"Anyone Can Whistle" tells the story of an economically-depressed town whose corrupt Mayoress, in an attempt to draw tourists, decides to create a fake "miracle".
Who's ready to chase some cookies?! Well, you better grab a net and start making a list of who's safe and who's sane because hosts Bobby and Kristina are back with a brand new episode of the new podcast My Favorite Flop and it's all about the 1964 Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents musical "Anyone Can Whistle"!
Listen to the episode below!
Described by theater historian Ken Mandelbaum as "a satire on conformity and the insanity of the so-called sane," "Anyone Can Whistle" tells the story of an economically-depressed town whose corrupt Mayoress, in an attempt to draw tourists, decides to create a fake "miracle" - which draws the attention of Fay Apple, an emotionally inhibited nurse, a crowd of inmates from a local asylum called "The Cookie Jar," and a "doctor" with secrets of his own. On the episode, hosts Bobby and Kristina trace the show's genesis as a work conceived by two young creative geniuses hoping to re-write "how" musicals were written and how its ambitious failure would shape their creative futures. They also touch on the lasting legacy of Stephen Sondheim's score, which has been performed consistently in concerts and cabarets ever since and recorded by industry titans such as Barbra Streisand, Mandy Patinkin, Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster, and more! "Anyone Can Whistle" may have only played 9 performances on Broadway - and, unlike most of Sondheim's other shows, has never been revived - but it's bound to be a long time before people to stop saying not to step on the grass, that there won't be trumpets, and that they, actually, can't whistle!
My Favorite Flop is the brainchild of hosts Bobby Traversa (former Executive Vice President, The STAGE Network) and Kristina Miller-Weston (Jersey Boys; Barbie Live!) and was born out of their love for musical theatre and their desire to celebrate the lesser-knowns and also-rans. Each episode explores a different Broadway "flop" and lovingly looks at the show itself, its history, and perhaps some of the surrounding factors that may have led to its ultimate demise. Over the course of this podcast, Bobby and Kristina hope their positivity and enthusiasm help to de-stigmatize the word "flop" and change the narrative that "flop = bad."
Videos