Alan Seales, Heather Vickery & Broadway Podcast Network
100 episodes
1 week ago
People talk about manifestation as a thing that you can just think into existence. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. When it comes to making your creative dreams come true, what really matters is putting yourself in a position to thoughtfully and intelligently take advantage of the opportunities presented to you. And sometimes these opportunities show up in very unexpected ways.
We’re Heather Vickery and Alan Seales, two perfect strangers who met by chance and embraced opportunity! Listen in as we chat with other successful people about the risks they took, and continue taking, to put themselves on a path to creative success.
WAS IT CHANCE? The podcast about embracing opportunity and taking intentional risks for your creative life.
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People talk about manifestation as a thing that you can just think into existence. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. When it comes to making your creative dreams come true, what really matters is putting yourself in a position to thoughtfully and intelligently take advantage of the opportunities presented to you. And sometimes these opportunities show up in very unexpected ways.
We’re Heather Vickery and Alan Seales, two perfect strangers who met by chance and embraced opportunity! Listen in as we chat with other successful people about the risks they took, and continue taking, to put themselves on a path to creative success.
WAS IT CHANCE? The podcast about embracing opportunity and taking intentional risks for your creative life.
#99 - David Armstrong: Broadway’s Untold Story- Who Really Created the American Musical
Was It Chance?
1 hour 19 minutes
1 month ago
#99 - David Armstrong: Broadway’s Untold Story- Who Really Created the American Musical
We sit down with David Armstrong — lifelong theater-maker, educator, and author of Broadway Nation: How Immigrant, Jewish, Queer, and Black Artists Invented the Broadway Musical. David’s 40-year career as a director, producer, choreographer, and writer has been steeped in creative risk, from his 18 years leading Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre (where Hairspray began!) to hosting the Broadway Nation podcast and now teaching Broadway history at the University of Washington. His passion for illuminating the overlooked creators of America’s most iconic art form is both inspiring and overdue.
We talk about the evolution of Broadway through marginalized voices, the political power of art that doesn’t look political, and how risk-taking theaters like the Fifth Avenue became incubators for some of Broadway’s greatest hits. David shares the creative leap that led to Hairspray, how collaboration with an audience shapes a show’s success, and the “legacy chains” connecting generations of musical theater creators — from Otto Harbach to Lin-Manuel Miranda. He also gets candid about failure, what it really feels like when a show “almost” works, and why he still sees risk as essential to the creative process.
🎧 Connect with David Armstrong:
📚 Broadway Nation: How Immigrant, Jewish, Queer, and Black Artists Invented the Broadway Musical — available everywhere books are sold (or through Bloomsbury for a discount!)
🎙️ Listen to Broadway Nation on the Broadway Podcast Network and all major podcast platforms
🌐 Learn more: Broadway Nation Podcast
Connect With Us:
📩 Email us at wasitchancepodcast@gmail.com
🎧 Follow Was It Chance? on your favorite podcast platform
📱 Connect with us on TikTok and LinkedIn
✨ More about Heather at her website, subscribe to her Substack and on LinkedIn, YouTube, and more
EPISODE TAKEAWAYS
Art created by outsiders has always shaped the mainstream.
Theaters that take risks on new work keep Broadway alive.
“Shows aren’t written — they’re rewritten.”
Legacy and mentorship sustain creative evolution.
Risk and failure are inseparable parts of artistic success.
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Was It Chance?
People talk about manifestation as a thing that you can just think into existence. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. When it comes to making your creative dreams come true, what really matters is putting yourself in a position to thoughtfully and intelligently take advantage of the opportunities presented to you. And sometimes these opportunities show up in very unexpected ways.
We’re Heather Vickery and Alan Seales, two perfect strangers who met by chance and embraced opportunity! Listen in as we chat with other successful people about the risks they took, and continue taking, to put themselves on a path to creative success.
WAS IT CHANCE? The podcast about embracing opportunity and taking intentional risks for your creative life.
