The music for the fictional Hesbe Ennis's 'Asyla' is provided by real-life British composer and conductor Thomas Adès, an artist of impressive talent. When asked if MITJ could pass off his music as that of the elusive character Hesbe, Tom immediately asked if his friend John Cameron Mitchell, who had told him he was acting on the show, would be playing his artistic alter ego! The answer was no: John had been cast as the choreographer Egon, not the acclaimed composer.
The closing bars of Caroline Shaw's piece, "Hi," written for this scene, call upon Hailey and Cynthia to sing while conducting and playing cello, respectively. In real life, Lola Kirke (Hailey) is an accomplished singer-songwriter.
Despite literally meaning "a lot of shit," the phrase "Mucha Mierda" is a Spanish way to wish someone good luck. One Madrid tour guide speculates that the saying originates from an interesting custom: in theater, rich attendees would often arrive via horse-drawn carriage and the horses would, of course, leave excrement in the streets. The more wealthy attendees, the more excrement.
The show creators asked composer Laura Karpman for ideas for this "fire" scene at National Sawdust. Since Franz Liszt's orchestral tone poem, 'Prometheus' (1850), didn't have a piano part for Winslow to play, she incorporated Liszt's B-Minor Piano Sonata on top! Laura has invented "classical music mash-ups" in the past, including 'The Transitive Property of Equality' (for orchestra and electronics), in which she layered classical music warhorses on top of each other to create something new.