NPR's Planet Money has released the special episode featuring the world premiere performance of Micro-Face: The Musical by Kit Goldstein Grant. The audio musical is the final installment in the We Buy a Superhero series of episodes from the economics podcast in which they do just that...buy a retired superhero character, documenting the endeavor from its acquisition, through the creation of a new comic book featuring the character, and the licensing of the character for products and derivative works (thus, the musical).
The musical features a book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations by Grant, and premiered at a live, sold-out Planet Money show May 10 at Roulette Theater in Brooklyn, New York.
Read: It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's... a Planet Money Musical?
Sebastian Treviño leads the cast as Sam Salazar (and his alter ego superhero Micro-Face), with Mukta Phatak as Amina Ahmed, Christopher Michaels as The Escheater, Jillian Louis as Tiffany, Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda as Kathy, and Yamuna Meleth and Luis "Chino" Ramos rounding out the ensemble.
The performance included live foley by Rachael Guma, with a music ensemble including Christian Justinano Cepeda on guitar, Laura Hamel on percussion, and Debbie Christine Tjong on bass. Jonathon Lynch serves as musical director and Bleu Zephra Santiago as stage manager.
Download or stream the episode here.
