Speaker 1: This episode will be releasing on my thirty birthday, and
Speaker 1: rob the eye roll that I just got from. Okay,
Speaker 1: I turned thirty four today, and you know what I feel?
Speaker 1: Okay saying not because last week when I told harry
Speaker 1: Enough how old I was, she was shocked and said
Speaker 1: she thought I was in my twenties. You gives the
Speaker 1: vibe of someone who's in their twenties. Well, my skin
Speaker 1: gives the vibe of someone who's in there, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: you do have a what is it? Petroleum delly lugging,
Speaker 1: slugging estrogen, lots of sunscreen, and I drink a lot
Speaker 1: of water and fillers and my beauty secrets, oh you know,
Speaker 1: just drinking water. Did you know that Sydney Sweeney only
Speaker 1: drinks water? I don't care she looks like it. But
Speaker 1: you know what, even if my face was horribly disfigured
Speaker 1: and was this beautiful, I could wear a mask just
Speaker 1: like the Phantom of the Opera, my favorite musical and
Speaker 1: one of my uh you know, movie musical selections. Um.
Speaker 1: And I'm so excited because after literal months of trying
Speaker 1: to convince Brand to do an episode on Phantom of
Speaker 1: the Opera, I was finally able to bully them into
Speaker 1: it with the help of our guests. Today Just Tom,
Speaker 1: who's an incredible comedian, writer and Phantom of the opera
Speaker 1: stand and Just Tom just wanted to plug that they're
Speaker 1: doing three nights uh for their hour called Less Lonely.
Speaker 1: The poster is iconic like it's giving Phantom. It's giving
Speaker 1: Phantom um at the Cherry Lane Theater July thirteen through
Speaker 1: the fifteen, so y'all should get tickets. And it's also
Speaker 1: being presented by Elliott Page. Hello. They're also doing another
Speaker 1: show July twenty nine at Dynasty Typewriter, so go see Jeff. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: with the help of Jess, we're going to deconstruct you know,
Speaker 1: the chandelier Christine Raw Joel Schumacher's ten thousand load weekend.
Speaker 1: Because this is like a virgin the show we give
Speaker 1: yesterday's pop culture, today's takes, I'm Rose, damn you, and
Speaker 1: I'm fran Toronto. Of course more singing. Here we go.
Speaker 1: How have you been adjusting to post vacation real life again?
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, Um, I'm really, really, really tired
Speaker 1: today because I was up until who I am? Well,
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't, I can't really tell you on
Speaker 1: the my was it a sex reason? Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a sex reason. Okay, so you've been been adjusting back
Speaker 1: to Yes, what about you? Your birthday is coming up? Actually,
Speaker 1: I believe this podcast job. This episode drops on my
Speaker 1: on your birthday turning forty four. Just kidding, some people
Speaker 1: would believe that. No, my birthday is on Thursday. Um,
Speaker 1: I famously I hate my birthday. This year, I have
Speaker 1: my birthday all scheduled out. I'm doing lots of like
Speaker 1: self care stuff. Wait, can you list the things that
Speaker 1: you're doing for your birthday. Yeah, I'm getting a facial
Speaker 1: and getting a massage. I'm gonna maybe go shopping and
Speaker 1: then keeping it very low key. I'm going to the
Speaker 1: movies maybe with some friends. Like, I'm not doing a
Speaker 1: dinner because just all my girlies are out of town,
Speaker 1: including fran and And also I got to have a
Speaker 1: really lovely birthday moment in Fire Island, so I'm counting
Speaker 1: that as my true birthday celebration. Oh my god, that's
Speaker 1: what I wanted. Wow. Okay, that's really good to hear. Um,
Speaker 1: And I appreciate. I appreciate how thoughtful that was that
Speaker 1: you that you planned that's literally the exact reason I
Speaker 1: wanted to have even just a moment. But like the
Speaker 1: virgins need to know because okay, say what you wanted
Speaker 1: about your birthday. You hate it, I get it. But
Speaker 1: like Roses, the girl who will be like, I hate
Speaker 1: my birthday, I'm gonna knock myself unconscious, I'm gonna get COVID.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be in Budapest for my birthday so I
Speaker 1: don't have to speak to anybody. Remember that one, yeah,
Speaker 1: remember bud birthday of my life exactly, And she'll do it.
Speaker 1: And then she'll be like, why is no one celebrating
Speaker 1: my birthday? I'm so lone. I've never been more alone
Speaker 1: in my entire life, and nobody loves me like that.
Speaker 1: You are that girl, and you have to strike the
Speaker 1: balance of not trying too hard, don't make too big
Speaker 1: of a deal of it, but because she'll resent it,
Speaker 1: but like make sure that she feels at least a
Speaker 1: little bit loved. And then presence. Obviously, our our key
Speaker 1: presents are very nice. Okay, wait, speaking of aging, are
Speaker 1: you are you all caught up on what? Just kidding?
Speaker 1: You're aging backwards? You're basically um Isabella Rossellini and Death
Speaker 1: of Cooks. Stop it? Um, So, how are you all
Speaker 1: cut up on Ultimate Girl's Trip? By chance, I'm not
Speaker 1: fully caught up, but I am further than I was
Speaker 1: when we were watching on Fire Island. I really wish
Speaker 1: you were caught up the Juicy Well wait, what happened
Speaker 1: in the most recent episode, because maybe I did watch it,
Speaker 1: I like was only help paying attention while I was
Speaker 1: watching Brandy and Dorinda get into a really huge beef.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dorinda is such a fucking flop and it's
Speaker 1: picking fights with everyone for no reason. She's like so
Speaker 1: so so destructive, beyond for a reason. Because she did
Speaker 1: get into that fight with Vicky about Vicky not being vascinated.
Speaker 1: That was then and that, and then at the end
Speaker 1: of the fight was like, oh whatever, like I still
Speaker 1: love you. And it's like, Dorinda, that's actually the one
Speaker 1: fighting that you should hold on to. Wait, actually that
Speaker 1: is so t I didn't even realize that, but it's
Speaker 1: so true. But she did pick another fight with Vicky
Speaker 1: about nothing, and there's a point where it's like encroaching,
Speaker 1: like physical, a physical fight, and Brandy was like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna rap, I'm gonna sunk her up, and fay Adre goes,
Speaker 1: you can't suck her up. She's a little old lady,
Speaker 1: like like she she's so old, Like, you can't do
Speaker 1: that to her, and Brandy goes, Drenda's only five years
Speaker 1: older than me, and Phedre goes, oh for real, oh
Speaker 1: for real? Oh my god, okay, untouchable. The m v P.
Speaker 1: Phedra is so good to me, is incredible television. Everything
Speaker 1: she says is gold. She looks incredible, every outfit, every wig,
Speaker 1: like she's killing it. She needs to be back on
Speaker 1: on Atlanta or like she needs to spin off or honestly,
Speaker 1: she can like move to Beverly Hills and be on
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills or something. Yeah, I just I'm so happy
Speaker 1: to have her back on TV. To be honest, I
Speaker 1: feel like Brandy is also doing a great job with
Speaker 1: this season, but Phaedra is like so far and beyond
Speaker 1: all the other girls, Like I'm play, I was really
Speaker 1: excited for Jill Zarin, and I'm just kind of shocked
Speaker 1: to find that of the housewives unanimously either hate her
Speaker 1: or don't know who she is. She's a flop. She's
Speaker 1: a flop, which I think would be a flop. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it was a legend. Yeah, but it
Speaker 1: was perfectly encapsulated in that moment where she was entered
Speaker 1: to recreate recreate her Scary Island entrance and everyone was like, crickets, yeah,
Speaker 1: so good. Even though let's speak clear, Scary Island is
Speaker 1: the best vacation that has ever happened on any housewives
Speaker 1: probably probably. And I did scream go to sleep at
Speaker 1: France at one point while we were on vacation. Hi,
Speaker 1: I will say, oh, I think I did while you
Speaker 1: were in your K hole. I can't talk about the khole.
Speaker 1: I mean I can only maybe could talk about the khole. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: okay with the virgin is the only thing the virgins
Speaker 1: needs to know. And I don't want to hear any
Speaker 1: any details of the khole because I blacked out and
Speaker 1: I just really know. I only want to talk about
Speaker 1: the circumstances leading up to it because I want to
Speaker 1: demonstrate what a friend I am. Okay, Moments after we
Speaker 1: got off of our podcast recording last week, we decided
Speaker 1: to do ketamine. I've only ever done bumps of ketamine
Speaker 1: or the nasal spray that you can buy over the
Speaker 1: counter in Mexico. I had never done lines. I had,
Speaker 1: you know, poured some ketamine out on a cutting board,
Speaker 1: um grounded up because it was still pretty rocky, and then,
Speaker 1: as one does, from the little pilot made, I cut
Speaker 1: three lines for the two of us and our friend Justin,
Speaker 1: and then scooched the rest that was for future, for
Speaker 1: future lines to the side. Justin and I each did
Speaker 1: our lines, and I left one for Fran and told
Speaker 1: them to come over and do it. But instead Frand
Speaker 1: did the rest the rest of the ketamine because it
Speaker 1: was in a line shape and it was not. It
Speaker 1: wasn't it was no no no no no no no
Speaker 1: no no, you will not rewrite history. It was in
Speaker 1: a line shape. That's not your fault. That's not your fault.
Speaker 1: I'm still blaming myself because I scooched. I was using
Speaker 1: a car scoch it over. I'm saying, none of this
Speaker 1: is all my fault, and none of this is on you.
Speaker 1: I have to be clear. But I was in a line.
Speaker 1: It was, and I think the fact that the fact
Speaker 1: that I was able to snort it all with a
Speaker 1: dollar bill is proof that it was in a line shape.
Speaker 1: Not at all, because immediately after this happened and we
Speaker 1: realized what happened, I said, I'm not letting my sister
Speaker 1: do this alone. And I and I took the dollar
Speaker 1: bill from the hand and snorted everything else that was
Speaker 1: on that cutting board. You literally said, because I said,
Speaker 1: I am a good friend, this is my sister. I
Speaker 1: am not letting her go on this journey alone. You
Speaker 1: did like gay drugs suicide. Like you were just like,
Speaker 1: we're in this together, and but we were not. We
Speaker 1: were not because you fell out. Apple. I had an
Speaker 1: amazing afternoon. I was an amazing but then I had
Speaker 1: a rough night because I took a nap before dinner
Speaker 1: and when I woke up, I was in a bad way.
Speaker 1: We we had to eat dinner with sunglasses on. Um
Speaker 1: we did. We did sunglasses on inside. Okay. So something
Speaker 1: that put me into an emotional ca hole was the
Speaker 1: most recent episode of Miss Marvel. Did you did you
Speaker 1: watch the Partition episode? My god, fran the way I
Speaker 1: cried throughout the entire thing. Oh my god, that was
Speaker 1: the most moved I've ever been by anything Marvel has made.
Speaker 1: You know. I was talking to our friend law La
Speaker 1: yesterday about Marvel and the way that I'm in kind
Speaker 1: of Marvel fatigue because everything is just so the same.
Speaker 1: There is this house style of Marvel where it's like
Speaker 1: action action, action, wink wink wink, joke, joke, joke, and
Speaker 1: it's just always and some things are more of that,
Speaker 1: some things are less of that, but everything is that's
Speaker 1: the baseline. Like I would say, like something like the
Speaker 1: New Thor movie, which I still haven't seen, like is
Speaker 1: the most that, something like Multiverse of Madness is the
Speaker 1: least that, but it's all still has something that does that,
Speaker 1: and it's making me just really I'm kind of over it.
Speaker 1: I think Marvel is low key and its flop era,
Speaker 1: except except for Miss Miss Marvel, which somehow like is
Speaker 1: still doing that house style thing, but is telling such
Speaker 1: an interesting, moving story that truly is deeply investigating the
Speaker 1: lived experience of someone who is not, you know, a
Speaker 1: white man in the Marvel universe and like doing it
Speaker 1: so well, and like this episode particularly it was so
Speaker 1: moving where Kamala like goes back into the past and
Speaker 1: you find out she is the person who saved her grandmother.
Speaker 1: Like me, I was sobbing, sobbing, was it was so
Speaker 1: I mean, like the thing that's so if someone told
Speaker 1: me that Miss Marvel was not created by Marvel, like
Speaker 1: I would believe it because I actually feel like it
Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of like the canned things we
Speaker 1: see in a Marvel series, and it's reminding me of
Speaker 1: one Division and how unrecognizable it's tropes are sometimes. Um
Speaker 1: and I love that um Kamala is just ordinary, like
Speaker 1: she's extraordinary in her charisma, but like she is just
Speaker 1: really like she's not that good at fighting, like she's
Speaker 1: just trying to figure herself out as a teen, like
Speaker 1: she's a fan and like I think that's so new
Speaker 1: and so fresh, and like the thing about I mean,
Speaker 1: first of all, we have to say our friend Fati
Speaker 1: Oscar wrote this episode, this Partition episode, and I never
Speaker 1: in a million years I thought that Marvel and entity
Speaker 1: that like Marvel would be center ring a story about
Speaker 1: partition like that's insane, which is not something that I
Speaker 1: knew about. I'm so grateful to this piece of media
Speaker 1: for telling this story that, like I that I in
Speaker 1: the like American school system was never taught and using
Speaker 1: it as a way to talk about the identity of
Speaker 1: this girl and her family, and like gets still about
Speaker 1: superpowers and stuff. But it's just like was really beautiful
Speaker 1: and sad um and touching, and I want to, i mean,
Speaker 1: wade into a murky critique of like Marvel in general,
Speaker 1: because like, when I was watching the Partition episode, I
Speaker 1: was thinking about how Marvel, in the comics and also
Speaker 1: in the movies and series are like obsessed with Nazis
Speaker 1: and like and like say and like um Auschwitz and
Speaker 1: like kind of uh and and that's obviously those are
Speaker 1: stories that need to be told, but the way that
Speaker 1: Marvel tells stories about genocide, it's very flat. It's like
Speaker 1: Nazis are bad and we are good, and the superheroes
Speaker 1: are going to kill them and that's the end of
Speaker 1: like the series. And like, I was so worried that
Speaker 1: there would be a flattening of something that is so
Speaker 1: such a rich and important and resonant and painful history
Speaker 1: that was treated with such care and delicacy, and it
Speaker 1: was it's such a small story and it's focusing on
Speaker 1: truly just love and oh my god, I'm getting emotional
Speaker 1: just talking about it. The scene at the end, well
Speaker 1: not the end, but the scene of just Kamala and
Speaker 1: her mother and her grandmother. After everything has happened, I
Speaker 1: was so happy that the big fight was not the
Speaker 1: end of the episode, that like you really understood that
Speaker 1: the most important thing to come out of that was
Speaker 1: these three generations of women in this family connecting and
Speaker 1: that that is ultimately what this show is really about.
Speaker 1: You know, this is the penultimate episodes. We still have
Speaker 1: one more. They should be way episodes, by the way, Like,
Speaker 1: why are they wondering I'm wondering if it will fall
Speaker 1: into the same trap that One Division did, where I
Speaker 1: think the majority of One Division was so great and
Speaker 1: then the last episode they were forced to menders again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were forced to you know, funnel the show back
Speaker 1: into the main Marvel thing and have like a big
Speaker 1: battle and like everything just like became very flattened into
Speaker 1: the you know what what we keep seeing again and again.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens in the finale. But I'm
Speaker 1: grateful for this. It's a it's a beautiful reprieve. Okay,
Speaker 1: we both finished Stranger things. I think, like, do you
Speaker 1: want to give just like a quick thoughts on the finale? Um, Well,
Speaker 1: my my most resonant thought is that I thought it
Speaker 1: was the series finale, and so towards the end of
Speaker 1: the last episode, I was like, there's no way they're
Speaker 1: wrapping this up in the next fifteen minutes, Like what
Speaker 1: the fuck is going on? Like the last thirty minutes
Speaker 1: were very end of the movie, and I thought, honestly
Speaker 1: lazy writing. I thought that a lot of the wrap
Speaker 1: the emotional wrap ups were not very compelling. I was
Speaker 1: extremely bored in the last thirty minutes after the monsters
Speaker 1: killed or whatever, after Vecna is vanquished, which was anticlimactic
Speaker 1: by the way, totally. I also don't think it's interesting
Speaker 1: that he's the big bad. I thought he should have been,
Speaker 1: you know, the bad guy of this season, and that
Speaker 1: there should have been a final final boss for the
Speaker 1: last season. I like, I think like the whole show
Speaker 1: coming down to a show off between Eleven and Vechna,
Speaker 1: and is like, I get what they're going for. It's
Speaker 1: like kind of interesting, but I actually I'm going back.
Speaker 1: I actually do think Vecna makes sense as the big bad.
Speaker 1: And I also think it's like, yeah, they've destroyed his
Speaker 1: corporeal form allah Volden more, and so now they have
Speaker 1: to destroy his like spiritual form or whatever. So here's
Speaker 1: where theory comes in which I saw on TikTok. Actually
Speaker 1: I think could really be real, which is that since
Speaker 1: Max is like soul has been eaten by Vecna and
Speaker 1: she's just like a comatose vessel, people are positing that
Speaker 1: Vecna will possess Max in the final season. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think would be I think it. I think it
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. It's very like. It makes
Speaker 1: sense a lot to me with the Duffer brothers, and
Speaker 1: they really have been hinging so much on the Max
Speaker 1: Eleven friendship that if in the final season, like Eleven
Speaker 1: had to face off with the big bad possessing her
Speaker 1: best friend, that would be really interesting and I think
Speaker 1: emotionally satisfying. And I think Sadie Sink is a really
Speaker 1: great actress and she could do really well playing that villain.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I I loved it. It um just
Speaker 1: not the last thirty minutes. It was a fun ride.
Speaker 1: I had a good time, Okay, Rose. We have to
Speaker 1: end on the breaking news at the time of this record,
Speaker 1: which is that Beanie has decided to leave Funny Girl early,
Speaker 1: following the rumors that Leah Michelle is replacing her. Well,
Speaker 1: let's be clear the actual breaking news is the confirmation
Speaker 1: that Leam Michelle is replacing announcing. Beany announced yesterday Sunday
Speaker 1: that she was leaving, and then Funny Girl said they
Speaker 1: would be announcing her replacement the next day, and surprise, surprise,
Speaker 1: it's Liam Michelle, of course, which is like, I think
Speaker 1: it's crazy that they replaced Jane Lynch though, could you
Speaker 1: imagine Leah Michelle and Jane Lynch in Funny World together. Well,
Speaker 1: Jane Lynch was supposed to be in the show until
Speaker 1: like September, and I'm sure as soon as they confirmed
Speaker 1: Leah James out of here. Um. I did get some
Speaker 1: secondhand tea about Beanies exit, which is that she has
Speaker 1: been trying to get out of the show since the
Speaker 1: Tony nominations came out and she wasn't nominated. Um, And
Speaker 1: so that's why this has all been fast tracked, which
Speaker 1: makes sense, you know, Like, I'm sure it's been extremely
Speaker 1: overwhelming for her to get all this bad press, to
Speaker 1: be in this thing that is like a flop in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, and you know, someone lied to
Speaker 1: her several times, someone but doing this show was a
Speaker 1: good idea. It's just crazy because she's so wickedly talented
Speaker 1: and like wickedly talented and everything that's talented. Let's be clear,
Speaker 1: she has been really good in supporting roles in other things.
Speaker 1: A lead role, but she had I didn't, I didn't
Speaker 1: watch it was so she was amazing in it, and
Speaker 1: books aren't she had, you know, someone to play off
Speaker 1: in Ladybird? You know, she has a supporting role that
Speaker 1: she really shines in this clearly like she was not
Speaker 1: vocally prepared to sing the show and probably like is
Speaker 1: not at the point in her career where she's ready
Speaker 1: to take on this kind of role, and she really
Speaker 1: was set up for failure by everyone involved. I just
Speaker 1: Beanie is so great, Like I really believed she could
Speaker 1: do it, but none of us had heard her sing before.
Speaker 1: So it's just unfortunately sing a little bit in Lady Bird,
Speaker 1: and it was like, oh, she has a nice voice,
Speaker 1: but she's you know, playing a role that Barbara streisand played.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's big shoes to fill. And it's
Speaker 1: also just really funny in a kind of sick way
Speaker 1: to look at her and her good Judy ben Platt
Speaker 1: and see the ways in which these nepotism babies have
Speaker 1: had their parents like buy them these vanity projects that
Speaker 1: they could not support, could not do, could not cut it.
Speaker 1: That's that's kind of rotten. But like if this is
Speaker 1: a privileged thing, like I hope somebody learns their lesson,
Speaker 1: because girly, you've got a clock the hours before you
Speaker 1: take on Funny Girl. But I'm so rooting for Beanie
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to see what she does next.
Speaker 1: So long, I think she should stick to film, like,
Speaker 1: go back to being a movie star. She's amazing as
Speaker 1: in movies she's amazing, and TV too, she's amazing. She's
Speaker 1: an amazing actress. She just doesn't need to sing. And
Speaker 1: I do want to see Leah and Funny Girl too,
Speaker 1: So I don't think if anyone out there is listening
Speaker 1: and wants to get us tickets actually well after we've
Speaker 1: insulted me, tied, Yeah, but we would. We would praise
Speaker 1: Leah because she's going to be amazing. I don't. I
Speaker 1: think she's going to be great. I think that she
Speaker 1: makes out of anybody you know casting right now. I
Speaker 1: think she makes a ton of sense. But it's just
Speaker 1: like just nobody can do Barbara and I I don't
Speaker 1: really as much as Barbara as she is, she's not
Speaker 1: a good actress. Sorry, I think she is a good actress. No, no, no, no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think she is. I saw so many times. I
Speaker 1: think she's really great. She has an amazing voice. We've
Speaker 1: already seen her do like several numbers from Funny Girl
Speaker 1: on Glee. And I also just think it's so crazy
Speaker 1: that the meme came true. We have to talk about
Speaker 1: your Fire Island experience. Oh my god, we have to
Speaker 1: talk about now. I am a changed man. I've come.
Speaker 1: I went to boy and I came back a man.
Speaker 1: So you had while you were there? I did, I did,
Speaker 1: I did. I said the whole I read exactly from
Speaker 1: the tour as the first time Fire Island islander. What
Speaker 1: were your key takeaways? What did you think? Well before
Speaker 1: I went, Um, Shane O'Neill, you know Shane, I had
Speaker 1: spoken to him about it and he said something like,
Speaker 1: on Far Island, your friends are real. The people you
Speaker 1: want to have sex with who want to have sex
Speaker 1: with you are real. Everything else is just a mirage.
Speaker 1: That is so true. That's the best advice you could get.
Speaker 1: It really was, It really was. So I really carried
Speaker 1: that with me, Um, and it was crazy because we
Speaker 1: went exactly when the Fire Island movie came out, which
Speaker 1: was on purpose the weekend. The cast was there and
Speaker 1: we didn't even We really literally did not know. We
Speaker 1: were like I think Joel and Bowen are around, because
Speaker 1: I was with a bunch of comics, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden it became that like we were the
Speaker 1: v I p s at the Far Island, the least
Speaker 1: party on Fire Island. InCred I had an amazing time.
Speaker 1: I have to be honest, I had an amazing time.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to expect. I have been classically
Speaker 1: um prejudiced against thisis gay men. Yeah, that that was
Speaker 1: something I had taken on and so I was, um,
Speaker 1: I was shocked to find that I really fit in
Speaker 1: with them. Wow, I love that. I mean, honestly, it's
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a tide change among like fire.
Speaker 1: I think there's a tide change that could potentially happen
Speaker 1: for Fire Island because I do think the movie will
Speaker 1: create a some somewhat new demo. I know, they were
Speaker 1: all of fifteen nation people there and I was like,
Speaker 1: I can tell this is a lot of Asians. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I also do think I mean, like you clearly are
Speaker 1: feeling embodied in some type of way. You know, like
Speaker 1: I follow you, I follow you on Twitter. I know
Speaker 1: that you're like at a certain point in your gender journey,
Speaker 1: and like I do think Fire Island likes extremes and
Speaker 1: like and like once they can kind of like quantify
Speaker 1: you or qualify you, like that is an easier space
Speaker 1: to access. I went in literally being like, Okay, my
Speaker 1: strategy is just going to be that I'm going to
Speaker 1: act like it's fine that I'm here and that everything
Speaker 1: is normal, and I'm going to do everything just like
Speaker 1: everybody else does. So, like we're going to the underwear party,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be there in my underwear, like you know,
Speaker 1: I haven't had top surgery, I whatever. So I was like,
Speaker 1: but I was like, we're just gonna act like this
Speaker 1: is fine. Um, and it kind of, yeah, it kind
Speaker 1: of turned out to be fine. That was a strategy.
Speaker 1: I was also going to say, Fire Island is a
Speaker 1: great place to be when you I'm sorry to bring
Speaker 1: this up when you um have been bestowed the testosterone
Speaker 1: induced curse of being attracted to men. Absolutely No, it
Speaker 1: absolutely was, and I um, okay, I want to say
Speaker 1: that the episode that I listened to to prepare myself
Speaker 1: for this of like a virgin was the honey Pluton up?
Speaker 1: So about Are You the One? Truly one of our
Speaker 1: best episodes. It was so good. Um it was so funny.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm definitely much more NPR sort of
Speaker 1: telling than this, But that's okay, thank you, um um testosterone,
Speaker 1: but um no, just kidding. I sounded like this before too.
Speaker 1: But anyway, you guys were talking about Kai and the
Speaker 1: way that everybody kind of jumped on Kong. Okay. I
Speaker 1: want to say that when I watched Are You the One,
Speaker 1: and I saw specifically this thing where Kai walked into
Speaker 1: the house and everybody suddenly wanted to funk him, I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this is about white supremacy, and especially
Speaker 1: if you look at what happened with Kai versus what
Speaker 1: happened with Bassett. I was like, this is about white
Speaker 1: masculinity versus black femininity and how one is valued and
Speaker 1: one is reviled, specifically sexually and romantically. And I was
Speaker 1: really pissed. I was like, this guy like Kai, to me,
Speaker 1: he's not that hot in the face or body or
Speaker 1: style or personality. Okay, he's not that Okay, I agree,
Speaker 1: I feel the same way. I disagree. I thought he
Speaker 1: was immediately hot. I immediately found him hot on for us.
Speaker 1: So that is for you, that's for you to interrogate
Speaker 1: about yourselves. Yes, that's exactly. That's a question for me. Yes,
Speaker 1: but so I and you know, I went to Smith College,
Speaker 1: So for me, I don't this is not like if
Speaker 1: you've never seen this before, then that's on you. There's
Speaker 1: ten million Kai Are you kidding me? Unfortunately? I mean,
Speaker 1: Kai is like the most chosen name, but also isn't
Speaker 1: It's right up there with like Persephonie and per seven.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love the trans women shoes like
Speaker 1: long names, yeah, like Celestine. Yeah, it's like Greek mythology stars, um,
Speaker 1: Shakespeare names. And then trans guys are like I'm brick
Speaker 1: right or like j J J I J I home.
Speaker 1: And so I was like watching are you the one?
Speaker 1: Getting like angry, getting jealous and really being like I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I was intensely projecting myself, but I was like,
Speaker 1: this was me. This would never happen in this way.
Speaker 1: And then I got to Fire Island, which was like
Speaker 1: single sex, Are you the One? And I was the
Speaker 1: Kai and I was like, actually, all these people want
Speaker 1: to have sex with me? Yes, you were. I was
Speaker 1: the one. I was literally the one. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: I was the only transmasculine person. They were the entire
Speaker 1: weekend that I saw. But did you have a transformative
Speaker 1: justice circle in a hot tub? Is the question? I
Speaker 1: accountable for your behavior? I UM? I like to think
Speaker 1: that I was acting completely above board the entire time,
Speaker 1: because no one wants to be the toxic trans mask.
Speaker 1: There wasn't really on Fire Island. There wasn't an opportunity
Speaker 1: for me to scream at a woman. Love that. We're
Speaker 1: about to change that this weekend. I can't be misogynist.
Speaker 1: If there are women, I will be the woman screaming,
Speaker 1: and that is your right, that is your right. I'm
Speaker 1: occupying the space. I'm clearing the space. Um. Speaking of screaming,
Speaker 1: we did. We did bring you here for a reason,
Speaker 1: which is you virgins listening. You have no idea how
Speaker 1: excited I was when Jess told me at the topic
Speaker 1: they wanted to talk about. It is something I have
Speaker 1: been trying to bully Fran into discussing since this podcast started.
Speaker 1: And that is du du du Phantom of the Opera,
Speaker 1: specifically the two thousand four Joel Schumacher film starring Emmy Rossum,
Speaker 1: Gerard Butler, Patrick Wilson, and most importantly, Mini Driver. I
Speaker 1: had no idea it's a queer movie. It is. It's
Speaker 1: queer in which we I mean, it's bad, but we love. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's awful. It's I've definitely seen it once and I
Speaker 1: feel like when I walked, when I like walked out
Speaker 1: of the movie, I remember being like, yeah, I felt
Speaker 1: like the person that directed that claims to have had
Speaker 1: sex with people. Yeah, well, definitely the movie I watched.
Speaker 1: You know, we do this thing often where we start
Speaker 1: with the negative things about something. Yeah, right, um, so
Speaker 1: I guess we'll get it out of the way. This
Speaker 1: movie is bad. I think it's mostly bad because Andrew
Speaker 1: lid Weber did hand pick Joel Schumacher to make the movie,
Speaker 1: and thus like he's just like far too involved in it,
Speaker 1: and it ends up being a very literal adaptation of
Speaker 1: the Broadway musical and I think suffers for that. Well,
Speaker 1: it's also very in that early to mid two thousand's,
Speaker 1: like we're doing a dark, gritty, realistic like this is
Speaker 1: like if Phantom of the opera really happens, right, which
Speaker 1: like it is based on truevans. No, it's not. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Phantom of the Opera is based on it. No,
Speaker 1: it's I mean it's based on a novel. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: the novel is based on something that actually happened in
Speaker 1: the Parisian Opera in the eighteen hundreds. Are you sure? Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm looking up right now, y looking up. The novel
Speaker 1: Le Fantom del Opera was partly inspired by historical events
Speaker 1: at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century and buy
Speaker 1: an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet
Speaker 1: pupils skeleton. Yes, and there was an actual chandelier that
Speaker 1: killed someone. So you doubted me, And it turns out
Speaker 1: I I could school you on. You know what you
Speaker 1: believed in yourself, and I believe in myself. I don't
Speaker 1: think there was a literal phantom, but I think there was. Oh,
Speaker 1: you think I will preface I do think I should
Speaker 1: start this conversation by saying, Phantom of the Opera is
Speaker 1: my favorite musical. Yeah, it's my favorite musical too. It
Speaker 1: is the only musical you've seen. Though, I am like
Speaker 1: a fake gay in that I'm like I love musical.
Speaker 1: It's Phantom of the Opera and Rent, not Rent. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, the day that we have to finally do
Speaker 1: a Rent episode will be the day I killed myself. Listen.
Speaker 1: I was fourteen at one point, and I don't think
Speaker 1: I don't think that I should be punished for the
Speaker 1: We're not we're not calling you in. We're not we're
Speaker 1: not holding you accountable for that. But Rent was revelatory
Speaker 1: at the age of fourteen. That's so Phantom for me
Speaker 1: is was not the first musical I saw, but the
Speaker 1: first musical I saw where I was like, Oh, this
Speaker 1: is what musicals can be. Like the spectacle of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, when the chandelier rises over the audience, it
Speaker 1: is the gag of all gags. That's Chekov's gun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it happens right at the beginning of the plate
Speaker 1: and with the overture. Like so, actually, the last time
Speaker 1: we're currently in New York at the I Heart Studio recording.
Speaker 1: The last time I was here was in October and
Speaker 1: that night I went to see Phantom of the Opera
Speaker 1: right after it had reopened, like post covid um, and
Speaker 1: hearing that overture being played, it just was like Broadways back.
Speaker 1: I love that that's what you returned to, ushering you
Speaker 1: back into real life. Well, it was like one of
Speaker 1: the only things that there were tickets to. Um, but
Speaker 1: I was so happy to see it, and also like
Speaker 1: my seats were in the nosebleeds and like you can't
Speaker 1: have a bad seat for that show because it is
Speaker 1: such a spectacle. It's kind of like going on a
Speaker 1: ride at Disney. You can always see a Candele opera.
Speaker 1: No matter where you're sitting, you can see it. What
Speaker 1: was your first experience with Phantom? Oh my god. Um,
Speaker 1: I want to say that I've seen Phantom on tour
Speaker 1: up to five times. Maybe my family used to love
Speaker 1: to see musicals downtown. That's like my family seeing the
Speaker 1: Blue Man Group five. Yes, exactly that the opera was
Speaker 1: our Blue Man grow and there are LinkedIn, so you know,
Speaker 1: the Blue Men and the Phantom have. I distinctly remember
Speaker 1: my mom and my auntie going to see it when
Speaker 1: I was like five, and like I didn't go because
Speaker 1: I was a kid, and then them coming back and
Speaker 1: telling me about it and going like someday when you're older,
Speaker 1: will take you. So Phantom of the Opera was sort
Speaker 1: of this right of passage for me, I want to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: huge confession. The Phantom of the Opera two thousand four
Speaker 1: movie is definitely one of my roots. Okay made you
Speaker 1: it was a root of I want to say lesbian
Speaker 1: is um, but I think what I really mean is
Speaker 1: a sort of colonized desire about an innocent white womanhood. Specifically,
Speaker 1: so Emy Ross really did it for you. I mean
Speaker 1: Rowsom really did it for me. And she was only seventeen.
Speaker 1: I know it's sucked up. It's sucked up. And and
Speaker 1: Gerard was like thirty seven and is so miscast. No,
Speaker 1: he's not know he was so bad. And you know
Speaker 1: what was supposed to be Antonio Bandera, whoa my god.
Speaker 1: And they tried to make Gerard Butler look like Antonio
Speaker 1: Bandera and and if you watch, there's video of Antonio
Speaker 1: banderis performing music from Phantom of the Opera and it's
Speaker 1: so incredible. He sounds amazing. And for some reason they
Speaker 1: went with Gerard Butler, who can't sing. No, if there's
Speaker 1: one thing we learned from the Shrek franchise, it's that
Speaker 1: Mandaris can say. And they didn't even make him ugly
Speaker 1: like when he does his reveal of his hideous deformity.
Speaker 1: It's not that bad. And he's like, you know, he
Speaker 1: got a sunburn. It was truly truly anticlimactic. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: supposed to be horrifically disfigured, Like we're supposed to see
Speaker 1: his brain from Yeah, he's supposed to look like a
Speaker 1: sunken you can see his pulsing brain. Yea. For me,
Speaker 1: I feel like the I feel like the phantom is nonminary.
Speaker 1: I feel like the phantom gives nonminary vibe. Well, I
Speaker 1: think the phantom is an in cell. Yes, well they
Speaker 1: can be that. They could be an a nonminary in cell.
Speaker 1: And the phantom is definitely black pilled, and like that's
Speaker 1: why he kidnaps christ the kind of like makes a
Speaker 1: doll of her now and tells her that he's her
Speaker 1: father as a method of seducing. Well, it's I mean,
Speaker 1: you think about the mechanics of it. So Christine is
Speaker 1: this orphan girl who's in the ballet core at this
Speaker 1: Parisian opera and someone starts teaching her music at night,
Speaker 1: and she thinks it's the ghost of her dead father,
Speaker 1: and then she finds out it's actually this creepy guy
Speaker 1: wearing a mask who sitting in the rafters of the
Speaker 1: opera on his red and board, Yeah, who is an angel?
Speaker 1: And she's like, yeah, that makes sense. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of freud, which makes sense. Okay, if the Fantom of
Speaker 1: the Opera is non binary but also an in cell.
Speaker 1: And the whole thing about in cells is that they
Speaker 1: hate women. Does the does the Fantom of the opera
Speaker 1: hate half of themselves? Probably? Well, it's like, well with
Speaker 1: in cells, it's like they hate women as a byproduct. Well,
Speaker 1: they hate women, but they hate society and they believe
Speaker 1: because they can't get laid, they believe that that society
Speaker 1: functions in a way in which they will never have
Speaker 1: any happiness. They will and most of that sex sex
Speaker 1: which you know, t and so because of that, you know,
Speaker 1: if they're black pills, they have chosen to totally like
Speaker 1: believe that and like rejects society. And that's what the
Speaker 1: Phantom has done. He lives at a cave under the opera.
Speaker 1: I think the Phantom has had sex with Madame Jerry. Though, okay,
Speaker 1: this is a Madame Jerry stand podcast. Let's say that
Speaker 1: I think Meg is Madame Jerry and the Phantom's kid,
Speaker 1: who's Meg's dad. Okay, well the kiss, so let me
Speaker 1: let me unfortunately break that assumption for you. So we
Speaker 1: have we do need to speak briefly of Love Never Dies,
Speaker 1: which is the sequel music holt to Phantom of the
Speaker 1: Opera that Andrewoid Weber wrote. I watched it on YouTube
Speaker 1: in the Deep Pandemic when they go. It is a
Speaker 1: sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I'll give you like
Speaker 1: a very top line of the plot. So it's set
Speaker 1: ten years after Phantom of the Opera. Um Christine is
Speaker 1: a famous opera sayer. She's married to Raoul, she has
Speaker 1: a kid, and she gets booked to go do this
Speaker 1: carnival Coney Island, which is the whole thing takes place
Speaker 1: on Coney And it turns out this carnival is owned
Speaker 1: by Phantom, who's actually alive, and he and Christine, right
Speaker 1: after the end of Phantom of the Opera fucked and
Speaker 1: Christine had his child, and what discovers in Love Never
Speaker 1: Dies that Christine's son is his. They get back together.
Speaker 1: Raoul is like a drunk gambler who's lost all their money,
Speaker 1: and the show ends with Meg Jerry, who's in love
Speaker 1: with the Phantom shooting and killing Christine, and the Phantom
Speaker 1: and his son are like, I don't believe in the
Speaker 1: cannon of love never. I don't either. I I reject
Speaker 1: it as cannon. I'm just saying that it exists. It exists,
Speaker 1: and it does complicate the idea that Meg is Madame
Speaker 1: Jerry in the fancis, Madame Jerry is the ballet madam.
Speaker 1: She's like the mysterious ballet mommy who is also somehow
Speaker 1: connected to the Phantom. And in the movie you find
Speaker 1: out that she saw him in a freak show, yes,
Speaker 1: and helped him escape and helped him get under the
Speaker 1: opera house. But that's why I'm like, yeah, so then
Speaker 1: they were they were they were doing it under on
Speaker 1: a rock by a lake on that movie opera house,
Speaker 1: on the boat Exactly would we all fuck them? Antha? Yea?
Speaker 1: I have because had enough I read enough Phantom of
Speaker 1: the Opera fan piction that I could confidently say yes,
Speaker 1: I would suck. I think it depends on which Phantom.
Speaker 1: For me. I don't think I could Functrard Butler Phantom.
Speaker 1: He's kind of pathetic, Yeah, he's he's kind of snivel.
Speaker 1: He's snivelly. Yeah. The part that I always remember is
Speaker 1: that he has a little a little booger, a little cry. Oh.
Speaker 1: You know, phantoms throughout the years have been either like
Speaker 1: when Phantom started, it was like kind of an older
Speaker 1: man is like less hot, and through the years the
Speaker 1: phantoms have gotten hot or I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: ever seen this, but have you ever seen Nicole scherz
Speaker 1: Are performing Phantom of I have one hundred, absolutely percent
Speaker 1: seen Nicole her which is a terrible casting for Christine.
Speaker 1: She's way too I'm like, but she sounds yeah, but
Speaker 1: she's had She has an incredible voice, and she had
Speaker 1: a whole moment with Andrew laid Webber. But this performance,
Speaker 1: it's her standing in the middle and then all of
Speaker 1: the famous phantom actor around her, and it looks like
Speaker 1: it's about to be like they're about to come on
Speaker 1: her face. Yes, it's full phantom Boukaqiya would would would
Speaker 1: do it? Yeah? I would watch that on portn Hub
Speaker 1: Phantom Buck It probably exists. I'm sure it does. My
Speaker 1: thing about the two thousand four movie is that I
Speaker 1: believe there's a strong, strong, strong lesbian subtext between between
Speaker 1: Meg and Christine. Meg who they literally present as like
Speaker 1: a Fooch Dike in that movie. I have a strong
Speaker 1: head theory that Meg is in love with Christine and
Speaker 1: you can track her through the movie and what she does.
Speaker 1: A lot of the time when Rawl shows up, Meg
Speaker 1: is also there, or Meg is there to be like
Speaker 1: I got to see her, or like how can I help?
Speaker 1: How can I rescue her? In the end, it's Meg,
Speaker 1: not Raoul, who successfully leads the mob to save Christine.
Speaker 1: And she shows up wearing pants. Why is she wearing pants?
Speaker 1: She's a ballet well and in them is called The
Speaker 1: musical ends on Meg's face befure. She picks up the
Speaker 1: mask and then there's a spotlight on her face and
Speaker 1: then it ends. I think in the movie there's more
Speaker 1: romantic tension between Christine and Mini Driver, who plays Carlossi Madonna.
Speaker 1: I like that Mini Driver is the best part of
Speaker 1: the movie. Many drivers amazing, her Italian accent completely off
Speaker 1: the wall. Yes, Mini Driver, I will say this, Mini
Speaker 1: Drivers the only person in this film who knows what
Speaker 1: movie she's in. Okay, how so I feel like you've
Speaker 1: said this before because this movie is camp that knows
Speaker 1: it's camp, and everyone else is acting like they're in
Speaker 1: a very serious movie. Didn't, but no one else knew.
Speaker 1: I think maybe many Joel Schumacher knew that. Hue. Let's talk.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the fact that this movie was directed
Speaker 1: by Joel Schumacher, starring Patrick Wilson, the star of Angels
Speaker 1: in America. Yeah, Joel Schumacher, who I think this is
Speaker 1: was his first movie post Batman and Robin Nipples on
Speaker 1: the Campus, Miss Cartoonish. Yes, Joel Schumacher said to Minni Driver, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know you're in a Joel Schumacher movie, right, And
Speaker 1: she was like, yeah, I got it, and no one
Speaker 1: else got that. Wigs and wigs. She didn't sing, She
Speaker 1: did not sing. She did not sing. They faked her voice.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I'm happy that they did that
Speaker 1: so that we got Mini Driver in this movie because
Speaker 1: she is incredible. And Prima Donna is I think one
Speaker 1: of the high points of the film. I love Prima Donna,
Speaker 1: the best character. Good Prima Donna. I think I love her.
Speaker 1: Alatta is like one of my favorite parts of the show.
Speaker 1: Carlotta has the most iconic lines in the show. Until
Speaker 1: you stopping these things from happening. This thing does not happen,
Speaker 1: and that happens in the first five minutes of the
Speaker 1: movie Drink Think of Me but Rose. Have you seen
Speaker 1: the Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall, Yeah, with Sara Bogga.
Speaker 1: I love that. I think that one is actually my
Speaker 1: favorite version of him. Yeah, well, I think he's the
Speaker 1: Phantom and that is one of my favorite. So he's
Speaker 1: the best, and he's really sexy. He's really really sexy.
Speaker 1: I agree with what you said about like in the past,
Speaker 1: they're more sort of like older, like a mobster kind
Speaker 1: of baritone. It's very daddy vibes, very very daddy. And
Speaker 1: then the guy in the Anniversary version he has like
Speaker 1: a high voice. It's a really different kind of take
Speaker 1: on Phantom. This is insane. The way y'all are nerd
Speaker 1: ing out over these different renditions of Phantom has me shook.
Speaker 1: And do people know this about you? Do people know
Speaker 1: how much you love It's kind of a classic thing
Speaker 1: about me that I love Phantom of them. I'm so
Speaker 1: happy that this is bringing us together. I am. I'm
Speaker 1: so when you got so excited, I was like, Okay, great,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have something to talk about. This is this
Speaker 1: is gonna because no one ever wants to talk about Phantom.
Speaker 1: No real people who really want to talk about Phantom
Speaker 1: of the Opera. Why do you think people think it's bad?
Speaker 1: I do think other than the fact that it is bad, well,
Speaker 1: I do think it's it is that it is. It
Speaker 1: has the baggage of like being the longest running musical,
Speaker 1: so people think, like, it's just so commercialized. I also
Speaker 1: think it's the androloid webber of it all because like,
Speaker 1: this is the type of musical he makes this like big, bombastic,
Speaker 1: blockbuster musical. Look at cats, look at you know, christ Supersticie.
Speaker 1: I feel like people here, I almost have a like
Speaker 1: less generous reading, which is that it has the word
Speaker 1: opera in the title, and people think it's an opera
Speaker 1: and instead of musical, and they're like, I don't like opera,
Speaker 1: and it's like, it's a musical in the truest sense
Speaker 1: of the word. It's literally got nothing to do with opera. Honestly,
Speaker 1: that would deter me. It's about an opera, it's about
Speaker 1: several Yeah, merely the backdrop for what is a beautiful musical.
Speaker 1: Because I don't actually love opera, but I love Phantom
Speaker 1: of the I love phantoms. I have at home a
Speaker 1: mug that my mom gave me. Um that as you
Speaker 1: add something hot to it, it's a Phantom of the
Speaker 1: Opera mug. The Phantom mask fills in and turn white,
Speaker 1: and it is my most prize possession. That's that's a
Speaker 1: good mom. And I do like go on et s
Speaker 1: once a month looking for vintage Phantom of the operation.
Speaker 1: Almost bought a vintage Phantom of the Opera shirt when
Speaker 1: I was in Houston, Texas. But it was like it
Speaker 1: was like a hundred twenty dollars something that was a
Speaker 1: little too much. I was like, I would pay sixty,
Speaker 1: I would pay seventy five, but not I would have
Speaker 1: paid that much. I mean, I paid a hundred dollars
Speaker 1: for this wasp shirt that I'm wearing. Did you did
Speaker 1: you really need it? Um? Let's just need everyone to know.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about Emmy Rossum. What did you think
Speaker 1: of her as Christine? Okay, I really really, really really
Speaker 1: think that specifically Emmy Rossum as Christine and Fransom of
Speaker 1: the Opera was the root of deep colonized desire for
Speaker 1: me and that for us for for years and years
Speaker 1: and years afterwards, like fifty years afterwards, I had to
Speaker 1: really work to undo this thing about like way fish
Speaker 1: white women who need help, like white women with long,
Speaker 1: brown haired help, and there are so many of them,
Speaker 1: and there are so many, they're very they're very common
Speaker 1: to find, and I have dated all of them. Um,
Speaker 1: and that has been Yeah, that's been a real journey
Speaker 1: for me. I am sort of over that now. But
Speaker 1: I had a meeting with Emmy Rassam's production company this
Speaker 1: past year and they were like, we love your pilot.
Speaker 1: We're going to send it to Emmy. And I was like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna like, I like fell out. I was like,
Speaker 1: we're going to be the phantom. The space between me
Speaker 1: and Emmy Rassam is narrowing, it's going and then the
Speaker 1: phantom will be non binary, as I'm at the phantom
Speaker 1: will be absolutely non binary. Yeah. I honestly, I think
Speaker 1: of myself is more of an entree or okay, um,
Speaker 1: who's one of the little goofy opera house guys. Um.
Speaker 1: An image of the phantom taking off the white mask
Speaker 1: and revealing like half girl. Yeah, like like a yeah
Speaker 1: smoky eye and like a gorgeous lit and the other
Speaker 1: a yeah, yeah, I can see it. I could see it.
Speaker 1: I do want to celebrate Joel Schumacher, who once talked
Speaker 1: about how he has slept with ten thousand to twenty
Speaker 1: men for her, Yeah, for her rest in power. King
Speaker 1: um who truly like this movie is just more is more,
Speaker 1: like everywhere it's it's just like there is so much
Speaker 1: happening on screen at all times, and like none of
Speaker 1: it works amazingly. But and also like the editing style,
Speaker 1: it's like nothing lingers in the right way. It's like
Speaker 1: always cutting on the wrong beat. It's like like it's
Speaker 1: all very like not stylized and like trying to be real.
Speaker 1: And then they do like we'll throw in like a
Speaker 1: weird surrealist things like during Phantom of the Opera when
Speaker 1: he's leading her down the hallway and like all the
Speaker 1: hands are holding the candle. Oh my god, where does
Speaker 1: that come from? Where does that come from? Yeah? And
Speaker 1: then like when they get down to his underground cavern,
Speaker 1: like it's lit with a million candles, but like the
Speaker 1: thing is that happens in the musical because you need
Speaker 1: that because it's on stage, like in a movie, it's
Speaker 1: just too bright, Like why do you have that many candles?
Speaker 1: And why are they lifting out of the floor, Like
Speaker 1: that's this is not That's what I mean is that
Speaker 1: it's too precious about maintaining things from the stage show
Speaker 1: that like don't really translate to film instead of finding
Speaker 1: a new stylistic way to tell this story. But then
Speaker 1: there are some moments where they move away from what
Speaker 1: happens on stage because they want it to like seem
Speaker 1: more gritty and realistic, Like how um at the graveyard
Speaker 1: Instead of doing the kind of fireball thing that the
Speaker 1: Phantom does on stage, they have like a sword fight,
Speaker 1: and it's like and more you know, Captain Jack Sparrow,
Speaker 1: how does he? But it's like how does this guy
Speaker 1: know how to fight with the sword? He's a genius,
Speaker 1: you know, but what about rawling? He's a savant And
Speaker 1: that's like what's a savant? He's like he's like like
Speaker 1: a brilliant composer and like um engineer and like all
Speaker 1: these things. I mean, god. He also he also when
Speaker 1: Raoul comes down to save Christine, the Phantom like ties
Speaker 1: him to the gate in him. But it's like I
Speaker 1: don't really understand where the tension is there, like what
Speaker 1: he's actually like how he's what what lever is being
Speaker 1: pulled out, but there is a vibe between Raoul and
Speaker 1: the Phantom. Obviously, obviously this is a Joel schumacro film.
Speaker 1: I won Patrick Wilson was gredeously. I hate him so much,
Speaker 1: but well, no, I hate the character rall. Yes, That's
Speaker 1: what I really appreciate about the twenty five anniversary version
Speaker 1: is that I feel like it's the only version I've
Speaker 1: seen that makes it more clear that like Christine is
Speaker 1: being abused and that like everybody is kind of abusing
Speaker 1: her and gaslighting her and disbelieving her and into it.
Speaker 1: I feel like the whole musical and this is just
Speaker 1: from what I remember from watching Ages ago, I feel
Speaker 1: like a lot of it is like the engine of
Speaker 1: it is that suspended, is it? Or is it not?
Speaker 1: Like sexual tension between the two of them, because like
Speaker 1: I feel like, I mean, I you know, don't go
Speaker 1: into this movie being like, oh my god, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: fall in love with the Phantom or She's going to
Speaker 1: fall in love with the Phantom. Yeah, because you have
Speaker 1: songs like the Point of No Return, which is so
Speaker 1: horny and also inexplicably in the movie, there's a tango
Speaker 1: added to it, and it's literally just like because Joel
Speaker 1: Schumacher saw Mulan Rouge and was like, well, I guess
Speaker 1: we need to tango. I guess we need Yeah, her
Speaker 1: shirt falling off of her, off of the seventeen year
Speaker 1: old girl, she looks so she's so skinny in this movie,
Speaker 1: Like her waist is like the size of two of
Speaker 1: my fingers. White fragility, white fragile femininity. I learned something
Speaker 1: messed up about that. I really I was so obsessed
Speaker 1: with her that I was like collecting um like magazines
Speaker 1: that she was on the cover of. And I realized
Speaker 1: one time when I um it was in eighth grade.
Speaker 1: It was winter break. I went with my gay best
Speaker 1: friend Um, who now is also a non binary person
Speaker 1: in the other direction. Um and our other friend Jesse,
Speaker 1: who we both like kind of had a crush on
Speaker 1: who is this boy Um? And we went to Borders
Speaker 1: bookstore and I became so their name. I became so
Speaker 1: obsessed with going through the magazines at Borders to find
Speaker 1: Emmi Rassam that in that moment I was like, I
Speaker 1: actually think I care more about this than I care
Speaker 1: about this boy that was like me. When I pretended
Speaker 1: to have a cross on Lindsay Lohan. I recollect all
Speaker 1: the magazine covers. That was me looking for magazines with
Speaker 1: you and McGregor. In the You and McGregor, we all
Speaker 1: sent a lot of time and various parts of borders Orders. Well,
Speaker 1: the internet was much smaller than Yeah, I was the magazine.
Speaker 1: You had to look at a real material picture. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite recent memories of Phantom was lu
Speaker 1: Anne being at the opening night of Phantom coming back
Speaker 1: to Broadway and then Andrew laid webber dje outside. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Yes that looked amazing because I saw
Speaker 1: it the next night and I was so bad I
Speaker 1: wasn't there, probably could have got No. I had an
Speaker 1: incredible fam for that. I was like, this was happening.
Speaker 1: What do you think Andrew loid web DJ is like
Speaker 1: what he was just playing Phantom of the Opera remixes. No,
Speaker 1: he was not. He was you know what they want,
Speaker 1: that's the stupidest and that was also what he wanted,
Speaker 1: and that's what I wanted when I used to be
Speaker 1: a DJ, Like, I had a Phantom of the Opera
Speaker 1: remix that I would often play at sex parties. And
Speaker 1: it's a very jarring thing to come on while you're
Speaker 1: getting the song Phantom of the Opera, will you send it?
Speaker 1: You have to understand that for the people who want
Speaker 1: to see this, this is what like, we want to
Speaker 1: see five phantoms all singing like one line, one word
Speaker 1: of the song alternating we want all the remixing exactly.
Speaker 1: We want every single and then every single one of
Speaker 1: them steps forward and goes sing for me. And so
Speaker 1: what what are Phantom? What are Phantom fans called Phantom fans?
Speaker 1: pH a Phantom? Okay, so phantoms? Um, I feel like
Speaker 1: you know you're seeing for me is like you know,
Speaker 1: Wicked Stanza. Wow, you know what I mean? Nothing nothing
Speaker 1: sends full body shivers up my spine like hearing the
Speaker 1: dun d d d dandom because the rod is about
Speaker 1: to start. It's about to start. Buckle up. Um. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been inducted into the fandom and
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that emphasis. You're welcome. Yeah, it's also
Speaker 1: okay if not. I feel like Phantom of the Opera
Speaker 1: is there's like there's people who had weird gay sexual
Speaker 1: awakenings about Phantom of the Opera and people who had
Speaker 1: weird gay sexual awakenings about cats. And they're all here today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't have it about cats. That's not my andrewlaid Webber.
Speaker 1: I'm choking for Phoebe. Okay, so producer Phoebe Prucer Phoebe
Speaker 1: just said that for her, this is she is more
Speaker 1: into Jesus a superstar, which is not something I have
Speaker 1: any experience. I've never seen. I think Jesus Christ Superstar
Speaker 1: is in the same way that I said, people would
Speaker 1: eliminate Phantom of the Opera for having opera and the title.
Speaker 1: I sort of eliminated Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ. I
Speaker 1: was like, this is not for me. Yeah, the Phantom
Speaker 1: is my Jesus. I want to see him to be
Speaker 1: crucified exactly. He might be at some point maybe in
Speaker 1: Love Never Dies. Truly. If there is a Phantom of
Speaker 1: the Opera new movie or like limited series or something,
Speaker 1: I need to write on it. Not a limited series,
Speaker 1: so funny, a Phantom limited series, I mean that takes
Speaker 1: place in the modern day, like it still has to
Speaker 1: be period Phantom of the Opera. And there have been well,
Speaker 1: there have been a lot of Phantom adaptations, and some
Speaker 1: of them are like more contemporary, Like there's the Phantom
Speaker 1: of the Multiplex, which is like the weirdest one I've
Speaker 1: seen a Um do you guys know um Takarrasca the
Speaker 1: Japanese like all few male theater. True. Okay, so this
Speaker 1: is a thing. It's a Japanese all female theater true,
Speaker 1: where they do these long, sweeping musicals and women play
Speaker 1: all the roles, including man. And it's specifically a thing,
Speaker 1: specifically a thing that you're seeing these women dressed as
Speaker 1: like sexy sexy men, and women go to see these
Speaker 1: shows to see these like perfect men who are And
Speaker 1: they did a version of Phantom of the Opera, which
Speaker 1: I want to see that it was its own. It's
Speaker 1: not the Andrewoid Weber musical. They did their own adaptation
Speaker 1: of Phantom. You can find it on the internet. There
Speaker 1: were no subtitles though, so so you're just kind of
Speaker 1: piece of spider. Yeah, just vibe. Um. I can't believe
Speaker 1: there's a phantom at the Multiplex, and I guess a
Speaker 1: phantom at the all women's Japanese. There's a there's a
Speaker 1: lot of different phantom at this at the Staples Center.
Speaker 1: Phantom of Fire Island, Fire Island. That is going to
Speaker 1: be you. That is going to be you sing for
Speaker 1: me at your Disease Mystery. Next week we'll be back
Speaker 1: with an episode on tight tanic Um. They called her
Speaker 1: the Ship of Dreams, and she was. It's been eighty
Speaker 1: four years, but it will only be a week until
Speaker 1: we talk about titan And next week Ross will do
Speaker 1: an hour of radio theater the themed around the Titanic.
Speaker 1: Why don't you come over and suck in the That
Speaker 1: is actually every it's every single character has a Transatlantic accent.
Speaker 1: You all can tell us what you want us to
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Speaker 1: is an iHeart Radio production our producers Phoebe Uter, with
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Speaker 1: Nikki Eatur Until Next Week by Virgins M. M. Pat