I’m a high school freshman. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning on a school day and I can’t sleep, so I get up and wander into our living room.

My Dad’s in there taking notes and reviewing video footage of our rival softball team we’re set to play later that day. He’s the head coach of our varsity team and often sends someone to scout out the opponent, so this is a common scene in our household.

I say to him, “Dad, why do you spend so much time researching other teams?”

“Because the more effort you put in behind the scenes, the more success you’ll have when it’s game time,” he explains.

That knowledge bomb was spot on and Dad was right. All those nights and obsessing over the details was worth it since we never lost a single in-league game over the four years I played high school softball. Crazy, right?!?

And my special guest today, Marc Bonanni, knows all about research and dissecting what works when it comes to storytelling.

In this episode of the Storytelling School podcast, we explore breakdowns and deep dives of story using his encyclopedic knowledge of everything Broadway and Musical Theatre. Marc also answers questions like:

What’s the difference between film and theater regarding what’s essential to make a story? What can you use as a performer to make your storytelling successful? Why has Marvel Studios succeeded with their stories when others have failed (and in what way do their movies resemble musicals)? And what makes a character work well (or not work at all)?

• What your responsibility is as a storyteller
• How the public mindset can affect the success of a story
• How decades-old, discarded stories can take on new life

Marc Bonanni is a Musical Theatre Historian based in Brooklyn, NY. He has a beautiful wife who works on Broadway and two amazing, if dramatic, daughters. His YouTube channel, Broadway By Ghostlight, has featured several Broadway and television favorites and is slowly growing to become a favorite among the theater crowd. When not knee-deep in editing his videos, Marc is usually attending a Broadway show or napping.