#meg and gustave so if you want to plot with any of those I am also down!

[wldbirds]

random question time! with all the muses or just a handful of muses that you are vibing with the most at the moment, what are some of the items on your wishlist / interactions that you are interested in?

It’s been awhile since I’ve answered this questions so I had to give it some thought but thank you for asking it! I’ll just discuss the muses I’m vibing with, and if you have a specific muse that you want to know about/I haven’t brought up , please reach out to me again!  persephone: I’m very into the pre-hadestown stuff, and i love writing kore! and also aus, like her rockstar au, or her mob au you know... i’m always down for aus with my girl.  persephone as a parent is also something we love to see in this house. more interactions with cereberus.

amara: again with the aus. i like her main verse but I feel I haven’t explored really fun aus... like the au where she gets to be a springtime goddess ?  her childhood is also really fun to write . or like the beauty and the beast au i just thought of... y’know. 

calliope: i would love to have her interact with more people from hadestown, to see what that would be like !

elphaba: i write my green girl a lot on discord so i feel she’s developed a lot, out of canon and kind of the book... I would love to explore more shiz era things and also in the period immediately after shiz, how she stuck it out with the resistance and what she did in the intervening years. I would also love to do a thing where she actually became grand vizier (for some reason or another), or realised the enormity of being the wizard’s daughter. pretty much the same for glinda. 

alice: i would love to do more maria-years in my canon, or alice meeting her siblings/the cullens and more as a nomad. I could also dive back into the main canon, which I haven’t for awhile, I still have not made it through midnight sun!  i’m also down for more laid back/comical stuff in her main verse. 

carlisle: more canon stuff! More interactions with other characters would be nice !  let him be your spooky doctor. or like someone recognising him after they’ve bounced around towns so many times. let him turn you into a vampire.... 

styx: i have a lot of fun with her canon verse, which is as this kind of river in hell that you meet before you reach the underworld. but also her modern verse where she’s a filthy rich supermodel that would step on your face ? yes.  

[agendergorgon]

Love Never Dies Sountrack Summary

It’s the sequel to the Phantom of the Opera. Its a mess. Listen here? https://open.spotify.com/album/0rymLJxRADVhIDmjLtVvhF#_=_

Track 1. Prologue - Madame Cheery summarises the plot. Only to be confronted with a ghost! Get used to this piece of music. It'll be back.

Track 2. The Coney Island Waltz - Sort of a highlight real of the pieces that will haunt you for the remaining half an hour. Hauntingly whimsical. The sort of thing that you would scream at a ghost to stop playing.

Track 3. The Phantom of the Opera. That's the Play you Ruined, you Fool!

Track 4. A Little Slice of Exposition by the Sea. - We are told of Mister Y. The Y stands for Yes, he is the Phantom. The "This is a cool place" song.

Track 5. Only for Him - This is honestly my favourite song on the whole soundtrack. I enjoy the whole thing, and there's this whole unrequited love subplot that's honestly my favourite part of Love Never Dies. There's something horribly messed up about it, and I find it a hell of a lot more interesting than a certain other plotline. If I was to recommend one song for finding out what Love Never Dies was like, it'd be Only for Him. Its bubbly and upbeat, and I'd have rather had another thing like this than....

Track 6. The Aerie - Wait for it...

Track 7. Till I hear you Sing - TEN LONG YEARS! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING FOR TEN LONG YEARS! 

Track 8. Giry Confronts the Phantom - Meg, our B character is sidelined while people pay attention to ZEE THINGS ZAT ZEE MASTER MUST ZINK OF.

Track 9. Christine Disembarks - "Christine, are you still a singer after 10 years?" "Wait, is this, are we doing this?" "Roaul, did they ruin your character in the sequel?" “INSOLENT JERK. HOW DARE YOU! I'll have you know I am the most British Frenchman in theatre!”

Track 10. Are you Ready to Begin - “THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. At a third of the way through the soundtrack, I should certainly hope so.” We're introduced to three wholly irrelevant incurables.

Track 11. “What A Dreadful Song. WHAT AN AWFUL ANGRY BRITISH MAN.” Welcome to the first of Raoul's songs. One about how much he sucks.

Track 12. Look with Your Heart - A song about feelings. And love. Sung high. Sung shrill.

Track 13. Beneath A Moonless Sky - Christine and the Phantom meet again. The song unfortunately turns toward a confirmation that they totally did it this one time. Yeah. As far as the Phantom singing of his prowess and caress and other esses... The music is nice though. If you wanted one that matched the tone of the original Phantom, this one feels like a real sequel. Christine sings of how he's dared to invade her life and claim her again. The Phantom sings of how she came to him before her wedding. Willingly. In the silliest of words.

Track 14. Once Upon Another Time - Yeah... Not really that good of a followup. I'd have put this a long way further down the line. Saved it for another conversation. As it is, its a song about how they've moved on that comes right after the "We totally did it." song.

Track 15. Mother Please, I'm Scared! - Don't worry Gustave. We're halfway there. FORESHADOWING. Also, Christine promises to let the Phantom be alone with her son.

Track 16. Dear Old Friend - We get a snip of a vaudeville song that we will be returning to in about eight tracks. Christine and Meg meet again. And sing about meeting old friends. Raoul and Giry meet and sing about meeting old friends. Passive aggressive singing ensues between the lot of them. Its that thing where you meet someone on the street that you used to know but can't stand.

Track 17. Beautiful - Those side characters that have done nothing since they picked up Christine and co from the boat? They're back to- Oh who cares. We think for a moment we're getting something like Music of the Night from Phantom, but nope. SKIIIIIIP.

Track 18. The Beauty Underneath - A rock opera about how cool the Phantom is, and how this child can't possibly be his son! Young Gustave also sings about how things are beautiful. Also, rather rudely, he just says yes to the Phantom's questions. A friend of mine who worked in retail once told me the folly of asking any question that can be answered with a single word. Its also a little annoying. Because from what you've heard in the rest of the show, either the kid is just going along with things here, or they're really good at hiding this "beauty underneath"  

Track 19. The Phantom Confronts Christine - Oh my gosh. This IS my kid! This is a reprise of Once Upon Another Time. Also. I don't think Christine has seen the Phantom of The Opera?

Track 20. Entracte - SKIIIIP

Track 21. “Why Does She Love Me?" - Excellent question. I'll save it for the suggestion at the end. Its actually alright if you ignore the bits where he asks for a drink. This is Raoul singing a song about how even he thinks he sucks. Oh my gosh, why DOES she love him? Also, Meg continues to be the best character. She comes to a place where people jump off the pier to drown themselves. She comes there every morning. To swim.

Track 22. Devil Take the Hindmost - Another Raoul sucks song. The Phantom was manning the bar all along! He's better than Raoul in every way. They make a bet that sets up the plot of the rest of the play. Its a duet that's pretty good, for a song where he's belittled and mocked. The two prove that neither of them actually deserve the girl by just saying "oh yeah, if she sings the Phantom's song she's his. Otherwise, definitely Raoul's"

Track 23. Heaven by the Sea REPRISE- THIS PLACE IS REALLY NICE!

Track 24. Ladies, Gents - Oh god its the freaks again. Lets pretend this one isn't here. SKIP

Track 25. Bathing Beauty - Meg sings a bawdy number that fits the time.  

Track 26. Mother did you Watch? - Well if you're a yank, probably not. If you're an Aussie, possibly. If you're a Brit, you probably just saw the ads on the tube enough to get sick of it. Anyway, Meg's really happy that people listened. Oh wait. The Phantom didn't watch. He wasn't even there.

Track 27. Before the Performance - Setup for our last few bits. Gustave makes a bunch of cooing noises, says beautiful a lot. Raoul and Gustave talk, and he resigns himself that she can make her choice. No mention of the bet. Instead, he begs her to stop, and tells her that he can try to be the man he once was. They reminisce over the events of how they met in that much better musical. The Phantom sings about how she's totally ditched Raoul, and how he'll get to hear Christine sing again. You know. Like he was singing about earlier. It ends with Raoul making a prayer, while the music echoes bits of the Phantom's score.

Track 28. Devil Take The Hindmost REPRISE - Another song about how Raoul made a bet, and sucks. While Gustave coos like a pidgeon. It's also a quartet that gets interrupted by sound technitions. Kinda took me out of the mood.

Track 29. Love Never Dies - I always love a sountrack where the title song isn't actually that good. This song proudly lives up to the heritage of the first Phantom, where nobody cared about the songs that she actually sung on stage. 

Track 30. Ah Christine - CALLBACK! Remember the angel of music from the first Phantom of the Opera? Its a sign here that people  

Track 31. Gustave! GUSTAVE! - Ever played Heavy Rain? Joking aside, the ph

Track 32. Please Miss Giry, I want to go back to Phantom of the Opera.

[changeling-fae]

My Experience Watching the Rat Phantom

Decided to watch the Rat Phantom and uh, my thoughts during:

- Rats would eat that baby, also that particular rat would be swept over the waterfall because force and gravity.

- So I guess this Erik is like Lucius Malfoy’s creepy sewer brother?

- Man, Christine’s breasts are bouncing all over the place in that dress.

- Christine why aren’t you immediately freaked out about this dude touching your face and talking about mind reading? Ok I guess we’re just going with it.

- Why are the rats super into eating human flesh but not the defenseless baby in the beginning?

- Why is Christine’s maid buddy being such a jerk to the poor flower boy, he’s just doing his job. Is she like LND’s Meg and jealous of Christine or something?

- Those are tiny children ballerinas in I’m assuming a rehearsal for a legit rich people pay to see production.

- Again, Christine, why aren’t you concerned about a creepy dude mind chatting you. Wouldn’t this be considered like devilry in the 1800’s?

- “What do you want me to do?” You’re asking the telepathy guy for instructions? Do you want to be thrown into an asylum Christine?

- Oh sure, meet him in a dark secluded place where no one knows your location, seems smart.

- … “Your female smell”…? Wtf.

- I honestly can’t tell if he’s mind controlling her or if she’s just really into a strange telepathic creeper groping her. Was that earlier first scene together the first time she met him or do they have an established relationship just implied?

- Is that poor couple really not concerned with why someone would purposely live in a sewer if they supposedly have wealth?

- And she’s whipping out the breasts.

- I’m uncomfortable with that old guy giving that little girl ballerina sweets.

- Guess the Raoul counterpart just got friendzoned.

- I predict murder in this poor couple’s future.

- I don’t think earthworms live in stalagmite.

- Does Paris have such an intricate underground cave system, they look like they’re in caves of Kentucky.

- How did that guy’s scream not echo through the caves and immediately alert her to his disappearance?

- This cave has really good lighting.

- And of course her breasts are perfectly visible and bouncing as she flees for her life.

- Ew, wtf.

- Are there only three ballerinas?

- One of the workers killed at the beginning’s name is Gustave?

- For an Opera house that the wealthy pay to see, this place feels very dead and empty. It just feels like a couple people rented it out for the weekend.

- Malaria acts like cyanide?

- Is Christine posing for Victoria Secret?

- Still unsure of what Christine feels for the telepathic rat dude. Lust or fear? Both?

- Did Raoul’s brother just take him to a brothel?

- I know there are a lot of out in the open dicks in this place but you don’t have to be one Raoul, don’t just shove women to the ground. Or kick them, or throw wine on them.

- This film just keeps going further down the depraved rabbit hole of disturbance.

- I knew I didn’t trust that old guy with chocolates.

- How the hell did he have that many chocolates on him?

- And that traumatized little girl still gets slapped in the face.

- Love both of them? You’ve had like zero interaction with them other than being groped by one and given flowers by the other.

- If this rat catcher has been catching rats for 8 years how has rat groper not killed him yet? I guess he assumed stupidity would do it for him?

- I really hesitate to call any of this Phantom of the Opera.

- I feel like I’m watching the beginnings of a really bad porno.

- What does Medusa have to do with anything? Medusa would turn your creepy groping ass to stone you messed up excuse for a Phantom.

- That was quite the mood change from Christine.

- There is not one likable character in this film.

- This movie aggressively hates women.

- Of course Carlotta chooses to sing, how else will the director make good on his threat of sexual violence to her breasts.

- Would a chandelier cause decapitation like that?

- I don’t understand Christine’s maid friend, maybe she realizes what a shitty film this is and just wants it to be over with.

- And it gets worse…

- This is really creepy since Christine is played by the director’s daughter…

- Oh my god it gets even worse, wtf.

- “My love”? You’ve had like 5 min of on screen interaction with each other! Disney couples have a more believable romantic scenario.

- Am I supposed to feel sympathy for any of these characters? The only ones I feel bad for are the little ballerina girls who deserved better by not even starring in this film.

- Boy, those rich people are pretty nonchalant about a chandelier crushing their buddies like a day ago.

- Instead of running after hitting the guy with a rock you just scream…

- There was just a rifle lying around for plot purposes?

- So does he eat people, if so he’s a pretty wasteful cannibal.

- I’m so confused, is the director remembering that Erik let’s her go in the book but forgot that he created a repulsive Erik in his version? The ending feels very tact on.

- Did Christine just go insane? Like straight up lost her mind?

- Also why didn’t the Satan rats help their gropey sewer baby? Did they hate him too? Was it because he stuffed them down his pants?

- Whelp, I just lost an hour and a half of my life.

In conclusion this film was an experience, in the same way that getting food poisoning from gas station sushi is an experience.