March 18, 2021 • 45 mins
With the hope of Broadway reopening later this year, we take a slide through geek news non-musical to musical, chat about what kinds of musicals we are drawn to, and then keep listening for a mashup that will make you howl.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Large nerdron Collider podcast is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey everybody, welcome to The Large Nerdrun Collider,
the podcast that's all about the geeky things happening in
the world around us and how very excited we are
(00:28):
about them. I'm Ariel casting and with me as always
is the Dulcet Lee toned Jonathan Strickland. Why thank you, Ariel.
This question is going out to you. Okay, Ariel, here's
your question. What is a celebrity encounter you've had that
(00:52):
you think back on fondly. Oh, at the same time,
I've had a lot, and not many because I used
to work backstage at dragon Con and do some security stuff.
Um m hmm, I'll say, and all that counts. All
(01:13):
that counts. So if you want to if you want
to know, I just don't know if I can talk
about it all, Well, you don't have to go into
like so I had this, you know, disencounter with Bruce
Campbell and I carried all of his weed for him.
I'm not saying that. Yeah, No, One, I haven't and
two I wouldn't say that. I will say, like any
(01:37):
any celebrity encounter I've had where they've just been incredibly nice.
And the two that immediately popped to mind when I
think of that, And I know you asked me for one,
but it's I'm the Queen of indecision, and it would
be Alice Cooper or Stanley because they just yeah, they
both just treated Now. I mean this is from a
brief encounter. You know, I didn't have a lot of
(02:00):
one on one time with them, but just from my observation, uh,
in that ballroom, they treated everyone with just such kindness
in respect. It didn't matter who you were that it
just it really left a positive impression on me. I
like it. So Alice Cooper didn't just look at you
and say welcome to my nightmare. No, he was super nice.
He said hi. Not every uh celebrity that I got
(02:23):
to work with, you know, necessarily said hi because you're
in a convention setting you need time to like unwind
and things like that. But yeah, he was. He was
just very He was very kind to me. I can't
say that he's kind to everybody, but he was very
kind to me. What about you? Oh, okay, So my
favorite story to tell I've I've had several I've been
fortunate to have several celebrity encounters, and almost all of
(02:45):
them have been positive. There's been very few where I
didn't like the experience. But one that was purely by
happenstance was that I was going through the Atlanta airport.
This was pre uh September eleven, the two tho one,
so it was back when you didn't have to have
a ticket in order to go through security. And the
(03:06):
reason why I was going was to meet uh well,
the woman who would become my partner, but we were
dating at the time, and she was flying into Atlanta,
so I was on my way to meet her and
I see this guy duck into the Disney store and
I when I saw him, I thought, I think I
recognized this guy. I think that's Ernie Sabella. And Ernie Sabella,
(03:29):
for those who don't know, was in Disney terms, he
was the voice of Pumba. But he also was like
the naked guy on the Subway in Seinfeld, and he
played lots of different roles on Broadway, and so I
was familiar with his work, so thinking that he's Ernie Sabella,
but not sure. I also go into the Disney store
(03:51):
like a stalker, and he picks up a pumba doll
and turns to a kid next to him goes Hakuna
mata and without without without any hesitation, I went, what
a wonderful phrase. And he turns around and he's like
I thought for a minute that Nathan was here, and
we chatted, and we actually chatted from there too. He
(04:12):
was late to his uh to his gate, so he
had me walk with him and we chatted about Broadway.
He talked about he was in a funny thing happened
on the way of the forum at the time. He said,
if you're ever in New York, let me know. I'll
get you a ticket. Just a super nice guy, and
we just chatted about acting. It was fun um and
a weird, little brief encounter that that sounds delightful. I
(04:35):
never encounter celebrities in the wild um, I don't think,
And even if I did, I don't know if I
would go up and talk to them. But I think
I think, I just I probably we live in Atlanta.
I've probably seen some sort of celebrity on the street
somewhere and just not realized where where the wild stories
Where are offices over on in Pont City Market that
(04:59):
tends to be a place where various studios will put
celebrities up when they're in town shooting. So like when
Nona Ryder was staying there, never saw her. Um, there
were a whole bunch of different celebrities I heard about,
but never I saw Hugh Jackman in my office, like
in the gym that's connected to that building. Did not
(05:20):
say hi to him. He was working out. You just
don't do that right to anyone in the gym. And
let's ask you a question. You'll leave him alone. And um,
And the one that I was sad got away was Um,
I think it was Mandy Moore. She was shopping and
I was like, it would have been fun to sing
with her, Not that she would have. I mean, come on,
(05:40):
but you know me never never turned up an opportunity
to sing. Well, don't be sad anymore, Jonathan, because we
have some really good news. And the really good news
is that the Ewok movies and TV show, and part
of the Star Wars Holiday special and Gen D. Tardakovsky's
Star Wars Clone Wars are all coming to Disney Plus.
(06:03):
So the best parts of the Star Wars franchise will
soon be available for streaming. You are killing me because
I mean, I remember when the Ewok movies came out.
The first one was cute, the second one ends start.
The second one begins with a huge bummer. It doesn't
get better from there. Um, this is spoiler alert. If
(06:24):
you've not seen the e walk movies, I guess soon
you'll get to scratch that itch. The and the fact
that you even say Star Wars Holiday Special and use
best in the same general thought. Also, we have to
point out that the part of the Star Wars Holiday
Special that is going to be on there is the
animated short that was part of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
(06:46):
You will not get to see b Arthur Singh where
Harvey Corman have a glitch, glitching freak out, or um,
all the other really questionable stuff that happened in that special.
If you've never seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, I
don't recommend you seek it out. But it is an experience.
(07:06):
It is an experience, and I was I was kind
of trolling you. So I genuinely do like the e
Walks movie because I was a small, curly headed blonde
girl when I was watching it and it features one
and you know, and now I'm a redhead. But I
also do very much like the Clone Wars cartoon that
they're adding. I adore it um and it's the Star
(07:32):
Wars Holiday special. Is an experience, and I appreciated that
experience when I had it so kind of trolling you,
you know, but only a little. Well, it's okay, You're
not the only one trolling me. Funny thing when we
were making up the show notes, I was typing it
in as Ariel was writing to me. The thing I
(07:52):
typed in our show notes was full trailer for the
Irregulars makes Jonathan mad Ariel sent me a message saying
there's a new a Regulars trailer. You are not going
to like it. So Ariel Ariel has her finger on
the pulse of what Jonathan doesn't like. Yes, and I'll say,
if this trailer, knowing that you are upset about it
(08:15):
because there shouldn't be supernatural stuff in Sherlock Holmes, this trailer,
if it were not Sherlock Holmes, looks really interesting to me. Yeah,
if if it weren't a Sherlock. Now, granted, I get it,
this is an alternative take on Sherlock Holmes. And I
guess to me, it's just one of those things where
I get really person ketty about you can only get
(08:37):
so far away from whatever the material is you are
referencing before I feel like there's not enough connective tissue
there to make the reference worthwhile. So in this case,
they're trading on the cultural knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. And
of course the Regulars in the Sherlock Holmes stories are
(08:58):
a network of various vagrants and street urchins who gather
information on behalf of Sherlock Holmes. In the series, they
appeared to be working for John Watson. Holmes himself appears
to be a little out of it, let's say, based
on them. He doesn't show up, no, not and not
in the trailer, it's certainly so um yeah. But the
(09:21):
supernatural stuff, I mean that is just antithetical to Sherlock Holmes.
And in the Homes stories, a few times where it
appeared there were supernatural elements, it always turned out that
these were uh, completely natural things that Holmes figures out
you know what caused it. So it does irritate me
a bit, even though like one of my favorite stories,
(09:43):
there was a book called Ano Dracula that had lots
of fictional and historical characters all mixed up together in
a vampire story, and Sherlock Holmes was in that, and
I was, I was okay with that. So maybe I
should just get off my high horse and try and
watch the show and judge it based on its own
(10:03):
merits rather than the fact that I'm I'm upset that
there are supernatural elements in a Sherlock Holmes related story.
Give it two episodes. Maybe they'll explain it in a
way that you appreciate. In the meantime, it's really a
part of the m c U. I mean, could be,
could be. Uh, well, it's not the right Sherlock Holmes
(10:26):
for that. Anyhow, If you want to keep with something nostalgically,
then you should just get in mind to play Teenage
Mutan Ninja Turtle Shredder's Revenge. Yeah. It's a it's an
upcoming video game, and it's very much in the style
of the old side scrolling beat him up Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles game. And I mean it's giving me that
(10:50):
nostalgic feeling of being in the arcade and just feeding
token after token into a t M n T machine. Yeah. Yeah,
now I've definitely lost some some money's doing that, thankfully.
Now I have the one up teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Arcade console. Uh so I kind of hope that they
(11:12):
let me load this into it as a third game eventually,
because I got to catch them all. Yeah yeah, And
I mean, like, this is one of those things that
really does hearken back to an an older style of
video game. I'm sure there will be plenty of people
who will embrace it because they have that same sort
of nostalgic itch. I am curious if it will catch
(11:33):
on with younger players who maybe haven't had experience with
those style of games very much. Possibly. I was going
to say, the same team did the Scott Pilgrim Versus
the World the game game, which was quite a lot
of fun. But then I also have to remember that
was quite a few years ago, now, No, yeah, yeah,
that was a long time ago. Okay, Well, We've got
(11:54):
a couple of other stories we want to hit in
this section, and one of them is that there is
a full new trailer for Cruela, the film about Cruella
de Ville, the villain from One Dalmatians. Um, what did
you think of the trailer? Ariel? Stylistically, I liked it.
(12:16):
I like, just just from a visual standpoint, I like,
I like that seventies punk aesthetic. UM, and I love
I used to want to be a fashion designer back
in the day. But I've never really felt a great
kinship for Coruella de Ville. I I don't didn't really
(12:39):
see the need for her to have her own movie.
Though watching it, I'll say like I'm a Stone physically
embodies the character perfectly to me, just the sort of
mad cap cartoonish version of her, especially when they show
her in the trailer driving a car. It's like I'm
watching the Celts out of the animated cartoon. Um. You know,
(13:00):
I've had friends who are worried that it's going to
focus on mental illness in a in a negative way.
You know, We've talked before about how at some point
we need to have a conversation about able is Um.
But UM, I don't know. I just I'm not feeling
a very strong urge to go watch it at this point.
I'm sure it'll be well done. I just animal movies
(13:20):
like stress me out, and this is adjacent to an
animal movie. What about you, I feel very much the
same way you do. I mean, you pretty much hit
the points that I did, Like I think stylistically it
looks incredible, like from a cinematography, costume design, set design, lighting,
all of those like technical elements, it looks phenomenal. The
(13:42):
music that they picked for the trailers fantastic, Like it's
it's really striking. But just as you said, I have
very little interest in learning anything about Cruella's backstory. The
only thing I needed to know is that she was
a schoolmate with Anita from One Dumatians. Didn't really need
to know anything more than that. Um yeah, And I
was just a character that was never really curious about,
(14:03):
largely because there's no depth to her in One One Dalmatians.
She really is just you might as well just have
the word villain walking around. There's not much else tour right,
So um yeah, yeah, it wasn't really wasn't really something
I was looking forward to. If they were to do
a a kind of backstory on a villain type of movie,
I'd be more interested in one about Ursula and to
(14:26):
learn what she was like when she was ruling the
seas before Triton was. Um, that would be more interesting
to me. Kind of you can make that like a
Shakespearean tragedy. I agree, And they could because you know,
blond King is Hamlet. I will say, I do like
the Easter egg that Emma Thompson was in the live
action one hundred and one Dalmatians and is also in this. Um.
(14:48):
I think that's a fun little detail. Um. And real quick,
we have one last news segment before we go to break,
and that is In the Heights disdrupt two new trailers
and announced that they are going to theaters and HBO
Max in June, and I could not be more excited
about it. What about you, Jonathan same? I? Uh so.
(15:10):
Lin Manuel Miranda is the man behind In the Heights
and it was his big show before Hamilton's, right he
was He was in that show while working on writing
out Hamilton's, and UM, I was unfamiliar with it, except
that I started listening to the I Heart Radio Broadway
(15:30):
radio station and the songs from In the Heights sometimes
come on, and I was hooked. It's just it's that
same incredible uh precision of language that you here in
Hamilton's that's also in In the Heights, And there's that
passion of a specific love of a specific neighborhood and
(15:51):
uh specific time, and all of that gets wrapped up
into the songs that I've heard, and I've been eager
to see it, but obviously I haven't had the opportunity to.
So I'm hopeful that this film will be a good
representation of the story musical theatrical theatrical productions in general,
(16:12):
their transition to film doesn't always go smoothly. I'm hoping
that this is an exception to that general rule. Well,
I think it will be. I think because they focused
on making it truly a cinematic story and not a
videotapes staged production like they did with Hamilton's, which I
(16:33):
also quite enjoyed, that it'll it'll just work out really well.
Everything about it just screams wonderful to me. Um. I
love the little fact that they actually filmed in Washington Heights. Yeah,
and lin Manuel Miranda plays a minory character in it.
In the original production, he was one of the leads,
but he is not playing the lead in the film version.
(16:54):
He has graciously stepped aside for an actor of an
appropriate age to play that part. Yes, yes, Anthony Ramos.
I also think that Rita Moreno is in it, which
I think is also brilliant casting since she was Maria
the original Maria and West Side story. We have a
lot more Broadway and musical stuff we want to talk about,
(17:17):
but let's take a quick break. Sounds good, So ariel Uh,
you know, last week, I think it was last week,
we talked about the fact that there were some planned
(17:37):
pop up events on Broadway, and one of the articles
that we came across while putting our show together was
one about the process of reopening Broadway in general. It
was from USA Today, and that article really pointed out
(17:57):
some stuff that just didn't occur to me when we
were having that discussion about the pop ups, and that
was like the stuff about how even if everything were
in place right now for them to open up tomorrow,
they wouldn't be able to do it because no one
has been able to rehearse, you know, like the there
are people who are connected to shows who are not
(18:20):
currently living in the city anymore because it was too expensive,
and you know, if you're not making any money, you
have to conserve what you've got, So a lot of
people moved out of the city, and it really kind
of illustrated that the reopening of Broadway is going to
be a much more gradual process and that these pop
(18:40):
up events are likely to be very modest compared to
quote unquote Broadway production. Yeah. Possibly one man shows or
cabarets or things like that. Uh. Stuff stuff that's easy
to get up and mount. Um, you know. And I'm
sure that there are some people who've been working on
small stuff. I had a friend who had a show
(19:01):
on off Broadway who could probably easily take it and
put it into a pop up event, you know. But
anything big, Yeah, I don't. I don't think they'd be
able to unless they've been working on it on the
download they'll be able to get it up on its
feet super quick. But it does. Um. Yeah. I had
never thought about the fact, despite the fact that you
(19:22):
and I have both done theater and musical theater, that
you know, even if you know a musical backward and forward,
you know, you still have to practice, You still have
to read choreographed, you have to do the tech, you
have to make sure your costumes fit. And the article
in USA Today even says, you know, even if you're
a dresser or a costume designer or seamstress or a
(19:44):
tech guy, you might have three shows that now you
need to get back up on its feet altogether. So
it's not just on the talent side of things where
there's going to be a crunch. But it did make
me happy because I know you were concerned about Broadway
opening ethic reopening ethically, and it seems like, um, all
(20:05):
the various divisions that that kind of manage the talent
of Broadway have that in mind. They want to make
sure that it's safe. They want to come back to
Broadway in a way that is healthier and better for everybody.
Uh And and that's exciting to me, Yeah, because that
article not just about like healthier in the sense of
(20:27):
everyone needs to be vaccinated, whether they are on stage
or work behind the scenes or they're part of the
house crew or whatever it may be. But as you
point out in the interim, while everything's been down, it's
it's given people time to have heavy conversations that are
way overdue but typically get put aside because everyone is
(20:50):
still in the business of actually doing the thing right.
So things like inclusivity and accessibility, these issues that have
been problems in theater for a very long time, and
I've only gradually been and recently been addressed. A lot
of those conversations kind of got kicked into overdrive during lockdown,
(21:11):
and that means that the theater that we do see
when things reopen is hopefully going to be a more
diverse and rich theatrical experience than it would have been otherwise.
And I find that really exciting. Um something, you know,
the idea of being able to see a show that
might have a cast that isn't all lily white, which
(21:36):
you know, again has been has been changing over the years.
But like for the longest time in Broadway, the vast
majority of roles and the vast majority of performers were white.
You hardly ever saw people of color up on stage.
You often saw white people playing people of color up
on stage. So yeah, yeah, you know, I am. I'm
(21:56):
super happy about that on just a health level. And
I'm not trying about COVID vaccinations. I'm talking about I've
been in productions where an actor has come in sick
and thrown up in the wings and then gone back
up on stage, and that's like, that's just not great
work ethic well on either end of the spectrum doing
that anymore, well, I mean, Ariel, let's be fair. You
(22:18):
are someone who's been injured on a show, got seen
too medically and returned to the show in the same show.
I mean, yes, uh, and I would do it again.
But I wasn't sick in a way that could get
somebody else sick. When I had my finger cut open
by a sword. It was more about It was more
(22:40):
about the the fact that we have this built in expectation,
like this idea that the show must go on. The
show is bigger than any person in it. Like to
some extent, that can be admirable, but if you take
it to the extreme, then you're really you're really taking
advantage of the people who are making the show, and
some one's benefiting from that, but it's not necessarily the
(23:02):
people who are actually doing the thing. And I mean, yes,
it is admirable. Your work ethic is is very strong.
The fact that you got hurt, you got some I
think you had staples put into your finger stitches stitches seven,
so you got you got your fingers stitched up, and
then came back that same day to finish out the
day like that is that is that says a lot
(23:25):
about your work ethic, But it also says a lot
about the fact that we have built in this expectation
that the show must go on and that that's expected
of you. Um, and it shouldn't be so, I mean,
part of it was my vanity. I was super happy
to come back. I didn't want to give up on
the rest of my day. But yeah, it is definitely
(23:45):
an expectation that's kind of built into theater, you know.
And part of it is you just have so many
people relying on your little piece that you don't want
to let anybody down. So he said, there's some admirable
there's there's some downfall to it, but hopefully it will
be a healthier workplace and I look forward to getting
back and watching some musicals. I have been waiting for
my Broadway trip. Yeah, me too. I think I say
(24:08):
it every week. Yeah, like, if I don't get a
chance to see Hades Town, I'm going to be sad.
I mean, I'll understand, but it will make me sad
because it was something I was really looking forward to
as a birthday present I gave to myself, and I
might never be able to collect it. My my hope
is that that was doing so well and so early
(24:29):
and it's runs still that it comes back. I know
there are some that are not frozen. It's not reopening
and that seems like you hear that Frozen is not reopening,
and you're like, that's like a guaranteed sellout. Well, assuming
that you're allowed to open up to full capacity, maybe
we'll get rated to e the musical off of TikTok
and onto the stage. So so that that leads me
(24:50):
to ask you, Jonathan, what do you like in a
musical and what don't you like that? That's a great question,
and it's one that has changed over time. Um So,
like when I was, when I was a teenager, moody teenager,
big mood swings, I really liked the stuff that was
popular on Broadway at the time, which were bombastic musicals,
(25:11):
stuff like Les Miserab, Phantom of the Opera, Missigon, these
really big, big spectacle musicals, huge casts, big musical numbers,
super melodramatic stories. Um But as I've gotten older, I
can't stand those anymore. Like I recognize the artistry that
(25:33):
went into making them, but I find them tiresome and
I find them, like I do, find them melodramatic, not
just like overly melodramatic, you might say, So those I
don't care for as much anymore. For me, a good
musical is one where the music is very well integrated
into the storyline, where the songs are telling us more
(25:56):
about the people who are singing them, or their situation, sens,
their hopes, their dreams, their fears, or pushing the plot
along or both. I'm not as big a fan of
musicals that just use songs to to be like a
spectacle thing, right, Like, like if you think of the
old classical musicals, the ones that you know really made
(26:20):
it to like it's like a anything goes and stuff
like that. Some of those, like the songs have nothing
to do with the story that's going on or the
characters who are singing the songs. They're just there as
a song and dance number, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But that doesn't really appeal to me. Um, yeah, I
(26:41):
would prefer I'd prefer a show where the music is
part of the storytelling tools that are being used to
to move the audience in some way. What about you.
I think I agree with you on the spectacle musical
aspect of it. I think those are really great entry
points for people who just need to be taken in
by the wonder of a story, and then as you
(27:02):
develop a more refined musical palette, you look for something
deeper um for me. Like, I know you're not a
fan of jukebox musicals, but if I love the music,
if the music is nostalgic for me, I think that
they can be used to drive a lot, and I
think they can be a lot of fun. I'm a
little bit picky. For me. The musicals I enjoy the
(27:23):
most are the ones where one if the music for
the fur there's a story. That's a must for me
as well. But if the lyrics are clever, I love
a turn of phrase and I love wordplay. But I
also like my music to go back to a chorus
or something that I can pick up on easily and
sing on my own. So I yeah, I love hooks,
(27:47):
So you know, like I love Manuel Lin, Manuel Miranda,
I'm very excited about In the Heights, But that's much
almost more of like a a rock opera in the
way that it just has these long musical numbers that
kind of go all over the place. He doesn't often
bring it back around to a rhyme or a repeat
(28:10):
or things like that, which I appreciate, but that's not
the one I'm going to go home singing and humming
along those lines. I like rock operas, but I'm picky
about them, uh Like, I want that music to be
catchy throughout. I don't want a bunch of people just
singing stuff that is dissonant to me. Uh. Jesus Christ
(28:31):
Superstar is a great example where I really enjoyed being
in it, but I will never listen to that soundtrack
outside of being in the show, just because there's so many,
so much of the music in it just isn't enjoy it.
King Herod's song and everybody dances, well, you know, I
auditioned for King Herod. I got Simon the Zealot, but
(28:52):
I auditioned for King Herod so well. I I can
see where you're what you're saying, um like the hook
and everything being important. I'm still not a fan of
jukebox musicals. I can like numbers from them, I guess
so like like Mulan Rouge the Broadway version of Mula.
I don't like the movie Mulan Rouge, so I doubt
that I would very much like the Broadway production of
(29:14):
Mulan Rouge. That's more about the story and the way
it's told than anything else that I'm sure the performers
are fantastic. I've heard the music from Mulan Rouge. It
is a little it gets a little much with all
the mash ups. But I will say that while most
of it didn't really do much for me, the Backstage
Romance song where they take Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and
(29:36):
they turn it into a very slow kind of tango thing. Uh,
it just sounds dirty in the best way, like just
just a dirty, grimy kind of like like passionate kind
of song, and it's just rough and rough around the edges,
and I'm like this this, I love, I love this moment,
(29:57):
and then transitions into like an on stage number gets
really big and glitzy and stuff, and then I lose interest.
But it's little things like that. It's kind of like
even in the original uh Bolan Rouge, the film version,
the Tango of Roxanne, that one, that number, I'm like,
that was one that I really liked, and then the
rest of it I wasn't too um it just didn't
(30:18):
do anything for me. So I mean, like, I like,
I did like the Elephant Love song Medley in the movie.
I feel like in the stage version they had too
much to it. It goes on too long. And I
say this as a member of a band who thrives
on how many songs can we squish together? Like well,
I will say that the medley, I agree it goes
(30:40):
too long, But there are a couple of inclusions of
songs in that medley that just made me smile. The
fact that um they had the was it such great
heights that song in there, which I never expected it
ever here in the musical was It was a lot
of fun. But yeah, I agree, it's um, you know
it's I guess it's all a matter of taste. Obviously,
(31:00):
there's some people who absolutely love the melodrama. You know.
I know a lot of my friends are huge fans
of Rent. It's a show I cannot stand. I do
not like it. If you like, if you like catchy
songs and wordplay, though, Ariel, I'll tell you what musical
you need to listen to. It's a joke musical and
(31:22):
it's Guttenberg the musical, and I want to I want
to listen to that one. I haven't, but the soundtrack
you can find the soundtrack online in different places. I
recommend that one because it's it's a meta joke about
musicals that the plot being that there are two would
be musical producers who are pitching their show to the
(31:43):
audience in the hopes that someone in the audience is
a producer on Broadway. And it's all about Johann Guttenberg,
the inventor of the printing press. And but the songs
are very clever, like there are lots of internal rhymes
and fun turns of phrase, and the tunes are very catchy.
So it's it's funny that two characters who are so
(32:05):
bad at what they do end up making a musical
that on a technical level is incredibly good. Yeah. Oh,
that reminds me. I'm usually not a fan of musicals
that are remakes of movies or television shows, with the
exception of possibly Beetle Juice, which I didn't get to
see because of the COVID and uh, Groundhogs Day, which
(32:30):
just the music for that is brilliant, So if you
haven't listened to that, you should listen to. The music
to Mean Girls is also pretty good, and I wanted
to see that one too, Maybe I'm Stupid in love. Well,
we have a mash up coming up in just a moment,
and it's gonna be about a couple of things we
chatted about earlier in the show, but not musicals. I mean,
(32:53):
mine's not. I don't know about arials, but we'll have
to find out about that after we come back from
this quick break. All right, Jonathan, I was kind of
(33:18):
surprised when you agreed to do this particular bash up,
which is Teenage Mute Ninja Turtles and one hundred and
one Dalmatians and not cruel up, because when the movie
is not out into I don't I didn't see the
point in her story, as I said earlier. So one Dalmatians. Yeah. Um,
sometimes the pitches you come up with are ones where
(33:41):
I don't. I can't imagine an easy entry point into
the mash up, but I usually get there anyway. This
time it hit me right away, which probably means that
I've written the exact same thing that you've written. So
who goes first? I'm going to go first this time
he went first last. All right, this is called and
(34:05):
I'm guessing we probably have one of the two same titles.
Uh Teenage Mutant Ninja Puppies a k a. One hundred
and one Shell Nations. Uh My, I'm using the version
of one hundred and one Dalmatians and content warning because
animal movies are disturbing to me. Little ones might find
this disturbing if you're listening around your kids at certain points.
(34:25):
Doesn't get super dark a little if your little ones
are listening. I apologize for the weed joke I made earlier.
You should have known by now. But okay, So one
day a jingle writer falls in love with a woman
at a park over their same choice of pet, Dalmatians.
That's enough to build on a relationship on right Anyhow,
(34:48):
Soon enough, the Dalmatians have puppies, one and one of them.
In fact, one day at work, the woman's boss and furrier,
I guess Shredder, known for the way he shreds port
animals apart to create high fashion, finds out about the puppies,
and after he has refused on his offer to buy
them from the woman, he hires a goon played by
(35:08):
David dustmachi In to go steal the puppies so that
he can do unspeakable horrible things to him. Shredder, not
David Dostmalchian. Dost Malchian nabs a Dalmatian puppies And yes,
I only put it in there for the name similarity,
and he gets four of them. He can't get all
one d and one. He's only one goon and he
can only carry so many puppies. And by the way,
if you're curious, he got Speedy, Roly, Thunder and Dipstick
(35:32):
and he brings them to the shoot at the back
of Shredder's factory where he's supposed to drop them off.
All the while he's repeating the plan to himself so
that he doesn't forget it. Unfortunately, he chooses the wrong
factory shoot and accidentally drops the puppies into a vat
of chemicals, but fear not good listeners. Instead of the
chemicals harming the puppies, it causes them to develop human
like speech and reasoning and incredible fighting prowess. And that's
(35:56):
when the puppies see Shredder and Shredder sees them. Speedy
yells out Calabona as they jump into the fray to
stop Shredder from harming them and freeing themselves, but Shredder
calls on his army of foot soldiers, the Foot Clan,
which is an army of one legged ninja rabbits who
made deals for their lives by sacrificing one foot each
to Shredder's fur business. The puppies best the foot Clan
(36:17):
and Shredder and escape through a vent into the sewer
and the sewers they find essentient Ferret, who has also
had a chemical accident at Shredder's, who offers to train
them in the ways of martial arts and self control.
And they had so much fun defeating Shredder that they
knew they just couldn't return home, so they accept They
learned to sit sick and karate chop and adopt the
alias is Bonatello, Michael mange Leio, Michael Mangelo, Maine, Michael Mainge. Hello,
(36:44):
it doesn't matter, Leonardo and Rapha. Howel uh They have
a mad cap adventure. Sorry, go ahead. They have mad
cap adventures in space, in the city, and even in
seventeenth century Japan, until one day they realized they miss
belly Rubs and decide to return home to their owners
and their many brothers and sisters. Thankfully, their family is
(37:05):
overjoyed at them returning. They've been searching for them this
whole time, so it's a happy reunion and the next
day the four begin trade to one day Takedown shredder
once and for all the end, or I like it,
I like it. Mine is very very different. Okay, So
welcome to preteen mutant rough rough Ruffians. Here we go.
(37:27):
He Pongo and Purdy have a problem. The two Dalmatians
have their had their litter of fifteen puppies dog napped
by the wicked Cruella de Ville. All right, so my
story plays out exactly as it does in the classic
one Dalmatians, but with a twist. During the escape from
the battens, when Cruella is chasing down the moving van
(37:50):
containing Pondo Purdy, they're fifteen kids plus another eighty four puppies.
Four little puppies accidentally fall from the moving truck as
it enters London. Cruella has attempted to run the van
off the road, but collides with a Lori carrying containers
of glowing green goo. Cruella is hit by a good
amount of goo, but most of it hits the streets,
(38:11):
soaking the four poor puppies. They get swept down a
storm drain, but land safely, whereupon they discover a wise
and talkative rat with a somewhat problema matic accent. The
rat introduces himself as Splinter. Splinter takes the four puppies
into his care, feeding them and teaching them all he can.
(38:32):
But these four came from a group of eighty four
puppies that Cruella had previously purloined. They are not the
actual puppies of Pondo, Pongo, and Purdy. Just to make
that clear, they have no real names or home, so
Splinter decides to name them. One of the puppies a
great lover of parks and people, he names Serat. The
(38:52):
second a lover of pop art and comic books, he
names Liechtenstein. The third puppy who had one ear stuck
up and one that flopped over, he names Van Gogh.
The fourth and messiest puppy, he names Pollock. The Green
Good changes the puppies, making them more anthropomorphic. They take
off almost human characteristics. He also teaches the puppies how
(39:14):
to not only defend themselves, but he instills within them
a desire to help others, and so the four puppies
learn how to work together and develop a particularly rugged
street fighting technique. Collectively, they are known as the pre
Team Mutant Rough Rough Ruffians, and their record is spotty
at best. Flash Forward a couple of years, and now
(39:35):
they're the teenage Mutant Rough. You get the idea. The
four friends have become protectors in London, helping those who
are in trouble, but always from the shadows so as
not to cause a scene. And there's a new scourge
in the city. Or is it that new after all?
A masked villain has been wreaking havoc, vandalizing shops on
(39:56):
Oxford Street and covering London in spots. But the or
Friends recognize their old nemesis even through the mask. Sure,
now she calls herself shred Arella de Ville, but it's
hardly a good supervillain name. I mean, the song about
her is still a big hit on the radio. Shredderella
has built up her own gang, known as the Foot Clan,
(40:18):
so called because they are they wear extremely stylish polka
dotted socks fuzzy ones. But Shrederella wants her revenge and moreover,
wants to move into real fur socks. Our teenage Mutant
rough Rough Ruffians learned that Shrederella plans to raid the
Dalmatian Plantation, the home where the other nine puppies live.
(40:39):
The unsuspecting family of Roger and Anita are none the wiser,
and it's up to our heroes to save the day.
They must make their way out of London in secrecy,
and along the way they happen to come across an
odd vigilante from Wales, Casey Jones. He favors a cricket
bat as as a weapon of choice, and after an
understandable moment of cry Asist as it begins to process
(41:01):
the fact that for anthropomorphic talking Dalmatians are chatting with him,
joins forces with our heroes. Together they managed to take
out many of the Foot clan's ground forces near the
Dalmatian plantation before anyone is the wiser. But Pollock gets
a bit too rambunctious in one scuffle and soon the
alarm is raised. What follows is an epic fight between
(41:22):
our heroes and villains, with Shrederella shrieking the entire time.
The family wakes up with tons of dogs and there's
just a big loud mess. But in the end Shrederella
is defeated, restrained, and left for the authorities to claim.
She faces enormous amounts of jail time and fines for
defacing various properties in London where such things are held
(41:43):
as truly serious offenses. As for Surat, Liechtenstein, Van Gogh,
and Pollock. As they prepared to leave, they see their
former friends, now grown dogs, and there's a sweet reunion.
But as Roger and Anita emerged from their home, the
heroes make their goodbyes slip off into the night before
they are seen. While the parting is sad, they all
(42:04):
promised to communicate through the Twilight bark, which I had
to look up because I couldn't remember if that was
from a hundred one Dalmatians or if it was actually
from Lady in the Tramp But it was the Dalmatian one.
The end. I like it. I like the Twilight bark
I had had forgotten. Yeah, I I wrote that as
a joke, but it's legit. I I was like, wait,
(42:25):
was Twilight barking Lady in the trampon with? Because I
haven't seen either movie in a very long time. Well
well done on you for having the puppies leave Roger
and Anita and not having me be too stressed out
about it. Oh yeah, you know, and also, like you know,
for those of you who are real art fans, I
(42:46):
mean Van go is a giveaway and Paula is probably
a giveaway, but yeah, I sarat also a giveaway if
you happen to know Pointali is um Um, I'll be
curious if people know who Liechtenstein is. But yeah, I
made I decided I had to update the artist names. Yes,
I loved it. I loved it. Well. Uh, if you
(43:07):
have your own version of Ninja Turtles meets on donations,
you should write us and let us know how can
they do that? Well, you can send us a good
old fashioned email. The way to do that is to
send it to l n C at I heart media
dot com, or you can let us know on Twitter
where we are l n C Underscore Podcast or on
(43:30):
Facebook or Instagram. Were large Nergron Collider at both of
those places, and to go to our website you can
see all of our show notes. You can leave us
messages there as well if you want to. That is
large Nerron Collider dot com. We always have show notes
for every episode, so that way you can actually go
and read the articles we referenced, like that Broadway article.
(43:51):
We only scratch the surface of what that article covered.
It's it's incredibly thorough um and it really gives you
a deep appreciation of how complicated and involved. Broadway productions
and theatrical productions in general really are. Yeah, yeah, and
you know, please do write us. We really love hearing
(44:11):
from you. We like continuing that conversation. And tell your
friends about us and make sure that they subscribe, just
like I'm sure you have. Uh And until next time,
I'm Ariel Caston and I'm Jonathan Big Dog Runs Strickland
Wolf wolfwow E p o E p A h M.
(44:55):
The Large New Drunk Collider is production of I Heart
Radio and was created by Ariel cast In. Jonathan Strickland
is the executive producer. The show is produced, edited and
published by Torry Harrison. For more podcasts on my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
The Large nerdron Collider podcast is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey everybody, welcome to The Large Nerdrun Collider,
the podcast that's all about the geeky things happening in
the world around us and how very excited we are
(00:28):
about them. I'm Ariel casting and with me as always
is the Dulcet Lee toned Jonathan Strickland. Why thank you, Ariel.
This question is going out to you. Okay, Ariel, here's
your question. What is a celebrity encounter you've had that
(00:52):
you think back on fondly. Oh, at the same time,
I've had a lot, and not many because I used
to work backstage at dragon Con and do some security stuff.
Um m hmm, I'll say, and all that counts. All
(01:13):
that counts. So if you want to if you want
to know, I just don't know if I can talk
about it all, Well, you don't have to go into
like so I had this, you know, disencounter with Bruce
Campbell and I carried all of his weed for him.
I'm not saying that. Yeah, No, One, I haven't and
two I wouldn't say that. I will say, like any
(01:37):
any celebrity encounter I've had where they've just been incredibly nice.
And the two that immediately popped to mind when I
think of that, And I know you asked me for one,
but it's I'm the Queen of indecision, and it would
be Alice Cooper or Stanley because they just yeah, they
both just treated Now. I mean this is from a
brief encounter. You know, I didn't have a lot of
(02:00):
one on one time with them, but just from my observation, uh,
in that ballroom, they treated everyone with just such kindness
in respect. It didn't matter who you were that it
just it really left a positive impression on me. I
like it. So Alice Cooper didn't just look at you
and say welcome to my nightmare. No, he was super nice.
He said hi. Not every uh celebrity that I got
(02:23):
to work with, you know, necessarily said hi because you're
in a convention setting you need time to like unwind
and things like that. But yeah, he was. He was
just very He was very kind to me. I can't
say that he's kind to everybody, but he was very
kind to me. What about you? Oh, okay, So my
favorite story to tell I've I've had several I've been
fortunate to have several celebrity encounters, and almost all of
(02:45):
them have been positive. There's been very few where I
didn't like the experience. But one that was purely by
happenstance was that I was going through the Atlanta airport.
This was pre uh September eleven, the two tho one,
so it was back when you didn't have to have
a ticket in order to go through security. And the
(03:06):
reason why I was going was to meet uh well,
the woman who would become my partner, but we were
dating at the time, and she was flying into Atlanta,
so I was on my way to meet her and
I see this guy duck into the Disney store and
I when I saw him, I thought, I think I
recognized this guy. I think that's Ernie Sabella. And Ernie Sabella,
(03:29):
for those who don't know, was in Disney terms, he
was the voice of Pumba. But he also was like
the naked guy on the Subway in Seinfeld, and he
played lots of different roles on Broadway, and so I
was familiar with his work, so thinking that he's Ernie Sabella,
but not sure. I also go into the Disney store
(03:51):
like a stalker, and he picks up a pumba doll
and turns to a kid next to him goes Hakuna
mata and without without without any hesitation, I went, what
a wonderful phrase. And he turns around and he's like
I thought for a minute that Nathan was here, and
we chatted, and we actually chatted from there too. He
(04:12):
was late to his uh to his gate, so he
had me walk with him and we chatted about Broadway.
He talked about he was in a funny thing happened
on the way of the forum at the time. He said,
if you're ever in New York, let me know. I'll
get you a ticket. Just a super nice guy, and
we just chatted about acting. It was fun um and
a weird, little brief encounter that that sounds delightful. I
(04:35):
never encounter celebrities in the wild um, I don't think,
And even if I did, I don't know if I
would go up and talk to them. But I think
I think, I just I probably we live in Atlanta.
I've probably seen some sort of celebrity on the street
somewhere and just not realized where where the wild stories
Where are offices over on in Pont City Market that
(04:59):
tends to be a place where various studios will put
celebrities up when they're in town shooting. So like when
Nona Ryder was staying there, never saw her. Um, there
were a whole bunch of different celebrities I heard about,
but never I saw Hugh Jackman in my office, like
in the gym that's connected to that building. Did not
(05:20):
say hi to him. He was working out. You just
don't do that right to anyone in the gym. And
let's ask you a question. You'll leave him alone. And um,
And the one that I was sad got away was Um,
I think it was Mandy Moore. She was shopping and
I was like, it would have been fun to sing
with her, Not that she would have. I mean, come on,
(05:40):
but you know me never never turned up an opportunity
to sing. Well, don't be sad anymore, Jonathan, because we
have some really good news. And the really good news
is that the Ewok movies and TV show, and part
of the Star Wars Holiday special and Gen D. Tardakovsky's
Star Wars Clone Wars are all coming to Disney Plus.
(06:03):
So the best parts of the Star Wars franchise will
soon be available for streaming. You are killing me because
I mean, I remember when the Ewok movies came out.
The first one was cute, the second one ends start.
The second one begins with a huge bummer. It doesn't
get better from there. Um, this is spoiler alert. If
(06:24):
you've not seen the e walk movies, I guess soon
you'll get to scratch that itch. The and the fact
that you even say Star Wars Holiday Special and use
best in the same general thought. Also, we have to
point out that the part of the Star Wars Holiday
Special that is going to be on there is the
animated short that was part of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
(06:46):
You will not get to see b Arthur Singh where
Harvey Corman have a glitch, glitching freak out, or um,
all the other really questionable stuff that happened in that special.
If you've never seen the Star Wars Holiday Special, I
don't recommend you seek it out. But it is an experience.
(07:06):
It is an experience, and I was I was kind
of trolling you. So I genuinely do like the e
Walks movie because I was a small, curly headed blonde
girl when I was watching it and it features one
and you know, and now I'm a redhead. But I
also do very much like the Clone Wars cartoon that
they're adding. I adore it um and it's the Star
(07:32):
Wars Holiday special. Is an experience, and I appreciated that
experience when I had it so kind of trolling you,
you know, but only a little. Well, it's okay, You're
not the only one trolling me. Funny thing when we
were making up the show notes, I was typing it
in as Ariel was writing to me. The thing I
(07:52):
typed in our show notes was full trailer for the
Irregulars makes Jonathan mad Ariel sent me a message saying
there's a new a Regulars trailer. You are not going
to like it. So Ariel Ariel has her finger on
the pulse of what Jonathan doesn't like. Yes, and I'll say,
if this trailer, knowing that you are upset about it
(08:15):
because there shouldn't be supernatural stuff in Sherlock Holmes, this trailer,
if it were not Sherlock Holmes, looks really interesting to me. Yeah,
if if it weren't a Sherlock. Now, granted, I get it,
this is an alternative take on Sherlock Holmes. And I
guess to me, it's just one of those things where
I get really person ketty about you can only get
(08:37):
so far away from whatever the material is you are
referencing before I feel like there's not enough connective tissue
there to make the reference worthwhile. So in this case,
they're trading on the cultural knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. And
of course the Regulars in the Sherlock Holmes stories are
(08:58):
a network of various vagrants and street urchins who gather
information on behalf of Sherlock Holmes. In the series, they
appeared to be working for John Watson. Holmes himself appears
to be a little out of it, let's say, based
on them. He doesn't show up, no, not and not
in the trailer, it's certainly so um yeah. But the
(09:21):
supernatural stuff, I mean that is just antithetical to Sherlock Holmes.
And in the Homes stories, a few times where it
appeared there were supernatural elements, it always turned out that
these were uh, completely natural things that Holmes figures out
you know what caused it. So it does irritate me
a bit, even though like one of my favorite stories,
(09:43):
there was a book called Ano Dracula that had lots
of fictional and historical characters all mixed up together in
a vampire story, and Sherlock Holmes was in that, and
I was, I was okay with that. So maybe I
should just get off my high horse and try and
watch the show and judge it based on its own
(10:03):
merits rather than the fact that I'm I'm upset that
there are supernatural elements in a Sherlock Holmes related story.
Give it two episodes. Maybe they'll explain it in a
way that you appreciate. In the meantime, it's really a
part of the m c U. I mean, could be,
could be. Uh, well, it's not the right Sherlock Holmes
(10:26):
for that. Anyhow, If you want to keep with something nostalgically,
then you should just get in mind to play Teenage
Mutan Ninja Turtle Shredder's Revenge. Yeah. It's a it's an
upcoming video game, and it's very much in the style
of the old side scrolling beat him up Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles game. And I mean it's giving me that
(10:50):
nostalgic feeling of being in the arcade and just feeding
token after token into a t M n T machine. Yeah. Yeah,
now I've definitely lost some some money's doing that, thankfully.
Now I have the one up teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Arcade console. Uh so I kind of hope that they
(11:12):
let me load this into it as a third game eventually,
because I got to catch them all. Yeah yeah, And
I mean, like, this is one of those things that
really does hearken back to an an older style of
video game. I'm sure there will be plenty of people
who will embrace it because they have that same sort
of nostalgic itch. I am curious if it will catch
(11:33):
on with younger players who maybe haven't had experience with
those style of games very much. Possibly. I was going
to say, the same team did the Scott Pilgrim Versus
the World the game game, which was quite a lot
of fun. But then I also have to remember that
was quite a few years ago, now, No, yeah, yeah,
that was a long time ago. Okay, Well, We've got
(11:54):
a couple of other stories we want to hit in
this section, and one of them is that there is
a full new trailer for Cruela, the film about Cruella
de Ville, the villain from One Dalmatians. Um, what did
you think of the trailer? Ariel? Stylistically, I liked it.
(12:16):
I like, just just from a visual standpoint, I like,
I like that seventies punk aesthetic. UM, and I love
I used to want to be a fashion designer back
in the day. But I've never really felt a great
kinship for Coruella de Ville. I I don't didn't really
(12:39):
see the need for her to have her own movie.
Though watching it, I'll say like I'm a Stone physically
embodies the character perfectly to me, just the sort of
mad cap cartoonish version of her, especially when they show
her in the trailer driving a car. It's like I'm
watching the Celts out of the animated cartoon. Um. You know,
(13:00):
I've had friends who are worried that it's going to
focus on mental illness in a in a negative way.
You know, We've talked before about how at some point
we need to have a conversation about able is Um.
But UM, I don't know. I just I'm not feeling
a very strong urge to go watch it at this point.
I'm sure it'll be well done. I just animal movies
(13:20):
like stress me out, and this is adjacent to an
animal movie. What about you, I feel very much the
same way you do. I mean, you pretty much hit
the points that I did, Like I think stylistically it
looks incredible, like from a cinematography, costume design, set design, lighting,
all of those like technical elements, it looks phenomenal. The
(13:42):
music that they picked for the trailers fantastic, Like it's
it's really striking. But just as you said, I have
very little interest in learning anything about Cruella's backstory. The
only thing I needed to know is that she was
a schoolmate with Anita from One Dumatians. Didn't really need
to know anything more than that. Um yeah, And I
was just a character that was never really curious about,
(14:03):
largely because there's no depth to her in One One Dalmatians.
She really is just you might as well just have
the word villain walking around. There's not much else tour right,
So um yeah, yeah, it wasn't really wasn't really something
I was looking forward to. If they were to do
a a kind of backstory on a villain type of movie,
I'd be more interested in one about Ursula and to
(14:26):
learn what she was like when she was ruling the
seas before Triton was. Um, that would be more interesting
to me. Kind of you can make that like a
Shakespearean tragedy. I agree, And they could because you know,
blond King is Hamlet. I will say, I do like
the Easter egg that Emma Thompson was in the live
action one hundred and one Dalmatians and is also in this. Um.
(14:48):
I think that's a fun little detail. Um. And real quick,
we have one last news segment before we go to break,
and that is In the Heights disdrupt two new trailers
and announced that they are going to theaters and HBO
Max in June, and I could not be more excited
about it. What about you, Jonathan same? I? Uh so.
(15:10):
Lin Manuel Miranda is the man behind In the Heights
and it was his big show before Hamilton's, right he
was He was in that show while working on writing
out Hamilton's, and UM, I was unfamiliar with it, except
that I started listening to the I Heart Radio Broadway
(15:30):
radio station and the songs from In the Heights sometimes
come on, and I was hooked. It's just it's that
same incredible uh precision of language that you here in
Hamilton's that's also in In the Heights, And there's that
passion of a specific love of a specific neighborhood and
(15:51):
uh specific time, and all of that gets wrapped up
into the songs that I've heard, and I've been eager
to see it, but obviously I haven't had the opportunity to.
So I'm hopeful that this film will be a good
representation of the story musical theatrical theatrical productions in general,
(16:12):
their transition to film doesn't always go smoothly. I'm hoping
that this is an exception to that general rule. Well,
I think it will be. I think because they focused
on making it truly a cinematic story and not a
videotapes staged production like they did with Hamilton's, which I
(16:33):
also quite enjoyed, that it'll it'll just work out really well.
Everything about it just screams wonderful to me. Um. I
love the little fact that they actually filmed in Washington Heights. Yeah,
and lin Manuel Miranda plays a minory character in it.
In the original production, he was one of the leads,
but he is not playing the lead in the film version.
(16:54):
He has graciously stepped aside for an actor of an
appropriate age to play that part. Yes, yes, Anthony Ramos.
I also think that Rita Moreno is in it, which
I think is also brilliant casting since she was Maria
the original Maria and West Side story. We have a
lot more Broadway and musical stuff we want to talk about,
(17:17):
but let's take a quick break. Sounds good, So ariel Uh,
you know, last week, I think it was last week,
we talked about the fact that there were some planned
(17:37):
pop up events on Broadway, and one of the articles
that we came across while putting our show together was
one about the process of reopening Broadway in general. It
was from USA Today, and that article really pointed out
(17:57):
some stuff that just didn't occur to me when we
were having that discussion about the pop ups, and that
was like the stuff about how even if everything were
in place right now for them to open up tomorrow,
they wouldn't be able to do it because no one
has been able to rehearse, you know, like the there
are people who are connected to shows who are not
(18:20):
currently living in the city anymore because it was too expensive,
and you know, if you're not making any money, you
have to conserve what you've got, So a lot of
people moved out of the city, and it really kind
of illustrated that the reopening of Broadway is going to
be a much more gradual process and that these pop
(18:40):
up events are likely to be very modest compared to
quote unquote Broadway production. Yeah. Possibly one man shows or
cabarets or things like that. Uh. Stuff stuff that's easy
to get up and mount. Um, you know. And I'm
sure that there are some people who've been working on
small stuff. I had a friend who had a show
(19:01):
on off Broadway who could probably easily take it and
put it into a pop up event, you know. But
anything big, Yeah, I don't. I don't think they'd be
able to unless they've been working on it on the
download they'll be able to get it up on its
feet super quick. But it does. Um. Yeah. I had
never thought about the fact, despite the fact that you
(19:22):
and I have both done theater and musical theater, that
you know, even if you know a musical backward and forward,
you know, you still have to practice, You still have
to read choreographed, you have to do the tech, you
have to make sure your costumes fit. And the article
in USA Today even says, you know, even if you're
a dresser or a costume designer or seamstress or a
(19:44):
tech guy, you might have three shows that now you
need to get back up on its feet altogether. So
it's not just on the talent side of things where
there's going to be a crunch. But it did make
me happy because I know you were concerned about Broadway
opening ethic reopening ethically, and it seems like, um, all
(20:05):
the various divisions that that kind of manage the talent
of Broadway have that in mind. They want to make
sure that it's safe. They want to come back to
Broadway in a way that is healthier and better for everybody.
Uh And and that's exciting to me, Yeah, because that
article not just about like healthier in the sense of
(20:27):
everyone needs to be vaccinated, whether they are on stage
or work behind the scenes or they're part of the
house crew or whatever it may be. But as you
point out in the interim, while everything's been down, it's
it's given people time to have heavy conversations that are
way overdue but typically get put aside because everyone is
(20:50):
still in the business of actually doing the thing right.
So things like inclusivity and accessibility, these issues that have
been problems in theater for a very long time, and
I've only gradually been and recently been addressed. A lot
of those conversations kind of got kicked into overdrive during lockdown,
(21:11):
and that means that the theater that we do see
when things reopen is hopefully going to be a more
diverse and rich theatrical experience than it would have been otherwise.
And I find that really exciting. Um something, you know,
the idea of being able to see a show that
might have a cast that isn't all lily white, which
(21:36):
you know, again has been has been changing over the years.
But like for the longest time in Broadway, the vast
majority of roles and the vast majority of performers were white.
You hardly ever saw people of color up on stage.
You often saw white people playing people of color up
on stage. So yeah, yeah, you know, I am. I'm
(21:56):
super happy about that on just a health level. And
I'm not trying about COVID vaccinations. I'm talking about I've
been in productions where an actor has come in sick
and thrown up in the wings and then gone back
up on stage, and that's like, that's just not great
work ethic well on either end of the spectrum doing
that anymore, well, I mean, Ariel, let's be fair. You
(22:18):
are someone who's been injured on a show, got seen
too medically and returned to the show in the same show.
I mean, yes, uh, and I would do it again.
But I wasn't sick in a way that could get
somebody else sick. When I had my finger cut open
by a sword. It was more about It was more
(22:40):
about the the fact that we have this built in expectation,
like this idea that the show must go on. The
show is bigger than any person in it. Like to
some extent, that can be admirable, but if you take
it to the extreme, then you're really you're really taking
advantage of the people who are making the show, and
some one's benefiting from that, but it's not necessarily the
(23:02):
people who are actually doing the thing. And I mean, yes,
it is admirable. Your work ethic is is very strong.
The fact that you got hurt, you got some I
think you had staples put into your finger stitches stitches seven,
so you got you got your fingers stitched up, and
then came back that same day to finish out the
day like that is that is that says a lot
(23:25):
about your work ethic, But it also says a lot
about the fact that we have built in this expectation
that the show must go on and that that's expected
of you. Um, and it shouldn't be so, I mean,
part of it was my vanity. I was super happy
to come back. I didn't want to give up on
the rest of my day. But yeah, it is definitely
(23:45):
an expectation that's kind of built into theater, you know.
And part of it is you just have so many
people relying on your little piece that you don't want
to let anybody down. So he said, there's some admirable
there's there's some downfall to it, but hopefully it will
be a healthier workplace and I look forward to getting
back and watching some musicals. I have been waiting for
my Broadway trip. Yeah, me too. I think I say
(24:08):
it every week. Yeah, like, if I don't get a
chance to see Hades Town, I'm going to be sad.
I mean, I'll understand, but it will make me sad
because it was something I was really looking forward to
as a birthday present I gave to myself, and I
might never be able to collect it. My my hope
is that that was doing so well and so early
(24:29):
and it's runs still that it comes back. I know
there are some that are not frozen. It's not reopening
and that seems like you hear that Frozen is not reopening,
and you're like, that's like a guaranteed sellout. Well, assuming
that you're allowed to open up to full capacity, maybe
we'll get rated to e the musical off of TikTok
and onto the stage. So so that that leads me
(24:50):
to ask you, Jonathan, what do you like in a
musical and what don't you like that? That's a great question,
and it's one that has changed over time. Um So,
like when I was, when I was a teenager, moody teenager,
big mood swings, I really liked the stuff that was
popular on Broadway at the time, which were bombastic musicals,
(25:11):
stuff like Les Miserab, Phantom of the Opera, Missigon, these
really big, big spectacle musicals, huge casts, big musical numbers,
super melodramatic stories. Um But as I've gotten older, I
can't stand those anymore. Like I recognize the artistry that
(25:33):
went into making them, but I find them tiresome and
I find them, like I do, find them melodramatic, not
just like overly melodramatic, you might say, So those I
don't care for as much anymore. For me, a good
musical is one where the music is very well integrated
into the storyline, where the songs are telling us more
(25:56):
about the people who are singing them, or their situation, sens,
their hopes, their dreams, their fears, or pushing the plot
along or both. I'm not as big a fan of
musicals that just use songs to to be like a
spectacle thing, right, Like, like if you think of the
old classical musicals, the ones that you know really made
(26:20):
it to like it's like a anything goes and stuff
like that. Some of those, like the songs have nothing
to do with the story that's going on or the
characters who are singing the songs. They're just there as
a song and dance number, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But that doesn't really appeal to me. Um, yeah, I
(26:41):
would prefer I'd prefer a show where the music is
part of the storytelling tools that are being used to
to move the audience in some way. What about you.
I think I agree with you on the spectacle musical
aspect of it. I think those are really great entry
points for people who just need to be taken in
by the wonder of a story, and then as you
(27:02):
develop a more refined musical palette, you look for something
deeper um for me. Like, I know you're not a
fan of jukebox musicals, but if I love the music,
if the music is nostalgic for me, I think that
they can be used to drive a lot, and I
think they can be a lot of fun. I'm a
little bit picky. For me. The musicals I enjoy the
(27:23):
most are the ones where one if the music for
the fur there's a story. That's a must for me
as well. But if the lyrics are clever, I love
a turn of phrase and I love wordplay. But I
also like my music to go back to a chorus
or something that I can pick up on easily and
sing on my own. So I yeah, I love hooks,
(27:47):
So you know, like I love Manuel Lin, Manuel Miranda,
I'm very excited about In the Heights, But that's much
almost more of like a a rock opera in the
way that it just has these long musical numbers that
kind of go all over the place. He doesn't often
bring it back around to a rhyme or a repeat
(28:10):
or things like that, which I appreciate, but that's not
the one I'm going to go home singing and humming
along those lines. I like rock operas, but I'm picky
about them, uh Like, I want that music to be
catchy throughout. I don't want a bunch of people just
singing stuff that is dissonant to me. Uh. Jesus Christ
(28:31):
Superstar is a great example where I really enjoyed being
in it, but I will never listen to that soundtrack
outside of being in the show, just because there's so many,
so much of the music in it just isn't enjoy it.
King Herod's song and everybody dances, well, you know, I
auditioned for King Herod. I got Simon the Zealot, but
(28:52):
I auditioned for King Herod so well. I I can
see where you're what you're saying, um like the hook
and everything being important. I'm still not a fan of
jukebox musicals. I can like numbers from them, I guess
so like like Mulan Rouge the Broadway version of Mula.
I don't like the movie Mulan Rouge, so I doubt
that I would very much like the Broadway production of
(29:14):
Mulan Rouge. That's more about the story and the way
it's told than anything else that I'm sure the performers
are fantastic. I've heard the music from Mulan Rouge. It
is a little it gets a little much with all
the mash ups. But I will say that while most
of it didn't really do much for me, the Backstage
Romance song where they take Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and
(29:36):
they turn it into a very slow kind of tango thing. Uh,
it just sounds dirty in the best way, like just
just a dirty, grimy kind of like like passionate kind
of song, and it's just rough and rough around the edges,
and I'm like this this, I love, I love this moment,
(29:57):
and then transitions into like an on stage number gets
really big and glitzy and stuff, and then I lose interest.
But it's little things like that. It's kind of like
even in the original uh Bolan Rouge, the film version,
the Tango of Roxanne, that one, that number, I'm like,
that was one that I really liked, and then the
rest of it I wasn't too um it just didn't
(30:18):
do anything for me. So I mean, like, I like,
I did like the Elephant Love song Medley in the movie.
I feel like in the stage version they had too
much to it. It goes on too long. And I
say this as a member of a band who thrives
on how many songs can we squish together? Like well,
I will say that the medley, I agree it goes
(30:40):
too long, But there are a couple of inclusions of
songs in that medley that just made me smile. The
fact that um they had the was it such great
heights that song in there, which I never expected it
ever here in the musical was It was a lot
of fun. But yeah, I agree, it's um, you know
it's I guess it's all a matter of taste. Obviously,
(31:00):
there's some people who absolutely love the melodrama. You know.
I know a lot of my friends are huge fans
of Rent. It's a show I cannot stand. I do
not like it. If you like, if you like catchy
songs and wordplay, though, Ariel, I'll tell you what musical
you need to listen to. It's a joke musical and
(31:22):
it's Guttenberg the musical, and I want to I want
to listen to that one. I haven't, but the soundtrack
you can find the soundtrack online in different places. I
recommend that one because it's it's a meta joke about
musicals that the plot being that there are two would
be musical producers who are pitching their show to the
(31:43):
audience in the hopes that someone in the audience is
a producer on Broadway. And it's all about Johann Guttenberg,
the inventor of the printing press. And but the songs
are very clever, like there are lots of internal rhymes
and fun turns of phrase, and the tunes are very catchy.
So it's it's funny that two characters who are so
(32:05):
bad at what they do end up making a musical
that on a technical level is incredibly good. Yeah. Oh,
that reminds me. I'm usually not a fan of musicals
that are remakes of movies or television shows, with the
exception of possibly Beetle Juice, which I didn't get to
see because of the COVID and uh, Groundhogs Day, which
(32:30):
just the music for that is brilliant, So if you
haven't listened to that, you should listen to. The music
to Mean Girls is also pretty good, and I wanted
to see that one too, Maybe I'm Stupid in love. Well,
we have a mash up coming up in just a moment,
and it's gonna be about a couple of things we
chatted about earlier in the show, but not musicals. I mean,
(32:53):
mine's not. I don't know about arials, but we'll have
to find out about that after we come back from
this quick break. All right, Jonathan, I was kind of
(33:18):
surprised when you agreed to do this particular bash up,
which is Teenage Mute Ninja Turtles and one hundred and
one Dalmatians and not cruel up, because when the movie
is not out into I don't I didn't see the
point in her story, as I said earlier. So one Dalmatians. Yeah. Um,
sometimes the pitches you come up with are ones where
(33:41):
I don't. I can't imagine an easy entry point into
the mash up, but I usually get there anyway. This
time it hit me right away, which probably means that
I've written the exact same thing that you've written. So
who goes first? I'm going to go first this time
he went first last. All right, this is called and
(34:05):
I'm guessing we probably have one of the two same titles.
Uh Teenage Mutant Ninja Puppies a k a. One hundred
and one Shell Nations. Uh My, I'm using the version
of one hundred and one Dalmatians and content warning because
animal movies are disturbing to me. Little ones might find
this disturbing if you're listening around your kids at certain points.
(34:25):
Doesn't get super dark a little if your little ones
are listening. I apologize for the weed joke I made earlier.
You should have known by now. But okay, So one
day a jingle writer falls in love with a woman
at a park over their same choice of pet, Dalmatians.
That's enough to build on a relationship on right Anyhow,
(34:48):
Soon enough, the Dalmatians have puppies, one and one of them.
In fact, one day at work, the woman's boss and furrier,
I guess Shredder, known for the way he shreds port
animals apart to create high fashion, finds out about the puppies,
and after he has refused on his offer to buy
them from the woman, he hires a goon played by
(35:08):
David dustmachi In to go steal the puppies so that
he can do unspeakable horrible things to him. Shredder, not
David Dostmalchian. Dost Malchian nabs a Dalmatian puppies And yes,
I only put it in there for the name similarity,
and he gets four of them. He can't get all
one d and one. He's only one goon and he
can only carry so many puppies. And by the way,
if you're curious, he got Speedy, Roly, Thunder and Dipstick
(35:32):
and he brings them to the shoot at the back
of Shredder's factory where he's supposed to drop them off.
All the while he's repeating the plan to himself so
that he doesn't forget it. Unfortunately, he chooses the wrong
factory shoot and accidentally drops the puppies into a vat
of chemicals, but fear not good listeners. Instead of the
chemicals harming the puppies, it causes them to develop human
like speech and reasoning and incredible fighting prowess. And that's
(35:56):
when the puppies see Shredder and Shredder sees them. Speedy
yells out Calabona as they jump into the fray to
stop Shredder from harming them and freeing themselves, but Shredder
calls on his army of foot soldiers, the Foot Clan,
which is an army of one legged ninja rabbits who
made deals for their lives by sacrificing one foot each
to Shredder's fur business. The puppies best the foot Clan
(36:17):
and Shredder and escape through a vent into the sewer
and the sewers they find essentient Ferret, who has also
had a chemical accident at Shredder's, who offers to train
them in the ways of martial arts and self control.
And they had so much fun defeating Shredder that they
knew they just couldn't return home, so they accept They
learned to sit sick and karate chop and adopt the
alias is Bonatello, Michael mange Leio, Michael Mangelo, Maine, Michael Mainge. Hello,
(36:44):
it doesn't matter, Leonardo and Rapha. Howel uh They have
a mad cap adventure. Sorry, go ahead. They have mad
cap adventures in space, in the city, and even in
seventeenth century Japan, until one day they realized they miss
belly Rubs and decide to return home to their owners
and their many brothers and sisters. Thankfully, their family is
(37:05):
overjoyed at them returning. They've been searching for them this
whole time, so it's a happy reunion and the next
day the four begin trade to one day Takedown shredder
once and for all the end, or I like it,
I like it. Mine is very very different. Okay, So
welcome to preteen mutant rough rough Ruffians. Here we go.
(37:27):
He Pongo and Purdy have a problem. The two Dalmatians
have their had their litter of fifteen puppies dog napped
by the wicked Cruella de Ville. All right, so my
story plays out exactly as it does in the classic
one Dalmatians, but with a twist. During the escape from
the battens, when Cruella is chasing down the moving van
(37:50):
containing Pondo Purdy, they're fifteen kids plus another eighty four puppies.
Four little puppies accidentally fall from the moving truck as
it enters London. Cruella has attempted to run the van
off the road, but collides with a Lori carrying containers
of glowing green goo. Cruella is hit by a good
amount of goo, but most of it hits the streets,
(38:11):
soaking the four poor puppies. They get swept down a
storm drain, but land safely, whereupon they discover a wise
and talkative rat with a somewhat problema matic accent. The
rat introduces himself as Splinter. Splinter takes the four puppies
into his care, feeding them and teaching them all he can.
(38:32):
But these four came from a group of eighty four
puppies that Cruella had previously purloined. They are not the
actual puppies of Pondo, Pongo, and Purdy. Just to make
that clear, they have no real names or home, so
Splinter decides to name them. One of the puppies a
great lover of parks and people, he names Serat. The
(38:52):
second a lover of pop art and comic books, he
names Liechtenstein. The third puppy who had one ear stuck
up and one that flopped over, he names Van Gogh.
The fourth and messiest puppy, he names Pollock. The Green
Good changes the puppies, making them more anthropomorphic. They take
off almost human characteristics. He also teaches the puppies how
(39:14):
to not only defend themselves, but he instills within them
a desire to help others, and so the four puppies
learn how to work together and develop a particularly rugged
street fighting technique. Collectively, they are known as the pre
Team Mutant Rough Rough Ruffians, and their record is spotty
at best. Flash Forward a couple of years, and now
(39:35):
they're the teenage Mutant Rough. You get the idea. The
four friends have become protectors in London, helping those who
are in trouble, but always from the shadows so as
not to cause a scene. And there's a new scourge
in the city. Or is it that new after all?
A masked villain has been wreaking havoc, vandalizing shops on
(39:56):
Oxford Street and covering London in spots. But the or
Friends recognize their old nemesis even through the mask. Sure,
now she calls herself shred Arella de Ville, but it's
hardly a good supervillain name. I mean, the song about
her is still a big hit on the radio. Shredderella
has built up her own gang, known as the Foot Clan,
(40:18):
so called because they are they wear extremely stylish polka
dotted socks fuzzy ones. But Shrederella wants her revenge and moreover,
wants to move into real fur socks. Our teenage Mutant
rough Rough Ruffians learned that Shrederella plans to raid the
Dalmatian Plantation, the home where the other nine puppies live.
(40:39):
The unsuspecting family of Roger and Anita are none the wiser,
and it's up to our heroes to save the day.
They must make their way out of London in secrecy,
and along the way they happen to come across an
odd vigilante from Wales, Casey Jones. He favors a cricket
bat as as a weapon of choice, and after an
understandable moment of cry Asist as it begins to process
(41:01):
the fact that for anthropomorphic talking Dalmatians are chatting with him,
joins forces with our heroes. Together they managed to take
out many of the Foot clan's ground forces near the
Dalmatian plantation before anyone is the wiser. But Pollock gets
a bit too rambunctious in one scuffle and soon the
alarm is raised. What follows is an epic fight between
(41:22):
our heroes and villains, with Shrederella shrieking the entire time.
The family wakes up with tons of dogs and there's
just a big loud mess. But in the end Shrederella
is defeated, restrained, and left for the authorities to claim.
She faces enormous amounts of jail time and fines for
defacing various properties in London where such things are held
(41:43):
as truly serious offenses. As for Surat, Liechtenstein, Van Gogh,
and Pollock. As they prepared to leave, they see their
former friends, now grown dogs, and there's a sweet reunion.
But as Roger and Anita emerged from their home, the
heroes make their goodbyes slip off into the night before
they are seen. While the parting is sad, they all
(42:04):
promised to communicate through the Twilight bark, which I had
to look up because I couldn't remember if that was
from a hundred one Dalmatians or if it was actually
from Lady in the Tramp But it was the Dalmatian one.
The end. I like it. I like the Twilight bark
I had had forgotten. Yeah, I I wrote that as
a joke, but it's legit. I I was like, wait,
(42:25):
was Twilight barking Lady in the trampon with? Because I
haven't seen either movie in a very long time. Well
well done on you for having the puppies leave Roger
and Anita and not having me be too stressed out
about it. Oh yeah, you know, and also, like you know,
for those of you who are real art fans, I
(42:46):
mean Van go is a giveaway and Paula is probably
a giveaway, but yeah, I sarat also a giveaway if
you happen to know Pointali is um Um, I'll be
curious if people know who Liechtenstein is. But yeah, I
made I decided I had to update the artist names. Yes,
I loved it. I loved it. Well. Uh, if you
(43:07):
have your own version of Ninja Turtles meets on donations,
you should write us and let us know how can
they do that? Well, you can send us a good
old fashioned email. The way to do that is to
send it to l n C at I heart media
dot com, or you can let us know on Twitter
where we are l n C Underscore Podcast or on
(43:30):
Facebook or Instagram. Were large Nergron Collider at both of
those places, and to go to our website you can
see all of our show notes. You can leave us
messages there as well if you want to. That is
large Nerron Collider dot com. We always have show notes
for every episode, so that way you can actually go
and read the articles we referenced, like that Broadway article.
(43:51):
We only scratch the surface of what that article covered.
It's it's incredibly thorough um and it really gives you
a deep appreciation of how complicated and involved. Broadway productions
and theatrical productions in general really are. Yeah, yeah, and
you know, please do write us. We really love hearing
(44:11):
from you. We like continuing that conversation. And tell your
friends about us and make sure that they subscribe, just
like I'm sure you have. Uh And until next time,
I'm Ariel Caston and I'm Jonathan Big Dog Runs Strickland
Wolf wolfwow E p o E p A h M.
(44:55):
The Large New Drunk Collider is production of I Heart
Radio and was created by Ariel cast In. Jonathan Strickland
is the executive producer. The show is produced, edited and
published by Torry Harrison. For more podcasts on my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
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