In this engaging episode of "Arts for the MASSes," host Ryan Malyar sits down with the multi-talented Ilana Ransom Toeplitz to discuss current theater trends in 2025. Toeplitz, a director, choreographer, writer, and teaching artist now based in Greater Boston, brings her extensive Broadway experience to the conversation.
## Guest Spotlight
Ilana's impressive resume includes work on Broadway productions like "The Prom," "Violet" (starring Sutton Foster), and "Crazy for You" at Lincoln Center with Susan Stroman. She's also done significant work with Theater Works and currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Emerson College. As she puts it, being a successful artist is like "simultaneously spinning four plates: what am I doing now, what am I doing next, how am I feeding myself, and also life."
## Current Projects
Toeplitz is currently directing "Head Over Heels" at Emerson College, which features music by The Go-Go's. This serves as a perfect segue into the main topic of the episode - trends in contemporary theater.
## Jukebox Musicals: Past and Present
The conversation explores the enduring popularity of jukebox musicals, which have been around for decades. Ryan points to early examples like "Leader of the Pack" and reimagined Gershwin shows like "Crazy for You." Both agree that audiences gravitate toward familiar music, especially following global traumas like the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made theaters and audiences more risk-averse.
They discuss successful jukebox musicals like "Mamma Mia" and explore what makes them work - or not work. Ilana notes that the Go-Go's music in "Head Over Heels" brings a sense of female empowerment, being the first top-40 band where women played all their own instruments and sang their own music. The show blends this modern sensibility with Elizabethan dialogue to create commentary on gender identity and sexual freedom.
## Theater Economics in 2025
The conversation turns to the economic realities facing theaters in 2025. Rising costs for sets, costumes, and fair actor wages have led many theaters to seek "sure things" - shows with brand recognition that can be produced with minimal casts. As Ilana puts it, "Theaters cannot afford to take risks right now," which makes it challenging for new musicals to find their way to the stage. This has led to an abundance of small-cast shows like "Foot Loose," "Little Shop of Horrors," "John and Jen," "Title of Show," and "Daddy Long Legs."
## Musical Theater Education
As an educator at Emerson College, Ilana offers insights into how musical theater training has evolved to embrace contemporary sounds. Her senior-year curriculum includes a course dedicated to pop music singing and interpreting pop songs for musical theater contexts. She also teaches a course on professionalism and the business of show business, emphasizing the importance of being "a good human and being rehirable."
Ilana describes an exercise inspired by "RuPaul's Drag Race" called "Lip Sync for Your Life," where students can fully embrace their inner rock star without worrying about vocal technique. She notes the challenge of teaching pop music in a theatrical context, particularly dealing with the repetitive lyrics common in pop songs.
## Audition Processes and Changing Standards
The conversation shifts to auditioning and selection processes at Emerson. Ilana discusses how they're evolving beyond Eurocentric techniques and placing more emphasis on storytelling, musicality, and making bold choices rather than technical perfection. They also touch on changing speech standards in theater, with Ryan noting a decline in clear diction among young performers, possibly influenced by film acting and the ubiquity of microphones in contemporary theater.
## What Drew Ilana to the Arts
When asked about her formative arts experience, Ilana shares that she grew up in a household of classical musicians and was particularly drawn to ballet. After seeing "The Nutcracker" at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in second grade, she convinced her friends they would produce their own version. Her childhood birthday parties soon became opportunities to direct plays she had written herself - including a memorable "career-aoke" party where guests dressed as their future career aspirations.
## Closing
Ryan wraps up by inviting local artists and arts organizations to reach out about appearing on the show, noting that while they film at WMCT TV in Marlboro, Massachusetts, they're also available via Zoom and "the interwebs."
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