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Pete Simpson, Austin Pendleton, Scott Shepherd and James Stanely in "Straight White Men" (photo by Blaine Davis)

Offscript: The Land of Breakout Songs and Butt Wiggles

It’s the all-Public-Theater edition of Offscript! Senior editor Eliza Bent joins us to discuss Young Jean Lee’s newest show “Straight White Men” at the Public Theater. Then Suzy, Rob and Eliza sound off on “Fortress of Solitude,” also at the Public, and why some musical conventions work sometimes but not others. (We promise next edition of Offscript will be a little less NY-centric.)

It’s an all-in-house, mostly-Public-Theater edition of Offscript, featuring a discussion with senior editor Eliza Bent about her in-depth interview with subversive playwright/auteur Young Jean Lee. Does Lee’s newest work, Straight White Men at the Public, signal her entrance into the mainstream?

Then Eliza joins fellow editors Suzy Evans and Rob Weinert-Kendt to debate the merits of The Fortress of Solitude, the new musical (also at the Public, though it had an out-of-town run at Dallas Theater Center) from Michael Friedman, Itamar Moses and Daniel Aukin.

Finally, the editors offer their endorsements: Rob is high on a bunch of musical theatre scores currently or recently heard onstage in NYC (the aforementioned Solitude as well as On the TownThe Last Ship, and Ghost Quartet); Suzy is enraptured with the Serial podcast, a new crime documentary show from This American Life (hey, it’s theatre of the air!), and she also liked the new musical Found at Atlantic Theatre Company; Eliza, bringing things back to the Public, rhapsodizes about Bridget Everett’s Rock Bottom at Joe’s Pub (making its second appearance in our endorsements).

We promise next week will be a little less NY-centric in scope.

Download the episode here. Subscribe via iTunes or RSS.

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