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Are these Broadway's next hit musicals? | 42 Balloons / Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)
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Mickey Jo
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Did you know that despite the tendency of West End shows to transfer to Broadway and Broadway shows to transfer to the West End, in the last two decades there have only been two Tony Award winning best musicals written by British or Irish writers. Meanwhile, more than half of the Olivier Award winning best musicals in the same period have featured American writers. But within the next few years is new British musical theatre about to have a big resurgence on Broadway? Let's talk about brand new musicals that may be headed in that direction. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to you if you are listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre and I think I may be debuting a new haircut. If you are watching me on YouTube, possibly you've already seen it in a different video. Who knows in what order you're seeing me this week. But unbelievably there are more important things than my hair for us to be discussing today because we are long overdue for a conversation about two musicals which I saw regionally in the United States last month and they are Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York, which I saw at the American Repertory theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as 42 balloons, which I saw at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Now both of these shows are very new, original British musicals written by new up and coming British musical theatre writers. I had seen both of them in the UK before 42 balloons I had seen a concert presentation and then I saw its regional premiere. It hasn't yet been in London or in the West End in a fully staged capacity. Two Strangers, meanwhile, I saw off West End at the Kiln Theatre and I then saw its West End transfer at the Criterion. So this one's a little further along its development. But the two of them both nonetheless made their North American premieres just last month and as such, because of the theatres where they were playing, often hosting pre Broadway shows, there is a little bit of chatter about the possibility of these shows heading to Broadway and we're going to talk about that today. And I'm also going to tell you a little bit more about them, what I have learned about these shows and ostensibly my reviews of these productions that I saw recently. So if you want to find out about some exciting new possib Broadway bound musicals, stay tuned and if you have seen them yourself either in the UK or in the us, let us know all of your thoughts in the comments down below, as well as any other new pieces of British musical theatre that you think ought to be on Broadway. Would you like to see the Little Big Things? Would you like to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button? In the meantime, let's talk about these shows and if you enjoy listening to my reviews, make sure to subscribe or go follow me on podcast platforms so that you get to see or hear more. Now let's review some new British musical theatre, shall we? So beginning with Two Strangers, because this is the one that I saw first by a matter of days. This show is a charming two hander two act musical comedy written by Jim Barn and Kit Buchan. I was not familiar with their work beforehand. This show has actually been knocking about for a little while in development before it made its way to London and it was previously called the Season, so if anyone ever saw it in that capacity, I'd be hugely curious to hear your thoughts about it. But it has since been renamed Smartly I think, with the eye catching title Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York. Affectionately referred to as simply Two Strangers, but like I said, wasn't too familiar with these writers before seeing this show, but I Have very recently, since getting to know this show quite well, gone to see a workshop presentation of another of their new shows that was called Mona Loser. And perhaps we'll talk about that one at another time. But what that helped me understand about these two as writers is that, A, they know how to deliver a catchy bop. This score is full of them. So is that one. And B, there is this charming sort of cinematic quality to a lot of the work that they do in the musical theatre realm. This has been referred to as a musical theatre romantic comedy. And despite the propensity of musicals to circulate around a main romantic plot line, you know, leading man, leading lady, epic romance, all of these things as seen in so many musicals, you wouldn't necessarily refer to them as romantic comedies or rom coms in the cinematic sense. And this one feels considerably more familiar of that. However, I also had a very illuminating conversation with one of the show's producers about why it might not be a romantic comedy in the traditional sense. Because it's just these two characters, they don't portray anyone else. It's quite naturalistic in the way that we encounter them in the show, and it's not necessarily inclusive of all of the wider romcom tropes. We don't have, like the best friend characters or the obvious obstacles. In the same way, it's this little small plot that's a way that I keep describing it that isn't nearly as grand or as epic as a lot of other theatrical fodder, but because of that, it is hugely refreshing. This is a delicious, light bite of a musical, dare I say. And the plot is as follows. We are in New York. It is Christmas time. Robin, who is a New Yorker, is helping her sister get ready for her wedding. There's a little bit of tension going on for reasons we won't find out about until later on in the show, but she is collecting something very important from the airport. And his name is Jim Dougal. He is a British guy. This is his first time in New York, his first time in the US he is an incredibly, just gleefully excited golden retriever of a tourist. And he is arriving to the wedding because Robin's sister is getting married to his estranged father, with whom he has virtually no relationship. And in spite of the fact that he and Robin are quite proximal in age, and perhaps you already immediately see where this is going, which is no bad thing, it's another part of the charm of the show. Robin is very resistant to his particular brand of positivity and his notion that they ought to go and explore New York together and she should take him around all of the obvious touristy sightseeing spots for his very brief time spent in the city. Something like 36 hours, 48 hours. And as you might expect, their initially uncomfortable rapport evolves and adapts and they get to know each other a little bit better. And he ends up helping her, going to collect the cake and transporting it across New York. As the title suggests, they also reveal more about themselves, they learn more about each other, and they learn even more about themselves in the process. Generally speaking, Dougal is buoyant with positivity and euphoria about the chance to reconnect with his dad and go to this wedding and be in New York, desperately trying to find out more about Robin, desperately trying to help her with her dating life, teaching her how to be better on social media apps and how to flirt with a guy who she's striking up a conversation with on her phone. Phone. He sings the very first song of the show, which is one of the best songs in the score. It's a song called New York. If you haven't listened to it, chances are you may have heard me singing it on the streets of Manhattan. If you've watched any of my New York vlogs, if you haven't heard that either, go and listen to it right now. There are no spoilers in this song beyond anything I've already told you. It's a really great piece of musical theater writing and it is also really damn catchy in a way that I think will be important to the show's marketing and brand once it eventually arrives on Broadway, if indeed it does, and I hope it will. And not, unsurprisingly, we get to find out a little bit more about Dougal. We find that there is more lurking behind the smile. Even by the end of that first song. There is a sensation of pain going on there related to his relationship with his father. There's a lyric where he's singing a little more tentatively and he's saying, like, this magical city where even my dad wants to hang out with me. And by the end, he has traversed a hugely emotional arc. Then we get to Robin, who, despite the fact that she's picking him up at the airport, arrives with emotional baggage of her own. From the very beginning, she is having a bad day at the end of a bad week, finishing a bad month and what she later reveals to have been a bad year. And she's still contending with a lot of demons from her past and a lot of shame and a lot of regret and uncertainty about what she wants to do and the direction that her life is heading in. She sings a handful of songs to this effect as she tries to come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be and what she wants to do and how she feels about this man who has burst enthusiastically into her life. And one of the most impactful pieces of music that she sings is a song called Be Happy, in which she very quickly rattles off all of the things that people tell you about how to have a positive outlook alongside all of the expectations of young people and young women. And what I love about this character, I mean, I love both of them because Dougal is this hilarious cartoon who audiences delight in watching on either side of the Atlantic. His material and him as a character go down very, very well. He is very charming, but we get to find out that a real person, he has such substance and pain. And I think that's really important and dare I say, it even initiates a conversation about young men's mental health in a little bit of a way. But with Robin in particular, I think this character is going to resonate so much with young women in Manhattan because she is saying things and addressing topics that I don't think we talk about a lot on stage. And there is so much contemporary resonance with what she is saying and the way that she is characterized. And she's not immediately charming by design. She is so sardonic and she is indifferent and she is edgy and she is clearly consumed by her own stuff and just frustrated and impatient about Ducal and his energy and his outlook. But I think she really represents this millennial ennui and frustration and uncertainty. And I think an awful lot of people are going to see themselves reflected in the stuff that she's struggling with. And I think that's fantastic. Now, what I love about the writing for this show is that it has a really strong book and a really strong score and they work together seamlessly. There are so many Broadway bound musicals, and even Broadway musicals sometimes where we say that the book is a problem. This book is so delightful, so charming, the dialogue is so lovely. The sense of character with each of them is so strong, and the difference between them is such a theatrical force for intrigue and eventually satisfaction. It's also a score that has the capacity to be moving and sentimental, subtle and steady and introspective, as well as offering you witty, silly bops. There's another great song called the American Express. When they eventually give in and decide to have a decadent evening in Manhattan, spending money without really thinking about it. This bringing us to the end of the first act before we enter into the second, when everything is going to take a turn for the more sincere and the more emotionally hard hitting. All of this in a brilliantly staged and perfectly paced production by Tim Jackson. Tim Jackson, who was the choreographer for the recent Tony Award winning revival of Merrily We Roll along and who is having a really fantastic time at the moment as a creative, is also the director of Dylan Mulvaney's newly announced Off Broadway solo show. But charm and sincerity and humanity are the notions that I keep circling back to and Tim's really baked all of those into this musical. I also have to talk about the design by such a Gilmour. The whole thing is rotating at the begin. Beginning. It's this little circular stage with two piles of luggage on it. It looks like a baggage carousel. There's one solo suitcase just circulating around the outside on this track. But almost every suitcase that you see on stage in these two mounds opens up and turns into something else. We have a suitcase that turns into a fridge. We have a suitcase that falls down into a desk. Another into a table at a Chinese restaurant, another into a bed and becomes a hotel room. It is so, so clever. One lifts up and becomes a bin. I'm in love with this set design. I think it's brill. And also, it took me a very long time seeing this show in London before I realised it's also a snow globe, which perfectly encapsulates a lot of the conversation that the show has about this idyllic idea of New York and also, I guess, life in your late 20s, early 30s, perhaps. In contrast to the actual reality of it. It's this dreamlike, perfect thing that we look at and try to live inside. But is it even possible? Is it even real? Is it our responsibility to create happiness for ourselves? All of these questions arise from two strangers. But it's also not an extraordinarily thoughtful show in that sense. It's just because it's so honest and down to earth that it encourages you to think about this. Because the characters and the scenarios are so relatable. It is, for the most part, just witty and romantic. There are an awful lot of laughs in this show and what's been so interesting is seeing it in the UK and then seeing it in the US now. The fantastic Sam Tutty played Dougal on either side of the Atlantic. Dujona Gift played the role of Robin When I saw it in London. And Cristiani Pitts has been playing that role in the US at the American Repertory Theatre. And ever since we saw the show in the uk, we knew that it had to go to the us, it had to go to New York in particular, it's set in New York and the whole dialogue of the show is to bring together these two different cultures. This British guy and a young woman living in New York. And so it had to be seen, I felt, in both places. And what's fascinating is to watch it with an American audience and a British audience, because sometimes the laughs are in completely different places, sometimes the laughs are in the same place, but they have a different sort of a characteristic. It reminded me of seeing Come From Away in Gander Newfoundland, in Canada, where the show, of course, is set. Because if you see Come From Away elsewhere around the world, and you hear the line about them having to stop the bus transports, and they reveal that it's because there's a moose on the road, and they say, yeah, that's a moose. Elsewhere around the world, we laugh because it's like such a Canadian concept. We're not laughing at them, but it's like, ah, how funny. A moose on the road. How. How wild. How. No, Canadian. And in Canada, they're laughing because they're like, yes, that happens. That happened to me yesterday. When we go home tonight, there might be moose. There probably will. And so there was still a laugh in that same point in the show, but the laugh was coming from a different place. And that's the sensation that I got with two strangers, because we laugh at him being giddy and foolish in the uk and we understand that the things that he's saying in the introductory song aren't true about America, because he's, like, talking about the Golden Gate Bridge and he thinks it's the capital city. He's saying all of these other things, possibly these things that British tourists often falsely believe about New York if they don't know it that well. But the American audience laughs at this in a slightly different way. I think it sets up Sam as Dougal to be, if possible, even more charming. It's a really wonderful performance that he gives in this show and I think he has the placement within the narrative to be just so, so endearing. But I really enjoyed Christiane Pitts as well, and I think possibly Robin's character. That's where the show has shifted the most. They haven't made big, substantial changes from the UK to the us, but there have been little tweaks here and there. The ending of the song Be Happy had been reworked from what I remember. I also felt like I was noticing fairly frequent changes to the arrangements and the orchestrations, but that could have been me just misremembering the score as I had heard it the last time. There are a couple of changes and tweaks to dialogue as well. There were, I can't even remember what they were, a very small number of references that were reworded slightly for the benefit of an American audience. Little things like when Hamilton transferred to the UK and rather than calling him John Adams twice, they changed the second one to vice president and they acknowledged a specific place being in New Jersey because these were things a British audience might not know. Two strangers had a couple of little references tweaked like that as well. But ultimately the thing about this show is it's going to work in New York when it eventually gets there, as well as it worked in London, because it's something of a love letter to the city that explores these two different, different perspectives on it, this very idealized version, and then the challenging reality for people who actually live there, who actually have to build lives in this extraordinary, expensive, overwhelming place. And even beyond that, once we get into this relationship and these characters, what we discover is it's not about New York whatsoever, it's just about these people and about what we find in each other and, you know, the happiness that we find in ourselves, for ourselves. Needless to say, I absolutely love this show. I have previously reviewed it in the West End if you want to go and hear my thoughts circa at least a year ago. But I am very optimistic that we will be seeing this show in a Broadway theater before too long and I will be able to put together another full review, talking once more about why it's.
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So great. Next up show number two 42 balloons at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Now, this is written entirely by Jack Godfrey, who is this fantastic rising star musical theatre writer and composer. Work reminds me a little of Jonathan Larss. I think he's writing some of the most dynamic, pop inclusive musical theatre scores since Toby Marlow and lucy moss wrote 6. And jack had this sort of sudden explosion in the UK musical theatre industry with multiple projects that he had been developing, all coming to fruition at the same time. There was not only 42 balloons, but also a musical called Babies that he co wrote with the terrific Martha Gillan, which I've also reviewed here, if you want to go and check that out, as well as another musical that he has written called Hot Mess, which is going to Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I'm seeing it in a matter of days. I'm so excited. But what you need to know is that Jack, particularly as a composer, is writing some of the most dynamic, some of the most exciting material I've heard in a really long time. I think he is such a special voice. And that is why when 42 balloons was announced for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, I actively made plans to go and visit Chicago for the very first time to go and see this show. This is the one that got me there, despite the fact that I had seen it previously in the uk, and I'm glad that I did, because the production was also heavily reworked. Far more heavily reworked than Two Strangers was. We had not only new material, new songs, but an entirely different way of staging the show's second act. We have to talk about this show and the way that it's realized. But before we do, what is 42 balloons actually about? Beyond 42 balloons, and that is not, in fact, a metaphor. There are 42 literal balloons not painstakingly depicted on stage, but they are part of the plot, because this is set in the early 1980s, in 1982, if I remember correctly from the lyrics, telling the true story of when Larry Walters, a man who had dreamed of being a pilot for the Air Force in the Vietnam War but had been rejected because of his eyesight, made the decision to take his aspirations into his own hands with the help of his girlfriend, Carol Van Dusen, and fly in a lawn chair, suspended via 42 helium balloons over downtown Los Angeles. This actually happened in the early 1980s. And now Larry's story has been theatricalized in this piece of musical theatre that talks about the events of the thing and expands a lot on the reasons as to why he wanted to do this. And very earnestly and very Thoughtfully talks about his mindset and what this meant to him and, you know, portrays him with a huge amount of dignity and respect, which hasn't always been the case, even within his own lifetime. But it also goes beyond that. There are a couple of questions literally written into the lyrics of the score, some being about the notion of, like, would you go for that thing that you want if you could get it? And then a little later on, beginning to pose the question of. Of, like, what happens after you've done that? What happens next? And the show is told by a larger ensemble cast. There are characters specifically playing Larry and Carol, as well as the other individuals involved in these circumstances. But it's also narrated in the third person. So you have Larry the actor playing Larry, the brilliant Charlie McCulloch, talking about the details of his own life, or should I say singing about them, because it is almost entirely sung through in the present tense, referring to himself in the third person by name, like, Larry's doing this, then Larry's doing this. Carol does the same thing. And we also have this sense of a chorus in the company who take on a handful of different roles, but also sing about Larry's dreams and Larry's flight and everything else that happens beyond that. And the score is killer. It is so, so good. I mentioned how exciting all of Jack's work was, but 42 Balloons has really been his greatest musical triumph so far because it's set in the 1980s and it pays brilliant, unmistakable homage to some of the most iconic songs of the 80s. There will be specific references that will hear and pick up on. There are entire songs that feel like they are nodding to brilliant 80s hits, but the character of the score is undeniably rooted in that era. There are some songs already that you can go and listen to online. There isn't a full cast recording, but some really fantastic songs have already been shared, like the title number 42 balloons, as well as the opening and my personal favorite, helium. Now, there's something that happens only a couple times a year when I hear what I know is going to be a great and timeless musical theater song. And I a lot of new musical theatre all the time. And I will turn to my fiance, Aaron James, and I will say to him, this is a good song. Like, oh, this is a good. Or sometimes there's just a look between us. We were like, this is a really good song. Doesn't happen very often. Happened twice in 42 balloons. It was, I think, the start of Act 2 when they were singing 42 Balloons and a Lawn chair. I'm so sorry. That will be in your head for a very long time if you listen to that song. But it's worth it. I tend to him was like, this is a great song. And then the act continued and I was like, oh, no, no, no, this is the song. It's a song called Helium, which Carol sings. And if you don't want to know anything about the direction in which this story goes, then that song is definitely going to spoil certain events of it for you. But it's a hell of a piece of musical theater writing. It's theatrical. It also sounds very like 80s power ballad. It has a very big Jim Steinman influence, I think. And I absolutely have to implicate the fantastic and talented Joe Baiton in this convers. He is the orchestrator and musical supervisor and a huge part of the authentic 1980s sound. And the power that these songs have and how damn catchy they are. They are such earworms. It is a real heart pumping score. It's genuinely the most exciting score composition that I've heard in such a long time. I urge you to go and listen to this music. And I had forgotten that because not every song has been recorded. That one of my favourite songs in the score I hadn't heard in a really long time. It comes early in the second act. And this is what I love about this show because in the most straightforward version of this story, we meet Larry and he sings his I Want song and that happens. And it's rocky and it's high and it's exciting. We meet Carol. It's a little cute, charming introduction, there's awkwardness. But then they get to know each other a little bit better. He tells her he wants to fly in a chair suspended by balloons. And she understandably, is like, what? We meet Carol's mom and she sings this ingenious comedy song about her distaste for everything that's happening, which is set to this sort of a soulful groove. It's a little bit like Aretha Franklin Natural Woman, which offers this inherent contrast with the lyrics. We then meet one of Larry's friends who he entreats to film the whole thing, who is reminded of a childhood dream of his own. In the process making the whole thing bigger than just Larry, bigger than just Larry and Carol. Making it about dreams, about aspirations. Then we can relate as audience members beyond just, you know, finding out about this crazy story. It becomes something bigger than what they are telling on stage. And his name is Ron and he sings a song that references Fresh Prince of Bel Air, but also sounds a little bit Sweet Home Alabama in places. Another great song. And in most musicals, telling this story, that would be enough. But the masterstroke is to take us into the second act. And right after Larry's flight, pivotal moment in the show, Jack Godfrey switches our perspective to that of a kid who has watched this whole thing and who has seen Larry's flight and watched him land and watched him be swarmed by all of these confused and interested people and the police and Carol and everyone subsequently. And it's such a great song. This is the song I forgot was in the score and I need it to be recorded because I forgot how fantastic it was. This role is a child character played by an adult performer, but deliberately written without any reference to gender. And it's such a smart move. And you know what? It's an underappreciated musical theater convention when we jump to that third party perspective. I'm thinking about Angelica Schuyler singing It's Quiet Uptown. I'm thinking about Emma Goldman singing He Wanted to say in Ragtime. And I love, love that we see this through the eyes of a kid because once again, it just expands the whole thing. It becomes a story bigger than just Larry's dream and this fascinating thing that he really did.
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Now let me tell you a little bit more about this production directed by Eli Coote, choreographed by Alexandra Sarmiento. Also with brilliant projection design and really interesting set design as well. The version that I saw at the Lowry outside of London, that is Northern Regional Theatre near Manchester, that set all of the action of the show within this sort of bisected hemispherical playing space. We're seeing like half a bowl on stage. Basically it's meant to create the feeling of being inside of the balloon. That set felt slightly expanded for the larger Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, which I appreciated Because I felt like we needed just a little bit more space. But what's really interesting is that that was in this new version of the show, the entirety of the first act and then the second act had a completely different dramatic aesthetic. Because once we entered into the second act, the whole bowl set was gone. The whole thing was far more open. And we saw this sort of thread curtain behind which we could actually glimps hand for the first time. And inherently, I guess, that put across this sensation of emptiness and the balloon was gone and the dream was achieved, but the thing was over. And this sort of missing feeling of like, what happens next? And it's interesting, and I sort of have mixed feelings about it because I really like some of the visuals achieved in the first act with the balloon bowl set. I really like some of the moments achieved, particularly the way that Helium is staged in the second act. Although I think it would be more powerful because of the themes of the lyrics and because of what Carol is singing about if she was backed up only by the female presenting members of the company on stage. I think that needs to be more like a Beverly Bass. Suddenly I've got a whole female crew moment rather than having the full company behind her. And so I like Act 1 and I like Act 2, but it doesn't necessarily feel like a cohesive marriage of visual storytelling language. I think what two Strangers has already that is going to empower it to go straight to Broadway is great material, material and a strong visual identity. And that can be really important for the lasting impact and legacy of a show. I've said this for other things recently where I've said, you know, it's really well written, but I don't know that it has a strong visual identity. Think about a show like Come From Away or like Hamilton. Great material and a great visual identity to go with that as well. That also then becomes a brand. It also then becomes marketing and recognition. Because, you know, either of those shows would work, but the way that the storytelling is put across and the way that that is turned into a movement langu and the way that it's directed is also a huge part of their success. And with 42 balloons, this version of Chicago Shakespeare felt less like this is going to be the first act, and then it translates brilliantly into this big set change for the second act. And it felt more like, this is one way we could do it, and this is another way we could do it. And we haven't necessarily yet fully decided. I also think the bowl version, as it now is, isn't entirely utilized. Like we are, for the most part, standing within a bowl or sitting around parts of a bowl. And I think if you're going to have this curv of the wall, not often seen on stage in musical theatre, that there's more that you could do with the choreography, with the staging on that potentially. Now, the last time I saw 42 balloons, my biggest complaint was that Larry didn't fly. And it is not yet being staged in the largest theaters with the most extraordinary capabilities as far as fly towers are concerned, as far as lifting him off the ground is concerned. But it's like a defying gravity moment that just needs to happen because his whole thing is that he is desperate to fly. And all of this work is into it. There are so many songs about the planning. There is a math montage which is hilarious. There's a song that Carol sings about the admin and the expense of it all. There are so. There's so much building us towards this moment that he's going to fly. He has to fly on stage. We have to see him do it. And there's something just sort of magical and hypnotizing about someone levitating over a playing space. There is something just very hypnotic, really, about someone flying on stage. And I think it's really important, important that he do that. Now, they found a way to add that into the production at Chicago Shakespeare, and it's that he is on this platform and he is lifted up above the stage. And that works well enough. But I would still love to see a version where he really flies. And I think we're doing awful lot to help convey the precariousness of it as well. During his flight. My other big picture thoughts for this show continue to be about the visual identity. And it's more to do with the ensemble and this chorus and the way that they're costumed, but that as an extension of who they actually are and what the framing device for the whole thing is. Who are these characters who are telling this story? Are they looking back on it? Are they just abstract storytellers dressed in a sort of 1980s way? What is our route into this story? What is the reason for them being there? Are there a couple of moments when they don't need to be on stage as much as they are? Larry sings this big, triumphant I want song where he becomes this sort of rock God at the beginning. And he's singing, if you got a stupid dream, then you hold it tight. And it's a fantastic vocal from Charlie, but I Wonder if inherently he ought not to be, at least for the beginning of it, as supported as he is by the company on stage, who are like backup dancing for him. Because he's quite alone in this moment. Larry is. And it almost empowers him too early to the point of triumph and euphoria that he shouldn't get to until he does this thing in the chair. And I think as far as his interior monologue is concerned, he should always feel alone, even when Carol is right there beside him. Because so many of the choices that he makes going into the scene, the second act, betray this sense that he has always felt like he is just alone and by himself. And there is once again a conversation to be had about loneliness and anxiety and men's mental health in this musical. And I think we need to see more of that foreshadowed at the beginning. And he can't be allowed to feel like he is this confident rock God by his own perception, when I don't think he is. I don't think that's who his character is. Now. Charlie is fantastic in this role, sings the hell out of it, but also it's just so carefully nuanced and characterized. He has played the role in every iteration of the show that I have thus far seen opposite Evelyn Hoskins, who has also been in every iteration of the show that I've seen and makes Helium a genuinely show stopping moment. It's a heartbreaking performance that she gives as Carol. She is just wonderful in this and I'm very excited for more people to get to experience the unique, raw talent of Evelyn Hoskins. I think there is no one like her in the musical theatre industry worldwide. She is such a unique and special talent and I'm very excited that this show, show is carrying her around the world, her and Charlie, and I hope I really do that it carries them as far as Broadway, if only so that more people get to hear this fantastic music. So we get a full cast recording. The winds better blow those balloons back over the Atlantic at some point though, because we still need to get this in the West End. I am so excited about the future of 42 balloons. I am a huge fan of this show. I am very excited to see where it lands. For now, those have been my thoughts about the two regional productions of these shows that I saw last month in the us. I hope that very soon I get to tell you that they are transferring to Broadway or that we will get to see them again in some capacity at some point. In the meantime, there is music from both that you can go and listen to online. And there are plenty of other new original musicals being developed regionally in the us in the UK that you can go and support as well. Thank you so much for listening to my thoughts about those two shows. I really enjoyed sharing that with you. If you had the chance to see other either of those in the US or in the uk. Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section down below. And in the meantime, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day for 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
- [35:54]
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Points Beth, you're in charge of ordering the tacos for the meeting today.
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Mickey Jo
Yeah, I'm not gonna order the tacos.
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USAA
Uh, what?
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Mickey Jo
I'm going to easy cater the tacos with Easycater. You can order from a huge variety of restaurants, track expenses and save time.
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USAA
Nice.
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Mickey Jo
Oh, by the way, you're emailing the meeting notes, right?
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USAA
No, I'm going to easy mail them. Where's my music?
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Sorry Ben, there's no EasyCater for that.
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