Episodes
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What hiatus? What are you talking about? Jonah and MJ are back with Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812! Find out when Jonah realizes Natalie and Natasha are the same person, if MJ will ever admit that sometimes Jonah is right, and see whether or not the show can make them forget that Josh Groban is actually a very attractive man.
Notes
Epic (Brechtian) Theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_theatre
An Epilogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN0P2EFjtfE
Onceler Deleted Song - Biggering
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=biggering -
An off Broadway show? A show that didn't even play in New York? That's a twist. Join Jonah and MJ as they discuss the 2013 Starkid Production, Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier. Will MJ enjoy the raunchy Disney critique? Will Jonah ever defeat Michael Eisner in a duel to the death over his crimes against the Disney parks? Only one of these questions will be answered on this episode of Bop or Flop. I guess you'll have to listen in to find out.
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Missing episodes?
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We are who we are, and we are talking about the second Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles. Jonah and MJ break down the music and cultural significance of this much loved, many times adapted show, and discuss the power and joy in standing up for others and embracing your own truth.
Kelsey Grammer falls off a stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu-BqOsvj00
Harvey Fierstein and Barbara Walters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffy5QC40io
Inception kick sync
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A1pIRXPCL8
Je Ne regrette rien
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu6Kgp88
Drew Gooden - Money Plane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDLUEZX4v8A&t=735s
I Am What I Am Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lupNzpcpDRk&list=PLk8SavR3SVNKeY0Y0J_qovQr9p12m6iXP
Fierstein Interview on many things, including drag
https://www.timeout.com/chicago/theater/harvey-fierstein-interview
La Cage Tony Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLw19vv4tUU
Matthew Morrison’s Nightmare Grinch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDesT6UDmA&t=74s
How the Grinch should be with Stefan Karl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGLpOFvlgyY -
In part two of the episode, Jonah and MJ continue to dive deeper into the discomforts and complexities of Alvin and Thomas' strained relationship. They wonder how much we can/should sacrifice of ourselves for others, what counts as catharsis, and wether or not the statement "this is it" is encouraging or terrifying.
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In the first part of an unexpected two-part episode, Jonah and MJ are prompted to ask tough questions about friendship by the short-lived Broadway musical The Story of My Life. Join the hosts as they uncover the anger, pain, insecurity, and confusion inherent in their own, and all, friendships that are wonderfully represented by the relationship between Tom and Alvin. Stay tuned for next week’s equally tense and enlightening part two!
Notes
Banned Tom Sawyer
https://www.cynthiavarady.net/blog/adventures-of-tom-sawyer/
The History of Indoor Plumbing
https://www.bigrentz.com/blog/very-not-boring-history-plumbing
https://www.johncflood.com/blog/general/history-of-plumbing-timeline
Never Getting Rid of Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQvqDYrCi_k -
Descend into madness with Jonah and MJ as they flail their way through the feline fever dream that is Cats! There's simply nothing more to say about this very chaotic episode of Bop or Flop.
Notes
This is what MJ thinks Old Deuteronomy looks Like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JADpVbYy9Yc
Lindsey Ellis - Why Is Cats?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6iqAip-ZNo
Sideways - Musical Analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3aK-EK5V2k
Memory at the Tonys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mlllRdIfqw -
It’s The Two Idiot’s Guide to Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder! Join Jonah and MJ as they dissect this fourth wall breaking tony nominated musical and lose their minds a little bit over Bryce Pinkham, patter verses, and just so many quick changes.
Notes
Sky-Pony: Rapture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TWGt-NLp0c
Over The Garden Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBh7kcSwxbg
NOT THE BEES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEPDg_osR0Y
Backstage look at costume changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_l75kLxBWI
How TB influenced victorian fashion
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-tuberculosis-shaped-victorian-fashion-180959029/#:~:text=Before%20the%20advent%20of%20antibiotics,emulated%20or%20highlighted%20these%20effects.
Gentleman’s Guide Tony Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtlcEvPDkfM
Belladonna and your eyes
https://www.healthline.com/health/belladonna-dark-past -
We're finally back! We have a new years resolution for the pod, but what is it? Will we stick to it? I guess you'll have to see in this episode where Jonah and MJ discuss Dreamgirls. Between arguing wether or not CC is a coward, if artistic integrity really is everything, if this could have just been the Jennifer Holiday show, and why Jonah brought JFK up for no apparent reason, Dreamgirls made the perfect vehicle to ring in the new year.
Notes
Dreamgirls at the Tonys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUIPKdcKKVI
More Cowbell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s
Here’s a paper regarding cultural appropriation and music
https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/91803/original/Hall%252B-%252BAfrican-American%252BMusic%252B-%252BDynamics%252Bof%252BAppropria
tion%252Band%252BInnovation.pdf
Here’s some that are easier to read but still relevant
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-whitewashing-of-black-music-on-tiktok
https://www.varsity.co.uk/music/20097
A brief history of payola
https://www.vice.com/en/article/64y8y9/a-brief-history-of-american-payola
Musical Diegesis
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/diegetic-sound-and-non-diegetic-sound-whats-the-difference#3-examples-of-diegetic-sound\
Somewhere That’s Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIvpOIUqKKA
The Devil You know from Sideshow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP68t7uZXN4
Muppets Pictures in My Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkHajMn8Yo
PRODUCTION VALUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQa0_YhmPp0 -
Ep. 17 - How Do Elves Reproduce? Ft. Isa Jackowich - Elf (2010)
MJ cackles maniacally at Jonah and Isa as they face unpleasant memories of their time working on Elf, the adaptation of the Will Ferrell hit. Join them as they discuss the merits and disappointments in the deviations from the original film plot, relive their rollercoaster of a time directing and choreographing a high school production, and hypothesize as to whether or not the concept of “the sins of the father” apply to receiving gifts from Santa Claus. Also, MJ has a specific point to illustrate.
Note
Here's the lyrics MJ made up for Buddy's part in the hypothetical "I'll Believe Reprise" within "There is a Santa Claus".
Show him you're fact
He's the greatest dad of all, at least he was
If you can do that Santa, he'll believe
If you do that Santa, I believe
If you do that Santa, he'll believe
There is a Santa Claus -
Jonah and MJ are dreaming of a white Christmas and hoping they don't get cancelled for this surprisingly politically charged episode. Who would have thought that Irving Berlin's White Christmas would have sparked a conversation on the military, voting rights, wether or not Wonderful Chirstmastime is a good song, and if Die hard is really a Christmas movie?
Notes
Why Christmas Music is Nostalgic
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/christmas-music-nostalgia
https://www.futurity.org/christmas-songs-nostalgia-1636882/
Sisters Reprise from the movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyybi7t634
David Bowie and Bing Crosby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kfdEyV3RQ
Art Garfunkel - Grateful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLN4fBXZa2Y
Fake Swedish Cover of Wonderful Christmastime
https://youtu.be/5IYO7GbnJq0?t=3450
I Yield My Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMsUjanegQ
I Yield My Time Remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5E0SnLMq0
Choreography - Original White Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-cXP1uDFpA
When Words Fail - Shrek The Musical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdFs2pmXUjQ
Holiday Inn - White Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y -
Why did the Pina Colada song man Rupert Holmes decide to write a meta-comedy musical based on the morose Charles Dickens serial The Mystery of Edwin Drood? Jonah and MJ had no idea, and this episode of Bop or Flop does not answer it. Listen in on their conversation as they discuss tongue twisters, whodunnits, and the definition of love on the show that made MJ fall in love with musical theatre.
Notes
The most recent revival’s stats
https://www.playbill.com/article/they-dunnit-tallies-are-i. n-for-most-popular-drood-killers-closing-night-surprises-too-com-203296
Taron Egerton saying his own name in Thirst Tweets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT8QS5sxONw
Betty Buckley and the cast of Cats at the Tonys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mlllRdIfqw
Betty Buckley Pirate Jenny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9eSMi8rjuk
Classic Looney Tunes clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJI_gygXsfs
Me and Jonah @ Both Sides of the Coin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwIFMCKlVK8
Cocktail Counterpoint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV2-KZ8hllM
Drood reimagined as symphonic metal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBFdN1v2YEE
Dangerous Game - Jekyll and Hyde
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfmsMRwx6Xs
The Tik Tok Ratatouille Musical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92brcqRINdw -
In this special “origin story” episode, Jonah and MJ discuss the show that made Jonah fall in love with musical theatre, the 2014 Broadway Production of Disney’s Aladdin. It’s the classic story with a few twists, MJ likes the movie, will she share that same love for Jonah’s precious show, or will she walk all over his dreams like She Loves Me all over again?
Notes
Why Me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6AfCWuZKI
Humiliate the Boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9vXZncjGvk
You’re Only Second Rate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhj25HnpSRU
Don Darryl Rivera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suz3ipq2XdQ
Ya Got Trouble - Jonah’s accidental monologue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4bkE9s_jy8
Mutt and Jeff
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicStrip/MuttAndJeff
I AM NOT A PRIZE TO BE WON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridjqMqi9ak
Disney Sessions
Villain Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blQncQ-u9zU
Come Fly With Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waARhej4hoY
Friend Like Me Remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oi75jyDLpU
Thinking Out Loud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ9Ng_LVMeQ
Dizzy Gillespie- Salt Peanuts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrUBEtoNQU -
Apparently, there's no place like the West End to revive the classic Americana show, The Wizard of Oz, and Andrew Lloyd Webber had to be the one to do it. Listen in as Jonah and MJ lament the loss of an alto role, become Wicked Witch stans, and question why everything has such...*adult* undertones.
Notes
Some production shots
https://www.playbill.com/article/andrew-lloyd-webber-meets-the-emerald-city-colorful-first-pics-of-dorothy-and-co-in-new-touring-wizard-of-oz-com-375635
Everything’s Nice and Fine - Over The Garden Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8bpJcLGBw
Munchkin Land 5:15 - The horrifying Lollipop Guild Dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOEq-ImGWJ0
Diva Dance 3:50 - That song that made me think of Glinda at the end of Out Of The Woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnTE2h0ZY74
Family Guy Merry Old Land of Oz Parody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39DdEU0vIwI
Jitterbug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB9BdxPDCwQ
The History of Bacchanalia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacchanalia
Celtic Woman - They tend to use more straight tone than traditional musical theatre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6RdI1QqCg
Straight Tone vs Vibrato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBbBM52ZcmI
When You Believe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NieC8KA0EvI
The Transatlantic Accent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpv_IkO_ZBU
Red Shoes Blue Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvm3xmf4FPY
Bad Cinderella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3gbNpoIS-c -
It’s Showtime!!! For this very special Halloween episode, Jonah and MJ sit down with their good friend Scott Worley to discuss the 2018 musical adaptation of Beetlejuice. Join them as they discuss the benefits and drawbacks of pop vocals, how Jonah is precisely like the Maitlands, and the magical architecture of Alex Brightman’s vocal chords.
Notes
Beetlejuice Tony performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2jgBRDPWOA
Dies Irae - Gergorian chant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr90NLDp-0
Verdi - Requiem Mass - Dies Irae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQIGymhSyA
Alex Brightman’s magical vocals chords
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4dmU4NT3-s
Unique Indian Vocal Technique - Gamakas - Like Delia sings in "No Reason"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPraIlSmIk
The Bunny Song - Veggietales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jakg1_DCG3M
Jump - Van Halen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwYN7mTi6HM
Beetlejuice concept album sung by Eddie Perfect
https://www.playbill.com/article/beetlejuice-musical-demo-album-including-cut-songs-released-october-30 -
On this week’s podcast, the hosts praise the orchestration and characters of The Spitfire Grill, Jonah laments the lack of fairies and MJ wonders why they wasted Steven Pasquale's voice.
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Notes
Hey all! Thanks for watching this most recent episode of bop or flop. I’ve got a couple notes here for y’all. Spongebob Squarepants the musical Live is available to stream on Amazon, so if you’re interested in seeing the majority of the original broadway cast in action, head over there. If another platform becomes available I’ll do an update.
And that’s literally all I have. Not super exciting notes today. AS of recording this bit, I just started listening to The Spitfire Grill, and oh boy that one’s going to be a doozy! Links to a videos and articles mentioned in the episode are in the description, thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you next week.
Spongebob Highlight Photos
https://www.playbill.com/article/look-back-at-highlights-of-spongebob-squarepants-the-musical-as-they-end-their-broadway-run
https://www.playbill.com/article/take-a-first-look-at-spongebob-squarepants-the-broadway-musical
Jonathan Coulton - First of May
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFc08WTEN5g
When The Going Gets Tough - Broadway With The Speed Rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBzDXfws9h4
Waiting in the wings Spongebob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuzcyO9xewQ&t=1981s
Daddy Knows Best - Broadway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39xM9_g_gpE
Foley Artist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEfKjjE5aM
David Zinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPzM9LsLsYY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjiagh1YjkI -
This week, MJ and Jonah go on a lot of tangents as they discuss the 1993 rock opera, The Who's Tommy. Get ready to get unexpectedly intellectual as they react to murder, 60s spiritualism, pinball cults, the soaring vocals of Michael Cerveris, and Elton John's giant shoes.
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Buckle up, kiddos, Jonah and MJ get a little personal with Grand Hotel. The hosts explore themes of tragedy, wasted potential, and the willingness to admit love easily in both their own lives and the the characters', and wonder why every queer plot line has to be so damn tragic.
Notes
The original Baron on Broadway - David Carroll recorded in concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb_azz--iTs&list=OLAK5uy_kp23nw_JhjPS2fHe_6qanlt_TQ2CPa6Zk&index=23
Here’s a baritone singing Love Can’t Happen that MJ loves so much
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md6I6K_VEtY
Bury Your Gays - A video essay on the portrayal of queer plotlines in media as always being tragic, and why that needs to change
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0fZjSluzI8&t=85s
Positano, The city Raffaela sings about in Villa on a Hill
https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/positano-italy-guide-including-top-16193436
Make me a willow cabin at your gate
https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/quotes/page/2/
Heaven (Dancing Cheek to Cheek)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILxo-TUkzOQ
Grand Hotel at the Tony’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euCvQ4ikZZQ&t=17s
In case you want to know how to say cheers in a bunch of languages
https://matadornetwork.com/nights/how-to-say-cheers-in-50-languages/
The choreographers of Bolero also performed it on Broadway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmhGv--EhJM
Here’s that horrible song Jonah was singing at the end there. If you value your sanity, do not watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLljd8pfiFg -
Guest host Paige Pederson joins Jonah and MJ to obsess over David Hyde Pierce in the show within a show murder mystery musical Curtains. Join the hosts as they praise how Curtains captures the spirit of show business, learn a bit about how Jonah and Paige as stage managers feel about opening nights, and see if MJ will ever get over her inability to see the merit in songs irrelevant to the plot!
Notes
Lass-oh Vs. Lass-oo
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fforthright.livejournal.com%2F222078.html%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3O6wOhkG7MwL8Ahbz0B1HlXU97h5oFrpC8JlaBbcTvGye-GuXe1zUSvIA%23%3A~%3Atext%3DUsage%252C%25201926%252C%2520p.%2CEnglish%2520pronunciation%2520is%2520la%27so.%26text%3DGowers%2520changed%2520this%2520to%2520%27lasso%2Cmost%2520English%2520people%2520too%27.%255D&h=AT0Hnvrf4GZjWDv2LeeJy9eEBCPiZa3mM_pgPULdYvWCRLGllEKky2Xct5elf0pUAUtzv4Hx9gky4AxsZS2ne72vqZwQtgcdQlE0IoupCI7n5Tesh1U7jOaXkFdn-qJ5RHOok1ZIaw
Enneagram Institute
https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/
Show People at the Tony’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj1hzFmib9M
DHP Performing Hit The Couch - Song Starts at about 4:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNwj_n7ElQw
A link to take the test - There is only one official one and many knockoffs, this is the best knockoff.
https://enneagramtest.net/
Cafe Nervosa
https://thecheersfrasier.fandom.com/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Nervosa
Nighthawks - Edward Hopper
https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/edward-hopper-nighthawks-painting
DHP - A Valentine for Niles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpImet3Xwgw
Jason Danieley - Streets of Dublin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEJ9EAlydQI
Karaoke Muppets - Mentioned in a bit that got cut, but it’s so funny we had to share it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwaOoWo0UOo
Parody of the racist songs in the Golden Age (similar to Kansasland) as demonstrated by The Drowsy Chaperone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0YUmen9rcI -
In this very special, very long revenge episode, MJ’s good buddy Jackson Johnson rips into Jonah’s favorite musical, the 2016 revival of She Loves Me. They discuss the merits of pure fun, feminism, the treasure that is Zachary Levi, and disagree on whether or not the Red Scare should have played a factor in the plot.
Notes
Hugh Jackman in his pre-Wolverine days in Boy From Oz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA4965Uz8as
Why Hugh Jackman (and everyone) sounds bad in the Les Mis movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ikqU6G6Xgs
That Song In Every Musical That No One Likes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXKUgjYh7lo
She Loves Me from 1993 - This is the one MJ likes more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIN82_siQD4&list=PL457BE0C858F17A63&index=17
Here’s a song that MJ loves Zachary Levi’s voice in. Put him in more pop/rock musicals!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CRBCjLV1FQ&list=PLhAszZScgYlfBha1W9dtEgxzBm04vlrS6&index=14
Laura Benanti doing a quick summary of the whole show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--7F1i9Srtc - Show more
