HTDE: Broadway Musicals And Best In Show

0:00Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen. Hey guys, it's Peter once again in your Wait Wait feed. I am so pleased to present to you another episode of How to Do Everything by Wait Wait producers Ian and Mike. Now remember, you can only get these episodes of How to Do Everything in our feed for a short while. So if you love the kind of mysteries that Mike and Ian are revealing, make sure you subscribe to How to Do Everything at their own feed. Thanks. So I was playing the song Bye Bye Birdie for my kid.

0:42You know the song? From the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Yeah, I was playing the original cast recording with Ann Margaret. Okay. Bye bye birdie I'm gonna miss you so So my daughter, she got really into it. She wanted to hear it again and again. And then I heard her singing it to herself. And she was singing Bye Bye Bur He. Okay. And I was like, why are you, it's Bye Bye Birdie. Why are you singing Bye Bye Bur He? And she was like, that's what the song says. And so we listened back. Listen to this. Bye Bye Bur He. Right? Sure enough. She sings through the whole song. Bye-bye, Bertie. Why'd you have to...

1:42The song called Bye-Bye, Bertie. She sings Bye-Bye, Bertie for the whole song. How has that gotten unnoticed before? Is it just the power of the title overwhelms the subc... You're like, oh, I guess, yeah, I hear it. That's right, Bertie. I don't get it. I feel like maybe it's a thing where it's easier to sing that way. So really, there's no choice but to call Ann-Margaret, who sang the song 60 years ago. Hello. Hello, Ann-Margaret. Yes, that's me. How are you? I feel great. What do you guys have to? Your neck? That's right. That's about right. Well, Ann-Margaret, we wanted to ask you, my daughter discovered that in Bye Bye Birdie, you sing Bye Bye Bur He instead of Birdie.

2:39And I was just wondering, where does that come from? From me? That's interesting that she would get it. Yeah, so why that choice? It's interesting. Does it make it easier to sing or what? It's just my quirk.

3:01That's just the way I hear it. Oh, funny. Did anyone else ever ask you about it? No, never. After all these years. What a mystery we've uncovered and solved all in one conversation. I know. Bird. Actually, I say the D, but I say it with he. Ber-t-ee. With he behind it. Anne-Marie, you still got it. You still got it. We can hear it right there. Good. I'm so glad.

3:40This is How to Do Everything. I'm Ian. And I'm Mike. On today's show, how to shave your chest. But first... Almost 60 ,000 people completed the New York City Marathon last weekend. And on the line with us now is one of those runners, Jordan Litz. So Jordan, why don't you tell us what you did after the race? Well, I ran the New York City Marathon, and then I proceeded to perform Eero and Wicked on Broadway twice. Twice? Yes. I finished the race about 12, 1250. And then our half hour call for the show was 130. So I did a little press at the finish line and then walked straight to the theater, got into my shower, tried to loosen up as best I could, and then walked on and did Wicked.

4:31Wow. That is amazing. It was wild. I've run a marathon. And the thing I wanted to do after running a marathon is absolutely nothing. Like I couldn't imagine moving, let alone moving in front of people. And you were, I guess, you were dancing, right? Yeah. I mean, yeah, Fiero, his title song is Dancing Through Life. So, you know, you're dancing around, you're leading the students and teaching them dance moves. Whoa. Climbing on statues, jumping off the statues.

5:10What was the point in the either performance where you were most aware of the marathon in your body? There are two pretty big moments for me where I become hyper aware of any residual effects from running or just how my body's feeling that day not from running. One is kneeling and singing as long as your mind for five, six minutes. just for some reason having the compression on your knees and your ankles and your quads for that long and then having to try and stand up yeah after you've been kneeling for so long is uh is all always a gut check that moment was that moment i was like okay am i going to be able to be able to stand up and fortunately it was it was totally fine i didn't even think about it um and And then the other one was swinging in on the rope because that was the only super high impact moment of the show.

6:10A lot of, you know, there's a lot of dance steps. There's a lot of running up and down stairs. There's a lot of jumping and things like that. But that one was the one that I was thinking, if I'm going to get injured and I'm going to snap an Achilles tendon right now, it's going to be this moment. So, you know, I just tried to swing in and land as gently as I could and absorb the landing. And I think even the guards were watching me come in and hoping and praying that I was going to be just fine. And fortunately, it worked out just fine. Is it possible, Jordan, that if you'd been kneeling for five minutes or whatever and you couldn't get up, that you could have figured out how to make it make sense that your character just sits down on the ground from that point on?

6:54There's no way. There's absolutely no way because, I mean, the rest of the scene is me, like, trying to get Elphaba to safety. You know, I'm telling her, like, you got to go to my castle in Kiamako. You'll be safe there. And then at the end of the scene, this cyclone comes and whips me up and it goes into a blackout. So, I mean, I can't even imagine how embarrassing that would be. I don't know what I would do. There's no way. I can imagine that it's hard to get excited for a Sunday where you're doing two shows, like for a Sunday matinee. What's it like then for that second show after you've kind of come off the post-marathon high, then you still have to do a whole nother run?

7:36Yeah, I mean, I've always said that Sunday matinee is my least favorite show of the week. You're just kind of, you're almost at the finish line, but you're not quite there and you're feeling really fatigued. It's the seventh show of the week. You just did a double the day before. So it's already a tough show anyway. And then you throw 26.2 miles on top of that. And that just makes it really pretty grueling. But yeah, you're right. The adrenaline had completely worn off at that point. My wife and daughter came to hang out with me in between shows. And we just chilled in the dressing room. I played with my daughter, put my legs up on the wall, tried to drain the blood out of them.

8:18to kind of reset the system. Um, and then I think maybe because the adrenaline had worn off and I knew that it was the last show of the week and the last little hurdle that I had to get over. It was one of the best shows I've had in weeks to be honest. Um, yeah, I, I was just, I was free to, to just give whatever I had left in the tank. Um, I finished, I finished dancing through life and I was like, that's a darn good performance. I'm so happy with that. So yeah, I mean, maybe I need to run a marathon before every two-show day. There you go, folks. Yeah. You got to PR and wick it. Exactly.

9:12This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart. Get wise. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.

9:42Hey, if you've got a question that we can help you get to the bottom of, get it to us at howto at npr.org. Maybe you encountered something that's 60 years old and no one has thought of in a very long time, and you want us to delve into it, to look a little deeper. We're going to help you out. Just send it to us at howto at npr.org. I feel like your tone there insulted my daughter's childlike curiosity. and I don't like it. Not at all. Not at all. To you and your family, I have nothing but respect.

10:17Hey, Sarah and Jacob, what can we help you with? My question is, when I'm shaving my chest, I've got, I'm pretty hairy, so I want to make sure I get everything, but then I just don't know really when to stop, right? You got the abs and up through the pecs and stuff, but how far do I need to go over my shoulders? Oh. I'm not going to shave all the way down my arm. I mean, there was just something I was thinking about. Huh. Yeah, I guess if someone did have abs and pecs, that would be a concern. Yeah, so Jacob is very fit. He's very in shape, and he works hard. And I think I kind of tactfully suggested to him a few years ago that he might consider shaving his chest to just show off all his hard work and effort.

11:06Yeah. But now it's probably the routine. but he's just not sure where do you stop when shaving? Is there a proper protocol? I feel that this feels like a very personal question, but so are we, if you are Jacob unshaven, are we talking about a pretty thick coat from over the shoulders and down the back? Is it? Luckily for me, it's not all the way down the back, but definitely my entire front is a thick coat. Entire front. Do you have a beard? I don't maintain a beard. I try to shave my face and my stomach regularly, chest area. Okay. So if we visualize you now when you've shaved your chest, shoulders, abs, does it look like you're wearing a flesh-colored sweater?

11:59A sweater vest, a flesh sweater vest. Yeah. That is not something that I ever imagined previously. But yeah, my arms are still hairy. There's also quite a process, too, for the hair cleanup, because you can't put it down a drain or a sink. So it has to, like, flop onto a towel on the floor and then get thrown out. It's a whole process. I just don't think we're doing it correctly. Yeah. Sounds like maybe a pet spa would be. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, that's a great idea. Like a dog groomer. Yeah, they have all the equipment. Mm-hmm. Hi, my name is Crystal Murray, hyphenate class, and I am a professional dog handler.

12:44And so we go to dog shows every weekend, and we have the fortunate job of showing beautiful standard poodles. We showed a very exceptional standard poodle named Siba, and she won the very prestigious Westminster Kennel Club. And you groomed Siba for that win, for that performance. Absolutely, yep. Could you describe, Siba, what Siba looks like? Is Siba a she? Yes, Siba is a she. She is a black standard poodle female. And this is, for someone who isn't maybe that versed in how showing dogs works, This is the sort of poodle that we imagine when we imagine kind of the fancy poodle with the kind of balls at the feet and the big kind of pompadour.

13:36Yeah. So actually what I used to, what I like to tell people is so Germany kind of developed the breed, but then the French got them. That's why we have what we have today. Is that right? So wait, what did they look like before France got involved? A little shaggy, a little less pretty, more working, less pampered pet kind of thing. Can I ask, actually, I just said the little balls at their feet. What is the term for that when you actually know what you're talking about? Yeah. So actually, I can give you a super quick rundown on it. Those little balls are called their bracelets. The ones that they have over their hips are called their hip rosettes.

14:23And then the tail is usually just a tail pom-pom type thing. So they've got their four bracelets, the hip rosettes, the body we usually call a pack. And then they literally have a top knot. A top knot. Yeah. So like obviously back in the day, they would have just tied the hair on top of their head into a knot so it didn't get into their eyes. and now we do it with elastics and hairspray and it's quite quite a deal so uh as as you heard we got this call from uh sarah and jacob jacob i think is to uh men what seba is to poodles he's a he is as we understand a perfect specimen uh but he is he's very hairy so he's not able to fully show off the definition that he has worked so hard to achieve.

15:17Using your expertise from the world of poodle grooming, what would your advice for Jacob be? Well, there's a couple different things you can do. I mean, we, if you really want to see any of like the sculpting, chiseling, contours, kind of like that, you would want a really short blade. You know, we, with the poodles, we can clipper them at different lengths. So you get that different effect there. So wait, if I understand, it could be possible to sort of not do a complete hair removal, but actually use some hair remaining to do a little contouring, maybe add some shadow to the abs and pecs and actually enhance what Jacob is working with their muscle-wise.

16:05Yes, absolutely. Oh, wait, does Seba have abs? Well, not really. She had a litter of puppies. So she's got a mom's body now. Good for her. So yeah, you can almost create kind of like some shadowing or whatever. Can I ask, so when you're at a competition, a show, are you like backstage doing it right before they go on? or is it? Yep. Yep. There's a whole grooming area for all the different competitors and their dogs. Are you nervous back there in that kind of final groom? Sometimes. I mean, the regular shows, it's just kind of a routine thing. For the show like Westminster that we did, I was a wreck.

16:53What's the vibe like back there? Is it pretty competitive? Like, do you see all the other dogs? it's yeah you can see all the other dogs it's competitive because you know you're competing against people from really all over the world and it's nerve-wracking because if you screw up it's like you have no one to blame but yourself right yeah so it's a lot so but do you see another dog back there and you're like oh that top knot is phenomenal absolutely really yeah we totally do that really we're like oh did you see we're like oh did you see she must have been really nervous. She just trimmed all the hair off.

17:29Oh, no. Yeah, okay. So you can tell, like, oh, they're not going to make it. Yeah.

17:41Well, that does it for this week's show. What'd you learn, Ian? It's weird how much Broadway we ended up with in today's show. Oh, yeah. I had no intention of this happening, but we started with Ann-Margaret and Bye Bye Birdie, one of the classics. I talked to Jordan, who's currently starring in Wicked on Broadway. And Jacob was super hairy, which is like the musical Hair. I learned that maybe the best way to recover from a marathon is to dance for three hours, take a short break, and then dance for another three hours. Yeah, in front of people. Not dance like no one's watching. Dance like people have paid hundreds of dollars to come see you dance.

18:24I will say, I think we got a satisfying result from the Bye Bye Birdie question. Right? Like, we went into it not knowing exactly what was going on. And talking to Ann Margaret, she basically confirmed that's how she did it. What if we listen back to all the great Broadway songs and it turns out every D is an H? If this is true, do you think Hamilton is actually Damilton? How to Do Everything is produced by Skylar Swenson with Hina Srivastava. Technical direction from Lorna White. We did use music this week, I believe, from Moby Gratis. You can get us your questions at howto at npr.org. I'm Ian.

19:09And I'm Mike. Thanks. Thanks. Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan. thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.