#have I ever listened to tanz der vampire? no.

[irlwakko]

i have a confession to make. on that bestmusicalworldcup thing there are musicals in there that I haven’t even heard of, but I just hate whatever musical they’re up against SO MUCH that I vote for them by default

[partial-prints]

If you love vampires, listen up!

Do you enjoy vampires, 80’s music, a healthy dose of homoeroticism - all with a theatrical flair? Well look no further, for I submit to you Dance of the Vampires.

(More cool pictures at the very bottom)

What is it you may ask? It’s a musical about a vampire who seduces a girl and invites her to his midnight ball - an offer she simply cannot turn down. The whole thing sorta gives Phantom of the Opera vibes, but like, wayyy less creepy (despite it being a literal vampire). I will say now that yes, Tanz der Vampire (the original title of Dance of the Vampires), is in German, but there is a full recording with English subtitles on youtube, so please don’t let that prevent you from watching it. Now if you’re still reading, allow me to elaborate on the 80’s music and homoeroticism that I previously mentioned.

Let’s start with the tragic gay romance, because I’m sure that’s what you want to hear about first. While not a main part of the musical, the main vampire’s son falls in love with - gasp! - the vampire hunter’s apprentice. They dance together, and with stage magic involving a mesh screen and an actor on the other side dressed identically to the apprentice, it appears as though the vampire has no reflection in the “mirror”. Of course, the feeling is not mutual, as the apprentice is only at the castle to rescue the girl, who he is in love with.

Now, onto the 80’s music. Surely you’ve heard of the song Total Eclipse of the Heart, or the singer Meatloaf (even if it was just his role as Eddie in Rocky Horror Picture Show). Well, the man who wrote that song and a majority if not all of Meatloaf’s work, was Jim Steinman, who composed the musical. The soundtrack contains a decent amount of electric guitar, even a bit of synth at parts, and all around just sounds awesome. However, he only had about a month and a half to compose it all, so he reused some stuff he previously wrote, including a couple Meatloaf songs and Total Eclipse of the Heart, a song he originally wrote for a Nosferatu musical that ended up not getting produced. It was actually originally titled “Vampires in Love,” so what better song is there to fill the place of a big love duet between the girl and the Count?

Tanz der Vampire is my favorite musical ever. I’ve loved it ever since Count von Krolock appeared on the screen and first began to sing, and you may love it too. So I implore you. Please do yourself a favor and check it out. I’ll provide a link of a full recording with English subtitles here, but it should also be the first result on youtube when you search “tanz der vampire english subtitles.” (That production also has Drew Sarich as the Count, my personal favorite.) I should add though, do not watch the broadway production because it’s terrible.

If you’re still not sold, I’m not sure what else I could say to convince you, but hopefully you at least found this interesting and learned something new. If you want to know more about Tanz der Vampire or would like to hear about other musicals about vampires, please let me know and I can answer any questions. (If even one person watches it because of this I’ll consider this a success, and if you do watch it please let me know because it would really make my day.)

And now I’ll leave you with some pictures of Tanz der Vampire as a last resort to convince you how awesome it is and that you should watch it. (I also put in the alt text the song each picture is from for anyone interested)

*ooo the set design and costuming have hypnotized you… you want to watch it now… do it for the vampires…*

[fitzrove]

Musical questions! 28, 29, 30?

[To celebrate 400 followers I'm finally answering all these from my drafts :D]

28. What's a musical that you saw ages ago that you're still not over? What about it made you love it so much?

If watching a video counts as "seeing": Tanz der Vampire. I saw posters and ads on the street for the Helsinki 2016 production... but that was after it was already over, in April/May!!!!! I was so curious about it but forgot after the initial wondering. Then that summer I went to a two-week language camp/course in the UK (my first time abroad without parents!) where we were singing Total Eclipse in the music room and an older "camp counsellor" girl from Germany told us it's actually from a musical, and that night I took it as my sign to look it up and ended up watching sooo many clips on YouTube over and over for the rest of my time at that course, and eventually the whole 2005 proshot with English subs.

Something about it spoke to me in a way no other musical had before - I mean, I had liked POTO for years, that summer I also started listening to Hamilton, but neither of those rattled in my head to the same obsessive degree as TdV did <3

It came into my life at a special time, has come and gone since, and whenever I get back to it, it still hits the hardest out of any show I've ever watched. Whether it be the epic orchestral rock score (I'm not like an über Steinman fan but I like his stuff), the level of emotion (some would say melodrama <3) and the way the show itself has come to symbolise a lot of things to me over the years (freedom to leave an environment you're not happy in and remaking your life elsewhere; freedom to be yourself and go after what you want even if it goes against what's conventional or societally acceptable; the world belonging "to the shameless and the wicked" and the rest of us just having to roll with it). So yeah >:)

I've now seen TdV live three times: once in Stuttgart in autumn 2021, and twice in Hamburg this summer (2024). It wasn't perfect but it meant a lot :') I've also met Aris Sas and he liked my headcanons and hot takes, and wished me the best in my life and my studies 😭🙏

29. What's a musical that you used to really like but don't anymore? What made you fall out of love with it?

I think I'm falling out of love with Wicked!! It was one of the first shows I saw live (back in Finland) and that production left a lasting impression on me, but after seeing it in London twice (heheh) I think I'm satiated :') I will still want to see the movie though! I probably just won't have the energy to engage that much with the hot takes it will probably spawn kslsls. Plus I hate the discourse that the movie is stirring up about how the book is better and that should've been a movie instead dkkdldls. I think the book is kind of terrible and takes itself too seriously. Plus the sex scenes are bad bad bad bad....

Anyway - still like the musical, I think I have just overlistened to it and I don't usually find too much to "chew on" in the fandom space :D Especially since I don't know/care about Wizard of Oz lore 😭

30. What's a musical that's grown on you since you first saw it or listened to it? What made you appreciate it more?

Rudolf: Affaire Mayerling.......... I still think it's terrible but I keep making friends with people who know that it's inaccurate (and don't really care about defending its honor skkskd) and still love it for being camp 😭 I used to have a very negative view of it but now I can just listen to Du bleibst bei mir on repeat, enjoy wholeheartedly and pretend it's the whole show 😌 obligatory mention that I met and took a pic with Wietske at the Les Mis München stagedoor this year 😭😭😭😭🙏🙏

[darkmistandodddreams]

this is a very fun one thank you @tiny-steve

Rules: List five topics you can talk about for an hour without preparing any material, and tag five (or more) people!

I actually had to think about some of these, here goes:

LARP (Live Action Role Play) Role playing in general, but especially Larp have been such a big part of my life for almost 10 Years now and I keep making new cool experiences and learning new things about it. I can (and have!) talk about it with no prep for an hour and more easily.

Musicals Making this one single point otherwise I would just start listing single musicals. I have many beloved Musicals I could talk about for longer than anyone could care to listen. Including, but not only, Wicked, Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, The Hatchetfield Trilogy and The Spongebob Squarepants Musical

Netflix's Dark Man, I love that show. What can I say. It's good and it's complex and I think I have watched and rewatched it about 10 times

Kink/BDSM While I've only been involved my local kink community for about 2 years, I've been reading and learning about kink ever since I was (probably) too young for it (fanfiction was my entry drug of course) and I can't explain how amazing and helpful it has been to meet so many caring people in the kink scene. Ask me about how practicing BDSM can help you learn to set boundaries in everyday life and I WILL monologue

Fandom History and Slash Fiction/Shipping Unfortunately for my peers at the time I once did a presentation in class on slash fanfiction and if asked I could still talk about fan culture and especially shipping for eternity. (Also probably could fill an hour with the omegaverse alone oops, hiding this in parentheses so nobody will notice)

Tagging @bibliotheksbewohnerin @caressthosecheekbones @forestlion @streatfeild and @rivetingrogue

[lunatic-fandom-space]

I dont think ive mentioned this at any point but Im actually really obsessed elisabeth but I cant engage with it at all or even think too hard about it without feeling like Im gonna start biting people. like, ive been making a lot of tanz der vampire posts and whenever one of my original posts gets interacted with I go and check the account because Im a freak like that and surprise surprise, people who like that musical also often like elisabeth, theres one account in particular who might even recognize me because its a fairly small fandom, and whenever I look at their account Ive always completely forgotten that they post a lot about elisabeth and I get jumpscared and have to very quickly click away as my heartrate inexplicably spikes for a second. And it really sucks because one time one of the posts I got jumpscared by was this one that pointed out how deaths carriage was also rudolfs bed and I hadnt noticed that and its really neat and I would love to see more posts like that about what is basically my favorite musical ever but I cant. look at them

I think the reason my brain is so weird about letting me enjoy it is that it is rpf and also german in origin. or well its from austria but you know what I mean. And i dont know why because its not like hamilton where all the songs slap but its weirdly patriotic so i dont really wanna watch it in full ever again, not only do all the songs in elisabeth slap but its also not patriotic as a whole, like thats the reason i was able to listen to it almost every day while taking the bus to school for about three months, i couldnt do that if it was weirdly patriotic yknow. Speaking of me listening to the soundtrack almost everday for three months, whenever I would do that I would imagine these elaborate and usually very romantic animatics in my head and thats perfectly fine but god forbid i wanna read a fanfic thats just a non-musical prose version of Die Schatten Werden Länger (Reprise) because like, no offense but what other kind of fanfic could you possibly write about this musical. Or maybe I just lack imagination idk

Also, speaking of the nature of this musical as rpf, because Death is the only character thats not like, real, hes the only character that I can read or write fanfic about, like I found a fic about him intracting with the von Krolocks and I liked it so much that I wrote my own oneshot about him having a weird tender moment with Herbert and I have ideas for like 3 more, which is kinda ironic because hes the character Im the most unwell about for all the obvious reasons and usually when Im this degree of unwell about a character i can hardly stand to even think about them but I guess the fact that I can already barely bring myself to think about the musical hes from kinda cancels that out

[disneyprincessdxminatrix]

1, 13, and 30 for soft asks :3

1. what song makes you feel better?

That’s a hard question. While I love music I hardly ever listen to something specific except for the same playlists over and over in the background.

Though, one song that is oddly comforting of me is “Tot zu sein ist komisch” (loosely translated to Being dead is odd/weird/curious) from the musical Tanz der Vampire. Im not sure why but I’ve loved this long since I can remember. When I grew up I listened to the Tanz der Vampire soundtrack all the time with my mum and I’d always ask her to skip to this song and I still listen to it fairly often when I had a weird day.

13. what’s your comfort food?

There’s the healthy comfort foods which would be cauliflower polish style (?) (I just steam the cauliflower and eat it with toasted breadcrumbs. That’s it.) (Listen. It’s simple and good, yes a little dry maybe but I could eat a ton of this.) and warm apple compote.

And there’s the unhealthy option which is mcdonalds fries with a mcsundae with chocolate sauce to dip them in or even better use the fries to like scoop the ice cream into your mouth.

30. what reminds you of home (doesn’t have to mean house… just things that remind you of the feeling of home)?

This one I just answered here

[mourninglorystory]

9 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @emptymasks. Thanks for the tag! I had to really try and remember answers to these questions lmao.

Three ships: Henry Dupre x Victor Frankenstein from the Frankenstein musical have been swimming in my mind lately, so that's fun. Can't forget an absolute classic: Lawlight from "Death Note". For the last one, uh..., I'm going to come out here with a very niche one and say Professor V x Count Dracula from "Mama, Don't Cry". Toxic, murder, vampire, time-travelling husbands. Can't go wrong with that.

First Ever Ship: It was either Grell x William or Grell x Sebastian. I don't remember which was first.... definitely one of the two, though. This was back in, what, 2010?

Last Song: Currently listening to the "Swag Age: Shout Joseon" soundtrack, specifically "Sijo Nation". I highly, highly recommend this musical. Been obsessing over it lately lmaooo.

Last Movie: Hmm... "Moulin Rouge"? I watched it with friends a few weeks ago, but I think that might've been the last movie I watched... Been kinda only watching TV lately.

Currently Reading: Reading a few things. I read a chapter of what I feel like. Reading "Pride and Prejudice" and "The Man Who Laughs" at the same time lol. If I feel like I need a mood-boost, I read P&P. If I'm down for the sadge, I read TMWL.

Currently Watching: Watched the new episode of The Mandalorian, so I hope the season gets good. I'm also watching "Divorce Attorney Shin"/"Sacred Divorce" (totally not only for Cho Seung Woo nahhh. Gotta support PotO actors, right?), "Taxi Driver 2", "Kokdu: Season of Deity", "Island 2", and "The Heavenly Idol".

Currently consuming: I ate a sandwich a while ago, I guess?

Currently craving: A diet coke.

Tagging: No pressure at all, y'all! And I don't know if you've been in this tag before. @barafubuki @arteestador @citizenscientistcitizenartist @deardaaery @tanz-der-trash @sachimas @tunesykari @klqrambles @jellyfishyishy

[wenamedthedogkylo]

Thanks for the tag! Very sweet of you ^^ Alrighty let's see, songs I actually listen to...

"Bubblegum Bitch" by Marina and the Diamonds

Best song for playing OW2 to, I don't accept criticism on this

"Rock It for Me" by Caravan Palace

a) everyone knows Lone Digger, b) the animation style for this mv is amazing, c) it just fuckin slaps

"Tanz mit mir" by Faun

Ever need to feel like a medieval bard in a fantasy tavern that's absolutely stealing the show and flirting with everyone around you at the same time? Like German music? Well here you go, party on 🤘

"Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder

Sometimes, man, you just need to bop along and be happy, y'know? Just groove like a lil Furret moseying along without a care in the world

"Totale Finsternis" from Tanz der Vampire

Look TdV is a German-language musical about vampires, all the music is by the guy who wrote most of Meatloaf's songs, and this song is literally—I cannot stress enough how LITERALLY I mean this—just "Total Eclipse of the Heart" but in German and done as a vampire love duet. I don't care for the original song but this? This fucks so hard. Also I love the musical in general, but I can listen to this nonstop for hours. And have done so. That's how hard it goes.

okiedokie even after 10+ years on this site I always feel awkward tagging people so reminder that this is just for fun and totally optional! and also if I didn't tag you but you wanna do this, consider yourself tagged 👍

@the-fractured-god @spontaneousmusicalnumber @raisingcain-onceagain @oingeaux-boingeaux @valentineish @shiverandqueeef @eyes-like-the-night @belfry-bat @quantum-bananas @bi-the-way-drbloom

When you see this, post 5 songs you actually listen to and tag 10 awesome people!

(thanks for the tag @hesayshesgotboyfriend , i actually really like that Lexie Liu song, it may get added to the playlist!)

when it's not my purely 80s playlist, it's usually these top plays:

OnlyOneOf - sage (구��)

The Black Keys - Sister

The Gap Band - Early In the Morning

Little Boots - New In Town

King Dingus - Supermassive Nation Army

tagging @esteefee @lockedinabookstore @aurawolfgirl2000 @hedvig-ulrika @lasenbyphoenix @plavoptice @justgot1 @downwarddnaspiral @nope4ever @t-eyla but only if you feel like it!

[europeanmusicals]

From ‘Tanz der Vampire’ 2nd Vienna Revival 2018. My personal favourite version of this song ever, sung by my favourite Graf von Krolock. I could (and have) listen to this version on a loop for hours.

[ninallthatjazz]

Thank you for tagging me @ella-doe 💜

rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, and then tag 10 people. no skipping!  

Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons "Winter": III. Allegro

Tanz der Vampire - Ein Guter Tag

Tanz der Vampire - Nie Geseh'n

Billy Lockett - Wide Eyed

Conchita Wurst - Have I Ever Been In Love

Panic! At The Disco - Far Too Young To Die

Dimash Qudaibergen - S.O.S d'un terrien en détresse

Ellie Goulding - Still Falling For You

JeanguMacrooy - Birth Of A New Age

Panic! At The Disco - Dying In LA

(I am a musical nerd and queer, shut up)

Tagging @rainbowbonnet @blakbonnet @ed-teach @leatherdaddyteach @sassygwaine @snake-snack-stede @louciferish @smooth-crimminal if you want 💕

[letterful]

professional vibe diagnosis: madi @dearorpheus 🖤

KEY TERMS: gothic heroines, final girls, bluebeard narratives, death & the maiden, monster theory, dangerous appetites, antiquarianism, sawbones & their history, perfumery, poison bottles, cursed jewels, blood vials, soft & warm light, morbidness & coziness intertwined, with more than a dash of elegance & sophisticated taste 🖤

media recommendations under the cut!

(a sidenote: i did not include a lot of obvious choices, such as angela carter or helene cixous or anne carson or any gothic 101 authors, since i know for a fact you’re already familiar with them. to be perfectly honest, you’re one of the most well-read people i’ve ever met, so i wouldn’t be surprised if you were already familiar with most of these, but i did my best!)

Severance: Stories, Robert Olen Butler—talking heads! literally!

Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned: Enchanted Stories from the French Decadent Tradition,

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa (for some truly exquisite prose),

Imaginary Lives by Marcel Schwob (oh, Schwob is criminally underrated; also,  these tales remind me of early Borges)

Kieślowski films! La Double Vie de Véronique (1991), especially—this scene is... somewhat spoiler-y, but goodness. it is beautiful, in a grandiose way. also, can we talk about the lyrics of the featured piece? 

speaking of Polish movies: Cold War (2018) & Ida (2013) are also a must!

Arthur Machen’s short stories, and especially The Inmost Light,

M. R. James’ short stories, of course, but especially Count Magnus,

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson; the entire collection serves as one of my favourite retellings of the Daemon Lover ballad, although it’s not a very straightforward one—The Man in the Blue Suit (slash James Harris) is at most a peripheral figure, and his status as a supernatural entity is up in the air, since most of the stories are uncanny instead of explicitly supernatural (and yet, whenever he enters the stage, something shifts in the atmosphere & things go... very wrong, very quickly). I especially recommend The Tooth!

speaking of daemon lovers, here’s an academic analysis of this motif: Demon-Lovers and Their Victims in British Fiction (an extended excerpt is available on Google Books)

still speaking of daemon lovers: The Book of Tobit! and, specifically, the story of Asmodeus and Sarah of Media, who might or might have not inspired the line about the woman wailing for her demon-lover in Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. also! this... retelling of sorts: (x)

The Song of the Sun: Collected Writings by Leah Bodine Drake (her poems of fantasy are quite wonderful; here’s an example!),

speaking of fantasy-themed poems... these anthologies are very good indeed (& beautifully published!): Monster Verse / Dead & Undead / Killer Verse / Bewitched & Haunted,

Het Lied van Heer Halewijn (a proto-Bluebeard story, and the Dutch equivalent of Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight)

speaking of... these are some of my favourite transformative works dealing with this ballad: (x) (x) (x) (once again, it’s fanfiction, but it’s quality fanfiction, cross my heart & hope to die)

german-language musicals! goodness, they’re some full-throated, pulpy, gothic extravaganza. here’s my favourite scene from Tanz der Vampire, and here’s the english lyrics, and here’s the english-language demo (it is... not as good as the original, alas). i also recommend Elisabeth & Rebecca! speaking of pulpy musicals: can we talk about the riddle from the scarlet pimpernel? because it has no business being this catchy. 

alright, i’ve covered some lowbrow musicals, so let’s talk highbrow now: The Great Comet is based on a tiny excerpt from War & Peace, but good god. it /feels/ monumental in scope. this song is... yeah. yeah. it’s also sung-through (like Les Mis, or Evita), so you’re not missing out on anything, even if you only listen to the cast recording!

speaking of songs with great Madi energy... Take This Waltz by Leonard Cohen (based on a poem by Lorca!) definitely reminds me of you!

also. Memorial by Susanne Sundfør. it’s the drama! and Kate Bush, obviously, especially Hammer Horror (even more obviously) <3 and this rendition of Memory! 

i don’t know whether you own ps4, or even consider yourself someone keen on video games as a medium, but madi. madi. madi. bloodborne is practically tailor-made for you, and i’m not even exaggerating. dubious medicine! secret cults! victorian architecture! blood, blood everywhere! eldritch abominations beyond human comprehension! i’m going to fly you to poland just so you can play it. 

on a related note... netflix’s castlevania is. well, i genuinely cannot say whether it’s good, but it’s fun, and its aesthetic is basically gothic on steroids. very explicit, that is to say: sex and murder usually take place simultaneously.

some academic books of interest that were not already included in my previous masterpost:

The Ring of Truth: And Other Myths of Sex and Jewelry,

the Devil’s Advocates series,

The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains,

Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures,

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus,

Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found,

The Science of Monsters + Science of the Magical.

[thestudyofdrama]

Top Seven: Websites

I’ve scoured the internet high and low for some fantastic websites you can spend time on, without feeling like you are missing out on theater stuff during the pandemic.

1. For Podcasts...Broadway Podcast Network

So. Many. Podcasts! That focus specifically on theater, Broadway, and the West End! Did you know that Tim Rice, Donna McKechnie, and Kerry Butler all have podcasts? Listen to them here, along with podcasts on backstage happenings, show-based series, and even some Dungeons and Dragons played by thespians!

2. For Streaming Shakespeare...Globe Player

I am personally having a war with myself to switch from Netflix and Hulu over to subscribing to the Globe’s streaming service. Not only do they have shows in English, but in performed in other languages too! Lithuanian productions of Hamlet with subtitles, a South Korean production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and one of my favorites, Twelfth Night with Stephen Fry as Malvolio and Mark Rylance as Olivia!

3. For Book Box Subscriptions...Dramatists Play Service Book Club

I, again, personally have not used this service. It’s a quarterly (and somewhat pricey) book subscription box, at $34.99 for a box of  seven plays delivered four times a year. I’m not someone who has book box subscriptions, but if I ever become one, it would absolutely be this one.

4. For Brushing Up on Your Shakespeare (Scansion)...Precanned Shakespeare

Are you performing Shakespeare soon and haven’t the faintest idea on how to score your lines? Thank goodness for Precanned Shakespeare! This site, presents each play and sonnet by Shakespeare with each line of verse scanned with syllable notes, indicating where the emphasis in lines and words belongs.

5. For Reading Plays Online...Scribd

If you subscribe to any reading-focused website, it should be Scribd. There are so many nonfiction, fiction, and audiobooks here for your enjoyment. Know what else they have, at the price of $9.99 month for access to everything? Hundreds of plays and musical theater books.

6. For Finding DVDs and CDs of International Shows...eBay

I’ve found a million different cast albums for Wicked, Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, and more, that you can’t find on Amazon. There is far more memorabilia from various productions than on Amazon.

7. For Finding DVDs and CDs and Sheet Music and More of International Shows...Sound of Music-Shop

Goodness I love this website. I can’t find sheet music for Die Päpstin anywhere else but here! You can use their advance search to filter shows by country, which streamlines your quest for more international musicals even quicker!

[partial-prints]

~~~ Intro time since I never made one! ~~~

Hi! You can call me Will or Wilhelmina, and I prefer he/they pronouns

This blog is mostly reblogs with the occasional original post, but that might change in the future

Stuff I like:

Silent films (esp horror)

Horror in general really

Gothic literature

Vampires

German language musicals (Tanz der Vampire is the best musical ever)

Bill & Ted + other stuff with Alex Winter in it

Any movie with Conrad Veidt bc he’s my favorite actor

Gotham the tv show

Music! (mostly show tunes, goth, and will wood)

My asks are always open if you want to ramble about some interest we have in common, I’ll be glad to listen

I don’t expect many people to pay any mind to this or my blog, but that’s fine, this is just for my enjoyment!

Art and stuff, rambles, and other non-reblog posts will be under these tags: vvv

[fitzrove]

cynical musical fan questions! 2, 5, 7, 11, 25?

2. What is the oldest musical you love?

Ohh, tough question!!! Had to go check ALW chronology hahah. I think it's Evita (1976). I haven't actually listened to much of anything Golden Age etc. 🙈

5. Who is your favourite musical theatre lyricist?

Michael Kunze >:) inspirational slay king etc. Alle fragen sind gestellt hits soooo hard, Elisabeth Prolog hits so hard, Schatten 1+2 hit so hard, Für Sarah hits so hard, Kitsch hits so hard, Mozart! Mozart! hits so hard, Was für ein Grausames Leben hits so hard, Der Tanz der Vampire hits so hard... in his interviews he talks about being a cynic in his 20s already (iirc) and that's so relatable and iconic 😭😭😭😭 I think getting rich made him worse at writing musicals and hence the new ones (after Rebecca basically lol) haven't been hits, you don't get the urge to rant sharply about the system when you're an old man living cozily off of licensing fees /hj

7. Who is your favourite musical theatre actor?

This is impossible to answer!! At one point it was Máté Kamarás, then it was Oliver Arno, then it was Aris Sas..... Máté remains the one I have the most Autogrammkarte and terrible original CDs from. (Omg btw, once I move back to Germany my friend will mail me a terrible original Lukas Perman emo pop CD that I bought through her!). Re: women, it's Wietske van Tongeren, Lisa-Anne Wood (mostly as Glinda hahah but I love her as Glinda), Marjan Shaki and Milica Jovanovic (though embarrassingly I've only seen her in POTO and Evita hahah. The ALW saw trap...).

I haven't listened to Máté stuff in a few months but I was so deep into his world at one point (kslsldl reference to defunct matesworld.com website) that I guess I have to pick him :D he slayed severely in Elisabeth and TdV and has an extremely funny public image (he overall approaches things in a really lighthearted way which is entertaining, but can be thoughtful about his characters and creative choices as well, and isn't ever malicious about things. Also, he's the most bisexual straight man of euromusicals. He decided he wanted his stage presence to be like all the famous rockstars, someone told him those people like Freddie Mercury etc were bisexual and he said "ok 📝📝📝" and just implemented that no questions asked kskdkd.)

11. What is your favourite overture?

For sure POTO!!!! It's just so majestic, especially with a full orchestra (FNOB<3). I also love the way they "staged" it for the movie, with the backstage flythrough of the opera house :D

25. What catches your attention in a musical and makes it interesting to you? Is there a subgenre of musicals you especially like?

"Drama musicals", a category invented by Michael Kunze that I don't fully believe to be scientific xD. I like historical settings and goth themes and aesthetics, and good stories w emotional beats that hit home. Orchestral rock scores also always pique my interest (my other favourite music genre is symphonic metal!).

[glassprism]

You might have answered this before but where do you stand on the "seperate artist from person" question? I honestly have a hard time listening to Tanz der Vampire and James Barbour's casting was of course highly debated. But there's also this former Raoul who's basically a Qanon nutcase.. I just can't watch him.

"This former Raoul who's basically a QAnon nutcase" - you can say Jordan Craig, don't worry. (Unless there's another former Raoul out there just like him, in which case: good God isn't one of you enough.)

I don't think I stand on that question so much as I leap around it with no clear answer. It's fairly easy for me to separate an actor's performance from their deeds, because I think people are fully capable of being good actors while still being terrible people. So with James Barbour, I was able to watch him without thinking too much of what he's done, though it wasn't completely separate; when watching him with Julia Udine and Kaley Ann Voorhees, two of the youngest Christines Broadway has ever had, it wasn't hard to think that his restraint towards him was because he was aware of their age and the controversy surrounding his casting.

This was the same with Jordan Craig; I actually enjoyed his Raoul, as much as one can enjoy a restaged tour Raoul, before and even after learning of his... interesting social media presence. But where it gets complicated is when it crosses over into whether it's ethical to support them financially. With James Barbour and initially with Jordan Craig, it was pretty east because I only watched bootlegs of them, so my support was very indirect at best (I traded them from a person who traded them from a person who bought them from a person who bought tickets to film them, etc.). Yet I later did go see the restaged tour, when Jordan Craig was in it, and I paid to do that, and while I can try to justify it by saying that I wanted to see the rest of the cast, not just him, am I, in some small way, supporting his viewpoints? Relatedly, James Barbour is gone, but the people who cast him are still around, so is it "right" to support the Broadway production? But is it fair to not support them, when there are probably plenty of people in the cast and crew who are not involved in it and may not have liked his casting any more than I did?

And it can get more complicated. Look at what Rebecca Caine posted a few months ago regarding her time in the Toronto production; how does this affect how I see Colm Wilkinson in all those promotional videos with Caine, knowing what he would later do to her? How does it affect my enjoyment of the Toronto production, knowing that Garth Drabinsky was involved throughout? Later she posted a friend's recollections of another actor, involved heavily with Phantom, who was abusive towards said friend, an actor that I really enjoyed and had posted lots of pictures and praise of on Tumblr. What do I do knowing what he was like behind the scenes?

So I don't know. It's fairly easy for me to judge their performance on their own merits, I can separate that... but what about seeking out further performances? What about talking about them on Tumblr, posting clips of them, putting them in comparison videos? What about paying to see them live? And when you spread it out to all the different kinds of media we all enjoy... I guess the only thing I can say is that it's something all of us have to figure out on our own.

[spacerhapsody]

i got tagged by @mscalifornication ‐ thank you, finding out what spotify knows/assumes about me is always fun :D

rules: drop a screenshot of the top portion of your spotify home page, explain your playlists (if you have any), share your account and tag your mutuals to do the same!

Dean Winchester is bi and Destiel is canon: what it says. i discovered this mix shortly after the historical November 5th, and i'm pretty sure it's part of the reason why i got so deep into this whole mess again <3 (it's 9 hours long and i don't regret a single second of it)

All of time and space (2012): my heavy rotation playlist for this year

Harry Podcast: a German Harry Potter podcast i got into a few weeks ago. it's analyzing the first movie in 5 minute sequences, it's HILARIOUS and i love everything about it

🌸soft🌸: a playlist for soft/calm songs

Tanz der Vampire – Die Höhepunkte der Welturaufführung: listen, i have the BEST Tanz der Vampire tickets, i bought them in 2019, they let me upgrade them last year when they were optimistic about opening again, and i still don't know when/if this will ever happen

Übernatürlich: a crack!playlist for what i think would be the soundtrack of supernatural if they only used German songs, but i got bored after, like, 10 songs lmao

tagging (if you want to) @hazelestelle , @didthedevilturnup