Are your vocal chords warmed up yet? This week, Tessa and Princess discuss their love of the business that we call show -- show business, baby! They get into their respective theater backgrounds, their mutual love of tick, tick...BOOM! and Bo Burnham's Inside, and what hit songs they would have in the musical of their lives.
Are your vocal chords warmed up yet? This week, Tessa and Princess discuss their love of the business that we call show -- show business, baby! They get into their respective theater backgrounds, their mutual love of tick, tick...BOOM! and Bo Burnham's Inside, and what hit songs they would put in the musicals of their lives.
Also, be sure to check out Cobra Kai (Season 5 premieres tomorrow!) because we've got Peyton List aka Tory on the show next week!
PRINCESS: What's up my fellow Sondheim lovers. And if you're not a Sondheim lover, I don't know you. I'm Princess Weekes.
TESSA: And my name is Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And you're listening to the Geeked podcast, your weekly energy boost of the world's fandom, stories and ballads you love.
TESSA: Each week we're going to skim the surface of what's popular in Geeked culture. Then deep dive into the lore of Netflix's worlds bigger than our own.
PRINCESS: Tonight tonight. We are embracing our inner theater kid nerds and talking all about musicals, the magic of the theater. And this episode is a really special one because we are not only singing our words from now on. Like Les Mis.
TESSA: If only we were going to sing this entire episode. I think that's a little much. A little much for this.
PRINCESS: I am tone deaf. So we shouldn't do that.
TESSA: Yeah. So don't worry, guys. We're not going to do that. But we will subject you to all of our ramblings, thoughts, opinions about the musical theater world. One of my personal favorite worlds, and I can't wait for this entire conversation. And just to geek out about musicals.
PRINCESS: I'm so excited as a girl who could not sing but loved watching, singing and dancing. This is what I made for.
TESSA: Okay. So now we're going to talk about our own personal lives in theater. Before I start talking about like my theater, professional theater life, Princess I want to know, like, how did you become obsessed with musicals? How did you find like theater? Because you you're not a theater kid, you said. So how did that, like, come into your life?
PRINCESS: It was really through my dad. So my dad really loves Audrey Hepburn. So we were whenever I was a kid and it would come on TV, we would sit in front of the TV like crack peanuts, pistachios, and we'd just watch it together and like, I would dance on his feet during the dancing numbers. And he just always instilled in me this, like, lifelong love of, like, theater and high art. And I remember the first musical I saw as an adult was Rent. It was like during the last year it was running. I saw it with my mom and she cried. And that's the moment I always say made me realize that I could come out to my mom because I saw how much she embraced Rent, and it made me feel comfortable telling her I was bi. So I owe a lot to theater.
TESSA: That is so special. I Oh, I love that so much because Rent was also like the musical that made me obsessed with musical theater because I grew up as a dance kid, but I also love singing. So I didn't. Something didn't click in my head that you like could do both together and even after I saw a musical, because the first musical I ever saw was Cats on Broadway.
PRINCESS: Oh God.
TESSA: I loved it, Princess. I don't want to hear the Cat slander. Cats raised me.
PRINCESS: You know what. Meow, darling. Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.
TESSA: I became something awakened inside of me and it. It was a full blown obsession. It was one of those things where this was like probably the biggest obsession of my life after Harry Potter. So I auditioned for my high school musical, and it was Seussical the Musical, and I got to play Jojo, a small little boy. I cut off all my hair and it was hilarious.
PRINCESS: Amazing.
TESSA: It was an ugly cut, too. That's what I had. Like Jonathan Taylor Thomas hair.
PRINCESS: I was going to say like, did you have like the bowl cut that Will had in the first season of the.
TESSA: Yeah it was like--.
PRINCESS: I don't know. What is it about white people that y'all give your children this haircut? Like every white person I know that's regardless of gender, has had a bowl cut. Y'all need to stop.
TESSA: And then like I started the first audition I ever did was for 13 the musical on Broadway,.
PRINCESS: Oh yeah yeah yeah.
TESSA: And I did not get that. But that's okay. It was because the next one that I auditioned for, it was Billy Elliot. And this audition story is wild because they were asking for like children that were 12, like around 12 years old, like 12 to 14 actually I think it was 8 to 14. Yeah. At the time I was 16, 15 or 16 when I first auditioned.
PRINCESS: Little Baby.
TESSA: And I was, I mean, I was a baby, but I was not, you know, 8 to 14.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: I was a little old. And so I was like, uh-oh, Mom, like, I don't think I could do this. First of all, I don't have my equity card. And second of all, like, I'm too old. And my mom's like, no, you're. My mom's like, Are you kidding me? No. She's like, you look young enough. You could do this. Like, just do it, just try.
PRINCESS: Listen. You can pull off the ranges from late high school to mom, okay? You're gifted.
TESSA: I I'm lucky in that I'm very small. I am a small human. And also just it was it was one of those things where I looked really young in a high school. So it worked like when I told them I was 12, everyone like believed me. And it was I actually I think I said I was 14. Whatever the oldest age was,.
PRINCESS: Yeah girl, lie.
TESSA: I was like, this is me. It ended up being like a really big blessing in disguise. And they ended up hiring swings that were older as well, so that I wasn't the only older person there. So I got the call and that it was the most crazy because that call like literally changed my entire life. It was one of those moments that would be in a musical or something that was like in like Beauty and the Beast. Like when, you know, Bella leaves her provincial town. Like I left Pennsylvania to like go and do this weird thing that I had no idea, like my career. It was just beginning. And it was such a dream come. Like, this was my dream and it came true. And so it was. It was the craziest experience of my entire life. Like, no matter what happens, like, nothing will ever, like, sort of top that moment and top that, like, feeling of our opening night. And and also, not only was I in a musical bitch, this musical was one of the best goddamn musicals ever. I am not afraid to say it because this musical won ten fucking Tony Awards.
PRINCESS: That's right.
TESSA: This musical. The only musical that beat this musical is Hamilton. Deserved. Because Hamilton's amazing but still.
PRINCESS: But also, like, that's how good you are. Like you did that shit. I'm so. Like this is why-- you always make fun of me for gassing you up. But I'm not doing it blindly. Like, did you hear my girl say that she fucking scammed her way into excellence. This is why I fuck with you. Because she said, Mom, I am going to do this. You. You were the stage child. You know, you didn't have a stage parent. You stage child-ed.
TESSA: 100%.
PRINCESS: And I love hearing that. And I think that's so cool. And like.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: Going back to like just why we love musicals, it's like musicals is an art form that encourages you to push yourself to making your dreams come true, of knowing that like, even like at least in this setting, that if I can just be the best, then I have something to say. And it's so valuable that you had such a great support system that could get you to New York all those time and doing all those kind of things and like, you know, having a parent who had that background, like, all those things are so important. And I think like musicals and like we're two people with to different backgrounds, but we can both share that feeling of how we felt the first time we saw Rent or how we felt when we saw, you know, and like, you know, I didn't see you in Billy Elliot, but I'm sure if I did, I would have thought, Wow, that tiny girl sure looks 12 to me. So.
TESSA: Oh my God, that's so funny.
PRINCESS: And I think, like what you say connects to the musical that we both love that came on Netflix which was Tick Tick Boom.
TIK TIK BOOM CLIP: This is Jonathan Larson's story. Happy anniversary I love you so much. Before the Tony Awards. Before the Pulitzer Prize. Before. We dedicate this opening night and every performance to our friend Jonathan Larson. We lost him.
PRINCESS: Because Tick Tick Boom is really about. So I saw it but I saw it as I was turning 30 that and Inside by Bo Burnham.
INSIDE CLIP: I used to run from my horse I used to ride my bike. I used to wake up with a smile and go to bed at night with a dream. But now I'm turning 30. No, God damn it. Turning 30, Turning 30, turning 30. I'm turning 30.
PRINCESS: The two like the two 30 somethings. So I would just start sitting here like, wow. Andrew Garfield--
TESSA: Content for you.
PRINCESS: --really understands me right now.
TESSA: Netflix understands you.
PRINCESS: I was like. I when he was talking about how like, you know, Sondheim wrote fucking West Side Story when he was like 20 something years old. I used to have such a complex like the biggest disappointment I had in myself when I turned 30 was like, now I can never be in like a 30 under 30 list. Like, now I'm officially out of it, now I have to be in a 40 list. And who cares what you do when you're in your forties, you know?
TESSA: Oh, my God. It's like the pressure of having, like, everything in your life figured out by the time that you're, like, 30 or that you're old, and it's like, turning 30 is a frickin death sentence is.
PRINCESS: It's it's.
TESSA: Like it's so dumb. Like I can't even.
PRINCESS: And it's so weird to me because even though we don't mess with her anymore, we think about, you know, who like she sold Harry Potter in her thirties. It's not like.
TESSA: Right.
PRINCESS: And then now she's still causing chaos, you know? So it's like the possibilities are endless, you know? Like, it doesn't have to stop, but. But it feels when you're young and when you see so many things in the arts dominated by, like, look how exceptional this young person is.
TESSA: For sure.
PRINCESS: You forget that, like, everything that we've learned.
TESSA: Oh God.
PRINCESS: Makes us better at what we do. Like, I'm so much better at even this. You know, I'm so glad that I wasn't super famous or popular on social media until I was in my late twenties, because I just have grown. My emotions are, I'm better at expressing myself and and knowing what I want and how to advocate for myself. I wouldn't have advocated for myself when I was in my early twenties. I didn't know how to do that. And I think it's so important that that in art that when we show artistic struggles like we do in Rent or Tick Tick Boom or even Inside that, you're kind of showing how like the difference between success and failure is like so narrow. You know, it really is about who is in your corner.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: You know, socioeconomic stuff, your situation, and if you can feel inspired. And I think that's why I love musicals and like, I've always hated how expensive they are, especially now because they used to just have a lot more.
TESSA: I know.
PRINCESS: Stuff because like, I feel like musicals are like the best way of getting people to understand how to express themselves, you know what I mean? Like,.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: It is, is so many when you're. When your words are not enough, sometimes music is. And I just feel like that's why I love musicals, because they bridge that gap between, like the music and acting into this pure expression.
TESSA: Oh, it's beautiful.
PRINCESS: It's so cathartic. And it's like, I can listen to certain songs over and over again and not even I not even see the show like I listened to Wicked long before I ever saw the musical.
TESSA: Oh, for sure.
PRINCESS: But that music just gripped something in me. Something had changed within me, you know? And I just. I just like defying gravity filled in every emotional gap in my heart. I didn't know I had without having any context, because I just understood the emotion of that song.
TESSA: Yeah.
PRINCESS: And that's why we love a power ballad.
TESSA: 100%. And, like, Tick, Tick Boom is such a masterpiece. And it's so let's do a little like background on tick, tick, boom, because it's an adaptation of the autobiographical musical based on Jonathan Larson's life. And it follows John, who's like an aspiring composer living in New York City, who is desperately trying to finish writing his musical, like in time for his big showcase. It's like make or break. And then during this time, he's waiting tables. He's living in a shitty apartment. He's feeling the pressures of, like his girlfriend, of his best friend, like all while chasing his dream of becoming a successful artist and trying to, like, accomplished everything before his birthday, before he turns 30, and then, like, the clock keeps ticking, and then that's tick, tick, boom. But Jonathan Larson, who like this man, this oh, it's crazy, because I was so obsessed with Jonathan Larson. I had this like huge Rent book that had like every sort of like all of his notes and all of his things. Like, so I, I love this man. So this man is one of the most incredible playwrights and composers of our generation. He revolutionized musical theater. He was the creator of Rent, and he tragically died before Rent's Broadway debut. It was actually like the very day of the first public preview performance of Rent is when he died at the age of 35.
PRINCESS: I know. Right around the corner dude.
TESSA: And and he, like, never got to see the success of his show or the impact that. His work had. Like, it's, it's like fucking heartbreaking and it makes tick, tick, boom even more goddamn emotionally taxing because, like, he was literally running out of time, like, his worst fear of dying young, like, came true. You know, it's like that's every creative's, like, worst nightmare. And that work is so selfish because you need to focus so much on on doing it all yourself or creating or writing. But then also, you know, you want to have a family, you want to have relationships, you want to spend time like in in Tick Tick, Boom. There's this big sort of like decision. Like, should he follow his dream of becoming a Broadway composer or should he marry his girlfriend and start a family? Or should he choose a more comfortable life in the corporate world, like with his best friend? You know what I mean? It's like.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: That struggle of having to choose one dream over another. And especially as fucking women like all the goddamn time, it's like, Oh, do you want to have a career or do you want to have children?
PRINCESS: Have a family? Yeah.
TESSA: And it's like, God damn it, it's like, is can we not? It's almost infuriating because you can't explain why you need to do this so badly. Like why? Because it doesn't make sense. There's no logical thing. It's just like in you. You know, I don't know. There's something.
PRINCESS: To use the horror term. It's like the fucking alien is in you and it needs to come out. And it's going to, it's going to it's going to burst out of your chest one way or another. And all you can do is pray. And it's like for me, I totally know what you what you're talking about, because I feel like, especially when you're socialized female, like there is so much pressure on top of just children. There's also the fact that, like, if we are close to our families, this take this like this maternalism that we get saddled with of taking care of people, you know, it's like, right, so much of what I do is wrapped up in like, well, I want to make sure I can take care of my family, be there for my mom, be there for my dad. I have a whole brother. Is he having these thoughts? Probably not. Love him, though. And it's just like, you know, there's a lot of stress in being creative and also finding the life balance.
TESSA: Lin-Manuel Miranda, he directed Tick Tick Boom. And this was his directorial debut, actually.
PRINCESS: It's incredible.
TESSA: And Holy shit. First off, I have to say thank God that he did this because no one else could have directed this better. Like, this movie was so perfect. It was just a love letter to Jonathan Larson and to the Broadway community in every possible way. From the cameos and the Easter eggs to these beautiful musical numbers to perfectly balancing, like the on screen show of tick tick boom with the story of tick tick boom. So like making that feel natural and feel interesting and it felt alive. Jonathan Larson was like Lin's hero. So can you imagine just.
PRINCESS: Getting to do that.
TESSA: Directing a movie like of you're one of your personal heroes and like, like this is destiny manifestation levels shit. Like, this is like like this man. He it was just perfect. So it like, this is who Jonathan Larson would want to direct his movie. Do you know what I mean? And also, Lin, you're a genius. I love you. Please direct more musicals. Please just go back into musicals because we need you. Andrew Garfield is so phenomenal in this. Like, he perfectly captured the essence, like the mannerisms, the singing style. Like this man learned to sing and play the piano for this role. Like he did that. He did that and did that perfectly.
TICK TICK BOOM CLIP: Hi. I'm John. I'm a musical theater writer. One of the last of my species.
PRINCESS: My little half Brit. I always. I always forget he's British. And then I see him talk and I'm just like, oh, that's right. We've got two British Spidermans.
TESSA: So now we are going to play a game. We are going to create a musical of our life. We're going to take some of our favorite Broadway songs, other songs. We're basically going to take songs that we like or songs that fit into a musical that we would be making about our own lives. So we're going have an opening number and I am song and I want song, a showstopping number and the finale. So Princess, what would be the opening number of your life?
PRINCESS: I have been watching musicals my entire life and I think, like, even though it's an I Want song more than an opening number, that's okay. I think the thing that I can think about is like, wouldn't it be loverly from my fair lady.
TESSA: Oooo.
PRINCESS: All I want is a room somewhere far a--. I think that to me is just like me wandering in the thing. Like, that's all I ever. It's both I want. And my opening number is like, I just have always wanted to be comfortable and feel safe. And I think that's like the ultimate. Yeah, that, that song is about me song.
TESSA: Oh, my gosh. I love that. Also, do you like opening numbers that are flashy? Do you like opening numbers that are kind of like leading you into the story? Like, do you like things that are connected to the rest of the musical or something that's like, boom, oh, my gosh. Like, I'm awake. I'm here.
PRINCESS: I think it depends. Like, I think, like when I think of, like weird outlying opening numbers, I think of like Phantom of the opera, which is like the opening is like a framing device that like really is only there so that people can straggle in. But I think that the first song can really like.
TESSA: Set the tone.
PRINCESS: Serve a lot of purposes. I like it to kind of like get me where we're going quickly, you know.
TESSA: Got it.
PRINCESS: And I like it to also indicate how the rest of the music is going to be like. One of my biggest issues with the first Frozen is that the first song you hear in Frozen is nothing like any of the other songs in Frozen.
TESSA: Oh my god yes.
PRINCESS: Because they're like, Oh, this is about to be some Lion King Nordic bops and then it's just kind of.
TESSA: Ice. Ice. Ice.
PRINCESS: Yeah, yeah. For the Frozen, you hear that. And you're like, okay, you don't think that's going to be like defying gravity part two. Is going to be in that album. But like, so I like it to set the tone and like really get you prepared, like Les Miserables, like look down how that begins. It's like, whoa.
TESSA: Fire.
PRINCESS: You know, you're in for like disaster.
TESSA: Correct. And going off of that. My opening number of my life would be get to get back to Hogwarts from team star kid.
PRINCESS: Back to magic...and magical thing.
TESSA: It would just.
PRINCESS: You have to say that.
TESSA: It's so perfect for everything, just like me getting back to Hogwarts, getting back to what I love. It's all that I love and it's all that I need because that's all that I love. And all that I need is Harry Potter is like all the people I love are people I met through Harry Potter and also my husband is Snape, so it makes sense.
PRINCESS: You got to do it. Yeah.
TESSA: I got to do it. And it's a fire opening number. Are you kidding me? Like when they play those, like, dah dah dah dah dah. And it's like underneath these stairs. I love it. Love it. Star kid obsessed. So that would be my opening. Next, we're going to do an I Am song. So this is a song that's like the main character would be explaining, like, who they are or how they're feeling in a moment. Like, like I feel pretty. That's like an I Am song or something. That's like, this is my main character. I'm giving you every single thing about me, like, right now. So now like, we can go forward with the musical. So what would be your I Am song?
PRINCESS: I think that my favorite I Am song is probably to go to like a more recent musical. I really love the musical Six. I've seen it twice. It's really fun and technically all of the ladies songs, they're all pretty much I Am songs.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: But I really love Katherine Howard's song because I because it's more like narrative building. But I love in the beginning it's all about sort of like her weird experience of being like this very young, desirable girl who doesn't really know how her sexuality works yet and is trying very hard to figure herself out. I feel like that's always been kind of my journey is like, you know, puberty hit really hard in the ta-ta area and it was just always kind of a conflict of figuring out like, who am I outside of how people perceive me? So I think all you want to do from Six by Katherine Howard is definitely mine. What about you? Tessa, you're such an onion. You have so many layers to you. So I'm like, Who are you?
TESSA: Ah! That's the question that I need to ask my therapist and myself all the time, because I feel like it's constantly changing. It's like, Who am I? Two four six oh one! So no. So my I Am song, I think would definitely be more cheesy than that. The first thing that came to my head was a million dreams from the Greatest Showman. It's like every night I lie in bed. The brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake. It's one of those things where I am, like, so soft on the inside. Like, I'm just a little bitch that loves, like, following her dreams and, like, and wants everybody to be happy. So I think that, like, to know the type of person that I actually am. It's like I'm just this little, little girl that was dreaming big her whole life and loves, like, thinking of imagining living in her fantasy world. Living in my imagination, living in like, what could I do with my life? Like, what kind of things could I do? Like. And also, I've never stopped dreaming. And I never plan on stopping dreaming. And the beautiful thing about this song is that later it starts off with Hugh Jackman singing about his dream. But then it like he adds in like his wife and his kids. And it's like, you're a part of my dream now. So it's like, that's kind of me as well. It's like it started off as my dream, but then I'm going to add Joe into my dream. And then, you know, if we have kids, we're adding them into it. So I think it would be that it's cheesy as hell, but what can I say? Okay, Princess, moving on to the I Want song. Main character singing about that key motivating desire driving their action, launching their journey. Tell me about it.
PRINCESS: All right. So I'm going to pull from the Disney Channel and I'm going to say.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: Queen of Mean from Descendants Three.
TESSA: Amazing.
PRINCESS: Because Sarah Jeffery put her whole vocal cord in that song. And also I love a villain ballad. I love a villain transformation ballad. And I just think what she's talking about, just like if they want a villain for the queen, I'm going to give them what they've never seen, like that's how I feel sometimes when like, you know, when you're at the low point of your day and you just like, f it, I don't give a shit anymore. Like, I want to be like everyone. They like this song. I want to be bad. Like it's like what I fundamentally want is to, like, embrace the parts of me that I've been afraid of and go after what I want. And that's what a villain song really is.
TESSA: Villian Era.
PRINCESS: Yes. I'm like I'm like, it's time for me to be in my villain bag. So yeah, Descendants, Queen of Mean from Descendants Three is one of my favorite songs. And I was listening to it the other day and I'm just like, Perfect. What about you? What's your I'm over it. It's time for me to be me song.
TESSA: So mine is from the musical Pippin, and it's the song Corner of the Sky, which is one of my favorite musical theater songs of all time. It's a special song that me and my mom used to listen to all the time, and she choreographed a dance to it. And we'd dance together. It's a whole thing. But the lyrics of that song are so beautiful and really talk about like what I personally want. And it's goes like rivers belong where they can ramble, eagles belong where they can fly. I've got to be where my spirit can run free. Got to find my corner of the sky. So it's all about like finding the place where you feel like you belong, where you feel like you are finally free to be the person that you were meant to be. I'm the type of person that growing up I did not feel like I belonged. Where I lived in Pennsylvania. I felt that I didn't find my people, didn't find my the place where I was supposed to be. And then I did find that. And so getting there was my whole journey. And it is very important to the type of person I am. It's very important to my whole life. So and I just want to stay in that and and stay in that throughout my whole life. Like, even if that changes, it's like I want to be in a place where I feel comfortable being myself and I want to be surrounded by people that support me and also people that get it. I like find like that's why the Internet is amazing and has changed my whole life because I found my people.
PRINCESS: There's a reason why us geeks love the found family trope, because we're literally always, always in progress of looking for family, always looking.
TESSA: Okay, so next we have a love song or ballad. So something that, like, defines you, like falling in love or something that, like, would go with your love. Or if you want to not have love included, just like a ballad that would be in your musical of life.
PRINCESS: That's hard. Like, because love songs are. I love, like, breakup songs, like more than love songs, you know, like, I was like, Yeah, cry. I think if I was going to pick a love song that I do really enjoy from a musical? It would probably be on the street where you live. Also from My Fair Lady, because I grew up watching it as a kid and I love it. I love a simp. I love it when a guy is just out here, like, all I want to do is stan this girl that I met.
TESSA: Hell yeah.
PRINCESS: And I'm just like, Yeah, as you should.
TESSA: Right.
PRINCESS: So I really love that song. And I think if I was going to pick, like, even though it's too hetero, I also love As Long As You're Mine from Wicked.
TESSA: Oh my god.
PRINCESS: Maybe I'm brainless. Oh, maybe I'm.
TESSA: Hell yeah.
PRINCESS: Like every time I see it, I'm like, Man, I wish there were two girls singing this together, but this is a very good song. And I did. The first time I ever saw it was when Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs were still together and they were doing it together. And I was like. Spice, spice. Spice. Spice. Spice. Yeah.
TESSA: Insane.
PRINCESS: What about you? What song are you, are you thinking about Joe when you listen to huh?
TESSA: So my love song has to be, come what may, from Moulin Rouge. I want Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, singing to me. And I just that song is one of the most beautiful songs from anything like I Will Love You Until My Dying Day. Like, oh, oh, melting, melting forever. I'm obsessed with that movie, with that musical. So that one is what immediately came to my mind. And it's true. I'm going to love Joe until I die or until after or until we fin-- become vampires.
PRINCESS: Amazing that good ole forever love.
TESSA: Okay, next we have showstopping number. So basically, the big number of your musical. What would it be?
PRINCESS: Oh, man. Even though it's technically a final song, I have a different one. I paid for it, but I really love children will listen from Into The Woods.
TESSA: Oooo.
PRINCESS: And to me, I like it is the song that I think so perfectly like encapsulates the emotion of the entire musical. And I don't know, I just, I, I can listen to it forever.
TESSA: For me, my showstopping number would have to be La Vie Boheme from Rent.
PRINCESS: One of my favorites.
TESSA: To me. This number made me become obsessed with musical theater. Mark Cohen made me obsessed with musical theater and also maybe want to become a vlogger eventually, like I don't know.
PRINCESS: I start shooting without a script.
TESSA: How do you document real life when I'm like, it's very still relatable. Still relatable to this day.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
TESSA: But it's one of those things where that number, like, I remember there was a time when I was in high school and we would always just play that and have like the time of our lives in the theater room. And we would like I would jump on the tables and like do the dance and do the whole thing. And it was my drea--. It was everything that number's everything. I'm obsessed with it. It's forever my favorite musical theater number of all time and like to being in us for once instead of a them. It's the other thing where it's like, hell, yeah, we're different. Hell yeah like who cares? Like you normies get out of here like stop judging us, stop trying to control us. Stop trying to put us in a box. Nah, we are who we are. We're artists. Fuck you. And I'm like hell yeah.
PRINCESS: Damn right. That's so funny.
TESSA: God bless. Okay, now we're rounding it out. What would be your finale, your curtain call, the last, you know, song of the show? What's it going to be?
PRINCESS: The Color Purple Reprise from the end. Like I saw it live. Cynthia Erivo singing That was just so beautiful. I burst into tears.
TESSA: Oh, my God, I'm so jealous.
PRINCESS: I It was her and Heather Headley was playing Shug Avery, so I was just out here just experiencing excellence. But yeah, I loved that revival. The talent was overflowing and I cried, so that would be it. That's my number one pick. That's my. That's mine.
TESSA: Oh, my God. I'm so excited to see her as Elphaba. Forget it.
PRINCESS: I know.
TESSA: Forget it.
PRINCESS: She's going to fucking kill it.
TESSA: I know. I can't wait. She's an amazing. For me, my curtain call. It's kind, it's lame. But I have to do it. I got to do it just like how I'm starting with Star Kid. I got to end with the curtain call finale of Billy Elliot. Billy Elliot has a specific curtain call tap finale that we would do every single night. And it was so fun because most people, like they have a finale number and then they just like come on stage for bows and then at the end do a little thing. No. Billy Elliot had an entire choreographed routine where everyone in the cast would come out. Tap dancing and wearing tutus, men, women, children, the whole cast. So we were all wearing tutus. We were all tap dancing, and we were all, like, cheering on each other and celebrating.
PRINCESS: I love that.
TESSA: And it was so fun and was like one of my favorite parts of the show, like every single night. It was just so fun to do. And Billy Elliot was the Broadway musical that I was in. So I had I had to put Billy in there somewhere.
PRINCESS: You had to.
TESSA: Because it is the most special musical of my life.
PRINCESS: Absolutely. And like, if you didn't know, Tessa is, like, the most amazing person of all time. I hope that obviously you understand that now.
TESSA: You are as well.
PRINCESS: Listen, this is about you right now. I'm allowed to say that you're super cool and awesome and you just have to just let me say it. I love you.
TESSA: What's your one more thing, Princess?
PRINCESS: One more thing is I love my co-host. But I would say if he can sing, I would love to see David Tennant in a musical.
TESSA: Oh, God. Yes, please. I just want Tom Holland in a musical, that's all. That's my one more thing. Okay, well y'all, it is time once again for me to say if you like us, if you like this podcast, please follow us. You can find the Geeked podcast wherever you listen to podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Any of those places. And for those of you who cannot get enough, please let us know your thoughts in a five star review. You can rate us five stars and then on Apple Podcasts, you can type a little message, type a little note, and we like to read them and see what you guys have to say. So what are you waiting for? Go do it right now.
PRINCESS: Best Nerdy Podcast by AlienG56. Loved and enjoyed listening to this podcast. Aw thanks. I felt like I was listening to a conversation I would have with my friends about all the shows we love. Especially appreciated the Joseph Quinn interview. We are all obsessed. I recommended it to all my friends.
TESSA: Yay. Nerdy friends. Nerdy friend conversations.
PRINCESS: Yay.
TESSA: This is what we live for. And then I have a little bonus podcast review that says it's the best. And this is from Joe Mo4325. I think this is from my husband, Mr. Joe Moses himself. And it says, I'm not biased at all. And I think this is the best podcast in the history of podcasts. So thank you, honey. I love you. I'm disgusting.
PRINCESS: We love Joe.
TESSA: We love Joe on this podcast. Anyway, the Geeked podcast is hosted by me, Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And me Princess Weekes.
TESSA: You can find me on Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube all over the internet at Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And you can find me on YouTube as Princess Weekes and on Twitter at WeekesPrincess. Next week we're going Kung Fu fighting and we are taking on Cobra Kai. Season five. This will be the first time I've watched it.
TESSA: Oh man. I have watched all of the Cobra Kais. So I love the show and I can't wait to talk to you all about it and to convert you into a Cobra Kai superfan.
PRINCESS: I literally cannot wait. This is a Netflix Geeked and Spoke Media production.
TESSA: Our executive producers are Keisha TK Dutes, Brigham Mosley, Alia Tavakolian and Keith Reynolds.
PRINCESS: Kelly Kolff is our producer, Reyes Mendoza is our associate producer. DaLaura Patton is our coordinating producer. Special thanks to Carson McCain.
TESSA: Sound Design and Engineering by Evan Arnett, who also composed and performed our original theme.
PRINCESS: To stay updated on all things Geeked be sure to follow at Netflix Geeked on Twitter, Instagram and the Tik Tok.
TESSA: Thank you guys so much for listening.
PRINCESS: Bye bye.
TESSA: Bye