From “Cinéastes De Notre Temps” Robert Bresson, 1965.

More Phantoms in 1-2 Sentences

[These are like my 'unpopular opinion' Phantoms?]

Josh Piterman: He cheated the unwritten final lair rules by actually embracing Christine back, but I am SO glad he did! He has the voice and natural intangibles for Phantom.

Greg Mills: Love him as a person (on social media at least) and want to love him as the Phantom, but inexplicably...don't and I don't know why *crying emoji*.

Stephen Buntrock: Inexplicably do love him and don't know why. The voice, the vibe, and the choices just work for me and I wish there was more of him to see.

Franc D'Ambrosio: Serving face, serving drama, always so extra, but I have to be in the mood for it.

Peter Jöbeck: I truly do not understand the hate he gets; his voice is so perfectly disturbing and Joker-esque!!! And he actually seems to regret his actions at the end, not just losing Christine.

James Romick: He's very forceful/on the nose (vocally + acting), and I think the Phantom is more than just "commanding." That being said, his "I love you's" are beautiful.

Géronimo Rauch: He's scary and sexy in equal measure. Elements of his performance remind me so much of JOJ.

Jon Robyns: Don't know much about his Phantom, but want to get to know more lol.

Tim Howar: He seemed very violent with Amy Manford's Christine in the final lair, and that turned me off. The Phantom is already "yikes" so let's not add unscripted physical aggression to the equation.

Brad Little: I live for the way he's so bossy and booming in "Phantom mode" but such a damn softy during the AIAOY reprises and final lair.

The chandelier rises one last time.

-Gregory Orr, “When Eurydice saw him” from Orpheus & Eurydice

SCREAMING.

thinking about that video of hugh panaro being a slut just about about the normal amount!!!! and had to do something about it

#oh boy #i forgive Ramin for so much based on how he acted out this one moment

To say music is your life is an understatement. Music is what makes you wake up each day—albeit always in darkness. It’s the living substitute for the family and friendships your face, a damning accident of birth, has denied you.

Then one day you hear her voice from your desolate hiding place. You discover music personified in the form of a grieving girl just as lonely as you are. You can't explain why you took the risk of revealing yourself to her; you only know that there’s no meaning in music anymore without that seraphic voice in your possession. Molding it, controlling it, is your closest approximation to happiness.

It doesn’t end well. Your desire turns to a murderous obsession that nearly wrecks her. You forget that that messiness of the human heart is only partly transposed in the sheet music of an opera. She isn't music personified; she’s just a woman who belongs to the living world from which you're exiled. 

Still, she shows you compassion. For a moment she sees you. In that fleeting fraction of time, she understands you better than you've bothered to understand her in your relentless quest to own her. And so you release her. With one last goodbye, she returns the ring you gave her and your eyes follow her long after her form disappears from view.

You’ve accepted it. You nod your head in resignation and kiss the ring that once touched her fingers. You'll be brave! You’ll think of her fondly and savor the fragments of her that live in your mind's eye.

Then you hear her voice again: that call that first summoned you from the darkness; the instrument that shaped you as much as it was shaped by you; the melody on which you'd set all your wretched hopes. It possesses your body as usual. As it radiates down your spine, you react like a cobra to a charmer's flute. The angelic sound seems to await your response.

But your face crumbles when her rescuer sings back. In the notes of their duet you hear all the things you can't give her, all the grief you've caused, and the sure certainty that you've lost her forever. You hang your head and realize that you're not brave; you're sorry. So very, very sorry, and...

You love her. You love her desperately!

"Letters To Milena", Franz Kafka

Idk why I did this to myself. But when it comes to Phantom "specs" there's really no one who embodies the character as I imagine him like Davis Gaines did. In addition to just having that slender-but-muscular build, his movements are so elegant--almost balletic. And then you add that ghostly baritone of his and you can easily see how this man poses as both an angel of music and an opera ghost. Just know this is who I'm envisioning in all the fanfics you fine folks are writing.

Gifset dedicated to Davis Gaines's legs...and hands...and everything else.

Tim Martin Gleason final lair appreciation gifset. I will never get over the way he throws his arms around Christine like he's clinging for dear life.

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.