In unprecedented times, we have our new episode! Join Cara and Kristin as we review the 1999 smash hit, "The Phantom of Manhattan" by Federick Forsyth. This sequel to the Phantom of the Opera has everything: clownery (figuratively), clownery (literally), and so much more. We touch base on riks in the wild and recap the first few chapters of this....interesting...book and talk about the similarities and differences between this and the musical inspired by it, Love Never Dies!

Subscribe and follow us for our third installment of Leroux Less Travelled: Summer in the City!

Show Notes:

Opening: Goodfellas

Hey Clown

Sympathy by Shade

Erik floating facedown across the Atlantic to get to New York

Backstreet's Back (Alright!) Cara and Kristin are busy recording our Phantom of Manhattan season but HAD to stop to talk about the impending Masquerade NYC Production coming this Thursday! We offer our shotty predictions, Kristin reminds us that all we are are proud and passionate, and we gird our loins for Immersive Phantom!

Stay subscribed and posted - our Phantom of Manhattan season is coming this week!

Show Notes

https://www.vogue.com/article/first-look-at-the-costumes-of-masquerade-new-york

Star Wars Hotel Jenny Nicholson

Sleep No More

Broadway Ben on Tik Tok

We are LIVE and in person to bring you the most intense chapters yet from Phantom. Cara and Kristin are on the opera roof making odd moaning and groaning noises as Christine details her terrible journey below in Chapter 13: Apollo's Lyre. Then, we support Philippe in his one-man mission to create common sense Raoul reform in Chapter 14: A Masterstroke from the King of the Traps. All bangers all the time as we mourn the closing of Broadway's Phantom and hear a reading from Kristin's journal about....you guessed it....Phantom!

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⁠⁠⁠Opening: Audiobook narr. by Christopher Lee⁠⁠

⁠⁠Opening: MTV Cribs

WE DID IT! We have come to the end of our recap of Susan Kay's "Phantom" just in time for Fall (the summer technically ended don't judge us). Kay lands her Phantom of the Opera sized plane this chapter, getting us to the events of the book/musical with grace and poise and...a lot of blasphemy. Cara and Kristin are joined by friend of the pod and noted Raoul scholar Rachel (@rachellacroixs) to finish our Summer of Susan with a BANG....literally!

Intro Source

Cara and Kristin are back in a return to form with Episode 7 of our Summer of Susan Kay. This week, we dive into the "Erik 1856-1881." Rik decides to take an ill-fated trip back home to Maddie, who he assumes is at Sandals, only to learn her true, tragic life. Luckily, he pre-grieved (he didn't) and becomes a normal-amount obsessed with helping real life architect Charles Garnier build the definitive opera house for Paris, the Paris Opera House! We invite our friend Paperandsong to come explain to us Rik's weird views of the Paris Commune of 1871 and why he would definitely throw at least one (1) Molotov cocktail in the revolution.

This is our penultimate episode of the season! Join us next week for our LAST ep of the Summer of Susan!

Your tent or mine? Special Guest Angie from the podcast Musicalsplainin' joins Cara and Kristin to cover this week's chapter of Susan Kay's Phantom. We cover "Nadir, 1850-1853" aka the Persia chapter! We navigate the troubled waters of 90s era prejudice while also watching two men who are definitely not-in-love traverse the cut-throat world of Qajar-era Persia! Come for the womb-tent, stay for the bone collecting and Leroux references!

Show Notes

Lindsey Ellis Daroga Video

Wishbone Phantom of the Opera

Susan Kay Source - Lady Sheil's Eyewitness Account of Persia

Photography in the Qajar Period

Outro

It's heating up in a respectable PG-13 way here on Leroux Less Travelled! Cara and Kristin finish their recap of Chapter 4: Giovanni from Susan Kay's "Phantom." Rik is still doing masonry in shirt sleeves while Giovanni is trying to find the guy who did this (not parent either of his children). Hopefully Chekov's Crumbling Parapet doesn't come back to bite anyone! Come for the Phantom recap, stay for the end when Kristin recaps the entirety of TRAP (2024) for your listening pleasure.

Intro: Back to the Future and "But Daddy I Love Him" by Taylor Allison Swift (a phan)

Hey there, we noticed you on our scaffolding and dug your vibe! Cara and Kristin dive into Chapter 4 of Susan Kay's "Phantom" - the Giovanni Years! We're finally having fun and enjoying the truly cursed Club Chalamet energy of Giovanni as he takes in a young Rik and teaches him the magic of stone masonry. Teen Rik would not be complete without teen angst, and Luciana is here to serve it in spades. We had so much to say about this chapter we divided it into two - stay subscribed for part 2 coming soon!

Show Notes

Intro: Timothee Chalamet by the Foxies

Robert Rhodes Article

Synchronized Swimmer Hair

Austin Butler as Elvis with his Screaming Fans

Harry Styles Defends Teen Fans

Club Chalamet says Timmy is a Good Boy

The Summer of Susan Kay and our review of "Phantom" by Susan Kay continues with the "Erik 1840-1843" chapter. We make unfounded claims about Rik's ability to win the Hunger Games while we attempt to navigate one of the most controversial chapters in the controversial book! 8 year old genius Rik has left home to join a community of travelers and Susan once again attempts to explain why he is the way he is with her particular version of events.

General content warning from this chapter: Susan Kay discusses Romani culture, sexual abuse, and harmful treatments of other marginalized groups in stereotypical fashion.

Show Notes

Beautiful Fan Art by Muirin

Roma in History

The G-slur isn't for you

Dog Eating Heart in One Tree Hill

A Different Man

How to Fail pod w Adam Pearson

Cara and Kristin dive into "Phantom" by Susan Kay in this week's episode. We cover the "Madeline" chapter, in which we meet fetal rik doing behaviors and deal with the complicated issue of what if we were Erik's mother. Madeline books a trip to Sandals, we call the ASPCA on behalf of Sasha the dog, and hope that none of these formative year traumas have a huge impact on later Rik (spoiler, they will). We welcome a special guest to weigh in on the psyche of Madeline as a mother and woman and discuss the Riks we are seeing in pop culture.

Notes from today's episode:

Connor Eulogy for Mo

Michael Crawford LA show

Rare Interview with Susan Kay

Guest: Shinyfire (her awesome fic here!)