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neverheardnothing · 2 years ago

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Album + Iconis & Family concert breakdown/review

I wanted to consolidate my thoughts on Album after having enough time to digest the songs and their recorded versions. Here’s my track by track breakdown no one asked for. Warning, it’s a long one.

Album

A bit navel gaze-y, she types for her Iconis dedicated blog while wearing her Iconis and Family t-shirt she got on a trip she spent way too much money on entirely to see Joe, lol. On my generous days I’ll say I think he deserves it though, and then on my hater days I’m rolling my eyes. It’s very Joe, a sprawling mess of a too long song, it’s just that it’s too much about him as a person in a way that doesn’t excite me. Not to say I think Joe is boring but I don’t think it was written in a way that appeals to me. By itself, it’s mostly a skip because of sheer length, it isn't all that good/exciting of a song, and Joe isn’t the best singer. I think I like his live performances more because on professionally recorded it sounds just good enough that it’s in an uncanny valley between the rawness and messiness that live allows and which Joe does well in and the cleanness of recorded. I do enjoy the family coming in at the end as well as the little references to other songs of his littered throughout. That’s the main redeemable part of the song. Well, the music is nice but that’s usually a given. The ever so slight echo-y haunting quality is great. But not enough that I’m going to ever listen to it enough to remember the words and the order of the call and response at the end.

Best memory of the song was on the Saturday Iconis and Family Album release concert at 54 Below where within the first verse, Joe forgot the lyrics and had to start over.

The Answer

Interesting singer pick for the song. Yeah, Joe says that not one person is on Album solely for their name but, well, some people are clearly here at least partially because of it. Not discounting his performance at all, it’s very good. Just doesn’t stand out from the many other versions of this song that are out there. I haven’t seen Aaron Tveit in enough to be able to judge his acting in general, but everything in his version felt stock, standard, safe. It was very impressive vocally and sounds really good but this is a teenager having a breakdown about his life path, and it doesn’t quite sound like that. Again, it’s good but it’s like he didn’t put his stink on the song which is what I’m looking for when I hear new performances of a song other people have done.

Ammonia

Charlie R once said something of the sort that hearing a song fully/with new orchestrations for the first time is like only looking at line art for so long and then seeing a colored image. Yeah. Man, yeah.

All the other performances of Ammonia have cut that one verse since Heidi did it and I’m glad it’s back. I could and have spent hours listening to this version. The ominous bass was an obvious choice for orchestration but that doesn’t make it any less good when you hear it. I’m always a big slut for strings so hearing those spiccato high notes is great. The strings in general make this song feel so expansive. It sounds like the freedom of an empty house, taking up more space than there is physically. It’s loud and sweeping and epic in the exact way this song and the story told in it deserves. Fuck. I love Ammonia.

Heidi deserves awards for her performance in this song. Also I can’t believe it was one of the songs released early, I was thinking we would have to wait till the entire thing came out to hear this monster of a song, but no it was just out there. It forced me to listen to this one hours on repeat because nothing else was out (except for Kevin) and you’d think the song would be diminished on that many repeat listenings but yet during each one my mind was still fucking blown by how good it was.

Archie's All-American

The energy of this song is fucking infectious. At the concert, we went straight from Album into this song and the instant head boppin’ energy was palpable from within a second of the instrumental starting up. EWM was fucking great on this song in person and I’ll be honest I think I like that more than ABF’s version on the Album, though maybe I’m biased because I just really like EWM’s voice. Not to say that the Album version isn’t good, but I think the instrumental mix didn’t go as hard as it did in person (drums really gave it that extra oomph). ABF does bring a youthful energy to his version that’s very nice and fitting of the song. Speaking of ABF, apparently he did a demo version of Kaboom and I would kill a man for it. God, this song just makes you want to fucking dance.

Lydia's Song

I know absolutely nothing about Beetlejuice but Lauren doing this song is always such a weird goddamn delight. Lyrically, this song isn't my favorite but the music and performance Lauren consistently gives is unparalleled. I know it’s called acting, but her mood when she was singing this song in person was so dour I actually got fooled into thinking she wasn’t happy to be there briefly. Also, strings. The deep, sparingly used drum beats. They add so much to the atmosphere of this song. Fucking superb, Charlie.

The Protector

Joe, tell me what this song means you bastard. I know you saw my Reddit AMA comment because you acknowledged it when answering the other one!! Todd Solondz’s Happiness apparently helped inspire this song which means I have to go watch it at some point. This song wasn’t one of my regular listens before Album because it was so confusing but lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

I know I’m overusing this word and I’ll use it several more times before we’re through with this breakdown, but the music of this song is so fucking haunting and beautiful. The dissonant chords. The deep piano. The journey you go on with this song. First listen you think it’s an extended joke with the “in Florida” punchline but on repeat listens it starts to be more than that. The music and lyrics are both a bit too chilling. To me, this song has always been about a father, too beaten down by life and haunted by the past, to trust his son with his own safety, but that feels pretty surface level after you get past the Florida joke reading, though I do think my readings of songs tend to stay pretty surface level. I’ll be wondering what else I’m missing for a long time.

Another overused term, this song is a liminal space. It’s distant shores. It’s snowy fields of white. It’s record stores. It’s suburbs bathed in white. It’s too-real conversations that can only happen in kitchens late at night and are never accessible again, but have changed you and your understanding of the other person forever. I have no fucking clue what the Florida bit is supposed to mean, even still.

Maybe the placement of this song on Album, sandwiched between Lydia’s Song and Kevin, will provide further clues but for now the mystery of The Protector remains unsolved.

Kevin

I didn’t realize Andrew R was as popular as he was but I guess considering the 81k streams on this song at time of writing (second most popular being the title song at 13k), he brings in the listeners. I admit I’m more partial to Jeremy M’s version of the song. I think he fits in the character more and makes bolder decisions, but he doesn’t sit as well with the music. Andrew plays it very straight, sarcastic, and vitriolic while Jeremy’s is a bit more flighty and wondrous. I haven’t checked to confirm but it feels like the tempo is slowed a bit for the middle of the song which I’m pretty ok with on this track. His delivery on “I mean you didn’t even live here then so it wasn’t really a thing for you” is so good. You can taste the contempt. The police sirens are a golden touch. I can see it in my head, him stone faced, nonchalantly walking opposite past police cars racing towards the scene.

Another person who is probably on here at least partially because of the name, but I’m ok with it because he kills it (literally) on this track. Finished typing this and just remembered his numerous Broadway credits, yeah he’s popular lol.

Jeff

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined and you know exactly why. The goddamn lyric change. Changing “naked Korean girl” to “naked caucasian girl” makes the song instantly lose 1/3rd (literally a third, her 3 traits are: naked, Korean, and girl) of its meaning because at least for my reading, the fetishization of the exoticness of the east is baked into the song. I know everyone’s gonna be like IT’S NOT THAT DEEP and that’s fine, I’m still gonna rant here. The whole point of the song is that Jeff is looking to this person who he thinks is the complete opposite of him, of which the Korean part is intentionally drawing upon the long history of painting the east as foreign and other, and wishing to be like her.

The specific change to caucasian seems like such a weird one, too. Who SAYS caucasian? To my knowledge, no one is out here saying “I’m caucasian” in the way people say “I’m white/Korean/Black/etc.” I get why Joe changed it because if I were a white man I wouldn’t be writing a song like that, but well, he did, and I liked it the way it was.

Maybe it wasn’t intended to be read that way and Joe just needed a nationality that would fit with that number of syllables, but he wrote Korean originally and that’s how the song was popularized and now that meaning is part of the song, death of the author etc. Just like it’d be pretty impossible to change Just Means or Nerd Love to be less uncomfortable/offensive without changing the DNA of the song, you can’t change Jeff, even if on the surface the issue seems restricted to one word. Changing it seems both cowardly AND neuters the song. I would love to talk to Joe about this and why he changed it but that doesn’t ever seem likely to happen. Final take, it should’ve stayed as “Korean.”

Also, I don’t know how much I jive with the trans interpretation of this song. Yeah, we’re going even further down this rabbit hole. The original lyric of Korean makes me instantly think of the way white men specifically fetishize Asian women, especially in film and porn, in a way that’s so cishet and about the white male/Asian female (forgive my use of the term I promise I’m not going mrasian on you) interaction and yellow fever that it’s hard for me to see past it as anything other than fetishization. I don’t think Joe was intentionally writing about any of this other than to use Korean as a shortcut catch-all for Asian exoticness to highlight the otherness from Jeff’s experience. Even some lyrics within the song push back on the more sexual parts of this interpretation (“I don’t want her to think that I’m some perv on some voyeuristic trip” “I promise I’m not looking out of carnal frustration”) but then come the first “oh” part of the song where I take it to mean he’s deriving some sort of pleasure, sexual or not, from this, so who knows how reliable of a narrator Jeff is, though I do tend to take his word on it when he says it’s nonsexual. Not to say that it can’t be fetishistic without it being sexual. Nor that this and the trans reading of the song are exclusive, just that the former is what is overpoweringly what I think of when I hear this song.

Ok, we’re done with the it’s not that deep section.

With that out of the way, Jeremy is fucking great. He plays both the humor and the complexities of this song so fucking well. I love the very specifically chosen grammar incongruity in the line “a couple couples see me fall all over but none of them cares.” It’s subtle enough that you might miss it at first or think that the singer messed up the lyrics but it’s consistent throughout different people singing this song and you realize it’s supposed to convey Jeff’s drunken state. Such a small detail. I fucking love it. Jeremy’s delivery also changes a bit. You can hear the swallows and the slight lag in speech. I can feel his fantasy shatter and reality come crashing back in when he says “myself just staring back at me.” The ever so slight hint of bitterness in his voice when he says “your life will be the same.” It’s so subtle and so good. Man, Jeremy’s performance on this song is unparalleled and it’s a shame this version is ruined by the lyric change. I love this song so much despite how sinister it feels to me. It really is a masterful combo of music, lyrics, and performance.

BUT I AM NOT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember when people shipped Kevin and Jeff? Wild times and I never really understood why. Okay, I do in that they’re both named sadboi characters whose songs have a surprising life and death twist, but on a deeper level I don’t think these characters have anything that would make them compatible. At the core, their characters are based on apathy and self-hatred respectively and what about those two things go well together I’m lost on. It does make for good vibes and aesthetics I guess.

Using Joe lyrics to talk about different Joe songs. “I think about the legacy and all those who came before.” Guess all his street number songs are obviously going to be about history and legacy. The cyclic nature of inspiration. The deconstruction of the rose tinted glasses we see the past through. Alan is so good on this track it makes me almost angry. Slight growl on “drink at McHale’s.” His voice is so smooth. The new orchestrations for this song are so pretty and definitely on the subtler side. Touch of strings, brass, and drums that gives it some extra color but still mainly piano and guitar like in the live version. I love the not quite synchronization on the delivery of “good lord, nostalgia’s so complex!” Also just having 3 people who can really fucking sing on this tracks brings so much life to it.

Play the Princess

Much in the way I think Hosing The Furniture woman and Ammonia woman should leave their husbands and get together, I think the two women in Play The Princess should kiss about it. I think they kinda swapped out a jazzy style for a more country vibe. I can believe this version of the song happens in the backstage of Bloodsong. I do admit I really miss Katrina’s voice on this track, I don’t think L Morgan and Destinee’s voices go as well together. Like they talked about on the podcast, they both seem sorta type-less, but L Morgan sells the princess type a lot more than Destinee does the tough type. Or maybe I’m just too used to hearing Katrina’s powerful voice on this song. Overall, I just don’t think Destinee gave a good performance. Like at 3:40 you can hear her just fade out and it’s only L Morgan singing. What the hell is that? Maybe a lack of communication from having recorded separately? Whatever it is, this track turned out to be pretty disappointing and it was one of the ones I was most looking forward to when the tracklist was announced.

On one hand, I guess it says something about how these women perceive themselves to be that type and mentally put themselves in those boxes when in actuality they don’t come across as it and that they have much more in common than they give themselves credit for, but on the other hand they’re both just sorta same-y and the lack of contrast doesn’t excite me.

The Actress

All the Obie awards to this performance. This song is so Katrina’s that I literally cannot imagine anyone else doing it. I love the new zombie-like “yaaas queen.” It’s my exact reaction to her singing like this and that’s exactly why that line is in there. I love how you need to have that loud and high voice the song talks about to pull it off, but she also retains so much of her uniqueness in her performance that the song talks about throwing away. Also, god this song is so fucking bonkers. Just so classic Joe. The seven minute insane character story epic. This type of song is what I think of when I think of a Joe composition. For translation from live to studio, no complaints. Pretty much a replica and it works very well.

The Song

This fucking song makes me want to hide under sheets and never come out again. This is not the song I should feel called out by the amount of raw fucking lines that make me feel way too seen, but yet here we are. Songs to make my future therapist listen to for sure. Insert Gordon Ramsay’s it’s fucking raw.jpg here.

This along with the next song on Album is of those songs by Joe where you go “oh this is about him” to “oh it’s actually only about him in the same way that all the songs he writes are about him, but he uses the context of his real person to make it seem like it’s only about him on surface level reading.” Brilliance. That’s also why I have trouble believing that it’s solely based on any relationship in Joe’s real life. Sure, he probably drew inspiration, but I doubt this is anything close to a one to one recount of what happened in his life. Off topic, but it feels the same as when people think A Strange Loop is autobiographical for Michael R. Jackson. Yes they drew varying levels of inspiration from their own lives but it’s clearly about a character and not themselves.

Sometimes I lean towards maybe The Song could be about a real life relationship with the introduction he gives it (can only be sung when a certain someone doesn’t come to the concert), but I always wonder how true that is. I used to take it at face value but lately I've been thinking about the bits he's done in the past in between songs that aren't true so now we're back where we started. The introduction could be part of the performance. Then I also remember how Joe's material never is surface level about him, they're all done through characters, slightly more apparent in All The Mistakes than in this song, which makes me even more sure that this song is also about a character. Am I overthinking this? I'm probably overthinking this.

This is the song on the album that should have an intro, not fucking Muthers. I want that intro on here to fuck with people’s heads even more.

All the Mistakes That He Made About the Girl

Sad to say that it's not as rockin’ and angry as in the live videos. Unfortunately that’s a complaint about almost every single song on here but y’know, only so much you can do when translating live to studio. I feel like Joe just isn’t slamming on the keys as hard as he can like this song deserves. The electric guitar and drums helps but also Joe just doesn’t sound as aggressive as he does in other performances. I think there’s a slight synthetic effect on Joe’s voice throughout the song? Or maybe not, but definitely at “he’ll be back where he started” it’s very audible and I enjoy that a lot. I’m also liking the electric guitar arpeggios. Also once again, a sucker for strings.

I love that in a way this song is the opposite of The Actress in that while they both talk about how well the performer can sing, The Actress actually calls for that performance while this song is exclusively performed by Joe and anyone can admit he’s not the greatest singer.

Yesterdays / I Can't Relate

I’m so conflicted because I love the version Jared did at the Lincoln Center and the higher chorus a lot and yet Jason V’s voice is so deep and soothing and I think it fits song better. I could easily see this song on some indie artist’s 5 track EP. Both Jason T and Jared start off with like a weariness in their acting but Jared moves into almost reproachfulness by the end while Jason T stays mostly weary. Love both vibes. I do miss synthy piano, it evoked like an 80s sorta feel. This song so melancholy that I don’t listen to it that much but it really pulls off the vibes it’s going for. Old man too confused and tired to yell at clouds.

Building a Fort

I like this song only so far as it’s a good character song. I don’t really care for it musically or lyrically. One line that always throws me is “I’m not answering your email, I’m throwing out my phone” because I always feel like this song is a spiritual brother to Albuquerque Anyway. It seems very much from the POV of a child so having a phone and email to check seems so strange. Do children check emails? I really don’t think it could be an adult with the way the music is and the rest of the language of the song. If it is that sure would be weird. Anyway the song is cutesy but not for me most days. I love that the backup vocals though are also (as far as I can tell) all by himself alone.

Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith)

COME ON HOME!!!!!!! During the very first listen I was sort of concerned by how low energy it was but then it kicked into high gear and every single fear was assuaged. Jared fucking kills it so goddamn hard (sidenote: I’ve been re-listening to Isolated Thunderstorms and Elusive Particle is such a fucking jam). I like breakdown laughter a lot since now it isn't a solo song and he doesn't have to Carry the entire thing but also man, do miss those High Notes. The choir arrangements are so fucking fantastic I need to give Joel my life. I want to hear just the vocal tracks on this song. The arrangement and amount of people singing also really helps with the volume and energy. Love the drop out on the lyrics (same thing as in MITB). In the Sunday performance, Jared did a little inhale like he was gonna start singing before stepping away from the mic. God tier. Platonic hand in marriage to that acting choice. Jared so consistently brings like 200% to performances I really want to see him in a full length Joe musical one day. Oh, also time to admit I haven't seen Halloween.

Sympathy for the Killer

Not one of my regular listens before Album but Liz does so good on this song that she and the song are growing on me actually. Previously I had only really thought of her doing Velociraptor but she killed so hard on this song (or rather was killed) both acting and singing-wise (sidenote: definitely gonna be keeping an eye out on White Girl In Danger). As a song itself, it’s not my favorite, but it’s short enough, Liz gives a good enough performance, and the production is fun enough that I’ll listen to it most of the time. I love the dissonant piano, the laughing, the sighs. Fun fact it’s also the second shortest song on Album (behind Slide Whistle). A Joe song less than 3 minutes long is a rare, rare thing.

Helen Sharp

Previously a “Joe sings this so there’s a layer of extra irony/meaning” song but literally anything lost from Joe performing it is instantly made up for one hundredfold with Lorinda’s performance. Are you fucking kidding me?!?! I am literally fucking speechless. I don’t have words to describe how good she is on this. Charlie’s work on the song also helps elevate it to a new fucking level. I love the at times creeping and other grandiose strings, along with the brass (what is that, a tuba?) that joins in right at the end. It helps expand the world of the song so much. I truly know nothing about the movie Death Becomes Her but I can imagine this version of Helen Sharp actually doing something, anything, about Madeline. Meanwhile, Joe’s version is also angry and bitter, but seemed more content to just bitch about it, and the orchestrations definitely help with that difference. I love the venom in Lorinda’s voice at “everything you wanted for yourself” but honestly I could pick 10 different deliveries to put in there and they’d all be true. I love Lauren being so audible in that first shout of “Madeline” when more people join in. I love the scream. I love the whisper of “Madeline” at the end.

When the YT release of the Lincoln Center performance happened, Lauren posted a picture of this song happening on her insta story captioned with something along the lines of “if only you could hear the names Joe is shouting in our living room right now” and I would kill to be a fly in that living room wall right then. I mean I think we can all guess the names but it’d still be fun to hear.

The Nurse and the Addict

Heard that one version of Joe singing it at the MTF so many times that my brain leaves in the flub he did and not hearing it on this version always throws me for a loop momentarily. The typewriter clack noises are brilliant and so, so fun. My platonic hand in marriage to whoever thought of it. Probably Charlie. I love that editing gets us the complete dead silence for after "pull away a bit" to the point where someone thought the song stopped playing. It’s so jarring. This track is one of the best live to studio translations on Album. All the new additions to the instrumentation are so good. Taylor’s voice has this sort of innocence and optimism to it that makes the relationship in the song feel even more unbalanced. When he just straight up starts screaming at the end it even sounds melodic.

Out Of Sight / Out Of Mind

Rip “(The Buddy Song)” lol. A song that got that the banjo/country orchestration which I don’t know if I enjoy on this song as much. This is mostly a skip unfortunately, not even the strings can save it. Well, there is one part I very much enjoy which is the slow part at the 4 minute mark. That “and not care all about me like how I care all about you” reminds me instantly of Krysta singing Adore. I think if we cut a minute or so out of it I’d be more inclined to listened to it. I enjoy the lyrical contents and theme of the song a lot but musically it’s just not my thing and the style on Album isn’t helping. Krysta does a good job on the song though. Not that I would trade it for Jared’s version but I do want to hear her do Haddonfield with the new choir arrangements.

The Saddest Girl in the World

Liz did this song live at the concerts and I enjoyed it then but otherwise it’s a skip. On the Saturday performance on her way up to the stage she stopped by a friend of mine’s table during the “he don’t have to be of age” line and said hi to him, which killed me. Otherwise, I don’t enjoy pretty much anything about this song. Not the music nor the lyrics. Not really sure why there was what amounted to a pointless lyric change. I don’t think Kerry did the best on this song. Really I don’t have much to say about this song. The only way I can really enjoy this song is solely as a snapshot of a character like Just Means. Wish this had been replaced by one of the songs on my missed list. Definitely a skip.

Norman

This version elevated Norman from a skip. It’s because of the strings. I’m always a sucker for violin no matter the situation. The very slow run right before 2 minutes in is so lovely. The contrast between the elegance of the violin and the lyrics and mood of the song is so stark and I love it. The staccato. The anger and volume and scream behind “I wish we were.” The stutter. The numerous girls in the background laughing and talking and calling his name. I definitely picked out Lauren’s distinctive voice. Haven’t seen Psycho but this performance seemed much more of a character than other ones I’ve seen. I am also always just constantly blown away by how new orchestrations can make it feel like you’re hearing a song for the first time. Thanks Charlie for literally my entire life.

(Run Away from You)

It regrettably does not go as hard as that one version of Joe at Two River which is my all time favorite which is unfortunate. I love the slight distortion/electronic effect on Jason’s voice during “girl I swear with all my werewolf heart” as well the crunchy electric guitar throughout. The “hide behind the bushes” etc part just does not have the level of intensity as it needs to make the song really work. It needs to build to frenetic levels and leave you feeling like you’re stalking down the street right alongside him but instead I feel like it didn’t go anywhere and I fell asleep inside the bush. I miss the werewolf breathing sounds. I’m wondering if Jason wasn’t feeling well or something when recording because this is not as good as it could’ve been. There are videos of him doing better. I think I’m being a bit overly harsh on this, it’s honestly not that bad and nowhere near the worst live to studio adaptation on this album, it’s just that I know it could be a lot better so I’m disappointed.

The Prisoner's Christmas Song

Not one of my regular listens before Album. I don’t think I care much for the song in particular but Grace gives such a performance and musically it fucks severely. Honestly just copy paste my exact feelings on Sympathy For The Killer. I am a huge sucker for a lot of growl in voices when singing so generally have a very fun time listening to it.

Right Place / Wrong Time

Yee fuckin’ haw. Legendary goddamn song. Maybe thee Joe Iconis of all time? It has all the major qualities: a story with a twist, vivid misfit characters, so fucking long, the struggle of being an artist, obsession with the past, repeating chorus, nonsense syllables. Yeah, this is thee Joe Iconis song of all time. I like that one of Katrina’s lines is “tell me my singing’s out of style” when she’s talked about how her style is actually what’s hot right now but it wasn’t when she started.

I miss the piano sirens, they’re a lot more subtle here. Not much to say about this one, just a very solid recording of what’s done live and I appreciate it.

Sometimes I think to myself “why is Joe so hung up on Broadway” and wanting his shows to play there. I had a conversation with a friend around when LIHN was happening at Two River where I was saying it’d sure be something if Revolution Song one day played at the Tony Awards. They said they’d rather the institution actually be torn down and at the time I couldn’t quite articulate why I didn’t think Joe would ever want that. Well, this song is why. For better or worse, he much too much respects the legacy and meaning of Broadway. He considers himself a pretty traditional guy, not trying to break new ground, be witty/impressive/insincere etc. He too desperate to make it within the place he loves to ever do anything else.

I don’t know why there’s a single soft clap/snap along the middle of the track. It seems like it’d much more belong in an a capella version of this song. It’s pretty clearly intentionally added because it cuts out eventually but it seems a bit too soft and the rest of the song is overproduced so that it doesn’t add much to the song and it just feels a bit like a distraction. Not that the song was overproduced, I just think it was past the level of being able to add a clap track along it. I actually like the level of production and new instrumentation.

Admittedly, I’m not much one for history. That’s one of the topics Joe talks about a lot that least resonates with me. I love that as time goes on, fewer and fewer people will know what this song is talking about without looking it up. I know I had to. I’m the people who don’t understand how much they meant, but this song gives me a small window into the mindset of people who care. It makes me care more than I did before.

A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. I liked the live versions of this cover a lot in the past when I heard them but I wasn’t expecting it to make it onto Album. It’s weird to hear this song without the backing vocals and dialogue. It’s sweet that the last line is changed so it’s a pure-ish love song and it also subverts expectations like this song originally did. Guess we’re in covers/cabaret versions of songs from full shows section of the album.

Joey Is a Punk Rocker

Another one that wasn’t one of my regular listens and that I only enjoy as a character song. For both this and the last track, I really do like that the people singing are so different from the character that usually sings it in the show. In general, I really enjoy Annie’s voice and how full of character it is. The one section of the song I do have to admit I enjoy is the line “that his nipples were pierced but his heart was too.” Banger fucking line. Also the hilarity of Joe writing the line “I’m in love with a punk rocker named Joe” has not worn off for me.

Social Worker

Now this is a bonkers version of Social Worker. Immediately the synth is like whoa, what the fuck. I love the increasing echo effect on Nick’s voice during the panic attack section of the song. I enjoy it just as a listen but I’m really curious as to why they decided to go down a synth route for this song. Seems weird and I don’t know if I tonally agree with that choice, but I also don’t really disagree? Just want to know why they did it. Also, low-key I think Nick could’ve done better on this track. Like it was very good but I think the instrumental was definitely carrying.

I Was a Teenage Delinquent!

MAYBE THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS EVER GRACED MY EARS??? I think within the first goddamn second I had my tiny little fucking mind blown. This song and the fullness of the orchestrations makes me want to scale several stories of brick wall so I can scream from rooftops “I FELL IN LOVE IN JUVIE HALL!!!!!!!!!” I truly mean it when I say I love how bad, overdramatic, and trashy this song is. She’s writing on bathroom walls in lipstick! She’s romanticizing her suicide scars! She’s falling in love in anger therapy! I love the incongruity of the line “I am a teenage ne'er-do-well” like a teenager would ever, ever say that. Well, maybe they did in the 60s. I love the brief saxophone bit while they almost kiss. I also love that they cut like the 30 seconds of dead time. This song is such a violent, cheesy, goddamn banger. As always I’m in love with the uniqueness of Lauren’s voice and performance. I can’t believe that LIHN came from this. It would be interesting and fun to hear Amina and Kelly do this as a one off but I’m glad it was Lauren and Molly, I want Amina and Kelly’s rendition of I Fell In Love In Juvie Hall to remain a sacred, earnest, triumphant gay love jam.

(Do) the Slide Whistle!

What the hell is this. Why did they go all out on this song. I don’t know the story behind this song. I don’t think it would help even if I did. It’s catchy, I’ll give them that. Who the hell are Suzie and Jenny and [Turp?], what is this song? All around confusion.

Muthers R Speshel (Wen Yer Sad)

I guess they lined up Slide Whistle and this one next to each other so I could double slam on the skip button. The nicest thing I can say about this song is that at rare points it’s charming and heartwarming. Another case of “well... some people are here at least partially because of their name.” It is not like LMM has been out here at concerts doing Joe’s songs.

My Best Friend's a Skeleton

Jeremy is delightful as the skeleton as always. I wonder if the skeleton jumpsuit he wore in the 2013 video is the same one in the 2022 shows. I think I enjoy Lance’s version more but they’re really incomparable since that one was live and George’s was a studio recording. Lance is just. Such a silly guy lol. Don’t know which I like more, the “I cannot wait for you to pass” in the live version of George or the “that’s gross why would you say that” but really just all the awards for Jeremy. For the Album version, it’s another one that got that sorta banjo/country twang in the orchestrations which I’m enjoying on this version of the song, but honestly overall it’s a skip. It’s the sort of song that lives on the banter they have between verses so it’s best in a live recording. Makes me wish they swapped this song out for something like Blue Hair.

Velociraptor

A real win for my media comprehension skills that this song is next to Him Today, Gone Tomorrow. I was like “yessss” when I saw it when the tracklist came out. It makes the skull line very weird but with an extra layer of meaning I guess.

I love the sort of what I can only describe as elevator-style music. It gives the song a very modern, cosmopolitan feel. I can easily imagine this as an anonymous woman lost in the size of NYC. I love how bold the guitar noise is after the “there’s a dinosaur” noise. It kind of sounds like it’s supposed to be a dinosaur roar. I love the line “where the species intertwine” because suddenly that line feels like it implies everyone on the street is a different species instead of nondistinct/normal/human like I was imagining them before. Everyone sees themselves as an animal in a city of humans but really they’re all their own kind of weird and Velociraptor is just looking for people who are weird in the same way as her. I don’t usually think about this but this song really is similar to Right Place/Wrong Time.

Also I have absolutely no memory of where I heard about this but once Liz said that she was complaining to Joe about feeling tired of singing generic songs about people feeling out of place and then he wrote this for her haha. Liz consistently kills it in an under-appreciated way, very much hoping she’s in the official White Girl In Danger cast next year so we can see/hear her in something.

Him Today, Gone Tomorrow

Not as much of a banger as it is in the live performances. Unfortunately nothing about this performance of this song is that good. A combo of audio mixing, instrumentation, and vocals all make this song not live up to its potential. There’s a real variance and buildup of energy in the live version but in this one it’s all mostly samey. I don’t like the addition of background vocals, it’s not loud enough to actively contribute to making the song better and in fact it feels like it helped make this a more lulled song this version. I do prefer the emotion and acting in the vocal performance for this version though.

I love the “she” transitioning from sounding like a tentative question to a celebration with many exclamation points after it. I want to see Manifest Pussy in full. I always wonder if there’s more context for this song that I’m missing.

Starting to Forget

Not one of my regular listens before Album. I actually used to think that this song was about a woman walking the line between still missing and starting to forget their abusive ex and healing, and I thought that for longer than I care to admit. I think it was only when I went to transcribe the lyrics to this song a few months ago that I finally really started paying attention to exactly what was being said and I realized how incredibly sad it was. Then even more recently I found out it’s about Joe and his grandfather. But you know what I still somewhat stand by my reading of this being about one person’s complicated journey moving on from their ex-lover. It could work.

I love Badia’s voice on this so much. It’s also interesting because on the Album podcast, they said they recorded all the band stuff first, but this track sounds very singer lead with the liberties taken with tempo. It sounds like a song that requires the accompaniment to come after or be live with the singing, but apparently that’s not what happened so props to them for making it sound like that’s what happened.

Also shout out to this song for apparently being able to always bring a tear to Michael R Jackson's eye.

Tightrope Walker / Mountain Climber / Me

So Joe has this old song called Tightrope Walker but I’ve never heard it. I have to imagine this song is a reworking/expansion of that other song and it makes me really curious to hear what the old version was. Regardless, new Joe Iconis song!!! [Has a life crisis].

This song is so interesting and I’m still trying to figure it out. The latter half captures the feeling of being an observer in your own life, the detachment and distraction of living in our social media age, and the ease at which we can compare ourself to others now. However, I don’t understand why the tightrope walker and mountain climber bits exist. To draw comparison to the “me” bit, but is it saying that they’re more similar or different than one would expect? Or neither? Is it saying that the career of an artist is in some ways comparable and as dangerous as tightrope walking/mountain climbing? The biggest hint is the some people are fueled by terror/praise meanwhile I live vicariously through others line. Do they exist only to lay down examples of other’s accomplishments that the starving artist feels they’ll never have their own version of? The song is a lot about what motivates people and I guess the artist’s lack thereof? Or maybe they do have motivation but it’s slowly been eroded over time by not reaching their goals while everyone else seems to be. Still, I don’t understand why. And then it also gets meta with the “I hate my vocals on this song” so then it’s implying that the starving artist wrote and is performing this song. I don’t know what any of this means! Would love to hear what other people think of this song. Can’t wait for the podcast episode of this song.

Since Joe almost never shares his lyrics verbatim I think I’ll be wondering forever if the “and days and days etc” part eventually ends on “and daze” because I love a good homonym. Would be cool if it did.

I love Molly H and her voice so much. I also really want to hear Lauren do this song. I think her voice lends to the style a lot. I love how casual this song sounds, very fittingly for the message of the song. In the Sunday live performance of this song it went heavy on some sort of synth-y rock guitar and there were also backing vocals. It was weird.

Flesh and Bone (The Robot's Song)

I'm sorry. What the fuck? It's like they decided to suck literally all of the energy out of this song during the recording. And I know Jason can go hard on this song, I've seen it before. So what the fuck. It started out a bit more low energy than I was expecting but I was expecting it to pick up but then it never did and we got to the nanas at the end and I was so disappointed. I just checked and it’s literally 10 bpm slower than live versions. I’m back again wondering if Jason got sick or something because this was not it. His voice sounded a bit off, like it was more tired/weaker. I’m just am in shock at how bad they ruined this song. Like how did this happen. This is one of Charlie’s favorite songs so like, how did he listen to this and think “yeah that’s good.”

The string pizzicato was nice but I’m still not sure how I feel about it in this song specifically. I miss the versions where the guitar in the background plucks an alarm going off/warning signal of low battery. The wind and rust sound effects were also lame as hell in this version, and by lame I mean almost nonexistent. I very much prefer versions where they do something outsized and wacky. Overall, I don’t know why you would choose to listen to the worse version of this song out there.

Party Hat

The new interjections are so fun and I love it. I think my favorite is “you are quite something” and “that’s what my therapist says!” It reminds me of Lauren’s Our Show. Also love the funky lil banjo and melodica. Thank god they kept the kazoo. This song is almost good enough for me to forgive EWM for making smacking lips noises right in my ear. Honestly I don’t have all that much to say about this song. Good song, good recording. Okay, I’ve been trying to find a way to word this without sounding weird but there is no good way. I want EWM to be my cat. No elaboration. You either get me or you don’t.

Amphibian

About to say something sacrilegious. I only like Amphibian an okay amount and it definitely is one of those songs whose charm lies in live performance, though this track translated pretty well from live to studio. I think they’re also aware of this so starting it off way more cutesy helped. Also that the ensemble choir was made up of so many people was great. On some tracks you can tell the ensemble had less people and as a result felt much less full. It’s very cute that Lance joined in for a duet. Double Natos! Shamefully, I thought it was Joe the first few listens until Al told me otherwise. I like the crowd/general chatter noise at the end with very low ribbits that then transitions straight into It’s All Good.

The Amphibian on Sunday when Will was out with COVID was by far my favorite performance of this song, ever. Amara was so good at the beginning that I want an entire version of her and John’s energy was so innocent and quickly turned rockin’ that I am obsessed.

It's All Good

I feel like the audio mixing could’ve been better on the ambient crowd/chatter noise to not have it cut out as abruptly? It felt a bit jarring. Regardless, I like it. It creates a feeling of a live performance where people just get up and go to the mic that fits well with the content of the song. Not one of my favorite songs of Joe’s, but it’s so nice to have the boys from the 08 cast all singing together on this and their voices mesh very nicely together. It also sounds like they recorded together to match up the vocals or at least they did a much better job of it here than some other tracks.

Find the Bastard

I have to fucking talk about this shit. After the Saturday concert, the performers were talking to audience members outside and I had a short conversation with EWM where I told him how much I loved BSOL. He ribbed me a bit about being 12 when the original production happened, which is totally fair, and I thought that would be the end of that interaction. But he remembered because the next night during this song, right after the first “what’s your name, what’s your name,” (I guess I shouted loud enough that he noticed me) he made eye contact and pointed to me in the audience briefly as he sang. I am still replaying this moment in my mind. And also physically replaying it on the vid I took lol. Literally the amount of joy that those brief seconds have brought me is immeasurable. Months later just listening to this song is still a free happiness machine.

Last on Land Whomst? This is my new favorite, no I'm not biased at all (ok but can you blame me after what happened). I guess I should talk about the actual song now.

Ok, on the Album version right at the beginning of the instrumental after the very first measure (0:03-0:04), the guitarist accidentally plucks another string when changing fingerings and it bother me to no end. Can you tell I’ve been listening to this song on eardrum shattering volumes? Other than that, almost 0 complaints. The snake rattle effect sends chills through me. I like that there’s clearly a lot of people in the mix for the ensemble part but you can hear Jason ST and Katrina distinctively in the mix. I love the new brass. It fits so well. Loud and brash just like the show. Speaking of the brass, I’m in love with the drawn out instrumental crescendo right before “they done me wrong.”

AND FROM NOW ON, WHEN THEY ASK MY NAME (WHAT’S YOUR NAME, WHAT’S YOUR NAME) MY ANSWER ALWAYS GONNA BE THE SAME (WHAT’S YOUR NAME, WHAT’S YOUR NAME) I’LL SAY MY NAME IS AWFUL LONG AS IT’S THE LYRICS OF THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not know how a single person in the world could possibly listen to this song and not feel the hype in their fucking soul and The Musician’s mission as their own. For three minutes and twenty-nine seconds, I’m a guitar wielding musician recently freed from prison on a mission to get my woman back from a dastardly kazoo playing villain. And it better be yours too.

I don’t know why on these TBS and BSOL tracks, there’s noise/people talking at the beginning/end. I assume for like atmosphere/continuity to signify that they’re from the same show/should be listened to together?

Last on Land

Don't look at me, I'm listening to Last on Land. As always, thinking about that one review that called this song the out of nowhere number about sailing. Watch your fucking back, I’m about to turn you into an out of nowhere number about sailing. Though I’ll be honest, parts of this song are still lost on me but I enjoy that. I’m always thinking about what certain lines could mean when I’m listening to this song. Some parts mean a different thing to me every time I listen to it. I guess I can understand how someone who wasn’t paying attention and hearing this song for the first time could think it was just a song about boats. I mean, admittedly that’s what I thought the first time I heard this song. But then you listen again and you notice the raw fucking lines like “we find the solution to escape our fate, it lies in the equal distribution of our weight” and I dare you to not feel even an ounce about community and what we owe and willingly give to one another when this song plays.

Since it’s in a different key on Album as it is in the show, the octave jump on the piano backing is even higher and everything feels even more perilous. Like oh my god, things are beginning to sink!!

Sorry I am continuously ragging on it, but it’s noticeably not as good in an album of mostly good to stellar performances. I don’t think Jason ST’s performance on this track is the greatest but the tiredness sort of fits the opening of the song so it’s not as egregious on this track. I don’t know there’s any standout performances on this track actually, it starts getting very good later into the song.

I love the angelic choir sort of quality the “ohs” in the vocal only part, and it carries that quality even when everything else comes back in. It feels like prayer and community to someone non-religious like me. The only thing on this earth for us is each other. The new harmonies are so fucking good it makes me lose my entire goddamn mind every time I listen two minutes of this song. Especially the new high part on “if you weren’t here with me.” You know the one. The echoing on the chorus. Thank you Joel for these god tier vocal arrangements. It’s what this song fucking deserves. It really feels like it’s taking full advantage of the size of its goddamn cast list. I wouldn’t be surprised if almost all the people in that image of people on the album were in this chorus.

Can you believe that Joe originally wasn’t going to do any songs from full shows of his? Thank god Jen convinced him otherwise. Lord, what would I do without [this version of this song].

Try Again

I connected like a year ago that the "lifeboat manned by me" line was in reference to Bloodsong but it took me up until a few weeks ago to realize the "fuck those bastards, find a friend" is also probably one. With how connected this song is to other works of Joe now I'm realizing the suicide attempt off the roof is not at all random and definitely calling back to Broadway, Here I Come! lol. It takes me a minute...

Ending with Try Again instead of Last on Land is fun and interesting. The placement of this song makes me think Joe still feels like he hasn’t made it in the way he wants to in this industry, which, fair. It’s just funny how a song he wrote with a large inspiration about BMC after TRT is still the message he wants to go out on, that even with that very show making it to Broadway, he still feels he’s at the stage where he’s picking himself back up and trying again. And I guess YMMV on if he deserves to feel that way. With how much he talks about being a fan of traditional musical theater and having traditional mindsets of what being successful in musical theater looks like, he certainly hasn’t made that original show that’s been reviewed well by the NYT regionally and moved to Broadway and had a successful run in the way he thinks/thought shows should do. And both BBH and LIHN, right after BMC had a similar trajectory of not being the success he wanted, with LIHN being especially similar to how BMC started out.

Though honestly I don’t know what Joe Iconis would be like if he had his well-loved Broadway hit and I don’t know if it’s ever gonna happen for him. It seems like he just somehow grates on people in a way that in his eyes, he’ll be almost making it forever. Like if you just shift your viewpoint a bit, this track would’ve also fit very well after Right Place/Wrong Time as the 26th track, at exactly halfway through Album. With this song as the midpoint, it would’ve sent a message of how despite the NYT review, he tried again and BMC was eventually able to get to Broadway because of the love people had for it, and he saw that result of trying again and is past that part of his life.

Am I reading into all this too much? Probably. Maybe he placed it here as an upbeat message about trying again to loop back to the beginning of the album. But reading and listening to what he says in interviews I’m inclined to think he still feels like he’s in the trying again stage of his life.

#teresa talks #album #refusing to use full names lol on the off chance one of them somehow finds this #im being a little mean a little bitchy i dont want people to see mean words about them lol #iaf #my posts #ive been working on this post since june 24 lol #then joe started posting on tumblr and i got scared hed namesearch himself and see this #oh well if he does ill just die #i continue to ramble in tags in hopes that this will make it not show up in search #please god i just dont want creators to see me talking about them #this is my space!!!#anyway i hope if he does find this he knows i say this with as much love as possible #i mean i wrote 9k words of thoughts i think about it a lot #every day i live in fear #the irony of loving if you like it so much and desperately hoping he doesnt find u talking about him #i just think there should be a separate spaces between fans and creators #where we can be a lil mean amongst ourselves with the understanding it's all love #joe iconis

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mrjoeiconis-blog · 2 years ago

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From the Archive, An Interview About SMASH and More from May 29, 2013

Award-winning musical theatre writer Joe Iconis’s songs have been heard all over New York City, in performances across the nation and now on the silver screen in NBC’s Smash. The writer of Smash favorites “Broadway, Here I Come!” and “The Goodbye Song” caught up with Stage Door Dish to share his experiences with the series, his creative process and the meaning of family.

SDD: How did your collaboration with Smash begin?

JI: It began because Josh Safran, who’s the showrunner, had been a fan of mine, sort of unbeknownst to me, and he came to see a concert that I did in June of last year. I didn’t know he was coming, I had never met him before, and after the show I was helping my friend load some drums into his car, and Josh went up to me and was like, “Hey, I’m Josh Safran, I’m working on Smash this season, I have a bunch of writers here with me and I want to know if you want to have some songs on the show.” So that’s how it all started. When I originally was talking to him, the idea was that I was to be the sole writer for the Hit List show. The initial idea was that [Marc] Shaiman and [Scott] Wittman would write all of the Marilyn Monroe musical stuff and they would just bring on one other writer to do the other musical, which is Hit List. And then through talks with them, it ended up being the kind of thing where they didn’t necessarily want to do that. And the people involved – Josh Safran is amazing and the actual writers are great – but you’ve got all of these high-ups at NBC and it goes all the way up to Steven Spielberg, so these people understandably don’t agree on a lot of stuff. So it turned into this thing where they have multiple writers whose songs end up on the show now and all the Hit List songs are written by one of a very large group of writers. At any rate, Josh, at our first meeting, talked about “Broadway, Here I Come!” He said that he kind of had that song in mind for the first episode and when he was trying to get the job of taking over for the show, he would use that song as his pitch, so it was his idea that that song would be this kind of recurring theme throughout the season. But he didn’t think that the fancy people at the network would ever let that be the song because we thought that they wanted something more upbeat and then I tried to write a song that was like a fake version of “Broadway, Here I Come!” that was a little more general and sort of happier. Then nobody liked that, and it was really the kind of thing where it was coming down to the last minute where they were going to film this episode in a matter of days and nobody could agree on the song so they just ended up using “Broadway, Here I Come!” which was great. And that’s how that ended up on the show. And then the other song I have on the show is “The Goodbye Song,” and that was just something where Josh really loved the song and wanted to specifically use that one on the show. So that’s been my experience with the whole thing.

SDD: What inspired “Broadway, Here I Come!” when you were writing it?

JI: I do concerts and I perform pretty frequently so “Broadway, Here I Come!” was a was a standalone song. I didn’t write it as a part of anything else, it was written to exist unto itself. When I first wrote it, it was kind of at a time in my own life when I was not the happiest, and I had a lot of conflicting thoughts about the theatre business in general. I had just done a show that opened and didn’t get the greatest reviews, and I felt a lot of momentum go away from what I was doing in that one moment. I knew I wanted to write a song about theatre and also struggling with theatre and about feeling stuck in a certain place, but also being afraid of getting to a certain place, and just the whole messiness about this idea of making it on Broadway, and what it means to make it. I started writing it, and I stumbled on this idea that making it on Broadway is kind of similar to jumping off a building. That sort of solidified the whole thing. The song just became about how I wanted every line to work so that someone could listen to the song and just think its about someone coming to the big city and trying to make it on Broadway but it also literally is about someone committing suicide and jumping off a building and then hurtling towards the street of Broadway. So then, the idea of the song became “could we make it work for both of those things?” So that’s kind of how the whole thing came about. It’s funny, the first time I ever sang that, I sang it at a concert – I had written it the morning of the show and it was a different version than what it is now – but the first 30 seconds of the song were the same, and when I sang it, it got a huge amount of laughs. People thought it was really, really funny. So I sang it, and then I put the song away and I never returned to it until a while later. I ended up rewriting it and Krysta Rodriguez is the first person who sang the song as it is now. It was really her interpretation of it that turned it from a song that when I first did it felt sort of darkly comic, to the thing that it is now. I still do I think it’s kind of funny but I feel like it has a dignity to it that it didn’t necessarily have when I first wrote it.

Krysta Rodriguez singing “Broadway, Here I Come!” on Smash

SDD: Do you find that that happens a lot? When you collaborate with a performer, does the way they interpret the song change your view of it sometimes?

JI: Yeah, absolutely. The name of the show is Joe Iconis and Family so I have this collective of artists and musicians that I work with pretty frequently, and I love collaborating with actors. It’s a huge part of my writing process, I write a song and I just can’t wait to get it in front of an actor and to work with them. I love sort of wrapping songs and theatre and shows around the people who are performing them. So, for me it happens all the time, it’s my favorite thing. It’s the kind of thing where sometimes I’ll change a word because a word doesn’t sound correct out of somebody’s mouth or I’ll change the rhythm or the melody. To me it’s very much a collaboration between the song and the singer. I think that’s what happens, Krysta made me feel like “oh, this song is a little different than I originally thought that it was,” and that happens all the time, which is cool. I have this song called “The Protector” and when I first wrote it, I didn’t know if it was a song that I would sing in concert, or if my friend Jason “SweetTooth” Williams would sing it, but then when I first wrote it I was trying to make it intentionally vague. I think it’s a song about many things and I wanted it to feel like poetry as opposed to more like a scene song, which is something that I write quite a bit. But when I first wrote it and I sang it, I felt like “you know, this makes no sense. I tried to do something that’s vague and that’s open to interpretation, but in actuality I’ve just written a song that’s fucking baffling and nobody is going to understand it.” And then SweetTooth sang it, and from the first time he sang it, it was so clear what this song was about. Even though it can be about different things, the intention of the song was immediately clear in a way that it just wasn’t when I was singing it or when I was thinking about it. And now it’s a song that people hear and always talk about when it’s in a concert. People always enjoy the song and understand what it’s about without being able to articulate what it’s about, which is totally because of this actor who heard it and knew how to interpret it and made it more clear than it was originally without even changing a word or changing anything about it. It just was a matter of performance.

SDD: On that note, is there a reason you call the people you work with “the Family?”

JI: Yeah, I guess it’s a couple reasons. It sort of started organically and I like the idea of, as I said, collaborating with artists. I’ve always loved the idea of having this stable of artists and being like a repertory company or like a group of people who all chip in and do this thing, and make art together. It also stems from a “doing shows in your backyard” kind of feeling, with everyone pitching in and the boundaries being fuzzy between who sings and who plays instruments and who writes and who directs. So we first started using the word the “family” in kind of an off-the-cuff way and we used it in programs – instead of saying “the cast” it would say “the family” because it just felt more appropriate. Then people started calling us “the family.” Then for a while I was kind of weirded out by it because it felt so natural and nebulous, and I was afraid if I supported it and put it out into the world as “Joe Iconis and Family” as a thing, it would seem too precious, or it would seem like something where you get a membership card, or like “there’s auditions for the family.” But in retrospect, I’m really happy that it’s kind of out there in the world, because I think what we do, it’s just different. I think that it’s something that no other group of people is really doing because we do these concerts and yeah, everyone is singing my songs so it immediately feels like a musical theatre concert in a way that it’s like “oh, a night of songs by ___.” But everyone really does have a place at the table. So the feeling of it – I think someone who wouldn’t be familiar with the world of musical theatre would see a show like that and it would feel a lot more like a rock band or a lot more like some sort of cabaret. Not necessarily in a musical theatre cabaret sort of way, but I think it would feel different. It feels like a collective, so “family” just makes sense to me. And I also just really hate when people, especially in musical theatre, do shows where it’s like, “So-and-so and friends.” It seems so silly to me. Cause a lot of times you’ll look at it and think “I know you’re not friends.” So I felt good about saying “and family” because it feels correct, it feels bonafide.

SDD: Did you always know that writing is what you wanted to do?

JI: Yeah, I kind of did. I saw Little Shop of Horrors for my seventh birthday. I started with Little Shop of Horrors, and I was very immediately hooked by musical theatre. I’m from close by and my family would go to see shows but there was no one who was really, really into theatre. I was, I loved it and for every birthday or holiday my family would take me to see shows. My aunt would take me all the time to see theatre and took me to a lot of adult shows. I saw Kiss of the Spiderwoman when I was a little kid and I saw Falsettos and I just loved it. And when I was little little, I would be in musicals and stuff and I knew I was bad, I was terrible at it. I was a really awful little performer and it made me nervous and I was scared to be in the show. But I still loved it and I loved being around the shows. So as soon as I was old enough to realize that there’s a person who writes the shows, that was immediately what I wanted to do. I was obsessed with Andrew Lloyd Webber and then Stephen Sondheim and Kander & Ebb and I just always wanted to do it. And I went to NYU for music composition in undergrad and I also did the musical theatre writing program, and from middle school on I was very much obsessed with the idea of writing musicals.

SDD: Do you have a certain process when you’re writing a piece or does it come together differently every time?

JI: It’s kind of different every time, I’m not the best about having a writing schedule so every day it’s hard for me to say like “oh, from 12-4 I’m going to write.” So it’s kind of different every day but in general, I write all over the place. I don’t have one sacred spot, I like to write in public a lot, I like to write at Dunkin Donuts, I like to write outside if I can. A lot of times I’ll start a scene or a song somewhere and then I’ll take it to a different location and then I’ll come back and I’ll write around the piano and then I’ll write away from the piano so it kind of feels like a frantic sort of whirling nervous style of writing. But then it miraculously comes together most of the time.

Joe Iconis

SDD: Do you have a personal favorite song of yours that you’ve written?

JI: Yeah. It’s funny with the songs because some of my songs I like a lot – I just like them, I like playing them, some of my songs I totally hate. They bug me and I don’t enjoy listening to them or hearing people sing them. But, I would say my favorite of my songs is this song called “Starting to Forget,” which is a song that I wrote about my grandfather many, many years ago. It’s a very simple song and it kind of doesn’t sound like anything that I write today but it’s sort of the first time – I wrote it in undergrad – and it was the first time that I felt like something clicked as far as the writing went and it felt like I was starting a new type of writing for myself, so it was a song that I was very proud of at the time and still am. And even now, I think it’s very simple, and I think that as a song it works really well and does a lot of the stuff that I care about in songwriting, so I always feel like that’s as good or nice a song as I’m going to ever write. So that’s the long answer to that question. “Starting To Forget.”

SDD: What’s been your most gratifying moment so far as an artist?

JI: One moment doesn’t stick out to me yet. There have been a couple moments that I’ve been really excited by. I would say backstage before the opening night performance of Bloodsong of Love, which is this musical that I wrote that was at Ars Nova a couple of years ago, and that we’re recently kind of picking up again and are going to do again hopefully very soon. But it was a show that I really, really was proud of and the rehearsal process was amazing and everything about it was just great right before we actually walked into that opening night performance. I was just so proud and happy and great and kind of filled with possibility. The performance was amazing and then we got a sort of annoying review in the Times, so that actual night dwindled a little bit for me, it kind of took it away from fairytale. But it still was kind of worth it for the moments right before when it sort of felt like that “anything is possible” sort of thing. So that was pretty gratifying in a certain way but I think in general, the moments when I feel like “oh yeah, this is the best” usually have to do with performance. When I’m doing a show, like the shows I’m doing at 54 [Below], it’s the actual hour and a half of doing those shows and participating in the music and being onstage with these people that I care about so much and experiencing my songs being performed by artists of such high caliber. Those are my favorite moments, so whatever the last one of those are would be the most gratifying moment that I ever have.

SDD: Stage or screen?

JI: Stage.

SDD: If you could delete any song from existence, which one would you choose?

JI: “Don’t Stop Believing.”

SDD: Do you have a favorite word?

JI: Family.

SDD: What is your current obsession?

JI: The first thing I’m thinking of is meat and cheese plates.

SDD: Karen Cartwright or Ivy Lynn?

JI: Ivy Lynn.

SDD: What is the last great show you saw onstage?

JI: The Flick by Annie Baker.

SDD: What is your life motto?

JI: Everybody has a place at the table.

SDD: Who is the last person who made you feel starstruck?

JI: Anjelica Huston

SDD: If you could trade places with anybody on Broadway, who would you choose?

JI: I would choose Danny Burstein.

SDD: Which Broadway star would you most like to get a drink with?

JI: The girls who play Matilda.

SDD: Describe yourself in five words or less.

JI: Hairy, specific, collaborative, passionate.

#Broadway here I come #Joe iconis #krysta rodriguez #danny burstein #smash #broadway #jimmy collins

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ceciliadickson · 5 years ago

Text

P2D2

Cecilia Dickson

Halbert Barton

SOC 3-001

27 February 2020

How One Musical is Changing the Future

“For one thing, it is—by cold critical standards—the worst of the lot, with a repetitive score, painfully forced rhymes, cartoonish acting and a general approach that mistakes decibel level (literally and metaphorically) for emotional intensity” is what New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote about the cult musical Be More Chill after it’s opening on Broadway on March 10th, 2019. Be More Chill is a musical by Joe Iconis with a book by Joe Tracz, based on the young adult sci-fi novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini. It follows high school loser Jeremy Heere on his quest to become popular by taking a pill called a with a microcomputer inside of it called a SQUIP, which implants itself into Jeremy’s brain and helps him to be more chill. Many shenanigans follow. Sound weird? It is, but that is the point.

The bad reviews did not stop at the Times. Mashable called it “a disappointment” and The Hollywood Reporter stated it “contains serious problems.” So, does it come as any surprise that the show closed five months after opening?

From the outside looking in, no. A bad Times review is a bad Times review, and a bad Times review will close a production. But a step into the Lyceum Theatre’s doors while Be More Chill played on it’s stage would suggest an entirely different story.

Excited teenagers dressed in full cosplay, standing ovations after the show’s hit “Michael in the Bathroom” belted out by George Salazar (who plays Jeremy’s best friend, Michael), a screaming stagedoor crowd that caused passersby to stop and see what celebrities where coming out (they often left disappointed), fans crying as they got to meet their favorite actors—The two pictures put together do not make much sense. What made this musical connect with this young crowd in ways that theatre critics missed, causing the show to close despite its enthusiastic audience?

Fourteen-year-old Luna discusses the wide expanse of diversity the show contains. “I especially saw this in George Salazar's performance,” she says, “with someone who's half Filipino, like me, playing such a major role in the show!” Similarly, another fan, Jenn, describes how “as a fellow Filipino who is also part of the LGBTQIA+ community, it honestly made me feel so seen for the first time” to see Salazar, a gay half-Filipino, half-Ecuadorian man, perform on a Broadway stage in a lead role. “It made me tear-up.”

The representation does not stop at race. Another fan, Skylar, says that “the fact that a character actually says ‘Oh my God, I am totally bi’ literally makes me want to sob” in reference to a bisexual character, Rich Goranski. Salazar’s character wears a rainbow pride patch on his hoodie and has the famous line, “My mothers would be thrilled!” that caused fans in the audience to scream and cheer nightly.

Beyond representation, many people love the show because of it’s message. Twenty-five year old Erika states “It gives a voice to all the weirdos and people with anxiety/depression but in a way that's also comedic and colorful and fun and people really need that!” Similarly, twenty-eight year old Kayleigh describes her experience connecting to the show. “Then, when we got to [the song] “Upgrade” and [the lyric] ‘I'm tired of being the person that everyone thinks that I am’ was sung, and I immediately began to cry in my seat because, for the entirety of my life, I've worn a facade, quieting my interests and my desires in order to make other people happy . . . I felt seen as a person.”

If representation, from race to sexuality to mental illness, is what drew people to Be More Chill, the community is where people stayed, finding their home in it’s fandom. Through being mutual fans of the show, Luna met her girlfriend, Taylor, who happily explains “also because of [Be More Chill] I have a girlfriend! She is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.” Kayleigh and Erika have found friendship in a Twitter group chat called the “Vintage Cassettes,” a play on a lyric in the show, while Luna and Taylor have true, close friends in their Twitter group chats, all formed because of their members’ mutual love for Be More Chill.

The community of Be More Chill fans—often called ‘stans’—is unlike your average fandom scene. Kayleigh describes how “being a stan of Be More Chill means being accepting of people's identities and being there for each other,” and Luna says, “in my experience, Be More Chill stans have been a lot more welcoming than stans I've interacted with in other fandoms.” Be More Chill stans are “loud and passionate” and unashamedly so.

Returning to the question at hand of what made this show connect to its audience, it was how the show was so open and welcoming, with it’s diverse cast of whacky, fun, weird characters, it allowed people to see themselves onstage. It shows people that there is a place where they belong. Luna remarks: “As someone who has stanned theatre for more than three years, it took my discovery of George and Be More Chill just over a year ago to get me to understand that I, a mixed race LGBT+ person, do have a place in this world and in this community.” Be More Chill gave so many people one thing that every person needs, a place to belong, and people to share that place with.

And while the show is not every person’s cup of tea, especially theatre critics, the stans know that. “The show isn't perfect and doesn't try to be,” Taylor says. “Be More Chill is one of the most loved and hated Broadway musicals, which makes the fandom very different. We are all very close and very protective of the show as a whole.” But, speaking on the show’s importance, Taylor states that “Be More Chill gives people a voice that they didn't know they had.” Jenn describes how “that kind of impact is something not to be undermined.”

And it is true. Influences such as Be More Chill are important in society. The fandom behind Be More Chill has given people a family, a found family. It has inspired young people of color, young LGBT+ people, like Luna and Jenn, showing them that they have a place in this world. The show’s message and how it handles topics such as mental illness has connected to millions across the globe. The societal influence of Be More Chill is far greater than any Times review or single opinion. It’s influence has inspired young people, connecting them to friends on the other side of the world, providing them with support they often do not find at home. It is showing young people that they do belong in this world, and in doing so, it is shaping the young people— the future—of this world.

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Glossary Terms:

Cosplay: The practice/art of dressing up as a fictional character

Stagedoor: Where actors enter and exit the theatre - often, this is where fans traditionally meet the actors. Stagedooring is the act of waiting at the stagedoor after a show to meet the actors and have their programs sign, a loved tradition by many theatregoers

LGBTQIA+: An acronym referring to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, etc., community

Stan: A shortened version of the term stalker-fan, which started out with negative connotations, but in recent years has come to be a positive term meaning super-fan. It can also be used as a verb to describe the act of becoming a stan. For example: “After hearing her new album, I totally stan Taylor Swift.”

Fandom: an umbrella/unifying group term for people who are avid fans of a piece of work

Found family: A group of people not related by blood who consider themselves to be a family in every other sense of the word

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Works Cited

Brantley, Ben. “Review: Anxious Teenagers Learn to 'Be More Chill' on a Big Stage.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/theater/review-be-more-chill-joe-iconis.html.

Scheck, Frank. “'Be More Chill': Theater Review.” The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2019, www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/be-more-chill-theater-review-1193609.

Strecker, Erin. “'Be More Chill' Will Probably Be a Broadway Hit. Too Bad It's Also a Disappointment.” Mashable, Mashable, 10 Mar. 2019, mashable.com/article/be-more-chill-review-broadway/.

#P2D2 #SOC3

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heereandthere · 5 years ago

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~A Massive Thank You to @bemorechillmusical~

As I’m sure all of you know, today marks a bittersweet ending to a glorious journey: “Be More Chill” has officially finished its 5-month Broadway run. I’m really sad to see it ride off into the sunset so soon, but I’m also really proud of everyone who has made this show what it is today and helped so many people get out of very bad places. This show means so much to so many people, and though it’s disappointing to see it being taken away, it’s remarkable that everyone made it this far.

Thank you, “Be More Chill”, for introducing me to theatre and helping me find a place where I really belong, for guiding me to an outlet for the stresses of the world. This show helped me discover that the root of my issues was having no way to project by introducing me to the world of drama because “it seemed fun”, which led to some of my fondest memories. I now volunteer frequently at my local theatre, and, since I was also helped in figuring out what path I want to choose in life, I have wild dreams of making my Broadway debut.

Thank you, “Be More Chill”, for being there for me when I felt the most lost. When I first found this show is when a lot of emotional issues began to worsen for me, and I remember very fondly how BMC became, much like theatre, an outlet for all of those problems. I was having difficulties with my friends that I didn’t understand or could articulate properly, which made Michael’s story, in particular catch my eye; “Michael in the Bathroom” always helped me with a healthy cry, and flashing back to songs like “Two-Player Game” always put a smile on my face when I needed it.

Thank you, “Be More Chill”, for changing my life with only one performance and making a birthday I was secretly dreading one of the best ones possible. This was the very first Broadway show I had ever seen and, thanks to my amazing family, I was able to see it on the day I encountered a very big birthday that would change the course of my life. I was terrified of this day and, honestly, there was a part of me that just wanted to hole up in my house for the weekend and let it come and go. But, I wound up doing the exact opposite, and for those two hours I spent watching Jeremy’s story play out, I was convinced that things were going to be perfectly fine. The fears I had about fighting for my spot on Broadway and the troubles that would come with it dissipated, and I felt completely comfortable in my skin for the first time in I didn’t know how long. Being at the Lyceum made everything feel perfectly alright, and, in the words of the wise Evan Hansen, it gave me a reason to believe I’ll be okay.

Thank you, Will Roland and Jeremy Heere, for teaching me that, no matter how much I may dislike myself or how bad my anxieties get, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel and the best person for me to be is myself. There will always be voices in my head telling me ridiculous things, but there’s only one me, and I need to embrace this me and enjoy life while I still can.

Thank you, George Salazar and Michael Mell, for making me smile when I needed it most while also showing me that it doesn’t matter whether or not the world is watching. You taught me that self-love does not equal narcissism and is pivotal to living your best life, and that the condescending looks from your peers don’t matter as long as you’re being your best self.

Thank you, Stephanie Hsu and Christine Canigula, for teaching me that a little weird in this world is a good thing. It’s okay to be quirky, especially when things seem the worst, and oftentimes being odd is the best way to be. Times are confusing and scary and I may feel pensive about letting my inhibitions go, but sometimes letting loose and making some of the most obscure noises known by humankind is what can do you best.

Thank you, Katlyn Carlson and Chloe Valentine, for teaching me that confidence is possible, even when it feels like you have to fake it. Other people being self-confident and happy is not a comment on me and my progress, and even if it may take me a bit longer to reach that station in life, if I can break away from that negative mindset, I’ll be able to achieve a pure confidence in myself one day.

Thank you, Lauren Marcus and Brooke Lohst, for teaching me that I’m strong and deserve better than to be walked all over. I don’t have to take toxic behavior on the chin and wear it, because my mental health and feelings are just as crucial to care for as anyone else’s. I am no one else’s toy, and no one has any right to use me and expect me to stay when they hurt me.

Thank you, Tiffany Mann and Jenna Rolan, for teaching me that my voice matters, too. I shouldn’t let people take advantage of me for one exclusive thing, no matter what it is, and that friendship is a two-way street of effort. I’m important despite what the behavior of other people may lead me to believe, and I’m allowed to leave relationships if they’re toxic to me. I’m allowed to speak out against what I don’t believe in.

Thank you, Gerard Canonico and Rich Goranski, for teaching me that I do have a say in who I want to be. No matter what mold society tries to place me in, it is possible for me to break that and fight to be my own person, with all of my quirks and peculiarities in the mix. If people don’t like who I really am, it may hurt, but that’s okay because as long as I’m living my best life, it doesn’t matter.

Thank you, Britton Smith and Jake Dillinger, for teaching me that vulnerability isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t have to suppress my thoughts and feelings for other people, and it’s okay to open up about what’s bothering me. I’m never alone, no matter how barren my life feels, and it’s worth it in the long run to confide in someone, anyone. It’s okay.

Thank you, Jason Tam and the squip, for teaching me that my inner voices are intimidating and controlling, but don’t define who I am, as long as I put up a fight. I don’t always have to listen to what my brain tells me because, even if it is an extension of me, there are times when it’s wrong and irrational, and so if I assert myself and keep my true self in mind, it’s possible to deny my mind the luxury of hurting me.

Thank you, Jason Sweettooth Williams and Mr. Heere (and, of course, Mr. Reyes and the Scary Stockboy), for teaching me that sometimes you have to defy what your emotions tell you and stand up for your loved ones. It may feel like my problems control me, but it’s always okay and even encouraged to stand up and fight back, especially in the name of those you care about. Recovery is possible.

Thank you, Cameron Bond, Troy Iwata, Morgan Siobhan Green, Anthony Chatmon III, Joel Waggoner, and Talia Suskauer for working so incredibly hard on this show and in memorizing all of your roles, prepared to go on at a moment’s notice. You’ve fought for this just as hard as anyone else, and you deserve all of the respect and credit in the world for the times you’ve stepped up and absolutely killed it on both the Signature and Lyceum stages.

Thank you, Ned Vizzini, for creating a book that would come to inspire so many in such a great way, and for giving us the courage to stand up and be ourselves through the whole ordeal that is adolescence. This musical and this community wouldn’t exist without you and your work, and you laid the groundwork for what all of this would become. None of us would be here if it weren’t for your creation.

Thank you, Joe Iconis, Joe Tracz, Stephen Brackett, Chase Brock, Beowulf Boritt, Bobby Frederick Tilly, Tyler Micoleau, Ryan Rumery, Alex Bosco Koch, Dave Bova, Charlie Rosen, Emily Marshall, Michael Aarons, J. David Brimmer, Amanda Michaels, and every other intern, backstage worker, and stage managers for creating a show that has made me laugh, cry, and felt like I’m where I need to be, for creating a show that has helped me find a community of amazing people, both locally and online, and helped me feel like I was a little less alone. I know there are thousands of people just like me who say these same things, but I have no idea where I would be if it weren’t for this show, and I feel like I’m a better person for having found it.

Congratulations on an amazing comeback and a fantastic Broadway run, and I wish every single person who ever worked on this show the very best. It’s been an honor watching you get where you are today. I look forward to seeing you guys making theatre headlines once more very soon.

~Sincerely, Me

#heere says things #be more chill

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cockbiteproductions · 5 years ago

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you know i'm coming in with the request for Prime Numbers

i have to google if 1 is a prime number or not Every Single Time i think about prime numbers. it is not. maybe i will remember that one day.

this ended up being a bit long so i’ll put it under a readmore.

2: Favorite book?

sorry but i don’t know how to read....... again.... no favorite book. very sorry but all i read is fic. but the most recent book i read was never let me go by kazuo ishiguro which i enjoyed. english class got me reading books man. i’ve read like 5 of these fuckers this semester. one of my favorite fanfics ever is atlas by distractedkat i guess. and swinging pendulum by cywscross but that one is incomplete. i read ghettoside a true story of murder in 11th grade and liked that a lot. again, not a favorite. just a book i enjoyed.

3: Favorite fictional character?

just one? just one??? if it’s just One it’s ahsoka tano...... she man..... just She. close runner up is jared kleinman though tbh. he’s really shot up in the rankings. very different characters but i love them both very much. well the Similarities are the snark / sarcasm. ahsoka is like. role model material. and wife material. and like. unabashedly badass and strong through hardship and brave and just. cool as hell. child me growing up watching tcw was like oh my god i want to be her. jared is more like. oh god i relate to this disaster man.

5: What’s your favorite fictional ship? (Canon or otherwise)

again..... just one? i know ship means like. romantic relationship. but fuck that. my favorite relationship is the weird brother/sister father/daughter relationship anakin skywalker and ahsoka tano have going on. man. just. Them. if i had to pick romantic relationship uh i guess currently it’s evan hansen and jared kleinman. (it’s the tragedy. i’m a fan of unhappy endings ok... the only thing i like more than an unhappy ending is a banger fix it fic. get the Ouch of the unhappy ending in comparison to the happy ending. + time travel so an in canon character Knows about the unhappy ending and gets to experience the good one? good shit.... im on a tangent.)

7: List 3 negative traits you have

- lazy. i do nothing every day all day......

- coward. I Be Scared.

- clingy. still thinking about that time an ex friend said i was too annoying bc i talked to them too much. rip. thanks for being my source of anxiety whenever i think i’m talking to people too much now.

11: How do you decide when it’s time to cut someone out of your life for good?

i just generally lose contact with people. i can only recall ever making a conscious decision to cut someone out of my life a few times ever. once was winter/spring of last year when a friend of mine was a real ass to me. but a lot of the time i intentionally distance myself because of [do my friends hate me or do i just need to go to sleep] and i didn’t go to sleep.

13: What are your favorite lyrics currently?

“cemeteries never do provide the answers of the questions to inside” from velociraptor by joe iconis

“we find the solution to escape our fate. it lies in the equal distribution of our weight.” from last on land by joe iconis.

“i tried to give her something real but all she wanted was a show. and i’m not much of a jester, seems i’m more like a clown. i try, everything and anything to paint my face and blow up a balloon but there was no air left to give. it left me long ago.” from don’t love her anymore by maria wirries.

“you lead with your heart and i’ll lead with my heart (let’s talk it out) and we’ll talk it out, let’s talk it out.” from talk it out by asia kate dillon.

“and it ain’t just about the blood. shout out to the families that’s families cause of love.” from family by roman banks.

17: If you could make a wish, what would you wish for if you knew it would come true?

what a question........ i’d like a donut right now. i have donuts and they’re in the kitchen but i am sitting on the couch and don’t feel like moving. so a donut in my hand right now. that’d be nice. or i’d wish for this couch to be more comfy. oh wait. i’d like to wish for pandemic over.

19: How do you handle heartbreak? Is it something that’s easy for you to get over, or something you struggle with?

don’t have to deal with heartbreak if you never heart broken in the first place [rollsafe.jpg]. uh but for real, really badly. i just don’t deal with it for months at a time and then end up crying for like a solid 2-3 hours straight when i finally think about it a bit too much. and then repeat. and then eventually i get over it. it works pretty well except for the times where i am crying for 2-3 hrs at a time.

27: What helps you realize that you have a crush on someone?

misread this question as “what helps you when you realize you have a crush on someone” and was quite confused for a moment. uh i would like to think i am pretty self aware, so i realize it pretty quickly. but it basically boils down to I Actively Look Forward to talking to them. which also applies to like friends though. idk man i crush on a lot of people for like 10 minutes and then get over it just as quickly. i guess the difference between the 10 minute crushes and the people who fuck me up is like. my time investment in this person. how often i spend thinking about them when i am not interacting with them + how much i interact with them. oH no i realized after typing all this that 3*9 is 27 oops. oh well you get an extra answer.

29: Do you think zodiac signs can influence someone’s personality to an extent?

only if they let it. if the person thinks its important and spends a fair amount of time learning about it then they’ll probably internalize some of it. i mean it’s like that thing about names influencing the kind of person people become except names are things everyone pays attention to and is actually relevant.

31: What does ‘self care’ look like for you?

sleeping in or taking a nap. which i do. a lot. and should do now. it’s 1:30 am. i just love being unconscious. no thoughts head empty time. temporary death. no dealing with anything. blanket soft.

37: Have you ever been surprised by someone staying in your life?

no not really. i have to have expectations that are differed from to be surprised. my lack of like. awareness about my place in people’s lives means i don’t really expect people to stick around or plan for that. which sounds sad but it’s just not something i really think about. really it’s that expectation bit. i don’t think about it so i don’t have any expectations so i’m not surprised.

41: How do you show you care?

caring about people is for losers. insert sunglasses face emoji. uh generally just telling someone about [something that reminded me of them] or sending someone something i think they’d appreciate like a song or meme or whatever.

43: Which of the seven deadly sins do you feel represents you the most?

sloth. im a lazy fucker. if i could not do anything forever i might. or maybe gluttony but not for food. for like. things that make me happy. overindulgence in media when i should be doing other things. i have no self control. see below.

47: What are you passionate about?

very generally, fiction. the amount of time i invest in thinking about or consuming [fiction, fan generated or otherwise] is honestly ridiculous. stories are just cool man. escapism babey!

#not rt #teresa answers stuff #thank u !!!!#nothingunrealistic1

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tunehummed · 6 years ago

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TWO-PLAYER GAME. — 355 sentences from joe iconis and george salazar’s 2018 album plus a few bonuses from live performances! change pronouns as needed. trigger warning for mentions of drugs, depression, and suicide.

BROADWAY, HERE I COME.

‛ i’m high above the city. ’

‛ i’m standing on the ledge. ’

‛ the view from here is pretty. ’

‛ and i step off the edge. ’

‛ and now i’m fallin’, baby, through the sky. ’

‛ it’s my callin’, baby, don’t you cry. ’

‛ i’m fallin’ down through the sky. ’

‛ broadway, here i come. ’

‛ i could almost go to pieces, but i’m not quite there yet. ’

‛ see i’ve been bravin’ crazy weather, drownin’ out my cries. ’

‛ i pull myself together. ’

‛ i’m focused on the prize. ’

‛ and it’s a tune you can hum. ’

‛ will i remain the same, or will i change a little bit? ’

‛ will i feel broken or totally complete? ’

‛ will i retain my name when i’m the biggest, hugest hit? ’

‛ or will i blend in with the rest of the street? ’

‛ the people all are pointing. ’

‛ i bet they’d never guess that the saint that they’re anointing is frightened of the mess. ’

‛ but even though i fear it, i’m playin’ all my cards. ’

‛ baby, you are gonna hear it when i give them my regards. ’

‛ and i refuse to go numb. ’

‛ is it a scream or a cheer? ’

‛ well, never mind, i’ll never find out. ’

‛ cause broadway, i am here. ’

TWO-PLAYER GAME.

‛ find the bad guy, push ‘em aside. ’

‛ then move on forward with your friend at your side. ’

‛ it’s a two-player game. ’

‛ so when they make an attack, you know you got a brother. ’

‛ gonna have your back. ’

‛ remain on course! ’

‛ and if they give you a smack, you use your force! ’

‛ and if you leave your brother behind it’s lame. ’

‛ cause it’s an effed up world. ’

‛ dude, you are cooler than a vintage cassette. ’

‛ it’s just that no one else but me thinks that yet. ’

‛ you’re just a nothing in this high school scheme. ’

‛ but it’s no big cause you and i are a team. ’

‛ nobody here appreciates, but soon we’ll be together where they do. ’

‛ cause guys like us are cool in college. ’

‛ we rule in college. ’

‛ high school is hell, but we navigate it well. ’

‛ it’s what we do. ’

‛ we make it a two-player game. ’

‛ as losers, we have fought together for years. ’

‛ now we’re stuck on a level and i wanna move on. ’

‛ just wait two years whereupon you’ll realize guys like us are cool in college. ’

‛ dude, i know, i get it. ’

‛ but we’re not in college. ’

‛ high school is wack, but we have each other’s back. ’

‛ you know that you are my favorite person. ’

‛ that doesn’t mean that i can’t still dream. ’

‛ is it really true? ’

‛ we’re never not gonna be a team. ’

‛ high school is shit, and you gotta help me conquer it. ’

I LOVE PLAY REHEARSAL.

‛ i love play rehearsal. ’

‛ because it’s the best. because it is fun. ’

‛ and i get depressed as soon as it’s done. ’

‛ see, i just use the word to emphasize the point. ’

‛ i am passionate a lot. ’

‛ i have mad, gigantic feelings. ’

‛ red and frantic feelings about most everything. ’

‛ like if i’m living up to all i’m meant to be. ’

‛ oh, uh… where was i? ’

‛ cause you are equipped with directions and text. ’

‛ life is easy in rehearsal. ’

‛ you follow a script so you know what comes next. ’

‛ sometimes life can’t work out the way it works out in the play. ’

‛ only when i’m in a show am i the center of attention. ’

‛ like when i’m [role] or [role] and can i mention? ’

‛ those were two of my greatest roles. did you see those? ’

‛ and no matter how hard i try, it’s impossible to narrow down the many reasons why. ’

‛ i happiness cry whenever it starts! ’

‛ it’s just so universal, getting to try playing so many parts. ’

‛ most humans do one thing for all of their lives. the thought of that gives me hives! ’

‛ i’ve got so many interests i wanna pursue. ’

‛ and why am i telling this to you? ’

‛ guess there’s a part of me that wants to. ’

‛ my brain is like ‘bzzz.’ my heart is like ‘wow!’ ’

‛ and it’s starting soon. ’

TINY SHORT LITTLE SONG.

‛ monkeys are cool. babies are too. ’

‛ they make funny sounds that sound simple and new. ’

‛ these are sounds that belong in my tiny short little song. ’

ANDY’S SONG.

‛ i ride my bike to work every morning. ’

‛ i ring my bell and make sure my helmet’s tight. ’

‛ MOVE, ASSHOLE! ’

‛ have a nice day! ’

‛ that happy grin is enough to provide me with total satisfaction for a long, long while! ’

‛ and i don’t have a car because of pollution. ’

‛ so completely not cause i’m much too scared to drive. ’

‛ i’ve gotten pretty far in my evolution. ’

‛ i don’t need a lot to be totally alive! ’

‛ you know those bicycle seats cut down on your sperm count. ’

‛ uuuh… i know that cause you tell me everyday. ’

‛ that boy needs to get laid. ’

‛ i tuck my polo shirt in my levis cause it looks SHARP! okay? ’

‛ how come every person i receive tries to tell me i need ‘something more?’ ’

‛ i don’t need a girlfriend, i got a goldfish! ’

‛ i don’t have a secret dream or some bold wish. ’

‛ i’m fine with what i’ve got, i feel totally alive! ’

‛ i never open it or shake it, too afraid i’d break it. ’

‛ i’ve had self-control since way back then. ’

‛ there’s nothing else i really need. ’

‛ you may think that i want more than i let on, but i’m really fine. ’

‛ but i’m really fine, so no need to be appalled. ’

‛ i’m this way by choice and what you can bet is i’ll keep moving forward. ’

‛ i’ll keep moving forward, the opposite of stalled! ’

‛ your bike is LITERALLY stalled in front of my car! ’

‛ i don’t have a car cause they’re overrated. ’

‛ i don’t have a girlfriend and somehow, i survive! ’

‛ and just as i’ve stated, i mean what i’ve said. ’

‛ sure as the helmet’s on my head, i feel totally alive! ’

‛ i’m the opposite of dead, i feel totally alive! ’

THE ANSWER.

‛ when a fire starts in the hull, how much time do you have before it spreads to the deck? ’

‛ minutes? hours? what time is it anyway? ’

‛ how do you tell your family that you wanna quit school and just play with your band? ’

‛ when a fire starts in the hall, how much time do you have before it burns itself out? ’

‛ and why do i feel like i’m choking lately? ’

‛ what am i doing here? ’

‛ what am i looking for? ’

‛ maybe school, or maybe love, or maybe none of the above is the answer. ’

‛ maybe for once i’ll really try, or fuck it all and just get high cause that’s an answer. ’

‛ cause that’s answer. feels like an answer. ’

‛ and who do i wanna be? ’

‛ what’s the furthest distance a ship can be from shore before it loses its signal? ’

‛ maybe i’ll practice my guitar, or read a book, or steal a car and steal the answer. ’

‛ i’ll get a job and i’ll get paid, or get a girlfriend and get laid, and get the answer. ’

‛ i’ll join the army, go to war, give up my smokes or smoke some more. ’

‛ i need an answer. ’

‛ move to the village, shave my head, wind up happy, wind up dead. ’

‛ wind up in debt, wind up in love, or maybe none of the above is the answer. ’

‛ maybe it’s okay that i don’t have a plan and i don’t have a clue. ’

‛ i’m 19 and that doesn’t mean that i should know exactly what i wanna do, right? ’

‛ i’m 19 and that doesn’t that i should know what i wanna do. ’

‛ i’ve got time to make mistakes, make up my mind. ’

‛ i’ve got time enough to find out all the answers. ’

‛ but i am scared and i’m afraid that a decision won’t get made. ’

‛ i’m afraid that a decision won’t get made and i’ll be like this forever. ’

‛ i need help, need extra help to find the answers. ’

‛ what’s the answer? ’

‛ i don’t know. ’

‛ pencils down, papers turned over. time’s up. ’

‛ time’s up. ’

LISA.

‛ ain’t got no future. ’

‛ ain’t got no future, but i got ADD. ’

‛ but i got ADD. ’

‛ i steal from 7/11. ’

‛ i’m fuckin’ ugly. ’

‛ but she pretends she doesn’t care. ’

‛ she laughs and smiles, fingers through my hair. ’

‛ she must be ashamed of me. ’

‛ so i try and i try to change myself. ’

‛ so i try and i try to change myself, but my back’s against a wall. ’

‛ but my back’s against a wall. ’

‛ i don’t deserve all the coolness of her. ’

‛ i don’t deserve [name] at all. ’

‛ pollute my body. ’

‛ she makes me feel clean, clean, clean. ’

‛ i say ‘i feel like i’m drownin’’. ’

‛ and even though she don’t, she say ‘i know what you mean.’ ’

‛ sign on to AOL and think of funny things to say. ’

‛ she’ll always LOL, never pretends like she’s away. ’

‛ because she likes me for some reason. ’

‛ i know i’m dumb. i know i’m ugly. ’

‛ i know that she is not. ’

‛ i know if i were her i’d hate me. ’

‛ i hope that she does not. ’

‛ i hope that she does not hate me. ’

THE VAGABOND.

‛ i’m wearin’ two pair of underwear, some worn out kicks, and my mangy hair. ’

‛ my mangy hair could formerly be referred to as blond. ’

‛ i’m just a couple years out the clink and i’ll take showers in your kitchen sink. ’

‛ i guess i’m what you’d call a vagabond. ’

‛ i been walkin’ the highway for a while. ’

‛ fragrance of the road is my cologne. ’

‛ maybe i get some sun, maybe get a ride. ’

‛ i don’t worry none, let destiny decide. ’

‛ life’s laid back when you’re totally alone. ’

‛ life’s laid back when you’re on your own. ’

‛ see i don’t have much, don’t have much. ’

‛ don’t want much, don’t want much. ’

‛ don’t need much, don’t need much. ’

‛ don’t need much ‘cept maybe the promise of whiskey at the end of the day. ’

‛ i’m just a vagabond lookin’ for a place to stay. ’

‛ see i walk and walk and walk some more. ’

‛ i’m green grass high and a little sore, hopin’ that a car will soon appear. ’

‛ i stick out my thumb and i let it linger. ’

‛ and my eye kinda travels to the ring on my finger. ’

‛ it reminds me of a woman who’s not here. ’

‛ and my chest starts hurting, that’s just cause of the heat. ’

‛ and for the first time in days, i start feelin’ my feet. ’

‛ i start feelin’ the feelin’, the journey’s crushin’ me. ’

‛ cool it, man, just get it out of your head. ’

‛ where’s the car, where’s the car? this road’s fuckin’ dead! ’

‛ but i don’t worry, just repeat instead. ’

‛ yeah, well fleein’ ain’t a problem for me. ’

‛ cause if you get me down then i guarantee, i’ll up and leave and i never will return. ’

‛ i’ll break your heart, i’ll break your back. i won’t lose no sleep. ’

‛ shit, i can’t keep track of every bridge i use and then i burn. ’

‛ and the thought of what i’d done to you is what sends me through the desert and beyond. ’

‛ i’m up for a trade. just take me far away from mistakes i made. ’

‛ take pity on the broken vagabond. ’

‛ the promise of shelter at the end of the day, from the places where the bad bastards swarm and pray. ’

‛ with every bone in my body wanna hear you say that this vagabond can put his walkin’ shoes away. ’

NORMAN.

‛ i haven’t known her very long. ’

‛ think i can tell that something’s wrong. ’

‛ think i spy tear drops clinging to her pale white skin. ’

‛ on this dirty night, i just want her to feel alright. ’

‛ we all get a little sad sometimes. ’

‛ i want to watch her chew her food. ’

‛ i want to watch her in the nude. ’

‛ i want to watch her wash away her ugly sins. ’

‛ and if i’m caught she will not slap my hands because she understands. ’

‛ because she understands that we all act a little bad. ’

‛ we all act a little bad sometimes. ’

‛ i can see your image in picture frames looking ever so formal. ’

‛ if you rearrange the letters in both our names, you get one away from normal. ’

‛ we’re both one away from normal. ’

‛ i’ve never seen a girl like her. ’

‛ we’re not in love. i wish we were! ’

‛ put all your love inside of me. ’

‛ i’m in a trap so set me free. ’

‛ let’s go right now, the two of us, and not look back. ’

‛ and the logic might be hazy, but i’m hoping that she’s just as crazy. ’

‛ we all go a little mad sometimes. ’

‛ we all go a little mad sometimes. don’t we? ’

‛ i can tell you’re hungry and you need some food. ’

‛ if i didn’t offer i’d be awfully rude. ’

‛ it’s not fancy, it’s not stable. but join me if you’re able. ’

SONG OF THE BROWN BUFFALO.

‛ uuuh, might i ask… who the fuck are you? ’

‛ hey, white man. do you know what i am? ’

‛ i’m the brown buffalo by way of mexico. ’

‛ i am an attorney on a lifelong journey. ’

‛ never met a man i couldn’t devour. ’

‛ never met a plan i couldn’t put in place. ’

‛ they attack, i brace. they escape, i chase. ’

‛ i’m a tad temperamental, so get out my face. ’

‛ i’m mad monumental, see my dick from space! ’

‛ i am strength for the weak, i am speed for the slow. ’

‛ this is the song of the brown buffalo. ’

‛ i’m beastly and i’m brutish and my fur is caked with gore. ’

‛ i’m the trouble you’ve been looking for. ’

‛ you don’t know i’m brilliant cause you only hear my roar. ’

‛ i don’t ever hide from a fight that needs to be fought. ’

‛ i would never filter a cigarette or a thought. ’

‛ my mind is open wide and it grows and it grows. ’

‛ inhibitions cast aside, it just goes where it goes. ’

‛ see i’m a great big bad brown buffalo. ’

‛ my head is full of acid, but my heart is kind and pure. ’

‛ he’s the trouble you’ve been looking for! ’

‛ my politics are liberal, but i pack a .44. ’

‛ i pack a .44, which i use to fight for those who are too weak to wage a war. ’

‛ i’m the trouble we’ve been looking for! ’

‛ my mind is open wide, it expands, it expands. ’

‛ every open gate i pried with these hands. ’

‛ leaving no path untried, walks the sands. ’

‛ i’m no ordinary human, no no no. ’

‛ this is my birthright, baby, and this is my song! ’

‛ food, booze, drugs, guns, and radical politics! ’

‛ you’re the brown buffalo. ’

‛ see now you know. ’

MICHAEL IN THE BATHROOM.

‛ i am hanging in the bathroom at the biggest party of the fall. ’

‛ i could stay right here or disappear, and nobody’d even notice at all. ’

‛ i’m a creeper in a bathroom cause my buddy kinda left me alone. ’

‛ but i’d rather fake pee than stand awkwardly or pretend to check a text on my phone. ’

‛ everything felt fine when i was half of a pair. ’

‛ now through no fault of mine, there’s no other half there. ’

‛ now i’m just [name] in the bathroom. ’

‛ [name] in the bathroom at a party. ’

‛ forget how long it’s been. ’

‛ no, you can’t come in! ’

‛ i’m waiting it out till it’s time to leave. ’

‛ i’m just [name] who you don’t know. ’

‛ [name] flyin’ solo. ’

‛ [name] in the bathroom by himself. ’

‛ all by himself. ’

‛ i am hiding, but he’s out there, just ignoring all our history. ’

‛ memories get erased and i’ll get replaced with a newer, cooler version of me. ’

‛ i’ll get replaced with a newer, cooler version of me. ’

‛ i hear a drunk girl sing along to whitney through the door. ’

‛ now there’s no one to make fun of drunk girls with anymore! ’

‛ i half regret the beers. ’

‛ i’ll wait as long as i need till my face is dry. ’

‛ i’ll just blame it on weed or something in my eye. ’

‛ they’re gonna start to shout soon. ’

‛ oh hell yeah, i’ll be out soon! ’

‛ it sucks he left me here alone. ’

‛ here in this teenage battlezone. ’

‛ i feel the pressure blowin’ up. ’

‛ my big mistake was showin’ up. ’

‛ i throw some water in my face and i am in a better place. ’

‛ i go to open up the door, but i can’t hear knocking anymore. ’

‛ and i can’t help but yearn for a different time. ’

‛ then i look in the mirror and the present is clearer. ’

‛ this is a heinous night. ’

‛ i wish i stayed at home in bed, watching cable porn. ’

‛ wish i offed myself instead, wish i was never born! ’

‛ i’m just [name] who’s a loner, so he must be a stoner. ’

‛ god, he’s such a loser! ’

‛ all you know about me is my name. ’

‛ awesome party, i’m so glad i came. ’

THE GOODBYE SONG.

‛ the time has come. ’

‛ i’m flying away. ’

‛ mouth is numb. heart don’t know what to say. ’

‛ and although i’ll be out of sight, dear, know i’ll be right here. ’

‛ right here forever. ’

‛ and when you look to the night skies, don’t think of goodbyes. ’

‛ think how i’m right here. ’

‛ thank you for teaching me lessons. ’

‛ thank you for listening to mine. ’

‛ don’t be scared, you’ll be fine. ’

‛ come! ’

‛ no, you can’t come with me. ’

‛ stay! ’

‛ i wish i could. ’

‛ goodbye. ’

‛ i know it’s hard to say. ’

‛ i’d stay if i could. ’

‛ i’d stay if i could, but the universe won’t let me. ’

‛ but the universe won’t let me, so please be good. ’

‛ so please be good and don’t you forget me. ’

KABOOM.

‛ i never cared about caring much before. ’

‛ i rolled my eyes and even texting was a chore. ’

‛ i was your average heartless kid. ’

‛ hey, read this book. ’

‛ the book is by some guy who’s dead. ’

‛ i read it and i’m glad i did. ’

‛ it was by a person who i never knew, but the words made sense and the message too. ’

‛ the words made sense and message too. ’

‛ it made me fired up, it made me care. ’

‛ i wasn’t scared, i was not alone. ’

‛ made me wanna make something of my own. ’

‛ something wired up that i could share. ’

‛ and that person i would never see just totally affected me. ’

‛ is that legacy? ’

‛ i never cared about fireworks before. ’

‛ i thought that they were just for babies, nothing more. ’

‛ i was your average fucking kid. ’

‛ i was your average fucking kid, but then i started giving things a second look. ’

‛ but then i started giving things a second look and realized fireworks were kind of like that book. ’

‛ and i’m really glad i did. ’

‛ if handled with intelligence and care, the explosion and the crashing sound can seen and felt for miles around. ’

‛ it reaches folks who weren’t even there. ’

‛ even though i didn’t see the blast, i watched glitter in the sky blow past. ’

‛ and that’s legacy. ’

‛ what do i leave behind? ’

‛ which is why we gotta make a spark. ’

‛ which makes a flame and then will leave its mark for someone else to find. ’

‛ and that person who lived dangerously makes me braver than i used to be. ’

‛ and now i’m fired up and how i care. ’

‛ and i always squeeze my bloody heart and i let it drip into my art. ’

‛ and wow, i’m fired up. ’

‛ the light that shines on the distant shore is the light i will be aiming for, forever. ’

‛ it’s where i want to go. ’

‛ and i’m gonna reach it. ’

‛ oh, on with the wonderful show! ’

#askbox meme #rp meme #sentence starters #lyric starters #mine.#mine: lyrics.

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larryland · 7 years ago

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Joe Iconis and Family TAKE OVER! the BSC MainStage (Pittsfield, MA– August, 2017) After many summers of blowing the roof off of Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, proudly presents Joe Iconis and Family TAKE OVER!

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havenshereagain · 5 years ago

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Rules: Answer 21 questions about yourself and tag 21 people.

I was tagged by the amazing @gleedegrassi-bigfan thanks friend!!

I don’t really have anyone to tag, so if anyone who follows me wants to do it, take this as your invitation!

Nicknames: I don’t really have nicknames? I think someone called me “Hav” for a bit (pronounced like hay with a v at the end) and Steven (my boyfriend) calls me things like “love” and “wonderful” a lot. My mom calls me “babe” and “mama” which is a cultural thing I think.

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Height: 5’5

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Last thing I Googled: “snapchat yolo” because I keep hearing stuff about it from my roommates

Fav musicians: I usually mostly listen Broadway stuff to be honest, but two non-Broadway artists I like are Billie Eilish and Dodie

Song stuck in my head: the theme for the Colonel Sanders dating sim (which is currently being played by my apartment and Steven)

Following: 367

Followers: 650 (most of which are probably inactive)

Do you get asks: not that often, but I actually got one earlier today (I think)

Amount of sleep: like 5-7 hours I think?

What are you wearing: a pastel purple shirt with a sheep on it saying baaaa-nanas from an event at my university, and jean shorts.

Dream Job: A licensed clinical psychologist for adolescents (around ages 14-mid-twenties I’d say)

Dream trip: I’ve always wanted to see the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, and also visit Puerto Rico to see where my family is from.

Instruments: I played clarinet from 4th-6th grade, and a bit of piano for a bit after that. I can still play both a bit (though i have trouble remembering what notes are what). I was also in choir, and I’m good with pitch matching, but I don’t sing in any sort of group.

Languages: English is my native language, I can speak Spanish pretty well since my mom is Puerto Rican. I also know a bit of ASL

10 Favorite Songs: these are gonna be current favorites and in now particular order

1. Guiltless - dodie

2. Secret for the Mad - dodie

3. 96,000 - In the Heights (Lin-Manuel Miranda)

4. Michael in the Bathroom - Be More Chill (Joe Iconis)

5. Bellyache - Billie Eilish

6. Bury a Friend - Billie Eilish

7. Monster - dodie

8. Intertwined - dodie

9. Sick of Losing Soulmates - dodie

10. When the party’s over - Billie Eilish

Random Fact: I’m in my last semester of college, set to graduate with a B.A in Psychology (which I may switch to a B.S if possible) and a minor in Spanish

My aesthetic: rainy days, over-sized sweaters, combat boots, weird musicals, Halloween, bonfires, baking, cuddling under blankets, lots of pillows and stuffed animals and blankets, music/talking through walls in student apartments, messy notes, LGBTQ+ pride

#tag game #this was fun #also some of this was pretty similar to harper?#which like #cool #kinda makes sense with how quickly we became friends

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pheacas · 6 years ago

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Tag Game

Rules: We’re snooping on your playlist. Put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then choose 10 victims.

I was tagged by @onestolendare

I quickly shoved a bunch of albums into Spotify so this definitely isn’t going to be everything but like it was over 50 hours of music (and it’s just a bunch of Broadway albums (I also did skip when more than one song came up from one album because I was getting a lot of TL5Y for some reason))

1) A Marriage Proposal/A Tight-Knit Family (Reprise) - Brandon Uranowitz and Christian Borle (Falsettos 2016 Revival Cast Recording)

2) See I’m Smiling - Betsy Wolfe (The Last Five Years 2013 Off-Broadway Revival Cast Recording)

3) Head Shot - Things To Ruin: The Songs of Joe Iconis Original Cast Recording

4) Something’s Coming (Live) - Aaron Tveit (The Radio in My Head: Live at 54 Below)

5) Honest Man - Ben Platt (Sing To Me Instead)

6) I’m Alive (Reprise) - Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal Original Cast Recording)

7) Come To A Party (Reprise) - Lindsay Mendez, Annaleigh Ashford, Derek Klena, Nick Blaemire, Ensemble (Dogfight Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)

8) The Neva Flows - Ramin Karimloo (Anastasia Original Cast Recording)

9) Love Song - Matthew James Thomas and Rachel Bay Jones (Pippin Revival Cast Recording)

10) Take It Like A Man - Christian Borle and Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde: The Musical Original Cast Recording)

I’m tagging: @softandfulloflove, @hamilboots, @matchedinrenown, @bisexual-evanhansen, @violetneptuneart, @secondclassfangirl, @agent-jacobs, @tylerrose104, @wirescarryingme, @thatfriendlyanon you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to! (The last one doesn’t want to tag but I’m still trying to @ you because I see you and I love you along with the rest of you)

#tag games #pheaca talks

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unproduciblesmackdown · 8 days ago

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from bill coyne

For me, The Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza is Christmas. For the past 16 years (including the 2 years the pandemic had us on the sidelines), Christmas has meant this family of artists. For years we have been coming together, to spread the Christmas Spirit and insane amounts of laughter and joy as we let our respective freak flags fly. From a live action recreation of the Folgers “Coming Home” commercial, to naked belly button puppet shows, to multiple guest star Christmas villains, to members of our family paying homage to the OG actors, taking up the mantle while someone is doing A Christmas Carol or White Christmas or nursing a newborn child. There’s been wild successes and major heartbreaks; personal, professional, artistic; and we have all been there for each other throughout all of it. Making music and jokes and telling stories all the while. I always sit in this spot every night of the Christmas show and watch @jasonsweettooth do “The Goodbye Song” (a song that he has probably sung several thousand times over the past almost twenty years) like a master sailor, letting the waves and winds do what they may; but economically using his skill and practicing his craft to take us home. I fucking love this family. All of these people are so talented and unique and beautiful and I wish Broadway shows, and Series Regulars and abundant bank accounts, and beautiful relationships and healthy children (for those who want them) and everything else that they all deserve. I am so grateful to you @mrjoeiconis for seeing me so many years ago, and having me join in on this ride. It’s given me so much joy, and brought so much love to my life. #family #iconisandfamily #joeiconis #christmasextravaganza #54below #merrychristmas #heartwords

#the shoutout to the folgers coffee bit of [will roland's first iconis xmas or iconis anything role] fame & the belly button puppeteers....#joe iconis christmas extravaganza #14th annual xmas #joe iconis #bill coyne #jason sweettooth williams

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all-american-mistake-blog · 7 years ago

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Now I’m Just Unaffected

A/N: I tried writing a thing based off of Joe Iconis’s Kevin - I think it’s okay, at least. Hopefully it’s not terrible. Enjoy?

——————

Kevin wandered down the street, his shoes pounding on the sidewalk harshly. He slowed, his adrenaline wearing down. His breath was heavy, and he put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he refused to answer. It was probably just Thomas calling, worried. He pulled it out to see if he was right. The contact said 'Pop-Tarts'. Yeah, he was. He shoved his smartphone back into his pocket. It'd been a few years since the Ugandan mission. Arnold stopped calling in, too busy with his new life back in Uganda with Nabulungi. Connor didn't call him as much anymore either. It was Connor's fault Kevin lived in Brooklyn now. He hated him. Hated him. He didn't know it, but Connor's disappearance had affected him more than it should have.

--------------------

Connor had tried reaching out to Kevin, but he just... couldn't. When he looked at the ex-Mormon, he didn't see the guy he knew anymore. They'd moved to Brooklyn together, but after months of the same routine, Connor had gotten tired of it all. At least in Uganda, he'd had more... change in his life. Kevin was growing weary and cynical, and it was affecting Connor in a negative way. He couldn't deal with his new attitude anymore. So he picked up his things, and after a fight with Kev that he regretted, he left. He went back to Utah, and moved in with Thomas. His friend had happily let him, despite the fact Connor wasn't a Mormon anymore either.

The red-haired man couldn't have stayed Mormon. With his time out of the closet, the Church never would have accepted it. But Thomas never could shun his friend, gay or not. Connor was grateful, but he worried about Kevin. It had been six months since he went back to Utah, but it hadn't felt that long. He knew Thomas had stayed in contact with Kevin, he'd heard his blond friend talking to his ex-boyfriend. Thomas was growing worried about Kevin, he'd told Connor. "Kev's not in a good shape, Con. I think we need to go visit him." But there was no 'we' in this situation. Connor left him, it was Connor's job to help him.

Thomas had gone off to the bathroom, and Connor grabbed his phone. He looked it over a moment. This is what he left his dying sister for. Connor knew Thomas hadn't known she was going to die, but... it pained him to think about, and he turned that sympathy off. He opened Thomas's phone, using his password; it was 842632, or Uganda. Of course, that was his mission location; it meant a great deal to him. He went to his contacts, and clicked on 'Elder Price'. He called, but Kev didn't pick up. Did Kevin know it was him? Or was Kevin too busy to answer who he thought was Thomas? He tried again, and started to lose hope right before Kevin answered. "Thomas, I'm busy. If you could call back later-" Connor's breath hitched in his throat, as the all-too familiar voice came over the phone. "Kev?" He didn't realize it at first. Since when did Kevin call Pop-Tarts by his real name? "Oh. Connor."

The shorter man heard the sigh on the other end of the line. "Kev, I get that you're busy, but I'm worried about.. you..." His voice trailed off as Kevin sharply chuckled. There was no amusement in the chilling sound. "You're worried about me? I haven't gotten a single call from you in months, not even a text. Look, don't call me. I don't want to talk to you. If Thomas wants to call me, tell him to find another phone to call me on. Apparently, this one's been infected." The line went dead, as Kev hung up. The words were childish and snide, but they stung him more than he would let on. This is why he had wanted to keep his emotions locked away, bottled up in his head. So he wouldn't deal with such rejection.

"Elder McKinley, you can't just turn off your emotions." "Elder Price, I can and I will." "You’re going to have to deal with your feelings eventually, Connor.”

The conversation lingered in his head. Kevin's tone had been kinder, gentler then. Brooklyn had changed him. It was like he found no purpose, no meaning for life anymore. Connor looked over at the nearby kitchen counter. Two tickets to Brooklyn tomorrow morning. He grabbed one, and slipped it into the trash bin. He'd lie, and say it went missing. Then he could go to the airport, and head to Brooklyn by himself. He didn't need Thomas to help talk sense into Kevin. He would have to make sure Thomas didn't tell Kevin about the flight mishap, or that Connor was going by himself. He couldn't throw away Thomas's phone either, it meant too much to him. He'd regret it, and end up telling Thomas. Thomas wouldn't want to see Connor either. If anything was to happen between Kevin and himself, he'd have Thomas to turn to. He couldn't sacrifice that.

--------------------

Kevin quickly turned his phone on silent, and shoved it back into his pocket. It wouldn't vibrate either, so he wouldn't know whether Connor contacted him again until he got home. He kept walking, noticing how dark it was. He noticed a woman up on Atlantic, and headed her way. He felt rage ripple through him in waves, and he needed to take it out on something- rather, someone. She turned around and looked at him fearfully. He still wore his work clothes; his nametag was in his pocket next to his phone. She started walking faster, before she started running. Shouldn't have been wearing heels, he thought as he grabbed onto her hair a block away. She had taken one off, and thrown it at him. It had delayed him, but not enough. She had stumbled trying to take the second one off. That had been her fatal mistake. They were by a club, and he dragged her a couple of concrete squares away as if that would help. He wrapped his hands around her neck, as she let out a strangled cry. She couldn't have been much older than himself, he noted.

Her face grew an unnerving red, with tinges of blue from being underoxygenated. She was facing away from him, but he could tell she was dying. Her struggles slowed, as her hands stopped trying to pry his off, and instead they fell by her side. In a shock, he let go. She slumped over. He was sweating a little, but that was from the struggle. She wasn't moving, wasn't breathing. He knew now something was certainly wrong.

He wasn't feeling the emotions he was supposed to.

He looked around, searching for any witnesses. No one was there to see the boy who used to be a cheerful Mormon become a cold-hearted killer. He'd just murdered her without a second of debate. Now he just... didn't care. He could care about this all later, if someone saw her here, with bruises on her neck that fit the shape of his hands... he'd be screwed. He picked her up, and started carrying her off in a hurry. He found an empty alleyway, and tossed her behind the dumpster. She had nice clothes, and was quite pretty, really. People would be sure to notice that she had gone missing. He picked the wrong victim. Accusations that sounded like Connor McKinley shot through his head. 'Why are you worrying about choosing the wrong victim? You just killed someone! Why aren't you feeling guilty, or sympathy for her family?! They're going to be grief-stricken at the idea of their daughter being dead!'

But those weren't emotions going through him. He'd broken himself, and now everyone was sure to know. He knew what was going to happen. He was going to get arrested for her murder, because his fingerprints were on her neck, and on her hair, and on the pink and white scarf around her neck, and he'd be sent to jail, and he could imagine people he knew finding out. He could picture the headlines now. 'MORMON MAN COMES BACK FROM UGANDA, BECOMES MURDERER.' He realized he was walking away. He wiped the sweat off of his head, and noticed his breath was steadier than it should have been. 'Feel something, damn it!' He wondered if he would feel different if he had moved to Queens instead of Brooklyn. He decided not. He made it home into his dark apartment, and went into his bedroom. He wanted to be panicking, to be fearful, and worried, and guilty, but he wasn't anything but calm.

He was sitting on his bed, which felt lonelier than ever. Kev wanted Connor here, he wanted to hear Connor's voice. But he couldn't confess what he did over the phone. He pulled his phone out again, and called Thomas's phone. "Elder Price!" Thomas's cheery voice came over the phone. "Pop-Tarts, hey! D-do you think you could put Con on?" Thomas laughed. "Of course!" He heard a muffled 'Elder McKinley, it's for you!' since Thomas probably had his hand over the phone. "Thank you," he replied charmingly. After a beat of silence, he heard Connor's voice. "Kev? I thought you didn't want to talk to me?" Kevin sighed. "Connor, when are you getting here?" Connor stammered a moment, before responding with 'why'. Kev was a little frustrated with his ex, who insisted they were just on a break. "I want to get back together. Me and you. I miss you." He clicked the end call button, and watched as it rang in his hand again, leaving Connor bewildered.

"And I need someone to be my next victim."

#book of mormon #the book of mormon #elder mckinley #kevin price #elder poptarts #mcpriceley #fanfic #connor mckinley #elder thomas #elder church #i don’t even know

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neverheardnothing · 4 years ago

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The Black Suits song ranking

Happy (late) Black Suits Day (eighteenth of September) y'all! Not that anyone asked but I have decided on my personal Black Suits song ranking. As always, I am very correct with my Joe Iconis music takes and will accept no criticism. Also I'm talking about 2013 here. Love yourself (and the work) and listen to 2013 instead of 2012 for better audio quality and a tighter book.

Spirit Song - I don't think anyone is surprised this is my top ranked song lol. "A melody only exists when someone hears, and the number one thing that I've learned through all my years. The fans and the family make the music strong, and the cheering is just as important as the song!" As Will describes it, it's a love letter to audiences (hey, that's me!) and when I listen to this song I'm always reminded of how much Joe believes in the message of this song, that the audience is part of the show.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang - [Joe Iconis voice] the language of the show. A lot of this list was influenced by not only how much I liked the song but by how well the songs functioned as extensions/expansions of the scene and the believability of that character singing the song. To me Bangx5 is one of the ultimate examples of this. The lyrics "there's a heavy metal hole where a soul used to be" like that's SO teenage angst and overdramatic just like Chris is supposed to be in this moment. I remember when I first heard the song I was like "is that it? Simple repeated [I am ___] lyrics for your act 1 finale? Seems a bit underwhelming even if it musically goes hard" but then after like another listen through of the show or so I realized that was the intention. When you're seventeen or so and you feel like your world is crashing down around you, sometimes the only way you can articulate it is "I am white boy rage, I am in a cage, I am bang bang bang bang bang bang bang." You are bang, you are loud crashing noises, your emotions are too loud and intense to be described with your limited vocabulary but you try anyways and fail. I love the contrast of the lyrics "I am chew my pens" and "I am hurt my friends" right next to each other. And the harmony at the end? Chefs fucking kiss.

Amphibian - This song is so goddamn fun. Like honestly. That’s it. Nato is chilling by himself and makes up a song about himself and his frog and it’s the best goddamn time in the show. You really get the feeling like these characters are actually friends. I love the “idiot” Nato vs “smart” Brandon. The “who cares about Beethoven. It’s a movie about a dog” joke never fails to make me laugh. When Brandon is expecting a regular bridge to the song and Nato whips out the falsetto and he goes “oh my God” like. Peak comedy here. And also Will Roland doing That? I’m in awe. Like this is what The Black Suits (the band) is, friends hanging out and having fun with music, that makes the next scene when the band formally break up so sad.

It's All Good - “So we’re cool and whatever?” It’s such a teenage boy thing to say. Like you want to acknowledge that you guys have been through something but at the same time you want to undercut it so you don’t run the risk of seeming too openly emotional. I’m also only very slightly bitter about that review that was like “oh wait so the only stakes of this show is the battle of the bands?” Like hello? Did you not see the show or listen to a single second of the finale? It’s about the way these characters communicate in their kinda inadequate ways and how they use music to express themselves. In a way it’s classic, cliche musical theater 101, with the characters unable to say what they feel with plain English so they resort to music, but of course with a Joe Iconis twist. The stakes aren’t the fucking battle of the band, it’s the friendship between the boys. It’s literally so obvious I want to scream. Anyways this song is fantastic way to end the show.

Car Ride To Long Beach - That's right. Car Ride To Long Beach is 5th place. I'm only very slightly bitter about the review that was like "is fried chicken REALLY the deciding factor in going on a drug run?" And by slightly bitter I mean this person goes on the list of people I want to beat up for being so fucking wrong about a Joe show. No, you fucking fool, that's not actually the deciding factor. She's at least on the fence, if not already secretly decided yes, about it from the moment he asks. It's about the company, it's about the road trip, it's about breaking the rules after having been "good" for so long. I am so adamant that this song is about desire and thrill and guilt and wanting to be seen for who you are and not just John saying obscene things. Like take the dialogue exchange right before she finally vocally says yes. "What do I look like right now?" "Uh. You look like... Lisa?" "... Alright let's go." Like tell me that does not drive you fucking crazy after Lisa's constant questions about others perception of her and trying to figure out who she is herself. Car Ride To Long Beach is good you guys are just mean.

Social Worker - Another example of an incredibly fitting character song. The refusal and reluctance of a teenage boy to admit that he actually needs or gets mental health help. I love the music-ification of a panic attack as loud drums and electric guitar. "I don't really go to the social worker," he says, as he goes to the social worker. It’s truly hilariously, heartbreakingly fitting for his character.

The Answer - When that Things To Ruin reviewer said Joe is a master of putting commonly shared moments to music no one else has done before, they were right. Who HASN’T taken a test and failed it so utterly they started questioning their entire life and worried for their future before? I love the repeated lyric questions like John is sitting there reading the question over and over trying to figure out what the answer is. I love the synthy keyboard. Fantastic choice @ Charlie Rosen.

Band-Aids and Cigarettes - Oh this song is so good I feel guilty about putting it at 8. It’s like honestly heartbreaking, not being able to give what the other person needs and being aware of it. And the unconventionality of it being sung by the mentor character instead of a love interest or something.

The Feeling (Part 1 and 2) - Yeah I’m combining them into one song and also assuming the entire beach/Chris & Mrs. Werring conversation is part of the song, too, with the interlude of the “I just want something good to happens.” This song is a jam, plain and simple. I love the absolutely terrible advice that Mrs. Werring gives Chris. “You got to push all your worries inside of yourself, and then they’ll mix creating a combustible boom.” Awful! But Annie Golden sings it so well. And it makes Band-Aids and Cigarettes later that much more sad. In part 2, I love how interconnected the two conversations are. “Just breathe them in -> I love the beach.” The synchronous “I don’t even remember why I liked him/her in the first place.” The score here having the Spirit Song melody. Also now feels like a good time to bring up my Lisa Bred is nonbinary headcanon (though it’s practically textual canon) with “I’m not a girl, I’m a song.” Like that right there, she literally states she’s not a girl, and that’s just the most obvious part. Twice before now, she’s asked people about how they perceive her (“what do I look like right now?” “my girlfriend?” / “Lisa”) and her arc in this show up to this point is discovering more about herself and trying new things. She’s aware of societal gender norms (“isn’t that what boyfriend girlfriends are supposed to do?”) and how she doesn’t really fit in with them. She’s experimenting with expressing herself (dyeing her hair blue, photography). Like it’s all right there. I don’t know if Joe was intentionally writing a nonbinary character figuring herself out but that’s what I get when I read the text straight. In Lisa’s mind, John is one of the gateways to trying new things (“you give me this feeling”) and then that blends right into the rest of The Feeling and it’s so fucking GOOD. I love this song.

Blue Hair - The OG Joe Iconis viral song! I love the music song of this song so much, specifically the guitar/piano riff. I love the multiple sources of motivation of doing it, from actually wanting to try something different, to getting a reaction from Chris and John, even if she denies that last part. And then again at the end of the song with her self-awareness. She’s doing something to stand out/express herself! I love it.

Nato's Song - A six minute clusterfuck of a song and it’s beautiful. Sticking to the actual Nato stuff right now, I think it’s a pretty clever way of passing time and seeing how it’s affecting him and everyone else in the show. With the interspersed content of other characters, it really is the musical equivalent of a film montage. I love seeing Chris’ further breakdown in the form of voicemails to his dad. The music of Blue Hair, Old Records, and Rather Be coming back is fucking great. Everyone is just struggling in this song and it’s great.

Rock 'N Roll Band (Reprise) - I love this re-introduction song so much and the differences between it and the original. I love the chaoticness of the solos all going at the same time. I love the cut Geek Rock Garage King still making in into the show as Brandon’s bridge and how out of place it is with the rest of the song musically but yet it’s still in it. I love the a capella break with Mrs. Werring cheering them on.

Old Records - The fact that John plays the guitar as Chris sings it for someone to hear is so good. When he gets affirmation that John likes the song, he continues. And it’s only after being called out about his writing revealing things about him that Chris feels bad about the song again and claims that they were just dummy lyrics. Once John leaves the backing music comes back on like glockenspiel or something and I love the lightness of it combined with the electric guitar that comes in after.

Black Suit On - I know we’re at like 3/4ths through but I honestly love this song. I love all the songs so much. This ranking honestly barely matters because I love all the songs in this show. I love the (unrealistic) idea of finally being able to be your best self, of all your problems going away, if only something symbolic but ultimately inconsequential thing were to happen. It’s about the (shared) vision for a different future than the one you’re currently living! (By the way I am so haunted by Jen Tepper saying this song was actually about LIHN. Like does anyone know what that means? Do I fundamentally misunderstand this song or LIHN? I don’t get the connection.)

Lisa - Once again, the relatability. Who hasn’t felt like they were good enough for another person? I love the specificity of the AOL verse. It’s so late 2000s. And the rest of the lyrics are so angsty and overdramatic as John is. Specifically in the context of the show this song really hurts after Lisa tells him she can’t fix whatever issues are wrong with him.

Rock 'N Roll Band - I love how the entire song is so what teenagers going through school, waiting for life to change, and seeking refuge in the only place where they feel like they are important and can be themselves. I love all their intros. I love Brandon going way too hard on the drums. “I’m gonna scream and shout, knock you out. I’m gonna conquer the world, get the girl. I’m gonna get some respect, finally connect. When I take a stand, with my rock ‘n roll band.” The extreme vividness of the type of stuck they feel here is so good and it’s a good summary of the show.

Pop Tarts - I love that this song is still called Pop Tarts despite all references to it having been removed except for one dialogue. I love the section of Chris’ vision for the band. The pre-reprise of the beginning of It’s All Good with “we’re cool and whatever?” and all of them joining in and getting on the same page. We love some boys just absolutely barely capable of communicating with each other with words.

Song In My Head/Only Person In The World - The absolute irony and poetry of John singing “I’m the only person in the world” and Chris singing about how everyone is gone when this is a duet. It’s literally so fucking good. When they both sing “I’m the only person in the world” at the same time? Are you kidding me? And this song is ranked 18th? Truly every song in this show is top tier.

Rather Be - This song is rather on the nose in its message, everyone would rather be at band rehearsal. It’s a solid song that helps us get into each of their characters more (“rather be where my buddies / now the same bands / and tolerate my drum fills” / “where my brothas like that I’m weird / and ask to see my squid impression” / “because we’ve only got a little while to get fantastic and get some style / if we do it soon then I won’t have to go to college” / “christ I’d rather be anywhere / but sitting trapped here taking this asshole test”). I love it when characters in shows all have different reasons for singing the same lines.

McFly Is Looking For A Drummer - Rip to this song, being ranked last. It’s not that I don’t like it because I actually do. Again, I just love all the songs in this show. He’s trying to communicate in his own way, which happens to be in music references, but that’s not how other people around him understand, and so he sees this opportunity to be with people who are more like him, but then he he gets scared that he wouldn’t fit in the way he hopes he would, which would be even worse than where he’s currently at where he knows that they don’t quite get him but are his friends anyways. I love that one moment where he drops out singing. It’s very reminiscent of in Michael In The Bathroom when you expect him to sing the title words but he doesn’t, so your brain fills it in for you. It functions a bit differently than that moment does in BMC though. I think in this song it’s the comparison of how he’s currently treated with the possibility of what McFly represents, that he could have the exact opposite experience there, that he’s imagining all the possibilities in that moment. Lol, ranked 20 and I still have so many things to say about this song.

#teresa talks #the black suits #tbs #my posts #long post #i s2g i am so goddamn full of joe iconis lore and thoughts about his shows that it's Concerning #also lisa is nonbinary like that literally Is the surface level reading of the text i cant believe no one ever talks about that #by the way im being sarcastic about Being Right on all my takes if you cant tell except the one about car ride to long beach im dead fucking #serious about that one. insult this song and ill end you #and i choose to read the 'punk-y not lesbian-y' line as in de-bi-al (in bi denial)#and for real start listening to 2013 over 2012 i promise the ben platt isnt worth all that much #i am Struggling on this post sorry if u keep seeing me post it and delete it lol #this one stays up for real tho idc if theres any problems with it #edit: motherfucker it doesnt show up in the black suits tag lol #also i dont go on stan twitter if nonbinary lisa is a stale take im sorry ive never seen it here tho

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bapakharyoso · 6 years ago

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Mixtapes. YouTube videos. Dedicated playlists. Ancillary products. Viral marketing. Epic chart stays. These are things you expect to hear from a record label discussing Cardi B or Beyoncé. Instead, this is the new world of a very old staple, the Broadway original cast recording.

Robust stats tell the tale: Atlantic’s “Hamilton[1]” album beat the record held by Adele’s “21” for longest stay in the sales top 40, with an awareness assist from auxiliary releases like “The Hamilton[2] Mixtape” (starring the Roots and Chance the Rapper) and monthly online “Hamildrops.” The same label’s “Dear Evan Hansen[3]” had the highest chart debut for a cast album since “Camelot” in 1961 and proved popular among young people who still only aspire to see a Broadway show someday.

The indie Ghostlight label issued an album of Joe Iconis’ “Be More Chill[4]” score when it was still launching in New Jersey and racked up 200 million streams, a number so powerful that off-Broadway and eventually Broadway producers took notice — with those bigger productions helping add another 100 million-plus streams to its total. With stories like these, it’s no wonder Decca Broadway, the label behind the first-ever cast album, 1943’s “Oklahoma!,” has just been relaunched.

Variety spoke with Atlantic A&R president Pete Ganbarg, responsible for bringing “Hamilton” and the upcoming “Jagged Little Pill” to the label; Dickon Stainer, Universal Classics’ president/CEO; and Ghostlight label co-founder Kurt Deutsch about rethinking the original Broadway cast recording as pop.

Variety: There seems to be a hunger for Broadway albums among younger audiences in particular. Why now? Pete Ganbarg: I am a big believer that everything is cyclical. When I was growing up, I remember my family listening to the original cast album of “A Chorus Line” on long car trips, singing “One Singular Sensation.” For me, that was as much a part of the pop fabric as anything on the radio. Everybody knew “Dance 10, Looks 1.” Five years before that, there was “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It’s the right show coming around and connecting with an audience that doesn’t even know they’ve been waiting for it. We got lucky as a label when we decided to jump in on “Hamilton” head first. What Lin was doing was so unique and special and the songs were so amazing and different … it was unlike anything we had ever done before, whether Broadway was hot or not. Kurt Deutsch: Now, you can reach audiences around the world with the way streaming works. It’s changed the dynamic so significantly. Musically, there have always been fans like me who grew up in St. Louis who didn’t have the opportunity to be in New York when an amazing show opened, who lived that through cast albums. Now there are communities and tribes for any inclusivity and sound, like a Comic-Con. That’s what happened with “Be More Chill[5].” That tribe found itself — a tribe that exists all over the world. The same with “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen[6]” and “Heathers.” If the story moves them emotionally, those people, generally young and high school music students, will watch the YouTube videos and listen to the music over and over again, just like I did with “Hair” the movie or the DVD of “Pippin” — especially now because the music is so readily available. If had known there were a million people out there that had the same interests as me, the community where I hung in St. Louis would’ve have felt much larger. Ganbarg: We now take it for granted that “Hamilton” is “Hamilton.” But having to pitch it to people inside the company before it existed — only workshopped, not even at the Public Theatre as yet — was a wacky pitch. Imagine me telling the deal committee that whenever you record a Broadway cast album, it is super-expensive due to all the union fees, actors, musicians, everything literally on the clock — stopwatch even. Depending on the number of songs you are recording, it can get even more expensive: “Dear Evan Hansen” is 14 songs; “Hamilton” has 46 songs. Then there is the further pitch: not just that it’s 46 songs, but a new musical about the founding fathers, the American Revolution and its after-effects. And, by the way, all of the fathers are played by actors of color, and it’s all hip-hop, and some of the raps are about states’ origins and the Federal Reserve … You can feel the window opening and you being prepared to be thrown out the window. But it’s art and it’s not supposed to be always logical.

Kurt, when you first saw “Be More Chill” exploding, what went through your mind? Deutsch: When I first saw the show in New Jersey, I think I said to (composer) Joe Iconis that “Michael in the Bathroom” was destined to be sung by kids forever, as it touches on the angst of being an outsider; that’s what a lot of musical theater fans feel like. Joe’s music speaks to that in a way no songwriter right now writing today speaks to it. I think “The Last Five Years” was like that; this totally intimate musical that died after 9/11 has become something virally. Going back to “Be More Chill”: We sold a few albums at first, then noticed that people were watching the YouTube videos such as “Michael in the Bathroom” that we made. We saw Tumblr and Animatics things that the fans created, and it all started to snowball in a very homemade, organic way. It was beyond our control. Once we saw that, we began feeding the fire with more content. But we couldn’t force-feed or go over the top; kids know what’s real and not real.

Is it fair to say that the success of streaming capabilities in regard to the success of “Hamilton,” “Evan Hansen” or “Mean Girls” is similar? Ganbarg: Yes. People hear their music this way, now. When we working on “Hamilton,” we worked first on “Hamilton”-related playlists that were highlighting the new sound of Broadway. If you were a fan of Lin’s first show, “In the Heights,” we capitalized on that success. We used the digital streaming platforms as a marketing tool with playlisting, making sure that you could find our music wherever you were looking. Word got out that the show was something special. We made sure people knew that they could consume them however they liked. Deutsch: I should say, though, where Ghostlight is concerned, shows such as “Tina,” “Beautiful” and “The Cher Show” —those are album-buying audiences. They like physicals. They’re not into streaming so much. If “Be More Chill” is 90% streaming, “Beautiful” is 70% physical hard copies. “In the Heights” and “Book of Mormon” have both gone gold. “Beautiful” and “Newsies” are up there. “Legally Blonde” and “The Last Five Years” have sold well. Our “Hair” and “Pippin” revivals were big for us via our physical versions.

Famously, Decca Broadway released the first-ever cast album with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” Now, here you are, Dickon, with the newly-relaunched Decca Broadway, reconnecting with that classic American musical in 2019. Is it fair to say you timed the relaunch to your re-connecting with that musical? Dickon Stainer: Decca Broadway has such a storied legacy, having released the first ever cast album in 1943 of “Oklahoma!,” so when we knew we were going to release the cast album for the revival, we of course wanted to emphasize the connection. We are also releasing the cast album for “Tootsie,” so to be releasing the cast albums for two Tony-nominated shows to relaunch our label is an honor. … Decca Broadway now is part of Verve Label Group, among other storied and iconic imprints such as Verve, Impulse!, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and more. We have a renewed sense of purpose with Decca Broadway — the team believes in the artform and there are many exciting shows that we are looking forward to aligning ourselves with to continue the legacy of the label. “Wicked” and “Phantom” made huge cultural waves at the time; we hope to be a part of that again.

“Hamilton” had its ancillary associated projects such as Hamilldrops and its remix album. “Be More Chill” had its viral YouTube videos. How do you see these marketing ideas affecting other shows you’re associated with? Ganbarg: You always want to be able to lean into consumer demand. Once we knew that we had something special, the idea was to give the consumer more about what they were excited to hear. Lin did not want to release a cast album first. He wanted to release a mixtape first. Remember, “Jesus Christ Superstar” was a concept album before it was a stage musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted people to fall in love with the music and the songs first. By the time the show was staged, everyone knew all the songs. As “Hamilton” was written by Lin in a hip-hop place, he could get rappers together to do these songs. Eventually he changed his mind and went the traditional route, but it was in the back of all of our minds to do a mixtape. We just did it when the audience was ready for it. Once it became a phenomenon after the Tonys, we got calls from artists asking us about doing covers of the songs. So Chance the Rapper, Busta Rhymes and John Legend became part of the Mixtape. Now, because you don’t want to go to the well too many times and do “Hamilton mixtape Volume 17,” the idea of the Hamildrops came from Lin himself — something new every month in 2018, finishing up with the “44” remix of “One Last Time” with Barack Obama. Deutsch: I have been heavily involved with “Alice by Heart,” a show by Duncan Shiek and Steven Sater. We’ve been on it a number of years … a beautiful production. When people hear the score they will respond in a way that is akin to “Be More Chill.” It has that “Spring Awakening” feel, but it is a tragic love story between these two people. In thinking about the marketing of “Alice by Heart,” and how the audience grew from its first performance and the Twitter fans who followed it by the end of its 10-week run, there were a hundred kids waiting for the cast outside, similar to the “Be More Chill” crowds. The kids know what they love. I think of “Beetlejuice” and the character of Lydia as the gateway to a similar audience. Songs like “Dead Mom” have a similar sense of sticky humor. “Heathers” too, very much, too.

Broadway has a handsome track record for making its biggest stars into pop stars, from Streisand to Idina Menzel. What can a label do for a burgeoning star beyond Broadway? Do you try to build composers as stars, too? Ganbarg: Broadway music is popular music. As an A&R exec, I know that there are no new ideas, just new ways of applying them and new voices to apply them with. When we were at the opening of “Dear Evan Hansen,” my boss turned to me at intermission and asked me to run backstage and sign Ben Platt to a solo deal immediately. Which we did. If Lin wanted to do a solo album, we’d jump at the chance. The problem is if you do too many, you dilute the market and the special nature of the Broadway star coming off of the stage and into the arms of contemporary music fans. Deutsch: If we hadn’t made a recording of Joe’s show in NJ, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. When Joe does his next work, I’ll be there. … We did “Dogfight” with Pasek & Paul right before “Dear Evan Hansen,” but people have been revisiting “Dogfight” because they want to hear the body of work. The same with Jason Robert Brown with “Last Five Years,” “13,” “Bridges of Madison County” and all of his solo records that I have released. That’s a tremendous responsibility, maintaining all that.

What do you want to hear from a soundtrack that you believe makes it a hit? Is it one anthemic song? Or an overall vibe? Ganbarg: When you see a show and you want to hear its soundtrack, it’s because the entire show moved you. You want to recapture that emotion after you leave the theater. The best, most pure way to do that is with a cast soundtrack of the show you just saw. We knew from day one that we had 14 great Pasek & Paul songs on “Dear Even Hansen,” but in “Waiting for a Window,” we had a song that was instantly recognizable, something we could attach to something more. Not only did Ben Platt’s “Window” anchor all of the advertising online and on television, ultimately we, like with “Hamilton,” had other artists covering that song. We had Owl City cover it, which was perfect: if Evan Hansen was a pop star, he’d be Owl City: they’re both neurotic and insular. Katy Perry covered it to because she was so moved when she saw the show. Sometimes it’s us; sometimes it’s the artists who fall in love with the show. Deutsch: Cast albums are one of the only things now that people listen from beginning to end — and In order — because they wish to have the full experience. We don’t see a lot of single tracks sold. It’s about the score as a whole, and a few songs that will reach beyond the show and will live forever and become the new standards. A show such as “Alice by Heart” and a song such as “Afternoon” — we just did the video — that song will resonate so much, I think that people will want to see more. Stainer: A good cast album comes from a good show. Does the show move you? Does the music move you? Those are the questions we ask.

References

^Hamilton (variety.com)

^Dear Evan Hansen (variety.com)

^Be More Chill (variety.com)

^Dear Evan Hansen (variety.com)

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#Broadway Cast Albums Find Fresh Footing With Hip New Sounds #Viral Outreach - Variety

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