Guys Who Like Musicals

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We Love James Monroe Iglehart Dec 18, 2020

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THE Genie, Tony WINNER James Monroe Iglehart is here!!! Oh, man. You know him from ALADDIN, MEMPHIS, and HAMILTON, but what you need is his Sweeney, his Porgy, his Freestyle, and his deep love of comic books. We talk about it ALL this week. From sustaining a long run to auditioning for your best friend, Lin Manuel Miranda.. James leads us through his career in a way only the Genie can. He's hilarious, insightful, generous, and we're so grateful he took the time to talk with us.

This Christmas James will lead the nation's top miniaturists as they vie to build festive mini-holiday houses. Each week, only one team will wow the spirited panel of judges, including designer Genevieve Gorder and miniatures experts June Clinkscales and Dave Asling, to advance to the next round. Top contenders will compete for a grand prize of $50,000 and the winning miniature will be replicated into a full-size vacation home.

Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart is a native of the San Francisco Bay area. He most recently appeared on Broadway in two productions simultaneously - in the smash-hit Hamilton playing Lafayette/Jefferson, and with Freestyle Love Supreme as their special guest star. He made his Broadway debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Iglehart then originated the role of Bobby in Memphis on Broadway before landing the role of Genie in Aladdin. For his work as the Genie, James won both the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. James made his sold-out solo debut at 54 Below in a show entitled "How the Heck Did I Get Here?" He was brought back for a sold-out return engagement shortly thereafter. James has brought his act to concert venues across the country. He recurred on the Netflix series "Maniac" opposite Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" as Coriolanus Burt, the rival of male protagonist Titus Andromedon played by Tituss Burgess. James also guest-starred on "At Home with Amy Sedaris", the Fox television shows "Perfect Harmony" and "Gotham" and on CBS' "Elementary" and "The Good Wife". He voices the role of Lance Strongbow on all three seasons of the hit Disney animated television show "Tangled." He recently made his feature debut opposite Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage and Jullianna Margulies in the "Three Christs".

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We Love Taylor Iman Jones Dec 11, 2020

Show notes

Have you heard of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA? Joe wants 2020 to be over for Taylor Iman Jones' sake. Broadway's newest IT girl was having the best year ever until COVID screwed everything up. HAMILTON and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA were about to happen at the same time!! UGH. BUT all hope is not lost... 2021 is coming and so is Taylor Iman Jones. The star of HEAD OVER HEELS is hilarious, insightful, so real, so kind, and she put up with Dan for a year on the bus and truck tour of AMERICAN IDIOT so you know she's patient. We talk about unemployment, not taking auditions too seriously (but memorize your lines), and how meditation is everything ... Check it out!

Taylor Iman Jones is an Actor, Singer, and Teaching Artist based out of New York City. When we're back in our theaters, you can see her as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds in the LA production of HAMILTON the musical. She made her Broadway debut in Groundhog Day the Musical, and later originated the role of Mopsa in Head Over Heels. Off-Broadway, she was seen as Pat in the new musical Scotland, Pa. And outside of New York, she appeared in The Tale of Despereaux at The Old Globe in San Diego, and The Who's Tommy at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2014, she performed as Extraordinary Girl in the National Tour of American Idiot. A Bay Area native, you could have seen her performing with American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Center Rep, Berkeley Playhouse, Bay Area Children’s Theater, and Ray of Light, to name a few. When offstage, Taylor is a passionate teaching artist, and enjoys playing her guitar. *Taylor has been announced to portray Andy Sachs in the upcoming Broadway bound production of The Devil Wears Prada.*

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We Love Jason Gotay Dec 04, 2020

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XOXO TV STAR!! Do you have any advice for Dan? It's gonna be alright Dan... Take a deep breath and listen to Jason. Smooth singing, handsome as hell, SUPER SWEET Jason Gotay sits down with us this and YES Joe and Dan hate auditioning after this guy. YOU try following that voice. SPIDERMAN and BRING IT ON star Jason Gotay is about to blow up with the brand new Gossip Girl HBOMax show. Look out. (Check out that opening night cast of BRING IT ON ... they're all STARS. It was just Jason's turn). We love this guy. He's so kind, passionate, talented, and vulnerable. We talk about leading a Broadway show at 23, the pain associated with being replaced in a show, how City Center Encore leads Jason to huge jobs, and how Jeremy Jordan taught us how to lead a show.

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We Love Courtney Reed Nov 20, 2020

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We are so grateful that the OG Jasmine is with us this week!! Kirsten Dunst had done a million movies and Courtney Reed felt like she was behind. ALADDIN star Courtney Reed is truly a jack of all trades. She's an entrepreneur (check out Gagged Chokers), and a member of the Broadway Princess Party as well as being one of the most sought after women on Broadway. She thinks that her audition for ALADDIN was easy, but it really took her five years, multiple readings, two out of town tryouts, and rounds of auditions before Broadway. We're so glad that they didn't cast Nicole Scherzinger. We talk with her about crazy audition stories, when Dan and Joe didn't book MISS SAIGON, how she wants to be Satine, and how a thumbs up from Lin Manuel Miranda is all you need... we get real about race in musical theater, putting in the work, and how you have to be kind to people. Long story short? If Courtney was an a*****e there is no way she would've been cast as Jasmine.

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JINGLE JANGLE writer Davy Nathan Nov 13, 2020

Show notes

The Guys are back with Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey writer Davy Nathan! We owe this interview to our good friend Shoshana Bean. Davy and Shoshana have been collaborators for years and we're so grateful she connected us with Davy. Ok... this movie is about to be a BIG DEAL. Jingle Jangle is out TODAY (breaking news podcast over here) on Netflix so be sure to get into the holiday spirit early. Davy and his writing partner, Philip Lawrence (of Bruno Mars fame) wrote 8 out of the 9 songs, John Legend wrote 1, and Davy and Phillip produced all 9.

Written and directed by David E. Talbert, the film is set in the town of Cobbleton and follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Forrest Whitaker), whose fanciful inventions burst with whimsy and wonder. But when his trusted apprentice (Keegan-Michael Key) steals his most prized creation, it’s up to his equally bright and inventive granddaughter (Madalen Mills) and a long-forgotten invention to heal old wounds.

Our guest, Davy Nathan, collarborated with Bruno Mars' right hand man, Phillip Lawrence, on the songs for Jangle. It was his first movie, his first musical, his first movie-musical, and we certainly hope it's not his last. As a songwriter, producer, pianist and musical director, whose work was considered for a Grammy in 2017. As a producer and songwriter he's worked with: Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins, Toni Braxton, Mary J Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Tamar Braxton, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, Queen Latifah, Daya, Eric Benet and others.

As a pianist and musical director he's toured the world with: Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Patti LaBelle, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, Colbie Calliat, Natasha Bedingfield, Nicole Scherzinger, TLC, Sean Kingston, Brian McKnight, Jason Derulo, NKOTB and others. NOT A BIG DEAL!!!

This week we talk about ear training as a skill, writing a song in fifteen minutes, and what it was like to tour with Patti LaBelle. Listen in!

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We Love Ragtime and Christiane Noll Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

“A day of peace.A day of pride.A day of justice. We have been denied. Let the new day dawn, Oh, Lord, I pray...

We'll never get to heaven. Till we reach that day.” If you don’t know RAGTIME, get in the car, drive three hours and listen to every word. CHRISTIANE NOLL IS HERE!! She is a Tony nominee for the 2009 revival and Dan’s theatrical Mom. She (before COVID) was Cynthia Murphy in DEAR EVAN HANSEN on Broadway and was also seen featured in the original cast of Jekyll and Hyde. Joe was Younger Brother in college and it was the first time Dan saw Joe on onstage, it was love at first sight. Ragtime is an epic, powerful, Goosebump inducing show that is as relevant in 1975 (when the book was written) as it was in 1998 as it is in 2020. Go out and tell your story .. let it echo far and wide.

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We Love Chicago and Tyler Hanes Sep 25, 2020

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Have you seen cell block tango recently?!?!? POP, SQUISH, CICERO... Let's GO CHICAGO!! Arguably the best movie musical of all time (feel free to fight us).. We love Chicago. Dan and Joe danced in the ensemble of CHICAGO in college and they were BAD. But that's okay. We're thrilled that Broadway vet and Fosse superfan Tyler Hanes is here to talk with us about it!! Tyler has NINE Broadway credits to his name and a slew of TV credits including Jerry Orbach in the F/X sensation Fosse/ Verdon. Tyler gives us some incredible insight into the world of Bob Fosse and Ann Reinking, the CHICAGO film, and we're putting it out there that Tyler will be the next Billy Flynn when Broadway comes back. Tyler and Joe worked on a workshop with Graciela Daniele, who was Hunyak in the original production of CHICAGO in 1976. THAT'S CRAZY! Thanks for listening and if you haven't seen the Zeta Jones rip as Velma, stop what you're doing and watch Rob Marshall's perfect film.

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Into the Woods with Benton Whitley Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

Hey friends, no one is alone.... I WISH .. there wasn't a pandemic. But that's not what we're talking about this week. This week we're talking about INTO THE WOODS!! We're so grateful that our friend and casting director extraordinaire, Benton Whitley is with us to talk about his favorite show, INTO THE WOODS. There are so many great recordings available, but if you haven't seen Bernadette and Johanna Gleeson in the 1991 OG recording, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING and go check it out. Joe loves the 2010 recording from Regent's Park in London as well. This show is the gateway drug to Stephen Sondheim. Some of the greatest lyrics in Sondheim's cannon are in the last 20 minutes of INTO THE WOODS. Check this out.."Moments in the Woods", into "Your Fault", then "Last Midnight", "No More" No One Is Alone" into "Children Will Listen." WHAT A LINEUP. We love this show and we hope you like our deep dive in this musical theater masterpiece. Listen in for Benton's story when he got to meet Steve... is LEGENDARY.

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We Love ONCE Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

"And I love her so." We REALLY love the show this week. Joe's Broadway debut and favorite show ever, ONCE: THE MUSICAL. If you need a good cry you can check out the John Carney film on Amazon and iTunes. We relive Joe's glory days in the 2012 Tony Award-winning Best Musical. From the acapella Gold to Glen Hansard's excellent use of decrescendo, everything is perfect. Steve Kazee, Cristin Milioti, Paul Nolan, Arthur Darvill, Laura Dreyfuss, Joe Carroll. Dan snuck in to see the Broadway production four times. We relive so many wonderful memories of this show and investigate the film in more detail... Remember that ending? The Piano? CRYING WE'RE ALL CRYING.

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DAN Loves Music Man, Joe says NOPE Sep 03, 2020

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YE GODS Dan and Joe are FIGHTING. Dan loves THE MUSIC MAN, Joe can’t stand it. Tune in this week sports fans, we're fighting. We break down all the wonderful things in THE MUSIC MAN. Yes, we talk about the sexy Hugh Jackman and the stunning Sutton Foster, but we also nerd out about Kristin Chenoweth, Rebecca Luker, Barbara Cook, and Robert Preston. Every single song in THE MUSIC MAN slaps. Yup. We said it. Does Shapoopi make sense? NOPE. But The Beatles love THE MUSIC MAN so why shouldn’t you??

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