Big White Elephants
Director and Choreographer Rob Marshall once said, ”The thing about movie musicals is that there have been some brilliant ones, but when they’re bad, they’re really bad - big white elephants.” On this podcast, Grace and Scott discuss a range of Movie Musicals, from classics to DCOMs and everything in between to analyze what makes them work or why they’re Big White Elephants!
Episodes
The best Jellicle Choice you can make is listening to this episode about Cats (2019)!
To continue our Cellulloyd Webber month, Grace and Scott are joined by co-host of Cinema Shame and bad movie aficionado Allan Mott to talk about Tom Hooper's much maligned adaptation of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats.
Why do they have human noses? Why is Rebel Wilson here? What even is a Jellicle Cat? We attempt to answer all these burning questio...
On Episode 66 Grace and Scott are joined by returning guest Kev for week three of Cellulloyd Webber Month: The Films of the Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
This week we're going to the auditorium to see the 1999 straight-to-TV adaptation of Webber and Tim Rice's first professional musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)!
Directed by David Mallet and Steven Pimlott (restaging much of his 1991 West End Revival o...
Cellulloyd Webber month keeps rollin' rollin' rollin' on out with our discussion of Evita (1996).
Grace and Scott try to understand 20th century Argentinian history and politics, discuss Madonna's (mis)casting, and attempt to understand why Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals are so hard to put on film.
Evita, directed by Alan Parker and based on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's concept album and stage show of the same name, stars ...
Big White Elephants Presents 'Cellulloyd Webber: The Films of the Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber'. We're kicking things off with Norman Jewison's 1973 adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's first full-fledged musical Jesus Christ Superstar!
Grace and Scott are joined by Grace's Sounds Of Silvestri co-host Clarence to talk about the desert filming locations, stylistic freeze frames, and whatever King Herod is do...
Oi, guvnah! We gots a new episode for ya, we has. I tell ya it's a good one too, I reckon! We talk about Professor 'enry 'iggins and all the mean things 'e does to poor li'l Eliza Doolittle. Poor girl! 'e says she don't know 'ow to speak English! I 'eard 'er myself, though, I has. More pleasin' to me than what 'e 'as to say!
Ok, can we stop with this bit? It's an episode on My Fair Lady (1964). Audrey Hepburn does a cockney accent ...
For episode 62, Grace and Scott are headed to the barricade! It's time to talk about Tom Hooper's Les Misérables (2012).
Why is Russell Crowe singing? Why is Hugh Jackman singing like that. Why is the camera so close to everyone's face? These are the kinds of questions we attempt to answer.
Directed by Tom Hooper and based on the stage musical of the same name by Boublil, Schönberg, and Kretzmer, Les Misérable--or Les Miz...
For episode 61, Grace and Scott are joined by Morgan Roberts to talk about Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's Josie and the Pussycats (2001).
We talk early 2000's MTV and pop culture, the baffling--and sexist--reaction to the movie on its release, satirical product placement, and more!
Written and Directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont based on the Archie Comics characters, Josie and the Pussycats stars Rachel Leigh ...
To honor the life and career of the great Dolly Parton, we're heading down south to visit the Best Little Whorehouse In Texas!
We talk about dancing college football players, decriminalizing sex work, the Oscar-nominated performance from Charles Durning, and--of course--the effervescence of Dolly Parton.
Directed by Colin Higgins of 9 To Five fame, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas is based off the stage musical of the same name ...
Well, it's the final week of Camp BWE month and we're closing things out with Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman's Theater Camp (2023)
We talk about mockumentary style, how special summer camp can be, and the Amos and Rebecca-Diane musical 'Joan, Still'!
Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, the script and songs were written by Ben Platt, Noah Galvin along with the directors and extra music by Academy Award Winner Mark Son...
It's the third week of Camp BWE and morale is starting to dip. We're covering new brand new lega-sequel Camp Rock 3 (2026). This time around Connect 3 is looking for a new opening act for their Reconnect Tour and they're going back to Camp Rock to find a teenager! They recycle a lot of songs, get locked on a bus in a bizarre social experiment, and learn to be a band!
This one's directed by Veronica Rodriguez and written by Eydie Fa...
Alright, Rockers, it's another week at Camp BWE. This time we're heading back to Camp Rock to see what Mitchie and the gang get up to at camp the summer after the first movie. Rival camps, marching with synchronized hand movements, cheese--but only on pizza! This thing's got it all and we can't back down.
Directed by Paul Hoen from a screenplay by Karin Gist, Regina Hicks, and Dan Berendsen, with songs by Kara DioGuardi, Mitch Alle...
Welcome to Camp BWE! A month-long podcast event where we exclusively cover movie musicals set at summer camps. And by that, we mean all three Camp Rock movies and one other.
To kick it off, we're joined by writer Brittany Spanos (Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, more!). We talk about our history with the Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, why the Brothers' current financial situation seems very weird, and all the amazing 2008 D...
For episode 55, Grace and Scott can't help themselves but go long on their thoughts about the new Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey—even though it's not a musical!
Then we shift over to another film dealing with mythology that's honestly only slightly more of a musical, 1948's One Touch Of Venus, starring Ava Gardner, Rober Walker, Tom Conway, and Eve Arden. If you kissed a statue of a God and it came to life...
Everyone's talkin' about The Odyssey, so for episode 54, Grace and Scott give the people what they want: a discussion of the Coen Brothers' 2001 musical adaptation of Homer's epic, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
No IMAX cameras were used in the production of this film, but it has some things Christopher Nolan never will: bluegrass music, George Clooney in a fake beard, a one-eyed John Goodman, and a soundtrack that was so bel...
It's the one-year anniversary of the Big White Elephants Podcast! And to celebrate, Grace and Scott are joined by returning guest Ryan Pak and first timer (and Grace's brother) Sean for our biggest episode yet.
The group discusses the monumental and potentially polarizing 2016 original movie musical written and directed by Damien Chazelle, La La Land. Ten years on, how does it hold up? Does the lush color, grand scope, and orn...
It's our 52nd episode and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence, so Grace and Scott are heading down to Philadelphia for a special Big Red White And Blue Elephants episode talking about Peter H. Hunt's film adaptation of 1776 (1972).
The delegates of the 2nd Continental Congress are overheated, undersexed, and at each other's throats. Can Boston's John Adams and Virginia's Thomas Jefferson wor...
On episode 51, Grace and Scott dive into the world of Girltrash!, a 2007 lesbian crime web series created by Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S., The L Word, Herbie Fully Loaded, etc.) that was never fully finished, and the prequel feature-length movie musical, Girltrash: All Night Long, directed by Robinson's partner and cinematographer Alex Kondracke which was shot in 2010 but released in 2014. The characters are as messy as the production...
For our 50th episode, we're covering the theatre kid classic Rent (2005). Grace and Scott go deep on Jonathan Larson's adaptation of Puccini's opera La Boheme, talking about the (aging?) cast, the cuts from the stage show, and how you measure a year in the life (love).
Directed by Chris Columbus and written by Stephen Chbosy, Rent stars Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Tracie Thoms, Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Jesse L Marti...
With Scott back from vacation, he and Grace go on their own trip to Belgium for Chantel Akerman's shopping mall musical, Golden Eighties (1986). Is it a brilliantly quirky examination of consumerism and romance through a feminist lens? Is it a poor attempt at recreating the lushness of an MGM Technicolor Musical? Do songs need to be good?
Golden Eighties was directed by Chantal Akerman and written by Akerman, Pascal Bonitzer, ...
While Scott is out on vacation, Grace's co-host from the Sounds Of Silvestri podcast Clarence fills in to talk about Jonathan Demme's final film, Ricki And The Flash (2015). We get into bald eagle back tattoos, Lady Gaga bar rock covers, and Boomer politics while trying to figure out if Meryl Streep can convincingly play a conservative struggling rock star and how a Midwesterner would really respond to a rude conversation in a doug...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name. DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime. This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To unlock ad-free listening, exclusive content, and connect with your fellow Disgos, go to www.disgracelandpod.com to become an All Access member. Rocka Rolla.