PODCAST
Brave New Old World
Audio musical imagines post-apocalyptic pop-culture Gotham
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
Many of us are grieving
over the protracted
pause of Broadway
and traditional live
theater during the age of COVID.
Yet during this dark, muted time,
refreshed forms of theater are
emerging online.
One genre exploding is the audio
play format, which can conjure
worlds digitally without the need
for physical sets or human contact.
It’s social distancing to the
extreme, with no masks required.
“The World to Come,” an ambitious
new musical podcast set in
a post-apocalyptic future, pushes
the limits of the medium in astounding
ways. The lavish series,
created by longtime collaborators
Erik Ransom (“GRINDR: The Opera,”
“More Than All the World”),
Andy Peterson (“Tootsie”), and
Rachel Klein (“Red Roses, Green
Gold”), features a company of more
than 20 gifted actors, many with
Broadway pedigrees.
It’s only fi tting that during this
nightmarish time, which many
compare to a bad science fi ction
movie, this dynamic trio would
turn to fantasy to entertain, enlighten,
and even deliver a measure
of solace.
The serial adventure boasts more
than 50 original pop-infused songs
with music by Peterson and lyrics
by the multitalented Ransom, who
also wrote the libretto and voices
the Narrator and other key roles.
Peterson oversaw the cinematic
underscoring that intensifi es emotion
at pivotal moments.
Under Klein’s sensitive direction,
the musical saga pulses with
robust theatricality. The listener is
instantly immersed into a fantastic
world of sharply drawn characters
with intriguing names like Dowager
Duchess, John the Faptist,
Schmendrick the Stable Boy, and
RuffLadyDom69 (don’t ask). Despite
taping from their own homes,
the actors manage to establish
uncanny chemistry and deliver affecting,
riveting performances.
Kudos must also be given to
The creative team behind “The World to Come” includes (clockwise from upper left) Rachel Klein, David
Treatman, Erik Ransom, and Andy Peterson.
audio producer Mike Lunoe and
sound designer Sean Hagerty for
the rich, astonishingly realistic
soundscapes.
Created during the deep confi nes
of quarantine, the premise treads
along the edge of escapist fancy
and hard reality. The action is set
amongst the remnants of New York
City centuries after an apocalypse
decimated the world — climate
change the likely culprit — with no
electricity or internet. The realm
is now a city-state called Fiveboro,
where fi ve tribes who worship different
aspects of 21st century pop
culture vie for superiority. It’s their
form of religion, a way of life.
The Hepburners are infatuated
with the idealized golden age of
Hollywood, the Fansci Folk live in
a feudal sci-fi cosplay kingdom,
the Escandalistas relish the melodrama
of the telenovela, the Criterone
Collective is obsessed with
art fi lms, and the Snookis pattern
their lives after sensationalistic reality
TV. Can these disparate factions
somehow fi nd lasting common
ground?
Produced by Iconoclast Theater
Collective and David Treatman
Creative, the fi rst two episodes of
“The World to Come” are now available.
According to Ransom, the
fi rst season will consist of 12 episodes,
roughly 30 minutes each,
and will drop throughout the rest
PHOTO THE WORLD TO COME
of the year. Following are edited excerpts
from Gay City News’ online
interview with the creators about
producing the new work during
these dystopian days.
DAVID KENNERLEY: What inspired
you to create this audio musical
series?
ERIK RANSOM: “The World to
Come” is very much a response to
the moment at which it was conceived.
Back in March at the dawn
of the Quarantimes, Rachel, Andy,
and I had many contemplative conversations
about the state of the
industry in which we’d wholly invested
our professional lives. Like
the vast majority of theater artists,
the three of us lost all our prospective
projects for the foreseeable
future, and we quickly committed
ourselves to doing something bold
and creative. We sought to fi ll part
of the void created by the closure
of live theater venues by conjuring
up a brand-new musical highlighting
many of our favorite artists. We
quickly realized that the limitations
of live theater didn’t apply to
the medium of the radio play, and
so we decided to attempt something
truly epic — a sprawling, serialized
musical saga.
KENNERLEY: This bold, highly
original series is not easy to describe
— it’s sort of a hybrid of
“Brave New World,” “Mad Max,”
and “Game of Thrones,” as produced
by Disney. How would you
describe it?
RANSOM: Not as well as that!
May we quote you? Literally all of
those were huge inspirations of
mine. But to answer your question:
“The World to Come” is a postapocalyptic
story set in New York
City, so more than a few of our listeners
have drawn the comparison
to “Escape from New York.” I would
say our version of the future has
a bit more whimsy and a lot more
belting than John Carpenter’s, but
we kind of hang a hat on that. One
of the fun things about the world
we’ve built is that it’s very referential.
For example, the Fansci Folk
will casually juxtapose tropes from
“Star Trek,” “Game of Thrones,”
and “Battlestar Galactica” in a
single breath. We’re able to parody
specifi c shows and movies within
the confi nes of the story.
KENNERLEY: In this age of
COVID, where live performances
are largely forbidden, you have
created a world where pop culture
entertainment is long lost, yet revered.
Can you elaborate?
RACHEL KLEIN: I sort of live
in a Kitsch Palace of long-lost artifacts
from the recent past, such
as a Zsa Zsa Gabor workout video,
a “Murder She Wrote” board game,
and Elvira memorabilia. The notion
of longing to connect to a previous
era is something I understand. It’s
more liberating than focusing on
the present. Our characters are
nostalgic for relics from eras that
they themselves never experienced,
so there is freedom to exaggerate
the meaning behind everything,
and to carve out a sharp specifi city
to each character.
KENNERLEY: Between the coronavirus
pandemic and the political
upheaval in Washington, DC, some
days it feels like it’s the end of the
world as we know it. Why create
a musical set after an apocalypse
during these trying times?
➤ THE WORLD TO COME, continued on p.25
November 05 - November 18, 2 24 020 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
