May 7, 2018
THE LIST
1. This American Life - "Random Acts of History"
From the incredibly apt title to the thought-provoking complexities unraveled in the featured story, this episode gripped me in a way that merited ongoing reflection. It drove home the idea that outrage is easy to inhabit, while complete understanding is much more difficult. It's problematic to have a group of kids laughing about the Holocaust in public, but who is really to blame?.
2. Love and Radio - "Choir Boy"
Humans are capable of weathering an incredible expanse of experiences in a single life time. We tend to valorize self-made bootstrapping narratives of people who go from zero to hero in their own life stories, but a lesser-seen arc is the extraordinary person who rises steadily and then seemingly voluntarily self-destructs just for the hell of it. This story is rife with exploiting racial and class privilege, but to an unusual end..
3. Futility Closet - "The Man Who Wouldn't Die"
Maybe you're a glass-half-full type, and maybe, at the same time, your closest friends are trying to kill you and collect a death benefit. The insane tale of Michael Malloy (with an episode title borrowed from a 2012 Smithsonian article of the same name) brings a whole new meaning to the mantra "keep your friends close and your enemies closer.".
HONORABLE MENTION
99% Invisible - "The Laff Box"
Planet Money - "The Belt, The Road And The Money"
On the Media - "Dog Whistle"
Embedded - "Trump Stories: Scott Pruitt"
Ear Hustle - "Thick Glass"
SOMETHING NEW
Imma level with y'all: those colloquialisms don't accurately reflect my writing style. Also, I love musical theatre. This affinity is much deeper than I tend to acknowledge, easily tucked away until I come into contact with a show I love or have the thrill of watching something great unfold on a stage for the first time. There was a life stage when I fancied myself a theatrical scholar, studying history and theory while entertaining the idea of becoming an archivist and historian. And coming back to a relevant entry point for The Pod Piper (which, generally speaking, is much more about podcasts than about my dormant life-goals), my iPod Classic contained two shows themed around theatre (Broadway Bullet, and the apparently now-defunct American Theatre Wing podcast). Well friends, in 2016 a new player hit the scene: Broadway Backstory.
Despite the fact that it took this self-proclaimed podcast loving theatre nerd the better part of a year and a half to discover the show, Broadway Backstory is as worth your time today as it was when the first season launched. Host Patrick Hinds (of Theatre People where he has interviewed EVERYONE) takes listeners on a journey from the moment a show was just a twinkle in the eye of theatre artist, all the way through the production's Broadway bow. Hinds strikes just about the perfect tone for this podcast, expertly narrating in a way that is 85% professional docu-pod orator and 15% exuberant fan. He is not afraid to inject some of his own editorializing into the show, and for the most part this is for the better.
The behind-the-scenes structure of the episodes is deeply compelling, and seeing the sausage get made did not ruin the experience for this listener. Even with musicals I had previously placed firmly in the "not for me" camp, the episodes breathed new interest into my sometimes overly critical brain. The depth of interviewees across drawn-out timelines drives home just how long it take a show to get up on its feet and ascend the ranks. Additionally, despite my familiarity with the background of a show like Hamilton or In The Heights (humblebrag: I met Lin when, folks), Hinds and co. managed to entertain me with some things I already knew - alongside, of course, many things that were completely new.
I should mention that this show is indeed branded content, a promotional vehicle sponsored by the TodayTix theatre ticket app. There doesn't seem to be an insidious angle in play, but as is the case with any kind of documentary work the audience should be wary of motives from the funders. That said, the stakes are pretty low here - I would love to live in a world where major brands are competing to rewrite theatrical history, but until TDF runs a slander ad we can assume this isn't much of a concern. The main area that might be troubling would be from a critics perspective, insofar as this podcast mostly comes with an implicit endorsement of each show featured. That's not a bad thing, so long as listener expectations are adjusted accordingly. There is also some very brief product placement, such as when Hamilton director Tommy Kail discusses the unprecedented list of individuals logged in to the TodayTix app in pursuit of tickets to the first Broadway preview of the blockbuster musical, but even that is set to work in conveying a show's evolution.
It would be nice to shine the spotlight on a more granular level, to signify the well-deserved respect for the droves and droves of absolutely astonishing work that never hits the Great White Way. But the podcast is titled in a way that pretty clearly signals what the subject matter will be, and a winnowing down of scope can hardly be counted against it. If anything, this might be a chance for TodayTix to broaden their reach. The app purports to be a marketplace for tickets in 13 major cities, and I for one would love to see a sort of Locked On national/regional network blossom for the theatrical podcasting world. Until that day, I've got a couple more episodes of the Webby nominated Broadway Backstory to drink in..
Despite the fact that it took this self-proclaimed podcast loving theatre nerd the better part of a year and a half to discover the show, Broadway Backstory is as worth your time today as it was when the first season launched. Host Patrick Hinds (of Theatre People where he has interviewed EVERYONE) takes listeners on a journey from the moment a show was just a twinkle in the eye of theatre artist, all the way through the production's Broadway bow. Hinds strikes just about the perfect tone for this podcast, expertly narrating in a way that is 85% professional docu-pod orator and 15% exuberant fan. He is not afraid to inject some of his own editorializing into the show, and for the most part this is for the better.
The behind-the-scenes structure of the episodes is deeply compelling, and seeing the sausage get made did not ruin the experience for this listener. Even with musicals I had previously placed firmly in the "not for me" camp, the episodes breathed new interest into my sometimes overly critical brain. The depth of interviewees across drawn-out timelines drives home just how long it take a show to get up on its feet and ascend the ranks. Additionally, despite my familiarity with the background of a show like Hamilton or In The Heights (humblebrag: I met Lin when, folks), Hinds and co. managed to entertain me with some things I already knew - alongside, of course, many things that were completely new.
I should mention that this show is indeed branded content, a promotional vehicle sponsored by the TodayTix theatre ticket app. There doesn't seem to be an insidious angle in play, but as is the case with any kind of documentary work the audience should be wary of motives from the funders. That said, the stakes are pretty low here - I would love to live in a world where major brands are competing to rewrite theatrical history, but until TDF runs a slander ad we can assume this isn't much of a concern. The main area that might be troubling would be from a critics perspective, insofar as this podcast mostly comes with an implicit endorsement of each show featured. That's not a bad thing, so long as listener expectations are adjusted accordingly. There is also some very brief product placement, such as when Hamilton director Tommy Kail discusses the unprecedented list of individuals logged in to the TodayTix app in pursuit of tickets to the first Broadway preview of the blockbuster musical, but even that is set to work in conveying a show's evolution.
It would be nice to shine the spotlight on a more granular level, to signify the well-deserved respect for the droves and droves of absolutely astonishing work that never hits the Great White Way. But the podcast is titled in a way that pretty clearly signals what the subject matter will be, and a winnowing down of scope can hardly be counted against it. If anything, this might be a chance for TodayTix to broaden their reach. The app purports to be a marketplace for tickets in 13 major cities, and I for one would love to see a sort of Locked On national/regional network blossom for the theatrical podcasting world. Until that day, I've got a couple more episodes of the Webby nominated Broadway Backstory to drink in..
From: TodayTix/Theatre Podcast Productions
Recommended for: A different kind of people known as people who need people.
Drop Schedule: Tuesday, Seasonal:Bi-Weekly
Average episode length: 60 minutes
Rating: Gotta Have It
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