Corner of the Sky

Do you love musical theater? We do too! Every episode, Quinn Rose and a guest lovingly dissect a musical’s music, characters, plot, themes, and anything else that occurs to them.

All Episodes

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    June 7, 2021
    58 Random Pursuit: Musicals

    Well friends, after four years of Corner of the Sky, this podcast is going on indefinite hiatus. But to leave on a high note, we’ve got a full game show episode! Moisés Chiullán, Brian Hamilton, David Loehr, Jean MacDonald, and Shelly Brisbin are competing in a custom version of Random Pursuit that’s ALL musicals.

    Also, this episode includes a mini-game: try to count how many times Quinn makes a mistake! It turns out that Random Pursuit is a deceptively complicated game to keep track of, and Erika Ensign actually has superpowers.

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    April 6, 2021 “Falsettos”
    57 Kill Your Mother, Cancel Your Bar Mitzvah

    Yoni Weiss talks the charmingly dysfunctional family of Falsettos.

    Highlights: masculinity, borrowing synagogue chairs, Chip Zien, high school productions of Elegies, maturation, regression, lesbians, family.

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    March 3, 2021 “Assassins”
    56 Another National Anthem

    Margaret Hall talks the “most controversial musical ever,” Assassins.

    Highlights: flashpoint memories, Assassins Creed, Kidz Bop, shoulder devil, 9/11, John Weidman, empathy.

    Content warning: discussion of gun violence.

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    February 3, 2021 “Follies”
    55 Bury Your Straights

    Aaron Roberts talks the depressingly universal Follies.

    Highlights: no one can stop my musical theater enthusiasm, nostalgia, the gayest musical without any homosexuality in it, summer camp, ghosts, Michael Bennett, Pirates of the Caribbean.

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    January 5, 2021 “Guys & Dolls”
    54 Luck Be A Lady

    Philip Michaels talks the persistent classic Guys & Dolls.

    Highlights: all in one place (except for Cuba), undercover cop, hijinks, female agency, Tom Hooper, revivals, Frank Sinatra.

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    December 5, 2020 “The Prom”
    53 Don’t Be Gay in Indiana

    Holly Sansom talks the infectiously optimistic show The Prom.

    Highlights: The Drowsy Chaperone, seeing theater for work, TV performances, girls kissing, we’re all lesbians, cringing, Glee.

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    November 3, 2020 “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
    52 Brandy’s Cinderella

    Kat Largent talks the always-evolving classic Cinderella.

    Highlights: Whitney Houston, musicals as popular music, revivals, award eligibility, casting movie musicals, onstage quick changes, basic but beautiful.

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    October 1, 2020 “Something Rotten!”
    51 I’ll Ask Mom

    Stanley Rose talks the charming satire/homage Something Rotten.

    Highlights: Christian Borle, write what you know, the Black Death!, simple entertainment, fact checking with Mom, humming the songs.

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    September 1, 2020 “Godspell”
    50 Camp Counselor Christ

    Kerri Kearse talks the “drum circle for the Lord” and/or musical Godspell.

    Highlights: directorial freedom, Christian rock, belting about the Lord, baby George Salazar, Marianne Williamson, race in casting, parables, Jesus Christ Superstar, earnestness.

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    May 18, 2020 “Sunday in the Park with George”
    49 Finishing the Hat

    Emily Clark talks the pointillist musical Sunday in the Park with George.

    Highlights: Bounce, autobiographical musicals, putting it together, universal (or not), historical inaccuracy, Pulitzer Prizes, Mandy Patinkin.

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    May 11, 2020 “Jagged Little Pill”
    48 You Oughta Know

    Jhanelle Benton talks the unflinching rock musical Jagged Little Pill.

    Highlights: Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, being overly attached to the cast, interpretative dance, fluid movement, Elizabeth Stanley, gushing about the ensemble, Christmas letters, jukebox musicals.

    Content warning: discussion of sexual assault and drug abuse.

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    May 4, 2020 “She Loves Me”
    47 You’ve Got Mail

    Emily Lewis talks the warm-hearted and delicious She Loves Me.

    Highlights: Alabama, Hungarian writers, theater with teenagers, lack of communication, interesting dances, uninteresting dances, ice cream, lonely hearts.

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    April 27, 2020 “The King and I”
    46 Et Cetera

    Jason Snell talks the deceptively complex The King and I.

    Highlights: childhood, Yul Brynner, dresses, orientalism, they fixed some of the orientalism, complex characters, too-long songs, b-sides from The Sound of Music, etc, etc, etc.

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    April 20, 2020 “Company”
    45 Bobby is a Softboy

    Allison Truj talks the alternately nihilistic and uplifting Company.

    Highlights: Little Women (2019), Marriage Story (2019), cautionary tales, fish pants, aging poorly, Patti LuPone, getting broken up with at the intermission of Phantom of the Opera.

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    April 11, 2020 “Cabaret”
    44 Maybe This Time

    Lisa Schmeiser talks the flamboyant and doomed world of Cabaret.

    Highlights: Schitt’s Creek, Chicago, Berlin as a character, the rise of fascism, acting like you’re bad at acting, stunt casting, ambiguity.

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    April 4, 2020 “Twisted”
    43 Prince Ali is a Scrub

    Javier Matusevich talks Starkid and Twisted.

    Highlights: Wicked, Cruella de Vil, Aladdin sucks, 1001 Nights, college students, in-jokes, making fun of what you love.

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    March 7, 2020 “Six”
    42 I’m The Queen of the Castle

    Annette Wierstra talks international sensation Six.

    Highlights: young writers, short shows, Edmonton, tours, rewriting the narrative, amazing dancers, big Eliza Hamilton energy.

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    March 2, 2020 “Hello Dolly”
    41 Put on Your Sunday Clothes

    Lauren Pokedoff talks the optimistic classic Hello Dolly.

    Highlights: watching a whole Tony season, Bette Midler, sleeping on the street for tickets, strong women, Barbra Streisand, spectacle.

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    February 22, 2020 “Cats”
    40 Digital Fur Technology

    Brian Hamilton talks the fever dream that is Cats (both the stage and film versions).

    Highlights: Personally victimized by Cats (2019), fully filmed Broadway performances, breaking the fourth wall, dance musicals, poetry, T.S. Eliot, JaSOn DEruloooo, offensive horniness.

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    June 29, 2019 “Beauty and the Beast”
    39 Tell Everyone What’s Up

    Highlights: dream casting, hope to theater kids, low budget costumes, Disney cleans up New York, it’s a metaphor, Susan Egan, gushing about Belle, toxic masculinity, 4D movies, drunk composer promises.

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    June 22, 2019 “Waitress”
    38 My Goddess Diane Paulus

    Highlights: watching shows many times, well-rounded side characters, Sara Bareilles, She Used to Be Mine and Now I’m Crying, problematic relationships, movement based choreography, all-female creative team, motherhood.

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    June 15, 2019 “The Book of Mormon”
    37 Spooky Mormon Hell Dream

    Highlights: satire, respect, disrespect, stereotypes, religion, a jumble of all things previously named, the actual Mormon church, Josh Gad, wholesome adult comedy, we’re taking this show so seriously.

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    June 8, 2019 “In The Heights”
    36 We Brought Binoculars

    Highlights: your OTP could never, emotionally devastating, everything is changing, it’s a metaphor, subway maps, crying on the podcast, universality through specificity, legacy, you got sad.

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    June 1, 2019 “Grease” (for high schools)
    35 High School Musical: Grease

    In lieu of a regular episode, this week we bring you a portion from our latest members only episode, in which Kerri Kearse and I developed high school theater seasons comprised entirely of shows that had to be heavily adapted from their original adult content. If you want to hear more, click on the link in the description to sign up for an Incomparable membership. We’ll be back next week with a regular episode!

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    May 25, 2019 “Brigadoon”
    34 Panicking in Scottish

    Highlights: The poor man’s Rogers and Hammerstein, tartan, Oklahoma!, 18th century Scotland, dystopian hellscape, born in the wrong generation before it was cool, horny in the 40s, show tunes as popular music, old men playing bagpipes, happy endings.

    Content warnings: murder, people in the 40s being super horny.

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    May 19, 2019 “Oliver!”
    33 They Didn’t Have Tinder

    Highlights: orphans, Les Mis, bargain prices at Macy’s, choreography awards, fifty children on the stage, Dodger!, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, music notation, mmmbop, children’s musicals and the bizarre plot lines wherein, My Fair Lady.

    Content warnings: mention of murder, abuse.

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    May 11, 2019 “Annie”
    32 Cold Dead Eyes

    Highlights: America’s obsessions with orphans, Charles Dickens, curly hair, universal optimism, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Annie’s girl gang, dog hot takes, borrowing children, scam culture.

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    May 4, 2019 “Parade”
    31 This Bops and is So Depressing

    Highlights: what do you think musicals are, oh that’s morbid, The South, dream casting, celebrities on Broadway, vendetta against the Tony awards, Jake Gyllenhaal’s DMs, as the casting director for all productions of Parade I regret to inform you.

    Content warnings: discussion of anti-semitism, lynching, murder; mention of rape.

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    April 30, 2019 “Newsies”
    30 Back to Being Petty

    Highlights: I don’t know why any of that information was relevant, the movie was better(?), Jeremy Jordan, live action Aladdin, adapting movies into different movies, the original Be More Chill, The Swedish Chef, eight Tony awards for being the best trash, Death Note the musical.

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    April 13, 2019 “Next to Normal”
    29 I’m Twelve and These People Understand Me

    Highlights: Alice Ripley… is probably tired, the love of my life Aaron Tveit, Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, angst, Gossip Girl, midwesternize it, Twitter, Dear Evan Hansen, laughing about inappropriate topics.

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    April 6, 2019 “Pacific Overtures”
    28 GunBoats

    Highlights: rebellious teen musical phase, my good friend Steve, who’s who of 70s Broadway, samurai, poison, bing bang boom Asian music, I’m happy, I’m the emperor, I’m a puppet.

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    April 2, 2019 “The Drowsy Chaperone”
    27 10/10, Buzzfeed, Yes

    Highlights: accents, “actors”, was that… just racist?, making fun of theater, air quotes, forced monkey motif, I love it it’s fun, Noises Off, poodles, title of show.

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    March 24, 2019 “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”
    26 Weirdly Aggressive Hippies

    Highlights: comedy people, middle school media, Avenue Q, the ultimate audience interaction, everything matters so much, spelling trances, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, stereotypes, puberty.

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    March 16, 2019 “Free to Be… You and Me”
    25 Moist and Worried

    Highlights: what we may call today “gender equity,” non-musical, Cincinnati, proto-Terry Crews, my cool baby, sharing media across generations, a (not so) surprising amount of Hamilton talk, the kids are alright, columnists.

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    March 9, 2019 “Be More Chill”
    24 Jenna Rolan Calling

    Highlights: fandom, it’S FROM JAPAN, listening to Pandora, crying at stage door, tumblr musicals, the Jonathan Larson Project, Quinn diverges to fangirl about Broadway producers, almost in my range… almost, seeing shows by yourself.

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    October 13, 2018 “Wicked”
    23 Hogwarts, But Green
    Host Quinn Rose with Anne Rose

    Highlights: Stephen Schwartz, the book was (not) better, shallow layers, down with the patriarchy, Star Trek, Frozen, don’t say that about my daughter, dream casting.

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    September 30, 2018 “Anything Goes”
    22 Rubik’s Cube of Musical Theater

    Highlights: Cole Porter, Ethel Merman, LCD Soundsystem (no, really), it’s on a boat, lots of different versions, rewriting the script, Glee, getting to Broadway shows on time.

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    September 15, 2018 “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
    21 Campy Rock’n’Roll Church

    Highlights: midnight screenings, yelling at actors, intentionally bad, a bit unintentionally bad, Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Silly Gay Film, queer representation, MST3K, The Room, a lot of sacrilege.

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    August 18, 2018 “Moulin Rouge”
    20 Only Lesbians Wear Pants

    Highlights: safe bets, The Disney Pattern, jukebox musicals, spoilers in the beginning, total love story, candelabra, special features, Come What May, Broadway transfers.

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    August 12, 2018 “Emojiland”
    19 Little Bit of Murder

    Highlights: bringing pride to the emoji name, metaphorical resonance, princesses, ever-changing versions, the progress bar, short runs, firewalls, Spongebob Squarepants.

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    July 21, 2018 “Ragtime”
    18 Talking About It Makes Me Cry

    Highlights: cars onstage, Audra McDonald, political relevance, diverging to dunk on Phantom again, stuffy white people, life changing theater, Hamilton (obviously).

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    July 8, 2018 “Into The Woods”
    17 Let Me Out!

    Highlights: #Justice4IntoTheWoodz, creative theater interpretations, James Corden?, Sondheim vs. Webber, a thousand stars, fractured fairytales, leaving at intermission, 80s synth, shade to the Phantom, good good theaters.

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    June 23, 2018 “Dear Evan Hansen”
    16 No, Evan, No

    Highlights: all downhill from the second Evan opens his mouth, emotional devastation, plays with music, family relationships, crying and singing, when you try your best but you don’t succeed.

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    June 10, 2018 “Thoroughly Modern Millie”
    15 A Mountain of Salt

    Highlights: tap-dancing, problematic musicals, Bunheads, breaking elevators, undead ghosts, #giveusalloftheprofessionallyfilmedbroadwayshows, subversion and failed subversion, “modern” music, selective value in harmful media

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    April 8, 2018 “The Last Five Years”
    14 Poetically Slimy

    Highlights: People who write musicals hate you, Jamie apologists, Ohio, feelings, timey-wimey, Jeremy Jordan, autobiographical, a very sad musical.

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    March 26, 2018 “The Threepenny Opera”
    13 Barely a Third Wall

    Highlights: missing second, third, and fourth walls, alienation, criticizing everyone but yourself, changing the blocking, German names, Sweeney Todd, “edgy,” scoundrel. liar. thief.

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    March 10, 2018 “Fun Home”
    12 Changing My Major
    Host Quinn Rose with Jen Lucas

    Highlights: the Bechdel test, tragicomics, gay teens, clothing choices, borrowing books, fun funeral songs.

    Thank you to Brian Hamilton for editing this episode.

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    February 24, 2018 “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812”
    11 Feelings About Him and His Hair

    Highlights: Lucas Steele, modern folk-pop, violin tattoos, great songs for not great people, problematic plots, real life controversy, Josh Groban, so many names.

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    February 10, 2018 “Chess”
    10 One-Hit Wonder

    Highlights: Mamma Mia, fascinatingly flawed, Cats, changing the book, Broadway flops, everyone is connected, American jerks, yogurt.

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    February 3, 2018 “Pippin”
    9 Electric Boogaloo

    Highlights: jumps and twists and twirls, corner of the sky, I’m extraordinary, Patina Miller, circular plots, fourth wall and the lack thereof, belting, do not try this at home.

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    July 30, 2017 “Les Miserables”
    8 Mustache-Twirly Villains

    Highlights: activism, movie adaptations, musical memes, tragedy in media, questionable casting decisions, “it’s not a happy musical”

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    July 22, 2017 “Rent”
    7 I Thought We Connected

    Highlights: bawling, secret musical theater iPods, selling out, context and lack thereof, dancing on tables, Rentheads, living in the moment.

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    July 15, 2017 “Spring Awakening”
    6 Peak Audience Member

    Highlights: high school theater people, angst, Pink Floyd, angst, Glee, angst, Cats, angst, soooo back to Spring Awakening.

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    July 8, 2017 “Fiddler on the Roof”
    5 Electronica Pop Version

    Highlights: Traditiooooon, match wordplay, family tension, bottle hats, being complicit, reinterpretation of characters, 7th grade musical productions.

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    June 24, 2017 “Tuck Everlasting”
    4 I Butchered Every Reference

    Highlights: immortality, Broadway babies, the early deaths of the 2016-17 season, feel-good musicals that make you sob, problematic marriage proposals, ballet as plot, evil bananas.

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    June 17, 2017 “Hamilton”
    3 Dark and Twisty Person
    Host Quinn Rose with Alex Cox

    Highlights: High school history, hip-hoperas, Alexander-Hamilton-in-training, moving to Chicago, a (not) surprising amount of Rent conversation, gender-swapping, Wayne Brady.

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    June 10, 2017 “Come From Away”
    2 One Thousand Stressed Out Couples

    Highlights: Idealism, Canadian jokes, Tony Awards, Tim Hortons, plane choreo, did we mention that this is Canadian?

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    June 3, 2017 “Phantom of the Opera”
    1 All You Need is Love and Other Stuff

    Highlights: spectacular spectacular, the Phantom is problematic, altos are better than sopranos, the Phantom is Batman, it’s scrap metal, the Phantom is Andrew Lloyd Webber, media at face value.

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    June 2, 2017 Introducing “Corner of the Sky.”
    0 Welcome to Corner of the Sky
    Host Quinn Rose

    Corner of the Sky, a new musical theater podcast, will be published every Saturday during June and July.

    Music is “In Your Robotic Heart” by Nicolai Heidlas.