Change is constant, but Hollywood was in an especially volatile position of flux in the late 60's and early 70's. The prestige musical, one of the most reliable moneymaking formats in filmmaking from the Depression onward, had crashed and burned with the failures of Doctor Dolittle (1967) and Hello Dolly (1969). Suddenly, the dependable formulas weren't working anymore.  

This period saw film studios take moderate gambles on young, artful directors who grew up watching movies, internalized lots of theoretical ideas in film school, and wanted to do self-serious takes on the pop culture trash they loved as children. This resulted in the "New Hollywood" era, where maverick filmmakers made a slew of daring, gritty, unconventional, grounded, and moody films like Easy Rider (1969), The Godfather (1972), and Taxi Driver (1976). Naturally, a few of these directors had ideas about how to modernize the stodgy, played-out genre of the Hollywood musical.   

Brian De Palma's 1974 rock opera, a mash-up of Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, is one of the most idiosyncratic movies ever distributed by a major Hollywood studio. Ryan is joined by Cheryl, an outspoken fan of the film. Together, they discuss Phantom of the Paradise as a criticism of art as commerce, they delve into how Paul Williams' songs reflect pop music history, they touch upon De Palma's distinctive quirks as a visual storyteller, and they bring up how #beefdidnothingwrong.

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