POPULARITY
Be careful when you open the loop... A STRANGE LOOP is a musical outlier in many ways: it's one of the few Broadway shows to include book, music, and lyrics by one individual. It also won pretty much every award it could have (including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama) during its New York runs. But maybe most impressive is the sheer number of conversations one can have about it. This week we welcome Tony nominee L Morgan Lee (A STRANGE LOOP) to open as many of those loops as we can in about an hour's time. Adult conversations will include queer vs gay musicals, the not-so-subtle art of cruising, shame, identity, and more... (notice the ellipses) Follow L Morgan on Instagram at @lmorganlee and don't miss her March 31st as host of this year's Maestra Amplify 2025, a concert amplifying the women and non-binary musicians in the musical theatre industry. If you enjoyed this episode, try our FALSETTOS episode with Tony winner Michael Rupert. We've just announced our new series on PATREON! featuring conversations about the 10 musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (PS- one of them will be A STRANGE LOOP.) Join the PATREON! FAM tier today or be a Beginner for only $1. Don't forget to like and share our episodes on Instagram and TikTok. We have great playlists on Spotify. And be sure to check out our TeePublic Store where our profits from the designs are donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Most importantly, thank you for being part of this wonderful podcasting community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We're feeling a lot of pride (see what we did there?) about covering the musical FALSETTOS this month. Jeff calls this show the "M word," and our guest calls it "twelve years of his life." Tony-winner Michael Rupert (SWEET CHARITY, LEGALLY BLONDE, ON THE TOWN) began playing the role of Marvin off-off-Broadway in 1980 when MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS (or Act 1 of FALSETTOS) first premiered, and he continued on with the character through the full show's Broadway bow. It earned him his second Tony nomination and a lifetime of memories. Don't miss this very special episode with a very special guest. Michael Rupert is really good at posting memories on Instagram, so follow him @michaelrupertofficial. The best way to support "A Musical Theatre Podcast" is to share it! Give us a nice rating and review! You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and X for more great content. Be sure to join us over at PATREON! where for only $1 a month you receive a bonus episode and much more. And finally, don't forget about our TeePublic Store where all our profits are donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. More than anything, thank you for being part of this wonderful podcasting community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every week we make an exclusive short podcast for our Patreon supporters called 'The Monday Moot'. It's a kind of a sandbox where we air our thoughts on aspects of prehistoric archaeology. Sometimes, those thoughts become worthy topics for a wider audience and this is one of those instances. Here, Michael & Rupert ask if the word 'henge' has an impact on the way we view our circular earthworks in the UK. KENNY BROPHY INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/f6yQcGzqccg
Today — Sierra Vista City Council voted to approve a Performance and Evaluation Report, highlighting how federal funds were spent that benefited the city's low-income residents.Support the show: https://www.myheraldreview.com/site/forms/subscription_services/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For the video edition, click here and subscribe: https://youtu.be/tky3rf6s-jM INCLUDES IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WITH JOEL GREY, JOHN CULLUM, LEN CARIOU, BEN VEREEN, MICHAEL RUPERT, TERRENCE MANN, HOWARD MCGILLIN, BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, MARC KUDISCH, MICHAEL CERVERIS, NORM LEWIS, WILL CHASE, CHRISTOPHER SIEBER, NORBERT LEO BUTZ, CHRISTIAN BORLE, RAÚL ESPARZA, GAVIN CREEL, CHEYENNE JACKSON, AND JONATHAN GROFF In A Wonderful Guy, Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with 19 of Broadway’s most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, the talks dig deep into each actor’s career; together, these chapters tell the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past fifty years. Eddie Shapiro grew up singing music from every cast album he could get his hands on. He is the author of Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, Queens on the Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay and Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks, and hundreds of articles in various magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City and Los Angeles. https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Guy-Conversations-Musical-Theater/dp/0190929898 https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Like-Dame-Conversations-Musical/dp/019023119X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Nothing+Like+a+Dame&qid=1617225467&s=books&sr=1-1 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-wonderful-guy-eddie-shapiro/1137648180 https://www.stageandcinema.com/2021/03/29/book-review-a-wonderful-guy
Alison Franck (CSA) is a casting professional with over 20 years of Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, Regional Theatre, TV, Film, Commercial and Voice Over Casting experience. For a decade, she was the Casting Director for the prestigious regional theatre Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, where she cast over 50 productions with some of the theatre community's finest talent. Notable credits at Paper Mill include the Broadway transfer of I’m Not Rappaport starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, Anything Goes starring Chita Rivera, The Baker’s Wife starring Alice Ripley, The Chosen starring Theodore Bikel and John Lloyd Young, Baby starring La Chanze, Norm Lewis, Carolee Carmello, Michael Rupert and Chad Kimball, The Full Monty with Elaine Stritch, The Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave, and was the original Casting Director behind the Broadway transfer of Godspell, which included Telly Leung and Uzo Aduba. SHOW NOTES at DitchYourBackupPlan.com
Today, Michael Rupert is back! He talks about his experiences starring in City of Angels, Ragtime, Elegies, On The Town, Legally Blonde, and more! Here about trading replacements with John Rubinstein, developing "I Understand," his directing career, how William Finn changed, and more.
Backstage Babble is BACK this week, this time featuring an interview with the extremely talented Michael Rupert. Hear him talk about cut Sondheim songs, how to audition for William Finn, and Gwen Verdon as Bob Fosse's memory aide. Michael Rupert has had a truly legendary career in the theater, and I am honored that he shared it with me today.
MICHAEL RUPERT is a Tony award winning actor, writer and director. His Broadway credits include On The Town, Legally Blonde The Musical, Ragtime, Falsettos, City of Angels, Mail, Sweet Charity, Shakespeare’s Cabaret, Pippin and The Happy Time. Off-Broadway and regionally he’s been seen in Putting It Together, Dangerous Beauty, Elegies, A New Brain, Falsettos and The Merchant of Venice. As a writer/composer he’s written Mail and 3 Guys Naked From the Waist Down. He has also directed productions of Ragtime, Sweet Charity, Sunday in the Park With George, The Crucible, Spring Awakening, Parade and Off-Broadway’s Thrill Me for which he received a Drama Desk nomination.
In “Falsettos,” Michael Rupert created the central role of Marvin, a stressed-out husband who realizes that he’s gay and leaves his wife and son for a man while struggling to act responsibly toward his family. Singer, actor, director, and composer Rupert has often appeared on Broadway in musical theater and is also known for his musical scores. Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1951, Rupert appeared in various bit parts on popular television series already in his teens and early twenties. He made his Broadway debut in “The Happy Time” (1968), a musical by Kander and Ebb about a French-Canadian photographer who sees the world and gains fame, then returns to a provincial life in his hometown. The show stared Robert Goulet (who won the Tony® for Best Actor in a Musical), and Rupert, who played the photographer’s impressionable nephew, earned a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. In the mid-1970s Rupert took over the title role in the musical “Pippin,” set in eighth-century France and focusing on the son of Charlemagne (Pippin). Rupert returned to Broadway as one of the six performers in “Shakespeare’s Cabaret (1981),” consisting of musical settings of Shakespeare’s lyrics by Lance Mulcahy. In his next appearance on Broadway, Rupert gave a stand-out performance as Oscar in the 1986 revival of “Sweet Charity,” with a cast that also featured Debbie Allen and Bebe Neuwirth. For his performance as the claustrophobic accountant who gets stuck in an elevator with the leading lady and later becomes romantically involved with her, Rupert won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. It was in 1981 that Rupert assumed the persona of Marvin – a role he is particularly known for – in the original off-Broadway production of “March of the Falsettos,” written by William Finn. The character Marvin, a troubled Jewish husband and father who realizes that he’s gay and faces a dilemma as he weighs duty against desire, had already appeared in Finn’s musical “In Trousers” (1979), which did not feature Rupert; but Rupert’s portrayal of Marvin in the “March of the Falsettos” and its sequel, “Falsettoland” (1990), as well as in “Falsettos” (1992), which joined both plays on Broadway, became the benchmark performance. Rupert’s abilities as a creator were revealed in the off-Broadway musical “3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down” (1985), a high-energy comedy about three disgruntled comedians, for which Rupert wrote the score. His talents as both composer and performer came to Broadway in “Mail” (1988), an epistolary musical about a novelist – played by Rupert – who, after hiding away from his unsatisfying life, reads out letters that had piled up during his absence. Rupert wrote the score, Jerry Colker the book and lyrics. In 1991 Rupert took over the leading role of Stine in “City of Angels” and later stepped in to play Tateh in the musical “Ragtime.” Subsequent Broadway roles include Professor Callahan in the original cast of “Legally Blonde” (2007) and Pitkin in “On The Town.” (2014) Other off-Broadway and regional credits include “Ancient History,” “Putting It Together,” “Elegies,” “Baby,” “Thrill Me,” and “Adrift in Macao.” JONES.SHOW is a weekly podcast featuring host Randall Kenneth Jones (author, speaker & creative communications consultant) and Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri). #JonesingForGood Michael Rupert Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelJRupert Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelrupertofficial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRupertOfficial/ Listen to “A Blank Piece of Paper” from MAIL here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LlD_Pjj7d4 Jones.Show Online: Join us in the Jones.Show Lounge on Facebook Twitter (Randy): https://twitter.com/randallkjones Instagram (Randy): https://www.instagram.com/randallkennethjones/ Facebook (Randy): https://www.facebook.com/mindzoo/ LinkedIn (Randy): https://www.linkedin.com/in/randallkennethjones/ Web: RandallKennethJones.com Twitter (Susan): https://twitter.com/SiriouslySusan Instagram (Susan): https://www.instagram.com/siriouslysusan/ Facebook (Susan): https://www.facebook.com/siriouslysusan/ LinkedIn (Susan): https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-bennett-8607312/ Web: SusanCBennett.com www.Jones.Show
In this episode, Hayden and Damon start off with a debrief of the film Threads and nuke-induced suicide schemes (6:47). Next, Hayden unveils the cultish property developer scamming doomsday preppers into 99 year bunker leases on finance (16:13). After this, Damon gives an overview of the film, Collapse, followed by a talk about the film's protagonist and real-world conspiracy buster, Michael Rupert (47:17). In quick hits, the guys offer five films each that every 16 year old should watch and riff on more current media consumption (58:33). Links: Modern Guilt Subreddit Listen to Glenn Miller Watch Collapse The Vivos website Listen to DC
Join us for the first-ever LEGALLY BLONDE MUSICAL REUNION. 20 members of the original Broadway company along with the show's creators, director/choreography and producers come together to share crazy behind-the-curtain memories and to celebrate and raise money for BC/EFA's COVID-19 Emergency Fund. DEEP DIVE BROADWAY welcomes Laura Bell Bundy, Annaliegh Ashford, Andy Karl, Orfeh, Richard Blake, Leslie Kritzer, Nikki Snelson, Michael Rupert, Kate Shindle, Asmeret Ghebremikael, Kate Wetherhead, Natalie Joy Johnson and Becky Gulvisg along with creators Larry O'Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach, director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell and Producers Hal Luftig, Mike Isaacson and Dori Berinstein for this special podcast event. Please join us in supporting BC/EFA by making a contribution to Broadwaycares.org/help2020. To watch the video of this live event, please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7zwtz-GE8U
If we're talking about standing stones and the Neolithic, then we have to talk about origins ... and if we talk about origins we have to talk about the Middle East and Anatolia. If we talk about the Middle East and Anatolia, the names Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe seem to come up. But Tell Qaramel? Tell es-Sultan? Motza? Maybe nearer to home on the Danube; Lepinski Vir? By merely scratching the surface of the subject of ancient settlements, Michael & Rupert have their minds quietly blown taking on the implications of the timescales involved in relation to our own, home-grown developments in the British Neolithic.
Actor, singer, director, and composer Michael Rupert is a bona fide Broadway legend. The Denver native, who grew up in Los Angeles and acted in numerous television programs during the 1960s, moved to New York at age 17 to play a role in the Kander-Ebb musical The Happy Time On Broadway. He received a Tony Award nomination for his efforts. In 1986, he starred in the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity and WON the Best Actor Tony. Since then he's appeared in numerous shows On Broadway (Ragtime, City of Angels, Pippin, and Legally Blonde) and Off (Falsettos, Putting in Together, and others). He's also an accomplished singer with numerous tracks; check out the Varese Sarabande collection. During February 2019, he was in Pittsburgh directing Point Park University's student production of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park With George.
In a very special 1 hour 45 minute extended episode (you have been warned), Michael & Rupert explore the science of archaeoastronomy and surprise themselves at how long they are able to talk on the subject. However, there's still time for pushing a boundary, some news, a question, a Stonehead of the Month and a fascinating bit of neolithic audio whimsey. Show notes not available at time of publication but will be available soon at https://www.standingstones.net/sws-009-archaeoastronomy
We are starting 2017 off with a bang: A 2 hour interview with the Tony Award winning Michael Rupert, who has been in the business for over fifty years! Michael pulls back the curtain on his amazing career which includes working as a child actor in TV shows like My Three Sons, getting a Tony nomination as a teenager for The Happy Time, the existential crisis of taking over for Pippin in the 70s, winning a Tony Award in the 80s for Sweet Charity, bringing comfort to many as Falsettos' Marvin in 90s, and being introduced to a whole new generation through Legally Blonde in the 2000s. Also, Michael discusses how his kindness won over Gower Champion, the art of Bob Fosse's manipulation, and the difference between West Coast and East Coast audiences. Plus: Jerry Mitchell's rehearsals, William Finn's genius, and in depth discussions on two of our favorite musicals 3 Guys Naked From The Waist Down & Mail.
In this Taxday Blood moon edition of the show, we talk with Guillermo Jimenez is the host of the Traces of Reality Radio show and Demanufacturing Consent, an exclusive weekly podcast on Boiling Frogs Post. We discuss the situation on the Clive Bundy Ranch, the police state, and recent suicide of Michael Rupert.
A musical gets a second life as Cabrillo Stage rolls out a new version of “Lunch: A Modern Musical Myth” this week. I spoke to two members of the Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Golden Globe-nominated creative team: composer Steve Dorff and book writer Rick Hawkins. They told me why they felt the story of 11th-hour redemption was ripe for revival, and how they updated both script and songs. We also listened to some of the original music, recorded in 1994 with an all-star studio cast including Carol Burnett, Michael Rupert, Laurie Beechman and Davis Gaines. Lunch Reimagined premieres Jan 3 at Cabrillo Stage.
"Legally Blonde"'s resident legal shark Michael Rupert talks about why his role as that musical's unsavory Professor Callahan is consistent with other roles he often plays and talks about being the senior member of a youthful company; recalls being cast at age 15 by Gower Champion in "The Happy Time" and what he learned from Robert Goulet, Charles Durning and Kander & Ebb in that production; describes working with Bob Fosse on two productions -- replacing John Rubenstein in the title role of "Pippin" (which Rupert says was Fosse's metaphor for the Manson Family) and later playing Oscar in the 1986 revival of "Sweet Charity"; reflects on the role of Marvin in the various incarnations of William Finn's "Falsettos" over more than a decade; and chronicles his parallel theatrical career as the composer of "3 Guys Naked Form The Waist Down", "Mail" and the upcoming "Streets Of America". Original air date - February 15, 2008.
Legally Blonde's resident legal shark Michael Rupert (winner of a 1986 Tony Award for his Featured Role in Sweet Charity) talks about why his role as that musical's unsavory Professor Callahan is consistent with other roles he often plays and talks about being the senior member of a youthful company; recalls being cast at age 15 by Gower Champion in The Happy Time and what he learned from Robert Goulet, Charles Durning and Kander & Ebb in that production; describes working with Bob Fosse on two productions -- replacing John Rubenstein in the title role of Pippin (which Rupert says was Fosse's metaphor for the Manson Family) and later playing Oscar in the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity; reflects on the role of Marvin in the various incarnations of William Finn's Falsettos over more than a decade; and chronicles his parallel theatrical career as the composer of 3 Guys Naked Form The Waist Down, Mail and the upcoming Streets Of America.
"Legally Blonde"'s resident legal shark Michael Rupert talks about why his role as that musical's unsavory Professor Callahan is consistent with other roles he often plays and talks about being the senior member of a youthful company; recalls being cast at age 15 by Gower Champion in "The Happy Time" and what he learned from Robert Goulet, Charles Durning and Kander & Ebb in that production; describes working with Bob Fosse on two productions -- replacing John Rubenstein in the title role of "Pippin" (which Rupert says was Fosse's metaphor for the Manson Family) and later playing Oscar in the 1986 revival of "Sweet Charity"; reflects on the role of Marvin in the various incarnations of William Finn's "Falsettos" over more than a decade; and chronicles his parallel theatrical career as the composer of "3 Guys Naked Form The Waist Down", "Mail" and the upcoming "Streets Of America". Original air date - February 15, 2008.