BROADWAY NATION

My guest this week is award-winning entertainer Richard Skipper, who joins me to talk about his new show, Still Going Strong—A Celebration of 60 Years of Hello Dolly!, which he will be bringing to various venues on several continents over the next few months, starting with Crazy Coqs in London on August 5th.

As you will hear, it was Richard’s friendship with Carol Channing that inspired him to begin chronicling the history of Hello Dolly!, and over the past fifteen years, Richard Skipper has interviewed more than 1,000 participants of various productions of the show. That this discussion follows on the heels of the Bette Midler series of podcasts is a happy quirk of serendipity!

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For just $7.00 a month, you will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of many of the discussions that I have with my guests — in fact I often record nearly twice as much conversation as ends up in the edited versions. You will also have access to additional in-depth conversations with my frequent co-host Albert Evans that have not been featured on the podcast. All patrons receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgment of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are very enthusiastic about Broadway Nation there are additional PATRON levels that come with even more benefits.

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My guest this week is Ted Chapin who’s captivating 2003 book Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies,” has recently been reissued in a revised and updated edition.

As you may know, this book is based on Ted’s first-hand experience as the production assistant on the original Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, & James Goldman landmark musical Follies.

Of course, the expression, “I just couldn’t put that book down” is a cliché – but in this case, it has been absolutely true – twice! -- both when I read this book when it was originally released, and again just a few weeks ago when I had the great pleasure of diving into it all over again.

On last week’s episode, Peter Filichia, talked about wanting to be able to go back in time and be a “fly on the wall” to witness the inner workings of legendary musicals as they were being put together. Ted’s book allows all of us to do exactly that. This book makes you feel as it you are right there in the thick of it during Follies rehearsal period in New York, and in Boston during its out-of-town tryout’s many trials and tribulations.

For 40 years Ted served as the President of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization a role that he was personally chosen by the Rodgers and Hammerstein families to take on. On his watch there were eight Tony Award winning Best Revivals of musicals in the R&H catalogue -- On Your Toes, Carousel, Show Boat, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, The King And I – twice! – and Oklahoma! He also supervised major R&H productions In London, on television, and around the world.

And Ted is the co-founder of the acclaimed City Center Encores! series, and he currently serves on the boards of City Center, The Kurt Weil Foundation, and the American Theatre Wing.

It is always a delight to speak with him – especially in regard to his one-of-a-kind experience of being in the rooms where Follies happened.

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This week’s special Encore episode of Broadway Nation celebrates a unique "Broadwayversary":

On February 18, 1903 – 119 years ago tomorrow – one of the very first Broadway musicals entirely written, staged, produced, and performed by black theater artists opened at the New York Theatre in the heart of Times Square. That musical was titled In Dahomey. With music by Will Marion Cook, book by Jesse A. Ship & lyrics by Paul Laurence Dunbar (with additional lyrics by Alex Rodgers, Cecil Mack, Benjamin Shook, and James Weldon Johnson), this show was created to showcase four of the biggest Vaudeville stars of that era – the team of Bert Williams & George Walker and their wives and co-stars Lottie Williams and Ida Overton Walker. In Dahomey toured America for more than 3 years, including two runs on Broadway, and became a sensation in London where it played 252 performances at the Shaftesbury Theater and gave a command performance at Buckingham Palace for the royal family who apparently all danced the cakewalk.

If you have never heard of In Dahomey, you are not alone. It is part of an entire decade of extremely popular Broadway musicals created by black artists that today are largely overlooked and forgotten.

In light of this show’s anniversary, and Black History Month, it seemed like the perfect time to reprise one of Broadway Nation’s earliest episodes: Forgotten Forefathers – The Black Artists Who Invented Broadway.

This episode explores the roots of black theater in America – in both its positive and negative aspects – and especially shines a light on the first decade of the 20th Century when dozens of black musicals, and hundreds of black theater artists took Broadway by storm, nearly 20 years before Shuffle Along would do it again.

Broadway Nation is written and produced by David Armstrong.

Special thanks to Kyle Carter and James Rocco for their voice acting contributions and the the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra for there terrific recordings of songs from these songwriters and shows,

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This episode is made possible in part by the generous support of Broadway Nation "Backstage Pass Club" Producer Level Member, Tracy Wellans.

For information on how to join the "Backstage Pass Club" please go the show notes for this episode at www.broadway-nation.com

In this episode I continue my Centennial celebration of the groundbreaking musical Shuffle Along! with the second half of my conversation with Richard Carlin & Ken Bloom who are the co-authors of Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race – the very first full biography of Shuffle Along’s legendary composer.

If you missed the first part of this conversation you may want to listen to episode 49 before continuing with this one.

As we ended the previous episode, Sissle & Blake and Miller & Lyles – the two black Vaudeville teams that came together to create Shuffle Along – were finally about to open their new musical on Broadway following a very challenging pre-Broadway out of town tryout. The only New York theater they could get was really just a concert hall with a very shallow stage, and located on 63rd street at the extreme northern edge of the theater district – over a mile from 42nd Street. The small stage allowed for only minimal scenery, and the only costumes they could afford were sweat stained, hand me downs from previous Broadway shows. As a result, Shuffle Along, had no visibility or profile, or expectation from anyone that it would run more than a week. However, even with all of this stacked against it, Shuffle Along immediately became a giant hit – true over-night sensation!

To celebrate Broadway Nation’s 50th episode I am very pleased to announce the inauguration of the Broadway Nation “Backstage Pass Club”

If you love this podcast and want to delve even deeper into the world of Broadway musicals, I invite you to become a member of the

"Broadway Nation Backstage Pass Club".

For as little as $7.00 a month members will receive exclusive access to never-before-heard, unedited versions of every Season Two interview, and many from Season One as well! I often record at least twice as much conversation as ends up in the public episodes, and this includes additional in-depth conversations with my frequent co-host Albert Evans. You will also have the opportunity to ask us any questions about Broadway musicals that you would like to hear answered and propose topics you would like me to cover -- all of which I will incorporate into a special series of “Ask Me Anything About Broadway” episodes. Last, but certainly not least, you will receive special “on-air” shout-outs and acknowledgement of your vital support of this podcast. And if you are feeling especially enthusiastic about Broadway Nation there are Patron and Producer levels available as well.

To join please visit our website at www. Broadway-Nation.com. and just click the link included in the show notes for this episode.

THANK YOU "Backstage Pass Club" Founding Members: Roger Klorese, Neil Hoyt, Chris Moad, and Daniel Cox

And Producer Level members: Bob Braun, Steve & Paula Reynolds, Tracy Wellens, Gary Fuller & Randy Everett.

Thank you all so much, and welcome to the club!

Special thanks to Pauls Macs for his help in editing this episode, to KVSH 101.9 the Voice of Vashon, WA, and to the entire team at the Broadway Podcast Network.

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It's hard for me to believe that I launched this podcast exactly five years ago this week, and even harder for me to comprehend that, to date, more than 279,000 people, from nearly every country in the world, have listened to at least one, and in many cases all, of the 175 episodes!

So, today it seemed fitting to rerelease the episode that started it all — the very first episode of Broadway Nation: George M. Cohan and the Immigrants Who Invented Broadway.

As you will hear, at the time, we were still trying to figure out exactly how to make a podcast, so the production quality is not up to my current standards. However, the content and subject matter are still, I believe, essential to fully understanding and appreciating the remarkable history of the Broadway Musical.

Happy birthday, Broadway Nation, and thank you all!

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