PRIDE BONUS: The Music Man!

The Gospel of Musical Theatre

To celebrate Pride Month, Peter and Nathan are joined by the incredible Isaac Lamb and Stephanie Smith, director and musical director for a new and groundbreakingly queer production of Meredith Wilson’s 1957 classic musical The Music Man – which opens at Third Rail Repertory Theatre in Portland, OR, on June 17th.

We talk about:

– Theatre and church, chamber pieces versus extravagant spectacles, and what led Meredith Wilson to create The Music Man.

– The nature of “political” casting choices, what it means for six women and non-binary actors to take on these roles, and why casting choices matter.

– Learning how to sing and learning how to play an instrument – both in the story of The Music Man and in this production, where the actors accompany themselves.

-The purity (and politics!) of joy, and why a show like The Music Man can help us imagine new possibilities in a multi-racial, multiply-abled, diverse, and rapidly changing world.

– We reference Meredith Wilson’s 1957 book But He Doesn’t Know the Territory which was reissued by University of Minnesota Press in 2020.

You’ll hear:

• Robert Preston, Barbara Cook and the company of the original New York production singing “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “My White Knight” “Sincere,” “Gary, Indiana,” “Rock Island,” “Pick-a-Little” and “Shipoopi”

Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt.