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[0:05] Joe Iconis: Hi, I'm Joe Iconis.

[0:07] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: And I'm Jennifer Ashley Tepper.

[0:09] Joe Iconis: You're listening to the ALBUM PODCAST, and on this week's episode, we're talking about my song 52.

[0:16] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: This is unsurprisingly one of my favorite Joe Iconis songs, and one of my favorite episodes we've done. This number was recorded by Danny Burstein on the album, also very exciting. Um, yeah, and there's so much in the song about history and theater and legacy. And I think we hit all those topics. So listen up.

[0:35] Joe Iconis: Listen up, nerds.

[0:37] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: They both survived some seasons of dangerous weather.

[0:43] Joe Iconis: They taught me this lesson on how to live. They'd say, remember, remember.

[0:51] Joe Iconis: 52.

[0:52] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: 52. It's a special one.

[0:54] Joe Iconis: It is a special one.

[0:56] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: I always refer to this song as the subject of one of the last fights we ever had.

[1:02] Joe Iconis: It was.

[1:04] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: So how did this song get written? Take us from the beginning.

[1:07] Joe Iconis: The song was written for a concert that was produced by Jennifer Ashley Tepper that was held at Joe's Pub. And the concert was songs about New York.

[1:20] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah, so it was like New York City or someone who changed New York City for you was the prompt to the writers.

[1:24] Joe Iconis: And so I wrote 52 and the circumstances around me writing it was that I waited to the last minute because I always wait to the last minute when it comes to a deadline or something I write. I think about things a lot and then I usually write before I have to hand in the thing or slightly after I have to hand in the thing is when I do it.

[1:51] Joe Iconis: And so right before this concert, we were doing an Iconis and family gig at Barrington Stage Company. So we were at Barrington and I was working on the song, but it wasn't fully coming. And it was sort of like this happens to me all the time. I'm doing a million things at the same time doing this concert, writing this song. And I oh, and then I was doing a Hunter S. Thompson thing. I had to go and do some sort of Hunter S. Thompson, like writing thing right when I got back from Barrington. It was like a crazy day.

[2:25] Joe Iconis: And so I ended up not having the song until like hours before the concert. It was literal hours for the concert. And Tepper had asked for the song, you know, a week before and it was like a totally appropriate amount of time that I should have given it to her. And I and I didn't.

[2:42] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: What was funny was, I think part of it might have, correct if I'm wrong, been because of what the song was like the topic of the song, you didn't want to tell me anything about it. So like part of it was that like, you know, it was 12 writers or whatever writing songs. And it was like me as the producer being like, OK, like what order should the concert be performed in and like who should do this and like whatever. And it was like I kind of hit my wits end of like, oh, my best friend who's doing the concert is the only person who's like not submitted his song.

[3:09] Joe Iconis: It was a very silly fight. We had one fight after this years later about you asking Bailey to draw a frog when we were in tech. And those are the last two fights that Joe Iconis and I have ever had.

[3:20] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: But anyway, no, and I think, you know.

[3:23] Joe Iconis: Yeah.

[3:23] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah.

[3:23] Joe Iconis: But I mean, also, that's also the ultimate me where I'm like, I'm not going to hand it in when I'm supposed to hand it in. And also, I'm going to be secretive about it because I really want, you know, I want to keep a secret.

[3:34] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah, yeah.

[3:34] Joe Iconis: But yes, I could see on the other side, you were probably just like, he hasn't even done anything. And he's like, he's not he doesn't care, you know, which is, yeah, it's like a decade ago.

[3:46] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah.

[3:46] Joe Iconis: And then you came in with this song, which like is the song to end all songs for me, the musical theater historian and person that I am.

[3:54] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah, this is like one of my favorite, favorite songs you've ever written.

[3:57] Joe Iconis: Thanks.

[3:58] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: And I really, you know, I obviously you were the person who, you know, prompted the song, but it was a song that I like deeply, you know, cared about. And I and you, you so inspired the song itself. Like you as a as a person and, you know, our friendship, but just your passions and your, you know, your existence as a theater historian, the way that you think about theater and the way you talk about theater and the way that you that you communicate your feelings about theater is something that just, you know, so baked into the song and and and kind of made it happen.

[4:32] Joe Iconis: Yeah, the song also.

[4:35] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah, like it appears I asked you if we could like include the lyrics in my first book, like because the song is about the Alvin Theater, the Virginia Theater, which are both in the first volume of Untold Stories of Broadway. And like I have a framed version of the lyric that you gave me for my birthday one year. It's like on my wall in my apartment.

[4:51] Joe Iconis: Yeah, it's like a song that's taken on a lot of meaning. And it's had like so many meaningful performances, especially the first one, which I want to talk about. But just to jump around in time a little bit, I was thinking so much with the 10th anniversary of 54 Below of the moment when Jack O'Brien, who's like known as a director and like, you know, incredible Tony award winning Jack O'Brien, asked you if he could sing this in the concert that he did where he actually like sang and told stories. And I was sitting directly in front of Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer. And it was like shortly before Mike Nichols passed. And I was just like, it was just operating on so many levels, the song of yours, which is about like theater history and legacy and so many things to have like, you know, all of those people in the room and just experiencing it. And it's like one of my favorite 54 Below moments.

[5:38] Joe Iconis: Yeah, yeah, me too. That was one of, you know, my songs haven't been covered by people like that all that much. You know, obviously, I had very amazing singers sing my stuff. But that was like the wildest thing. It was like Jack O'Brien wants to sing my song. It was that was so, so incredible. It really, really blew my mind.

[5:58] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: But that original performance, which if I'm getting it right, like you guys rehearsed it in the car on the way home from Barrington.

[6:04] Joe Iconis: A hundred percent. So yeah, so the song, the performance was me singing, you know, lead. And then it was Eric William Morris, Molly Hager, and Jason Spoochuk-Williams singing backup. And they did it because we learned it in the car coming home from Barrington. I wrote the song at Reba and Bruce's house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. And then, yeah, and it truly was like, I was just like, guys, I need help. I need help. And they were like, sure. And they weren't even supposed to, like, you know, do the concert, but they all were like, yeah, we can do that. And they learned the song and they performed it in the concert that night. It's the most, like, incredible, beautiful performance.

[6:46] Joe Iconis: Like that video is just like, also, it was another magical, mystical thing about the song that, like, I had never been to Reba and Bruce's house, which is like, you know, the center of all activities that go on at Barrington stage. They're the most, like, wonderful people. And we later, you already had some time there, but I later came to spend so much time there being at Barrington for different shows. And, like, when I was there and you said, oh, like, you know, I wrote 52 mostly in this room, it, like, put a whole other layer on the song.

[7:13] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah.

[7:15] Joe Iconis: I also, folks listening on your phones or, I guess, iPods, if you're really cool and managed to load the album onto your iPod, I really like to listen to this song, like, standing on 52nd Street, like, in between the theaters. It's a very, like, visceral experience.

[7:27] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: In between, like, in the middle of the street.

[7:29] Joe Iconis: Yeah. You can do that, you know. No one's going to stop you.

[7:32] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah.

[7:34] Joe Iconis: And I, you know, I'm so grateful that Danny Burstein agreed to sing the song. What a, like, it's sort of actually similar to Alan H. Green singing 64, where it's, like, what a perfect person to sing the song. And, like, they hadn't sung it before. Like, what an incredible melding of actor and song.

[7:57] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Yeah.

[7:57] Joe Iconis: So, I've been a very vocal fan of Danny's for many, many years. I just love him. He's just so my type of actor, so my type of, you know, theater personality. I like the way he, you know, conducts his life. I just, I think he's so great. He's just given so many incredible performances. And I've always wanted to work with him. It's never quite, you know, worked out for him to do a show of mine. And I've asked him to do every concert I've ever done. And he always says no. And he's always very nice, but because he's like, I just don't do concerts. That's not my thing. I don't know how to do that. And I don't want to do it. And so, I was nervous about asking him to sing 52, because he, like, he truly, it was like.

[11:08] Joe Iconis: In Los Angeles, California, is the home of The Roots and Follies as Buddy was just like both like and I feel the exact same way as you and I remember when he was in the studio and we all were just like it's Danny Burstein and like he's obviously like so he's so chill he's so down-to-earth he's so nice he's so easy to be around yeah but it doesn't matter because like yeah it's just and I feel this way also similarly like they're extremely famous people who I could have small talk with no problem even though I reject them but then it's like you put me in a room with Bill Finn and I'm like I can't even speak yeah and I do get that about Danny and I think everyone in our family group who was there that day felt that like it just was so special to have him be part of it like we all just so admire him yeah also just like to have this I don't know the fact that he's singing "52" I think I'm still not over it it hasn't fully registered I know I know and he you know and he is just I mean I feel like we're speaking so much just about the fact that he exists and you know how cool that he is you know that he is a person walking around who sang the song but he's just so good he's like his performance of the song it's it's like you know he he's somebody does theater like any person is not like fronting rock bands but he's able to like do this sort of casual folky thing while also making you feel like it's a theater song in such an amazing effortless way yeah yeah it's also interesting like I've interviewed Danny about theaters obviously like for my book and I don't think he's worked at the Alvin or the Virginia and not that that matters it it doesn't yeah but it's like he he embodies this thought like he's certainly lived through epidemics and revolutions but like the fact that this song you know you could this song is so specific it's so like the lyrics are so specific like but you could be singing this about you know two restaurants in your hometown like you could be saying it has like a level of just how places come into our lives and are important that I think it fully matters that it's Alvin and Virginia and then it doesn't matter yeah yeah a hundred percent and you know and I think you know in in the way that "64" is kind of about the you know the complicated nature of nostalgia this is I think is more about history and legacy and and and more about how it's important yes and it's and it's it's worth our time it's also like it's such a specific thing the way that something can change its name and that matters like that's so like it's not meaningless that like even though the street might be exactly the same the day after the marquee gets changed it's a different thing when you change the name and like this song puts that into feelings in a way that nothing else I know ever has of like yeah it was different when it was the Alvin and the Virginia yeah then it is when it's the Neil Simon and August Wilson and like people that live in places like New York and people who are aware of the buildings and the places and the theaters around them no matter where they live it's like you understand that that's such a specific element of legacy and history when like names get changed yeah and it's such a it's such a hard thing to pinpoint or to you know articulate because it's like it is the theaters of the theaters you know the same basically and sometimes they get a paint job or they get a you know whatever and it's and they change a little bit but they're still the theaters and that's great but it's it's different it just is and it's like and in the same way that we can be like oh you know I'm sad this this show isn't playing there anymore or in the same way that we can be like I'm sad that that guy isn't working the door anymore we can you know we can be like I'm sad that the names are different it's just different they come to like represent a certain time period when that was the name like yeah and that's the other like you said this in the last episode I think of like oh the first time I had a drink with Eric Lloyd Morris and got to know him was that this bar called this and then boxers and then it changed to the Spaniard and it's like yeah like the name change sometimes means nothing the next day but within time it comes to me in a different era a different set of shows different people who work there a different like way that the theater run like it's it like the names come to represent the eras yeah yeah yeah it means something yeah it's all in the song it's really just like I can't believe this song exists and that Danny Burstein sings it but it does it does and you know I really love the I am really happy with the arrangement of this one this one was this arrangement was really driven by Ian Keggy and you know it's I think it's like it's really simple and it's like just enough to me you know the banjo is it the banjo is there and it makes it sound it's it's it makes it sound evocative without it being like you know like a country you know like picking away you think like you don't immediately go to you know like backwoods or something it feels like it feels more like rainbow connection or something I feel like with the banjo and then the accordion by Jackie Sanders which is just like a little bit you know and it's and it's not like virtuosic or anything it's just sort of chords and it it feels homespun in a way that I think is is appropriate for the song totally sure and the backups are sung by the the people who sang them originally originally and in the car production of "52" yeah the car rehearsal studio yeah Eric and Molly and Jason yeah um thank you for writing this song thanks for asking me to write it "52" hey thanks so much for listening or watching to my podcast do me a favor and go to wherever you just listen to or watch this thing and subscribe or like or give us a great rating or review and then head to bpn.fm slash album to find out even more information about this podcast more ways to watch more ways to listen and check out my album album thanks so much for hanging out album podcast is executive produced by Liz Armstrong produced by Dory Berenstein, Alan Seales, Kim Garris and the rest of the team at the Broadway Podcast Network be sure to visit bpn.fm slash album for both audio and video versions of this podcast and to listen to album remember me