This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Pauls Macs: Ever wonder what it takes to make a new musical sing? Our mission is to make the exclusive and inclusive. We're interviewing the creatives who are changing musical theater one 11 o'clock number at a time. This is your Backstage Pass.

[0:34] Pauls Macs: Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to Backstage Pass. We have a very exciting episode today. We have so many people here. Our first big party. It's a party. We have like five or six guests in the studio right now. But yeah, we're celebrating today Xena Warrior Musical. Honestly, as Hilary Duff once said, this is what dreams are made of. You know, we usually do a big long bio segment in this podcast. But what I'd love to do is I'd love to go around and just have our guests introduce themselves. And this is a writer focused podcast. So if it's okay, performers, we're going to have the writers introduce themselves first.

[1:14] Meghan Rose: Writer focused. Let's go. All right. My name is Meghan Rose and I'm a composer and musician around town. I started writing music in Madison, Wisconsin. That's where I'm from. Originally, I moved to the city about seven years ago. Now I write musicals. I'm going to keep it short and sweet.

[1:31] Essie Lussier: Perfect. And I'm Essie Lussier. I go by Luce or Lucy. Most of the time I'm a queer storyteller, writer and theater director. I also have a theater background and kind of moved into very large private events and public experiences and do all sorts of iterations of storytelling in that capacity. And now I write musical theater with Meg.

[1:50] Pauls Macs: Fantastic. It's a pleasure to have you here today. Jessie, why don't we go to you next?

[1:55] Jessie MacBeth: Yeah, my name is Jessie MacBeth. And I have had the privilege of being involved in the project since technically October 2021. It has been a really amazing ride. I've enjoyed every second of it.

[2:08] Pauls Macs: And for the viewers at home who can't see Jessie, just so you know, Jessie is giving big Xena energy today. She plays Xena in the production and on the recording and is truly fantastic. So it's a pleasure to meet you today, Jessie. Thank you for being here. Hector, do you want to go next?

[2:22] Héctor Flores: Sure. I'm Hector Flores and I got brought onto the project as the choreographer last year when we put up the show at $3 Bill.

[2:30] Pauls Macs: Fantastic. And also we have the incredible Elle Morgan Lee. I'm so so pleased to meet you today. Would you like to introduce yourself?

[2:37] L Morgan Lee: Sure. Hi, it's so nice to meet you too. I'm L Morgan Lee. I am an actress who was brought onto the project by Hector. And I'm so excited to be here this morning.

[2:47] Pauls Macs: Yeah, I just have to say really quick. So if you go back into the New York Theater Barn vault, there's an amazing performance of L Morgan Lee performing a song, A Woman's Work from the musical Francois and the Rebels. And I've been like a fan of hers since that moment. But to see you like go on to do your work in a strange loop is really exciting.

[3:03] L Morgan Lee: Oh, thank you.

[3:04] Pauls Macs: Hello, Jen.

[3:05] Jenn Colella: Jen, it's so great to meet you.

[3:07] Jenn Colella: Hello, I'm Jen Colella. And in the most recent recording of Xena Warrior Princess, I am voicing the role of Xena Warrior Princess. I couldn't be more delighted to do it.

[3:18] Pauls Macs: We usually do a big bio segment where we talk about, you know, like everyone's amazing bio in this room. But if we did that, that would use up the full hour that we have. So if you are listening to this, please just know that we have amazing performers, writers, choreographers, Grammy winners, Tony nominees, people who have literally made Broadway history. Please, if you haven't, look up all these amazing people and you'll be better for it.

[3:40] Pauls Macs: Can also confirm from the past 10 minutes, everyone is so nice. What a really kind, sweet team. It must be incredible to have collaborated on all of this together. When we get started, I want to talk to Essie and Megan about how you came to collaborate and how you came to choose to write Xena. It's such a fantastic piece, but I'd love to hear about kind of like the origin of the show.

[4:02] Essie Lussier: Absolutely. So Meg and I met back in, I want to say 2016. Meg can correct me. Meg was moving to New York. She had a different show that was in the Fringe Festival and was looking for a theater director. Posted on Playbill. This is a classic Playbill love story where I responded to the ad on Playbill to direct. We ended up talking and working on that project together. She likes to remind me that I actually mentioned Xena in a lot of my preliminary interviews because that's a vibe that, you know, I feel like Meg writes similar relationships and other things as well. So it seems like it was a really natural fit from the start. And that show went on to go to Nymph as a developmental reading and I stuck with it.

[4:40] Meghan Rose: Then what happened?

[4:41] Essie Lussier: That was 2018 that Held went to Nymph. And basically after that, it just felt really good to work together again. And we hung out to celebrate that. And I said, what are we doing next? And Lou said, this is going to sound kind of crazy. But ever since I was a youth, I wanted to write the Xena musical.

[4:59] Meghan Rose: And that's exactly how you talk. You're sort of an old 40s lady. And I was like, get out! I think I pushed you or something. And I was like, that's a really amazing idea. Let's do it. From there, it was like, how do you work? Well, how do you work?

[5:15] Pauls Macs: Were you a fan of the show as well, originally?

[5:17] Essie Lussier: Yeah, I would say that I was. Luz is the super fan. I was always a fan of Xena too. I just, I haven't watched every episode like Luz has, but I did grow up watching it with my mom and having, you know, some feelings and being like, oh, why do I feel this way? It's something that I held on to really, really tightly while I was coming out as a kid through middle and high school. And I had this very specific ritual about it. I would watch one episode in the morning before I left for school and one episode a night before I went to bed in chronological order, which is why I knew exactly what episode you were talking about. For the audience who's not aware, I told everyone in this room that to get ready for this podcast, I watched an episode of Xena, and they immediately asked me which episode.

I was so proud to say, I watched season three, episode 17, Forget Me Not. And I read the episode description, but I didn't need to because they knew exactly which one it was. I'm not surprised that you're giant fans because there's so much obvious care and love for the source material in the musical.

[6:13] Meghan Rose: That is because of Luz's vast knowledge of the TV series. And also because we had Xenites review the material, which was a very strategic and conscious choice, also full of love because you know, we wanted super fans to really love the material and not be upset about anything because that can just destroy any good thing you have going.

[6:36] Pauls Macs: Oh my god. Upsetting a fandom is a nightmare I can't even imagine. There is nothing more powerful than someone obsessed with something.

[6:44] Essie Lussier: It's true. And these folks, just like myself, I mean, I can really understand that, that you develop these very intimate relationships with these characters. And there's a lot of life that you've put into leaning on them for one reason or another. And that's a very sacred relationship. And so we always felt like we had to be very, very careful when we were holding that and holding space for fans.

[7:05] Pauls Macs: One of the big themes that I really appreciated in the story when we were sent your synopsis was this idea of people who believe that their love is unrequited without giving anything away. There are people who have affection for some people and some that are shared feelings and some that are not. Like there's a lot of themes of fear of expectation in terms of what someone will or will not give them. And I'm wondering in terms of writing and collaborating on a new piece, what is it like to explore unspoken things and giving voice to them, both like when you start with just the two of you as a writing team, but then when you start introducing perspective from the people who are performing with you?

[7:44] Meghan Rose: Absolutely. Well, Meg and I both want to explore things in musical theatre that are not necessarily in the narrative right now. And that's really important to us. We consider the work that we do restorative, which means it brings some kind of justice to the storytelling, to the characters, to the themes in one way or another. And that's a really purposeful goal for us. We keep that at the forefront of our minds. So I think the idea of romantic friendships and queer relationships that express themselves in many different iterations that are not necessarily mirroring heteronormative relationships is something that we don't really get to see in musical theatre. We don't really get to explore. One of the reasons why Xena is such a perfect pairing for that is because that's exactly what the television show did.

If you listen to the love song that we wrote between Xena and Gabrielle, they don't ever say the word love. And we thought that was a really important parameter to place in there because their relationship is so much bigger than that, right? And so putting that word in there made it something familiar. We wanted it to be something larger and more unfamiliar to our audience. Many of the relationships in the musical do that. They explore what it means to love someone in a certain way and not have that person love you back in that way and still loving them because you're not expecting anything. And really just allowing everyone to be their best selves and supporting them in friendship, which is a relationship and is a relationship of unconditional love, just like we want to see in our romantic relationships.

[9:11] Essie Lussier: Yeah, we also have a relationship between Ephiny, the queen of the Amazons in command at the moment, and then with Gabrielle, who have a history. And there's a rich love and friendship between them as well. And it's so refreshing to highlight close. You don't know somebody's sexual orientation, even. It doesn't matter. There's a closeness and an intimacy between two people. And it's just nice to explore all that. But you also asked about unrequited love and expectations. It is interesting. I remember putting in the synopsis the word unrequited, which we used to describe, I don't think this is a spoiler because it's the canon in the TV series, that Joxer's love for Gabrielle. It is a romantic heteronormative type of love, but we also explore how that doesn't have to mean the end of a relationship either for these characters.

Clearly, that's a character with staying power in the TV series. And we wanted to highlight him in the musical as well. And there's some really beautiful moments of, I think, restorative narrative for him as well, just because you brought up that word unrequited. Well, Joxer has a really cool growth path in the musical as well that I think we're really proud of.

[10:18] Meghan Rose: It's the word that stuck out to me in the synopsis, which is the root of where the question came from. But I really love how you're talking about the depth you can have in relationships, even if they're no longer, like if you have a history with someone, you don't stop loving them. Relationships are allowed to grow and to shift. And I feel that is really, really nice, especially with characters like Xena and Gabrielle, right? Because they've gone on such a journey that I totally get the idea that love is kind of too small a word for what they're experiencing. When we see the word love, and we think it's a huge all encompassing thing, sometimes language is not enough. Having to put language to something that language is not enough for, what a trip. Luckily, there's music, right?

[10:58] Essie Lussier: That's something I really wanted to say as I was reviewing these materials. And I just love that idea. Xena and Gabrielle are such good friends that almost love can feel too small of a word to describe their relationship. But through the power of music in this musical, we're able to understand their feelings in a way that we aren't able to on the television series. Even though it's a show with magic and gods, they still are confined to written text. But through the music, the expression of their feelings, it was so clear for me listening to the demos. Oh my gosh, these two people have this immense love or whatever you would call it, this immense bond, and they're able to fully express that through this piece, which is so exciting.

[11:32] Meghan Rose: They realized it for the first time too, I think.

[11:36] Pauls Macs: Can you talk about that? And then after that, I think we'll shift to Jessie so we can get how Jessie got involved with the project. Can you expand upon that idea?

[11:42] L. Morgan Lee: I'd love to know more. Sure, yeah, I think I'm just saying because the TV series never made certain things explicit, we treat it almost as a surprise to the characters as well, just the depth of their feeling for each other. I think it was a real strength for the television show in retrospect, and I think a lot of fans feel this way. It was actually a really wonderful thing that their relationship was not explicit during the television series because it allowed for exactly what we're talking about, this expansiveness in history and experience and all of that. And so the place in which the musical is put into the canon timeline is right before they go to India. If you're a Xena fan, you're listening to this, I hope you understand what I'm saying.

Sorry for everyone on this call. But essentially, they're about to go to India and find out that their soulmates and that their karma will be linked together in every lifetime, in all the past and all of the future, and they're there to help one another do good in the world. And that's just true, inherently true for them. And so we wanted to not break anything, but we wanted to kind of tee up the way in which that was the next part of their story, while also being more explicit and more satisfying about what that relationship might possibly be and what we know it is. I love that you just made a definitive decision about the relationship because when I was googling it, it autofilled to where Xena and Gabrielle in love. So a lot of people want to know or they've been thinking about that.

[12:59] L. Morgan Lee: Yeah, I'm like dying to like throw something into this because it's not actually expressing what those feelings are explicitly, innately codes queer for me, because we can't like it's one of those things where the TV shows would never be able to even talk about it without even realizing it, not talking about it brings in so many queer people to the storyline itself. It's something that can often be discussed publicly. So I think just making it explicit actually would have diminished what the feeling is, and in some ways might have closed out a lot of people because that's not the truth of so many people's experience. Especially at the time that the show came out the show ran from 1995 to 2001, six seasons, and it was in the top five rated syndicated dramas all six seasons that it was on air.

This is a very beloved show people loved it, especially when you look at the time it came out the way that the queer community was rebuilding after the AIDS crisis and like when you look at everything in the context of the time it came out and it is so powerful that it was as embraced as it was considering how queer it was, whether it was explicitly stated or not, you know, and the fact that it was never explicitly stated, maybe one of the reasons it was allowed to go on to such success because who knows how people would have reacted if they had explicitly tried to identify or confine that relationship to a certain standard. It would have been very different.

[14:18] L. Morgan Lee: It's always interesting to think back that it wasn't that long ago, but things felt so different in terms of the way that queer relationships could be expressed at all. For many people that was the first time that we got to see a relationship on TV between two people who were cisgender of the same gender really show each other that kind of affection. What episode was it that Gabrielle was stuck in the flames and Xena had to walk through and true love's kiss was going to wake her up and it was Xena's kiss that woke up Gabrielle?

[14:46] Jenn Colella: I think you're talking about the Rhyme Trilogy when they're in the Norse lands. It's like the Rheingold's trilogy is what it's based on, but you're totally right. There are many times in which Xena kisses Gabrielle to wake her out of a deep sleep and that's just, that's just happened in the show. In the script they weren't in love, you know what I mean? In the script they weren't romantically involved, but they were companions. One could even say they were historically good friends. Very close friends. Biblically good friends.

[15:16] Jessie MacBeth: Jessie, if you want to talk about how you became involved, I just want to make space for you to do that.

[15:20] Jessie MacBeth: I just applied through backstage. I saw the ad on backstage and I remember the title really caught my eye. I will actually always remember like a lot of the moments of this process. I remember specifically applying. I remember like when I got the callback email. I remember just first having the Zoom callback with Luz and Meg and hearing about the show and there's like one specific. I got cast in it, I think it was towards the end of November. The reading was at Gold Sounds. We did stage reading in December and we worked on the material for I think like 24 hours. Basically we did like a really quick turnaround. We were like, it was actually really hilarious. We like walked in through them and I was like okay cool and they're like let's just go through it and I was like great let's just go we'll see what happens.

It was a whirlwind. I will say the casting that Luz and Meg continue to do is just so exquisite. Like Teresa was saying everyone is not only nice but they are just of the best sort of people where you want to work with them and it's easy to play. So that was just something that was really delightful about it. Being in the role I felt you know I didn't actually feel a ton of like pressure responsibility until I had like a specific call with Luz. Actually we were going through the episodes. I was like sitting on the Zoom call. Luz just started categorizing all of the really important moments as quickly as they could about Xena, her relationship with Gabrielle, her relationship to her homeland, like how she relates to everyone, what's really important.

I remember sitting there like oh wow this is a really big deal. There's a very strong fan base to this and just hearing how beloved it was and how much it meant to people and then seeing throughout the process how for a lot of people it was their queer awakening. It was this healing thing where they got to watch and put themselves in this world where this warrior was really the most loyal, very steadfast, strong female that was just able to really conquer whatever she put her mind into and when she didn't the humility and the way that she related to everyone and how she constantly puts herself second and puts everyone else in front of her. It was just a really beautiful process.

[17:30] Jessie MacBeth: Yeah I just feel really honored to have been a part of it. I think that was really beautiful honestly. I don't want to claim that I was a Xena fan at all. I was aware of the show as I was watching it but clearly I did not relate to it on the same level as other people in this room but I still thought she was better than Hercules. I thought she was a better character right? Listen, three episodes into that Hercules show, Xena was the most popular character and they're like she needs a spinoff. People literally forget it's a spinoff from the Hercules series. It just eclipsed it. I think if we all spent time talking about how much Xena meant to us that would be the entire podcast but I'm also very curious Hector how did you become involved in the project?

[18:02] Héctor Flores: I believe I also saw an ad on Playbill. I was like oh man it's close to home. I love Xena. I used to watch it on TV all the time. I realized that there are some people who are on a fandom level that I will never reach as much as I love this show. Luz and Meg had an interview with me and we're like all right let's do this. Let's build this show. Let's build this world. Getting to work with Meg and Luz on it was really great. Meg wrote such amazing music and it's so insightful and it really captures the feelings of every scene. And then Luz created these nuanced characters that everyone can relate to. And what I loved about the way that the show was written and the way that it was cast is that whatever shell that your soul lives in that doesn't matter.

You can play pretty much any of these characters. It's about the soul and the essence of the character that you bring to this thing. It's really built in a non-binary world. That construct is kind of broken within the show. It's really nice to see how regardless of the shell that you're in how the relationship exists with each other. Does that make sense?

[19:07] Héctor Flores: I'm with you. I'm getting like into this metaphysical metaphorical place but when you put dancing on bodies and then you have these things that are like okay well the Amazons are historically this but we have these non-binary characters that are Amazons and they're bad guys. Anybody can dance with anybody. Whoever's your height. Make that happen. Really going forth leading not only with love but with an iconic character who is not only badass but also stood for really amazing things. I think that's fantastic. I want to offer something to the listeners. What we're celebrating is two things today. There was a world premiere production at Three Dollar Bill in NYC and that's where Jessie and Hector worked on the show. Like the physical form of the show. Correct?

[19:41] Jessie MacBeth: Yes.

[19:45] Héctor Flores: There's nods in the Zoom room. Great. Yeah but we're also celebrating. Perfect. Perfect for a podcast. Everybody knows. We're also celebrating the album release of Xena Warrior Musical through Theater Barn Records. It will be out by the time you hear this podcast. So go listen to it right now and I want to talk to now L. Morgan and Jenn about how they got involved in the project. So L. Morgan can you talk about your role in the recording and also if you want to talk about what Xena means to you. I want to give you that space or anything Xena related.

[20:11] L. Morgan Lee: Well first of all I have to say this project seems to be such a testament to the power of playable and backstage for people. If you're listening and you see things do submit because it seems there are people who are booking things out of these things. It's like a good reminder of that. I got an email from Hector about the recording asking if I might be interested in playing Aphrodite. Of course I'd be interested in playing Aphrodite especially because "Above It All" is very much a number that feels like a whole sort of narrative in itself in one song kind of a thing. It put me in the mind very much of Lady in the Lake and Spamalot. The feelings are going kind of all over the place when we're having conversations about love.

I love the idea that this goddess does not actually know how to wrap her feelings around what that is that these mortals are talking about but there's something sort of really exciting about that thing. Maybe I'm losing something. Maybe I'm missing out on something by not knowing how to connect to this thing that they're feeling and yet I'm stuck here so nothing will ever get to change anyway. It's a fun song and in terms of Xena I was never a big Xena fan so I can't say that Xena the show did a lot for me personally in my own development. I did watch a few episodes because I was very much into the sort of time period that it played with and I thought that Lucy was like sort of a really cool center in a show because that's not a character I feel like that we'd seen before but I was a child and not really like not really watching sort of as closely.

However I did see episodes of Hercules because I admittedly am always going to be swayed by great arms and great shoulders so I think that was certainly something that I was watching. Like I said before the concept of love that cannot be discussed I think is really something that I connect to in so many ways because that's what we've watched constantly and I feel like it lets us that idea lets us lose ourselves in the fantasy of it all. It allows people who are queer in whatever way that word means for them it allows that queer identity space to fill in what love means for them in like a really beautiful way without sort of telling you that it has to fit societal expectations. So yeah I was really excited to jump in as Aphrodite.

I just gotta say "Above It All" is a brilliant performance it's a brilliant song so congrats to L. Morgan and the writers I absolutely love it. That song they're all great but hearing L. Morgan just felt it out and then also I love the idea of the whole Ares versus Aphrodite kind of narration I'll say convention in the show.

[22:43] Jenn Colella: Jen can you talk to us about how you got involved in the project?

[22:48] Jenn Colella: Absolutely Hector reached out to me and explained the project to me and my queer little heart just lit up. L. Morgan you spoke about shoulders and arms I remember Xena's shoulders and arms very clearly as a young girl on my TV while my brothers were watching and it was almost too much for me. I remember seeing her and seeing the image of this strong powerful woman doing things that I had not seen any other woman do. I almost had to like turn away from it I was kind of afraid of it so being approached again and just seeing the name Xena Warrior Musical I was like what is happening to my gay heart right now I have another opportunity to kind of connect with this thing.

[23:25] Jessie MacBeth: Now that I'm out and now that I'm proudly queer, I was already interested and then I heard the music and was immediately drawn in and thought, absolutely, I want to try to lend a voice to this in any way I can. So I'm very, very grateful that they trusted me with the two tracks that I got to sing on. For everyone, when you get to hear the soundtrack, by the way, it sounds incredible. The music's amazing. Just the quality of the recording as well. The vocals. I was eating my breakfast listening to all the tracks we got sent this morning again and I was just like, yo, this is really going to be my whole vibe. Jen, you sing an amazing song called "Asking Too Much" and I actually want to borrow something that you said from the promotional videos where you talked about there's a gentleness in the music and yet this powerful warrior aspect to it that's just really, really exciting to come through.

So I am so, so excited to have everyone listen to this album. I think now might be a good time to queue up some demos so the audience can hear some. Yeah, I think our first song is "If We Were" as sung by Jessie, who's with us, and also Grace Hamashima. Writers, would you like to queue that up? I'll give it a shot and then Jessie, you can see if you want to fill anything else in about being on stage and what that was like to set up this particular piece and Hector because it's actually a song that happens during a fight scene. So we like to go really easy on our actors, you know, not ask for very much whatsoever. We thought it was very important that this happened during a chobo demonstration, which is the type of weapon that the Amazons use that allow you to get very close to your enemy and that would be a perfect match for the tension that's in this song.

Right beforehand, both Xena and Gabrielle are separately being asked, did they figure anything out? Is that why everyone's thinking if you two are, you know, if you were dot, dot, dot. They have to fight one another for a demonstration for the Amazons and sing all throughout it. It's decided. The queen and her champion will show us what they've got. Get in there, Gabrielle. Sparring is just what you two need. Why are the Amazons so adamant about this? No idea. Hey, what were they asking you about over there? Nothing. Warrior stuff. What about Ephiny? Oh, nothing. Queen stuff. Let the challenge begin.

[25:37] ♪ Musical number: "If We Were" — performed by Jessie MacBeth and Grace Hamashima ♪

[28:32] Jessie MacBeth: Wow. Brilliant. In some of the interviews because I was watching all the interview videos, Jen described the feeling of a lot of the music as like being both moved and like a little turned on and I feel like that song is the definition of it being both moving and you're like um okay like hi. If you're getting excited by the sound then you need to see it on stage because the way these ladies get into it with each other is just phenomenal. Very similarly to Eugene, I remember watching Xena and like immediately clocking I was like I feel a way about this and I don't have language for it and I'm gonna not finish watching it. I love it, but for whatever reason I'm not gonna keep watching it. Thank you, thank you for seeing me, which is again then there's this other part I think musical theater especially for queer fans is a safe place and has been a safe haven for many, many decades for this to show up again in this way as this particular genre is thrilling.

It's already creating a safe space for us to re-examine what's an exciting thrilling storyline. I think it's just a perfect in. As I've told the room I'm teaching a musical theater history course in the country of Latvia right now, but the first show that they had to listen to was Oklahoma. When I first heard the song I was like oh and I read in the summary it's obvious they're in love but they haven't expressed it to each other. I was like oh is this song like people will say we're in love but no it's not absolutely not because what is it like if you're not allowed to express that you're in love. So our next song is "Above It All" as sung by L Morgan. Well Luz came to me and said I think Aphrodite needs a song and I have an idea for a melody about it and sang the start of the chorus to me.

I was thinking about ABBA and we wanted it to sound like sort of thank you for the music a little bit which is not necessarily a thematic inspiration but it's just what the melody made me think of and it ended up being really perfect so it's kind of this ABBA song then it turns into this musical theater belter song that brings the whole house down. I loved when we were recording you L Morgan imagining you on stage and having everybody go absolutely insane for those last notes that are belted out and because the whole time Aphrodite the character is just letting it all out about how she feels about mortals, how curious she is about the love they have for each other. It is so unique that Aphrodite understands it in her own way because she's the goddess of it and yet will never really experience it for herself but does hold a sacred space of friendship for especially Gabrielle which is very cool.

Yeah so that was something we wanted to explore you know thematically it's not necessarily ABBA but from a character place Aphrodite is an anomaly throughout the TV series and does a lot of things. She has a very groovy way of speaking and uses vocabulary from the 70s and just like ABBA is very beautiful but is very deep and intelligent and emotionally intelligent and has a lot of deep things to say in her lyrics so that was a pretty perfect match. ABBAdite.

[32:38] ♪ Musical number: "Above It All" — performed by L Morgan Lee ♪

[35:08] S.C. Lucier:

[35:38] ♪ Musical number: "Above It All" — performed by L Morgan Lee ♪

[36:39] Jenn Colella: Our last demo today will be sung by Jenn. Jenn, this is "Asking Too Much." The thing that I want to say first is that once we wrote this song, it was pretty clear that it was the best one. And you're not supposed to have favorites. I'm not supposed to have favorites. OK. At the time, I was thinking, man, this song is like a little bit next level of something that we had written to that point. I mostly mean in the intensity and the dramaticism of both the lyrics and the music. It reaches an intense point. And that's exactly what we set out to do. It's Xena's biggest number, Xena's big number in Act 2. You know, to set it up, I think that an interesting thing about these characters is that they really want the best for one another.

Oftentimes they will take themselves out of the equation just to make sure that happens for the other person. And that's really what's happening here for Xena. She's realizing that her horrific past can never be made up for. She worries constantly that she only brings bad things into Gabrielle's life and she could be better off without her. It's kind of a queer anthem, I think, in that way, because oftentimes I think queer people are thinking from the very beginning, we're starting at such a disadvantage with our experiences and our life, especially in relationships, that sometimes it just feels like you're asking too much, even for something as simple as requited love. So what a perfect intro. All right. Here's "Asking Too Much," a song by Jenn Colella.

[38:06] ♪ Musical number: "Asking Too Much" — performed by Jenn Colella ♪

[42:43] Teresa Attridge: Wow, that song is incredible. Jessie, L Morgan, Jenn, just like all of your performances today are so, so incredible. Thank you for sharing. Everyone, please go stream this album now. Teresa, should we close out with the game now?

[43:00] Pauls Macs: Yes, this is our game that I've titled in this moment, Enter Stage Left. Xena is just going to be in a different musical now, right? And for chaotic purposes, what musical would you like to see Xena randomly appear in?

[43:14] L Morgan Lee: She's just going to walk on in any musical.

[43:17] Jenn Colella: I'm going to say Company.

[43:18] S.C. Lucier: Oh, right.

[43:19] Jessie MacBeth: She's the center of Company. Yeah, she's the Bobby.

[43:23] L Morgan Lee: Oh my gosh.

[43:24] S.C. Lucier: I would love Xena to show up in Les Misérables. Like when the students were on the barricade, if Xena had shown up, it would have turned out differently.

[43:30] Jenn Colella: I'm going to throw in Thoroughly Modern Millie, just to see the lights of that opening number pop up and it's Xena standing there singing those lyrics.

[43:40] S.C. Lucier: This one might be a little controversial. I would like Xena to show up in the beginning of Carousel and then just destroy the set and then they don't do it.

[43:57] L Morgan Lee: Carousel would be hilarious.

[43:59] Pauls Macs: I don't know how to top that. I think it'd be kind of cool to see Xena hanging out at Mamma Mia.

[44:04] Jenn Colella: If the taverna just turned around and there she was.

[44:06] L Morgan Lee: Where Greece, it's all there.

[44:08] S.C. Lucier: It's happening.

[44:09] Jessie MacBeth: In Greece, she would teach those students they don't have to change themselves to be accepted. It can just be themselves.

[44:15] L Morgan Lee: I would like for Xena to appear in Annie and whoop Miss Hannigan's ass and save all of those little girl orphans and then teach them all how to fight.

[44:25] Pauls Macs: And then they all go out and they just run the streets.

[44:28] L Morgan Lee: I love that you all are bringing in the violence element to Xena to all these shows. I'm sitting here like I'd love to see Xena walk into Light in the Piazza.

[44:38] Jenn Colella: I mean, that would be iconic.

[44:41] S.C. Lucier: I can throw in mine. I was going to say Avenue Q where Xena is the only non-puppet and has no idea what anybody's talking about at all.

[44:50] L Morgan Lee: Xena in place of Gary Coleman.

[44:55] S.C. Lucier: Exactly.

[44:56] Jenn Colella: Oh my gosh. That would be incredible.

[44:59] Pauls Macs: Xena the super.

[45:00] Jenn Colella: Well, thank you all so much for being here. Today has just been such a privilege to be able to talk with you all. Truly fantastic. Thank you for sharing this fandom of Xena and this inspiring work. I just want to watch Xena for the rest of the day.

[45:13] L Morgan Lee: I just want to thank you all in general. I think that this piece is something that if this had been a musical when I was young, I think there would have been a lot that I could accept about myself earlier as a queer performer. But in general as well, and the fun thing about having a whole team versus just interviewing one person, because this is again, this is our big Xena party. This is the first time we've had a huge group. It really shows just how collaborative theater is and how connected we all are, how universal these stories are, while also being so specific to our own values. It's just really beautiful.

[45:49] Jenn Colella: So it's been a joy and a pleasure to get to hear how this all came to be. And like you were saying, L Morgan, shout out to everyone finding everyone on Playbill. Again, it's not who you know. It's the relationships you make once you meet someone. Because if we're all meeting on the Internet, anything is possible.

[46:05] Pauls Macs: Well, everyone, thank you again for being here. Please, please, please go stream or go to wherever you can listen to it. The Xena Warrior Musical cast album. We're so excited. Thank you all for being here today. Barnacles, hope you enjoyed our first Xena party. We'll see you all later.

[46:24] Teresa Attridge: Thanks for joining us on New York Theatre Barn's Backstage Pass, hosted by Teresa Attridge and Pauls Macs. If you like what you hear, you can like, subscribe and share. See you next time.