Hey there, Phantom Chasers! I've been a lax podcaster during the languid summer months but I'm prepping some very cool, very fun episodes for September. In the meantime, this is a conversation with my friend Grace Todd, whose podcast "Didn't Read It" is a must-listen for those who love classic literature...and erudite, playful and thoughtful conversation.

Grace was kind enough to invite me on her pod to talk about one of my favorite plays that has also gained critical cred as literature, "Waiting for Godot." We dive deep into Samuel Beckett's classic...and share a lot of laughs along the way.

Grace and I collaborated on a ground-breaking podcast called "Convince Me I Care," but not very many people seemed to care about it at the time. If you are looking for additional distractions during the summer, I'd suggest checking it out.

See you in two weeks with the premiere of Season 3 of "Chasing Phantom!"

Phil Crosby and I had such a good time talking about "Funny Girl" that we rambled on for another 15 minutes or so answering questions posed by our live audience at Richmond Triangle Players. You get some more background on Barbra (of course), Phil demonstrating his forecasting prowess in talking about the Tony Awards and a final slice of a story from Pat Vastano about her real-life experience at "Funny Girl."

More bonus material next week before season 3 starts up on Sept. 3rd! In the meantime, please peruse the back catalogue of episodes at ChasingPhantom.net and, as always, reach out to me at davidhintztimberline@gmail.com with comments, complaints or cries of outrage!

The highlight of "Chasing Phantom's" brief history happened in May 2025 with the recording of what I hope will be the first of many live podcast events. Phil Crosby, the executive director of Richmond Triangle Players, has been a guest 6 times before so, after many times inviting him over to my house to record, he returned the favor!

As with the end of the first season, this is an episode largely about Barbra Streisand and there is no one I can think of better equipped to talk about her than Phil. After some fun trivia, we get into the development of "Funny Girl," the rise of young Barbra's career, and how that that convergence resulted in a once-in-a-generation phenomenon.

There is plenty to talk about after that: how Streisand loved rehearsing but hated doing the show once it opened, Sydney Chaplin's horrendous behavior, replacements who had to follow in Barbra's shoes, the movie and the recent revival and much much more.

Phil and I have a great time as we always do but we (well, mostly Phil) also drop conspicuous amounts of fun Broadway and show-biz anecdotes in along the way. Oh, and perhaps best of all, there are two live performances of complete songs from "Funny Girl," not just the snippets I usually include. What a blast!

As always, more information and video clips can be found at ChasingPhantom.net. And please rate, review and subscribe to this podcast so you will be ready to receive season 3 when it starts rolling out early in September. Thanks for listening!

Is there a more iconic musical than “Guys and Dolls?” Probably not. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to do well and my guests for this episode are a testament to how to make a classic musical really sing.

This is a show that can be dominated by its many engaging male characters, so I wanted to push aside the Guys for just a bit and talk to the Dolls. “Guys and Dolls” is never supposed to be realistic but there’s a danger in making it too broad for an audience to care about the characters. Adelaide has the potential to be portrayed as a caricature of female ditziness and Sarah Brown can come off as a one-note prude. But in a 2008 production of “Guys and Dolls” that enthralled Richmond audiences, Rachel Abrams and Rita Neidich gave those two character heart, soul and sass.

Rachel and Rita offer their remembrances about that particular production but also dig into some of the psychology of “Guys and Dolls” and how that translates to today. What’s it like being a woman in a male-dominated show? Their answers may surprise you.

As always, please check out ChasingPhantom.net for more information on "Guys and Dolls" as well as relevant video clips. And follow Rita Neidich on Instagram or her website to see if she might be performing somewhere near you!

Both me and my guest in this episode had the chance to see "Waitress" on Broadway and we chose not to. And boy, were we both sorry!

It's not often with this podcast that we talk about a show you can see right now. But "Waitress" is one of those shows that had suddenly started appearing on regional stages all over the country so there's a pretty good chance it has, is or soon will be appearing somewhere near you.

It's a feel-good story that also deals with a couple serious issues along the way, providing escapism for audiences while not letting them totally forget about some of the not-so-great stuff going on in the world.

Luckily for me, I got a chance to talk with one of the co-stars of the Virginia Repertory Theatre production of "Waitress" that just opened this past week. Kylee Marquez-Downie has been an emerging talent for a few years and this production marks a chance for more people to see just how amazing she is.

It turns out that she's also a smart, insightful and thoughtful interview and we have a great time reviewing the the impact of Sara Bareilles, how "Waitress" depicts modern relationships, and many more topics.

Be sure to check out my website, ChasingPhantom.net, for more information on "Waitress" and links to many relevant video clips. And if you happen to be in central Virginia and it's still June/July 2025 when you're listening, go to VA-Rep.com for tickets to see Kylee in person in this excellent production.

Art about other art is fascinating to me, and only one of the many reasons I love "Amadeus," a play about music. Of course, it's also about envy of another man's genius: the play cemented the image of Salieri in popular culture. But really, at its heart, it's a play about faith and Salieri's contentious battle with his own faith, and also, playwright Peter Schaffer's ongoing artistic conversation about faith.

In the podcast, me and classical music expert and VCU professor Daniel Myzzyk mostly talk about the classical music of it all. But we also start out with an interesting related tangent about birds, consider the verisimilitude of the movie version's depiction of the Viennese court, and tease out some of the historical realities about Mozart.

As always, you'll want to check out my website, ChasingPhantom.net, for more information about "Amadeus," some fun clips from the movie, and this time, the evidence of some time spent down a Tim Curry rabbit hole.

And if considering "Amadeus" ignites a spark of interest in classical music, Richmonders should be sure and check out VCU's website for upcoming classical performances. It's a great low-cost, easy-access way to enjoy some wonderful music.

Is it mime? Is it puppetry? Is it augmented sketch comedy? Rather than try to categorize "Mummenschanz," it seems best to just wonder at the inventiveness and enjoy the fun of the experience. That was certainly what people were doing in the 1970s and for many decades afterwards.

"Mummenschanz" holds the record for longest running special on Broadway. Scheduled for a limited engagement after a successful national tour, the troupe proved too popular to shut down, drawing crowds for over 3 years. The brainchild of 3 performers, they ultimately had to hire additional members, sending them back out on the road while they continued on in NYC.

My guest, Heidi Rugg, knows a lot about this kind of performance, having founded the Barefoot Puppet Theater and also having seen "Mummenschanz" during one of their tours. Beyond just talking about this very special special, she namechecks Julie Taymor who elevated puppetry to new heights with "The Lion King" and introduces me (and you I expect) to Center For Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.

Most of all, you gotta check out the clips at my website, ChasingPhantom.net - you can't really appreciate "Mummenschanz" without seeing it!

Over the past 20 years or so, a handful of shows have revolutionized what can be done on Broadway. You could point to "Hamilton" as one of the biggest of those but that revolution actually started with "In the Heights," which remains my favorite of the two. Call me a traditionalist at heart but I love that it's a warmer and more personal show. And fantasizing about winning the lottery is simply more relatable that worrying about building a new nation.

Speaking of warm, my guest for this conversation is the always personable Fernando Rivadeneira who played the Piragua Guy in the Richmond production of "In the Heights" back in 2018. We chat about his discovery of this show and the joy of experiencing the many iterations of it, including the movie version. I loved revisiting the songs of the show - and discovering aspects of the production I never knew about like the web series, Legally Brown. If you've never heard of it before, it's a really fun watch.

As always, please check out my website, ChasingPhantom.net, for a little more background on "In the Heights" and associated video clips.