The Gospel of Musical Theatre

7.3 Les Miserables!

Somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?
There’s no more overtly theological (or more popular) musical than Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boubil’s 1980 Les Misérables, based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel.
From Valjean and Javert to Eponine and Fantine, this musical crams more pathos, prayer, and bad wigs into three hours than any other musical we know. Do you hear the people sing?
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We talk about:
Prologue (the Bishop) / Stars / Javert’s Suicide – Javert, the police inspector, embodies a law-and-order version of the Christian gospel (shout-out to our Jansenist followers!) – and ultimately, the mercy he is shown destroys him. Are these competing atonement theories, or is there more subtlety in Les Mis’ treatment of the Christian gospel and its consequences?
I Dreamed a Dream / On My Own / A Little Fall of Rain – Fantine gets one, brief, shining moment before she dies (it's a weeper), and Eponine stands in for every alto who dreams of being the soprano – and then she dies, too. Why do most of the women in Les Mis end up dead?
Turning, Turning – "What's the use of praying if there's nobody who hears it?" In a musical where women are mostly prostitutes or virgins, the women’s chorus gives voice to one of the show’s darkest and most provocative theological questions.
Bring Him Home / Do You Hear the People Sing? – What does an evangelized life look like on the ground – and what does “somewhere beyond the barricade” really mean?
You’ll hear Colm Wilkinson, Phillip Quast, Lea Salonga, Michael Ball and Judy Kuhn from the 1995 “Dream Cast Recording.”
You’ll also hear Anne Hathaway sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the 2012 film soundtrack because she won an Oscar for it, and attention must be paid.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
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7.2 Ragtime!

Immigration, capitalism, feminism, intersectionality, and the civil rights: this musical has it all!
Flaherty & Ahren’s 1998 musical Ragtime is a big, expensive show with lots of plot (never Peter’s strong suit) – but we love this musical and what it has to say about kingdoms of power and the kingdom of God.
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Peter & Nathan make some highly controversial claims:
"Ragtime" is the greatest opening number in Broadway history.
"Daddy's Son" – Nobody sings this like Broadway’s GOAT, Audra Ann McDonald. Nathan will fight you on this.
"Henry Ford" & "Wheels of a Dream" – Is Ragtime just an extended commercial for Ford?
And we wonder together about hearing "New Music," listening for resurrection, and what it means to live faithfully "‘Til We Reach That Day."
You’ll hear Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Peter Freidman, Judy Kaye and the cast of the 1998 Original Broadway Cast.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.

Season 7: Cabaret!

What would you do? What will you do?
In the election run-up, Peter & Nathan are talking about musicals that deal with political unrest and social change (don't worry, it's still fun!). We begin with the 1966 Broadway classic Cabaret, one of the darkest, kinkiest, and most-enduring musicals of all time.
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We talk about:
– Willkommen / Two Ladies / The Money Song: The "decadence" depicted by the emcee and the performers of the Kit Kat Klub (KKK, anyone?) in 1930s Berlin on the eve of Nazism. Does Cabaret hold this very queer decadence as responsible for the rise of fascism, or is there something deeper at work?
– Married / So What / What Would You Do?   Bob Fosse’s 1972 film version of Cabaret eliminates most of the traditional musical theatre story exemplified in the romance between Fraulein Schneider & Herr Schultz. But these two characters—and the songs that Kander & Ebb wrote for them—carry much of the show’s political weight – and its emotional heart. Is Fraulein Schneider secretly Cabaret’s protagonist?
– Don’t Tell Mama & Cabaret:  We talk about one of Cabaret’s most well-known characters, Sally Bowles. What does she mean when she sings that "life is a cabaret?"
– Tomorrow Belongs to Me:  The incredible music of Cabaret – hymns, patriotic anthems, folk songs and music hall ditties – raises provocative questions about entertainment, pleasure, emotional release, and the rise of demonic ideologies. Religion traffics in some of the same territory. Is good music morally neutral... or not?
You’ll hear Joel Grey, Jill Haworth, Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford and the cast of the 1966 Original Broadway Cast – as well as Mark Lambert on the 1972 film soundtrack singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.

6.4 Frozen!

What better way to celebrate summer than with a frozen cocktail of Disney Princess mania? It’s 2013’s Frozen, beloved by aspiring Elsas and Annas, reviled by parents and caretakers who threaten to lose it if they hear “Let it Go” one more time (trigger warning: you’ll hear it in this episode).
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You’ll also hear:
Love is an Open Door: a catchy romance ballad that sets up deeper questions about true love – both in the Disney tradition and in a contemporary society where women and men are navigating complicated and often contradictory relationship patterns.
Let It Go: the power ballad to end all power ballads. Winner of the Oscar for Best Song, it’s the film’s great moment of self-actualization and release. How do we read this moment theologically? What does Elsa represent?
Fixer-Upper, Vuelie and Summer: a strong score that incorporates elements of the Broadway tradition, Sami folk singing, and some beautiful choral writing that establishes an otherworldly, mythical atmosphere for this contemporary parable.
You’ll hear Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad and the rest of the cast from the 2013 soundtrack recording.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.
 

6.3 La La Land!

“A bit of madness is key to give us new colors to see.”
Today, we continue our Summer Movie Happy Hour Fizzy Summer Tour... thing... as we talk about 2016’s contemporary take on the classic film musicals of the 1940s, 50s and 60s: LaLa Land.
2016 feels like a La La Land ago. How does this film hold up almost a decade later?
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We talk about:
"Another Day of Sun" – A great opening number that sets up the world of LaLa Land (literally Los Angeles – but in the context of the election that took place in 2016, the year this film was released, what else might LaLa Land mean?)
"Start a Fire" – John Legend’s one contribution to the soundtrack is (maybe?) the best song in the film – and gives us a different perspective on the Jazz Question, which in this film is really a question of race.
"The Fools Who Dream" – The moment that wins Emma Stone an Academy Award – her audition song (the eleven o’clock number!) love-letter toast to creatives who refuse to compromise.
You’ll hear Emma Stone, John Legend, and Ryan Gosling singing the Pasek/Patel score from the 2016 film soundtrack.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.

6.2 Barbie!

We fixed everything in the real world so all women are happy and powerful.
Just kidding... but we ARE talking about The Barbie Movie! We’re so excited to be joined by Arwen Myers, executive director of the podcast, musicals aficionado – and the person Barbie was made for – to talk about Greta Gerwig's blockbuster 2023 summer hit. Is it a musical? We think it is.
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We talk about:
"Pink" – An almost Broadway-level opening number that establishes the all-pink world of Barbieland before everything goes haywire.
"Push" – A very specific in-joke for a very specific generation of kids, and a cathartic moment for anybody who’s ever experienced mansplaining.
"The Monologue" – America Ferrera’s iconic speech about the impossible contradictions inherent in being a woman in the 21st century. It's the film’s articulation of Gospel. How is this monologue good news?
"I’m Just Ken" – The film’s most obvious musical moment – and one of the greatest production numbers of the 21st century. How do we feel about the fact that Ryan Gosling steals every scene he’s in?
"What Was I Made For?" – Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning ballad, Barbie’s eleven o’clock number, and perhaps the most pregnant question the film asks. Is Barbie a prophet? A savior?
You’ll hear Lizzo, Matchbox Twenty, America Ferrera, Ryan Gosling and Billy Eilish from the film’s 2023 soundtrack.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.
 

6.1 The Music Man!

Band Geeks of the world, unite!
We’re taking a fizzy summer tour through some of our favorite movie musicals – and what better way to observe the Fourth of July weekend in the USA than with one of the most patriotic and Americana-obsessed musicals of all time, the 1962 film version of Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man!
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We talk about:
"Rock Island" – One of the most impressive opening numbers in any musical, a laser-quick intro to the economics and social mores of early 20th-century America.
"Iowa Stubborn" – The people of River City basically tell us what assholes they are. Is this song about whiteness, small town life, or the human condition?
"Trouble" – Harold Hill’s infamous patter song. It’s like a hellfire-and-brimstone sermon, in the tradition of Jonathan Edwards and the great preachers of the Great Awakening.
"Sincere" – The role that barbershop music plays in The Music Man... and in American nostalgia for a "simpler time."
"The Wells Fargo Wagon" – What's the deal with Winthrop?
You’ll hear:
Robert Preston, Barbara Cook and the cast of the 1957 Broadway cast – because we love Shirley Jones, but there's only one Marian the Librarian.
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Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.
 

5.7 Yentl!

Papa, can you hear me?
It's the last episode of our Season of Babs, and we're going out strong! That's right: today we look at Barbra Streisand's magnum opus, the 1982 film Yentl – which she both directed and starred in.
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We talk about:
Prayer & Texts:  What it means to study sacred texts, and the critical differences between traditionally-Christian and traditionally-Jewish ways of understanding scripture.
Sexuality & Gender:  Is Yentl transphobic, or is it ahead of its time?
Leadership & Power:  Finally, a woman at the helm of a major Hollywood film! What does Barbra’s experience directing and starring in Yentl tell us about leadership and power?
Boats:  Barbra loves a ferry. What is it about boats, water, and crossing over that so compels her? How does it tie into the immigrant story and the American Dream?
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You’ll hear Barbra singing “Where Is It Written,” “No Wonder,” “Several Sins A Day” (cut from the final film) and “A Piece of Sky”.
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Never miss an episode! Sign up for our email list to get updates when new episodes are released, info about upcoming special events, and more.
________________________________
Check out some of our all-time favorites!
Phantom of the Opera
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jesus Christ Superstar!
Schmigadoon! (Season 1 / Season 2)
West Side Story!
Yentl!
Frozen!
Barbie!
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Continue the conversation with us on Instagram (@gospelofmt).