When You Don’t Have Words to Say, You Sing (Ep 327 - Angels in America/Jonathan Blalock)

A few years ago, the Royal National Theater in London recorded an amazing production of the play Angels in America, starring  Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Russell Tovey, and more. And they just made that recording available to stream at NTatHome.com. For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting my 2015 interview with actor and singer Jonathan Blalock, whose life was completely changed by Angels in America, in part because of his religious upbringing. Jonathan grew up surrounded by spiritual music that at first filled him with joy, and then pain as he realized that his homophobic surroundings were turning on him. But as an adult, he finally gave himself permission to explore new forms of performing and song, and discovered that the intense emotions music always gave him didn’t have to come from a church. They could also come from him. We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And to everyone who’s reviewed it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And just a reminder that I’ve got newsletter where you can see the stuff I’m working on and fun surprises I’ve discovered. You can sign up at mattbaume.com.. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 5pm pacific — a new later time!