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Carefully Taught: Teaching Musical Theatre with Matty and Kikau
Jessica Humphrey is the President of the Musical Theater Educators' Alliance and an Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University. In this episode we discuss the Musical Theater Common Prescreen Criteria developed in partnership with MTEA, Accptd, and several Musical Theater programs across the country. We also discuss the upcoming MTEA conference in London at the Guilford School of Acting from July 23rd to July 25th, 2024. Her recommendations include: Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution by Todd S. Purdum and getting an “old-fashioned” planner! Jessica is a native of Dallas, Texas and attended Western Carolina University where she received a Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre. This is where she first started working as a dance captain for Tony nominee Charlotte d'Amboise and assistant to Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann both on productions and at their summer intensive, Triple Arts. She has continued to assist the husband and wife team until she moved to TCU. Both Terrence and Charlotte directed Jessica in shows such as A Chorus Line (where she eventually took over the role of Cassie when Tony nominated actress Ariana DeBose suffered an injury), Sweeney Todd (Johanna) and Pirates of Penzance (Edith). Jessica went on to work as a dance captain for original Rent dance captain, Owen Johnston and spent two summers as the dance captain for Wild Adventures Theme Park. After graduating in 2011, she moved to New York City where she performed in several regional shows including the regional debut of The Boy from Oz, Cats (Rumpleteazer) and Into the Woods (Little Red). Some other favorite productions have included Dames at Sea (Joan), West Side Story (Anybodys) and Brigadoon (Bonnie Jean). Eventually she decided it was time to further her education and completed her Masters in Musical Theatre at San Diego State University where she received support from the Roscoe-Tiffany MFA Musical Theatre Scholarship and the Marion Ross Scholarship. The program is one of only a few in the nation with a terminal degree in musical theatre, and the only one that has a clear focus on both performance and academia. An important aspect of this program is working on developing new musical theatre works. Jessica worked with Dallas natives in developing the show “On the Eve” and with Tony Award Winner BD Wong and Wayne Barker on the show, “Mister Doctor”. Jessica went on to work with BD and Wayne again in New York, on a new musicalized version of Mister Holland's Opus. Jessica taught classes such as History of Musical Theatre, Acting I, and Musical Theatre performance. While completing her thesis on the evolution of rap in musical theatre, Jessica left California in order to perform in Alaska as Peter in Peter Pan. While flying every night, and completing her thesis, she also worked to choreograph numbers for the Aztec Follies, a cabaret of graduate students filmed for PBS. During her time in grad school, Jessica also worked at the famed La Jolla Playhouse, in the Development Department and the Musical Theatre Archive at SDSU, the largest Musical Theatre Archive west of the Mississippi. After moving back to New York City, where she resided until August 2018, Humphrey worked with organizations such as the Ziegfeld Society, Rosie's Theatre Kids, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She continues to study voice with the esteemed instructor Andrew Byrne and works as a performer both onstage and in voiceover.
Todd S. Purdum, staff writer at The Atlantic, discusses his new book, Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution, with Don Aucoin, chief theater critic for The Boston Globe.
“Something Wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution” book by Todd Purdum. Reno Lovison theater reviewer and executive producer at ChicagoBroadcastingNetwork.com provides a book review with a Chicago spin as well as his personal connection to the works for Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Todd Purdum, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and a senior writer at Politico, discusses his own life-long love of the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and why their Broadway shows like South Pacific are so timeless. He reveals how Oklahoma! revolutionized the Broadway musical and how their shows perfectly tapped into the mood of post-war America. He talks about how Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein bravely addressed social injustices in their work, and how Hammerstein's politics landed him in hot water at the height of McCarthyism. He discusses their troubled relationship with Hollywood and why the film version of The Sound of Music has been something of a mixed blessing for the R & H legacy. Plus Todd Purdum talks about how the troubling themes of spousal abuse and suicide in Carousel play with modern audiences in a new Broadway revival, what Donald Trump could learn from The King and I, and the Dominican nun who served as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s behind-the-scenes collaborator. Order Todd Purdum's fantastic book Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution on Amazon or Audible, and look for his regular political articles in Vanity Fair. Today’s podcast was sponsored by Outside the Box podcast, Michelin Premiere Tires, and Legal Shield.
Todd S. Purdum talks about “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” and Fran Leadon discusses “Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles.”