#he was an understudy / other roles in like 2010 west end

[chefkiyo]

baby girl baby girled too hard

[emptymasks]

I’ve seen a lot about your thoughts on Elisabeth and Tanz der Vampire, and they’ve been really helpful getting into those musicals! But you have a huge list of other musicals that people can get into…

So I was wondering if you had any musicals you hadn’t mentioned in a while that you really like or would like to talk about??? (preferably something from your lists that has a blue heart please?)

Oh if only you knew how long the list of European musicals really is... I however have only seen 9 (if I counted right) and I have a lot more that I still need to watch. Oh also, I only put the blue hearts on any musicals that I was providing multiple links for so people could see which version I reccoment the most highly. If a musical only had one link and didn't have a blue heart it doesn't mean I didn't like it.

I've watched: Mozart das Musical, Elisabeth das Musical, Tanz der Vampire, 3 Musketiers, Mozart L'Opéra Rock, Dracula (the Graz production), Rebecca das Musical, Roméo et Juliette and Schikaneder.

If you enjoyed those two you're likely to enjoy Rebecca! It's written by the same composer/lyricist team as Elisabeth and Mozart (and same lyricist as Tanz der Vampire - though if you're listening to any German musical, original or translated, 90% of the time the lyrics will have been done by Michael Kunze that man is everywhere). The Stuttgart production has my favourite set design of any musical! Well... Actually probably. There are so many big set pieces it's insane, way more than I've seen in some Broadway and West End musicals. You can tell so much work went into it and the visual effects that I won't spoil if you don't know the plot but if you know the plot you know what I mean by the effects at the end are so good and I didn't expect them at all and I freaked out so much the first time I watched it. Jan Ammann as Maxim in the Stuttgart production is the best Maxim. No I won't take any argument. Other actors feel a bit one-dimensional to me, but the way Maxim acts at times comes from trauma and some actors and productions seem to forget that, but Jan really goes for it and his Maxim is a lot more sympathetic and I just want to give him a hug. Pia Douwes as Mrs Danvers, if you've seen her in Elisabeth what more do I need to say, she's amazing. A musical goddess. Her Danny is a bit more wild than some, but she kills it. My favourite video, which I put the blue heart next to, has understudy Christina Patten as Ich/I, but I adore her she's my favourite. She adds some spunk to Ich in act 2 and her voice is so pretty and aaaa. I just love these three actors together in these roles.

Roméo et Juliette is another favourite of mine! It's hard to choose which one to recommend, but it has to be the original 2000/2001 production because of the sweetness and chemistry and voices of Damien Sargue and Cecilia Cara as Romeo and Juliet. They're so pretty and work together so well. The only reason I say it's hard to pick is Mercutio. I adore him, but in the original production they cut out a song they had planned for him and he doesn't really do much at all? In the 2010 revival they gave him two more songs and you care about him so much more and John Eyzen plays such a good Mercutio. So I'd recommend the original but if you want to like Mercutio more, which you should he's amazing, I'd recommend watching at least clips of John's. It's an interesting musical because all productions are non-replica and also change around the order of songs, add or take away characters, all sorts. The Hungarian production is also very popular and I'm sure it's great, I just haven't' gotten around to watching it yet.

Mozart das Musical was the first non-English language musicals I watched so I have a fondness for it, but it's not my favourite. However, I do realise I have forgotten most of the songs and the few I've gone back and listened to are better than I remember.

Dracula isn't super popular and I understand why, I don't love the plot of the Dracula/Mina romance in it, however. I do love this musical because despite how I find the plot lacking, the songs are so good! At least, I love them. And the actors are all doing a great job. And it's one of the few Dracula adaptions to keep Quincy Morris so they get bonus points for that.

Mozart L'Opéra Rock and modern French musicals... This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they're often more like pop-rock operas now. So if you're not into musicals with that style of music it might not be for you, but I still enjoyed it even though I didn't think I would because of the style of music. Mozart and Salieri's chemistry is very good, Salieri's bisexual crisis song is iconic, actually all of Salieri's songs are iconic.

Schikaneder... eh. I didn't like it that much and I didn't really like any of the songs. There's no English subtitles, but someone sent me the entire English synopsis and I watched it with a German friend so I had double the help of understanding it. Doesn't mean others might not like it, just none of the songs stood out to me and I had no desire to listen to any of them again. It's by Steven Scharwz of Wicked fame and I love Wicked, but I didn't love this.

3 Musketiers!! God it's so underrated and not spoken about within the European musical fandom that I even forget about it and literally forgot to write about it earlier in this post. It's a Dutch musical (though did also have a German production) and it's really good!? Faces you might know are Pia Douwes as Milady de Winter, Stanley Burlseon as Cardinal Richeliu (Netherlands Der Tod in Elisabeth), Henk Poort as Athos (Netherlands Phantom and Jean Valjean). The dialgoue is funny, the songs are good, some of the set pieces have no right to exist in this tiny musical?? They made this giant boat and pelt the actors with rain just for one 5 minute song and then we never see the boat again? And while I recommend the Dutch one because Dutch musicals deserve more love and it has official English subtitles!! Official ones, not fanmade! I have the DVD and it comes with English subtitles (and Dutch and German subtitles) which is so nice. The German version is also good, good cast, Pia came back and Uwe Kroger as Richeliu and omg they rearranged the songs and the German arrangement of Nicht Aus Stein is insane and amazing and frankly iconic.

That's all of the ones I have watched. Next on my list to watch are Rudolf and Notre Dame de Paris, both of which I have listened to some songs from and already love (I've listened to way too much of Notre Dame de Paris and am so in love).

I want to start organising streams where I'll host the musical either by getting the video from Youtube or my own files and anyone who wants to join can come along and watch with us, chat with us if you want or just watch there's no pressure to chat. I thought about doing weekly streams? This would also make me finally watch some of the ones I've been meaning to for ages. But I keep wondering about time zones. I'm in the UK and would want to stream at about 11pm at the latest (11pm BST/GMT+1 as we’re in daylight savings at the moment, if the streams continue past the end of October which would be wild then I’ll make a note of the time change that would be to 11pm GMT), which I know can work for other UK and Europeans, but for any Americans would be in the afternoon. So, I wondered if doing it on a weekend would be better? Then it doesn't matter if it's in the afternoon? Maybe Saturday evenings then? It would either be Saturday evenings UK time or Friday evenings UK time. What do you guys think? If people are down then I'll make a separate post with a list of what we'll be watching each week and if anything happens to me that means I can't stream one week then everything will just get pushed back a week, but I don't see that as likely to happen. And I'll only be streaming those that have English subtitles, so don't worry about not being able to understand anything.

edit: am also open to 10pm bst if others want that, im just trying to think of what time works best for everyone so sorry if 11pm is a little late for europeans, i know 10pm could be a little early for americans. also in case it sounded like these are the only musicals i will be streaming, thats not so, ive got more than just the ones mentioned on this list!

(Tagging some people who I know are or might be interested in streams to see what you think of that plan: @sirona-art @ringwraith100 @tanz-der-trash @smilingwoland @the-weird-dane @witchgaye @ami-fidele @kisstheghouls @looking-4-happiness @ladysapphire928 @sloanedestler @tinywound @persephonaae @phoenixdewinter @uwucoffee @freshbloodandgothicism )

[crazymusicgeek]

Top 5 Phantoms

So, I decided to make my list of my top five actors who have played the Phantom because why not? But I did not realize that it was going to be this hard! There are so many good ones! Anyways, before I start my actual list, I do have two honorable mentions:

Max Niemeyer

Oberhausen: Principal Raoul/Phantom u/s (2016-?) Side Note: I really need a date.

There will be one understudy on my actual list, but I knew I would severely regret it if I didn’t give a shout-out to the amazing German understudy that is Max Niemeyer. First of all, HIS HIGH NOTES!!! Seriously, it’s like he’s a different person when he’s in his falsetto range because he just makes it seem so effortless. Also, his voice in general is just so beautiful. I definitely recommend checking out some audio boots of his Phantom. There are a ton floating around Tumblr. My personal recommendation is his ‘All I Ask Of You (Reprise)’. Gives me chills every time. 

Ben Crawford

Broadway: Principal Phantom (April 16, 2018-present)

Again, there have been no video boots of Crawford yet, so it wouldn’t be fair to judge him solely based on the one audio that I’ve heard. But from what I got to hear, his performance is very solid especially considering this is his first time in the role. And like Max, I LOVE his Final Lair. By the way, if anyone happens to find a somewhat decent video that is NOT NFT (I don’t want anyone to get in trouble), feel free to direct me towards the source.

So, on to the actual list!

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion. I highly respect all five of these actors. If it’s any consolation, this was a very tough decision to make.

#5: Earl Carpenter Principal West End Phantom (2005-2007, Dec. 2011-Mar. 2012) Principal 25th Anniversary Tour Phantom (Oct. 2012-May 2013) This may come as a shock to some people because Earl is one of the most well known Phantoms. It’s not that I absolutely hate his performance, because that’s definitely not the case. I am a huge fan of his ‘Stranger Than You Dreamt It’. Side Note: Yes, I did see the flub where Earl lost his coat. And in all honesty, I think he looks kind of hot without it. Anyways, the reason why Earl is so low on the list is because I honestly think he’s a little overrated. Not as much as Ramin Karimloo (I love you, Ramin, but your Phantom is not THAT good), but he’s among that group of actors. I mean, I love him, but there are plenty of other actors who have played the Phantom that should get a lot more love. But still, I LOVE his ‘Stranger Than You Dreamt It’. Plus, the guy’s got a great voice.

#4: Howard McGillin Broadway: Principal Phantom (1999-July 25, 2009) Longest running Phantom in Broadway history. It would be a crime not to include Howard on the list. If I had made this list about a year ago, he would’ve been #1. But as I’ve gotten exposed to more Phantoms, he’s slowly made his way to #4 because while I love his performance, his voice honestly doesn’t make me think of the Phantom. I mean, it’s not bad, it’s just not the kind of voice that I would expect for the Phantom. Fortunately, his performance often makes up for his voice because it is just so fun to watch! Howard’s Phantom can be really terrifying sometimes! Plus, he’s gay, and considering that I’ll take LGBTQ representation on Broadway any day, he gets a few bonus points from a bisexual Phan. To summarize, performance is great, voice is kind of out of place.

#3: David Arnsperger

Hamburg: Phantom alt. (Dec. 2013-Aug. 2015)

Oberhausen: Principal Phantom (2016-?)

Rule One: The German productions of PotO are almost always breathtaking. If you want to know why I said ‘almost always’, all you have to do is look up the Essen production (especially anything that has to do with Uwe Kröger). Anyways, David Arnsperger is one of the best Phantoms in Germany’s history of the show, if not THE best. If you want to know just how amazing he is, see the post that atruevaljean did two years ago. They do a much better job than I’d probably do. In summary, David has a nice operatic voice and he really brings a lot of great things to his portrayal of the Phantom.

#2: Laird Mackintosh Toronto: Raoul/Phantom u/s (If someone could give me the dates, that would help a lot.) Broadway: Monsieur André/Phantom u/s (Aug. 26, 2013-present) I told you there would be one understudy on this list! Anyways, I put Laird in 2nd place because he NEEDS to be principal (and no, transition periods do not count)! When I saw a bootleg of him and Kaley Ann Voorhees, I couldn’t believe that he was just an understudy because his performance is so unique. Plus, his voice just fits the Phantom so well. Side Note: Another reason why I put Laird in 2nd place is not only is he an amazing singer and actor, but he is also an amazing photographer. Seriously, check out his Instagram. He takes great photos. Plus, he’s also very nice to his fans. Feel free to check out my appreciation post for more details.

#1: John Cudia

Broadway: The Phantom (May 22, 2008-July 30, 2008), (July 27, 2009-Sep. 4, 2010)

For a while, John Cudia and Laird Mackintosh were tied for the #1 spot. It took me a little bit to decide between the two of them. But in the end, John Cudia came out on top. Here’s why:

1. One of the things that I look for in my favorite Phantom is their voice. For my ideal Phantom, they have to sound like a genuine opera singer. John Cudia is a classical singer, and it really shows in his performance. He is wonderful to listen to and his falsetto range is absolutely perfect.

2. Of course, the performance plays a huge part in my judging as well. The way that John moves perfectly captures the Phantom for me, especially in ‘Music of the Night’. And in the ‘Final Lair’, he perfectly balances his violent side with his vulnerable side. Plus, John’s ‘Point of No Return’ gives me chills every single time. I always love the Phantoms who at least try to sound like Piangi.

3. Finally, John is just an amazing human being. I’ve heard stories from my fellow Phans that he is incredibly nice at stage door. Plus, look up some of his Broadway vlogs on YouTube. He’s freaking adorable!

In conclusion, John Cudia takes #1 not because he captures the Phantom’s voice and personality, but also because he is an angel on and off stage. Plus, in my opinion, he is the Phantom.

So, that’s my top five. What are yours? Let me know in the comments and I’d be happy to discuss!

[jerepars]

The Con Extended Chapter Notes

Hyperlinks appear in blue (underlined on mobile). The story is posted here. Direct link to this chapter is here.

> “Well, is this a new thing or an old thing?” Veronica supplied a starter question.

> “A bit of both, I guess. I had a huge crush on him when I left Riverdale. And then this summer, when I saw him, all those crush feelings came rushing back.” I got the floaty fluttering of butterflies in my stomach just speaking of my feelings out loud. “Then I found out he was moving here. Then I found out he was moving into my building. It all just kind of encircled me.”

I don't think I've made any reference to "The Con", the song by Tegan and Sara, since Chapter 2 ("The Plan"). We're now at the point in the story where the parts of the song that inspired me to name the story after it will begin to pop up more. One of the lines that's repeated several times in the latter part of the song is encircle me, I need to be taken down.

I do understand the context that the line is being used in within the song, and that might come back around later in the story. But for now, we've got Betty admitting to being encircled by her feelings. Tegan and Sara have mentioned a bunch of different times that the original name for the song was actually "Encircle Me" and was later re-named as the title track for the album The Con.

> “Oh my God, swoon. You just got Disney Princess heart eyes,” Veronica cooed. “You are so smitten. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this about anyone.”

> “I’ve known him for so long and I do feel like I really know him,” I said. “Lately it feels like…like maybe he could have some of the same feelings. And maybe we could have something that I thought would never happen.”

Here's an instance when I realized I was making a reference to a song literally as I was writing the sentence. Part of the chorus in "Attention" by The Academy Is... goes: Oh, did I mention when I see you it stings like hell? To the fact that we could have something that'll never happen.

Back in the notes for Chapter 5 ("The Sleepover") I said that I was hoping I'd get to reference Academy somehow, someway during the story, because they were a Chicago band. This time I wasn't even thinking about any of their songs, it just happened. I inadvertently put myself on a total nostalgia trip, too, because I remember referencing the same song--much more directly, actually--in a story I wrote over ten years ago. Wild.

> “Oh, Betty.” Veronica shook her head pensively. “As much as I love the idea of you pulling one over on him, and as much as it sounds like he’s got some seriously repressed feelings for you, I don’t want you to end up hurt if this goes badly. Please be careful.”

> Be careful. Those were the same precautionary words Jellybean had warned me with when the con was in its infancy, before I’d gotten in so deep.

I'm always going to back-reference to things that happened earlier in the story. In Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), when Jellybean revealed to Betty that she knew what was going on, she warned Betty to be careful. Even in Chapter 4 ("The Robots"), when Betty and Jughead have breakfast together, the chapter ends with him warning her about whatever game she's playing.

> For Trev and myself, preparation for the holiday shows would be grueling just as the preparation for the autumn program had been. The year before, for the inaugural season with the new Nutcracker, the company had begun the piece from scratch, with only a one-page synopsis of the story and our choreographer’s vision. We’d worked on The Nutcracker from the very start of dance season in August through December. Since it was no longer rubbing two sticks together and hoping they caught fire, and haven taken the time to premiere Giselle for the autumn program, it was back to the usual approach of rehearsing The Nutcracker from November until the first performance in December, with few full-on rehearsals through December. I was thrilled about the parts I’d been cast for; a pas de deux in the Spanish Dance, one of four dancers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, as an understudy for the Arabian Dance and a Snow soloist, and corps roles as a Snowflake (of course) and fair worker. But it would be no easy feat. For most dance companies, Nutcracker time was (maybe ironically) crunch time. We never worked harder under such unforgiving time constraints than during the holidays.

In the chapter notes for Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), I talked about the Joffrey Ballet's "new" Nutcracker and linked a few articles about how it was reimagined and how it's different from a classic Nutcracker, so maybe check that out. If you want.

When I was doing my research, looking through the program for Giselle, I noticed that one of the pages was an advertisement for a documentary on Joffrey's new Nutcracker to air on WTTW, the local PBS affiliate in Chicago. Knowing that this chapter was coming up, I thought to myself that I might as well wait to see the documentary. So I did! I even took notes so I could write the paragraph quoted above. And you can watch it too if for some reason you want to spend an hour learning about the new production. The documentary is called Making a New American Nutcracker and it's streaming on the WTTW website. Want to make a Riverdale connection? For all the Skeet Ulrich fans out there, it's narrated by Neve Campbell, who played Skeet's/Billy's girlfriend in Scream. Six degrees of separation with Skeet? You bet.

I found the casting sheets from 2016 and, oh boy, it was really hard to decide what roles to put Betty in beyond the corps roles. But I definitely wanted her to be in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (one male dancer is Buffalo Bill and the three other dancers are women). As described in the documentary, it replaces what is usually the Russian Dance, but it's danced to Tchaikovsky's score that is used for the Russian Dance. There's some kind of humor in there, man. I like it.

> As for Kevin, he would be on the earliest non-red eye flight back to LA in the morning. He had a master class to teach that same day and rehearsal for a performance at the American Music Awards after that. He was just as busy as a dancer in a company, if not even busier. I was thankful that Kevin still managed to make time for me when he was in town and that our close friendship continued beyond our adolescence. There were no hard feelings that he never made it to any of the Giselle performances because he had his own life and success to tend to, and I was so proud of him.

This is Kevin's second appearance in the story, and his last. I wish he could have been in it more but it was more important to me not to relegate his role as just the gay best friend who occassionally provides comic relief. The comic relief he provides on Riverdale is great, yes, but we're now six episodes into the second season and I'm still wondering where Kevin's major arc is. I don't think he should be just a placeholder.

That's exactly why when he was introduced in Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), Betty spent some time talking about him--his life, his career, his success--rather than just the role he plays in her life. Keeping that in mind, I did want Kevin to make one more appearance in the story, briefly, squeezing a little bit of time for Betty into his schedule (and not the other way around), amidst all the good things that are happening in his busy life.

> “Thanks. You’re the best, Arch. I know you’ll be great tonight.” I leaned in and shifted onto my toes so that I could kiss him on the cheek. As was customary in ballet, I whispered my good luck wish to him, “Merde.”

I came across this quite a few times while doing research for the story. It's bad luck to say "good luck", and because breaking a leg is a possibility during ballet performance, ballet dancers don't wish each other well by saying "break a leg" either. The term merde, the French word for 'shit', is what dancers say before a performance instead. There are differing views on why that slang is used.

> I grabbed my coat off the back of my chair to shield me from the early November evening and slid my phone and card case into one of the pockets—I’d need my ID to get back into the bar after. I turned back to my friends and mouthed a ‘sorry’ as Jughead and I walked toward the door. Trev merely shrugged but Kevin gave me goofy grin and added a wink for good measure.

> I followed Jughead outside and we didn’t stop until we were standing in the doorway of the storefront across from the bar. It was a hair salon that, according to the hours listed in the window, closed at five every afternoon. The salon had bay windows, which made for a wide doorway that was lit by a solitary fluorescent motion-detecting light.

There is, in fact, a salon across the street from Schubas. And if you enlarged the image of the storefront using Google Maps, you'd see that the bay windows create a wide entryway in the shape of a trapezoid. What am I doing with my life looking this stuff up?

> It felt good to insult him to his face after finding out just what he thought about me liking him. I’d really started to believe that he might have a thing for me, too. At the very least I thought he genuinely cared about my well-being. But none of it was true. And once again my crystal vision was so wrong. My fate with him wasn’t like those girls like Sabrina. It was worse—it was nonexistent—and he had made sure of it. As quickly as he’d made my heart swell, he yanked it out of my chest, threw it on the ground, and stomped all over it with his combat boots.

The line about Betty's crystal vision is a quick little back-reference to her mention of crystal vision in Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), which as I mentioned in the notes for that chapter, is actually a reference to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".

> Oh, I was counting on it. I was absolutely livid. There would be no complaints on my part if Chic wanted to use his overprotective older brother card for justice against his beanie-wearing cad of a best friend. In fact, I would gladly help him. Chic could pour the gasoline and I would light the match.

I debated with myself whether or not this was the right moment to use some of Alice's lines from 2x01. I wondered if using the "beanie-wearing cad" term was too distracting here, if it brought humor into an otherwise serious and tense moment. But then I thought...Betty's definitely got some of Alice's fiery spirit in her. So when she's livid? Well, that probably comes out, with Alice's terminology, too.