'Seat Of Our Pants' At The Public - All Of It with Alison Stewart

Podcast Summary: "Seat Of Our Pants" At The Public

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Original Air Date: November 27, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of "All Of It" dives into the new musical The Seat of Our Pants — an absurdist, musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s 1942 play The Skin of Our Teeth, set at The Public Theater in New York. Host Alison Stewart hosts a lively panel discussion and live performances with the show’s adapter and composer Ethan Lipton, as well as major cast members Ruthie Ann Miles, Micaela Diamond, Damon Dono, Allie Bonino, and Michael Lepore. The episode explores the creative process behind adapting this legendary play into a genre-hopping musical, its allegorical resonance, and the human themes of resilience and failure it probes.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Adapting "The Skin of Our Teeth" Into a Musical

Guests: Ethan Lipton (Adapter, Composer & Lyricist)

First Encounter With Wilder:
- Lipton recalls seeing Our Town as a child, and later The Skin of Our Teeth in college, not fully grasping it at first:
  
  "I wasn't sure I totally got [The Skin of Our Teeth], which I think is an experience that a lot of people have with that play for the first time." (01:44)
Origin of the Adaptation:
- Jeremy McCarter (now executor of the Wilder estate) approached Lipton 12 years ago about adapting the play, thinking his sensibility would fit its playful treatment of serious themes:
  
  "I was just so touched by it. You know, it's so ambitious and epic and it's really playful about serious things and I like to be playful about serious things." (02:36)
Lipton’s Songwriting Process:
- He doesn’t use traditional notation or play instruments:
  
  "I kind of write songs like a five year old, which means I sing them until they have a form. And I do that...dozens or hundreds of times..." (03:19)
- Was initially “very polite” with the text—then realized reverence didn’t suit such an irreverent work:
  
  "You can't be reverent and respectful with such an irreverent play. I really just had to trust my own intuition..." (04:26)

2. The Characters and Themes of Family, Survival, and Human Nature

Guests: Ruthie Ann Miles (Maggie Antrobus), Michael Lepore (multi-instrumentalist, plays various characters)

Mrs. Antrobus (Maggie):
- Ruthie Ann Miles describes her as “every mom all the time,” juggling children, home, and crisis:
  
  "We have to wear 10 different hats all the time... Yes, honey, of course. But also, you drive me absolutely crazy..." (05:41)
- Maggie’s priorities are immediate: keep children warm, fed, and the family steady in crisis:
  
  "The best way to keep everyone moving forward, everyone safe, everyone happy, everyone fed, is... Keep your emotions in check. Better yet, push it so far down, you don't even see it." (07:20)

3. Featured Song: "Stuff It Down Inside"

Setup:
- Lepore describes playing the telegram boy, who receives advice on surviving the end of the world from Maggie Antrobus.
Performance (07:48–11:47):
- The song weaves darkly comic advice about emotional repression into a cheery melody:
  
  "And when it's done, my dear boy, don't even bother looking for a knife. Just open up right here, boy. And eat the whole thing in one bite. And stuff it down inside..." (08:16)
- Ruthie Ann Miles on Maggie’s reasoning:
  
  "If you let the cap off at all, you're gonna blow..." (07:20)

4. Setting and Theatrical Style

Guest: Allie Bonino (plays several roles, here, the Fortune Teller/Esmeralda)

Act Two Setting:
- A “boardwalk” spanning time periods (“the 1920s, the 1950s... out of time altogether”), representing survival and change.
- Bonino on Esmeralda:
  
  "...walking void of truth and sort of like holding the mirror up to a society that wants to look anywhere but in that mirror." (12:58)

5. Featured Song: "The Future"

Performance (13:44–17:45):
- Lyrically balances dark humor with prophecy and fatalism; explores the inevitability of destruction and survival after catastrophe:
  
  "The future is the only game to count on. And I’m the only one who knows the story. Someone here is gonna hurt your feelings. And someone else will wish they’d hurt them even more." (14:33)
- Chorus’s refrain, symbolic of the play’s cyclical catastrophes:
  
  "And then the rains will wash it all away..." (16:26)

6. Musical Influences and the Show’s Tone

Guest: Ethan Lipton

Not just biblical:
- Lipton says he didn’t focus on the Bible, instead shaping the score with eclectic American genres:
  
  "The show has country and folk and rock and roll and jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and then a kind of smudge of a lot of different things in there..." (18:19)
Musical Cohesion:
- Cohesion was key, despite the tonal shifts:
  
  "Trying to make sure that it felt dynamic from song to song, but also that it felt like a cohesive whole...give it a kind of scale." (19:04)

7. The Character Henry (Cain) and the Complexity of Darkness

Guest: Damon Dono (Henry Antrobus)

Henry's Pain:
- Henry embodies the darker, violent urges of humanity, yet seems driven by deep longing for acceptance:
  
  "I think what's going on with Henry internally is an absolute void of love. He just wants to be a part of the crew...to be held and seen and cared for and nurtured..." (19:27)
- On not reducing him to a villain:
  
  "To empathize with a character [means to] find out what is in their heart and not sort of judge them as the bad guy..." (20:11)
- He represents life’s necessary “yang”:
  
  "There has to be someone that reminds us the other side of the coin is still the same coin...He's there to say you can't necessarily get rid of it in life." (20:51)
- Lipton chimes in:
  
  "He's still part of the family." (21:00)

8. Featured Song: "Cursed With Urges"

Setup:
- Takes place in Atlantic City, Henry expresses his internal battle.
Performance (22:07–24:18):
- A dynamic, driving number about repression, longing, and self-acceptance:
  
  "You say I gotta control myself. You don't know what a power surge is. You never seen a person cursed with urges." (22:58)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Adapting an Epic, Playful Work:

“You can’t be reverent and respectful with such an irreverent play.” — Ethan Lipton (04:26)
On Emotional Survival:

“If you let the cap off at all, you’re gonna blow.” — Ruthie Ann Miles as Mrs. Antrobus (07:20)
On Human Complexity:

“There has to be someone that reminds us the other side of the coin is still the same coin...” — Damon Dono (20:51)
On Cohesive Musical Style:

“Hopefully that swath of music and genres would feel epic in the way that the play does and in the way that the Bible does, that it would give it a kind of scale.” — Ethan Lipton (19:04)

Timestamps for Important Segments

[01:38] - Ethan Lipton discusses discovering Wilder and being tapped to adapt the play
[03:03] - Lipton unpacks his process for composing "from listening to the play"
[05:04] - Ruthie Ann Miles gives insight into Maggie Antrobus
[07:20] - R.A. Miles on emotional suppression: "Stuff it Down Inside"
[13:44] - Allie Bonino performs "The Future" as Esmeralda
[19:27] - Damon Dono on the inner life of Henry/Cain
[22:07] - "Cursed with Urges" performance by Damon Dono

Episode Flow & Tone

The episode is conversational, warm, and steeped in both high-concept artistic discussion and relatable humor. The cast’s camaraderie comes through, as does their admiration for Lipton’s liberal, playful, and humanistic approach to adaptation. Live musical numbers anchor the episode with emotional immediacy and insight into how The Seat of Our Pants both honors and reinvents Wilder’s legacy.

Summary

This episode of All Of It offers a vivid behind-the-scenes look at The Seat of Our Pants, blending highbrow literary adaptation with musical innovation, existential themes, and emotional honesty. Through lively interviews and exclusive live performances, listeners get a sense of how the creative team and cast approach the weighty themes of apocalypse, family, survival, and the complexities of human nature—with irreverence, audacity, and warmth.