George laments. I'm going to be using that word a lot, but the musical theatre, you know, it's a lot about lamenting. George laments about the obsession he has with work and how he struggles to see anyone outside of it. Despite his loneliness, George ultimately resigns himself to his fate. He knows and accepts that art will always come before anything, even his own happiness. So this is kind of a gorgeous lyric that I think everyone really likes.
00:10:35
Speaker
And when the woman that you wanted goes, you can say to yourself, well, I give what I give, but the woman who won't wait for you knows that however you live, there's a part of you always standing by, mapping out the sky, finishing the hat. It's a beautiful song. It's very moving. So we're going to cast that first. We've got George. He's typically cast in his thirties to forties. He's a tenor. He's a tortured artist. He's grumpy. He's brilliant. He's focused. So this, we don't need someone who's like a hottie with charisma.
00:11:05
Speaker
We need someone who's like introspective and kind of dark and a little bit brooding. I'm just going to go right off the bat with this one. It's Mandy Patinkin for me. He originated the role. He is the definitive George Surratt to me. Mandy Patinkin, that vibrato like no other is crazy in finishing the hat. It goes crazy. And I have watched a lot of versions of finishing the hat. Jake Gyllenhaal had a turn.
00:11:30
Speaker
Jake Gyllenhaal. It's Gyllenhaal. Have you seen that thing on HBO? No. They're like, oh Jake Gyllenhaal is here and he's like, it's Gyllenhaal. It's Gyllenhaal. It's Gyllenhaal.
00:11:45
Speaker
He had a turn back in, I think it was 2018. I could be wrong. I think it was 2018. He did a revival of Sunday in the Park with George with Annalee Ashford to kind of critical acclaim. Look, he's good, but he's no petink. He's no petink to me. I mean, I still stayed away from casting the people in the roles you've already done. Yeah, that's very fair. So for me, I went with Victor Garber.
00:12:15
Speaker
Oh, that's a very good casting for George. Victor Garber, again, should be more famous. Yeah, i he's got such a beautiful voice and not like the best showcasing it. Well, actually it is, but I love him in the um the Disney version of Annie. Have you seen the film?
00:12:35
Speaker
so this i don't think So there's obviously, there's Annie that's like the 1979, I wanna say. It's not the rules burn, Annie. No, no, no. We don't talk about that, Annie. Okay. I love that, Annie. I love that. I hate that, Annie. I'm just like, what have you done to all of my songs? um And also they got rid of Lily St. Regis in that version of Annie. She does Certainly Purpose in that version, but also what?
00:13:04
Speaker
No, so there's like, is it 79? I really want to say 79. I want to say 79. The 1979 version of Annie, which is like, um Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tim Corey, there's that version of Annie.
00:13:21
Speaker
And then in 1999, which is a lot lesser known, I feel like not as many people have seen this, but I was such, like Annie was my favorite film as a child. So I loved this version as well as the carbonette version. So there's a 1999 like Disney made for television version of Annie.
00:13:39
Speaker
in which, oh wow, what? And Victor Garber's in it. And please watch that one more much. Yeah, Victor Garber's daddy war books. And it is brilliant. Oh, he's so good in it. And that gives me George vibes of like the grumpy, serious, like. Yeah, Heart of Gold, but it's bad at showing it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, do you know what? You have conceded quite a few to me. So I'm, I can't believe I'm saying this, Mandy Patinkin,
00:14:09
Speaker
I'm like, give me strength. I'm so sorry. I love you wherever you are. I'm hoping that we can use him later on. Yes. But I am happy to concede and give you Victor Garber because I think he would do a very good job. Yeah.
00:14:23
Speaker
Okay. Oh my god. I'm literally like Queen Latifah, give her strength. I'm so anxious. But I just also, shout out, if anyone's watched that version of Annie, it's brilliant because you have Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks, Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan. That's so good. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm missing that. Kristen Chenoweth as Lily St Regis, and Alan Cumming as Rooster.
00:14:49
Speaker
Oh my god, why have I never watched this? You need to watch it, it's brilliant. And then also Sarah Hyland is in it as Molly. Sarah Hyland? Sarah Hyland? Sarah Hyland! Also, but um whilst we're on the subject of Annie films, I don't talk about the 2014 version because it sucks. What with Rose Brennan and Jimmy Fox? that um There is also a folk called Annie Too in which it isn't a musical. Oh, I've seen Annie Too. Annie Too with Joan Collins in Bookingham Palace. Love that. How cramp can you get? Anyway, yeah. So that was my that was my argument for Victor Garber. No, I'm here for Victor Garber. I'm gonna watch that version of Annie. That sounds so good. That's so good.
Casting 'Unworthy of Your Love' from 'Assassins'
00:15:36
Speaker
Definitely watch it.
00:15:38
Speaker
So our second number from Sunday in the Park with George that we are going to have to cast and then potentially cut. So let's keep Victor Garber in mind. It is move on. So this is probably one of the best and most emotional uses of like a repeating motif in musical theatre history. So set the scene.
00:15:58
Speaker
In act one, Dot, who's heavily pregnant with George's child and engaged to another man called Louie, my ever man who loves Louie. Also, as a small side note, ah in that song everybody loves Louie. I only ever just got the pun even, it was only a couple months ago that I first got the pun um because Louie's a baker and Dot says,
00:16:18
Speaker
in bed he needs me and i always thought oh that's like cute like he needs me and what she's meaning is like he needs me like he's tossed her a ranch like i mean because she goes i mean he needs me i was like oh So never clocked that before. But yes, so Dott is heavily pregnant and she is fed up with George's kind of lack of care and prioritisation of power. So she angrily leaves him, kind of lambasting him in the process for his selfishness and his cruelty in the face of her affection. George tries his best to argue with Dott, but she's irate and dignified to the very last word. And she says, we do not belong together, which is the title of the song. So we're now skipping two towards the end of Act Two.
00:17:03
Speaker
We're half a, no, we're a whole century later, kind of don't worry about it. We're now with like George's great grandson, George, who's also a struggling artist. Don't worry about that. Like once you watch it, it all makes sense. So he's a struggling artist. He's also a bit disillusioned with the art world and he's feeling like maybe he should be giving it all up. So in the kind of like cross-century spiritual magic of thesir moment, Dot appears to George great-grandchild George and she comforts him but as her as if she's talking to George of her day of 19th century George and she is very sweet to him and she tells him not to worry about the choices that he makes as long as he makes them and not to worry about what anyone else thinks as long as he continues to make new art so it's this kind of like beautiful beautiful moving duet where she comforts him from across another century but they use the same motif as we did not belong together
00:17:58
Speaker
And she says, we should have belonged together, which is so moving. I'm very excited to cast this. So we obviously have our George, which is Victor Garber. And we need to cast our Dot. Typically she is cast in her late 20s, early 30s. She's a mitzvah soprano. She's confident. She's bold. She's charismatic. She is unafraid of anything apart from people half ass and stuff. She's like, if you're gonna do it, do it. I had for this one,
00:18:28
Speaker
Obviously, Bernadette P. Sears played the original part. I wanted to stay away from that, even though I failed with Patinko. I was like, it needs to be Patinko. So what I've decided to do, I've gone with a similar cast out. I've gone for Barbra Streisand, specifically the Way We Were era Barbra Streisand. Yes, love that. I went for Madeline Kahn. Oh, very nice, yeah. But I think Barbra Streisand wins that.
00:18:58
Speaker
Madeline Khan, I love you babe. I know, I feel like we both let down our idols, you love Madeline Khan. I do, I love Madeline Khan. We'll find a place for her somewhere. Oh my god, I'm nervous now because we're we're almost done. There's like so many people. We're gonna have to we're gonna have to do this again. Yeah. Oh my god. So, I mean, I would literally pay so much money, like literally take my money to see a read, like to see Sunday in the Park with George with the way we were at Europe Barbara Streisand playing Dot and Victor Garber, who I think we've talked about it on this pub before. I've always thought was hot. That man is a hot tea.
00:19:35
Speaker
Um, a young Victor Garber playing George Surratt. But now we've got to choose. Do we want to have, I mean, I think we know the answer. but Do we want to have finishing the hat, which is obviously such a beautiful song or do we want to have move on the duet? I think the duet. It's got to be the duet because otherwise we're killing Barbra Streisand and I can't do that. Yeah, definitely. All right.
00:20:00
Speaker
We are now on to another lesser known Sondheim musical but I'm gonna go out here and I'm gonna say this is my favorite Sondheim musical of all time which is a crazy statement to make that I'm making it. This number is Unworthy of Your Love from the musical Assassins. So if you don't know Assassins honestly get to know very topical at the time of recording because we obviously just had the first American assassination attempt since 1981 which I believe was I wanna say it was John Hinckley Jr., but I think that could be, I think that is right. I think it's John Hinckley Jr. in 1981. Heavy on the attempt. Heavy on the attempt. Heavy on the attempt. Obviously we don't condone violence. No. We don't condone violence.
00:20:42
Speaker
but also
00:20:49
Speaker
So if you don't know about Assassins, Assassins tells the story of the attempted and successful assassination attempts of American presidents, from Abraham Lincoln all the way up to 1981 John Hinckley Jr. He tells their stories thematically, so rather than a kind of linear timeline with each attempt, all of the Assassins are gathered in this kind of shoozing gallery.
00:21:08
Speaker
with the balladeer who kind of acts as an orator kind of bringing them together. So they all interact with one another kind of cross generationally. So the musicals kind of often misunderstood. It didn't really fare well with American audiences because obviously it's a sensitive subject matter. People kind of view it as like an attack on patriotism. I don't believe it is that obviously I'm not American. um So this is like an outsider's perspective on it. I actually think it's more of a critique on capitalism and the kind of violence and disillusionment that economic and social hierarchical power structures produce. And it essentially runs on the kind of Emma Goldman thesis who appears in a really gorgeous scene in the show of society gets the criminals it deserves. That's all Sondheim's saying. He's saying there is a reason why America has so many would-be assassins on their books and it is because unfortunately that's the way that the you know the system produces those people it produces the kind of disillusionment.
Diving into 'Follies' and Character Casting
00:22:06
Speaker
So despite the heavy chat, the show is a whackay with a capital way. It's whacking Phoenix. Unworthy of Your Love is perhaps one of the most sincere love songs and the weirdest love songs I've ever heard. So it has two characters kind of unbeknownst to one another lamenting on their unrequited affections and perceived unworthiness of love itself.
00:22:27
Speaker
Sounds pretty standard until you reveal that the characters singing are Lynette Squeaky Fromme, who is one of the Manson girlies, and John Hinckley Jr, who was attempted to assassinate Reagan and also was obsessed with Jodie Foster. Yeah, it's really weird. ah So they are essentially talking about their love for Charles Manson and Jodie Foster, so it's a love duet.
00:22:50
Speaker
for Charles Manson and Jodie Foster, very odd. So we have two people to cast then, we have Squeaky Frome, she's mid-20s, she is essentially like a murderous manic pixie dream girl, she's a bit annoying and she's very obsessive ah but she's also kind of a bit cool. She's a soprano and then we have John Hinckley Jr who is mid-20s, Mel and Colic,
00:23:12
Speaker
bit of an incel like total one of those like pretty girls don't go for girls like me and it's like maybe because you're quite nasty about women he is pretty depressive and he yearns for a kind of romantic love which he sees in Jodie Foster and he is a tenner also fun fact John Hinckley Jr out of jail now how crazy is that just like walking around just walking around and he's got like a music career It's like just putting songs up on YouTube. For me, I had Alex Brightman. Ooh, oh, gorgeous. As Mr. Jay Hinckley. And then kind of another curveball for me, but I put out Jane Krakowski as Lynette. I would just love to see that. I think she'd be great. She is
00:24:09
Speaker
such a musical theatre veteran and she's really not talked about enough in the musical theatre world I think. Just brilliant. I completely agree. That is such a good suggestion, Jane Krakowski. I have her for another thing but I can't believe I didn't think of that because she has that kind of quirkiness. Yeah. So I had, I actually had birded at pete a young Bernadette Peacers for this because I think she would be so funny and she kind of has again that kind of like, it's quite nasally, she's like charlie yeah unworthy like i think bernadette would and i think bernadette would do the sincerity of it very well which would play into the humor but i also put bernadette there because who i had for john hinkley jr is a young john c riley oh cute yes and i kind of think he would eat that like i just think he would be i kind of think he would
00:25:06
Speaker
I think he would be so, yeah, just he has that vibe and he can do those like, he's so funny, but he can do those like very, he's such a brilliant dramatic actor as well. Oh, I like that. I feel like this is gonna be a fight. Oh my God, I'm gonna get Liza up and see what she says. Oh, she says I'm crying. What do you think Liza Manelli? Do you think John C. Reilly?
00:25:37
Speaker
Okay, do you think Alex Brightman? she said Oh my God, she said, I hate Alex. She said, get it away from me. Okay, baby, that's all right. She says, mum, can I go outside, please? Okay, I'm gonna get i'm goingnna leave this one up to you, I think. So we've got Bernadette Peters and we've got John C. Reilly versus Alex Brightman and Jane Krakowski.
00:26:06
Speaker
Okay, I'll go with yours. I'm going to let you have that. Oh, no. And now I'm thinking maybe John C. Rayleigh and Jane Kirkhurst. Yeah, I'd like that. I think they would be they would play off each other quite well. Yeah. Okay, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm locking it in. Have we put Bernadette anywhere else? that's That was my honour. No, and I'm getting slightly concerned. yeah But do you know what? We can always do another round of this in a year. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
That's great. I mean, again, show it to me, Rachel. Like I want to see Young Worthy of Your Love with young Jane Krakowski and young John C. Riley. Oh my God, it'd be so good. Okay, we have You're Gonna Love Tomorrow, Love Will See Us Through Medley from Follies. One of the only successful Broadway shows to center its narrative on older women, which I've always thought was really cool. Thank you sometime.
00:26:58
Speaker
Decades after they performed together on stage, women of the Weissman Girls Ruby Show, which is based on the Ziegfeld Volleys, reunite in the crumbling theatre that they once danced on. The women have old scores to settle as the plot jumps between the women on their reunion night and their 1920s counterpart selves, and we see the story of two couples, Sally and Buddy, and Phyllis and Ben.
00:27:17
Speaker
Sally has spent a lifetime yearning for Ben as they were once lovers before he decided to marry her roommate Phyllis and she's jealous of the life Phyllis now lives with him as they are kind of quite affluent and quite popular. Phyllis and Ben are in a loveless marriage and Buddy, despite his devotion to Sally, he dreams of the woman that he should have married. It's basically a big old mess, a road's not taken and the grass always being greener on the other side.
00:27:42
Speaker
In this mashup, in Act 2, you're gonna love tomorrow, love will see us through, we see the two couples in their kind of 1920s selves, in their youth, and they're talking excitedly of their futures together and how love will sustain them. So we have four people to cast here. We have Buddy, who's in his mid-20s, he's charismatic, he's loving, he's very bubbly, and he's a baritone. We have Ben, who's in his mid-20s, he's driven, suave, confident, slightly arrogant, he's a baritone.
00:28:07
Speaker
We have Sally, early 20s, petite, sweet, naive, and romantic. And she is a soprano, a mental soprano. And we have Phyllis, who's in her early 20s as well. She's focused, she's self-assured, she's intelligent, and she's an alto. I am very excited to hear what you have down for this. Okay, so mine was kind of like a mishmash. So for Buddy, I had Drew Galing.
00:28:30
Speaker
Ooh, gorgeous. I just was like, oh, I love that. um And then partnering him, I had, this is where I had Kristin Chenoweth for Further Down the List, but younger Kristin Chenoweth, like I'm thinking like early 90s. For Sally? Yes, yeah. im Just because, especially when you listen to that song and how high the soprano is, I just think she'd kill it.
Romantic Themes in 'West Side Story'
00:29:00
Speaker
and And also I think like younger Kristin Chenoweth doesn't get as much credit. Like she was so good. I mean, she's amazing now, but like early nineties Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway. I love that. Well, that's like the big thing with Wicked is the Idina Menzel, like obviously she was known from Ren, but she wasn't like Kristin Chenoweth was the like the star casting of that. yeah yeah And then obviously Idina Menzel was so good that it kind of evened them out. But like the critics were initially like Kristin Chenoweth starring in a new musical called Wicked. Like that was the kind of exciting yeah exciting thing. And then I had, which is kind of out of nowhere, but I just love him. I had Alan Cumming for Ben. Oh, interesting. um I'm thinking of him like just before
00:29:54
Speaker
90s cabaret like in his like suave era yeah and it's because in his like uh straight male sexy era yeah and also if you you need to watch that version of annie because he plays rooster in that and he's just brilliant like he just gives off tim curry vibes from the original film like he does it really well but then adds his own little like bit more He's a bit more smarmy in that one, I like him. And I paired him with a Sutton Foster, a young Sutton Foster. Ooh, for Phyllis. For Phyllis, yeah. i We're matching. I had Sutton Foster for Phyllis too. Love that! Yeah, it's just perfect casting for Phyllis, Sutton Foster. like And even, I'm saying like a bit younger, just because the girls are meant to be like yeah yeah in their late teens, early 20s.
00:30:47
Speaker
But like Sutton Foster could play that now. What I'm trying to say is like it's not a factor of like Sutton Foster. does not She looks so beautiful. And to be honest, like on stage, I think she plays so young still. So like she could just do that now. OK, definitely locked in Sutton Foster for Phyllis. For Sally, I had Annalee Ashford, but I'm actually thinking that Kristin Chenoweth is very good as well. Like a young Kristin Chenoweth.
00:31:19
Speaker
like very vulnerable yeah okay love that um so my suggestion for ben was jonathan groff oh i've got him for the next one oh okay fine that's fine okay i'm like okay fine um but oh i don't know and then i have tony yasbeck for buddy so tony yasbeck uh famous good broadway star he was in on the town like he's very like he's very classic kind of like he's got like a bit of a Frank Sinatra vibe. Is his daughter Amy Asbeck? I believe so. Oh my god, yes. I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,
00:32:09
Speaker
is I'm actually thinking maybe instead of Jim, I think maybe Tony Yazbek, because i I kind of did think he could do Buddy Obed, I would maybe swap Tony Yazbek for Alan. I would, for Alan. Yeah, I like that. It's like crazy.
00:32:27
Speaker
No, no, that's cute, I like that. Okay, that is shaping up to a really nice red edition of Follies. We have this young buddy, we have Drew Gehling as young Ben, we have Tony Yazbek as young Sally, we have Kristin Chenoweth and we have as young Phyllis Sutton Foster. all They are all obviously a bit older now, those actors, but we are imagining them at their playing age ah of these characters. Gorgeous!
00:32:52
Speaker
Okay, so on to our penultimate pick now. Ah, it's getting so close to the end. We have, I mean, how could we have done a Sondheim show without particularly this number, but just any song from the show? We have the gorgeous Tonight Duet from West Side Story.
00:33:10
Speaker
His first, one of his best, contributing only lyrics in the powerhouse of Leonard Bernstein on Jerome Robbins on choreo and direction, Arthur Laurent's on book and Hal Prince on producing. West Side Story debuted to be one of the most successful and well revered Broadway shows of all type. It tells the story of Romeo and Juliet, but written within the context of the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the fifties and within kind of two rival gangs. We have the Puerto Rican Sharks and the kind of Wasp Jets.
00:33:40
Speaker
They star as the kind of rivaling families and the plot follows Tony, who's a member of the Jets, and Maria, whose brother leads the Sharks as they kind of navigate their star-crossed love. And unfortunately, it's ultimate violent end.
00:33:53
Speaker
So this musical, West Side Story, again, you can listen to our podcast on it, one of our early ones. I mean, it's hard to pick what's the most beautiful song from West Side Story. It's so, so gorgeous. But the tonight duet is possibly one of the most beautiful numbers. So it appears really early on in act one, just after Tony and Maria meet at the rumble at the gym, they kind of immediately fall in love, but they haven't ever spoken.
00:34:18
Speaker
um And in the tonight duet, we kind of see the couple flirt, fall and confess their love ah to one another through canna these soaring melodies and this beautiful star-filled romantic imagery. It is beautiful. So we've got a cast. Maria?
Complex Themes in 'Merrily We Roll Along'
00:34:35
Speaker
I mean, it's it's crazy. I'm like talking about this as if people don't know. But yeah, we've got to cast Tonia Maria, two of the most famous roles of all time. and Maria, she is typically late teens to early twenties. She's innocent, a little ethereal. She's sweet. She's romantic. She's soft. And she is a high, high soprano.
00:34:53
Speaker
and then we have Tony, early 20s to kind of mid 20s, he's a dreamer, he's offbeat, he's sincere and he's a real independent thinker and he is a tenor. This is a pretty hard pick, I can understand why you selected Jonathan Groff for this, he has such a gorgeous voice that I think really lends itself and he's just so good at acting, you need like because it's a social experience. I think you need to like those beats. Yeah. I suggested for Tony Aaron to that. Okay. Yeah, I could see that. Oh, oh now I'm struck. Who did you have for Maria?
00:35:34
Speaker
Okay, so Maria, I found it really hard to choose because it's like, there's just so many amazing people, but um as we all know, there was a 2021 Steven Spielberg adaption of the movie West Side Story that had a, it kind of flopped, which was a shame because critics love the film and I really loved it. I thought it was a really good adaption, but there was some issues around the leading, I'm not even gonna say his name, but the leading male a character, so the the actor that played Tony,
00:36:02
Speaker
um there was just some drama around him and I think it really negatively affected the film. But the, ah you know, now a very famous actress, Rachel Ziegler, who played Maria, that was her kind of, that was meant to be her big breakout. And unfortunately, because the film kind of got a ignored it kind of got ignored because of this drama, I always felt like she never really got recognised for how good she is in that role. So I wanted to give her the second chance. Like, I want to give her the moment that she deserves as Maria.
00:36:34
Speaker
I kind of don't like Rachel Zingla. She was very annoying in the Hunger Games pilot. Yeah, she was. But that wasn't her fault. I don't think I think that was just a really badly written film. I think she's a good actress. I just, I don't really like her. mur ah To be fair, my Maria was kind of a throwaway and wasn't really well suited because I have Liam Shaw.
00:37:02
Speaker
Oh, right, right. I like it, it's Rachel's day group. I'm paying my bedtime. Oh, then you can't. All right, Leah Michelle, babe, please. Oh, Leah Michelle and Jonathan Groff. Yeah, I just was like, oh, I love that. I like i like them together. They have some so And also, she sang it greatly, so. I mean, I love non-Porturican Leah Michelle.
00:37:29
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not, I'm sorry. i Unless she is Puerto Rican, I can't approve the casting. Unless she has any Hispanic ties. I'm gonna have to, I'm pulling rank here. Rank, I'm pulling, I don't know what I'm pulling. I'm pulling... It's Rachel Ziegler. But I will give you Jonathan Groff, even though I do believe that Aaron Tibet would be gorgeous. I i can really see Jonathan Groff. Yeah.
00:37:59
Speaker
I'm not even that bothered. Maria, I think it's really boring. There, I said it. Maria is boring and she's an and she's a bad friend to Ania. Yeah. ah But Jonathan, I just can't believe it. You trying to sneak in Leah Michelle is so funny to me. No. No, babe. No, babe.
00:38:26
Speaker
I also just want to give an honorable shout out to like, if I could have this and yeah, if I could have this on stage, I would, but I don't think it would be possible. We've talked about it so many times before. Anyone who's ever met me, I've shown this. Cher once did, for some unbeknownst reason in the nineties, a 12 minute medley of different songs from my side story, where she played every single part.
00:38:52
Speaker
in different costumes on a green screen, and it was cut together professionally. It's amazing, we'll put it on the socials. She does, obviously it's quite funny throughout, she's playing different jets and stuff. Then she does possibly the best rendition of a boy like that where she plays both Maria and Anita I've ever seen in my life. And her voice. I'm sure we've mentioned this in so many parts, I love that. Yeah, people are like, ah we we know, but babe.
00:39:21
Speaker
that's I want it on my gravestone. I'm like, I'll just have a QR code in my gravestone and it'll be a link to that. That's how strongly I feel about it. Love you, Cher. And here we are, right at the end of our, this is the last song, it's the final song of our Sondheim birthday concert.
Reflections and Future Possibilities
00:39:42
Speaker
And it's very fitting because it's the name of essentially like, I imagine this was the spin-off after he died, they did the old friends concert which
00:39:52
Speaker
ah transferred from Broadway to the UK. I am not too up on the lore behind that but what I'm imagining, I know it was like part of a ah televised thing, I imagine this was came out of his death and it was in honour of the kind of the birthday concerts. So we thought what better choice to have than old friends part two from merrily we roll along. So Merrily. A critically divisive show. It was completely panned upon release but has since kind of been like re-evaluated and like critically re-evaluated and has gained favour with the critics especially after this kind of recent 2023 Broadway revival which starred Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe. All three by the way nominated for Tony's with
00:40:39
Speaker
Groff and Radcliffe both winning theirs. I kind of think Lindsay Eamon does deserve power roots as well, although Casey hates her. Verily We Roll Along tells the story of three friends and studies how friendship shifts, evolves and devolves over a lifetime, told kind of unchronologically. Old Friends Part Two appears towards the end of Act One. So we have Frank, who's this hotshot film producer,
00:41:03
Speaker
He wants to option a film version of a show that he wrote with his old friend and previous collaborator's stage show called Musical Husbands musical husbands and ah so he can pay for his divorce settlement. Charlie, his old friend and collaborator, is really angry with Frank. He believes that he no longer wants to collaborate with him, that he's sold out.
00:41:23
Speaker
and So he kind of rebuffs him pretty angrily. Their other friend, Mary, who used to be roommates with Frank and is kind of in love with him. She's been in love with him for quite a few years. She's a theatre critic. She decides to intervene and she tries to kind of calm the waters between the pair and she talks about how their friendship has evolved over time and what friendships like. It's a kind of a pretty chaotic song. It's tension filled. It's pretty funny and it's kind of like an ode to friendship and the troubles that come with it.
00:41:52
Speaker
So we've got a cast. Franklin, he is kind of like a former optimist. He's jaded by the industry. He's charismatic. He's rotatious. He's kind of tragic. He's tormented. He's an artist, but he's a... And then we have Mary Flynn. She's kind of sardonic. She's witty. She's a little bitter sometimes. And she's very, very clever. She's a mezzo soprano. And then we have Charlie. So he is again, once an optimist,
00:42:19
Speaker
now just stubborn frustrated and bitter at his friends kind of successes. He's incredibly intelligent as well and he is a tenner. So last casting case, how are you feeling? It's been a long night. I quite like my casting on this one but I don't think it's gonna be as good as what yours will be.
00:42:42
Speaker
Oh no, I think I kind of fluffed it a little bit with this last casting. Well, I kind of just was thinking of like a nice mishmash of people that I'd like to see. Okay, hit me. Okay, so I went with Meghan Hilty. Okay, I should have known that Meghan Hilty was going to make an appearance.
00:43:01
Speaker
yeah Then it's talking Christopher Fitzgerald, because I just adore Christopher Fitzgerald. Oh, that's a very nice choice for tarantulas. Yeah. Yeah. um And then I feel like I kind of fussed it with the last one and I put in Anthony Rapp. I just couldn't think of any one that was getting really stuck.
00:43:24
Speaker
Well, I think
Closing Remarks and Listener Appreciation
00:43:25
Speaker
I can help you out here, Dalton. This was a bit of a mashup. For Mary, I had Beanie Feldstein, because I kind of thought she would be quite funny in that role. um And she's got a kind of, I think, a voice that matches. Then for Charlie, I had a very young Nathan Lane. Oh, well, that kind of ties in with the Christopher Fisher because I think they're both very funny and like got that kind of the same kind of vibes.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think it's good. They've got that kind of, they can do that duality of like comedy and quite serious acting as well, I think. Yeah. And then for Franklin, this is where I used to get Aaron Tvett and I kind of do stand by that. Yeah, yeah, he's much better than. Aaron Tvett, no, like this is Aaron Tvett. Yeah, I like that.
00:44:16
Speaker
Although I'm happy to keep with, uh, Christopher Fitzgerald and maybe Beanie Feldstein could understudy. Yeah. I think Megan Hilty needs to be in it. You're like, sorry. I think i love Beanie Feldstein, but she upset me a little bit in Funny Girl.
00:44:39
Speaker
But then I just feel... I was very on the fence with funny... What did she do? But like, I... She just didn't... I... No, honestly, I wanted to give her a fair shot. So the reviews were obviously terrible. They were nasty. And then it made me not want to go see it. Like, I was in New York, funny girl was on and I didn't buy tickets. Do you know what I mean? Because I was like, oh, it's gonna, it's gonna ruin it for me. Yeah, yeah.
00:45:04
Speaker
Oh, but I was so glad I went in the end. and But then I entered the ticket lottery and we won the lottery. Like, so it was like $20 per ticket. So then I was like, um and it was literally like middle of the stalls. as I was like, oh my God, we have to go. So we went and Sarah really enjoyed it actually, but I enjoyed it. But I just think the reviews have been so bad that I think Beanie was just done with it to the point, like this was right near the end. she like fawning it in I think she was just like, people tell me I'm shit.
00:45:33
Speaker
And it felt really sorry for her because I was a bit like, no, I can see that casting. But like there was just small things. like i She tripped over a bag on stage. And rather than like playing into it, which I think would have been so Fanny Brice, she just liket pretended it didn't happen. And then it was kind of even more embarrassing. like she treated like And it was real yeah it was right at the beginning like when Fanny's really like young and determined.
00:46:03
Speaker
sorry that's
00:46:11
Speaker
Anyway, when she's kind of like really young and optimistic and like, got loads of energy and is really like determined. And Beanie Fell's team like, like literally fell over a bucket.
00:46:22
Speaker
And then just like kind of carried on as if that hadn't happened. And I was like, I mean, it just shows that she was clearly really in in her head. Yeah, that's what I mean. And I think you could have had so much fun with that and just she could have had more fun with it in general, I think. Yeah. Oh, Barbra Streisand would have like.
00:46:39
Speaker
kicked the bucket in like a kind of mock rage thing. she And then she would have like come back in another scene and kicked the bucket again. Do you know what I mean? She's just just kind of had more fun with it, but then literally the day the day we left New York, sat at the airport, what happens? Leah Michelle Castle now. Leah Michelle Castle now. And we love Leah Michelle. She's a bad person, but what could she say?
00:47:08
Speaker
Yeah, actually, I'm gonna clarify this. You don't love Lea Michele because she's a terrible person, she's a horrible racist, we don't like that. Okay, don't wanna get sued by Lea Michele. She has allegations of racism and abuse. and abuse. Please don't sue me, Lea Michele. You don't love Lea Michele, you love Rachel Berry. I do love Rachel Berry. And I just think Lea Michele's a great performer. so And then what I did, like I was playing Switzerland here,
00:47:38
Speaker
ah So many people when be meet like when the casting came out about Beanie, so many people mocked Lea Michele. ah like I know, and then she kind of did win that. She did. Because it was like, well, who are you going to call her? Yeah. And it was like, we'll leave it to her. Everyone was like, ha ha. Funny it was going to Broadway, and you're not in it. And then the reviews came out about Beanie, and then they were like, oh, Liam Shaw, do you want to be in it? And she was like, yep. And then she kind of saved that show. People really loved her. She got great reviews. And I bet she was incredible. I've seen some of the things, and she was incredible. But that is just one of the roles that she was born to play. So you know what I mean? I think... I think...
00:48:17
Speaker
And also in the Glee universe technically it's nice to see the parallel of yeah Rachel getting her drink. Yeah. So as a person... Sorry Beanie Feldstein. As a person, but you know. So in terms of context of this, I think Meghan Hilty would have more fun with it. Meghan Hilty like, I mean Meghan Hilty now, she's only in her 40s, but I think I'm thinking like nine to five, like 2009, nine to five wicked era Meghan Hilty.
00:48:48
Speaker
Yeah, got you. Well, I think it can be this year at Meghan Hilty because that show covers so many light covers. True. True. So you kind of almost need to be in your like 30s for it to work. I think 30s 40s for it to work because people will suspend their disbelief that it's always them when they're younger, but it's harder to act up older, I think. Yeah.
00:49:11
Speaker
I think that sounds great. For old friends, part two for Merrily We Roll Along, we have Meghan Hilty as Mary, we have Christopher Fitzgerald as Charlie, and we have Aaron Tvett, the original It Boy, I will say. I said that about Jeremy Jordan, I was wrong. Aaron Tvett was the original It Boy, as Franklin.
00:49:32
Speaker
So that's it, we've casted our entire Sondheim birthday concert. So going through, at the start of act one, we have Worst Pies in London from Sweeney Todd with 80s Lily Tomlin, and of course Mandy Patinkin. Next we have that You Could Drive a Person Crazy from company, and in that we have Goldie Horn as April, Marta is Cher, and then we have Jessie Buckley as Kathy, which is a lovely little trio we have there.
00:50:02
Speaker
Next, we have Rose's turn from Gypsy with Powerhouse Megan Mullally, who I will stand by, would be absolutely incredible. Giving it to her now, give another Tony. Moving on, we have A Weekend in the Country from A Little Night Music, starring young Jenna Coleman as Petra, a younger Joanna Gleason as Charlotte, a very young Kristin Chenoweth as Anne. Friedrich, we have our NPH who we're just using as a throwaway there.
00:50:32
Speaker
Carl Magnus, we have- He will not be paid for his appearance. No. Carl Magnus, we have Danny Burstein and Henrik, we have Mike Faste. And then I read from Passion, we have Blue Velvet era, Isabella Rossellini and her young girl Raoul Esparza. We've got Everybody Says Don't from Anyone Can Whistle with Liza Minelli in her Liza with a Z era. Absolutely iconic.
00:50:58
Speaker
Then opening up act two, we've got Agony from Into the Woods with Glenn Powell as Rapunzel's Prince and Jeremy Jordan as Cinderella's Prince. That I am literally so excited for. It would be so great. ah Next, moving on to, I'm quite excited for this. Moving on, we've got Move On from Sunday in the Park with George.
00:51:20
Speaker
And for that, we have Victor Garber as George, which is going to be so cute. Love him. And then for Dot, we have art the way we were here at Barbra Streisand, which absolute legend. I want to buy all the tickets to see that production now. but Yeah, I'm mean going to need a fan cam now. After that, we've got Unworthy of Your Love from Assassins, with John C. Reilly as John Hinckley, Jr. and ah Jung-Jinkowski as Lynette, which I think is stunning casting.
00:51:50
Speaker
That's stunning casting. And I put John C. Reilly in more musicals, please. Yes. Yes. After that, we have You're Gonna Love Tomorrow slash Love Will See Us Through from Follies with Drew Gehling as a young buddy, Tony Yazbek as Ben, Christian Chenoweth as Sally and Sutton Foster as Phyllis, which I believe is the only casting that we actually chose the same of before we we did this.
00:52:16
Speaker
Sutton Foster. I think it was pretty similar. We had yeah we had Sutton Foster was the same. Yeah. Then for tonight from West Side Story, we had Jonathan Groff as Tony and Rachel Ziegler as Maria. And then finishing us off, closing the show, we have old friends from Merrily We Roll Along with Meghan Hilty as Mary, Christopher Fitzgerald as Charlie and Aaron Tvey as Franklin.
00:52:44
Speaker
Oh my god, sorry. Let's start the casting business now. Absolutely. These ticket prices would be insane. Insane. And also, can I just say, I think we could still make this happen. Most of these people are still alive. I think bar one. Yeah. No, I think all of them, most of these people. All of them are still alive. Yeah, all of them are still alive.
00:53:09
Speaker
yeah All of these people are still alive. If Abba can do Abba Voyage and project themselves younger, I'm not talking about AI, but I would need to have the performers perform. We just do like an age regression thing with all of their consent. I'm not here for the AI stealing of faces. But if they can make it happen with Abba Voyage, there's no way that they can't make this happen. There is six years until sometimes 100th birthday anniversary. Make it happen, guys. Make it happen.
00:53:38
Speaker
get Pay Barbara her money. Send her her cheque. Send that woman her cheque. And you know, it's definitely a million. they're like Her Hyde Park performance, there's no way that she'd go out of bed for less than $1 million. dollars No.
00:54:01
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us on these extra special Casey and Rosa editions of Sunday on the Pod. We have had an absolute blast. casting act one, act two of Sondheim, the birthday concert, Casey and Rose's version. We will definitely be doing this in the future, well maybe give it a year because I feel like I'm yapped out, but we should definitely do this again. Just a reminder that you should keep up with us on social media, we post little snippets of what we've been talking about in this episode, we'll be posting about our cast, we will be posting little snippets of videos that we've talked about from previous birthday concerts,
00:54:33
Speaker
We're at Sunday on the Pod on Instagram and X. and You can also find us on our Facebook page which is Sunday on the Pod. Also don't forget, you can click the Spotify link in our episode description and that will take you to curated playlist with all of the numbers that we've been talking about, our favourite versions of people singing them. Don't come for me if it's not your favourite version, it's Casey and Rosa's version. Thank you so much for joining us guys on this wild adventure. We have had so much fun. It's been an absolute dream to cast this. See you on the next one. Bye!