Give My Regards to the Broadway Episode! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. here, too. And this is a good. oldfashioned. toetapping feelgood event of the century. that we like to call stuff you should. know. I cannot stop singing. Uh, they. say the neon lights are bright on.

Broadway. It's one of my least. favorites. Is that from a chorus line? I. I don't know. I was singing that. earlier. I was singing Give My Regards. to Broadway. Wow. Uh, you haven't been. singing the one I've been singing. What. have you been singing? There's no. business like show business like no. business I know. That's great. Uh, I do not know the the. Neon Lights one. I should have looked. that up. But I do know Give My Regards. to Broadway is from Little Johnny Jones.

from 1904, written by George M. Cohan. Neon Lights is a craft work song. You're. way off. Oh. Oh, well. Little Johnny Jones is the most like. 1920s play title or musical title I've. ever heard. I didn't know Craft work. Uh, they say the neon lights so bright. Is that how theirs goes? It's a little. different. Okay. It's really good, though. I think it it's actually the. best song about neon lights. Oh, that's.

a bold statement. I know. I'm with you. Uh, by the way, this is a listener. suggestion, so big thanks to Sarah Nai. for sending this in. Oh, nice. Thanks, Sarah. We should probably say, um, for. anybody who didn't bother looking at the. title, we're talking about Broadway. today. Mhm. Broadway as in the American. home of musicals, the great white way. Um, you know, where musical theater goes.

to live and thrive and give it a shot at. stardom. That's right. And non-m musical. theater. True. True. Um, I'm more of a. play guy than a musical guy myself. I. remember going to see La La Land in the. theater and being like, I had no idea. this was a musical. Luckily, it turned. out really well. But okay, good. At. first, I was like, you got to be kidding. me. Kind of like, you know, when you go. to drink, take a sip of water and it. turns out to be Coke. Oh, and it's. really shocking, but then you're like, oh, okay, Coke's fine. It was a lot like. that. The movie version of that. Yeah, I.

think I've detailed this a little bit, but I've gotten more into musicals and I. enjoy musical theater and Broadway and. we we try to go to a show when we're in. New York. Uh, and now we're doing an. annual Broadway only trip like where we. go see a few of them. That's a. pilgrimage is what they call them. Yeah, pilgrimage. But I do love the plays and. uh we are in fact going to see Glengary. Glenn Ross in May. Haven't you seen the. movie? I have, but this has got a that. killer cast on Broadway. I don't know if.

you heard about it or not. No, I. haven't. Honestly, I I haven't kept up. with Broadway lately. Yeah, this has got. uh Glen Gary Glenn Ross with Kieran. Kulkin and Bill Burr and Bob Odenkirk. and others. Wow, that is a killer cast. So, I grabbed tickets for that right. when they went on sale. Uh and I'm going. and my friends are like, "How'd you get. tickets, man? You're so lucky." I'm. like, "I just logged on and got them. when they went on sale." You logged on. to your internet. Yeah. you know, just. get on a if you're into that kind of. thing, you just jump on a little uh like.

a Broadway Direct email list and then. you'll get the haps on all the haps. So, uh you mentioned T is it T TKT? Oh, yeah. The the TKTS booth? Yes. Are. they online too or is that like a. physically stand there in person kind of. thing? Yeah, that is the uh ticket. service run for the not for-profit. theater development fund. And that is if. you're in New York and you're like, "Man, I wish I could go to a show, but I. don't want to jump on a resale website.

and pay a ton of money." Uh, there are. booths in Time Square and satellite. booths at South Street, Seapport, and. Lincoln Center where you can get day of. you can go get day of tickets for people. that are like, I can't go Broadway. Can. you help me sell these? Yeah. And. apparently if you go with like an hour. or so before the booth opens, um the. line once it does open will only be. about an hour. That's how long it takes. to clear out typically. And people who. are in line know what they want to see.

and they want the best seats and that's. what they're going for. That's why. they're standing in line. But if you're. like, "Hey, I'm in New York. Let's catch. a show." I don't care what show. You can. just show up like a couple hours after. the the thing opens and walk right up. and and pick a show. Yeah. And and I got. to say, and you know, we'll get to this, or I might as well say it now, the the. largest Broadway theater, if you've. never been, you might be used to like. Broadway in your hometown at like the. 5,000 seat theater or something like. they have here at the performing arts. center. Yeah. Or the performing arts. center. But, uh, in New York, they're.

they're pretty small. The the largest. one is the Gershwin Theater at 1933. seats. Uh, the smallest of the How many. theaters is it total? 42 7 47 41 theaters. 41. The smallest is. the Hayes at 597. So, you know, if. you're in town, you want to check out a. show in most of those theaters. Most of. the seats are pretty great and it's. fairly intimate. I don't know much about. it lately. Um like I left off with.

Phantom of the Opera. That was probably. the last musical I was ever really into. Um, so but I know that since I've been. into it, like they've become blockbuster. productions. Yeah. Very much along like. the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. franchise stuff where it's like just put. a ton of money into it and people will. come from all over and you'll make 10. times what you put into it. Yeah. Um, and that I mean that's that's fair a. fairly new development. Um, is is it.

like that basically across the board now. or surely that's like a handful of. powerhouse shows and the rest of them. are more normal and hence ticket prices. are more normal? Do you know? Uh, I mean. from my experience stuff, you know, if. you go to see some of the classics, they're, you know, they're big. productions, but they're not uh maybe. not as like special effects heavy. Uh, they definitely, I feel like, have. jazzed them up a lot more in more recent. years with more sort of jaw-dropping. moments of like kind of I can't believe. they did that live kind of stuff. Like.

when uh the salesman from Death of a. Salesman flies out over the crowd at. that one scene, but like for instance, last time we went, we saw the That's the. best up. Uh, we saw um one of the ones. we saw was the newish um Death Becomes. Her, which is I can't recommend enough. It is one of the funniest musicals you. will ever see. But it wasn't some lavish. production, but they had a couple of. very wellplaced sort of special effects.

that were very fun. And so I think you. you need to sort of wow the crowd a. little bit more these days. Okay. So, you're not going to find like a 1950s60s. style musical comedy that isn't relying. at all on special effects there anymore? No. I mean, but maybe not special. effects, but the sets are still very big. and there's a lot of money poured into. it. But your plays are going to be a. little more like stripped down. So, okay, last question. Ticket prices from.

what I've seen are like eyepopping, pretty bucks. Yeah, I think Wicked was. the most expensive. It was 290 average. price, man. Ouch. So, um, are there's. got to be tickets that are like that the. normal person can afford, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the average ticket. price. So, the cheaper seats for like a. show like Wicked are, I don't know, probably in the in the hundreds and. something, which is still I mean, that's. a lot of money, but I don't know that. you can go like if your question is can. you go see a Broadway show for like 45.

bucks? Yes, that's my question. I don't. know. And I doubt it. Yeah. All right. Well, that's a bit of a shame, I have to. say. Although, I'll have to look at my. Glengarry tickets. I don't know that. those were like crazy expensive, but. I'll check while you talk. Okay. Well, I'm going to start talking about the. history of Broadway. Let's do it. So, Olivia helped us out with this. Kudos to. her because this was a huge, huge topic. and she wrangled it greatly. Um, but the. the street itself, Broadway, is really.

really old. It's actually built on an. old uh Lape tribe trail that connected. the tribes along the 13 miles of Manaha. So, this is like pre-cont. Yeah. Um. Broadway was already in existence when. the Dutch showed up and um they said. this is uh New Amsterdam. Eventually, we'll rename it New York. Yeah. They uh. called it Dehier Strat. Yeah. Which is.

gentleman's way. So apparently here with. two E's in the middle means gentleman in. Dutch if you want to impress people at. your next party. Yeah. But they just. called it breadve or Broadway road. And. the English said, "Well, we're just. going to call that Broadway from now. on." Yeah. So that's the street. Uh. Broadway, the theater district is uh. between Time Square to 53rd Street and. then the side streets from 6th to 8th. avenues. Uh and like I said, it's 41. theaters. Uh, and with that smallest.

one, the Hayes being 597, they're all at. least 500, almost 600. I mean, can you. squeeze three more seats in there, Hayes? Maybe standing room only. Uh, and. like I said, the Gershwin is the largest. at. 1933. Uh, and you know, that's where. theater happens. And we're going to talk. a little bit about sort of the early. theater days because if you're talking. New York theater, you're going to have. to go back to 1732 to see the first or. at least the first record of a. performance of a play there. It was. called the recruiting officer. Mh. Uh,

and that was some Londoners traveling. through town. Uh, and it was at the new. theater on Nassau Street, but um, that. was near Broadway, but not anywhere. close to the theater district. It was. way way downtown in what would now be. the financial district. You're not going. to mention the name of the owner of the. new theater building, Governor Rip. Vanam, which is a a really great hotel. check-in name. Yeah, that's good. Included just with the governor. Yeah, governor. Governor. They give you special treatment. Yeah.

Uh so yeah, you said that was what is in. what is now the financial district. So. um slowly but surely it started to kind. of move to what was called um the. Longacre Square. Yeah. But before that. there was a lot of theaters that had. opened up sporadically away from what we. now consider Broadway. Um and the I. think the first I don't know if we said. it or not because you corrected me when. I said like musicals. You're like, "Well, plays, too." But most people when. they're talking about Broadway think.

they're thinking about musicals, right? So, the first musical, as far as anybody. can tell, that was performed in New York. was called The Beggars's Opera. It was. about um thieves and se sex workers. It. was a musical comedy. It sounds like it. was somewhat like um one of the plays. that would come in the 19th century or. one of the musicals where there were. like kind of breaks in between where. they there some stand-up comedian would. come out or a juggler maybe or somebody. would perform a song but the songs.

didn't have much to do with the story if. anything at all. Yeah. And we'll get to. that. That was sort of the way it went. for a while. It was sort of like songs. and sketches and stuff like that as that. was what a musical was. Mhm. Uh but we. wouldn't have any of this stuff if it. hadn't been for uh some pretty notable. people. The first one, well, he's. actually the first Oscar Hammer. Hammerstein of what would be two notable. Oscar Hammerstein. Yeah, this is Oscar. Hammerstein. I That's right. Uh he moved. from Germany of course to New York City.

in 1864 and was a cigar factory floor. sweeper until he invented a cigar. machine and made quite a bit of money. doing so such that he could start. funding the opening of uh his passion. which was opera. So, he opened the. Harlem Opera House first in 1889. Mhm. And then that very first one in Longacre. Square, uh, which will be notable in. about a minute and a half because you. will learn what that became. Uh,

Hammerstein's Olympia Theater at. Broadway in 43rd and 44th. And then. after that, the uh, Republic Theater was. in 1899, which is still there, but is. now the new Victory Theater. Gotcha. Which I think is for young audiences, right? Uh, is it sure? Yeah, I'm almost. positive it is like really body kids. plays. Yeah, like Avenue Q. Yeah, exactly. Um, so, uh, within like a. decade, Oscar Hammerstein the first. built like three major theaters in New.

York City and he helped pretty much. establish this theater district or the. concept that New York had a theater. district. Yeah. Or was a theater town, I. guess. Um, plus, and this is probably a. fairly overlooked component of it, the. um, inner burough rapid transit system, the train helped too because it could. get people around New York much more. easily than before. So, with those two. things, Hammerstein and the converging,

um, New York suddenly had like. everything it needed, all the. ingredients to become like a worldclass. theater destination. Yeah, for sure. So, the writing was on the wall. He opened. those theaters. Other people are like, "Hey, we can invest money in this now. that it's becoming a thing." Uh, the new. Amsterdam Theater and the Lysum Theater. were both built around the same time in. the early 1900s. And then, oh boy, we're. probably more than a minute and a half. after I promised it. But in 1905, Longacre Square was renamed for the uh.

newly uh relocated New York Times. offices, and thus it became Times. Square. Tada. That's it. I was like, "Was it New. York Times Square?" And I was like, "No, dummy." Just Time Square. Just Times. Square. And it was around the same time. that these three brothers, uh, Lee. Samuel and Jacob Schubert, uh, very. popular theater named to this day, they. opened up, uh, a bunch of theaters in. New York and elsewhere. And the Schubert. uh, organization still owns and operates. 17 of those 41 theaters. That's a bunch.

That's almost half of the theaters in on. Broadway. They got it locked down, baby. So, um, all of this hubbhub and activity. of building theaters and attracting like. really good performers and and, um, plays and musicals, by the time World. War I rolled around, like New York was. on the map for theater and Broadway was. the theater district for New York by. this time. Uh, and one of the things. that really helped things along, kind of.

picked up where, uh, Oscar Hammerstein. the first and thet left off to really. like give things a real goose, um, was. the Ziggfield polies, which I know we. talked about in our episode on, um, vaudeville in November 2022. We talked. about that a lot, but the idea that like. um, you could go to the theater and you. could see some amazing performances and. hear some funny comedy and see some. crazy dances or great dances. um like that drew people to the theaters.

like everyday people who might otherwise. not have gone to the theater. Yeah, for. sure. And you know some of the some of. the songs that you you know even if. you're not a fan of this kind of thing. just kind of leaked into the public. consciousness uh like Give My Regards to. Broadway from George Cohen. He also. wrote Yankee Doodle Dandy and and uh. over there during World War I. Uh this. is when Irving Berlin came around. um. one of a, as you'll see, um kind of a a. series of um poor Jewish immigrant.

families that came to New York and the. children of those families ended up. being like these amazing Broadway. writers and composers. Uh he wrote. things like Annie Get Your Gun and. There's No Business Like Show Business, your old favorite. That's right. He also. wrote White Christmas, which I read as. the bestselling Christmas song of all. time, which was not on Broadway. No. Well, it ended up on Broadway. It was in. the movie Holiday Inn and and then they. retro created a musical based on the. movie. They retconed it, right? Um,

another pair that were really huge at. this time were George and Ira Gershwin. brothers, another Jewish immigrant. family. Um, they created Funny Face, Girl Crazy, Porgi and Bess. Um, and the. some of these, as we'll see, were pretty. kind of groundbreaking, especially at. the time, but they also launched some. stars careers like Ethel Murman, who you. think of when you when you think of. somebody singing there's no business. like show business. I think Ethel. Murman. Yeah. In the movie Airplane,

right? Exactly. That's where I That's. where I first learned about it. Uh, Ginger Rogers, Fred Stair, of course, Greta Garbo, Dance on Air. And it wasn't. just musical theater at the time. this. uh sort of postworld war II era also had. some pretty legendary plays uh like the. Iceman Cometh from Eugene O'Neal and. Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun. of course. Mhm. Uh but it was Times. Square after all. So in World War II. that's when you started seeing some you. know the the usual thing that would.

happen was like burlesque theater. eventually peep show maybe regular movie. theater and then porn theater. Yeah. And. you better know the difference. Yeah. I say that we uh we take a break and we. come back and we talk about the. establishment of Broadway shows as we. know them. Let's do it. [Music].

learning stuff with. Joshua stuff you should know. Okay. So, one Hammerstein did some. amazing stuff uh with Broadway, creating. Broadway, but this family was showing. off and they produced Oscar Hammerstein. II, who's the grandson of Oscar. Hammerstein the first. And he got.

together with a composer named Jerome. Kern and they just started making some. amazing groundbreaking for the time. especially new kinds of musicals that. just that gave us Broadway as we know it. today. Yeah, like if you go to a a. musical today, um not you're not assured. to, but more than likely you're going to. be seeing what's called a book musical, and that is when the musical when like. the the songs are central to the plot. and the storyline and moving things.

along. It's not just like and here's a. song to add to this musical review kind. of thing, right? They still have those. some, you know, sometimes, but it's kind. of a throwback. Like these days, the. book, the book musical as a direct, you. know, descendant of Hammerstein 2 and. Jerome Kern, uh, is sort of the way to. go, right? They came up with Showboat. together, which was an enormously. groundbreaking show. It combined both. white and black performers on the same. stage, which if you remember our Harry. Bellfonte episode, that was a no no.

Well into the 50s and 60s. These guys. made this show in 1927. Yeah. I mean, that people were not doing. that at time uh at the time. They also. uh had blackface in that in that review. because that was something they were. also doing at the time, but it was also. pretty, you know, um progressive in some. ways by like having an integrated cast. Yeah. And I mean, a lot of the themes. were about racism and it just kind of. took it headon. Um it was a serious.

dramatic story. It wasn't like, you. know, feel good, forget your troubles, come on, get happy kind of thing. Yeah. And just to be clear, it was truly. integrated. I wasn't saying the. blackface was integration. It had real. integration and also blackface, which I. don't quite understand, but I don't. either. Yeah. I don't know how they were. doing things in 1927. Like when a woman. is in an episode of Monty Python, it's. like, why are you guys in drag then? Right. Exactly. Uh, so Hammerstein is.

doing his thing, doing pretty well. Jerome Kern's great, but all of a sudden. a a dude lops onto the scene named. Richard Rogers. And Hammerstein said, "Rodgers and Hammerstein, that sounds. that has a nice ring to it where they're. old buddies, old former classmates from. Colombia years earlier." And Rogers. approached Hammerstein and said, "Hey, there's this uh play Green Grow the. Lilacs from Lynn Riggs. Why don't we. turn that into a musical and why don't. we do a little different? Like, why.

don't you write the words to this thing. first? I'll write the music and I don't. know, let's use an exclamation point in. the title. Let's just call it Oklahoma. Oklahoma, right? Sure. So, this show, this established Richard Rogers and. Oscar Hammerstein. Like, this is. 1943. Um, it set a record for the most. performances at the time. It's long. since been just totally demolished, but. it had a record performance total of. 2212.

That was just unheard of back then. So. imagine like, you know, you've got some. pretty cool stuff under your belt, but. all of a sudden you get together with. this new collaborator and you create the. show that has the longest running or the. largest number of performances ever just. right off the bat. That's kind of like. what these guys um became. Like they. were just the stars of Broadway. productions. Yeah. I mean, giants to. this day of the industry. South Pacific, The Sound of Music, The King and I. I. mean, it's it's their their names are.

basically synonymous with musical. theater. I read Chuck also that one at. one point they had three of the longest. running plays uh or shows on Broadway at. the time and three other shows in. production to be adapted to films all at. the same time. Giants. Giants. Yeah, we. could have just left it at that now that. I think about it. Uh so there were some. like huge huge shows of the late 20th. century that sort of helped redefine. Broadway. Um Westside Story was one.

This was what kind of uh where the idea. of the triple threat came along. Um. because they didn't have, you know, for. a while there there was like a separate. chorus um and that like did the dancing. and stuff and uh Westside Story was one. of the first ones in 1957 to be like, "Hey, you're the lead actor. You're also. singing. you're also dancing because. that's all part of it. And all of a. sudden, the triple threat was a thing. And uh that was the real start of. another giant of Broadway, Steven.

Sonheim. Yeah. Who would go on to direct. uh Contagion, which we mentioned. recently, too. No, he wrote the lyrics. And then another name you might have. heard of, Leonard Bernstein, was a. composer for Westside Story. Yeah, he's. great, too. Um Cabaret was another one. Um by this time, this was 1966. Today. you think of Cabaret and it's just a a. cult classic musical. Um but at the time. it was groundbreaking in that it. introduced a new kind of um musical to.

Broadway which is actually kind of a. throwback to how it used to be. It's. called a concept musical and rather than. you know a throughine story where the. songs advance the story and everything. this was more like there was a theme. Well, the theme was the show was set at. the Kit Kat Club in Berlin, I think in. the Weimar era, Berlin. Yeah. Um, and. through the songs that all kind of have. this share this kind of same theme, this. concept is created. I think the theme. was I've not seen Kee, but I believe.

that it um was a meditation on the rise. of Nazism during the Weimar Republic's. kind of swinging days. Yeah. Yeah. I'. I've always wanted to see cabaret. Uh, yeah. Well, let's go see it together. for the first time then. I don't know. that it's Is it running? Is there a. revival going on? Oh, man. I'm going to. get myself killed. I'm talking about the. movie. Like, there's movies for all of. these pretty much. So, we can just see. the movie. There really is. There's two. Westside Stories, in fact. Yeah, Stephen. Spielberg did one. Yeah, it was good.

Um, Hair, we have to talk about Hair. from 1968. This is a musical that, um, and Livia points this out. It wasn't. just commenting on what's going on in. history at the time. It really helped. kind of shape it uh in real time. It was. the first rock musical, something I'm a. big big fan of. Um yeah, like the. jukebox music juke. jukebox have such a hard time with that. musicals are okay. Not my favorite, but. those 70s uh Jesus Christ Superstar and.

Joseph in the Amazing Technicolor Dream. Coat and Hair like I that stuff is so. groovy and so cool because it's like 60s. and 70s. Yeah. No, it is super groovy. hair. If there's one word to describe. hair, it's groovy. Yeah. If if the other. there's if you want one more word, it. would be nude. Yeah. Or mkin. Uh because. there was an all the whole cast was nude. very famously in one scene. Uh but it. did help launch the careers of Diane. Keaton was in in that original.

production as was Meatloaf, a man whose. house I have been at. Oh, of. course. So, I have no follow-up. questions. whatsoever to that. Instead, well, okay. What were you doing. at Milo's house? I'll tell you offline. Okay, cool. Um, so Steven Sonheim, who. you already mentioned, he was he made a. name for himself by writing the lyrics. to Westside Story, but apparently his. big breakout was something called. Company, which was a bunch of vignettes.

about um romantic relationships. I have. not seen that one either. Yes. kind of. feel like a rube talking about all these. things that I haven't seen, but I did. read about it and I read that um the the. whole thing starts at the main. character's 35th birthday party. He. walks into the birthday party and then. these vignettes start and then the thing. ends I think with him walking into the. 35th birthday party to make it like this. all took place in just a moment in time. All of these vignettes did. Super cool.

Have not seen it either. Uh, Sonheim, also very well known for Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, which. I have seen that. I have not seen that, but friend of the show Scottman, highly. recommends it. Said it's like one of the. best shows he's ever seen. It's great. Yeah, I got to check it out. Uh, A. Chorus Line, another movie. Um, that one. was kind of meta. It was another concept. musical where the the whole thing takes. place in an audition and so the whole. thing is about theater life, about. theater people, but it's actually a.

musical show. It's pretty cool. Yeah. And that began a run in 1975 of like a. dozen years where some of the some of. the giants of all time were launched. Uh. Chorus Line Chicago in 1975. uh Lay Miz in. 1987, Cats in 1982. Uh which we'll we'll talk about that a. little more in a sec. Uh and then. Phantom in 88. But Cats very famously um. was a very very long-running show that. like some people love, some people hate,

some people think it's brilliant, some. people make fun of it. Uh but lyricist. Tim Rice uh got together with composer. Andrew Lloyd Weber, the Weber Rice team. They did the the amazing technical dream. coat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Avita, and. then they said, "Hey, let's turn this DS. Elliott uh old possums book of practical. cats into a musical and have real people. dressed up as cats.". Some people say like if you could build. a time machine, what would you do? I. would go back and prevent Andrew Lloyd. Weber from having that thought. I've.

never seen any iteration of cats. I want. to see something. It's the only time. outside of an airplane where I tried to. make myself go to sleep in public. It was that I was like, I can't I can't. even just sit here. Yes. It was a at a. performance like I can't just sit here. Like I have to not be conscious for. this. Oh boy. And I was too young to. leave. I don't think I was driving at. the time. I was with my family. Oh, no. You couldn't feel like fake sick or. anything? No, I think I I don't have a.

recollection of the show after a certain. point, so I think I might have been. successful in falling asleep. Your dad. would have been throw up in this bag. You'll be fine. Right. Uh and then. Phantom, uh Phantom was 88, and I think. that's uh it's another Andrew Lloyd. Weber show, but I think that was one of. the first ones to really ramp up. got. real designy and included some special. effects and I think that kind of started. that trend of making things a little. bigger. Yeah, for sure. That one I can. sing along with basically from start to.

finish. I love that one. Exactly. I knew exactly what you were. doing just then because I'm so familiar. with it. We tried to see Phantom at the. Fox Theater here in Atlanta. Uh and I. actually just joined the Broadway season. for next season. Um the seasons run from. May to May I think on regular Broadway. Uh I'm not sure about the Foxo. I think. it may be about the same. But um we. tried to go see Phantom years ago, but. we're both so distracted. It was when we. were trying to buy our first house and.

we were obsessed with this house. We. were trying to get a bid on and we were. It was just one of those deals where we. were not there. Our head was elsewhere. And we finally just looked at each other. and we were like, we we need to get out. of here. No, you should definitely see. it again. It's a really great show. The. music, the lyrics. I know. I gotta see. it. There's like a one- ton chandelier. that falls to the stage. Like, it's a. good show. And I I think you're right. that it did kick off kind of the mega. productions. Um, it it ran for 35 years.

And it, as far as I know, it holds the. record still for the most performances. at 13,981. Wow. remember Oklahoma set something at. like 2200 before. Oh yeah, that's I mean. impressive at the time, but yeah, that's. 35 years is is impressive. It's pretty. amazing. So yeah, I love that show. I'm. just going to say it probably five more. times throughout this. Uh so we got to talk a little bit about. Time Square. Um even before the 70s came.

along, it was a pretty rowdy place. Uh. in the early teens, there was a 1 a.m. curfew because it was such a rowdy. place. Um, there were speak easyes there. during prohibition, uh, burlesque in the. 30s, and then from the 60s and into the. 90s, uh, when I think I've mentioned. this before, when I first started going. to New York in the mid '90s, there were. still peep shows there, uh, it was right. before the the the final cleanup. happened, uh, thanks to, um, a few. different mayors, but, um, Mayor Ed.

Cotch, uh, certainly David Dinkens, and. then, uh, eventually Giuliani would. finish up the work of cleaning up Time. Square. Yeah, David Dinkens was the one. who I think maybe had the biggest. impact. Or we should mention John. Lindseay in the early 70s. He created a. tax incentive where if you built in. Times Square a new building, um you. could get a pretty good tax break, but. you had to build a theater on the ground. floor to try to bring the theater back. to the area. I thought that was a pretty.

ingenious idea. But to me, David Dinkens. has probably had the biggest impact, good or bad, by making a deal with uh. Michael Eisner, who was running Walt. Disney at the time. And he said, "Just. do your thing here, Disney." Like, we. got a lot of perverts running around. here. We need some Disney to. counterbalance this stuff and maybe even. overwhelm it. And it worked. Like, if. you pour enough Disney onto an area, Yeah. the perverts just turn and run, right? So, they started, they dipped their toe.

in the pond with renovating and renting. out the new Amsterdam Theater, which at. that point New York City had acquired uh. in 1992 as part of the 42nd Street. development program because it was one. of those that followed the Burles. Theater, then movie theater, then porn. theater uh model. I don't know if that. was an official model. Uh and then as. they were remodeling that in 94 before. they were finished, Disney opened uh. Beauty and the Beast at the Palace. Theater. Uh of course the adaptation of. the 91 animated film. And it was almost.

a $12 million budget, the most expensive. musical ever at the time. Uh and ended. up running for about 13 years to total. grosses of about 430 mil. That's just. insane. Even today, but this was the mid. 90s. Yeah. I mean, the returns on. Broadway, if you can get a smash hit. going, you know, it's not like you have. to sink $200 million into it like you do. a big budget movie. Yeah, there's a lot. of front loaded cost, but then yeah,

after you get it up and running and it's. going, it can just go by itself. basically. For sure. Um, should we take. our second break? Oh, geez. I wasn't. expecting that, but sure, let's do that. All right, we'll be right back and. finish up on Broadway right after this. [Music]. Learning stuff with Joshua.

[Music]. All right. So, Broadway uh you can go. for escape a spare. You always have been. able to. you still can. But starting in. the mid '90s with Rent, um people really. started tackling some heavier topics. Uh. Jonathan Larson's rock musical um talked. about addiction and suicide and poverty. and AIDS um about rent was another one I.

left. It was fine, but it was another. situation where I was with friends and. everyone I can't remember. There was. some weird distraction where everyone. was like, "Do you want to leave?" I. think our seats were bad or something. and it just wasn't happening. But I want. to see Rent again. Uh Larson very. tragically died um at 35 years old of an. aortic aneurysm the night before it. premiered off Broadway. I know. That's. insane. Just a brutal, brutal story. Yeah, because it's such a legendary um.

show to just have this show that you. probably I'm sure he was like I think. this is going to be big and then he dies. right before even seeing it perform. once. That's just sad to me. Very sad. And then um another thing that kind of. came along, there were plenty of. escapist shows we should say, and there. still are. And a really good example. from fairly recent times is Mama Mia, which is one of those juke jukebox. It. is hard to say, isn't it? Jukebox. musical. Um, which is it takes existing.

songs everybody knows and loves and then. puts creates like a musical around them. And Mama Mia did that back in 2001 with. ABBA songs. Yeah. Yeah. And they, you. know, I haven't seen many of those, but. they did one of like the the8s rock. The. Billy Joles had one. Bob Dylan had one. Don't forget D Snider from um uh Twisted. Sister had Rock of Ages. Yeah, that's. what I meant. The '8s rock one. That was. Rock of Ages, right? Uh but you know, it's a thing. Uh, I prefer something. with.

uh I mean they they have stories built. around the the songs like you said, so. they can be okay, but I prefer something. something a little more straight ahead, not based like original music, I guess, is what I'm trying to Yeah, there's some. good ones to get out. Yeah, there's some. good ones though. There's a there's a. Carol King um basically biomusical that. I didn't either. I didn't either. Big fan of Wicked. Still recommend it. finally saw it saw it last year on. Broadway. Uh unfortunately it was not.

the wickedly talented Adel Dazim. Uh but. that's where she made her name along. with uh who was the original. Was it. Kristen Chennowith? I believe yes it. was. Yeah. I always loved her in um uh. Pushing Up Daisies. Do you remember that. show? I do, but I did not see that. Oh, you should go back and watch it. I saw. it not too long ago and it really holds. up. It is a very charming show. We. should call this episode Josh and Chuck. Haven't seen this. Yeah, pretty much.

Just put a colon before it and we can. add that. Okay. Uh Hamilton is one I did. not see, but we would be remiss if we. did not mention it because it was such a. landmark play. Uh Lyn Manuel Miranda, of. course, that one hip hop uh into. historical context on Broadway, which. was a huge smash hit. I saw it uh the. you know the TV version of the filmed. musical so and listened to it quite a. bit but I never saw it live. That's. okay, Chuck. I'll let you off the hook.

It was too expensive. Uh yeah, it really. was, wasn't it? Those were some high. price tickets for a while because. everybody was talking about that show. Well, and it was all sold out. So, the. only way to get tickets was to pay like. 1,200 bucks at the time. It would. probably be even more now. But now you. can go see it and I bet you can get. tickets for regular price. Sure. Uh, I. got to mention this one. I've not seen. this, believe it or not, everybody. It's. called Dear Evan Hansen. It's from 2016, but I did read a couple of articles on. it, and it sounds totally offthe-wall,

where the title character um is mistaken. for the best friend of a a teenager. who's just died by suicide. And so, he. suddenly becomes very popular. And like. um everybody wants to to know what this. kid was like. and um he uses it to. basically become popular and liked. whereas otherwise he was just kind of. overlooked, you know, kid on the sides. Um and there's all this horrible stuff. that starts to happen and it unravels.

and I think he's publicly unmasked at. some point. Yeah, I need to that's on my. list. Uh a couple of good friends have. seen it and said it's great. Uh so I'm. going to go see that soon, I hope. Um. these these make a lot of money. Like I. said, uh, Wicked set a weekly record in. December of this past year, obviously. buoied by the popularity of the movie, but the first ever show to have a $5. million week. Uh, and last season, the. 23 24 season again ran for May to May.

Um, total grosses of 1.54 billion, more. than 12 million attendees, over 71. productions, uh, with an average. occupancy of 89.9. So that they're, you know, the average. Broadway show isn't even sold out. It's. at close to 90%. Wow. Um, can we talk about a few flops? Yeah. I'm going to pick out a couple of. these. Okay. Uh, I'm going to pick out. Moose Murders from 1983.

Uh, it is a farce obviously, but um, it. was bankrolled by an oilist named Lily. Robertson and directed by her husband. Mhm. and starring the oil ays Lily. Robertson who bankrolled it which should. tell you it's not headed toward a great. thing also because it's called Moose. Murders. Uh and it closed after one. single performance and New Yorker art. critic Brennan Gil said that it would. insult the intelligence of an audience. consisting entirely of amiebas. Yeah, I.

read about that. It seems like it was. just a completely amateur production. from start to finish. Like everybody was. basically had no idea what they were. doing. Um, and if you want to just be. delighted, go read articles about the. flop that was Moose Murders because it's. widely considered like the the worst. show that ever hit Broadway. In a lot of. ways though, it's tough to qualify that. because there's plenty of bad shows out. there and some have been forgotten. But. for some reason, Moose Murders just.

became like the symbol for the worst. shows on Broadway. Yeah. I mean, there's. different ways to qualify it. like is it. just bad bad or is it notoriously a flop. because of how much money it cost and it. flopped? That was the case with a couple. of them. But Carrie, an adaptation of. the Stephen King horror novel as a. musical uh in 1988 closed after 16. previews and five regular performances. uh at an $8 million budget. So it's it's. widely considered one of the biggest.

sort of um just expensive flops of all. time there. Yeah, there's I there's a. song about killing a pig in it, I think, to get the blood to pour on. Yeah. And. this the lyrics go, "It's a simple. little gig. You help me kill a pig.". Yeah. And believe it or not, that was it. wasn't like an amateurish production. It. was directed by Terry Hans, who ran the. Royal Shakespeare Company for 13 years. and was choreographed by Debbie Allen. So, it was it was a big money thing that. just was sounds like not a very good.

idea. It was a terrible idea and I'm. read it was terribly executed too in the. end that they just, you know, they. really tried though. I think that's the. difference. Well, it has been revived uh. with cult status off Broadway like uh in. the 2010s, so it's one of those. I would. go see that. I would go see that. Yeah. Um and then I think the biggest flop as. far as um money goes is Spider-Man Turn. Off the Dark from 2011. That's another. one that just anybody who has anything.

to do or any interest in Broadway um. they know about this flop. Yeah. I mean. that had all the right ingredients uh. too. Um Broadway legend and film. director Julie Tamour who directed The. Lion King uh on Broadway. They got Bono. and the Edge to write the music. It was. huge special effects and it was just. problem after problem after problem all. like you know kind of front page or at. least front page of the arts headline. kind of problems. Yeah. So when you're.

performing a show or putting on a. production you have what are called. previews where people can come um the. critics are not allowed to see it yet. but normal people can come and watch it. but under the understanding that they're. going to be stopping in the middle of. the performance taking notes maybe. giving notes. There's going to be. technical glitches and it's they're. working it out still in front of an. audience. And um I think the first. preview of Spider-Man went three and a. half hours for the first act alone. Oh.

god. And there were It holds the record. for the largest number of previews. The. more previews you have, the more. problems you have, obviously. It had 182. preview shows before it ever opened. Yeah. And I've been to some previews. I. saw um Sarah Jessica Parker and Brick do. the. um oh which one was it? The Neil Simon. one a couple years ago and that was in. previews. Don't let pre like the idea of. a preview turn you off cuz like usually. they just go straight through and it.

it's just like a regular performance. Like I've never seen a preview that. where anyone stopped and did anything. weird. Um, and critics do actually see. those because they will review the show. before opening night because they have. seen the preview. I I Okay. I thought I. I read somewhere that critics are not. allowed. So, maybe there's like a. special preview. There may be a window. or something. Yeah, that would be my. guess. I'm not sure how that works, but. um I I know it's always I'm not sure if. it's like movies. I know movies. sometimes they won't let the critics see.

it before it's released, and that always. means it stinks. Yeah. So, I'm not sure. if Broadway does that or not, actually. Well, Chuck, that's Broadway. We could. keep talking about this for hours and. hours and hours, but I feel like we we. probably haven't seen most of the stuff. we would talk about. I've I've seen. quite a few in recent years, and I'll be. going to more and more, so maybe we'll. revisit this in 10 years, and I'll I'll. be more up to speed. Okay, fair enough. Sounds good. And we'll have seen Carrie. together by then. I hope so. Uh and.

before we end, I think uh we would be. remiss if we didn't mention that we. recently learned that we have like for. sure literally inspired not one but two. Broadway shows from this show, right? Yeah, it's pretty amazing, Chuck. I. think we first learned about it in Town. and Country magazine. They did an. article called How a Secret British Spy. Mission Became a Broadway hit. And I. think someone sent it to us and I was. like, "Oh, that's interesting." And as I. read a little deeper, I found that they. mentioned us specifically as the.

inspiration for this hit musical. Yeah, that's amazing. And the other one we we. found out from the producers of the. show, they emailed us uh the one I think. is it off Broadway on Taco and Venzetti, right? That's right. Yeah. So, big. thanks to those guys for letting the. world know that we helped inspire that. because that is quite an honor. And I. think we would also be remiss to to not. say break a lake. That's right. Do you. have anything else? I have nothing else.

Okay. Well, since Chuck said he has. nothing else, and neither do I, I think. it's time for listener mail. Yeah, I'm going to call this rare shout. out. Uh we don't do shout outs much just. because we get a lot of requests to and. it would just be shout outs every week, but this one touched me. Uh and this is. from Cody uh in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey guys, in 2018 my dad passed away, leaving behind my mom, who after 54. years of marriage, had never lived. alone. Uh, she struggles with um grief.

and anxiety induced insomnia as a. result. So, I suggested she listen to. stuff you should know for middle of the. night companionship to help her get her. mind off her troubles. She did, and. she's been a huge fan ever since. She. calls you my guys, and this parasocial. relationship has been a true lifesaver. for her. Uh, when I call her up day or. night, the podcast is off and on in the. background. keeping her company while. she does dishes or rests. Y'all are. about the same age as me and my brother, so she feels like an she feels an auntie. like affection for you. Uh her 80th.

birthday is uh in April, and I believe. we've already missed it by the time this. would come out, but um I've been. struggling with what to do for her as a. fun surprise outside the party she's. having this week. And uh Cody asked for. us to send like a video or something, but I said, "How about this? We'll do a. rare shout out and say hello to your. wonderful mother on her 80th birthday, Bonnie Nichols. Bonnie, we love you and. we feel like you're our auntie Bonnie as. well. And it makes me feel really happy. to know that you're out there with us.

listening to us. So, that parasocial. relationship goes both ways. So, happy. birthday, Auntie. Yeah, happy birthday, Bonnie. You can't see me right now, but. I'm making a heart out of my hands. Yeah, that's lovely. Uh, that's really. great. Seriously, thanks for listening. to us, Bonnie. I'm glad we could help. and keep you company. Uh, and if you. want to be like Bonnie, wait, who was it. that wrote in her son? Uh, yeah, it was. Cody. Cody, if you want to be like Cody. and tell us about the Bonnie in your. life, we love to hear that kind of. stuff. You can send it via email to.

stuffodcast@. [Music]. iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know. is a production of iHeart Radio. For. more podcasts iHeart Radio, visit the. iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or. wherever you listen to your favorite. shows. [Music].