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037 - The Phantom of the Opera w/ Natalie Walker (EXCEPTION - This Had Oscar Buzz) (Patreon)

Published:
2025-02-07 08:00:05
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

DID WE NOT INSTRUCT THAT BOX FIVE WAS TO BE LEFT EMPTY?! At long last, we are here discussing Joel Schumacher's Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, and entering from the wings is our friend Natalie Walker! There's a lot to get into, but we discuss the our favorite numbers from the musical, Gerard Butler's "prosthetics" and "singing," Beyonce's performance of "Learn to Be Lonely" (along with two other nominated songs) at the Oscar ceremony, and much more!!

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Comments

Benji Black

"It might sound just a teeny Like something by Puccini" - Sing a Song from The Musical of Musicals: The Musical

Molly Fromkin

I regret to inform all of you that I, a person who fully owned multiple albums by Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman et al, in addition to the Celine Dion Christmas CD with the R Kelly duet on it, am apparently Joe’s grandma

Steffen Jørgensen

Joe: «I know i’ve told this story on one of our podcasts…» Chris, screaming internally: «PODCAST EPISODES!!!!»

John Dixon

I loved this episode! I feel the beginning of the Internet’s end happened on the CRAZY IMDb message board for this movie. There were essentially three factions there: (1) haters; (2) lovers of the musical hoping for the best; and, the most toxic, (3) the Michael Crawford fans who would rest at nothing until Butler was fired and replaced by Crawford. I was one of the optimists who got into a WEEKS-long fight with a Crawford fan over whether ALW would allow the movie to ruin the musical. I hate that the I was proven wrong. I remember even asking some gossip columnist at E’s website “how was Schumacher handling the criticism” and she answered my question in print because apparently they were buds (he was taking it in stride).

The Reading Bee

I have cackled so much during the first hour of this episode. 🙌🏽

Luca Bruno

Y‘all never did a feed post for the Sundance mini so I just wanna make sure Chris gets his flowers for comparing Omaha to an Oscar-nominated Live Action Short. Perfect analogy.

Brady Thomas

Oh boy, what an episode. Two comments I want to make: 1) This is a fun compliment to the Lindsay Ellis video on how the movie fucks up on basic film language 2) I once went on a date with maybe the one guy who fucking stanned the hell out of this movie, particularly Emmy Rossum. He also saw "Love Never Dies" multiple times in person. Wild stuff

John Ananias

It's important that I note that this was nominated for as many Saturn Awards as Oscars: Emmy Rossum wins Best Performance by a Younger Actor and Alexandra Byrne's nominated for Best Costumes...and then it - along with COLLATERAL, NATIONAL TREASURE, THE AVIATOR, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, and THE MANCHURIAN CANIDATE - loses Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film to KILL BILL: VOL. 2. Classic action/adventure/thriller film, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2004). Seriously, I suppose the story constitutes a thriller, fine, but...what a group, what an assembly. What a way for the Saturn Awards - ostensibly a way to recognize sci-fi, fantasy, and horror film/TV - to often betray their premise and cram in more "respectable" fare, too (THE AVIATOR? Come now...).

JPB Gerald

I met Patrick Wilson after we both finished the NYC marathon. That's a totally legit time to just be a whole mess but he was really sweet and kind

Amanda DesLauriers

I saw this in the theater…TWICE. Not because of my love for the musical. Because I was ON for Gerard Butler in 2004.. You ask where he came from? Teenage lovers of history and basic cable know that answer is the 2001 USA miniseries Atila the Hun Also where I was first introduced to the Powers Boothe of it all.

Michelle Farley

Love Never Dies was on the National Broadway Tour circuit back in 2018ish. It did a few weeks at the concert venue where I work.

Jose S. De Leon

My first exposure to Phantom of the Opera was the filmed production of the 25th anniversary that was shown in theaters with Ramin Karimloo and I thought that even with the "gross" makeup he was the hottest man alive

Benji Black

Most new songs written for movie versions of Broadway shows are indeed unnecessary/bad but not all are. Here are some good ones: -"I Have Confidence" & "Something Good" from The Sound of Music -"Mein Herr" & "Money Money (there's a different Money Song in original production)" from Cabaret (Note: Maybe This Time was first used in Cabaret in the film but existed before the film.) -"Grease", "You're the One That I Want", "Sandy" & "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease -"Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" from Little Shop of Horrors

John Ananias

The practice of adding a new song for a film version of a stage musical IS pretty bullshit-y and pretty Oscar-bait-y (I don't dole out the term "Oscar bait" super often, but if the boot fits), but regarding a couple of the examples where it's worked wonderfully: "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS isn't one of my very favorites from that one but it's great, in keeping with the puckish style of the whole show; I mentioned the GREASE songs in an earlier reply; and "Listen" I can never quite believe was added for the movie, it's totally seamless, a high and utterly natural point in the story, and, by the way, marvelously performed by Beyonce - not just the vocal power, but she's "acting the song" beautifully as well. Much as "Listen" probably should have won the Oscar, it didn't, and it lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH - which I'm pretty sure is the last time that a song from a documentary has won. Somewhere, O' course, Diane Warren will will it into happening again NEXT year....

Benjamin Farha

Former Broadway world message board lurker 👀

Harriet Ware

I overpaid for Phantom 5th row center seats 3 months before it closed and I don’t regret it.. Hal Prince original staging 💋 Never saw the movie but this episode is amazing!

Samuel Mc

Absolutely guffawing at Natalie's terminally online meme-talk

Frank McCormick

"It's just a room! It's just this kid's room!" Joe as the nice men in the white suits take him away.

Andy Germuga

My Phantom experience is that I got tickets through I think the NYU Telecharge portal where we got cheaper student tickets during my sophomore or junior year, since I had never seen it and I was like “I guess I should” despite being very skeptical of it, having seen the movie. My seat was in the rear mezz which was full of people in the cheap seats and as time went on it became clear there were maybe 20 seats sold in the front mezz altogether. The ushers were extremely over it (it was over 20 years into the run) and people were taking flash photos and stuff. The MOMENT the lights went down essentially everyone in the rear mezz stood up and moved up to the front mezz it was crazy. And then my other main memory is being like “this is the slowest chandelier I could imagine”

Sean McP

There is a huge confusion between a live sound and live singing. I yearn for the days of dubbed singing or conversely casting for people who can sing the roles. I remember hearing that Emmy was classically trained. But you aren’t classically trained as a singer at 16. You’ve had some vocal training. Thanks guys for this great exceptions podcast, I was howling along with you.

Ashley L

This was a really really fun episode I look forward to Natalie's next guest episode!

Erin Freeman

What about “you must love me” 🤢

Braden Poapst

An absolute blast of an episode. Thank you to all three of you for such a fun listen throughout my Saturday!

David Upton

My favourite Phantom-related thing is Nicole Scherzinger (mentioned up top here for Sunset Blvd; I was screaming, begging for what I’m about to mention) singing the title song next to FOUR Phantoms on a televised British theatre evening; Nicole doing ALW songs (Argentina; Memory) on British TV is what I’ll turn the YouTube to in the dying embers of a house party aftermath https://youtu.be/tE6SRBnDHx8?si=wn6gLxMx6ApQG-Rc

Jenny Maurer

Not to upset your memories of Toronto but apparently colm wilkson fractured the lead woman’s wrist and she called him Out on it in 2021

Emily Sabo

Thank you for this absolute joy of an episode after an especially tough week. It was very funny and great to listen to the three of you having a good time together.

Clint

lol not the imdb message boards

Jimmy

I think this is the MOST fun I’ve ever heard y’all have on an episode! ❤️😂😍

Clint

carlotta and countess luann cabaret show when?

Emma ✨

Natalie talking about going to fanfiction.net slammed me with the memory of being 14 and reading a multi-part fic series about the Phantom and Buffy Summers falling in love. Honestly? Formative influence.

Taylor Cole

Genuinely flattered to have a piece of music I wrote intoned by a genuine broadway star!

Amanda Hartel

OMG I just saw Natalie in The Big Gay Jamboree a few months ago! So great! As for my Phantom story, I ended up having to buy an expensive ticket after it announced closing since I thought there would always be time to see it. Not my favorite show but really enjoyed the 80s Andrew Lloyd Webber excess of at all and quite intrigued by immersive version that is apparently coming to NYC sometime in the future 👀

Justice F

Guys, this was amazing. And i wish we had gotten a detour about the history of “Erik” as the Phantom’s name. It predates the movie. Where my Susan Kay Phans at?!

Stephanie Radcliffe

I was such a big fan of Phantom that my parents took me to see ALW's next musical, Aspects of Love, for my 10th birthday. Do not recommend!

Corey Baesler

re: turn back, o man- we did godspell my senior year of high school and my best friend at the time sang turn back, o man and at least twice we had someone walk out during that number and complain about it being too racy

Clara Bush

I saw "Love Never Dies" when it toured and came through Chicago several years ago. It's fun but it's just as weird as "Phantom." The movie super confused me knowing the sequel has Christine alive.

German Munoz

Had to stop listening and come here to thank you Natalie for shouting out the BWW message boards! Omg, what a time. Loved spending hours of my college years there. And DollyPoP! LOOOOL

Jake D

this episode just kept on giving 🔥🔥 you guys gotta start playing Scrabble rules for the Filmography game tho. if you are uncertain about the other player’s guess, you should have to put the game on the line to make a challenge and look it up. if it’s right, challenger loses. if it’s wrong, guesser loses.

Leah McKibbin

This was Magic Mike XXL episode levels of joy. What a treat of a listen!! 🫶

German Munoz

You guys, this is probably one of my all time favourite episodes of yours, ever! So many laugh out loud moments, I lost count! Natalie, your are a STAR, and I can't wait until you come back to THOB. Thank you for giving the musical theatre Garys so much joy! This was truly a highlight of my podcast listening life!

Elliott Sainsbury

LOVE this episode but a. the way I side-eyed when Joe mentioned J-Lo SINGING the nominated songs at this year's ceremony (sorry!) b. also more sound-drops! The way you guys brought Minnie in over Chris reading the lyrics... I burst out laughing.

Kelly Guyon

When I was a kid I did eat Mayonnaise and Peanut Butter sandwiches. I haven’t done it since I was ten but I loved them 🥜

Seth

Incredible episode - but did I miss it or did Natalie not say her casting choice for The Phantom himself?

Ashley Bergman Humphrey

I became a patron just to listen to this episode and my choice was immediately validated by "Not a single element of Cats is as bad as Gerard Butler's singing in Phantom of the Opera." Here, here! This movie was my entry to Phantom but luckily I found the Broadway recording very soon after seeing the movie. PS. How can I listen to these episodes on the go? I'm listening from my browser right now... (I use Spotify for non-Patreon episodes)

Ashley

I joined the Patreon for this, and it was so worth it! I fell in love with this movie when I was 14 at a sleepover, and have since had a variety of feelings for it (mostly fond), and this episode was just perfect. The Phantom message boards, FFN, the lines and wigs etc etc! I do want to note that the Phantom's name being Erik is from the original novel, ha.

brentkno

Member of the Broadwayworld message board since 2003! (Is this a brag or a self own?) Thanks for calling out the original legends! I’m late to this episode, but I saw the revival of Sunset Boulevard recently. I completely agree with Natalie‘s assessment; somehow deconstructing Webber’s adaptation actually brings it spiritually closer to the original film.

Brent Holcomb

HILARIOUS episode! Thank you for this gift. Also I gasped during the Grandma-with-Josh Groban-and-Andrea Bocelli-albums section. My grandma literally gave me both of their albums at Christmas!! 🤣🤣