You can see Mickey-Jo on stage this weekend! | MickeyJoTheatre LIVE / The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - MickeyJoTheatre

Summary

Podcast Summary: MickeyJoTheatre - "You can see Mickey-Jo on stage this weekend! | MickeyJoTheatre LIVE / The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Release Date: April 19, 2025
Host: MickeyJoTheatre (Mickey Jo)
Platform: YouTube (MickeyJoTheatre Channel)

Introduction

In this engaging episode of the MickeyJoTheatre podcast, host Mickey Jo shares exciting updates about upcoming live events taking place over the Easter bank holiday weekend in the UK. As a passionate theatre critic with a substantial online following, Mickey Jo leverages his platform to not only review performances but also to host live shows that celebrate and support the theatre community.

Upcoming Events Overview

Mickey Jo announces two major events scheduled for the Easter bank holiday weekend:

Mickey Jo Theatre Live – April 20th at Phoenix Arts Club
Talkback Session – April 21st at Ambassadors Theatre with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

He emphasizes the uniqueness of appearing on stage on two separate occasions within the same weekend, highlighting the significance for his audience and the theatre community.

"I'm going to be appearing on the London stage on two separate occasions, which is very unusual and so I wanted to make sure that you were aware." [00:00]

Mickey Jo Theatre Live

Event Details

Mickey Jo Theatre Live is described as a monthly live cabaret show that has been running for nearly a year. Originating from an initial collaboration with the Phoenix Arts Club for a podcast recording, the show has evolved into a vibrant West End chat show format.

Guests and Performances

This month's lineup includes:

Ali Daniel: A talented performer currently starring as one of the Fates in the West End production of Hadestown. Ali will discuss her roles and experiences, including insights from the pro-shot recording of Hadestown filmed in February. Though she won't be performing solo songs, attendees can expect special musical renditions related to the show.

"Ali is not going to be singing from that, but we are going to get some delicious musical theatre renditions that I am very excited about." [Transcript Reference]
Lewis Cornay: An accomplished actor known for roles such as SpongeBob SquarePants in the UK Tour and performances in Whistle Down the Wind, She Loves Me, and John and Jen. Lewis is also a musical theatre composer who will perform his original compositions, emphasizing the importance of new musical theatre writing.

"Lewis is also going to be performing some of his own work for us as well, and that's a really important part of these live shows." [Transcript Reference]
Fabian Aloise: A rising star choreographer and Olivier Award nominee, known for his choreography in Sunset Boulevard and collaborations with Jamie Lloyd on productions like Evita. This marks Mickey Jo's first interview with a choreographer, promising an insightful discussion on dance in theatre.

"We can dig into his other influences in the dance world, which I'm sure is going to be a really exciting conversation." [Transcript Reference]

Interactive Elements and Prizes

The live show features a musical theatre trivia quiz, led by Mickey Jo and guest Ellie Talks Theatre, with audience participation. Prizes include Easter eggs, musical theatre memorabilia, and other collectibles from Broadway.

"I give away some Easter eggs as quiz prizes. That's a part of the quiz as well." [Transcript Reference]

Live vs. Livestream Experience

Mickey Jo offers both in-person and livestream ticket options, catering to international fans. He ensures that non-attendees can access parts of the show through subsequent uploads, though musical performances remain exclusive to ticket holders.

"If you are listening to me right now from somewhere internationally, you can get a 10 pound livestream ticket." [Transcript Reference]

Social and Cultural Discussions

Beyond entertainment, the show will delve into important topics such as the experiences of queer and trans performers in today’s political climate, aiming to foster supportive conversations within the community.

"We also talk about what it's like to be a queer performer, to be a trans performer in the current political climate." [Transcript Reference]

Talkback Session: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Show Overview

The second event is a talkback session following the Olivier Award-winning musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This production reimagines the classic story in an early 20th-century Cornwall fishing village, with folk-based, lively music performed by a company of actor-musicians.

"It's a wonderful little show that retains the basic idea of the Benjamin Button story about a man aging in reverse." [Transcript Reference]

Host and Guests

Mickey Jo will engage with:

Jethro Compton: Writer, director, and set designer of the show.
Darren CL: Co-lyricist and composer.

Together, they will discuss the show's journey from its original version at Southwark Playhouse to its current success in the West End, including the recent Olivier Award win.

"Jethro and Darren have now become Olivier Award winners and I am very excited to get to speak to them again." [Transcript Reference]

Unique Aspects of the Production

The musical features a dynamic approach where actors not only perform but also handle multiple roles and instruments, creating a rich and varied musical landscape. This collaborative method allows for numerous versions of the show’s score, depending on the instruments and roles.

"The tracks don't necessarily change in the way that they would in more traditional musicals." [Transcript Reference]

Exclusive Access and Engagement

Tickets for the talkback are encouraged, with Mickey Jo highlighting the immediate opportunity to see the show and participate in the discussion with its creators. While there’s potential for future content sharing, the initial session remains exclusive to attendees.

"What's better than actually getting to see that show before the talkback? We might make reference to things that have happened at that evening's performance." [Transcript Reference]

Additional Updates and Future Plans

Mickey Jo hints at upcoming initiatives, including a free email newsletter aimed at consolidating content across his YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok platforms. This newsletter will provide weekly updates, upcoming reviews, and information on future performances.

"We're trying to put together a simple free email newsletter that you can sign up to that will just let you know everything that I've shared that week." [Transcript Reference]

Closing Remarks

Mickey Jo wraps up the episode by expressing his enthusiasm for the upcoming events and encouraging listeners to subscribe, follow on social media, and engage with his content. He reiterates his commitment to both critical review and celebrating the vibrancy of the theatre community.

"I hope that everyone has a lovely Easter weekend, regardless of what it is that you're up to. And I hope, as always, that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day." [Transcript Reference]

Notable Quotes Highlighted with Timestamps

Introduction to Events:

"I'm going to be appearing on the London stage on two separate occasions, which is very unusual and so I wanted to make sure that you were aware." [00:00]
On Ali Daniel’s Performance:

"Ali is not going to be singing from that, but we are going to get some delicious musical theatre renditions that I am very excited about."
On Lewis Cornay’s Contributions:

"Lewis is also going to be performing some of his own work for us as well, and that's a really important part of these live shows."
Discussing Fabian Aloise:

"We can dig into his other influences in the dance world, which I'm sure is going to be a really exciting conversation."
Interactive Quiz and Prizes:

"I give away some Easter eggs as quiz prizes. That's a part of the quiz as well."
On the Talkback with Benjamin Button:

"It's a wonderful little show that retains the basic idea of the Benjamin Button story about a man aging in reverse."
Exclusive Access for Talkback Session:

"What's better than actually getting to see that show before the talkback? We might make reference to things that have happened at that evening's performance."
Newsletter Announcement:

"We're trying to put together a simple free email newsletter that you can sign up to that will just let you know everything that I've shared that week."
Final Well-Wishes:

"I hope that everyone has a lovely Easter weekend, regardless of what it is that you're up to. And I hope, as always, that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day."

Conclusion

This episode of MickeyJoTheatre serves as an informative and enthusiastic preview of Mickey Jo’s live engagements over the Easter bank holiday. By blending announcements with personal insights and a touch of humor, Mickey Jo effectively invites his audience to participate in and support the vibrant theatre scene. Whether attending in person or tuning in via livestream, listeners are incentivized to engage with the live shows, connect through various social platforms, and stay updated through forthcoming newsletters.

Transcript

Mickey Jo (0:00)

Oh my God. Hey. Welcome to my theatre themed YouTube channel. If you have no idea who I am, my name is Mickey Jo. I am obsessed with all things theatre and I am a professional theatre critic and content creator here on social media. If you have met me before, as I assume most of you have, hello again friends, AKA the tiny people in my camera. I am joining you this afternoon as I get ready to do a zoom interview with a couple of West End musical theatre stars to let you know about a couple of exciting things that are happening this coming weekend. Obviously I talk to a great many of you here on YouTube and I also share up updates and other little bits of content over on Instagram and on TikTok, but I find that I never really know how to speak to everyone who watches my YouTube videos without just making another one. So that's what I'm doing right now. And we're about to enjoy an Easter bank holiday weekend here in the uk. If you don't know what that means, it means that people, most people have the Friday and the Monday off of work. So it's a four day weekend and over this four day weekend I'm going to be appearing on the London stage on two separate occasions, which is very unusual and so I wanted to make sure that you were aware. The first will be a the Evening of Sunday, the 20th of April at the Phoenix Arts Club with the return of Mickey Jo Theatre Live, my monthly live cabaret show. And the second will be the following night at the Ambassadors Theatre following that evening's performance of the Olivier Award winning musical the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, when I will be hosting a Talk back with the show's writers. I'm going to tell you more about both of these events. But in the meantime, if you're somehow still not subscribed to my theatre themed YouTube channel with notifications turned on and or following me on any other social media platforms that you have, go ahead and do that right now. And also as I talk about these events, if you become so overwhelmed with excitement that you want to book tickets, you can find all of the information and the links to book tickets in the description of this video and pinned in the comments. So first let's talk about Mickey Jo Theatre Live. If you're wondering what the hell that is, if you're one of the people who still don't know that I have a live show alongside everything I do here on social media. This has been going now for almost a year. We did our first one in May or June of last year as a little Bit of a test, and this is something that the historic cabaret venue and bar, the Phoenix Arts Club, approached me about about the idea of maybe doing a podcast recording or a live show. It kind of grew into this idea of a West End chat show where I would interview and platform different performers who I thought were exciting alongside new British musical theatre composers. And this month we're doing all of that, but with another little special edition as well, because I am set to be joined by the hugely talented Ali Daniel, who is currently appearing as one of the Fates in the West End production of hadest. Ali opened the West End production at the Lyric Theatre last year and has also remained with the show through its recent cast change. She is currently also the first cover for the role of Hermes and has played the role on a few occasions. I've seen her as a Fate and as Hermes and also in a handful of previous shows. I was already a big Ally Daniel fan before Hadestown happened. We're going to talk about all of that, but we're also going to talk about the fact that Ali, along with Madeline Charlemagne and Bella Lupia Brown, was in the pro shot recording of Hadestown that they filmed back in February. We're going to get all of the tea about that. So if you're a Hadestown fan, we're going to be discussing all of these exciting topics. And because neither the Fates nor Hermes really have solo songs in Hadestown, Ali is not going to be singing from that, but we are going to get some delicious musical theatre renditions that I am very excited about. Another of my guests this month is the brilliant Lewis Cornay, who as well as being a very exciting actor, perhaps best known to audiences for his Recent roles as SpongeBob SquarePants in the UK Tour of the SpongeBob SquarePants musical in the UK Tour of the History Boys as Posner in regional productions of Whistle down the Wind and She Loves Me and John and Jen with Rachel Tucker, which you may have watched the pro shot of worldwide. As well as that, Lewis is also a musical theatre composer, so as well as giving us an acoustic rendition of a song that I have never heard an acoustic rendition of before that I am very fascinated about. Lewis is also going to be performing some of his own work for us as well, and that's a really important part of these live shows. I like to make sure that we are always hearing new musical theatre writing because it's the lifeblood of the musical theatre industry. We can enjoy the songs that we know and you hear a lot of familiar musical theatre songs, some of them in unexpected ways, some of them in expected ways. But it's important to hear new music as well, I think. And so usually what we do is I will have two actors who I will interview and they will perform songs as well. And then alongside that I will have a composer and one of their songs will be performed. And this time, because one of the actors is also the composer, there was space for another presence in the show. So I was like, let's chat to another theatrical creative. We're chatting to Fabian Aloise, who is a rising star choreographer, Olivier Award nominee, could be a Tony Award Award nominee this season because you will have seen his choreography in Sunset Boulevard and many other recent Jamie Lloyd productions. He's going to be working with Jamie on Evita. They worked together, I think perhaps for the first time on Evita at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. They have been close collaborators since Fabian was also a co director for Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder at the Ambassadors Theatre, if you saw that little gem of a show. But these productions, I mean, Sunset, the recent Much Ado About Nothing at Theatre Royal, Drew Lane, there is so much for us to dig into before we even begin talk about his other influences in the dance world, which I'm sure is going to be a really exciting conversation. I've never interviewed a choreographer before. I don't think so. I'm excited about that. If you ask him nicely, maybe we can get Aaron James to do some dance demonstrations. He's better at it than I am. Now. For those of you who are unable to watch Mickey Joe Theatre Live this Sunday, I do plan to share the interview portions of the show subsequently here on YouTube as well as on podcast platforms. But this time around I'm going to clip out the songs that they performed because putting those on YouTube, putting those on podcast platform, it just becomes a little bit of a headache. And also for those people that buy a livestream ticket and get to enjoy the whole show, it's nice to have a little something extra with that as well. Like it doesn't really make sense if I just then share it all for free. So if you want to hear the fantastic vocal performances as well as all three of those guests participating in a musical theatre trivia quiz led by myself and the brilliant Ellie Talks Theatre, then you have to buy a ticket to watch the show. Which doesn't mean you need to be there in person in London. If you are listening to me right now from somewhere internationally, you can get a 10 pound livestream ticket from another link in the description of this video and the pinned comments. And we've done this enough times now to figure out that that livestream link stays live for a little longer. So if you're not able to join us exactly at the start time, you can still watch it after the fact, so don't worry. But to be completely honest, we do still have really good availability if you want to come and join us in person this Sunday evening in London. It's Easter weekend, which I think made it a tougher than I anticipated. Aaron Tveit is doing a solo show in London that same night as well, and I don't expect to be able to compete with him or Jesus. But if by some Easter miracle you are free, it is going to be a really lovely evening. I'm going to give away some Easter eggs as quiz prizes. That's a part of the quiz as well. If you don't know as and when the performers on stage aren't able to answer the questions, it passes to the audience. And I give away a handful of musical theatre prizes. And we have old programs and tote bags and T shirts and cups and playbills from Broadway, various things that I've collected and are currently living on shelves in this There is also going to be a small musical tribute to the late great William Finn and I think it's going to be a really special evening. We talk about fun, light hearted things. I ask the questions that I really want to know the answers to and I hope that you do as well. But we also talk about the important stuff and we're going to talk about what it's like to be a queer performer, to be a trans performer in the current political climate with everything going on. And I think it's important to support those kind of conversations and to support those performers. And I get, I do that A lot of people are principally only really interested in my reviews on here and I understand that and being a critic is still the most important thing to me. But when I spend a lot of time not necessarily being negative but critiquing, it's nice to be able to do something alongside where I get to just uplift and celebrate and shine a light and offer space to things that I think are important and individuals who I think are really talented. So that is Mickey Jo Theatre Live. That is all the reasons I can think of about why you should book a ticket either to join us in person or to watch via livestream on Sunday night. That's Sunday the 20th of April with me, Lewis Cornay, Ally Daniel Fabian, Eloise My brilliant musical director, Tom Arnold, and a guest appearance from the wonderful Ellie Talks Theatre. Moving on to the next plug. So that's all happening on the Sunday night. The next night I'm going to be at the Ambassadors Theatre doing a talkback with the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which, if you don't know, just won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It's a wonderful little show that retains the basic idea of the Benjamin Button story about a man aging in reverse, but transplants it entirely to a new time and place, with it taking place in the early 20th century in a small fishing village in Cornwall. All of that being the idea of its writer, director and set designer, Jethro Compton. He's written the book, he has co written the lyrics along with the show's composer, Darren Cl. The music is folk based and it's lively and it's rustic and it's full of beautiful storytelling. And it's played by a company of actor musicians. So they're on stage playing all of these different roles, telling this story as a truly collaborative company, but also playing instruments at the same time, playing string instruments and playing exciting percussive instruments. And there's so much that I want to dig into about the way that that works, because when they understudy each other, and I think there's going to be a little bit of that happening on Monday night, although don't quote me on that, the tracks don't necessarily change in the way that they would in more traditional musicals. So whereas in another show you might go from being in the ensemble to then playing a role in Benjamin Button, they kind of share out the many different characters that they each play, as well as the instruments that are delivering the score, because not everyone plays the same kind of instruments. It's a really fascinating musical landscape and there are apparently dozens of different versions of what the show can sound like based on all of these options. Anyway, Jethro and Darren have now become Olivier Award winners and I am but very excited to get to speak to them again. I've met them before at various times in the show's development, with it having previously been off West End at Southwark Playhouse. And so after Monday night's performance at the Ambassadors Theatre, I'm going to be joining them on stage and we're going to chat about their reaction to the recent Olivier Wynn. What the journey has been like bringing this show from a very small original version via multiple off West End runs to the West End. Any further ambition that they might have for it there hasn't been confirmation that the show is getting a cast recording. You know, that I'm going to PR about it and again, ask the questions that I think are interesting and I really want to know the answers to. And hopefully you do as well. I think we're also going to do a couple of questions from the audience. I know there are a group of hardcore Benjamin Button fans who are going to be there, which is really exciting, and I think they might be looking into a way of potentially sharing it on the show's own social profiles. There might be the possibility that I might be able to film it as well and share it here and on podcast platforms subsequently. However, don't quote me on any of that. As far as we know. As far as has been confirmed, it is exclusively available to the audience who are seeing the show that evening. There are plenty of affordable tickets still left, so grab a ticket, come and see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Because also, what's better than actually getting to see that show before the talkback? We might make reference to things that have happened at that evening's performance. I'm very excited to see it again. I haven't seen it since it was opening last year. I was so pleased when they won the Olivier. I have been really eager to do this and to help use whatever platform I have to help shine a light on this exciting show, on this really deserving show. And you'll know if you've listened to my previous reviews and if you listen to my review of Benjamin Button, that when I really love something and when I really believe in it, I do encourage people to go and book tickets and see it. And what's better than being able to do that on a night that I'm gonna be there talking about how great it is with the writers afterwards? That's just perfect. I'm so excited that that's happening and I want as many people as possible to know that that's happening and about it afterwards and be disappointed. So again, if you would like to book to come and see that particular performance on Monday night, you can find a link in the description of this as well. Let me know if you're coming to both my live show and Benjamin Butt just spending the whole Easter bank holiday weekend with me. I'm going to be tired. You probably are as well, but we can be tired together. So that's what I'm going to be up to for the next few days anyway. And those are the chances that you have to come and see me. Listen to me on stage further down the line. We have more performances of Mickey Jo Theatre Live at the Phoenix Arts Club, currently on sale with guests to be confirmed. Make sure that you are keeping a watch here and on my other social platforms. I do hope to be sharing a newsletter soon. This is something that Aaron and I are trying to come up with because, you know, I post some things here, I post some things on Instagram, some other things. So we're trying to put together a simple free email newsletter that you can sign up to that will just let you know everything that I've shared that week and also give you a little bit of a sense of what's coming up the following week, which reviews to look out for, which shows I'm going to be at, and where you can find me in the real world. In the meantime, I think that's everything that I have to tell you and it's almost time for me to jump on this Zoom interview. So thanks for listening. I hope that everyone has a lovely Easter weekend, regardless of what it is that you're up to. And I hope, as always, that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theater. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey day. Subscribe.