Joseph Zellnik Combines Murder, Mystery, and Musical Theater

Joseph Zellnik is a musical theater composer, and along with his playwright brother David they are best known for their 2010 musical, Yank! This Off-Broadway production picked up Best Musical nominations from the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics’ Circle, and the Lucille Lortel Foundation. Beyond that, Joseph has also written mystery novels, including The Sound of Murder, the first in his "Musicals Are Murder" series, which cleverly combines fictional crimes with real theater history. He even has an upcoming book, The Periodic Table of Broadway Musicals, written with his husband. We also dive into a fun connection we both have with Oklahoma!, his frustrations with the musical production process, and his thoughts on how Broadway has changed over the years—especially when it comes to “spoofsicals" like Spamalot. It is a unique and candid conversation about the craft, the history, and the sometimes-messy realities of creating theater. — Why I’ll Never Make It is an independent production of WINMI Media and Patrick Oliver Jones. To support the ongoing efforts of this podcast please subscribe⁠ or ⁠donate⁠. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices