Theater History and Mysteries

7 Episodes

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Les Miserables -- Episode 7 (1 of 6). Victor Hugo and the French Revolution.

2025-01-1441:11

Send us a textIt’s 1848 and there is yet another violent transfer of power going on in France. One of its greatest citizens – both a member of the legislative body and the Legion of Honor, has been in hiding for 9 days with a price on his head. If he’s found by the wrong people he will surely be killed. He is an author and he does have a pile of manuscripts he’s working on, but first he’s got to get out of France. How did he do it? Was he the hero who saved the m...

The Phantom of the Opera -- Episode 6 (part 3 of 3). The Broadway musical.

2024-12-3157:08

Send us a textErrata For some reason I keep calling Andrew Lloyd-Webber Andrew Lloyd-Wright, which is weird because I know nothing about architecture. Anyway, the author of Phantom of the Author is Andrew Lloyd-Webber, not Andrew Lloyd-Wright. Together, however, I feel they would make a spectacular opera house. Intro: On Oct 13, 2016 the Phantom of the Opera is scheduled to open in the Mogador Theater. The narrative is, of course, set in the majestic, surreal, very gothic P...

Phantom of the Opera -- Episode 5 (part 2 of 3). The Silent Movie.

2024-12-1701:02:10

Send us a textIt’s the fall of 1923, and Lon Chaney Sr. has just starred in a smash hit based on Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. There is going to be a follow-up show, and it is going to be a hit. But who’s idea was it? And why will that matter to the critical reception of a musical that won’t come out for another 80 years?Flash forward two years, and now It’s the summer of 1925. Universal Pictures has invested a pile of money in a new movie, but there’s a war c...

Phantom of the Opera -- Episode 4 (part 1 of 3). The original book.

2024-12-0301:12:23

Send us a textThis is EPISODE 4. The next episode, EPISODE 5, will drop on December 16.It’s 1786, and a male ballet dancer (“Dahn- sir”) and ballerina both dance at the Paris opera house, and the man falls in love with the woman. But so does a solider, and in the love triangle the dahn-sir is killed. With his dying breath he asks that he be buried in the opera house to be near his love in death if not in life, and his bones are later used as props in theater productions.Coul...

The Man From La Mancha -- Episode 3 (part 3 of 3). The Broadway musical.

2024-08-2849:32

Send us a textIn the early 1970s and a writer for plays, movies, and television is holed up in Palm Springs at one of the most unusual restaurants in operation. There was a sole proprietor, the menu has one dish, and there is no advertising or tourists because there are only 4 tables. The topic of conversation is whether to turn a stage play into a musical, and the server, cook, owner, and sole employee is also a psychic. The cook is consulted about the project and predicts:...

The Man From La Mancha -- Episode 2 (part 2 of 3). The man Miguel de Cervantes.

2024-08-2001:05:33

Send us a textThis is the story of how one of the greatest books ever written, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, became one of the most successful musicals in broadway history, which of course was The Man from La Mancha by Dale Wasserman.The year is 1579, and a solider being held in an Algerian prison, and he’s about to make his 4th, and failed, attempt to escape. And this is only one of a multitude of life mishaps that makes it very unlikely the solider even survived. And it wa...

The Man From La Mancha -- Episode 1 (part 1 of 3). The book Don Quixote.

2024-08-1133:57

Send us a textThis is the story of how one of the greatest books ever written, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, became one of the most successful musicals in broadway history, which of course was The Man from La Mancha by Dale Wasserman.The year is 1579, and a solider being held in an Algerian prison is about to make his 4th escape attempt. It will fail, and there’s a very real chance that although he’s escaped severe punishment the first 3 times, this failure could be fatal. (...

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