Writing advice? We've got that. A podcast that gets your favorite writers to spill their secrets. Every episode is a new writer: comic artists to Broadway scribes, sports reporters to authors.
Writing advice? We've got that. A podcast that gets your favorite writers to spill their secrets. Every episode is a new writer: comic artists to Broadway scribes, sports reporters to authors.
“What’s the book that I would write if I had time?”
Jennifer Ashley Tepper joins us for a deep dive into her upcoming book, “Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out.”
Jennifer, a Broadway historian, producer and 2022 Tony Honoree (!!!), talks about how she came to the idea of writing about 300-plus women writers, dating back to the 1700s, who have written musical theater. She talks about how she started to write the book during deep isolation in Covid - but really started writing it even earlier than that.
How do you do historical research during a worldwide shutdown, and how do you research people who have been left out of the history books? Jennifer talks about how online library resources and newspaper archives were so useful, and how restrictions can be helpful to a creative person.
Jennifer and Brian talk about what stories get left out of the history books, how work that addresses the experiences or perspectives of women (or other marginalized communities) during a past era might be seen as dated, and how cast recordings are a kind of unintentional gatekeeping. If something’s out of print, it’s like it didn’t exist.
Rabbit holes include Toni Tennille’s long-forgotten environmental musical, which was produced by Roger Ailes, and watching TikToks on Instagram like a grown up.
“To get to finally share these stories with people is thrilling to me, because so many of them are untold Broadway stories that deserve to be told.”
Links
Pre-order Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out:
All of Jennifer Ashley Tepper’s books
Yellow Face (the best show Jennifer’s seen lately).
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward (the best thing Jen’s read lately).
The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century from The New York Times.
(All links are Amazon affiliate links)
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