Jennifer Hudson is wearing one of her classy Weight Watchers dresses and singing "Soon As I Get Home," from The Wiz, by the piano in an apartment with gorgeous park views. Derek walks in and looks at some costume sketches. Ronnie asks him which one he likes, and he says none of them -- they're all too innocent and on the nose, plus they're period, like they're making the show in 1939 (which is ridiculous, because The Wiz was originally written in the '70s). Ronnie agrees and says she wants to do something exciting, and she wants Derek back on the project. He suggests staging a number to show the producers he can be family friendly (and the incredibly lascivious way he says "family friendly" indicates that will happen when the Russian baths freeze solid), and Ronnie says she'll try to set it up.

Julia and Tom are skulking around outside Mercer Kitchen, bitching about how people will think the show's in trouble if they hear Eileen's brought in a dramaturg. They go inside and sit down as Julia tells Tom that according to IBDb, this Peter person has only had one legitimate show in New York, and it wasn't a musical. Tom counters that Eileen says he "shepherded" three musicals that are currently on Broadway. Julia is still offended and says he's not a shepherd, he's a parasite. Which Peter overhears, of course.

And Peter is Daniel Sunjata. Hi, I'm just going to lie here panting until this scene is over, if that's all right with y'all. Carry on. Peter explains that dramaturgs are like dentists -- no one ever wants to see them, but when the pain is over, you're glad you went. Julia spits that she has perfect teeth, and instead of being offended, Peter recognizes how protective Tom and Julia are of their work and says he wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't love their shows. He compliments everything they've done and says he wants to help bring their baby to Broadway. He hands them a list of references, then goes to take a call so they can hiss at each other about him. Tom says they know half the people on the list, and that they didn't know he worked on their shows. Julia seems to have softened toward him, and not just because he's tall and hot and burly, rowr.