The scripted musical Anthem: Homunculus features original tunes as good as anything you’d find on Broadway, which is unsurprising, considering the cast: John Cameron Mitchell (who’s also the co-writer and director), Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, and the sensational Cynthia Erivo, among other theater notables. The podcast opens on a broke-artist type named Ceann livestreaming into the ether in hopes of raising money to treat the deadly tumor in his brain. His DIY telethon goes viral and catches the attention of people from his mostly distant past, offering the story a way to travel through Ceann’s life—and even into his subconscious. Ceann’s dry sense of humor comes across through Mitchell’s and his co-writer Bryan Weller’s superbly rendered dialogue, which underscores the point that people laugh because life hurts so much.