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Kid, we're going places Going places we never dreamed we'd get as our love's embraces Fill up the bassinet Slow down or get with your Colgate grin Dick Tracy chin that Hollywood film star scene Kid, we're going places the nations never see
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hello all you theater fans both out and proud and on the DL. And welcome back to Broadway Breakdown, a podcast discussing the history and legacy of American theater's most exclusive address, Broadway. I am your host, Matt Koplik, the least famous and most opinionated of all the Broadway podcast hosts. And today is not a deep dive. Today is a moment of reflection. Today is a moment to stop and have a little bit of transparency as we continue to move forward with this journey that we call Broadway down. But before we do anything, I want to do a quick shout out because we have a new review on Apple Podcast and one on Audible that I did not clock. So before we do any of this lovely chat, let's cue the lightning. The Piazza Overture this one is Audible from Hillary. Five stars. A theater nut Point of view. I love it. Lovey is blunt, tells it like it is, and is neutral when he reviews anything. I love listening to it. Keep up the good work. Thanks Hillary. Next up, five stars. Great theater podcast. For the obsessives like me, Broadway Breakdown is a fantastic theater podcast for those who are obsessed with theater as well as for those who are beginning their love affair with it. Above all, Matt knows his stuff. I appreciate his attention to getting the details correct and if he doesn't know, he will always fact check his statements. And because he is so knowledgeable, even the longest of episodes are worthwhile and engrossing. While I don't always agree with Matt's show reviews, they are always insightful and well stated. And Ma gets bonus points for his love of carousel. Listen to this podcast if you are a Broadway theater fan. That is from Schubert Alley Catt. Thank you. That is wonderful. You guys are so good at these and it just fills my heart when I read them. So thank you very much. We're also on Apple Podcast. We are at 391 ratings and reviews. We are nine away from 400. So if you haven't written a review and you really want to, now's the chance. If you haven't given us a rating and if you're a little nervous about writing a review, just give us a ranking. I would really love to hit that 400 but even so, I want to say thank you guys very much for these reviews, for these ratings. It helps boost the algorithm, it helps give people confidence in trying out the podcast and I do very terrible social media advertising for it. So the podcast, doing as well as it has is truly a grassroots campaign from you guys of just telling your friends how much you enjoy it is what's doing it. So thank you very much. Let's get down to brass tacks and sort of just talk about the past year. Some things have changed, as you may have noticed. We're no longer on Broadway Podcast network. No drama there. It's something that we wanted to try out. By we, I mean the royal we, me. And there was a bit of a rebrand. We got new artwork, which I think people have really enjoyed. We've also tried to aim to have the episodes a bit shorter. I think some of the good things about that is it keeps me having to stay on topic as much as possible and really try to pack as much insight and information and hot takes in as little time as we possibly can. So you guys can listen to a full episode in one fell swoop more easily than in the past. And then when things kind of overflow to a longer length, we tend to turn it into a two parter like the Hedwig and the Angry Inch Deep Dive. The Dream Girls Deep Dive. And then Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 deep dive. Other things we've been doing, we launched a substack. We launched a YouTube page because you guys have been killing it, the reviews. Because word of mouth on the podcast has been going so well, we actually have been having a real uptick on the YouTube page. Now I haven't really done much with the YouTube videos. It's really just, if you're watching this on YouTube right now, it's just me talking into my computer camera with a nice little ring light and my mic. I did a little bit of graphics for one episode, but that was kind of it. And the YouTube page has started to do well enough that we've now broken through the first barrier where we are able to monetize the videos on YouTube, which is great. With a new barrier comes a new obstacle. YouTube has a very different set of copyright restrictions than Spotify or Apple podcasts. And certain things that we had been trying with the new episodes have now come under scrutiny for YouTube. So that is a whole other thing that now I am trying to figure out and may change how the episodes have been, you know, sounding in the future. Sometimes it's with, you know, clips, sometimes it's with length. It's a whole. It's a whole rigmarole. But I've learned with all of this happening that I need to be better about figuring out just how much I can handle and not over promising to you guys and then under delivering. Because if you are here to support me, I can't then take that for granted. I need to be able to give you content that we all have been enjoying and will keep enjoying at a rate that you are, that you've come to expect at a quality that you've come to expect. And that's really hard to do, I won't lie. And it's been especially hard in the last year because there's been a lot less help on my end. And I have also had to kind of hustle outside of the podcast. People ask me all the time, you know, does the podcast make money? Are you able to really make a career off of it? You can make a career off of podcasting? I have not fully been able to yet. I've been able to make a name and a reputation from Broadway Breakdown, and there was a time when I was making money off of it, but not since I left bpn. There's been no ad revenue, in case you haven't noticed. When you listen to the podcast this past year, there have been no ads. You don't get the random like Monster Truck or Pringles ads at random, or me doing my ad read for what was that food prep thing that I was working on? I can't remember. It doesn't matter. But so with that comes no money. And so I've been working on Broadway Breakdown for the last year for free, which also means that I've had to hustle outside of the podcast to make money. I've often done a lot of temp work. I'm in the middle of actually a temp job right now, but also because of the way that the economy is. Temp work is not as fluid as it has once been. So I go through long stretches where I'm not working a temp job. I've also done a lot of side gigs as a dramaturg for a lot of you guys. Actually, a lot of you are aspiring writers and directors and have come to me with requests to look over your material and give you feedback on that. So if you're interested in that, by the way, you can always slide into my DMs on Instagram. We work on a sliding scale with that. But I would like to be able to make the podcast my main job because that is the thing that everyone seems to really enjoy. What I put out into the world and there are ways that we can start making that actually happen. I feel like I've been talking in circles at this point. So where does this leave us now with the podcast, with everything I've just said? Well, now's the time to give you a huge, amazing, wonderful announcement. This is how you guys can help with the future of the podcast, as well as getting content that you would like, getting more Broadway Breakdown without me totally burning out, as well as not having Broadway Breakdown withdrawal in August. We're taking August off, but not if you Drum roll please. Join the Broadway Breakdown Patreon. Yes, Broadway Breakdown has officially relaunched its Patreon Broadway Breakdown Green Room, we're calling it, where you can be a company member. Now, some of you may remember that we had tried to launch a Patreon about 2ish years ago. Two, three years ago, I did not understand how Patreon worked. I did not understand what it is that I wanted to do with it. I have a much clearer viewpoint now of what I want to do with it. If you made a pledge to eventually be a paid member of the substack, you have never been charged. And the good news is you will continue to not be charged. That's going to remain a free service. There is a Patreon now where for $5 a month you can be a company member. And with that $5 you will get early episodes. Meaning if you were expecting a Light in the Piazza Deep dive this Week with Adam Elsbury, if you join the Patreon right now, you can actually access that episode right now and you want to. It is almost three hours long. It's incredible. And the same goes for all other future episodes. All other future Deep Dives. The only times that you won't be getting podcast content early on the Patreon is, for example, our Tony Award nomination reaction episodes, which come out usually on the same day as the nominations themselves. Those will be dropping the same time on Patreon and on the podcast. I will not be making podcast listeners wait five days on the main feed. Just that way Patreon members can get those episodes earlier. But Deep Dives interviews, future Backstage Pass series, which I think I mentioned is about Seussical, we have recorded with Original cast members 3 time Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlain, who played Horton The Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Janine Lamanna, Tony winner Michelle Pak, who played Maisie Labourde, Aarons and Flaherty, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, the writers of Seussical. They are on this Backstage Pass series. So like, it's gonna be really phenomenal. I have all the raw footage. Now I have to start editing it. And this is where Patreon's gonna be helpful because with the financials of Patreon, I'll be able to hire somebody to help me edit. The can come out faster and you can enjoy more Broadway Breakdown without a long stretch when we get to that. And then on top of that, you will have exclusive content on the Patreon, one of which is the Green Room Roundtable with some Broadway Breakdown faves. So once a month you will get a quite long episode with me and, you know, Gunkle or Rob Schneider, Robbie Rizzell, the theater lovers, podmother, Ali Gordon, Margaret hall, some new friends who you maybe haven't heard from yet, John Wiscavage. And once a month we are going to debate and discuss the best that theater has to offer. So, for example, the first episode you're going to get on the Patreon on the very beginning of the month, you will get me and three podcast faves ranking officially the top opening numbers in theater history is number one. Ragtime, is it Fiddler? Is it A Chorus Line? Who's to say what is number one? What's the top five? What doesn't make the list? These are going to be things we'll be discussing once a month on the Patreon. And if you are wary of joining the Patreon, we will drop a preview of the Green Room Roundtable episodes on the main podcast feed just to give you an idea of what we're doing on the Patreon. And if it's enticing you, then you can come right over to the Patreon and become a company member. The other exclusive episode you will get once a month on the Patreon is a cast party Q and A with me. As we all know, every year on the podcast, I do a birthday Q and A. You send in questions. I answer them all, or most of them if I can. And I'm sure many of you have noticed sometimes I don't answer your question. Not because I don't want to, but because I actually get quite a lot of questions and I can't get to all of them within 24 hours. So if you have questions for me that simply cannot wait until March 27th or, you know, you have questions that I've yet to answer on Instagram, this is your chance. Because once a month, at the end of the month, we are doing a little cast party Q and A gathering in the Green Room. It can be about the podcast. It can be about what's going on in theater news, something I've seen recently. You know, random questions that you've always wondered. Because sometimes, you know, you guys have these like hypotheticals that really break my brain and they're a lot of fun for me to answer. I've got a trip coming up in London in September, so you can ask questions about that. You might even get some fun little like travel vlogs for me on the Patreon while I'm in London for the week. So once again, I should go down the list one last time. On the Patreon, you are getting all of the episodes early and ad free. Even when the pod starts getting ads again, you will get two exclusive episodes. The Green Room Roundtable with Broadway Breakdown faves debating, discussing once a month with fun ranking games like this upcoming one, the top opening numbers in theater history. You will also get an exclusive cast party Q and A questions and answers with me that you get to submit that I will answer on Mike. And yeah, as the Patreon grows, so will the content. There might be some more exclusive content. We might small little deep dives throughout the month or. I've been toying with the idea of doing a watch series on all of the musical theater casting shows because honestly the only one I ever watched was you're the one that I want. I never watched any of the British ones like the Doroth over the Rainbow, Search for Dorothy or how do you solve a problem like Maria. Never watched any of them. So that would be a really fun one to do that I would probably put on the Patreon. Not for a minute. Again, I don't want to over deliver, but these are just things that have been going through my head that I thought, you know, if you guys are going to support me on this, what can I do for you that would make it worth your while, that would make it exciting, that can, you know, make us feel all a little bit closer in our love of theater while still having fun with it. Right. And I think these are things we could do. Right. So yeah, that's, that's the thing with the, with the Patreon again, it's the Broadway Breakdown Green Room where you can become a company member for $5 a month. That's basically a bagel with cream cheese for once a month. With that we will be able to invest it into the podcast to help it grow. Yeah. So that's sort of what we can expect right now. As I said with the Patreon Substack is not going to change. No one who you know made a pledge on the substack is going to get charged. It's going to remain free. YouTube channel is still here for your pleasure. The hope is that it's going to get a nice little glow up over the next couple of months. Nothing on the main podcast is going to change. You'll still get your deep dives, you'll still get your Tony Awards coverage, you'll still get your reviews. You'll also still get those previews from Patreon episodes. So you know, you'll never get the full content, but you'll get a taste of what it is we're cooking up over there. And that's kind of it for now. As I said, if you join the Patreon now, you will be able to listen to the nearly three hour deep dive on the Lightning of the Piazza with me and Guncle Adam Elsbury. You'll start to see the exclusive content coming out within the weeks following that. So even though August will be dark, the main feed, there will be content on the Patreon for that August. September will be slowly ramping things back up again. But also if you're on the Patreon, you will get some content from my time in London. So again, just things to think about if you're, if you're, if you've been jonesing for more Broadway Breakdown, if you're like, I can't stand it, I can't just wait every Thursday, or like I'm going through the back catalogs just to sort of get my fix. This is a really good opportunity, at least I hope so. And again, as I said, I know that $5 is not doable for everyone. I totally understand if you, if it is doable for you, if it's actually more than doable for you, Patreon does offer you the chance to gift memberships. So if you want to be like a little bit of a Secret Santa, if you want to be a little bit of a patron angel to some Broadway Breakdown listeners, by all means let the offer be known on the Discord channel. That is where a lot of our listeners have been gathering. We have, at this point, I think we have almost 400 members on the Discord, almost 400 on the sub stack, over 2,000 on YouTube. So, you know, the numbers are showing that there's a good, that there's a good lot of you out there who are enjoying what we're doing. You're a company member now, so come and join the company. Come Join us in the green room as a company member. Everyone is a member of the Broadway Breakdown Green Room Company. That's it, I think for now. I will say there is a potentially fun announcement I can make on the podcast in a week or two. I don't want to say it just yet. I really don't want to jinx it because there's. It may not happen, but if it does happen, y' all will be the first to know. So that's that. Yeah, let's keep that in mind. I'm going to stop talking now. I feel like I'm talking in circles. You guys get the, get the gist of this, right? So, yeah, we have the Lenny the Piazza deep dive next week currently right now. If you want to join the Patreon after that will be our next normal deep dive. And then we're taking a bit of a hiatus. There may or may not be a couple of interview sprinkles happening in August if some interview requests go through from people's PR reps. And then you'll start hearing back from me more in earnest in September. And eventually you'll hear our backstage series, our backstage pass series on seussical and reviews as shows start coming out like Paranormal Activity, Galileo, Wanted, and yeah, that, that's, that's gonna be it. So for today's diva, who do we wanna close out with? I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the future of this podcast. So who is a Broadway diva? That makes me feel optimistic cuz everyone that I love tends to be a Debbie Downer. We love our Kunzie, but she's the Princess of darkness, you know, who we actually haven't really had in a long time. And she was. Is so good. Was so good. Is so good. Always will be good. Ms. Barbara Cook. I would like to close out with Ms. Barbara Cook today. Yeah. All right. So I will see you guys either, you know, on the Patreon for Piazza and our upcoming exclusive, exclusive episodes, or I will see you next week for Piazza and that'll be it. All right, take it away, Ms. Cook.
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Not a Lancelot nor an angel with wings. Just someone to love me who is not ashamed of a few nice things. My white knight, let me walk with him where the others ride.