Episodes
Friday May 06, 2022
3.9 Sunday in the Park with George!
Friday May 06, 2022
Friday May 06, 2022
It's time for Peter’s favorite Sondheim musical: Sunday in the Park with George!
Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1985 musical masterpiece is a beautiful meditation on art and art-making. We love this show, and we hope you will too.
We talk about:
- Making art, preaching sermons, and the art of living – and suffering & failure in art... and life
- Noticing & cultivating attention as a spiritual practice
- The relational power of art – and the challenge of living with artists!
- The multi-faceted nature of the word (and the hymn!) "Sunday:" a day of rest, a day of sabbath, the finding of shalom
You’ll hear:
- Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin and the cast of the Original Broadway Cast Recording (1984) singing "Putting It Together," "Finishing the Hat," "We Do Not Belong Together," "Sunday Hymn," "The Day Off," "It’s Hot Up Here," and "Move On"
Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt.
Friday Apr 22, 2022
3.8 Merrily We Roll Along!
Friday Apr 22, 2022
Friday Apr 22, 2022
Peter & Nathan's keep rolling through the Sondheim oeuvre with his most notorious "flop," the 1981 Merrily We Roll Along!
Is it really a bitter, nihilistic look at growing older? Or is there actually something—dare we say—holy at work in this experimental, bittersweet musical about growing up?
We Talk About:
- Is it true that, as Mary says, "God don’t answer prayers a lot?"
- How Merrily illustrates a theology of friendship and an understanding (a queer understanding?) of the spiritual life
- What Merrily says about human relationships and the need to "burn your bridges every now and then"
- Different ways of thinking about time – sacramental, liturgical, narrative – and how Merrily subverts conventional notions of the narrative and reflects a more sacred sense of time.
You’ll Hear:
- The Original Company of Merrily We Roll Along on the Original Broadway Cast Recording singing "The Hills of Tomorrow," "Opening Doors," "Now You Know," "Good Thing Going," "Our Time" and "Bobby and Jackie and Jack"
- Celia Keenan-Bolger and Lin-Manuela Miranda singing "Old Friends" and "Like It Was" from the 2012 Encores! Cast Recording
- Bernadette Peters singing "Not A Day Goes By"
Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt!
Friday Apr 08, 2022
3.7 Sweeney Todd! (with Arwen Myers!)
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Sort of-guest Arwen Myers—soprano, Sweeney stan, and executive producer of this podcast—joins Peter and Nathan for a wide-reaching conversation about her favorite musical... which just happens to be about murder and meat pies (and Victor Garber).
That's right: it's the 1979 Tony-Award winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!
We talk about:
- The medieval chant Dies Irae and how it frames Sweeney Todd as a story about death, violence, and revenge with explicitly religious overtones.
– Who’s the real villain of Sweeney Todd? We talk about how none of these characters are who they appear to be, and how the music helps to signal what’s going on underneath.
– The various versions of Christianity that haunt this show, notions of sacred violence, sin & sacrifice, and the redemptive promise—or false lure?—of blood.
– The social and cultural aspects of the world that’s being presented – and we make of the warning embedded in this very dark musical. Is Sweeney "out there..." or is he inside each of us?
– Is this show actually about Victor Garber?
You’ll hear:
Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Ken Jennings, Victor Garber, and Edmund Lyndeck on the Original Broadway Cast Recording singing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," "A Little Priest," "Johanna," "The Worst Pies in London," "Epiphany," and "Not While I’m Around."
Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt.
Monday Mar 28, 2022
3.6 A Little Night Music!
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Monday Mar 28, 2022
We're talking about Sondheim's most commercially successful musical, A Little Night Music (1973) – a witty, clever sex comedy made up, in Hal Prince’s famous words, of "whipped cream with knives."
We Talk About:
– The show’s big themes – love, sex & time – and how they find expression in the music, especially the now-iconic "Send in the Clowns."
– Three generations exploring love & relationships and the nature of aging.
– The complicated nature of intergenerational relationships – both creepy and beautiful.
– The problem of timing, and the complication of lining up sexual attraction with the commitment that love demands.
You’ll Hear:
– Both Glynnis Johns and Catherine Zeta-Jones singing "Send in the Clowns" from the 1973 Original Broadway Cast and the 2010 Broadway Revival Cast recordings.
– Elaine Tompkinson singing “The Glamorous Life” from the 1975 Film Soundtrack.
– The company of the Original Broadway Cast singing "Overture," "Remember," "You Must Meet My Wife," "Now," "Liasons,” and "The Miller’s Son."
Friday Mar 11, 2022
BONUS: Sondheim & Judaism (with Michael & Ida Rae Cahana)!
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Today we welcome two very special guests: Cantor Ida Rae and Rabbi Michael Cahana of Portland’s Congregation Beth Israel!
We're chatting about Sondheim’s Jewish heritage – and the subversive power of ritual & theatre in Jewish contexts.
We talk about:
Jewishness in the music of Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim
West Side Story as an immigrant show exploring the tension between alienation and assimilation
"Outsider" narratives in Sondheim’s stories as a reflection of both his Judaism and his homosexuality
The "problem of the ending" – and the phenomenon of unresolved musical, dramatic, and theological conclusions
Purim, the tradition of the Purim Spiel, and the subversive nature of Purim
How we pass down our stories to our children
*Read Gabrielle Hoyt’s article "Kaddish for Steve" at https://www.americantheatre.org/2022/01/28/kaddish-for-steve-on-the-jewishness-of-sondheim/
You’ll hear:
The Prologue and Quintet ("Tonight") from West Side Story (2022 film soundtrack)
The documentary Original Cast Album (You can find it on YouTube!)
The Finale ("Children Will Listen") from Into The Woods (Original Broadway Cast recording)
"I Remember" from Evening Primrose (Sung by Bernadette Peters on the 2016 Album The Essential Sondheim)
The cast of Congregation Beth Israel’s 2016 production of West Side Spiel. Watch the whole Spiel on CBI’s YouTube page: https://youtu.be/Ely7r_Ax_AE
Friday Feb 25, 2022
3.5 Follies!
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Friday Feb 25, 2022
It's camp o'clock! Peter & Nathan turn to Sondheim’s 1971 iconic Follies, a show that takes a loving—but brutal—look at nostalgia, camp, the power of memory, and the danger of looking back.
We talk about:
Nostalgia. The role of nostalgia and the warning articulated in Follies: "never look back"
Camp. The nature of camp, Susan Sontag’s essay "Notes on Camp" and how Follies explores campiness, drag culture, and the excesses of the 20th century
Women. Follies as a show about women and women’s bodies
Spirits. Ghosts, the communion of saints, and the past's impact on the present
Aging. The spirituality of aging, what it means to be fully alive, and the power of endurance
You’ll hear:
The Prologue, "Beautiful Girls," "Broadway Baby," and "In Buddy’s Eyes" as performed by Bernadette Peters, Jayne Houdyshell, Michael Haynes and the company of the 2012 Broadway Revival production
The late, great Barbara Cook singing "Losing My Mind" from the 1985 Concert Recording
The legendary Elaine Stritch performing "I’m Still Here"—which you have to watch on YouTube and then find all the other women in red singing their Sondheim tributes: https://youtu.be/3Xz1TUgdG6A
Friday Feb 11, 2022
3.4 Company!
Friday Feb 11, 2022
Friday Feb 11, 2022
We're moving into the great Sondheim musicals of the 70s & 80s, starting with the groundbreaking Company (1970) – and its perennial questions about gender, sexuality, monogamy, and the changing nature of marriage & human relationships.
We talk about:
- "New morality” in the works of John A.T. Robinson, Harvey Cox, and how it is explored in the work of Sondheim
- Loneliness. The isolation & verticalization of urban life in the 1960s and 70s.
- Inertia. Bobby’s questions about human relationships—sexual, romantic, platonic—and the deep ambivalence he represents
- Gender. Attempts to update Company—often by changing gender roles
- The Ladies. The women of Company – especially Joanne and her great number “The Ladies Who Lunch”
- Marriage. The changing nature of marriage and commitment – in society and in the church
You’ll Hear:
- “Company,” “The Little Things You Do Together,” “Sorry-Grateful”, “Getting Married Today,” “The Ladies Who Lunch” and “Being Alive” from the Original Broadway Production on the 1970 cast album
- “Marry Me A Little” sung by Raul Esparza from the 2006 Broadway Revival Album.
- “Happily Ever After” sung by Craig Lucas on the 1986 album “A Collector’s Sondheim”
Friday Jan 28, 2022
3.3 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum & Anyone Can Whistle!
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
It's TWO musicals by Stephen Sondheim – a hit & a flop!
We're chatting about A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Anyone Can Whistle (1965)— which lead to an unexpected conversation about comedy, farce... and miracles.
We Talk About:
Sondheim’s love of obscure source material – how many musicals do you know that are based on the plays of an ancient Roman?
Opening numbers—especially Forum’s famous "Comedy Tonight"—and Jerome Robbins’ legacy
What to do with sexual jokes that haven’t aged well ("Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", anyone?)
A theology of comedy: what do we learn about God through laughter?
Sondheim’s wrestling with his own sexuality in songs like “Anyone Can Whistle” – and his romance with Lee Remick, who introduced the song on Broadway
The social upheaval of the mid-1960s and the sweetness of human connection – what French theologian Jean-Pierre de Caussade calls "the sacrament of the present moment"
You’ll Hear:
"Comedy Tonight," "Free," and "Pretty Little Picture," sung by Zero Mostel, Bryan Davies, and Preshy Marker from the Original Broadway Cast Recording of A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
"Everybody Ought to Have A Maid," sung by David Burns, Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford and John Carradine from the Original Broadway Cast Recording
The Cookie Speech, "Everybody Says Don’t," and "With So Little To Be Sure Of," sung by Bernadette Peters and Scott Bakula on the 1995 Carnegie Hall Concert Recording of Anyone Can Whistle
"Anyone Can Whistle," sung by Lee Remick on the Original Broadway Cast Recording – as well as a “demo” version sung by Sondheim himself (available as a bonus track on the Original Broadway Cast Recording)
About The Hosts
Nathan LeRud, is a native Oregonian, a pastor’s kid, and a musical theatre geek. With degrees in theology (General Theological Seminary) and English (Whitman College), his great loves are teaching the Bible, exploring Oregon history, attending vintage matinees at the Hollywood Theatre and finding the intersection of popular culture and religion. Nathan is currently Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. He also knows how to clog.
Peter Elliott has loved musical theatre his whole life. At age 12, he appeared as Oliver Twist in a semi-professional production of Oliver! During his time as Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, British Columbia, it was the location of many musical theatre productions, including a memorable three night revue of the work of Stephen Sondheim September in the Cathedral with Sondheim, and Jubilation: 125 Years of Musical Theatre.