Episodes

In this episode, Albert Evans and I take an in-depth look at two classic musicals that went head to head at the 1958 TONY Awards -- .West Side Story and The Music Man. We explore the conception, development and storied history of these legendary shows, and look “under the hood” to discover just what it is that makes them so great. After you listen, let me know which show you think truly deserved to win the prize for "Best Musical"!.

This is the second part of my discussion with Tony Award winning Costume Designer Ann Hould-Ward in which we trace the legacy chain of Broadway costume design expertise that was handed down directly over a 100 year period from Aileen Bernstein to Irene Sharriff to Patricia Zipprott to Ann Hould-Ward, herself.

One of the main threads of this podcast is how the arts and crafts of the Broadway Musical have been handed down directly from one practitioner to the next, generation to generation. In this episode I trace the legacy chain of Broadway Costume Design that was handed down directly from Aileen Bernstein to Irene Sharaff to Patricia Zipprott to Ann Hould-Ward. I recently had the pleasure of discussing all this with Ann Hould-Ward herself. Hould-Ward is the Tony Award winning costume designer whose work includes the original Broadway productions of Beauty And The Beast, Into The Woods, Sunday In The Park With George, Falsettos, and the recent revival of The Color Purple.

The Golden Age of Broadway’s new revolutionary way of writing musicals did not just apply to musical plays like those of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe – it also transformed the Musical Comedy. In this episode I share the stories of how their success with Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun and Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate inspired a new generation of writers, directors, choreographers, stars and producers including Jule Styne, Frank Loessor, Adler & Ross, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon and Michael Kidd to bring the Musical Comedy to new heights!

In this episode Albert Evans and I tell the story Trude Rittman who during the "Golden Age of Broadway" (and beyond) composed music for 33 Broadway musicals including Carousel, Brigadoon, South Pacific, Fininan’s Rainbow, The King and I, My Fair Lady, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan, The Sound of Music, and Camelot.

In this episode I explore two musicals that led to the "Golden Age of Broadway" -- Lady In The Dark and On The Town. And I highlight the career of Lerner & Loewe, the first major team to follow in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s footsteps, and rival their achievements with their musicals Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot!

Stephen Sondheim considers "The Bench Scene" in Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL to be “the singular most important moment in the evolution of contemporary musicals.” In this episode the amazing Albert Evans takes us inside the music with his fascinating, in-depth look at this landmark musical sequence.

In this episode Albert Evans and I continue our exploration of the amazing "legacy chain" during which the art and craft of writing Broadway Musicals was handed down directly from Otto Harbach to Oscar Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim to Lin-Manwell Miranda. The shows of these four great artists encompass almost the entire 125 year history of the Musical and demonstrate how the Musical evolved from "Silver Age" to "Golden Age" to the "Modern Era", and right up to HAMILTON today.

In this episode and the next Albert Evans and I explore the knowledge, understanding, and skills that were handed down directly from Otto Harbach to Oscar Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim to Lin-Manwell Miranda. Listen to the story of how the Musical evolved from "Silver Age" to "Golden Age" and right up to HAMILTON today.

During the 1930s Broadway was severely impacted by the economic disaster of the "Great Depression". However, somehow out of all that hardship and struggle rose an extraordinary period of artistic achievement and spectacular development for the Broadway Musical.

This episode explores at the first half of what I call "The Silver Age Of Broadway" -- a period that spans from the end of WWI to the opening of CAROUSEL in 1945. "The Roaring '20s" brought The Jazz Age to Broadway via a new crop of brilliant young songwriters including George & Ira Gershwin; Rudolf Friml, Rodgers & Hart; Vincent Youmans & Irving Ceasar; DeSylva, Brown & Henderson and more!

In this episode I share the often overlooked stories of Broadway's groundbreaking female choreographers including Aida Overton Walker, Gertrude Hoffman, Albertina Rauch, Hanya Holm,, Onna White, and especially Agnes DeMille who is arguably the most important woman in the history of the Musical. I also profile the two queer women that invented the art and craft of Broadway lighting design as we know it: Jean Rosenthal & Tharon Musser. Special thanks to Alan Fitzpatrick for his vocal acting contributions.

In this episode my special guest Albert Evans and I will share the often overlooked stories of Broadway's female songwriters and bookwriters including Dorothy Donnelly, Betty Comden, Bella Spewack, Mary Rodgers, Carolyn Leigh, and Dorothy Fields - whose amazing 50-year career stretched from the vaudeville era to the age of rock!

In this episode David Armstrong shares the fascinating stories of Broadway's defining queer choreographers Robert Alton & Jack Cole, the legendary gay songwriters Noel Coward and Larry Hart, and prolific bookwriter Herbert Fields, who may be one of the most significant and least known inventors of the Broadway Musical!

In this episode David Armstrong shares the fascinating stories of early queer producing and life partners Charles Frohman and Charles Dillingham; the first great gay director Hassard Short, drag superstars Julian Eltinge & Bert Savoy, the "Pansy Craze", and the immortal Cole Porter!

The 1920's begin to roar when Eubie Blake and many other brilliant black theater artists bring the Jazz Age to Broadway..

African-American theater artists played a much larger role in the creation of the Broadway Musical than is generally acknowledged -- including an entire decade of nearly forgotten hit shows and songs! In this episode we will rediscover the early history of Black Broadway, and the amazingly multi-talented men and women whose legacy still inspires Broadway today,

In this episode David Armstrong and special quest Albert Evans continue the amazing story of how Jewish, Irish and other immigrants invented the Broadway Musical -- including the immortal contributions of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, McCarthy & Tierney, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice,, and Florenz Ziegfeld.

In this episode, host David Armstrong, along with special guest, Albert Evans, begin to tell the amazing story of how Immigrants, Jews, Queers, and African-Americans invented America's signature art form -- the Broadway Musical.