A few months ago, my coolest and most randomly talented friend, Heather (seriously, she does everything and is good at all of it), asked me to be a guest on a new podcast she is cohosting about conversations over music.
I said no.
I am not that interesting. And it felt hypocritical since I can only listen to (the best) fiction podcasts bc otherwise my brain tunes it out.
Eventually, I decided to face my fears — and the episode is out now! You can find it here, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. For more information on the show itself, including Spotify (another thing I don’t do) playlists, click here.
The show’s premise is that each of the three cohosts and the guest submit three songs, then listen to and discuss them together.
I went back and forth over whether I should do songs I have sung from dream roles or songs from roles I have played more than once or some other theme, like, not about me. In the end, I chose songs from three of my favorite yet lesser known shows that more people should know.
“I’m Going Back”, Bells Are Ringing
Ella Peterson, the lead in Bells, is my last bucket list role. Hardly anyone ever does the show, and there’s only so much time before I age out, so if you want to produce it for me, have your people call my people. I did get to sing one of her other numbers at this summer’s Broadway herstory concert, at least.
This is the 11 o’clock number where Ella, frustrated with trying to make people’s lives better at her cousin’s answering service and feeling unappreciated, says she’s going back to her old switchboard job at a brassiere factory — with “a little modeling on the side.” The show was written for original star Judy Holliday by her vaudeville friends Betty Comden and Al Green and this song in particular highlights her comedic vocal stylings on top of being belty and mad and glorious.
“Evening Prayers”, Carrie
I have been lucky enough to play Carrie White (yes, that Carrie) twice — and even dressed as her at Heather’s Halloween wedding… complete with a blood drench in the parking lot during the reception; I still have the trophy I won that night on my bookshelf. I just did a brief search through this site thinking I had talked about Carrie at least twice, but looks like maybe that was only ever on Instagram (RIP) and something I need to do for the record.
Anyway, “Evening Prayers” is one of my favorites from the show because not only Carrie does have one of her first manifestations of telekinesis (with a stage trick that terrified me every night both productions) in it, it then turns into an absolutely beautiful and powerful duet that highlights Carrie and Margaret’s codependent relationship.
“Wicked Little Town (reprise)”, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
I have now played Yitzhak in Hedwig twice now, too (stay turned for year three details, coming soon).
I chose to use the Australian cast album because it’s closest to the stage show score, and I chose this particular song from the show because at this point in it, Hedwig and Yitzhak have come to emotional blows and are in the midst of a catharsis that feels like being wrung out in the best way. Also, at this point, I basically get to stop acting, because like Yitz, I’m in a front-row seat to watch one of my favorite people in the world be an absolute genius and sound like an angel. Luckily, Ethan and I have a much healthier, platonic relationship than Hedwig and Yitzhak.
Before we started the recording proper, they asked me a firing round of questions about my listening habits… most of which were answered with Guster. Guster, ambient grooves, showtunes. That amount sums me up.
And in case you’re wondering about the headshot, I was told to submit one “reminiscent of an album cover”. Obviously, a MySpace edit had to win.
This is officially your sign to do something that scares you this week. I’m still not saying I’m charming or anything, and having video threw me off because I’ve mainly only done radio interviews (except for that one commercial in fifth grade where I was chosen by teachers for my “poise”… what happened), but I definitely would feel more comfortable doing something like this again in the future now that the first one is under my belt. So, again, have your people call my people.
And by “people”, I mean… me. Happy listening!
Ann Davis-Rowe 
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