<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;For this week’s &lt;em&gt;Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;, books like &lt;em&gt;Return to Oz&lt;/em&gt;, and adaptations like &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. These conversations are all part of &lt;a href="https://youtu.be/n9IXq5MwG5Q"&gt;my new video about Oz and queer culture&lt;/a&gt; that just went live on YouTube — check that out at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Dee Michel: &lt;a href="https://www.deemichel.info"&gt;https://www.deemichel.info/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Josh Trujillo: &lt;a href="https://www.joshtrujillo.com"&gt;https://www.joshtrujillo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Terry Blas: &lt;a href="https://terryblas.com"&gt;https://terryblas.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Emma McMahan: &lt;a href="https://www.mcmahan.media"&gt;https://www.mcmahan.media/&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Emma’s YouTube channel: &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel"&gt;https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Watch Emma's video about &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;'s stage-to-screen adaptation: &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0"&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Wizard of Oz

For this week’s Sewers of Paris, I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like The Wizard of Oz, books like Return to Oz, and adaptations like Wicked. These conversations are all part of my new video about Oz and queer culture that just went live on YouTube — check that out at YouTube.com/mattbaume . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from Wicked, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture.

Dee Michel: https://www.deemichel.info/

Josh Trujillo: https://www.joshtrujillo.com/

Terry Blas: https://terryblas.com/

Emma McMahan: https://www.mcmahan.media/ 

Emma’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/

Watch Emma's video about Wicked's stage-to-screen adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0

The Wonderful Queerness of Oz (Ep 547 - Terry Blas, Josh Trujillo, Emma McMahan, and Dee Michel)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To mark the recent release of the second &lt;em&gt;Wicked &lt;/em&gt;film, for this week’s episode we’re revisiting my 2020 interview with &lt;a href="https://www.deemichel.info/"&gt;Dee Michel&lt;/a&gt;, author of the book &lt;em&gt;Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;. Dee’s book is an in-depth examination of queer Oz fandom, which for him has its roots in happy memories of watching the movie with his dad. Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there was the constant threat that the family would be exposed. Added to the general chaos of the time was the discovery that his father was gay, and Dee’s own struggle to find his place in the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; coming this weekend about the powerful gay magic behind &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. Check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Wizard of Oz, gay folk dances, and Communism

To mark the recent release of the second Wicked film, for this week’s episode we’re revisiting my 2020 interview with Dee Michel, author of the book Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz. Dee’s book is an in-depth examination of queer Oz fandom, which for him has its roots in happy memories of watching the movie with his dad. Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there was the constant threat that the family would be exposed. Added to the general chaos of the time was the discovery that his father was gay, and Dee’s own struggle to find his place in the world.

And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming this weekend about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

Fairies and Mortals Can't Get Married (Ep 546 The Wizard of Oz/Dee)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;I am delighted to welcome back a friend of the &lt;em&gt;Sewers&lt;/em&gt;, film critic and holiday aficionado, &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/linoleumcast/?hl=en"&gt;Linoleum Knife&lt;/a&gt;’s &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/alonso.duralde/?hl=en"&gt;Alonso Duralde&lt;/a&gt;. His book, &lt;a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/have-yourself-a-movie-little-christmas-9781493087440/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, is now out in a revised and updated edition, gathering even more expert recommendations for holiday films to enjoy this season and year-round. We chatted about how Christmas movies have changed since he wrote the first edition of his book, fifteen years ago, and what the future of holiday films might be. And also why he’s been baking Christmas cookies all year long.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; coming at the end of this month about the powerful gay magic behind &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt;. Check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And as always, if you’re enjoying &lt;em&gt;The Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, head over to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

holiday films, Christmas film noir, and butter

I am delighted to welcome back a friend of the Sewers, film critic and holiday aficionado, Linoleum Knife’s Alonso Duralde. His book, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, is now out in a revised and updated edition, gathering even more expert recommendations for holiday films to enjoy this season and year-round. We chatted about how Christmas movies have changed since he wrote the first edition of his book, fifteen years ago, and what the future of holiday films might be. And also why he’s been baking Christmas cookies all year long.

And before we get to that, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming at the end of this month about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And as always, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.

Give Yourself a Little Pleasure (Ep 545 - Christmas film noir/Alonso Duralde)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;The second of the &lt;em&gt;Wicked&lt;/em&gt; films comes out later this month, and so for this week’s episode we’re jumping into the Sewers archives to hear my 2017 chat with Tony winner Stephen Oremus, who was the music director for &lt;em&gt;Wicked &lt;/em&gt;on Broadway and conducted the orchestras for the two &lt;em&gt;Wicked &lt;/em&gt;films. He was also music director for the Academy Awards, taught Idina Menzel how to sing “Let it Go,” and worked on everything from &lt;em&gt;Book of Mormon&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;Avenue Q&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;9 to 5.&lt;/em&gt; Not bad for a kid who started his musical career by sneaking out of the house to sing showtunes at his best friend’s piano.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; out about &lt;a href="https://youtu.be/ZtGKiiNfai8"&gt;Frankenstein and the gay director who brought the monster to life, James Whale&lt;/a&gt;. And I have a new video coming later this month about &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;. Check out my videos at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And throughout November, join us for &lt;em&gt;Wizard of Oz &lt;/em&gt;themed livestreams over at &lt;a href="http://twitch.tv/mattbaume"&gt;http://twitch.tv/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And as always, if you’re enjoying &lt;em&gt;The Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, head over to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

 Annie, Grease, Xanadu, and Alice Cooper

The second of the Wicked films comes out later this month, and so for this week’s episode we’re jumping into the Sewers archives to hear my 2017 chat with Tony winner Stephen Oremus, who was the music director for Wicked on Broadway and conducted the orchestras for the two Wicked films. He was also music director for the Academy Awards, taught Idina Menzel how to sing “Let it Go,” and worked on everything from Book of Mormon to Avenue Q to 9 to 5. Not bad for a kid who started his musical career by sneaking out of the house to sing showtunes at his best friend’s piano.

We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video out about Frankenstein and the gay director who brought the monster to life, James Whale. And I have a new video coming later this month about The Wizard of Oz. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And throughout November, join us for Wizard of Oz themed livestreams over at http://twitch.tv/mattbaume.

And as always, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and much more.

It Makes Every Gay Bone in my Body Vibrate (Ep 544 - Broadway/Stephen Oremus)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;My guest this week is &lt;a href="https://www.trungles.com/"&gt;Trung Le Nguyen&lt;/a&gt;, author of the new graphic novel &lt;a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604737/angelica-and-the-bear-prince-by-trung-le-nguyen/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Angelica and the Bear Prince&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Trung’s books emerge from his lifelong love of fairy tales, some of them quite dark, and also his fascination with people figuring out how to take care of each other.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a quick heads up that I have a new &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;YouTube video&lt;/a&gt; out about &lt;a href="https://youtu.be/ZtGKiiNfai8"&gt;Frankenstein and the gay director who brought the monster to life, James Whale&lt;/a&gt;. That’s at &lt;a href="http://youtube.com/mattbaume"&gt;youtube.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;. And throughout November, join us for a week of &lt;em&gt;Wizard of Oz &lt;/em&gt;themed livestreams over at &lt;a href="http://twitch.tv/mattbaume"&gt;http://twitch.tv/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; — leading up to a new video at the end of the month about why that film has always held particular importance for the gays.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And as always, if you’re enjoying &lt;em&gt;The Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt;, head over to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt; to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and more.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Maurice Sendak, The Snow Queen, and Grave of the Fireflies

My guest this week is Trung Le Nguyen, author of the new graphic novel Angelica and the Bear Prince. Trung’s books emerge from his lifelong love of fairy tales, some of them quite dark, and also his fascination with people figuring out how to take care of each other. 

We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video out about Frankenstein and the gay director who brought the monster to life, James Whale. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And throughout November, join us for a week of Wizard of Oz themed livestreams over at http://twitch.tv/mattbaume — leading up to a new video at the end of the month about why that film has always held particular importance for the gays.

And as always, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to become a member, support the show, and get access to bonus videos and more.

Janky and Dark: (Ep 543 - Maurice Sendak/Trung)

Revealing stories about the books, movies, tv, music and more that have changed the lives of gay men. Each week, a guest plucks a piece of entertainment from their past, and answers the question: how did it change your life?

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