Sep 16 2024 88 mins 2
Today’s conversation is with Dr. Caitlan Truelove, a musicologist and violinist who shares a passion for thinking deeply and very often about the intersection of TV and musicals.
This episode is special because we hadn’t actually met beforehand. And while we are anchored in talking about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, our conversation goes so many other places and into the complexities of studying a topic like this. What makes a tv musical series? What is/are the important aspects of a taxonomy? What does Crazy Ex-Girlfriend do well? What is considered successful? And why do people think musicals should be one type of thing? We go into a lot and have a great time finding overlap between Caitlan’s work on TV Musical Series and my own work on Serial TV Musical Episodes. This is definitely an episode to check out the notes afterwards as well since we cover a lot of material. Enjoy our conversation!
References:
TV Musical Series to Check Out:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Galavant
Schmigadoon/Schmicago
Numbers from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend:
“Our Twisted Fate”
“F*ckton of Cats”
“I’m the Villain in My Own Story”
“The Cringe”
“West Covina” - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
“Cheek to Cheek” - Irving Berlin
“What a Movie” - Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein (listen for the “Island Magic” part)
Musicals We Mention:
Passion - Steven Sondheim
Assassins - Stephen Sondheim
Kelly Kessler. Broadway in the Box: Television’s Lasting Love Affair with the Musical. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Anna Michelle Knapp. “Serial TV Musicals: A Taxonomy.” Masters Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 2020.
Raymond Knapp. The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity. Princeton, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
(to read more about MERM - Musically Enhanced Reality Mode)
Jessica Shine. “‘I’m on My Own Path’: Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex- Girlfriend (2015–2019).” Music and the Moving Image 13, no. 3 (Fall 2020): 15–26.
Special Issue on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend from Music and the Moving Image. Volume 13, Issue 3.
This episode is special because we hadn’t actually met beforehand. And while we are anchored in talking about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, our conversation goes so many other places and into the complexities of studying a topic like this. What makes a tv musical series? What is/are the important aspects of a taxonomy? What does Crazy Ex-Girlfriend do well? What is considered successful? And why do people think musicals should be one type of thing? We go into a lot and have a great time finding overlap between Caitlan’s work on TV Musical Series and my own work on Serial TV Musical Episodes. This is definitely an episode to check out the notes afterwards as well since we cover a lot of material. Enjoy our conversation!
References:
TV Musical Series to Check Out:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Galavant
Schmigadoon/Schmicago
Numbers from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend:
“Our Twisted Fate”
“F*ckton of Cats”
“I’m the Villain in My Own Story”
“The Cringe”
“West Covina” - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
“Cheek to Cheek” - Irving Berlin
“What a Movie” - Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein (listen for the “Island Magic” part)
Musicals We Mention:
Passion - Steven Sondheim
Assassins - Stephen Sondheim
Kelly Kessler. Broadway in the Box: Television’s Lasting Love Affair with the Musical. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Anna Michelle Knapp. “Serial TV Musicals: A Taxonomy.” Masters Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 2020.
Raymond Knapp. The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity. Princeton, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
(to read more about MERM - Musically Enhanced Reality Mode)
Jessica Shine. “‘I’m on My Own Path’: Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex- Girlfriend (2015–2019).” Music and the Moving Image 13, no. 3 (Fall 2020): 15–26.
Special Issue on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend from Music and the Moving Image. Volume 13, Issue 3.
