‘MusicalSplaining’ critiques classic musicals and new hits from ‘Cats’ to ‘Hamilton’ for theater kids and theater haters alike
Rarely have theater-nerds and theater-haters existed in such harmony. And yet, “MusicalSplaining” has managed to pique the ears of both sides of the coin, namely by being hosted by one of each preference. Filmmaker Kaveh Taherian is a proud musical-hater who can admit when he’s wrong, and Angelina Meehan is a musical-lover who is fully aware that musical theater is not for everyone. Together, they are uniting both factions of society with “MusicalSplaining.”
“MusicalSplaining” is nearing its 40th episode, having reviewed older classics like The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and Singin’ In The Rain as well as newer phenomenons like Hamilton, Frozen, Moana, and Tick, Tick… Boom! Episodes are just an hour long and split into easy-to-follow segments.
So, a few things about “MusicalSplaining.” Angelina has recently taken over as the co-host of this podcast, taking over for YouTuber, writer, and film critic Lindsay Ellis who retired from content creation after being endlessly bombarded by online harassment. Both hosts are equally wonderful to listen to while being able to provide a balance with Kaveh’s critiques of their beloved genre.
Also (somewhat tragically), “MusicalSplaining” began in early 2020 with the intention of Kaveh and Lindsay actually seeing these musicals live in theaters around the United States. Well, we all know what happened there. So the show relied on proshoots to watch and review musicals. Luckily, they are able to once again watch live theater in order to report back on their findings.
We love that they aren’t stuffy musical theater purists, instead delving into new musicals and Disney musicals. We mean, they literally reviewed Ratatouille:The TikTok Musical that was birthed from the COVID-19 pandemic on the platform. They’ve talked about the 2017 smash hit that revitalized Zac Efron’s singing career in The Greatest Showman and the recent Hollywood adaptation of In The Heights.
They start each episode with a rundown of the “need-to-knows” about each musical – how long it was on Broadway (if at all), its critical reception, the first time the hosts saw it, and if they liked it when they saw it. They spend about 20 minutes discussing the basics of the show before going off to watch it. The hosts will then quickly and often sarcastically recap the basics of the plot to the best of their ability, sometimes aided by Wikipedia, before really diving in.
And many shows do not come out unscathed. Jekyll & Hyde? It’s a cult classic, but why is Hasselhoff in it? Wicked? While its highs are high, around 50% of the songs are duds. Hadestown? Leave Hadestown and its beautiful yet wildly stupid leading man out of this.
Maybe you’ve grown tired of film review podcasts. Maybe other podcasts about musicals have one too many excitable theater-kids. Maybe they just aren’t as harsh as they need to be. Well, “MusicalSplaining” is the perfect medium. It’s not overly negative or nostalgically positive, but it is filled with passion that can’t be emulated without the hosts’ love-hate relationship with musical theater. Angelina is delightfully funny and genuine while Kaveh is game for watching any musical but is appropriately cynical when need be. And honestly, we noticed a giant musical theater gap here on our website, and thank goodness we found “MusicalSplaining” to fill it.
“MusicalSplaining” has developed a great catalogue over the years, and while we are sad to see Lindsay go, we are so excited that they are back from their hiatus with Angelina. Be sure to check out “MusicalSplaining” as we anxiously await the day they review High School Musical…
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