My Phantom Memory Podcast

When you think of actors, you think of actors going from one acting role to another. Acting seems like a constant revolving door. As soon as you find one job, it's finished, and you have to look for another one. It's like being on Indeed 24/7 365!

What happens, however, when an acting job spans over 20 years? That's the question answered by documentarian Cory Choy in the new documentary podcast, My Phantom Memory.

My Phantom Memory is a documentary-style podcast from Silver Sound Studios that documents the final days of Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera. It focuses on Scott Mikita, a swing actor who performed in the show for over 20 years, exploring his personal experience of the show's closure and what comes next after a long-term role. 

The closure of the longest-running Broadway show, The Phantom of the Opera, from the perspective of a veteran cast member.

The documentary offers an intimate, immersive look at the emotions, memories, and anxiety involved in the show's end. The central character in the documentary, Scott Mikita, has played Raoul and The Phantom in three other versions of Phantom. Tours: Hal Prince's Show Boat, Into the Woods, Martin Guerre. Regional: She Loves Me, Company, Christmas Carol (Goodman), Midsummer Night's Dream (Steppenwolf), Great White Hope, Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You. Northwestern graduate. Love to Hannah and Lily.

Mikita tells us right away in the first episode that over the 20 years the show played on Broadway, he has performed no fewer than 10 roles.

For context, The Phantom of the Opera was Broadway's longest-running show (1988–2023), continues in 2026 with a new North American tour that started in November 2025 and major stops including the Hollywood Pantages (June–Aug 2026). The iconic musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, featuring "Music of the Night," follows a disfigured genius haunting the Paris Opera.

The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 10,000th performance on February 11, 2012, becoming the first Broadway production in history to do so. With total estimated worldwide gross receipts of over $6 billion and total Broadway gross of over $1 billion, The Phantom of the Opera was the most financially successful entertainment event until The Lion King surpassed it in 2014.

In the first episode, Mikita recounts a harrowing incident in which he forgets his lines while playing one of his ten roles. Not wanting silence to signal to the audience that he has indeed forgotten his lines, Mikita improvises until his brain finds its way back to the script and he recovers.

The genius behind My Phantom Memory is Cory Choy, who is the owner of Silver Sound, an Emmy Award-winning NYC-based boutique studio in the Flatironon District of Manhattan. His parents are musicians, and his mother is a writer. Storytelling has always been a part of his life, as has music.

Cory went to NYU for film in college and quickly found himself drawn to the sound and animation areas of filmmaking. After co-founding Silver Sound in 2006, in part to pursue his interests across the sonic storytelling spectrum, Cory truly fell in love with New York City as the world's artistic capital.

Cory says: "From recording on-location for shows and documentaries around the world, to testing out experimental immersive technology, to video games, to voice over, to narrative feature films, to music videos, owning and engineering at a boutique studio in such an incredible place in the world gave me the opportunity to work for, with, and on some of the most creative people and projects in the world."

Cory also wrote, produced, and directed Esme, My Love, a 2022 American psychological horror film, which delves into the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship strained by the specter of a terminal illness and a dark family secret. An indie-festival darling, Esme, My Love won the best thriller/suspense film, the best director for Choy, and best cinematographer for Fletcher Wolfe at the Cannes World Film Festival.

Cory explains his podcasting journey: "In 2008, I was introduced to the world of podcasting when a man named Christof Luputka walked into the studio and told us that he wanted us to bring cinematic sound quality to his podcast, The Leviathan Chronicles, as part of a 'radio drama revival' movement. I was immediately intrigued and then hooked. Over the years, our studio and I have gone on to work on many, many different podcast and audio-only projects, and it has been an exciting medium that has allowed us to truly appreciate and explore sonic storytelling."

Cory just finished as Director of the NYC Podcast Awards in March. The NYC Podcast Awards proudly displays its independent streak, with its Director, Cory Choy, noting, "The NYC Podcast Awards recognize excellence in audio storytelling while championing voices that have been historically underrepresented. We believe exceptional podcasting knows no boundaries - whether geographic, cultural, or economic - and our awards reflect that commitment to accessibility and inclusivity."

In episode three, Mikita comes face-to-face with the reality of the show closing. As that reality approaches, Mikita relives and narrates the death of his father, hockey great Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks. Ironically, Scott's father played for the same NHL team for 22 years, just as Scott acted in Phantom for over 20 years. Tragically, possibly because of all the hits his father took during his career on the ice, Stan Mikita died in 2018 from what was described later on as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Lewy body dementia.

Once the show is closed, Scott Mikita ruminates about how it is to be free to relax or go to bed around 9:00 PM, something he wasn't able to do during his two decades in Phantom. Yet, like so many retirees from less glamorous jobs, Scott remembers the camaraderie, the collaboration, the teamwork, and the social cohesion that resulted from being in the phantom for so long.

At the end of the episode, we witness him auditioning for roles for the first time in over 20 years. As we witness that struggle, Scott Mikita is like an Everyman, suddenly jostled out of his comfort zone by life's vagaries and doing his best to survive. Much like every factory worker who discovers the plant is closing, or a middle manager who learns of more downsizing, Scott Mikita treads water as the waves of change knock him down and try to keep him down.

My Phantom Memory is one of the best documentary podcasts of the year so far. First, because Cory Choy tells Scott Mikita's tale of endings, finality, and loss with such pathos, narrative care, and emotional balance that the story lingers in your sense of loss. Second, because Choy manages the sound design like a virtuoso conductor, lovingly managing sounds, voices, and emissions as they fill our ears. Third, because Scott Mikita is, in a sense, Everyman, he is pushed to leave the long-term security of his life situation and is blind to what lies ahead.