Welcome to The Broadway Ginger Podcast Season 3, y’all! I enjoyed that two-week hiatus to get the ball rolling on a few things and am excited to finally get to let all of you listeners know what’s coming up.
The BGP’s first season explored exciting themes that enabled us to touch on fun facts behind many musicals and take deep dives into ten, establishing ourselves as the smart and fun theatre nerd conversation with the most intriguing stories behind Broadway’s best musicals. In Season 2, “Name-Dropping Broadway,” we shook things up and narrowed the focus. Featuring superfan guests and Broadway scholars profiling their absolute favorite Broadway artists, we kicked it up a notch by deep-diving both shows and people, expanding each theme to two (or three) episodes instead of one.
No Rules. Just Musicals.
As much as we’ve talked about Broadway in the past 24 episodes, we’re yet again taking it to the next level in The Broadway Ginger Podcast Season 3 by talking to Broadway as well. We have a wildcard collection of interviews with Broadway stars from Into the Woods, Cinderella, and more to get those fun facts firsthand. And you can count on some relatable theatre nerd chats with superfans too.
On behalf of our little team over here at The Broadway Ginger Podcast, I have to say thank you so much for listening and making this show an absolute joy to host.
And now, back to the jazz hands…
If you’re a fan of both monster movies and musicals, there is no better day than when you discover your favorite monster story is also a Broadway musical. After this impossibly wonderful moment, Emmy Award-winner Paul Milliken spent years of his childhood dressing up as, acting out, and of course incessantly playing music from The Phantom of the Opera. Go behind the mask with Milliken and host Sally Fuller this week as they revisit the songs, fangirl over Michael Crawford, and try to count just how many people were fired from Phantom before it took us all by storm.
About my guest-star
Paul Milliken is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and meteorologist with FOX 5 Atlanta, where he serves as the feature reporter for Good Day Atlanta. A lifelong theatre fan, Paul is also involved in local community theatre; favorite roles include Jackson in Pump Boys and Dinettes and Milt in Laughter on the 23rd Floor (both at Lionheart Theatre Company) and Blore in And Then There Were None (Act3 Productions, MAT Award nomination for Major Supporting Actor). Paul’s hoping this podcast will inspire Andrew Lloyd Webber to compose Raoul: The Musical for him as a star vehicle. [editor’s note from Sally: DO IT, ANDREW!! THE PEOPLE NEED IT!!!]
Paul’s little Phantom figurine watched over our entire recording session 
Paul got a lot of Phantom stuff on the BEST Christmas of his life 
In 2017 when Phantom was here in Atlanta, Paul interviewed both Raoul (left) and the Phantom (right) 
Here’s a glance at Paul’s Phantom collection 
Paul’s ’40s paperback collector’s copy of the original Leroux book
Shout-outs
- The Phantom of the Opera rocks our socks off. We recommend listening to the Original London cast, featuring the one and only Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman.
- You know what else rocks our socks off? Muncie Civic Theatre in Muncie, IN. Visit MuncieCivic.org to check out their work and support an awesome local theatre!
- Our favs: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sarah Brightman, Hal Prince, Cameron Mackintosh, Starlight Express, South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lon Chaney, Herbert Lom, Claude Rains, Hammer Film Studios, Gaston Leroux, Derrick Davis, Love Never Dies, Michael Crawford, Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Actors’ Equity Association, Colm Wilkinson, Les Miserables, Lea Salonga, Miss Saigon, Claire Moore, Nev Campbell, Rebecca Luker, Nicole Fosse
- Other mentions: Good Day Atlanta, Fox 5, Emmy Awards, Ball State, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Andrew Durand, Nick Arapoglou, Mamma Mia!, Aurora Theatre, Party of Five, Scream,
- Special thanks to Peachy Corners Cafe, Crazy Love Coffeehouse, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, Ground & Pound Coffee, and Noble & Main for being the best editing offices.
- BGP would not be possible without behind-the-scenes team members Thomas Fuller and Elise Friderich.
Please enjoy this video of Paul on a roller coaster at Six Flags which I have laughed at for the last two weeks.
Bonus Videos
For the budding theatre fans
For the fangirls
A couple days after recording this, you best believe I watched the documentary Paul talked about, “Behind the Mask.” Let me just say, it’s incredible!
For the die-hards
Yes, there is video evidence of that very first staging of The Phantom of the Opera at ALW’s estate Sydmonton. Please enjoy these high-as-possible-def videos featuring Colm Wilkinson in an oh-so-sparkly mask and fringed cape.
Addendums
We didn’t quite have all the details about why Actors’ Equity Association wanted to bar Sarah Brightman, Colm Wilkinson, and Lea Salonga from starring in their Broadway shows after starring on the West End. So, everyone who appears on Broadway has to be a member of AEA, but the union will make an exception for performers they consider to be big stars. So when Phantom tried to transfer to Broadway, AEA first said Sarah Brightman wasn’t a big enough star for them to allow her to be on Broadway. The same thing happened for Wilkinson in Les Mis and Salonga in Miss Saigon, and in all three cases, Equity finally relented.
While they negotiated with AEA, Andrew Lloyd Webber meanwhile was talking to Stephen Spielberg about adapting Phantom for the big screen as well. Read more about all that drama here.
Sarah Brightman’s understudy and standby whose whole name we couldn’t remember was Claire Moore.
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