What better way to celebrate summer than with a frozen cocktail of Disney Princess mania? It’s 2013’s Frozen, beloved by aspiring Elsas and Annas, reviled by parents and caretakers who threaten to lose it if they hear “Let it Go” one more time (trigger warning: you’ll hear it in this episode).

You’ll also hear:

• Love is an Open Door: a catchy romance ballad that sets up deeper questions about true love – both in the Disney tradition and in a contemporary society where women and men are navigating complicated and often contradictory relationship patterns.
• Let It Go: the power ballad to end all power ballads. Winner of the Oscar for Best Song, it’s the film’s great moment of self-actualization and release. How do we read this moment theologically? What does Elsa represent?
• Fixer-Upper, Vuelie and Summer: a strong score that incorporates elements of the Broadway tradition, Sami folk singing, and some beautiful choral writing that establishes an otherworldly, mythical atmosphere for this contemporary parable.

You’ll hear Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad and the rest of the cast from the 2013 soundtrack recording.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram (@gospelofmt).

“A bit of madness is key to give us new colors to see.”

Today, we continue our Summer Movie Happy Hour Fizzy Summer Tour... thing... as we talk about 2016’s contemporary take on the classic film musicals of the 1940s, 50s and 60s: LaLa Land.

2016 feels like a La La Land ago. How does this film hold up almost a decade later?

We talk about:

• "Another Day of Sun" – A great opening number that sets up the world of LaLa Land (literally Los Angeles – but in the context of the election that took place in 2016, the year this film was released, what else might LaLa Land mean?)
• "Start a Fire" – John Legend’s one contribution to the soundtrack is (maybe?) the best song in the film – and gives us a different perspective on the Jazz Question, which in this film is really a question of race.
• "The Fools Who Dream" – The moment that wins Emma Stone an Academy Award – her audition song (the eleven o’clock number!) love-letter toast to creatives who refuse to compromise.

You’ll hear Emma Stone, John Legend, and Ryan Gosling singing the Pasek/Patel score from the 2016 film soundtrack.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram (@gospelofmt).

We fixed everything in the real world so all women are happy and powerful.

Just kidding... but we ARE talking about The Barbie Movie! We’re so excited to be joined by Arwen Myers, executive director of the podcast, musicals aficionado – and the person Barbie was made for – to talk about Greta Gerwig's blockbuster 2023 summer hit. Is it a musical? We think it is.

We talk about:

• "Pink" – An almost Broadway-level opening number that establishes the all-pink world of Barbieland before everything goes haywire.
• "Push" – A very specific in-joke for a very specific generation of kids, and a cathartic moment for anybody who’s ever experienced mansplaining.
• "The Monologue" – America Ferrera’s iconic speech about the impossible contradictions inherent in being a woman in the 21st century. It's the film’s articulation of Gospel. How is this monologue good news?
• "I’m Just Ken" – The film’s most obvious musical moment – and one of the greatest production numbers of the 21st century. How do we feel about the fact that Ryan Gosling steals every scene he’s in?
• "What Was I Made For?" – Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning ballad, Barbie’s eleven o’clock number, and perhaps the most pregnant question the film asks. Is Barbie a prophet? A savior?

You’ll hear Lizzo, Matchbox Twenty, America Ferrera, Ryan Gosling and Billy Eilish from the film’s 2023 soundtrack. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram @gospelofmt!

Band Geeks of the world, unite!

We’re taking a fizzy summer tour through some of our favorite movie musicals – and what better way to observe the Fourth of July weekend in the USA than with one of the most patriotic and Americana-obsessed musicals of all time, the 1962 film version of Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man!

We talk about:

• "Rock Island" – One of the most impressive opening numbers in any musical, a laser-quick intro to the economics and social mores of early 20th-century America.
• "Iowa Stubborn" – The people of River City basically tell us what assholes they are. Is this song about whiteness, small town life, or the human condition?
• "Trouble" – Harold Hill’s infamous patter song. It’s like a hellfire-and-brimstone sermon, in the tradition of Jonathan Edwards and the great preachers of the Great Awakening.
• "Sincere" – The role that barbershop music plays in The Music Man... and in American nostalgia for a "simpler time."
• "The Wells Fargo Wagon" – What's the deal with Winthrop?

You’ll hear:

Robert Preston, Barbara Cook and the cast of the 1957 Broadway cast – because we love Shirley Jones, but there's only one Marian the Librarian.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram @gospelofmt!

Papa, can you hear me?

It's the last episode of our Season of Babs, and we're going out strong! That's right: today we look at Barbra Streisand's magnum opus, the 1982 film Yentl – which she both directed and starred in.

We talk about:

• Prayer & Texts: What it means to study sacred texts, and the critical differences between traditionally-Christian and traditionally-Jewish ways of understanding scripture.
• Sexuality & Gender: Is Yentl transphobic, or is it ahead of its time?
• Leadership & Power: Finally, a woman at the helm of a major Hollywood film! What does Barbra’s experience directing and starring in Yentl tell us about leadership and power?
• Boats: Barbra loves a ferry. What is it about boats, water, and crossing over that so compels her? How does it tie into the immigrant story and the American Dream?

You’ll hear:

– Barbra singing “Where Is It Written,” “No Wonder,” “Several Sins A Day” (cut from the final film) and “A Piece of Sky”.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).

Is it a musical? Is it a $6MM home movie? A contemporary Purim spiel? This is a weird movie, you guys.

The evergreen story of A Star Is Born has attracted legendary performers like Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Lady Gaga. Today, Peter and Nathan focus on the 1976 film version with Barbra and Kris Kristofferson in the context of Gaga and Garland.

We talk about:

• The Backstory: Dorothy Parker, Moss Hart, David O. Selznick, Joan Didion, and all the geniuses who should have made a better movie.
• The Crowd: 1970s, rock-and-roll culture and the phenomenon of contemporary celebrity culture. Is this idolatry in the way that Hebrew Scripture warn against?
• The Addiction: Does addiction help contemporary people understand ancient theological ideas like sin and shame?
• The Money: Why does Hollywood keep spoon-feeding us stories about self-destructive men and the women around them? Why do we keep paying money to see them?
• The Music: Ephemeral moments of artistic, intellectual, and spiritual connection found between two artists. How well does the Oscar-winning "Evergreen" capture this phenomenon?

You’ll hear:

• Kris Kristofferson and Barbra on the 1976 film soundtrack singing "Watch Closely Now," "The Woman in the Moon," and (of course) the 1976-Oscar-Winning classic, "Evergreen."

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).

It may not be a musical, but it sure is close... It's The Way We Were!

It’s 1973. Watergate has happened. Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Arthur Laurents, and Sidney Pollack get together to re-create the weepy romcom in the non-musical—but musical-theatre-adjacent!—classic The Way We Were.

We talk about:

• The Conflict: Streisand & Laurents versus Pollack & Redford, and some of the behind-the-scenes drama that led to the creation of this classic.
• The Song: Marvin Hamlisch’s classic song that put the film on the map.
• The Laughter: What does it mean to sing, "so it’s the laughter we will remember?" Laughter emerges as a marker of class & race in this film. How does that marker intersect with the misty, watercolor nature of memory – and the danger of nostalgia?
• The People & the Principles: the film’s central conflict between personal relationships and principles, and how that conflict maps (and doesn't) onto religious systems. Is Christianity about people, or is it about principles?

You’ll hear:

• Barbra singing the film’s title song from the 1973 film soundtrack, and an excerpt from the 1998 episode of Sex in the City, Episode 18 (“Ex in the City”).

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).

Peter and Nathan watched this movie so you don't have to!

It's time for a deep cut... We’re talking about the 1970 film version of Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s very strange musical, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever – a show about a psychiatrist with terrible boundaries.

We talk about:

• ESP: Is there a meaningful distinction between extrasensory perception and Christian conceptions of spirituality and prayer?
• Reincarnation: We talk about the case of Bridey Murphy, the 19th-century Irishwoman who was purportedly reincarnated as a 20th century American housewife. What are we supposed to believe about the afterlife?
• Grief: So many conversations about the afterlife happen in the context of death & grief. Does profound grief open us up to alternate conceptions of the universe in a way that can be helpful – or is that simply our emotions talking?
• Clothes: Always the clothes. The Cecil Beaton gowns! The turbans! Be still, our hearts!

You’ll hear:

Yves Montand, Barbra Streisand and the cast of the film singing "Come Back To Me," "Love With All The Trimmings" and "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" as well as the Peddlers’ version of the film’s title song.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).