Broadway Bound: The Musicals That Never Came to Broadway

Most actors spend the rest of their lives trying to escape the role that made them famous. Robert Preston spent the rest of his career trying to find another one. This week, we look at We Take the Town and The Prince of Grand Street, two fascinating near-misses that reveal a star stubbornly refusing to become his own tribute act. It's a story about reinvention, risk-taking, and the terrible burden of being Harold Hill forever. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerry Lewis looked at one of the craziest stage comedies ever written and thought, "Needs more Jerry Lewis." The result was Hellzapoppin' '76, a musical so ambitious, so expensive, and so gloriously overstuffed that it practically collapsed under the weight of its own enthusiasm. This week, we explore the age-old Broadway question: when does confidence become hubris? Or, put another way, how many clowns can you fit into one flop? If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By 1974, Bette Davis had spent forty years winning fights, collecting enemies, and becoming Bette Davis. Then she decided to do a musical. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. This week, we tell the story of Miss Moffat, the legendary out-of-town disaster that finally met its match in an equally legendary star. At its heart, this isn't a story about a flop. It's about what happens when Broadway and Bette Davis both expect to be the boss. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CW: This episode frequently mentions the word r**e in relation to the story Angela Lansbury survived murder mysteries, Tom Bosley's New England accent, and a murderous nephew. But could she survive a musical about a Southern woman who decides the solution to racism is......well, you just need to listen to this episode about the Styne/Merrill musical Prettybelle This week, we examine one of the most baffling concepts ever set to music and discover how one of Broadway's most beloved stars managed to walk away from a catastrophe with her reputation not only intact—but somehow improved. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bea Arthur spent her career playing women who could level a grown man with a single look. So naturally she starred in A Mother's Kisses, a musical about a stage mother so terrifying she makes Mama Rose look like Maria Von Trapp. This week, we explore the show that seemed perfectly suited to Bea's talents and ask a simple question: can a star be too right for a role? Along the way, we'll uncover a musical that wasn't really about Broadway at all—it was about what happens when nobody in the room is willing to blink first. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season 3 is almost here! This season on Broadway Bound: The Musicals That Never Came to Broadway, we're turning the spotlight on the stars who thought Broadway would be their next triumph... and discovered it had other plans. Join Robert W. Schneider as he explores the stories behind Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Bea Arthur, Jerry Lewis, Ginger Rogers, Anthony Newley, Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, Gene Barry, Randy Quaid, and the Broadway-bound musicals that never quite made it. It's a season about ambition, celebrity, ego, reinvention, and the glorious chaos that happens when legends collide with live theater. Season 3, I'm the Greatest Star, premieres July 2, 2026. Subscribe now so you don't miss a single flop. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

60 Songs 50 Years 9 Leads 5 Directors 4 Scripts 1 Sondheim We close our second season with the story of Stephen Sondheim's half century quest to bring musical life to the true story of 1920s schemers Addison and Wilson Mizner. Whether you knew it as A Sentimental Guy, Wise Guys, Gold, Get Rich Quick, Bounce, or Road Show, this episode will give you a glimpse into never before heard communication between some of Broadway's most prolific minds as they all work to bring Sondheim's dream to fruition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If I said to you I have a score by Guys and Dolls’ Frank Loesser, book by Kiss Me Kate’s Sam Spewack, directed by the one and only Bob Fosse, and starring television personality Phyllis Newman, you’d probably ask where could you invest because this is gonna be bigger than talking pictures! But, it wasn’t? Why? Why did all of these wonderful people struggle with making Russian expansion funny and musical? Well…..why is Frank Loesser’s Pleasures and Palaces even worth talking about? What if I told you it was the show that created the Fosse dancer. See what happened was…..well, you will need to listen to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I never miss an Arthur Miller musical! Yes, you read that correctly. Arthur Miller, the voice of gritty American realism, whose plays confronted capitalism, communism, and catastrophe one day woke up and decided to be the next Jerry Herman. You see what happened was.... Well, you will need to listen to our episode about UP FROM PARADISE to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do Leonard Bernstein, James Joyce, woolly mammoths, Bebe Neuwirth, the ice age, and Mario Cantone all have in common? They all tried to succeed by the skin of their teeth in John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joseph Stein's musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's meta-theatrical experience titled The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, Over and Over, All About Us..... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1960, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt created theater history when their whimsical musical, The Fantasticks, the little show that no one believed in, opened and would not close until forty years later. Twenty-seven years later they would say “Smart New York money says we're not what's happening at the moment. We are perceived as the past. The perspective of us needs to be altered,” and so they plunged head first into musicalizing the play that had inspired them to create theater in the first place, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. But why, almost forty years later, no one will ever get to hear it? See what happened was…..well, guess you will need to find out for yourself when we explore how the geniuses behind The Fantasticks struggled against the tides of British imports to bring musical life to Grover’s Corners, with a cast of characters ranging from Gene Kelly to Angela Lansbury to Peter Pan herself, Mary Martin. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It might end up being one the longest partnerships in the history of the American Musical. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the lyricists of On the Town, Wonderful Town, Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi, Applause, On the 20th Century, the screenplay writers of Singing in the Rain, and the duo that gave the world phrases like “New York, New York, it’s a helluva town!” “Never Never land!” “Make Someone Happy” “The Party’s Over” and so many others. But, all of that amazing work might not have happened if they had brought their gold rush musical, Bonanza Bound, onto Broadway when they were first starting out! Grab your sleds and huskies because there is gold in them that hills….and by hills I mean Philadelphia where we will look at 1947’s Bonanza Bound! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Lin Manuel Miranda....before Jason Robert Brown....before Jonathan Larson....there was Meredith Willson, the one man band who gave the world its most American of musicals, The Music Man. But what happens when the music man wants to change his tune? And change it while being confronted with every major life crisis imaginable? Join Christopher Columbus, Meredith Willson, and Chita Rivera in a madcap adventure through one of the trickiest musicals to sink on its way to Broadway: 1491 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Composer Cy Coleman gave Broadway some of its most iconic melodies: Big Spender, Real Live Girl, Hey, Look Me Over, and the list goes on and on. He was the King of 60s smooth swing and had never once closed a show out of town….until…. Along with a wild crew including a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a testy choreographer, a director unsure of the material, and a leading man who was as eccentric offstage as he was on, Cy Coleman tried to bring a bucolic morality musical to life but Home Again, Home Again shuttered in Canada. But soon Coleman had an idea for his next musical! A musical about a musical whose wild crew included a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a testy choreographer, a director unsure of the material, and a leading man who was as eccentric offstage as he was on, as they all careened to opening on the great bright way. See what happened was…well, you will just need to jump into our episode focusing on Baker’s Dozen/Home Again/Home Again Home Again/10 Days to Broadway/13 Days to Broadway…..yes….there are more titles. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trigger Warning: This episode deals with pedophilia If there was source material that no one ever thought could be a musical, you would go to one man to write it. Not Lin Manuel Miranda. Not Stephen Sondheim. Not even Oscar Hammerstein. You would go to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner who, along with Frederick Loewe, created Brigadoon, Camelot, and the juggernaut known as My Fair Lady. But when Loewe chooses to retire, and Broadway moves to pop, Alan Jay Lerner has two options. He can either retire himself OR try to outdo the current crop of edgy young songwriters who are putting sex, drugs, rock and roll onstage. Could Lerner top them all with the adding songs to the most scandalous book ever written? See what happened was….well, you will need to find out for yourself when we see what happened when Alan Jay Lerner tried to get audiences excited about turning Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a book centered on the adoration of nymphets, into a big old musical called Lolita, My Love! If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1977, Martin Charnin, Charles Strouse, and Thomas Meehan, looked at one another on the opening night of Annie and said five magic words to one another “This show will run forever!” Thirteen years later, Charnin, Strouse, and Meehan looked at one another on the opening night of Annie 2 and said another five words to one another “We wrote the wrong show.” See what happened was…..well, guess you will need to find out for yourself when we explore how the geniuses behind Annie 1 struggled to find the right elements to make Annie 2 just as brilliant as her older sister. If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE FAIR USE: Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Broadway historian, director, and all around MT nerd Robert W. Schneider for a wild and exhaustively researched celebration of the musicals that had set their sights on Broadway but missed the mark. This trailer looks at the second season of Broadway Bound which is called "YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST" and explores ten Broadway Bound musicals that were written by major songwriters. From a foul mouthed Little Orphan Annie to dancing woolly mammoths, Broadway Bound: The Musicals That Never Came To Broadway podcast is sure to open your eyes to some of the most bizarre, brilliant, and bold musicals that tried to get themselves on the Great Bright Way! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we think of "out of town" tryouts we think of Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Detroit, Tokyo….. Yes, Tokyo! In the 1970s Tokyo had become the center of Japanese culture and it was giving its citizens home grown movies, literature, plays, and paintings but it had not given its public a musical that was cultivated in Japan. So what better option than an hour adaptation of Gone With The Wind? Well, what happened was…..well were gonna let Miss Scarlett herself, Lesley Ann Warren, tell you in this week’s episode of which explores Gone With the Wind: The Musical! Well, fiddle- dee- dee! BROADWAY BOUND PLAYERS Ray Hebel as Joe Layton Cameron Kalajian as Akira Takarada CJ Schneider as Harold Rome Molly Stillens as Florence Rome Jake Urban as Rex Reed If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one is a heart-breaker, friends. A real, honest to Sondheim heart-breaker. Like Avenue Q beating Wicked heart-breaker because, unless without a deus ex machina at Paramount Studios, we will never, ever see a musical that everyone says was one of the greatest musicals of the 1990s. Starring Christine Ebersole, Gregory Harrison, and......wait, why should I tell you when book writer Martin Casella and ensemble members John Bolton and Christopher Sieber can as they back on 1993's Paper Moon. BROADWAY BOUND PLAYERS Charles Kirsch as The New York Times Critic Matt Koplik as The New York Times Reporter CJ Schneider as Larry Grossman If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do a nine minute song about a bird, the chest hair of Israel's greatest entertainer, an FBI pursuit of a missing lead sheet, and a list of firings as long as Paul Sorvino's range have in common? They were all part of the madcap, wild, manic, and tumultuous ride of Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein's The Baker's Wife. Get ready as original cast members Carole Demas, Kurt Peterson, Teri Ralston, as well as original press agent Joshua Ellis, look back on Topol, Patti LuPone, David Merrick, and a meadowlark longing to break free. BROADWAY BOUND PLAYERS Nicole Weitzman as Patti LuPone Cole Winston as Stephen Schwartz If you like what we are doing DONATE HERE Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that qualify as fair use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices