It's weird how prescience can come from such unexpected places. When I recorded this episode about "Matilda the Musical" with the delightful Shannon Schilstra, I had no idea how relevant the show's themes about the bad behavior of bullies would be. It's a good thing that cloud wasn't hanging over our conversation, allowing Shannon and I to have a fun and carefree conversation about the unexpected rapturous praise this wonderfully weird show, developed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, would receive.

While certainly popular on Broadway, the show was and is an absolute smash in London, still running there for more than 14 years. Though my entree into the story was via the 1996 movie directed by Danny DeVito. Shockingly, Shannon has still not seen the original movie; she found Matilda through the musical first and has loved it ever since. We talk about how playing Miss Honey was a dream come true, both for her and her husband.

Be sure and check out my website, ChasingPhantom.net, for more information about "Matilda the Musical" and some great video clips related to the show. And here's hoping the world's real-life bullies suffer the fate of Miss Trunchbull and get their just rewards in the years to come.

For this first episode of 2026, I expose perhaps the most embarrassing gap in my theater knowledge. I often say I'm not as devoted a theater nerd as you might expect from someone who's written about theater for more than 25 years and has a theater history podcast but this episode is the proof.

I am ashamed to say I have never in my life seen what may be the ultimate Broadway lover's Broadway show, "42nd Street." This Broadway show about putting on a Broadway show includes all of the benchmarks of a Golden Age musical, even though the original idea for adapting the movie into a show only came to fruition in 1980.

Even though this show exposed a huge gap in my theater knowledge, my guest is possibly the best person to talk about it: the podcast's most frequent guest, Phil Crosby. In this, his 8th appearance, Phil once again brings his extensive knowledge base to bear in our conversation about this classic "small town girl becomes a star" story.

Phil was itching to dig deeper into the original production - and we couldn't help but dig into it a little - but in our consideration of the revival, we talk about why this show plays so well with certain generations, why it doesn't necessarily require big name stars, and what changed (for the better but arguably for the worse) between the original and the revival.

Be sure and check out my website, ChasingPhantom.net, for more information related to the 2001 revival of "42nd Street" and, most importantly, some relevant video clips. Happy 2026! Let's hope this one's better than last year!

In the midst of your "Merry, Merry Christmas," let me interest you in a little "Mary, Mary" Broadway! Don't feel bad if you've never heard of this play -- I certainly hadn't -- but like so many other shows I've covered, there are SO many crazy and interesting stories related to this surprising entry in the pantheon of long running productions that reveal fascinating aspects of Broadway history.

And the perfect person to bring a near-bottomless depth of knowledge to the subject of plays on Broadway is, of course, Jordan Schildcrout, author of "In the Long Run: A Cultural History of Broadway's Hit Plays." As we get to talking about this play, Jordan lays out the context for its unexpected success and we explicate how it ends up being weirdly both pro- and anti-feminist. We also spend some time ruminating on the career of Barbara Bel Geddes, known to most from "Dallas," but actually rose to fame initially for originating Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," a role Elizabeth Taylor would go on to own thanks to the movie adaptation.

This "Mary, Mary" isn't so contrary a subject for the holidays as, in its own oddly traditional way, it reinforces conservative values and the sanctity of marriage. But at the same time, we can look back at it and be thankful that we truly have moved on past when women weren't "allowed" to be both pretty and witty.

Be sure to check out our website, ChasingPhantom.net, for more information and related video clips. For "Mary, Mary," the whole movie is actually out there on YouTube. Happy holidays and see you in the new year!