#Phantom of the Opera Australia

[ancientphantom]

It's roundup time!

October wasn't as generous as we hope - whither the spooky Halloween Phantoms? Come on, y'all, he was only very recently more of a romantic figure! Someone who watched Hammer get in on this! - but still a few new ones, as well as some fun in the audiobook genre!

Phantom No More by Grace King is part of a series of period stories in which Erik is given a love interest other than Christine with whom to grow old and romantically happy. This one is a medical professional who obviously can't resist the chance to heal this sad sack in both mind and body...

The Phantom of the Theater by Elle M. Drew is a short about a plucky fat girl who investigates just what is going on in the booth after creepy happenings start interfering with the local theater's film screenings. Looks like it might owe a bit to the many horror film theater Phantoms, but with a romantic ending!

The Phantom's Melody by Australia D. Kincannon is a period romance with a time travel twist - a surprisingly common formula in Phantom stories! It revolves around a girl named Melody who goes to New York to see Phantom on Broadway (so in the recent past, alas) but accidentally time-travels to the real Phantom's time period and ends up in Paris, where the Phantom is right in the middle of realizing that his plan to blow up the opera house is probably not getting him the romantic points he wanted, and is all ready for a fresh new love interest who isn't attempting to flee with her fiance. Looks like an opportunity to absolutely fill out some bingo cards with common Phantom story tropes, but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it!

And lest the audiophiles be left out, two books that aren't new but ARE new to audiobook!

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is the Mireille Ribiere translation, so you can now listen to the audiobook withot also having to suffer the de Mattos translation! (Sorry, de Mattos. You brought great things to us in the English-speaking world, but nowadays we like things to be less expurgated.)

Phantom by Greer Rivers is a dark romantic-leaning retelling of the story, now available on audio for those who enjoyed it in its original form. Bonus: it's now available in both English and German, in print and audio both!

See you all in December! :)

[marleneoftheopera]

Actresses playing Christine in both POTO and LND:

Sierra Boggess: Vegas 2006-07, London's 25th Anniversary, Broadway 2013, 2014 (POTO), London 2010-11 (LND)

Celia Graham: London 2002-03, 2005-07 (POTO), London 2010-11 (LND)

Mira Ormala: Oslo 2018 (POTO), London 2011 (LND)

Anna O'Byrne: World Tour 2009, London 2012-13 (POTO), Australia 2011 (LND)

Claire Lyon: World Tour 2012-15, 2019-20 (POTO), Australia 2011 (LND)

Meghan Picerno: World Tour 2019, Broadway 2019-23 (POTO), US Tour 2017-18 (LND)

Celinde Schoenmaker: London 2015-17, Greece 2020 (POTO), London Concert 2023 (LND)

Manon Taris: Paris 2016 (POTO, cancelled), World Tour 2023-24 (LND)

[phantomchristinesuk]

Amy Manford in her 3 Christine wigs

(West end, Australia, Greece)

Pictures: Amy Manford instagram

[ivalice-tifalucis]

Do you know speaking of Robbie, it just comes to my knowledge that Better Man is written by Simon Gleeson, an Australian musical theatre actor known for his role as…

Raoul de Chagny

in Love Never Dies 😂

I don’t even realize until I talked about this with my brother if the movie is gonna be good. I said to him but the director made The Greatest Showman, so it’s not his first rodeo doing musicals movie (assuming this movie is musical because why would it not be?). Then below the director were the writers. The name is familiar. I click the name. It’s the dude from Love Never Dies 😦 (it’s the Australian cast in the DVD icymi)

Also it’s his first writing credits so, we’ll see. Good luck to this movie, I’ll be watching this if this come to my country or if not then I’ll find another way.

What a weird case of ‘my favorites collide’ moment.

[phantoonsoftheopera]

Every Phantom curtain call should have been like this

[friendly-neighborhood-reblogs]

Phantom running for 35 YEARS on Broadway only to close one week after I start hyperfixating on it is the epitome of my usual experience entering new fandoms.

[schlock-luster-video]

On January 4, 1945, Phantom of the Opera debuted in Australia.

[lucygold95]

POTO gif - Josh Piterman & Amy Manford

[youhavebeentraceyd]

9B/9 POTO AUS 16/02/23 - Final Lair

Here we go!!!! I was absolutely devastated when I discovered that I hadnt recorded any of the the Final Lair on my 31/01 viewing. But I’ve got it now!

My desire to become a phantom bootlegger stems directly from this one moment: 

When Christine kisses Phantom, Josh falls to his knees and I have been obsessed with that moment since I first saw it in October. He does it every time and I eat it up every time!

[passariinos]

POTO Melbourne, Australia - December 20 2022 (matinee)

Wishing/ Wandering Child

Josh Piterman, Amy Manford, Blake Bowden

[eriksangel666]

Okay, so. I had a moment while I was listening to Love Never Dies. It's the scene after Mother Please I'm scared where the Phantom blackmail's Christine and then leaves her hotel. And the theme from the original Phantom is played very briefly. But you know what's different about this one?

It's played on a TRUMPET. You can hear it at 3:31

Now if you've never seen LND, this sentence alone might fuel your contempt for the musical even more. But in CONTEXT??? It sounds beautiful. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that those notes of "And do I dream again for now I find" are played with the same mournful respect as soldiers have when they play Taps on the trumpet/cornet.

And in a way it makes sense??? Like Christine is mourning who she THOUGHT the Phantom was, as she says earlier "What are you saying?...How could you! After all that we've been! WHO ARE YOU???"

Just oof. OOF.

[marleneoftheopera]

A very short clip of Kayleigh Marven!

[phantomchristinesuk]

Bridget Costello in her 3 different Christine wigs

(West End, Australia, Riyadh)

Pictures: Bridget Costello instagram

[raven-curls]

This made my day.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Ana Marina and Alexander Lewis, "Little Lotte"

[phantoonsoftheopera]

Madame Giry's Thesis: "Order Your Fine Horses (or: What Else Do You Say When Someone Says "I Love You"?)"