u/clairemation

So when they're performing Don Juan Triumphant, after the Phantom has been revealed to everyone, he goes off-script and appeals to Christine by paraphrasing a verse from AIAOY.

Now, this isn't part of the opera anymore, so presumably in-universe he's not actually singing. What do you think is happening here?

Do we just hear it as the same tune because it's the same emotions being expressed? Or is Erik deliberately cribbing Raoul's delivery in some in-universe way because, hey, it worked when Raoul did it...

Or do you take this all as a heightened fantasy universe where the characters are aware they're singing?

Not like this is the only musical to use motifs like this, but this one just tickled my brain a bit lol

…change from her Don Juan costume into that wedding dress in between Down Once More and the final lair scene? I know Christine is… suggestible… but can you just imagine that going down? 😆

Literally just over a week ago I was one of those theater snobs who reflexively scorned Phantom. Then last weekend I saw Masquerade and it blew my expectations out of the water. In the space of a week, I watched the 2004 movie, watched the 25th anniversary proshot TWICE, and listened to the London OCR countless times. Cried, learned the Masquerade song choreo, still learning all the lyrics.

Now I have to admit I am completely unwell for this show. And I don't know who to tell about it because I'm a snob who surrounded myself with other snobs haha

So this seems like a safe space. I'm sorry for having been a hater. I wonder what else I missed out on with my attitude.

The funny thing is how POTO has been around almost my whole life and I didn't discover it until just 3 years after the Broadway production closed 🥲

But I think I might not have appreciated it the same way when I was younger. When I was a kid, I'd have been just disgusted by the Phantom and not gotten the romance. When I was a teen, I'd have been TOO into him and not appreciated the problems, haha. I think it's only more recently that I can kind of hold space for both the romance and the problems, and find the whole thing all the more poignant for it.

Anyway I'd better end this ramble. Thanks for indulging me!

I’m a new Phan. Read the book last year, then this month saw Masquerade, then got the London OCR album, then watched the 2004 movie, then the 25th anniversary filmed production. (Loved them ALL, btw.) Never seen the original staging.

So in the 2004 movie, when they sing Point of No Return, everyone knows it’s the Phantom on stage. So the Phantom is actually seducing her in real time while Christine has to act through her mixed fear and ✨feelings✨.

In the 25th anniversary version, he’s completely hidden under a cloak and Christine (somehow) doesn’t realize it’s him until the very end, so from her POV she’s just doing a rehearsed stage performance.

How is this done in the original staging?

And if the cloak staging is original, is it heresy that I prefer the movie staging of this scene? It adds tension and if you can add a few extra layers to the acting, why not do it? Also it’s just a super hot duet lol

This is super particular, but... I recently ran across a clip of Laura Benanti in the My Fair Lady 2018-2019 revival, singing I Could Have Danced All Night, that seems to be taken from a really good seat in the center of the house. Here's a screenshot since I can't seem to attach one to the post. I already have a bootleg from Feb 2019 that's taken from a seat way over on house right (screenshot. I think NYCG8R is the master for this one). I had no idea the more central recording existed.

Does anyone have this more central recording, or know anything about it that might help me track it down?

Alas, I'm not much of a trader in general, I'm just obsessed with this one production of this one show. I'd be happy to trade the Feb 2019 recording, or an April 2018 one I have with Lauren Ambrose in the lead, or the She Loves Me proshot, those are literally all I have 😅

Thanks for anything!