Queer Voices
Queer Voices
April 8 - Derek Charles Livingston of STAGES, Jack Wagner's MAGA MUSICAL parody, and Logan Vaden turns 35 onstage!
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On this episode, QUEER VOICES dives into the theater. We have Derek Charles Livingston, who is the artistic director of STAGES HOUSTON. He breaks down his coming season. Jack Wagner tells us about a TRUMP musical called STABLE GENIUS that is premiering right here in Houston. Finally, Logan Vaden turns 35 for his special production of COMPANY from THE GARDEN THEATRE.
Stages Houston - https://stageshouston.com/
STABLE GENIUS - https://matchouston.org/events/2026/stable-genius
COMPANY - https://matchouston.org/events/2026/company
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Welcome And Today’s Theater Lineup
BrettYou're listening to Queer Voices, a radio show and a podcast that has been an outlet for the LGBTQIA plus community for over five decades. I am Brett Cullum, and I write for Broadway World. And in this episode, I am going into the theater world. I talk to Derek Charles Livingston, who is the artistic director of Stages Houston about their upcoming 2026-2027 season. Then I talk with Jack Wagner, who has written a parody musical about the MAGA movement, and it is called Stable Genius. Now, this is going to open at the match in May. Finally, I talk with the artistic director of the Garden Theater, Logan Vaden. He is opening a special production of Steven Sondheim's company on his own 35th birthday and also the fifth anniversary of the Garden Theater. Theater voices, oops, I mean queer voices, starts now.
Inside Running Stages Houston
BrettHi there, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am joined by none other than Derek Charles Livingston from Stages. He has been the artistic director. It was announced in May 2024. You took over that summer. So it's been a while, actually. How many? No, two. Almost two, yes.
SPEAKER_07Yes, two. So tell me, how have things been? Good? It's nonstop because we have three stages that fail them. We're constantly producing. Yes. So, you know, in addition to the the choosing of plays, there's the producing them from show to show. And as an artistic director, I have artistic oversight. So I'm involved not only in the selection of the shows, but choosing the directors are going to carry out those shows, being involved with the designers and then the casting and the sitting in the design meetings to make sure that what we're producing really is worthy of putting in front of our audiences. And not that I'm hiring audience are not that I'm hiring artists who don't also have that in mind, but my job is to make sure that that's there. And I really view my job as advocating for the audience and the audience's experience. And so that demands sort of that intense and that ongoing and regular involvement. And there's a lot.
BrettYeah, no, I'm sure. I mean, come on. Any time you walk into stages, there's two or three things going on at one time. But I did want to mention I love the shows that you did. I love Letter Rip and the Lehman trilogy. Thank you. They're both really great. A lot of the same DNA, historical, three people, technical, really amazing sets. Yeah, especially with Lehman, right? Oh my gosh. What the heck was that? It was amazing. Certainly a lot to be proud of. But it's not over because hey, we're announcing 2026, 27.
SPEAKER_06How do we get here? Oh man.
BrettIt does. So I know that you've
Summer Cabaret With Holland And Sister
Brettgot some summer shows that come in. Uh we've got a Holland Vavra cabaret show. And we've got a sister show. Yes. She's gonna do the Vegas one, which actually Denise has not ever done it on a stage of stage.
SPEAKER_07She did it virtually during the pandemic. And so it is very exciting because our audiences love Denise, they love Sister. Um and here's a chance to see that show live and in person, a show that they haven't seen yet because there have been so many, and and so many have never have repeated. You know, people don't tire of the re repetition with those either. It's like seeing an old friend. And so here you get a chance to see an old friend in something new. And of course, you know, Holland has been with stages, as she said, since her infancy. True. And and she she actually has a stages tattoo on her arm. Does she really? Oh no, it's not on her arm. I think it's on her side. The first day I met her, she showed it to me. She lifted her shirt and showed me her tattoo. That's some commitment. I know. And you know, she loves stages and we love her, and our audiences love her. And why not? Because she's so talented. And uh the last show she did with us was her 29th show. And we have wanted for a long time to test the cabaret format. And she's beloved by our audience. She's talented. She does cabaret type shows on cruise ships between her gigs at stages and other theaters in town. So she had a number of things that were at the ready. It was a chance for us to try it out with somebody whom we really love, who we know is going to bring a lot of joy to the evening and to the show. And so the first part is going to be Broadway shows, and the second half is going to be shows, songs from shows that she did at stages. It's going to be really wonderful, and again, a chance for us to see how, how, to try out this cabaret thing, which you know that space is really ideal for. So I'm really excited about that.
BrettYeah, no way. It reminds me of um well, you've had cabaret-like shows before, just not an honest cabaret cabaret straightforward. Which by the way, cabaret, you should do that. But um it's is one of my favorites, is on the list. Yes, definitely. But you open with a musical like traditionally, apart from Sister and Holland in the summer, but Come From Away.
Why Come From Away Hits Hard
BrettCome from away. Which rhymes with cabaret, but come from away is gonna open it. So this is a different for sages in a way, because this is one of those truck and touring shows. It has been for a while. And now we're gonna get it in a more intimate setting and with Houston production. So, what made you want to do this one?
SPEAKER_07Um, it's funny because uh before we started recording, we were quoting Shakespeare. And from Julius Caesar, if you have tears, prepare to shed them now. Yes. And come from away is one of those tear-inducing shows, but in the best way, because it celebrates the human period. It celebrates people coming together to do things for one another at a time of unspeakable crisis. Going back to Sage's mission, we hold a mirror and ask, what does it mean to be human? And here are people who step forward with their greatest humanity. The wonderful thing about a musical is that the music allows us to have an emotional height at that soars with the music and the voice. And there is a great deal of emotional output and connection from the people in Gander, their town of 9,000 people, who welcomed 7,000 people without hesitating to think about the cost to themselves. They just gave and they gave. And so I get emotional. Um, and for a chance for our audiences, many of whom who've seen the show on tour on Broadway, to experience that up close and personal, I think is going to be profoundly moving and emotional and uplifting. And it is, I think, a way for us to remind us on this 25th year of 9-11, not of the tragedy, but of the human spirit, of what it means to people come together to survive and to to uplift each other and to celebrate what life is. And that's what I'm hoping in this 25th year we celebrate that
The Roommate And Trailer Park Christmas
SPEAKER_07experience. Well, and then next up is the roommate. Yes, much smaller guy. Much smaller. And it's sitting around two people, yeah. It had its Broadway debut last year. People know with Mir Farrow, and what is her name? Oh, she sings sometimes. Patty Lapone, that's her. She sings every once in a while. She's done a couple of Broadway shows, you know, and Tony here or there. I'm really grateful for the two of them coming together to do that show because it's reminded us of that property um and of that text. And you Jen Silverman is one of our leading playwrights in America. And the show reaches into really wonderful depths and is ultimately about coming together to create friendship and and the will to live and the will to not have yourself suppressed and put down, but to find the strength in and the life in someone else to live vibrantly. And I love the fact that it is two women who um are Gen Xers, late Gen Xers, and we don't see shows that celebrate women later in their lives, in the you know, the Thursday in the week long of life, but who still have vibrancy and full of life, as many of us are at this point in our lives. Um, and we don't see that nearly enough.
BrettIt'll be fun uh to see this on stage. And of course, we don't have Patty Lapone and Mia Farrow, we're gonna have some local talent, right?
SPEAKER_07Just as good. No, no better. So I mean, we haven't cast it yet, but you think about the women who are in this demographic who are in Houston, and we have some heavy hitters. I can give you a short list.
BrettYeah, yes. Give me their, but when I see you in the lobby next time, I'll slip you a note. Yes. Okay, so then we go from women of a certain age bonding together in the roommate. Then we go to the great American trailer park Christmas musical, which back to the musical world, and I have a suspicion maybe back to Holland. Right? She did it before. Obviously, this one is gonna be the Christmas show.
SPEAKER_07Yes, it's it's stages, and so you're not gonna get the traditional Christmas show. And and it felt really in keeping with our spirit of asking people to lean in and to laugh wickedly a little bit at life at times. Uh yes. Uh and the trailer part musicals have been among our most requested uh musicals to return. And I like giving people gifts at Christmas. So it was a way of giving that gift, but again, without something that is overly nostalgic or overly twe. And really asking people to laugh at a lot of our Christmas traditions, to look at this really wacky and wonderful community of trailer park residents and how they want to celebrate this holiday which can be reverent but can easily go over the top in all of its decorations and celebrations and libations. So I'm again I'm inviting our audiences to come along and and tap their toes and laugh along with the residents of this trailer park
The Mountaintop And Latin History
SPEAKER_07in Florida.
BrettThen we move into a much more serious piece, The Mountain Top, which is a fictional account of the last night of Martin Luther King. So definitely a very resonant, good time to remind us of.
SPEAKER_07As you know, as much as it's qualified as serious, I think people also be aware that what Kittori Hall has created is a show that is full of magical realism. People are going to find themselves laughing in a lot of places that they may not expect to laugh at, uh, knowing that it is a fictional account of Martin Luther King's Last Night on Earth. And she gives us these two characters, particularly Cam A, who is a the created character, who is so funny, so sassy, if you will, who has a job to do. But she starts off by bringing a cup of coffee to the most one of the most famous men in America. And remains. One of the most famous men in America. Absolutely. And the show will be opening just a few weeks after the celebration of his birth and his life, and during Black History Month. So it a lot of things come together. And I have seen this show before, and I'll be directing it. And one of the things I appreciate about this show is because as much as we knew the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as this icon, as this game changer, is one of the people who made us live up to the truths of our Constitution. It also delibrates a person who was a preacher of a church and a father and a husband who just wanted things to be better for everybody. And you walk away from it loving the human even more.
BrettWell, and then we go from the black history area to Latin history for morons, uh, which was a John Lagazzama vehicle for a while. Um, but that sounds like it's going to be a little bit more uh well, lighter, I guess.
SPEAKER_06So it's a little bit funnier. Yeah. I mean, and it's still a serious topic.
SPEAKER_07Well, yes. I mean, if you know John Lagazzamo, you know obviously it's gonna be frenetic and wild and crazy and full of one-liners, but one-liners that are speaking truth. It's also important for people to recognize and realize that the origin of this show was about love. He was a man who wanted his son to love himself and to love his history. And that history was not being taught. And here's a father who stepped forward to said, I need to make sure my son understands himself and loves who he is and loves his people. And then is done obviously as only John Gazimo could do it. The profanity with the one-liners, with the the incisive uh recognition of the way history happens, with poking fun of a lot of conventions, but also speaking, as I said, a lot of truth.
BrettThat's great. I mean, it's just one culture to the next. We're just rolling on. And then we've got a show that I think you have a history with.
Once On This Island And Silent Sky
BrettYes. Once on this island.
SPEAKER_07It's done without an intermission, but it is it's a full-length show in that.
BrettSo but it's it's interesting because you know, you look at uh some of these other musicals. Like one of the things that I've noticed, Derek, musicals are long. Sometimes it's three hours and uh and an errand or whatever, but this one moves, obviously. An hour and a half. What I like to call one and done. Tell me a little bit. You've done this show before, haven't you?
SPEAKER_07I've done this show as an actor. And I was at Playwrights Horizons during the original production of it before it moved to Broadway. And this was Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty before Susical, before Anastasia, before ragtime. These two people who had had a major off-probably success with Lucky Stiff, who were given a chance to tell this story based on Rosa Guy's novel My Love, My Love, which is also in itself an adaptation of The Little Mermaid, and to set it in the thriving, vibrant world of the Caribbean, but also to invoke the gods that the people in this community uh pay reverence to as a way of telling a journey story that we've we've seen so often in our fairy tales, but done in a way that is very different. The music is joyous and infectious. Story again that many like make many of the shows our season do is they affirm life. And they all affirm life in a different way, and this does it in in a in another way as well. I mean, a chance to spend time on that island is something our audiences are really going to enjoy.
BrettSo then, after that musical, we go to a female astronomer. Silent Sky is the play.
SPEAKER_07I love history, and I think that's clear if you look at things like Letter Rip and Come From Away and the Lehman trilogy. Yeah, exactly. Mountaintop. And you know, here was a woman at elevat uh who whose history has been lost to us. Again, the Chinese lady like Afon Moi, someone a history of a woman that has been lost to us, and um, what Lauren Gunderson uh has done so beautifully and with humor and with love um and with a lot of family emotion and heart um is bring back and make us aware of this true person who lived who was a a groundbreaker. Henrietta Levitt figured out how the way to map the distance between the stars. And without her, those of us who live in Space City may only call Houston Bayou City because she made things possible. There would have been no Hubble without her. It is also done with a strong influence and presence of music from her time as in the church with her sister and her father, and the importance of music and how music works in our world uh and in our souls also leads to her understanding of the universe. And that will be revealed during this
Add-Ons Sister Returns Plus Star Wars
SPEAKER_07play.
BrettThat covers our formal part of the season. I think uh the remaining two shows are add-on type things, which for people that don't know that lingo, it's you subscribe, you get all these plays, and then you can add on uh two shows we're looking at like 2027. So this is way in the future, which appropriately uh Denise coming back for um St.
SPEAKER_07Patrick's Day, is that right? We're bringing back a sister after St. Patrick's Day. You know, that was a show that we did a couple years ago that Denise helped write.
BrettUm helped write, and then she ended up leading the St.
SPEAKER_07Patrick's Day parade of the St. Pat's sister and as which was crazy. Hopefully, she'll get to do that again. Yes. So, you know, I I can make no promises and we'll be able to get that again, but what I can promise is that that show will be here and that audiences again will have a chance to get to know the story that only sister can tell. And then, of course, you know, it pains me to say it because I I I remember seeing it originally in the theater when before there were VCRs, if you want to see a movie multiple times, you had to go back to the movie theater and it ran for two years. So the 50th anniversary of Star Wars. Yes. We're going to celebrate that in Houston at stages with the one man Star Wars show. And it is it is so good that it is actually officially sanctioned by Lucasfilms. There's no greater promoter than that because you know, obviously they're very tightly in control of that brand. Um, so that means it's good. Uh and it's going to be really funny. Uh, we are encouraging people to wear costumes. Okay, for this one, yeah. Oh my God, come in your favorite Star Wars series costume, Baba Fett, Luke, Leia, Consolo, Darth Vader, Any Stormtrooper, Wookiee, and Ewok. See how much is in our culture. I can name them all without thinking about it, right? I mean, this is a chance for us to really uh hold up and uplift a cultural touchstone that we all have a real uh a relationship with. I'm really looking forward to it.
BrettIt's so funny because I have one. And spoiler alert, my husband has one. And we would come as a pair of Star Wars characters that have a tight relationship. So don't tell me I can't wait to see it. Yeah, no, it's it's good. One thing that people probably don't know is that my husband, Lee Ingalls, actually sews and can do incredible costumes and was not a Star Wars fan at all. I am the Star Wars fan, right? So he made these costumes for us, not knowing anything about it, and they're so perfect. Oh, wonderful. It's wild. Yeah, so you'll see us in that for sure. We're excited for that one, of course. Uh and that was the one that was summer. That's the one that is really gonna be the big summer blockbuster, if you will.
SPEAKER_07Well, you know, Star Wars and Jaws, you know, it's interesting because uh Gali is doing The Shark is Broken. So those are the two films that defined and created the summer blockbuster. And it's interesting that our two theaters are celebrating them in the same year. Uh that's great. Oh, it's wonderful, right? And and you know, people think about sometimes we're in in competition with each other. I like to think that all the theaters are part of a community and we're in collaboration with us. And when one of us does well, we all do well because it encourages people to go to the theater and to have a trans transformative experience sitting with other people in the in the dark.
BrettYeah, and it's so different. It's it's really apples and oranges when you go from theater to theater. They're all great. Yes, and I love apples and all the oranges. Yes, exactly. So, and definitely a different vibe at each one. But the thing that I love about stages is I love the intimacy of the space. I love that chance to be that close, like you talk about doing come from away and being able to be that close to the people singing, to see Once on This Island be that close, to be that close to Luther King for the mountaintop. You know, it's just very different than sitting up in a balcony somewhere, third balcony, uh, you know, at the top, you know, looking down. And to be able to actually go back and forth with people like Holland Vavra and Denise Fennel in Denise's case, maybe a little bit scary that she can see you too. I'm really excited. I I think that you have definitely picked a season that's very interesting, very um a little something for everybody, yeah, and some things to make us think. But is there something that when you look at the 2026, 2027 season, is there something that I know that on your YouTube uh video you talked about how theater's alive. Yes.
SPEAKER_07And I is there is that the theme? It I it's it's hard to really sort of pick a theme when you're trying to choose a a whole season, but one of the things that it does is that in many ways it's reflective of Houston and that it celebrates many people. Yes. Um you know, uh there is there's a there are queer characters and both come from away, uh, as well as the roommate, that there are two shows that's really centered really strongly in African Americans is Latin history for morons. So can we get the trailer park? You said it. I love love the country and western adherence to things like trailer park and and honky tonk laundry, and that that is also of Houston, and so that is a celebration of Houston. Yeah. Well, don't try to cancel me. It's the title. Yeah. It is the great American trailer park music music.
Houston Arts Culture And Season Theme
SPEAKER_07Um if there's if a common theme is is community, is that if you look at uh community like come from away is obviously one community helping a group of people whom they didn't know to create a whole different community. And those people, literally, the real people are still celebrating that experience 25 years later. The um the roommate is you know, two isolated women who form a community of two. Martin Luther King Jr. was all about community, about uplifting the community. And even the he was in Memphis when he died because he was trying to help the working class people, the garbage, the garbage workers in in Memphis. Trailer Park is a community of people who are trying to celebrate Christmas. Latin history for Morons is how do we celebrate our community and Latina died in a way that is respectful, that that that uplifts my son and shows love for my son so he can understand and love himself and be part of a greater community. The whole idea is that once on this island is of the community, the community comes together to tell the story of this of this woman T-Moon and her journey. The great thing about being in an intimate theater like ours is that the ability to have community is so much richer because you can look into each other's faces and feel each other so closely during the experience of of sitting together in the dark. Well, just kind of on a personal note, you've been here two years almost. Yeah. How are you finding the community here? I was just laughing with somebody yesterday who also is uh uh moved here about the same that I did, and she said, I'm I'm going to yet another gala. Yet another. Houston loves its gallas, and what that is is because people like to celebrate, but they also like to support the arts in Houston. They like to support our institutions. And what I've found is that Houstonians are amazingly generous in terms of trying to make sure that Houston has good arts, has a good museum, has good science museums that is celebrating in this age when so many times we unfortunately, and I and I'll say it unfortunately, in a time where DEI is under attack, Houstonians still use the word diversity to positively talk about our city. It is the most diverse city in the country, is it what we claim. And and Houston Houstonians are wonderfully generous people and wonderfully loving people. It is the thing that I tell people that I love about Houston is that Houstonians want this city to survive and to be important, and they want it to be of Houston. And even though Shows that we do in our lobby displays and in our Playbill content, we always try to make the Houston connection um with those shows and with the people so that people will understand that what we're doing at stages and what that art is speaks to all of us. And hear how you as Houstonians can also have a lens through which to view those shows.
BrettYeah, well Derek Charles Livingston, you've become a part of the fabric of this whole thing. And stages has always been part of that. So and I'm so glad to talk about your 2026, 2027. I cannot believe those numbers are coming out of my mouth. But that is the
Subscriptions And Flexibility For Audiences
Brettseason. And of course, you can subscribe. Stages.com. Stageshouston.com. Stageshouston.com. All right. And there's a couple of different packages. I notice you can pick a night, you can pick a level, you can pick all these other things. It kind of goes through that.
SPEAKER_07And when you're subscribers, we also understand that your plans change. So that particularly for subscribers, we are are very uh generous about trying to accommodate you if your plans need to change, because we want you to come see the shows. And you have you have already s given your support to stages by being a subscriber. So we want to make the we want to make the experience for you as rich and as easy as possible. So come see the show, subscribe, and we will if if something needs to change, we'll accommodate it and we'll make it happen.
BrettI kind of like the idea of knowing the night that I'm gonna go. That is one of the things that I like, is I know that Thursday night is for stages, or Wednesday night is for stages, or whatever I pick. Well, thank you so much for going through all of this. I am so impressed that you just kind of seem to do it off the top of your head. But um I was like, where's this teleprompter?
SPEAKER_07Because they're important to me.
BrettYes, they are, and they're important to us, so we will definitely see you at stages.
SPEAKER_07Thank you so much, Brett, for this time. I really appreciate it.
Meet Stable Genius Creators And Cast
BrettHi there, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am here with Jack Wagner and two members of the cast of Stable Genius. It's uh Byron Franco and Minsuk Kim. They are starring in a political musical comedy. It is running at the match from May 21st through the 31st. It is brought to us by a production company called the Mystic Cat Society, and it is a Trump parody, I am guessing, giving the name and the poster. So tell me what the hell is this thing?
SPEAKER_08Well, let me start out. I guess you would say you kind of introduced it correctly. It's a political comedy parody in the broadest sense. We're making fun of all things Trump and MAGA.
SPEAKER_06You have nothing to work with. You have nothing to work with, do you? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08And some of the characters uh you you may recognize were were um I'm so glad that uh a few of the cast members here could join because uh the person playing Donald Trump is none other than Byron Frankel. Byron is playing Donald Trump, and Minsk will be playing a role that's gonna be very delicious, Christy Noam. But other characters we have include uh Marco Rubio, RFK Jr., Pam Bondy, Howard Lutnick. We even got Tucker Carlson in there with a little back and forth with Steve Bannon and uh who did I miss? JD Vance. Uh that's pretty much the cast of characters. The story is set a year from now, roughly, at Trump's first birthday party, which will be in June of 2027. And that's where we pick up the story in the first act they're getting together for is little birthday get together, and it turns into navigating and and projecting what the future of MAGA is gonna be and whether Trump's gonna leave. If he doesn't, who's gonna stay, who's gonna get the nomination, and it's
Plot Setup And MAGA Character Parade
SPEAKER_08we can give you more details as we go on, but that's that's the setup.
BrettWell, what made you want to produce this and possibly be on some strange list somewhere? This will be the fourth musical we did.
SPEAKER_08We did one that was just a straight up uh show about a fishing legend. But the other three, the first one uh right after COVID was called Covidus. It starred Donald Trump. It had Tucker and it had some of these same characters. It was a very political show, basically kind of the pro-vaccine, anti, and all the politics, you know, with COVID. The next political one was a show called Gator Conspiracy, in which Marjorie Taylor Green connived her way into becoming the VP with with Trump for the 2024 election, and they won. They have a falling out, and she tries to kill him with an alligator, and it's called Gator Conspiracy. Kind of like water gauge, but with a gator. Yeah. We were kind of in this mode, you know, like a lot of folks probably who are a bit frustrated these days. Uh I'd rather we try not to preach. I mean, to me, the best weapon maybe is humor and satire, and it keeps you from, you know, being too angry all the time. You can have fun, have some laughs. So that's what we try and do in this show.
BrettWell, Byron, you are playing the man of the hour, right? Yes, sir. Can you give me a little of them? I mean, I have you practiced this yet?
SPEAKER_04Or well, I can tell you it's gonna be uh the best impression of Trump you've ever seen, the best uh musical performance perhaps since Gene Kelly.
BrettThank you. You know that Trump actually did a musical number with Megan Malale of all things for an Emmy Award thing, and they did the theme song to Green Acres. So you can actually watch him sing. It's it's amazing. No way.
SPEAKER_04That's actually something um I've been studying. I think it's the only piece of footage of him singing, maybe. Well, that is that's rightfully so, given the performance.
BrettThe key to everything. And Minsuk, you're playing Christy Gnome, right?
Why They Choose Humor Over Rage
SPEAKER_00Yes.
BrettWhich I mean, Christy's already kind of fallen out of favor, hasn't she?
SPEAKER_00Well, she's out at this moment. So we were Jack was a bit worried when she got fired.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. I mean she could come down and play this now. She can take her part.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, we we were pretty worried, and I got talking. One of the other cast members uh kind of came up Justin McMurtry came up with the idea of kind of alternate reality and just throw in the beginning when we're kind of introducing the characters, bring her up and mention that she's been reinstated by Trump. You know, so in the in the play, she appears, she's been reinstated, and we just I think the audience will go along with that.
BrettOh, I'm sure. Anything can happen. I mean, come on. Marjorie Taylor Green could still be vice president. We don't know. I mean, it just seems like in this world that we're living in, I just don't know what's gonna happen next anyway. It's almost hard to parody this because it almost is its own. It it truly is every day. Gosh, it's wild. So tell me about how did the Mystic Cat Society form? I know that you said it uh on your site it says that you're a new theater company.
How Mystic Cat Society Started
BrettYeah. Um tell me about what it is and how you operate.
SPEAKER_08Sure, sure. Well, we're uh basically my background is not a theater background. I I came into this, I was a writer all my life, started out in TV and then ended up doing scripts for what you call uh industrial videos, safety films. So I always wrote, but I had a side hustle for like the last 30 years songwriting, playing little gigs around town. You know, Taylor Swift never picked up any of the songs. That was that was the idea, you know, write the hit song, get someone else to uh COVID came along, you know, locked down like everybody else, and it just from just sitting around I said, Hey, you know, this is such a great story. We're all living this. We have you know, we're waiting in line, everybody's doing this, someone's coughing, you know, there are all these little things happening that just it's like this could really be a good story, and I like to write music, so let's try this. And that's where that's that happened in uh 2021, 2022. Uh I came in with zero contacts. I was lucky to to meet some people that helped me get a you know a director or choreographer passed, and I s I did everything wrong, but we survived the show and then we needed a name. Okay, if we're gonna keep doing this and the name just came. We had to have a name. So it developed kind of organically and then we kept doing musicals. Now we're on the on the fourth ones. I know, fourth one. That's crazy. You've already done four. Well, this has been four since twenty twenty two.
BrettYeah. I am so always bummed when I hear about all these people with these wonderful COVID projects because I think that all I did was binge watch TV and drink a lot of wine. I did not start a theater company. Well, I st I still do that. Yeah, maybe. I just I can't use this as an excuse. Oh, you took up golf, Byron? Yeah, kind of some foreshadowing, maybe. That's a lot of foreshadowing.
Researching Trump And Staging The Chaos
SPEAKER_00Oh it'll definitely help.
BrettNo, no, no, no. That's uh I is a set at Mar-a-Lago, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_08Uh we had the main sets are yeah, Mar-a-Lago, we have DC, and then a couple like restaurant things where the various characters are meeting and plotting against each other. That's what a good part of the show, the backstabbing, and really the first half of the show is the competition, the one-up chip. Uh we have uh golly, what? Sex, drugs, a lot of alcohol with Pete Hagseth. We we have a lot of fun with the Pete Hagseth character and his drinking problem, which we take to great extremes. The sexual issues, you might say, or the rumors with uh Chrissy Noam, we just expand on that greatly. And we just have a lot of fun with the sex, drugs, and alcohol. And then you got the backstabbing, blackmail, uh you know, all that going on.
Will Audiences Across Politics Laugh
BrettWhether to laugh or cry at this point, because it it almost sounds too close to home. I mean, as far as like what's really happening. What do you think that um how do you think audiences are gonna react? I mean, obviously, I think you're gonna get friendly fire. I can't imagine my Republican parents coming to this.
SPEAKER_08Byron, I'm gonna let you take that. See now Byron was a lead in the last play we did, the fishing show, and uh he took on a character that you know a lot of folks thought because the character he took on was kind of a I guess you would say he was big, he started this fishing organization, B A S S back in the sixties. Very conservative, he was a buddy of the Bushes and just, you know, kind of the a guy you might think of as a Trumper today. But uh Byron took on the role and we did the play at the national tournament, and we had these guys. A lot of the folks that actually had lived the story with him came to the play. And I just couldn't believe how how much Byron captured he had studied and looked at old videos and and just hit a home run with this character. I know he's gonna do the same with Trump, so I'll let you forget the question.
SPEAKER_04It helps having so much uh so much footage of him out there uh helps study things a little more.
BrettNo kidding. I mean, my gosh, Byron, you've got a lot. I mean, all you do is turn on the news. What was the original question? I forgot. Oh, I don't even know. I think we're talking about how audiences are gonna react.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, Byron, what do you think?
SPEAKER_04How are they gonna react to this? I think if you strip away the political connotations, which may be impossible. It's just gonna be a good, fun show. I think Jack is such a talented musician and a genuinely funny writer. And that's uh that's the kind of place I'm gonna approach it from at the end of the day, is just just make a show people the political connotations are are gonna be a part of it. Some people will be offended on both sides, but I think it's offensive stuff that can really push the button and and move discussion forward.
BrettWell, Minskuk, how did you get attached to this project? Is this your first time with this company?
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is, and I I'm so glad I found it because I had so much fun rehearsing or rehear getting ready for the audition and the actual audition, I had so much fun, and I was just like, this is gonna be such a fun place. It's gonna be fun to do, it's gonna be fun for people to watch, it's gonna be hilarious. It's just total entertainment, I feel like, on top of you know, all the things you you know, discussions that it might cause for people and things. So I think it'll be I think it's good. It's a good thing.
BrettAre you researching like Byron did? Are you like watching Christ TV all the time?
SPEAKER_00I've researched that much because there's not that much out there about Christy, but I'm I just watched her and I kind of looked, you know, watched a little bit of the news. This was what right before the audition. So I haven't really seen that much after the audition, but right before the audition, you know, I was like, okay, she's like this, and oh, I've seen her at the airport, you know, she's always at the airport. I'm like, okay, that's her. Okay, I'll you know, try to figure out what what she's like. And yeah, it was a it was a blast doing it. The musical part of it is so much fun too.
SPEAKER_08That yeah, so fun. She came out of the woodwork. We had a couple of people because this really is a one of the key roles. Uh Christy is in the middle of this sex scandal and some other scandals involving we're not really ice. We we don't touch ice. I'm glad we didn't go there because that's too serious. We do touch the immigration and deportation in a fun way. And uh she came in, she had sent me her stuff, and and I I was thinking maybe a different role, but she came in and and did a little bit on Christie and just got so electric in the audition we ended up saying, Man, she she's our Christie.
BrettThis is just so much fun. Cause it's like just people that are all over the place right now. So it must be really fun to kind of step in, Minsook and Byron, and just kind of play with just the news. I mean, that's your prep right now. It's just watching news conferences and things at the airport. And I mean, that's just wild.
Dates Venue And How To Get Tickets
BrettI am so excited about this because it is May 21st through the 31st at the match. Um, are you what do you know what which matchbox you're in?
SPEAKER_08We are in the small one, matchbox one. Okay. And uh yeah, the little, you know, the round deal.
BrettAre you gonna do just three sides or are you gonna go all four? How are you doing this?
SPEAKER_08Uh yeah, three. What are they called? The thrust three sides.
BrettWell, I'm excited. I think I already bought my tickets, so don't worry. You don't have to give me a pushcard. I saw it, I thought, yes, I want to see this. Stable genius, the musical. For sure. It just sounds like so much fun. And your company sounds like a lot of fun, and your actors here look like they're so much fun. So I just think it's probably what we need after all this. I hope that we're still around. Yeah. Oh my gosh. By May 21st. I'm like, still we got time.
SPEAKER_08But yeah, well hopefully Donald doesn't go, you know. The the issue with this, and we worry about it because everything he's so crazy, and and I don't rem know if you remember the first term. He would literally fire in a couple weeks, he would like totally replace his cabinet. And this show said in the future, you know, it was a fair amount of risk. Is he are these characters gonna be here? Well, we know one is gone, but we can bring back one, but we really were worried about you know, about erratic Trump, but just a little while longer.
BrettA couple months. But no one has been loyal to this man. That's what I think is so interesting. I mean, no one ever is in the Trump organization for a long time. And uh I can tell you that even uh when you watch The Apprentice from year to year, you know, the people that were around him changed all the time. And you know, originally there was a woman in Carolyn and she disappeared and she even wrote a book and all this other stuff and she quit or got fired or whatever. He does not inspire a lot of loyalty, this one. So I I don't know what that's about, you know, respectfully. Not not a lot of tenure in this stuff.
SPEAKER_08He has his lo you know, the hardcore Mega, and I have you mentioned your your parents and I have many relatives in in both my my family and my wife's family, and the only way we make it work anymore is we just when we get together Thanksgiving, we just we don't talk politics. But it's it's it sometimes baffles me how I guess you have to give him credit to uh get such loyalty to his, you know, thirty percent of the country or whatever. It's it's pretty amazing.
BrettWell, at the end of the day, it is a democracy and whatever side you landed on, okay. Good luck to you. But uh yeah, no, it's definitely it's so divided. Like holidays are just terrible right now with my family. It's just like I just feel like it's like uh just a fight every time. It's wild. So I may bring them to this.
SPEAKER_08I mean, well, you know, Byron kind of said we d there is really, I'm trying to think, there might be one particular scene where you would say it's a little bit preachy and that involves RFK. And I'll just go ahead and say it. His firing of all the scientists and losing all the M uh RNA research and that, it comes back in in this play in a very, very big way, and that's basically kind of right before we end the play on that right note. But um uh I forgot what I was gonna say now. Do you think a Republican could come to this show and enjoy it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I I think I think I really do. And the Gaynor Conspiracy, it was in a very similar vein. We're very political, but yet we did it in a way where we weren't bashing anyone uh to find ways. So I think it'll work for for your folks.
BrettOr anyone you know, charity it's always a fine line. Uh and it's always hard. You know, you don't know what when too far is too far, or if it's perfect, and if everybody in the room laughs, you're probably on the right track. That's what I wish for you guys.
SPEAKER_04I think Jack's humor comes from such a good place. It's not a mean-spirited place. Uh it holds up for for everybody.
BrettYeah. And hopefully in a couple of years we'll have just this will be just a revival or something. And we can do it and laugh about all of it. So Byron can start working on the next president's impersonation. And then so can pick a cabinet member of the you know, whoever's new. Well, thank you all for taking your own. Or this is all just uh sorry, I was saying, or this is all just a a version of cabaret and uh we're and no Byron, I've been in that show. That show has a revival now for a reason.
SPEAKER_08There you go. Okay, I just caught that cabaret. Yeah.
BrettYou know, people are doing it again for a reason, and it's a hit. But uh thank you all for talking to me about this. Um I am thrilled uh to see it being done. I'm thrilled to introduce the Mystic Cat Society and Stable Genius at the match, matchbox won, May 21st through the 31st. Tickets available at the match site, pretty much.
SPEAKER_08Or our website, Mystic Cat Society.
BrettYes. I forgot. That's Mystic Cat Society.com.org.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yep, just yep.com.
SPEAKER_06Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you, Bill. Thank you so much.
Transition To Garden Theatre Spotlight
SPEAKER_06Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_03Young man, I know you'll be down to young man.
Logan Vaden Turns 35 As Bobby
BrettGoing to run through April 19th. The thing that makes this one a little bit more special than most, because let's face it, garden theater is always special, but artistic director Logan Baden is going to play the lead character Bobby. And in an ironic twist, this show is literally about Bobby turning 35. And when this opens, Logan is going to be turning 35. So thank you, Logan, for sitting down with me and talking about uh Sonnheim getting older, all of that great stuff. Thanks for having me back, Brett. Yeah. Okay, now let's talk about the elephant in the room. Yeah. I know that 35 sounded old probably when this piece was written, but it's really not that old anymore. I mean, I think of it as the age that you can officially run for president, and it has this mythical resonance of being a full-on adult. But what does that birthday mean to you? Why is that 35 so significant?
SPEAKER_01You know, you mentioned old, and I don't feel old. I really don't. I feel um I feel like high school was yesterday. It was. And yeah, and like, you know, I just don't feel that old. Um, I will say there are certain parts of the show that are a little bit more physical that make me feel old, like falling on the ground during the karate scene and and that stuff. I wake up the next day and I'm like, oh my god, my hips. This is awful. But 35, you know, I feel like I've at this point I've lived a life. The garden um has been around for five years, but before that, I produced other theater and directed other theater, and I I've, you know, been engaged and multiple times. And I've um Oh no, you've been engaged multiple times? Yeah. My gosh. Yeah, of course.
BrettMaybe we should do this whole interview about that. My gosh. Right.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. You know, there's just been so much that I've done that just feels like not to be morbid, but if I was suddenly gone from this plane tomorrow, I think people would say, well, he did a lot. And that feels nice and lovely. And and I feel like I have surrounded myself with great people throughout the years, some of them that are still here and some of them that are not, that relationships drift apart. But that's kind of what the show is about. And so I get to bring all of that to the show and being age appropriate. I've been luckily, I've been lucky, lucky enough to have played so many of my dream roles. And Bobby was kind of the one when I was 20, 20 to 25. Eventually, like when I'm older, maybe, hopefully. But I think I knew back then I can't do this right now. Some community theater down the street could have been doing it, and maybe could I have sang it back then? Probably, but I don't think it would have been good because I needed to experience all of this to play this role.
BrettIt's so interesting because it is. It's it's 35, and it's literally there in the script, and you're doing that right when you turn 35. So that's that's crazy. That's let's talk about perfect timing and and perfect casting. So, but why company now for the garden theater? You've obviously done quite a few musicals, and how did this one come into the rotation?
Why Garden Theatre Keeps Doing Sondheim
SPEAKER_01Company was always an idea since year one. And I think I was just bored one day and was looking at calendars and was like, for the next few years, like when what day of the week is my birthday going to fall on? And I was like looking through the calendar and I saw that my 35th fell on a Saturday. And I thought, well, wouldn't it be interesting to do company and open that weekend of my birthday? So that's that's kind of the jumping off point of how we got here. Also, Into the Woods was our very first full production back in October of 2021. In 2021 already? Yes, isn't that crazy? I remember that. Like yesterday. I know that's what I'm saying. It all feels like it was two months ago. Um and and we've also done Assassins. And when we opened Assassins, uh, the reception was really warm, as was with our production of Into the Woods, and Sondheim is just like my go-to when I feel like I want to be to be inspired. I will put on the PBS Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods or Passion or all of the ones that have been recorded. Because of that, and because I feel such a bond to his material, we decided during Assassins that we're going to make our way through all of Sondheim's licensable work. So you will be seeing a Sondheim show from the garden at least once a year for the foreseeable future. Company is about anniversaries, birthdays. It's also our five-year anniversary. It's the week, the day that we start tech will be our official five-year anniversary from our first opening night of our first concert, which was in April of 2021. So not only is it my birthday, it's also the theater's birthday. And it just felt very appropriate to wrap all of these celebrations up in this show about celebrating life and passage of time and relationships and moments and all that jazz.
BrettWell, I'm excited because I think I have this policy. You can never have enough song time. There's never too much. So I'm glad that you're committed to doing all of his license. I'm very thrilled at that. But tell me, okay, you know, the most important part about a birthday party is who is there.
A Five-Year Anniversary Reunion Cast
BrettI mean, obviously, this is what the whole show's about. Is who you're surrounded by when you're turning 35. So tell me about who's in this show with you. Just give me some of the cast.
SPEAKER_01We've done something really special since it is our official five-year anniversary. Every single person working on this show, down to the load-in crew, have all worked on garden shows before. So every single cast member that you will see on stage, you have seen on our stage before. Some of them just once or twice, some of them seven or eight times. So it truly feels like me and my friends, which is the whole point of the show. And it is what I keep saying is an embarrassment of riches, this cast. I mean, I was doing a scene the other day, and Seth Cunningham was standing next to me, Whitney Zangrine was standing next to me, and Angela Panina was standing on the platform behind me singing. And I was just like, how did I end up to be so lucky that these people are, A, on the garden theater stage to begin with, but B, I'm standing next to them. This is wild. There's super talents. And I mean, the the list goes on and on. There's David Allen, the third, who's playing Larry. There's Daniel Edwards, who's playing uh Amy. There is Jackie Cortina, who is our Bonnie and Bonnie and Clyde, and Annette and uh Cool Intentions. She is Katheat. It's it's a massive cast, so it could go on and on, but it really is just like the best of the best um of the last five years. And it's it's really special.
BrettWell, it's kind of fun to see all of you because I know that you've all become kind of a family, and I think that that just happens with theater people. I think that when you do a show, it's like this little family that lasts for so long. But you've been doing these productions, and I do see the through lines through a lot of them with the same people. So I'm excited to see this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's been really lovely too. You know, a lot of times you'll do a show and and on your longer days when you have a lunch break or a dinner break or whatever, everybody kind of splits off in their own little corners and does their thing during their hour-long break. But without fail, the entire cast. I mean, we just had a lunch break yesterday where we all just walked down the street to Winnie's and sat and talked and had a good time. And and it was Seth that actually said, How lovely is it that every Saturday we get to all have brunch together? Like it's such a lovely thing. And that we want to do that, and that it's not nobody splits off. Like it literally is everybody goes and has these lunches together. It's it's just really lovely.
BrettIt sounds amazing. Yeah. Now you've been talking through the cast, and I noticed that there was a little bit of a twist on one
Making Amy Non-Binary Without Rewrites
Brettof the roles. I wanted to ask you, you've updated the role of Amy. Tell me a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So Amy is being played by Daniel Edwards, who, if you've ever seen a show or a musical with us, you've probably seen Daniel on stage before playing male presenting characters. What we're doing with Amy is we are making Amy a non-binary character. Still the name Amy, none of the words have changed. Nothing, nothing has changed with the with the script. They're just a non-binary character now. And and a big reason that we decided that is, you know, Amy's whole, if you know company, you know that Amy's number is not getting married today. The super fast, like very anxious, over the top, like, I do not want to get married. There's all these reasons that I don't want to get married. And we thought, what an interesting twist to add an extra layer of them, of them being non-binary would be, because I can imagine that a non-binary person getting married, it that probably is really stressful. Like, you don't, that's something somewhat new to our society. And to put yourself on display in front of a hundred, two hundred people in your own fashion, in your own way, is probably a little stressful. There's probably family there that doesn't agree with it. There's probably friends that are asking really inappropriate questions on top of all of that. There's a lot of layers to it that that can add to the anxiety. And so we've decided to make that approach. We are also doing the show in in 2026, meaning this the setting of the show. Again, not changing the words at all or or anything like that. But in 2026, these people exist. I mean, they've always existed, but they've always, yes. Right. They've always existed. But we want to make sure that they're included in this story. Because if we are telling this in 2026, it's not just about straight Bobby and his and his straight friends. I mean, there's no way there's five couples and three girlfriends that Bobby relates to throughout the show. There's no way that there wouldn't be some level of queerness or something in 2026 if you have that many people in your life that are all from different corners. It just felt appropriate.
BrettYeah, no, definitely. If you're gonna update company, because company was from the 70s. I mean, it really, and it in its original iteration, brilliant, brilliant piece. Right. But it was definitely of that time. And you almost have to play a period, or you really have to kind of look at the composition of what the cast is and say, hey, let's challenge a couple of things. Right. And I think that Sondheim, I would like to think that he would dig it in a weird way.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think he would. The the last the last production that he of his that he saw on Broadway was the Revival of Company, which was the gender bent version. Bobby was a girlfriend, um, and the boy and the girlfriends were all boyfriends. But some of the gender roles were reversed in with the couples, but there was with the Amy Paul couple, that was Jamie and Paul. So it was a gay couple, so it wasn't a non-binary couple. So this is not we're we're not revolutionizing this, right? Like this has kind of been done before, but it it is a little bit of a different angle considering the non-binariness of it all, uh, instead of it being just a a gay white man.
BrettYes, I've got to. Well, you know, and it's it's weird because as a member of the community and somebody that's very intimately familiar with Sondheim, and I mean just we're theater geeks, let's face it. Yeah. Sondheim is gay and identified that way, and but yet none of his musicals really address that in any kind of way. But Bobby and company, the plot is that he's obviously still single at 35, and everybody else is coupled up, and you know, they're wondering what's what's wrong with Bobby that he's not coupled up uh by this point in his life. And it almost felt like this was just an analogy for somebody being gay. Uh, but yeah, I think that he's defended and said, No, I'm not. That's not what this means, and it's not me.
SPEAKER_01And yeah, the amount of time the amount of times he said, I'm not Bobby, I'm not Bobby. I mean, I just was watching a YouTube video like two days ago that he was like, it is not about me. I and I just don't believe that. But the interesting thing of
Queerness In Company Then And Now
SPEAKER_01it all, like kind of going back to the having Amy be non-binary, I won't give away what happens in Bobby and Amy's scene, but it does add a layer of is Bobby maybe questioning his queerness in this? And also, um, there's another scene where one of the characters also questions his queerness and asks Bobby about it. And how back then they couldn't have thought that maybe that is Bobby questioning his queerness because his friend is talking to him about it baffles me because I think that's just obvious. So I do think that there's a layer in our production that again maybe isn't revolutionary, but I do think as a gay man myself, I think relating to it more, it is Bobby questioning his queerness, and that may be a level of why he's not married. One of many. One of many.
BrettYeah. Well, I'm gonna be very interested to see your take on it. I've always enjoyed the garden theater. It's one of my favorite theater companies. Um Houston has many, so it's way up there. Thank you, thank you. And you always do so great with musicals. Yeah, we do two musicals and two plays every season. Your musical work is always very strong, and your presentation of Sonnheim is always very strong. So I'm excited to see company. I'm excited by the prospect of the garden theater going forward, producing Sonnheim and getting that even more under your belt. But definitely break legs, happy birthday. This will be really interesting. I'm excited to see the spin on Amy. I'm excited to see how you're bringing this into the modern world and addressing some of the queerness that let's face it, it's always been there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it has been.
Afterparty Details And KPFT Support
BrettIt's time. Yeah, it is time. Bring this thing out of the closet. All right. But company at the match. It's gonna open April 10th. When is your actual birthday? Of the 11th.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So it actually on the 11th, we will be doing at the 8 p.m. show, there will be an after party. Not like a it's not gonna be like a a banger, but there will be cake, there will be champagne, there will be a toast, like a little reception. So it'll be in celebration of my birthday and the the theater's anniversary. Gotcha.
BrettYeah. Okay, so that's the special one. But it runs through April 19th. So a quick run. If you want to see this, grab your tickets, go. And I'm definitely there. So all right. Well, thank you so much. Thanks, Brett. We'll see you soon. Thank you for listening to Queer Voices. KPFT is a listener funded radio station, and we are an all volunteer staff here at Queer Voices. If you want to help KPFT stay on the air and produce great content like this, please consider donating at their website, kpft.org.
