Chapter 2 Is Live!!

I'm going to reblog this combination whenever I see it.

I've just thought of a phantom of the opera remake directed by guillermo del toro and now I will never know peace

hey fish! i was wondering if you have any recommendations for the portrayals of erik that are more on the sweet or tender side of the spectrum? or especially tender moments some actors have done? thanks!

Yeah sure! These are the actors who come to mind offhand.

Earl Carpenter (with Rachel Barrell)

Ted Keegan (with Emilie Kouatchou)

Josh Piterman (with Kelly Mathieson)

And the OG Michael Crawford, but I would actually direct you to this audio clip for him.

And here are some other tender moments that I like!

James Gant (with Holly-Anne Hull)

John Owen-Jones (with Celia Graham)

Laird Mackintosh

Saulo Vasconcelos (with Irasema Terrazas)

Michael Nicholson (with Olivia Safe)

Jeremy Stolle (with Samantha Hill)

Also this audio of Greg Mills

(Do most of my favorite tender moments involve hair and/or hands? MAYBE SO)

EDIT: This is not meant to be an exhaustive list! Please feel free to add your own!

I just watched Thomas Schulze's final lair. Send help.

If this is the level of character analysis Jordan Donica put into his performance as freaking LANCELOT DU LAC then I CAN ONLY IMAGINE WTF HE WOULD COME UP WITH FOR THE TITLE CHARACTER IN PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AND IF THERE IS A GOD PLEASE ANSWER MY PRAYER AND MAKE THIS CASTING HAPPEN I AM BEGGING YOU.

I'm banging my head on the walls of my enclosure don't text DON'T CALL!!!!!!!!

The "Isn't he sexy" stream notes

'Blair Witch Phantom' by @illuminaughty and 'Mr incel dungeon' by @flora-gray as alternaitve titles

The VHS quality in general made it so cozy

Someone noticed how this production's Carolotta really embodies Belle Époque, I see that

Someone has said it was 'one of the Three Sit-Down Productions in the U.S. back in the 90s' - this one by Christine Company (LA), and @phantoonsoftheopera kindly listed all 4 companies: Phantom (Broadway), Christine (LA & SF), Raoul (2nd Natl Tour), and Music Box (3rd Natl Tour)

apparently, Oracle of Delphi was high from the geothermal vents @illuminaughti-online . It seems like academics found some evidence for gases which could cause vivid imagery, but it's up for a debate whether there were enough exposure to chemicals to cause these hallucinations

Trivia about the Crawford production that's new to me: apparently, at first many expected little from Crawford's Phantom since he was more used to comedy parts @stephistopheles

In the same lieu, from @glassprism: '@daaesviolin I remember Operafantomet talking about how both Crawford and Brightman sang using, what, an elder RP accent is what it might be called? It's not really taught anymore I think, so you don't hear it nowadays'

List of Phantom actors with 'ghostly' voices: Michael Crawford, Hugh Panaro, Davis Gaines, Alexander Goebel, Masachika Ichimura, Peter Karrie

Someone noted Crawford moves like a panther (in parallel to other Phantoms who are lizard-like)

@lit-ari-ture has found an academic article that discussed Michael Crawford's hands a lot! "‘Think of me fondly’: Voice, body, affect and performance in Prince/Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera" (tmblr doesn't let me link the pdf here, but if you google it it should pop up on the 1st page)

Isabel Leonard in her trouser roles like Cherubino (when discussing Christine's Serafimo)

@haunted-hideaway: Aww man I miss Car Talk @illuminaughti-online: Gondola Talk got you covered

I forgot to copy it, but I think Celina mentioned how the monkey costume during Masquarade both mirrors Erik's Monkey music box, and possibly represents Christine's anxiety about him

it was far-reaching (which was the original, until someone ad-libbed it, and then it was transferred to libretto; most of this PotO trivia here is from Celina, thank you for sharing the knowledge!)

Gaaaaaah that first gif is literally a permanent fixture in my brain.

earl

This is ungodly 😭🤪🤤

john cudia supremacy🗣️‼️

obligatory gifs pulled from the dregs of my hard drive!!

Also here he is making out with Marie Danvers:

And shoving the phantom:

I thought Gary Mauer and Marie Danvers's final lair kiss was special but after watching (more than) a few bootlegs I realize that Danvers never fails to deliver a good kiss regardless of who's playing the Phantom or Raoul.

And I feel like she deserves more appreciation because this is in fact an acting skill. Multiple Christines and Phantoms have already told us that Erik's face is just a disgusting mass of makeup, glue, saliva and sweat by that point in the show, so manufacturing chemistry and infusing the kisses with the right nuance(s) is no small feat.

This Week's Phantom Spotlight: Marcus Lovett

He's not everyone's cup of tea, but after going back and forth about this a few times with different watches I've decided he's mine (oddly enough).

Detractors call him stiff (and he is) and aloof (I get it), but those are choices that make sense when you understand the logic behind his portrayal. "Unsocialized" doesn't [always] have to look like "unhinged;" it can also look...detached, hyper-rationalizing, wheels turning in head at all times.

^^^ And that would get old were it not for the fact that Lovett plays that vision very methodical and consistent so that it can all be undone in the final lair. His Erik's arc is calculating/processing by imitation -> learning how to feel organically. His tension: "Oh shit, I'm actually feeling things. I wasn't supposed to feel things."

Slightly hard to tell bc of the glare in the boots, but 95% sure he embraced Christine back (hesitantly) during the kisses/hugs and also held AO'B's hand, and that decision matters for his portrayal (saves it from being too stiff and consistent and he plays it like he's embracing her despite himself--stopped thinking, started to feel).

Also has to be paired with the right Christine, which he was with Anna O'Byrne. She got it; they played off each other well.

Forget Raoul, that veil is Lovett's real antagonist in the final lair.

Look, I'm very excited to see Jordan Donica in the Gilded Age, but all I know is THIS BETTER NOT INTERFERE WITH MY DARKEST DREAMS OF HIM PLAYING THE PHANTOM FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR. Listen to the voice. Look at the hands. Imagine the pants!! This man was made to play the Phantom. He is the second coming of Davis Gaines or Howard McGillan in the making.

Whoever is in charge...whoever I need to contact, petition, or pray to...MAKE THIS HAPPEN.