Episode 910: The Stage in 1925
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
Release Date: 12/17/2025
Episode 914: Singing with Nureyev and Living with Lerner: Liz Robertson Interview.
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
Nick welcomes the legendary Liz Robertson to MusicalTalk for a wide-ranging and intimate conversation spanning a remarkable life in musical theatre. Marking the 70th anniversary of My Fair Lady, Liz reflects on her experiences with the show and explores why it continues to charm, challenge and resonate with audiences seven decades on. From working alongside the incomparable Rudolf Nureyev to sharing life with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, Liz offers candid insights into artistry, discipline, love, and legacy. Together, Nick and Liz consider the fascinating ways in which life imitates art – and...
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Episode 913: Holding Space for Wicked - Magic or Misdirection?
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
With the dust now well and truly settled, Nick sits down with Ruby – a self-confessed Wicked obsessive – to take a long look back at the two film adaptations. Together they explore what Wicked has meant to them personally over the last 25 years, how their relationship with the show has evolved, and whether the films live up to the stage phenomenon that defined a generation of theatre-goers. From big emotional highs to creative choices that divided opinion, Nick and Ruby dig into what worked, what didn’t, and why Wicked continues to provoke such passionate responses.
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Episode 912: One Year More: A MusicalTalk Theatre Year in Review.
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
Nick and Hannah look back on a theatre-stuffed 2025, chatting through the shows they saw, loved, questioned and are still thinking about. From West End heavyweights to immersive experiments and concert highlights, this episode is a fast, opinionated tour of the year in musicals. Along the way they discuss everything from Robin Hood at the Palladium, Les Misérables, Matilda, MJ The Musical and Mamma Mia! to newer and quirkier experiences including Grease immersive, Clueless, The Great Gatsby, Edward Scissorhands, Acorn Antiques and Here & Now, Wicked: Part Two, Back to the Future,...
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Episode 911: Merry Quizmas and a Happy New Earful for 2026
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
It's Christmas again - but didn't we have one twelve months ago? Well, just in case Dame Shirley Bassey is correct and it all just a little bit of history repeating, we might as well mark the fact in the traditional MusicalTalk way - with our annual festive quiz! So, pit your wits against Thos as he attempts to bamboozle, educate, irritate and inform with twelve questions covering 150 years of musical theatre history - from 1875 to last night! With tributes to the late great Tom Lehrer, and touching on musicals about everything from airships, the Gold Rush, Sherlock Holmes,...
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Episode 910: The Stage in 1925
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
Travel back one hundred years as MusicalTalk looks at the world of theatre and musical theatre in late 1925 through the prism of the trade press of the period. Josh and Thos thumb through an actor's newspaper from a century ago and uncover the invisible world of how the profession presented itself to its peers - through lists of classified messages, official notices, general advertisements, ads for songs, and even updates on which actors had suffered car crashes, colds or nervous breakdowns. With Vincent Youman's No No Nanette and Jerome Kern's Sally proving the big musical hits of...
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Episode 909: Mad for The Queen is Mad
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
Join Thos as he talks to the cast and writers of the stunning five star show, The Queen is Mad, about the early 16th Century Spanish monarch known to history as Joanna the Mad - but what if her madness was in fact fury? Find out how this musical explores if Joanna was genuinely insane or whether she was simply the victim of intrigue and oppression, and how it draws out many contemporary parallels along the way. With insights into the art and craft of acting, singing, writing and composing, and a chance to hear the powerful Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize Finalist 2024 song,...
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Episode 908: "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme ABBACADABRA! (The First ABBA Musical)
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
This week on MusicalTalk, Nick Hutson and Andrew Keating uncover a forgotten gem of musical theatre history as they sit down with the legendary David Wood to discuss the original ABBA jukebox musical: ABBACADBRA. Long before Mamma Mia! conquered the world, there was ABBACADBRA — a fantastical, family-friendly musical created at the Lyric Hammersmith in the early 1980s, featuring ABBA’s music reimagined and a brand-new book and story by David Wood. Nick and Andrew dive deep into how the project came to life, the challenges of adapting globally beloved pop songs into a narrative format and...
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Episode 907: The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
By Zeus! It's time for MusicalTalks's celebration of our Pick of the Fringe 2025 - the arrestingly titled (and genuinely brilliant) The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse! Join Thos as he figuratively feasts on the brains of John Paul Liddle and Hugh Moore, the people behind this amazingly funny, clever, literate, satirical and tuneful modern masterpiece of a musical to find out how it came to be created! Wittily combining craft, zombie lore, reality television and classical myth with a catchy score and top notch lyrics (quadruple rhymes anyone?), this musical is a bona fide...
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Episode 906: Two Soups and a Revival - Acorn Antiques Returns
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
This week on MusicalTalk, Nick and Dom sit down to celebrate one of British musical theatre’s most brilliantly bonkers gems: Acorn Antiques. With the recent Hope Mill Theatre production bringing Victoria Wood’s cult favourite back into the spotlight, they explore how this new staging honours (and occasionally reimagines) Wood’s unmistakable wit, warmth and musical mischief. From the show’s origins as a beloved sketch, to its transformation into a full-scale musical bursting with charm, Nick and Dom reflect on why Acorn Antiques continues to resonate with audiences decades later. They...
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Episode 905: Five, Six, Seven, Elf!
MusicalTalk - The UK's Independent Musical Theatre Podcast
✨ Pop nostalgia meets festive cheer in this lively, laugh-filled episode of MusicalTalk! ✨ This week, Nick and Andrew take a nostalgic step back to the ’90s as they discuss HERE AND NOW — the brand-new Steps musical currently touring around the UK! Plus, Nick introduces a new voice to the MusicalTalk team — Emily! Emily joins to chat about ELF at the Aldwych Theatre — a festive favourite that she’s performed in… but never actually seen until now! Both HERE AND NOW and ELF were star-studded gala performances, and our hosts share their thoughts on the...
info_outlineTravel back one hundred years as MusicalTalk looks at the world of theatre and musical theatre in late 1925 through the prism of the trade press of the period. Josh and Thos thumb through an actor's newspaper from a century ago and uncover the invisible world of how the profession presented itself to its peers - through lists of classified messages, official notices, general advertisements, ads for songs, and even updates on which actors had suffered car crashes, colds or nervous breakdowns. With Vincent Youman's No No Nanette and Jerome Kern's Sally proving the big musical hits of the season, Rodgers and Hart's Mountain Greenery premieriing in the revue Applesauce and the Gershwin Brother's musical Primrose on tour, alongside the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company holding fort in Edinburgh and revivals of the the Belle of New York and Greek Slave (a 19th Century precursor to a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), it's a real treasure trove of unexpected information. And what's more you'll find out the answer to the age old music hall riddle - do kippers swim folded or flat? It's fascinating stuff!