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Big White Elephants
Big White Elephants
Author: bigwhiteelephants
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Director and Choreographer Rob Marshall once said, ”The thing about movie musicals is that there have been some brilliant ones, but when they’re bad, they’re really bad - big white elephants.” On this podcast, Grace and Scott discuss a range of Movie Musicals, from classics to DCOMs and everything in between to analyze what makes them work or why they’re Big White Elephants!
33 Episodes
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Grace and Scott are joined by Emma J to jump into a sidewalk chalk painting, take a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down, and fight for women's suffrage while talking about Disney's Mary Poppins (1964) which won 5 Oscars at the 37th Academy Awards
Plus we talk about the new Louis Tomlinson Album 'How Did I Get Here' because it's our podcast and we can do what we want!
Follow Emma on letterboxd @smalltalkem
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Grab your leg warmers and get ready to dance on a car, Grace and Scott continue the Big Gold Elephants series by heading to New York's High School of Performing Arts to study drama, music, and dance with the teens of Fame (1980), which won the Academy Award for Best Score and Best Song.
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Welcome to the first episode of our Big Gold Elephants series, celebrating movie musicals that have won Academy Awards! Grace and Scott kick things off by snapping their fingers, dance fighting under the highway, and sleeping with someone who just murdered their brothers while discussing Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins's West Side Story (1961). The film won ten Oscars, including Best Picture at the 34th Academy Awards.
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
For Episode 29, Grace and Scott are joined by Kev and McKenzie of Austin Danger Podcast to talk about their greatest fears and the songs and sketches in John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (2019).
You can follow Austin Danger Podcast on instagram @austindangerpod and Kev and McKenzie on letterboxd @kev and @mckenziewilkes
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Please visit NeighborhoodHouseMN.org/community-crisis-response for more information on how to help vulnerable communities in Minnesota directly.
On episode 28, Grace and Scott travel to 80s Japan to witness the rise and fall of two singers who aren't brothers (but actually maybe they are?) in Makota Tezuka's cult classic The Legend Of The Stardust Brothers (1985)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 27, Grace and Scott travel to the Isle Of Wight, douse themselves in pink and blue lighting, and join a singing competition to discuss the Elle Fanning vehicle Teen Spirit (2018)
Plus, we catch up on the Golden Globes and highlight the wins in the Best Musial categories!
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 26, Grace and Scott are joined by Austin-based film critic Alejandra Martinez to practice abstinence, defy religious persecution, and shake with the ecstasy of devotion while discussing Mona Fastvold's The Testament Of Ann Lee (2025)
You can follow Alejandra on letterboxd and social media @mtzxale
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
What Team? WILD CATS! What Team? WILD CATS! What Team? WILD CATS! WILD CATS, GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME
We're celebrating the new year with the start of something new. Bopping to the top with our conversation on Kenny Ortega's cultural phenomenon of a Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical. Grace and Scott are joined by Katie to get their heads in the game and stick to the status quo. Or wait, no. We're breaking free!
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Merry Christmas from your Big White Elephant friends! To celebrate, we went back to 1955 with some of our old army buddies to fall in love, put on a show, and reminisce about the good old days of Minstrel Shows. Wait...that's not right! Anyway, we get into all that and more while discussing Michael Curtiz's White Christmas (1955)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Who haunts the haunters? Can we ever really be redeemed for our sins? Does a movie musical work if the main characters are bad at singing? These questions and more are raised by Sean Anders's Spirited (2022) and on episode 23, Grace and Scott dig into all of it, including suggesting some new casting!
Plus, we talk about the hit new film Ella McCay, in theaters now
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Put your tap shoes on and make sure you've got a sugar daddy because for Episode 22 Grace and Scott and shuffling off to Buffalo to talk about 1933's 42nd Street, directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers staged and directed by Busby Berkeley.
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
One woman dares to speak her mind and the pitchforks come out! After Grace's brave 1-star first time log of Moulin Rouge! on November 17th, her friends and community turned on her. Big White Elephants decided it was time get to the bottom of it. Is Baz Luhrmann's 2001 movie musical a brilliant post-modernist piece of maximalist romanticism with incredible production design and a love story for the ages or is it an insufferable over-edited slog of nonsense with cheap musical interpolations and singing voices of questionable quality? Maybe it's both!
Where do you stand?
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
For our 20th episode, Grace and Scott round out Emerald City Month with one last trip to Oz. This time they put on their sex cardigans, free the flying monkeys, and look into many reflective surfaces for Jon M. Chu's follow up to Wicked (2024), Wicked: For Good (2025).
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
A teaser for next week's episode
Good news, she's dead! Emerald City Month continues with Grace and Scott being joined by Sammy to talk about Jon M. Chu's Wicked Part 1 (2024). Fascism against animals, Emerald Cities, and backlighting, oh my! We get into our histories with the stage musical and how we think this adaptation handles the material
Tune in next week for our discussion of Wicked: For Good (2025)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Emerald City Month continues with Grace and Scott easing on down the road and bringing no bad news to talk about Sydney Lumet's adaptation of The Wiz (1978)
Tune in next week for our discussion of Wicked (2024)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
Welcome to Big Emerald Elephants, a month-long journey to the land of Oz! Grace and Scott put on their ruby red slippers and follow the yellow brick road to talk about MGM classic The Wizard Of Oz (1937)
Tune in next week for our discussion of The Wiz (1978)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 16, Grace and Scott are joined by Austin Danger Podcast's Kev to celebrate Halloween. We go down to Skid Row, dream of somewhere that's green, and heed the warning: Don't Feed The Plants! by discussing Frank Oz's Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
Follow Kev on Letterboxd and check out new episodes of Austin Danger Podcast every Monday
Suddenly Seymour - Starring Trisha Paytas as All The Parts
Carpool Karaoke - Ariana Grande & Seth MacFarlane
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 15, Grace and Scott go back to 1943 to discuss 20th Century Fox's showcase of incredible African American talent, Stormy Weather, starring Bill Robinson, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Ada Brown, the Nicholas Brothers, and more!
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 14, Grace and Scott discuss escapism, fascism, and whether it's ok to see soiled underwear on screen for Bill Condon's Kiss Of The Spider Woman (2025) in theaters now!
Read Eric Langberg's review of the film mentioned in the discussion: An Electrifying Ode To The Power Of Diva Worship
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!
On Episode 13, Grace and Scott lace up their corsets, practice their audience call-outs, and do the Time Warp again for the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com so we can share them on future episodes!























