Musicals with Impact

Spencer Williams / Fashion Consort

Welcome to "Musicals with Impact," a podcast that is part of the Broadway ReFocused Project, exploring Broadway’s past with a goal to reshape its future. In each episode, we learn about a new and innovative musical that encompasses BIPOC, transgender, queer, women, disabled, and other under-represented voices. We celebrate a culture-shifting musical as it begins its journey to the Broadway stage. “Musicals with Impact” is developed in partnership with New York Theater Barn, a not-for-profit theatre company that incubates original musicals that tell untold stories, produced by Fashion Consort and part of the FC Podcasts network. Creator and host, Spencer Williams, is a musical theatre educator, composer and playwright.

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Episodes

Conversation with Cheeyang Ng, writer and composer of the new musical, "Eastbound".

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Cheeyang Ng, the writer and composer of the new musical Eastbound. This is a new bilingual musical about the unexpected meeting of two brothers from opposite sides of the world, their quests for survival, and the power of choice. Told through the soundscape of a contemporary score fused with traditional Chinese folk music and Mandopop, Eastbound is performed in English and Mandarin. In this podcast we dive into why representation is so important to writ...

Mar 24, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 9

Conversation with writers, Gabriel Jason Dean, Jessie Dean and David Dabbon, about their new musical, "Our New Town".

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Gabriel Jason Dean, Jessie Dean and David Dabbon, the writers of Our New Town, a new musical. Through music, immersion and meta theatrics, Our New Town calls us all to wake up and take ownership of our personal relationship to guns and gun violence. A hyper theatrical blend of truth with fiction, of scene with song, Our New Town is an immersive play that puts the audience at the center of an American crisis: gun violence. In this podcast we learn why th...

Mar 10, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 9

Conversation with Nicolette Blount, the creator of the new musical, "Savage, the musical"

For today’s episode Broadway ReFocused is excited to welcome Nicolette Blount, the creator and co-writer/composer/lyricist of Savage, the musical. As a registered Chickasaw Native American, Nicolette shines light on her great grandmother, Wanda Savage, in this new musical. Savage is a powerful story of redemption about an indigenous mother who fought racism, sexism, and abuse to make a name for herself, but at the heart of the story is a mother and her son. Nicolette is a singer, actress, songwr...

Mar 03, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Musicals with Impact - Bonus Episode with Spencer Williams, host

Over the course of the last few months, Musicals With Impact and Broadway ReFocused podcasts have reached over 1,000 downloads. We are excited that the conversation is getting bigger through these incredible interviews with diverse writers/composers. In this bonus episode, we announce the musicals we will be featuring in the rest of Season 1 of Musicals with Impact, and also share that we will be releasing Season 2 this summer. Thank you so much for your support. One thing you can do today to li...

Feb 24, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 7

Conversation with Jesse Sanchez, the writer of the new musical, "Sueños, Our American Musical"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Jesse Sanchez, the writer of the new Latinx musical Sueños, Our American Musical. Based in Watsonville, California, the strawberry capital of the world, Sueños tells a contemporary journey about interrelationships, and the dynamics of three generations of a Mexican-American family as they confront challenges, make sacrifices, break cycles, and celebrate community in their pursuit of the American Dream. Sanchez is a San Jose native who is a playwright, c...

Feb 18, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Conversation with the writers and director behind the new musical "Half the Sky"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with writers Tidtaya Sinutoke (music) and Isabella Dawis (book/lyrics) and director Desdemona Chiang about the new musical, Half the Sky. Half the Sky tells the story of an Asian American woman climbing Mount Everest. It is a contemporary American musical on a global scale, infused with the sounds of traditional Thai and Himalayan folk music. The writers are winners of the 2020 Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award and 5th Avenue Theatre’s inaugural First Draf...

Feb 10, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Conversation with Kira Stone, composer/writer of "Salem"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Kira Stone, composer and writer of the new musical, Salem. Salem is a tale about a sisterhood of accused witches & their accusers from the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as they are held hostage in a modern courtroom. Stone asks the important questions: How did this happen? Why did it happen? And could this happen again? With the songs all set to dark pop melodies & 808 beats, Salem is telling the real story of Kira’s 6th great-grandmother. We learn al...

Feb 03, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Conversation with G. Victoria Campbell, composer/writer of "Treeson: An Eco-Musical"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with G. Victoria Campell, writer and composer of the new musical: Treeson: An Eco-Musical. A new musical theatre writer, Victoria has created this entire musical during the COVID pandemic in Switzerland. Her dual background in psychology and music have informed the themes of her art, which focus on doing mission-driven work, inspiring people to act on behalf of the collective as opposed to the individual, and activism. Treeson: An Eco-Musical is set in prese...

Jan 27, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 3

Conversation with Jamie Jarrett, composer/writer of "Wonder Boy"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Jaime Jarrett - a New York based composer/playwright - whose mission is to tell honest and imaginative queer stories that simultaneously break the rules of cis-heteronormativity and break the supposed rules of our physical universe. Most recently, his musical Wonder Boy was developed through a staged reading at Musical Theatre Factory. Jaime is the recipient of New York Musical Festival’s “Outstanding Emerging Artist Award” as well as the Ira Brind Scho...

Jan 19, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Conversation with Elise Marra, composer/writer of "Frankie! The Musical"

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with 17-year old composer and writer, Elise Marra. In May of 2020, Elise’s sixth musical, Frankie! The Musical was released on Broadway Records making her the youngest female in history to release a cast concept album. The show has been developed with New York Theatre Barn and featured on Playbill.com and Broadwayworld.com. In this podcast, we learn what the show is about, where it’s at in its development process, and we get to listen to one of the first tra...

Jan 12, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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