Chewing The Scenery

This week's guest is the hilarious Jonathan Hoover: "just a gay man casually awaiting a cease-and-desist letter from Patti Lupone." Jonathan is an amazingly talented musical theatre performer behind Inappropriate Patti: the Instagram sensation that features his hilarious impersonations of Patti Lupone. We'll find out how it all started and what doors may have opened for him because of his success as Ms. Lupone. We'll enjoy our signature drink, the "Who Do You Think You MAR(garita)," as we learn how everything started for Jonathan, from growing up in California with an opera singer mother to taking his talents across the country to NYC. Of course, we'll get his opinions on The Whether Report and bring back a fun-filled version of Encyclopedia Theatrica a la Lupone! So, grab a cocktail and play along cuz it's always more fun Together - Wherever We Go! (see... Patti sang that song in Gyp... oh, never mind!)

Labor (Day) of Love

Fasten your seatbelts, theatre lovers, cuz this one is gonna be a bump-(and grind)-y ride!! For the start of our third cycle (and our 2nd year!), the irresistably naughty Bridget Everett joins us and we talk all about her journey from Kansas-born, ASU opera student to darling of the NYC cabaret world to executive producing and starring in her upcoming HBO series!! We'll get the scoop on all sorts of stars Bridget has had the honor of working with, from Amy Schumer to Patti Lupone and more! It's sure to be a wild ride as we slurp on our Chardonnays, quiz Bridget with The Whether Report and challenge her with a very sexy return to Cast, Keep or Cut: Bridget Everett style!

It's been one whole year, people, and we are ready to celebrate this singularly, sensational achievement on our 25th episode! We will look back at "cycle two" of our show and celebrate all that we've achieved so far - naming names and playing games all along the way! And, what's the biggest thrill for Ashley and Scott? We have a guest host grilling us with all the hard-hitting questions: Our fabulous friend and Episode 23 guest, Katie McFadzen, returns to Star Worldwide Networks with martini shaker in hand. Anyone up for our drink of the week? The "What I Did for Booze" will NOT disappoint! So, take this trip down memory lane with us and you may just hear some behind the scenes tales that have never been revealed - til now!

Tregoney Shepherd is in the studio with us this week and we are beside ourselves with excitement! Tregoney is a Valley of the Sun native who made it to the top with Broadway runs and National Tours of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera and additional tours of Mary Poppins and a little show you may have heard of...Wicked!!  No wonder she created her own show called Bigger is Better - she knows all about the big time!  Find out all about her theatrical journey and how it has all led back to home.  Along the way, Scott and Ashley will get their draaank on with our secret word of the day and we might even have a super secret special guest join us for the return of an oldie but goodie: Musical Madlibs!  It really can't get any bigger or better than this!

On this week's episode we are thrilled to chat with Katie McFadzen and Debra K Stevens - two amazing theatre artists who have made a huge impact on the world of Theatre for Young Audiences both here in Arizona and across the country. But don't let TYA scare you. We will, of course, be drinking our fill of the cocktail of the week while we play a hilarious round of 2 Truths and a Lie and introduce our brand-new quiz game: Encyclopedia Theatrica! And yes, the questions just might get a little racy as we use Katie and Deb's most recent (decidedly non-TYA) production of Becoming Dr. Ruth as our jumping off point! That's right, we're getting a little sexy AND tipsy and we think you are gonna love it!

This week's episode is a Hollywood fairytale come true as we chat with the anything-but-typical actress, Rachel Redleaf! Find out how Rachel went from the youth theatre stages of Scottsdale, AZ to playing the recurring role of bubbly Beth Chapin in the Netflix hit, Atypical. Along her incredible journey she's even given us a little Mama Cass in Quintin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! As per usual, we'll ask her all the hard-hitting questions, but we'll give our "Front Row Fans" a turn, too, with the return of our Breaking the Fourth Wall segment! Along the way, we'll take lots of gulps of our signature cocktail: The Atypi-tini. That should get us just loose enough to take Rachel back to her musical theatre roots with our super fun game: Musical Acronyms. Come on and drink along, sing along and laugh along with us - you won't regret it!

We know you're wondering, "How could Scott and Ashley put together a show that features improv acting, musical theatre and The Bachelor?!" To which we reply, "What're you? Living under a rock?" Richelle Meiss is in the mansion and she's gonna serve us our "most dramatic episode yet" as she lets us into the world of Bachelor: The Unauthorized Parody Musical! We're gonna hear about how she started, what it's like to be part of the Upright Citizens Brigade, how she parlayed a TikTok frenzy over her hilarious Bachelor songs into a full-fledged future national tour and sooooo much more. I mean, it's better than an episode of "the women tell all!" Join us in sipping our drink of the week, The Final Ros...e' and laughing our faces off in the ridiculous Actors Die So Loud! We promise this is a Group Date that is sooo worth it!

How do you go from the corn fields of Iowa to being the first American Eponine on Broadway? How do you go from playing Columbia in the Rocky Horror show in early 80s San Fran to becoming the darling of Andrew Lloyd Webber? How do you have a fabulous and varied Broadway and touring career and then reinvent yourself in Phoenix, AZ? It's all about staying power people, and Kelli James is singing it loud and proud: "I'm Still Here!" Find out all about Kelli's amazing artistic journey while enjoying our drink of the week, "The Delicious Diva" (of course) and play along as we revisit the hilarious game Stop the Words, I Wanna Get Off featuring a surprise returning guest! This is one for the books - don't miss it!

It's a bonus episode!!! And, oh what a bonus it is! We have Lana Gordon and Jelani Remy in the house. These powerhouse, triple-threat performers are here to talk all about their upcoming concert in Scottsdale: Broadway Perspectives - A Concert Celebrating Diversity. You know how we are, though, and we are going to get them talking about soooo much more. From where it all started to their stunning debuts in The Lion King and fabulous forks in the road that led to things like Chicago and Ain't Too Proud - we'll get all the facts and the fun out of these two! See how they handle the challenges of our hilarious games, "The Whether Report" and "Two Truths and a Lie...on King" and see how they handle their alcohol as we slurp up our drink of the week - The Broadway Breeze. All this and lots more are heading your way. Listen and share today!!

Episode 18 brings us back into the Valley of the Sun with superstars Robert Kolby Harper and Toby Yatso. You know, art isn't easy, but Robbie and Toby have been putting it all together to create fantastic and varied theatrical careers in Phoenix. They are two of the leaders who are helping to shape our theatrical community through their amazing talents as performers, teachers, and developers of new work. Now that all sounds REAL serious, but trust us, along the way there will be lots of laughs as we try not to get too punchy swilling down our drink of the week - the delicious margarita: "Bit by Bit (Putting in Tequila)" - yum! And don't miss our brand-new game, Musical Acronyms, where we test Robbie and Toby in their musical theatre knowledge - who will have braggin' rights? You gotta listen and find out!

We are so excited to have the "elegant" and talented Chelsea Groen join us for Episode 17! She recently finished playing Minnie Fay in the National Tour of Hello, Dolly! with Carolee Carmello and we can't wait to get all the tea!! We'll find out about her journey from a being a busy child actor (she did Annie, like, EVERYWHERE) to attending the prestigious University of Michigan to becoming a working actor in NYC. How Chelsea finds time to be a fitness trainer and stay actively involved in a number of nonprofits, is anybody's guess! But, you won't have to guess, cuz we're gonna ask her! And, yes, we'll do our best to elicit her totally infectious giggles as we gulp down our drink of the week - The Cherries and Feathers Fizz, tackle Ashley's Whether Report and celebrate the return of our exciting and hilarious game, Musical Numbers.

Episode 16 brings us the Broadway power couple, Krystina Alabado and Robert Lenzi. When Broadway shut down, Krystina was wowing audiences every night as Gretchen Weiners in Mean Girls and Bob was turning it out in Tina, the Tina Turner Musical! Find out how they made their way to the Great White Way, their thoughts on what it's like to originate roles on Broadway, the return of questions from our "Front Row Fans"...and so much more. And we'll do it all while we enjoy our drink of the week the Fetch Fizz - Oh, yes. We ARE making fetch happen! We'll have you tickled pink over the choices Krystina and Bob make on "The Whether Report" and we'll crown an Apex Predator in the return of our singing quiz game, "First and Last." This one is packed full of fun so don't miss it or...like..."boo, you whore."

We're thrilled to start our second season with Mike Heslin and Nic Wilson (Scotty Dynamo) from the hilarious new series The Influencers (available on Amazon Prime Video). Find out how they got to where they are today from their humble theatre-kid roots in Phoenix, AZ and Toronto, Canada (respectively) and how their artistic love match happened. We'll try our best to avoid saying the secret word but, of course, we'll get in plenty of slurps of our signature cocktail: The Under the Influence(rs) as we celebrate the triumphant return of The Whether Report with Ashley Stults and revisit our fun, frolicking and frisky game, Backstage Romance!! This just may be our most "influential" episode to date! (See what we did there?)

In our final episode of our first season, Scott and Ashley will interview...Scott and Ashley!! You'll find out more about our sordid, colorful pasts as we gulp down your signature drink - the Musical Mayhem Mai Tai and relive some of our favorite Chewing the Scenery moments. We'll play games, sing songs, give out our first ever CTS Class Superlatives and...laugh - Laugh loud and lots! Maybe we'll even have a surprise returning guest!! Come on along for this fun-filled trip down memory lane!

Our guest for our 13th episode couldn't be a better choice with his affinity for a certain black cat: the one on the logo for Stray Cat Theatre! Ron May has us practically purring over the fourth in our bonus episodes focused on Artistic Directors! You'll find out all about Ron's beginnings and what brought him from Chicago to the Phoenix Valley of the Sun to found one of the best edgy, "indy" theatres around! Along the way we'll be sipping saucers full of our drink of the week: The Meow-jito, we'll be mewing out more than a few laughs with our hilarious improv game: "Actors Die So Loud," and we'll yowl like cats in heat during a few of rounds of what's sure to be a new fav - "Two Truths and a Lie." You cats don't wanna miss this one!!

​Episode 12 features two of the fantastically talented performers from the hit Broadway National Tour of Disney's Frozen the Musical! Both Caelen Creaser and Mason Reeves have ties to the Phoenix area with Caelen attending ASU for musical theatre and Mason growing up doing theatre in the Valley of the Sun. As soon as they were done with their studies (and maybe just a bit before) they were each chosen out of thousands of auditioners to help bring Frozen to life for audiences all over the country. Find out about their journeys to NYC while enjoying this week's signature drink: the "Frozen Frosé." Watch out for brain freeze, though...cuz you don't wanna miss a minute of our fun Frozen edition of Ashley's Whether Report, our fresh-as-the-driven-snow quiz game "Stop the Words, I Want to Get Off!" or the cool questions we (and maybe some of our Front Row Fans) have planned for these two up and coming stars!!

From the grit of writing and producing their own hilarious virtual content to the glamour of strutting their stuff in the Off-Broadway revival of Pageant, our guests for episode 11 have really got "That Something Extra." Alex Ringler and Seth Tucker honed their skills in Arizona and then took separate paths to the City that Never Sleeps. Who knew that, along the way, their paths would cross again? Only this time, they'd be wearing pumps! Find out all about their trials and tribulations as they take a bite out of the Big Apple. And, hey, why not play a few hilarious games and drink a couple of swigs of our signature drink while you're at it! But don't get too tipsy - you don't want to miss a second of this extraordinarily EXTRA episode!

Our 10th episode (yay!) is another of our bonus interviews with Artistic Directors. This time we have the honor of talking with Sean Daniels and Chanel Bragg - the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director, respectively, of the Arizona Theatre Company. ATC is a powerhouse regional theatre and Sean, in his first season, and Chanel, just starting in this new position, are poised to take it to the next level! Learn all about what it takes to push it to the limits and build and engage a theatrical community. And enjoy the A(Long-Island-Iced)TC cocktail while we grill our guests in Ashley's Whether Report and challenge their improv acting chops in our hilarious new game: Actors Die So Loud!

In Episode 9 we have the great pleasure of chatting with Nick Cartell and Natalie Charle Ellis. Nick just came back to NYC after playing Jean Valjean for two and half years on the Les Miserables National Tour and Natalie recently finished the run of Beetlejuice on Broadway. What led them from the youth theatre stages of Phoenix to the Great White Way? We'll tell you how it all happened AND we may get just a little toasty as we take swigs from our signature drink: The Moments in the Woods Manhattan. There'll be laughs, gossip, the return of Ashley's "Whether Report" and a little friendly competition with our new game, Stop the Words - I Want to Get Off! Trust us, you never know what you're gonna get when you reunite these two theatrical phenoms!!

On our 8th episode we have the incredible luck to get to chat with the hilarious and absolute NUT: Kathy Fitzgerald! Kathy has been on Broadway for over 25 years in shows ranging from The Producers to Wicked. You'll learn all about her journey, plus: Why we call the episode "That Old Black Magic?" Who are Kathy's favorite celebs she's worked with? Can she hold on to her Equity card after playing our exciting quiz game "Musical Numbers?" Find out the answers to these questions and many more while we all try not to get too tipsy enjoying our Wickedly green signature drink: No One Mourns the Whiskey!

Our 7th episode is another in our bonus Artistic Director series featuring Valley Youth Theatre's Bobb Cooper. Find out all about this amazing Youth Theatre in Phoenix and how Bobb went from LA actor and kid's performer to running a small theatre for youth and building it into a million-dollar powerhouse! We'll play games, including the hilarious new Broadway Balderdash and, of course, we'll sip on our signature drink, "Over the Purple, Sparkly Rainbow" every time we say this week's secret word! It's an episode of theatre magic and theatrical mayhem that you don't want to miss!

Trust us, there will be no filters holding us back on episode 6 as we talk with the one and only Brita Filter! The NYC drag queen comes to us straight from competing on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12 and she has plenty of tea to spill. Find out how theatre played such an important role in the journey to becoming Brita, learn who her early drag influences were (the answer truly shocked us) and join us in our signature cocktail: The Anything But Pure as we play our fierce and fabulous new game "Casting Queen!" Oh, the SHADE of it all!

For episode 5 we go back to the road with the national tour of Beautiful the Carole King Musical! Music Director and Conductor Alan J Plado and lead actor James D Gish (Gerry Goffin) tell us all about their journeys from the stages of Phoenix to the glamorous world of Broadway National Tours! You don't want to miss a second of this informative and ridiculously fun podcast as we talk shop, play games, sing songs and maybe take a swig of tequila now and again!

In Episode 4 we have our first in a list of Artistic Directors we'll be visiting with over the season: Michael Barnard of The Phoenix Theatre Company. Michael is truly a renaissance man in the theatre world and has tons of great stories to share. Have a drink of our signature cocktail the "Let Me Cabernet You" while we get audition tips, welcome the return of Ashley's Whether Report and play our exciting new game: Cast, Keep or Cut.

Episode 3 is a Moulin Rouge love story... with a much happier ending! Benjamin Rivera and Connor Wince are uber talented dancers who met auditioning for the new Broadway musical Moulin Rouge! Find out how they work toward their dreams and balance that with a new relationship. Plus, drink up with our signature cocktail “The Sparkling Diamond,” listen to fan questions and find out who takes the winners trophy in our new games: Dance Ten, Looks Three and Backstage Romance!

Episode 2 features two of the amazing performers from the hit Broadway musical, Dear Evan Hansen! Phoebe Koyabe and Sam Primack were both in high school in the suburbs of Phoenix when they were chosen out of thousands to become part of the DEH family. Find out about their journeys to Broadway while enjoying this week's signature drink: the "So Big, So Small." Try not to get too tipsy, though...you don't wanna miss a minute of our fun new quiz game "Musical Numbers" and the burning questions we (and maybe some of our fans) have planned for these two stars!!

In our premiere episode you’ll meet future Broadway star of the upcoming musical Almost Famous, Casey Likes, and his mother, former Broadway star Stephanie Likes. What led each of them from the Phoenix suburbs to the stages of Broadway? Who were their greatest influences? Why is “Les Fizzerables” the signature drink for this episode? These are just some of the burning questions we’ll answer - plus play games, sing Musical Madlibs and so much more!!