#meg giry appreciation

[phanblog]

we need some more Meg appreciation around here.

01.05.24

[flagbridge]

"THE BALLET!"

Adam Linstead (Andre), Janet Mooney (Wardrobe Mistress), Maiya Hikasa (Meg Giry) and the ballet chorus in The Phantom of the Opera, West End Revival, 2023. (@or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra, masters)

[melit0n]

Madame Giry is the only thing holding that Opera House together I swear

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

Ugggggghhhhhh when Emilie's Christine hugs Meg in Angel of Music Nggggfgghhhhh

[dreaminginsteadofsleeping42]

Does The Phantom of the Opera pass the Bechdel Test? I can think of three instances that *might*, but seeing as they are

Madame Giry telling a ballerina she sucks

Carlotta telling Christine to shut up / calling her a toad

Christine screaming at Carlotta that she’s an evil woman (not related to instance number 2)

I’m leaning towards. no.

[ereyies]

The Lovers

hiii! it’s me, elaine/lainie, back with more phantom of the opera art!!!

i decided to get silly and start drawing my designs for different POTO characters, starting with our beloved traumatised girlie christine daa�� and our favourite insomniac vicomte raoul de chagny!! i headcanon christine as albino and am a proud enjoyer of the raoulstache.

sorry it’s not as detailed as my drawing can be, just haven’t been focusing on drawing as of late because of reasons.

cannot wait to draw the daroga bc i am utterly enamoured with that man he’s my fav <3 so im probably going to draw them next or meg and madame giry depending on how i feel.

tysm for all the reception on my last posts, i love and appreciate all of you!! <333

[glassprism]

You've been in the phandom and on tumblr for a while and i've always been curious as to if you have any takes on how it's changed over the years? or perhaps just the overall attitude towards trading has changed? if at all?

I think the changes in attitudes in the phandom and the changes in attitudes towards trading are two separate things (trading overlaps with multiple musicals and all while also having it's own separate shifts), so I'm just going to stick with changes in the phandom!

I will also note that I've only been in the phandom since around 2010, which might seem long to some but doesn't to me, because I know people who have been around at least a decade longer than that. I should also say that even though I interact with the phandom on multiple platforms, I'm not everywhere and I can't read, you know, every forum thread or every post on Tumblr. As such, there will be thinks that I'll miss, as I can only speak to what I personally witnessed on the platforms I was engaged in, because that's what I know best!

With all that said, I'm going to split this into four parts.

Attitudes towards characters. I talked about this to some extent in a recent ask about the role of Christine, but in a general sense, there's been a shift towards appreciating Christine, Raoul, the Persian, Carlotta, and other supporting characters, or at the very least, taking a more complex view of them. This also applies to Erik to a large extent, and I've also seen a trend of seeing him as less the seductive, commanding figure and more love towards him as, I dunno, a weird sewer man. Honestly I could probably devote entire asks to each of these, but suffice to say, way more love for characters other than Erik.

Attitudes towards ships and fic. I put these two together because they're so complementary, though it also ties into the above attitudes towards characters. I think it's safe to say that, just like Erik used to be the most popular character, Erik/Christine was also the most popular ship. But I've definitely seen a large swelling of love for the other ships in the last decade or so: Raoul/Christine of course, but also things like Pharoga (the Persian and the Phantom) and Firdre (Firmin/Andre), Meg/Christine or Carlotta/Christine, and many a crack ship such as Rerik (Raoul/Erik) or Erik/Mirror Bride, Erik/Therapy, or Raoul/Madame Giry (though maybe this is just from one place). OCs (Original Characters) are much more in vogue as well and I feel like people are more willing to accept ships with OCs without deriding them as Mary Sues or author wish fulfillment and what-not. I think E/C will always be the most popular ship but people are much more willing to say that they ship something that's not E/C, or even to say they don't ship it, and to write non-E/C fic without worrying about getting blasted.

Attitudes towards adaptations. Going to be honest, what prompted this was me thinking about the seismic shift in perspective towards Susan Kay's Phantom, namely that it went from "This is better than Leroux!" to "Yikes". But that's only one example of a general pattern of appreciation for other versions besides the ALW musical - Leroux for sure, especially as people start to figure out the differences, sometimes major, between translations, but also towards, say, the Yeston/Kopit musical, the David Staller musical, other film adaptations, even Love Never Dies (which I think people sort of look upon now with a fond, "Oh you, you silly trashfire musical, I love you"). In short, more love for other versions.

Social justice issues. Lastly, I think the phandom has really grown more aware of various issues within and without Phantom and its adaptations. There's a lot to cover, but just to hit a few major changes, I'd say: more discussion about the manipulation, toxicity, and abuse in Erik and Christine's relationship, much more discussion about grooming with regards to aspects of the 2004 movie, more support for racial inclusiveness in show casts as well as where adaptations tend to go wrong (see the gollywog in the ALW musical, the constant erasure of the Persian, Islamophobia and anti-Romani sentiments in various adaptations, etc.), a lot more open discussion of mental illness, ableism, and neurodiversity when it comes to various characters, discussions of characters being LGBT, and lots more. I think a lot of these things were either not discussed or just dismissed in the years before so it's really cool to see people being far more open about all this.

And there's lots, lots more I could talk about, but I'll leave it at those four major categories! Hopefully it gives you at least a broad overview of the evolution of the phandom in the last decade or so!

[squaric-acid]

Rewatching PotO (2004) in 2024

~ A needless commentary. Please note that I first watched this movie seven years ago, in 2017. ~

I like the Wizard of Oz thing they do by having the prologue scene in black and white.

Is the Madam Giry in the prologue supposed to be Meg or her mother, it is unclear.

The costumes are decidedly not bad for a piece of historical fiction made in the early 2000’s.

I adore the chaos and attention to detail of the establishing shots of the Opera Populaire during a rehearsal.

All the costumes in this movie are good except for Christine’s during Point of No Return, like what the fuck was that.

I like that Raoul is introduced in person during the rehearsal scene and that Christine gives us some background on their relationship. Her saying they were childhood sweethearts makes the set up of their love story stronger, like they both obviously still harbored feelings for each other during the interim of their childhood and the events of PotO. In the stage production this is less obvious.

Was it really necessary to have the new managers make lecherous comments about Meg and Christine?

Emmy Rossum is very stiff during Think of Me, in contrast to the scene of her dancing just prior where she is very expressive. I’m not sure what to make of this, it’s only an observation. I want her earrings from this scene though.

The Phantom’s lack of a hat makes his head look small and Gerard Butler does not have a small head.

You can tell that the theatre they are in isn’t actually very big.

The dubbing does not sync well to the mouths of the actors.

Meg Giry is adorable.

Christine’s dress during Think of Me looks suspiciously like a wedding dress.

How can you not ship Christine and Raoul in this movie? They’re so cute together.

Not the slow-mo of the candles blowing out.

The arms holding the candelabra are weird, like icky weird, and remind me of the Haunted Mansion.

I do have to admit that Gerard Butler in that cape is really something, he does look good as the Phantom, even without the hat during Phantom of the Opera. I appreciate the electric guitar during that scene too.

It’s not subtle that they used the same archway more than once. And what happens to the horse, where did he go?

Erik’s lair really gives Pirates of the Caribbean ride vibes.

Was the dramatic cape removal necessary?

Why does he just leave her sitting in the boat?

RAMIN KARIMLOO WAS GUSTAVE DAAÉ?!?!!!! And I was supposed to find about this on my own?!?!

Gerard Butler as the Phantom is peak early 2000’s pathetic sad boy.

The dubbing continues to be bad which really impedes the impact of Music of the Night. The blocking isn’t bad though so I’ll focus on that.

Bro, not the mannequin! And the way he sets her in the swan? Hilariously creepy.

The scene of Meg discovering the passage behind the mirror is so interesting to me. What a great piece of character exploration! I wonder how much this version of Meg knows about the Phantom and inner workings of the opera house, surely she isn’t blind to her mother’s association with the Opera Ghost.

Madam Giry demonstrating the use of lasso was a girl boss moment.

How on earth did he not feel Christine prying at the mask?

I wish they would’ve used more drastic makeup and prosthesis for the Phantom’s deformity. Or at least let the camera focus on it for a tiny bit longer. We get basically nothing of it in this scene.

I forgot that they cut back to the black and white of the prologue (a continuation of it).

Just how much is 20,000 francs in 1870 worth today?

Those skull wax seals are cool.

Was the mooning of Carlotta necessary? Funny though

Minnie Driver is hilarious. The Prima Donna scene is fantastic.

Erik doing dastardly deeds in his fancy clothes is iconique.

Where is the musical cue for “Did I not instruct that Box Five was to be kept empty?”?! It sounds like an announcement at a train station!

Where on earth was Buquet to have seen the Phantom standing near the chandelier?

Only in the movies does cutting back and forth between the ballet from act three and the Phantom chasing Buquet around the flies really work. It makes the scene much more tense but is also amusing because we seen the Phantom doing stunts in his fancy clothes.

They really wanted to make this into a movie musical but did a poor job of integrating the music into the action of the movie.

I love the set design in this movie if nothing else.

If anything Gerard Butler’s Phantom has the least awful face of any rendition of the Phantom.

I can’t imagine this movie being made today, it would be an auto tune nightmare.

What is it about well-dressed pathetic sad boys of the early 2000’s variety?

You can’t fault Gerard Butler’s acting when he cries into the rose.

I take it back, why was the dramatic run so popular? It looks ridiculous.

I love Christine’s dress for the Masquerade scene. And Raoul looks dashing too.

The silver and gold fan choreography is neat. I also especially appreciate that only Christine and the Phantom are wearing shades of red.

Where are the fics of the Phantom and Madam Giry as children? That’s the story I want to hear.

Raoul sleeping, obviously on guard, outside the ballet dormitories is so endearing.

Showing that the Phantom knocks out the guard and is the one to take Christine to the graveyard closes the plot hole about how he knew she would go there. And it demonstrated just how obsessive he is about her.

I don’t know a lot about how funerary monuments worked in the 1800’s but how could the Daaé’s afford such a mausoleum?

The reprise of Angel of Music was very good. Excellent use of lighting.

The Phantom jumping down from the roof of the mausoleum is rather ruined by the fact his cape flipped over his head and he had to put it right.

The fight scene wasn’t the most coherent but it wasn’t outrageous either. I like the skull shaped guard on the Phantom’s sword.

Erik saying “let it be war upon you both” is undercut by the fact he didn’t say that it would be war between him and the managers earlier.

They cut back to Raoul coming up with his plan to ensnare the Phantom after the scene in the cemetery. I think it’s narratively out of place given the events of the scene of the graveyard. Christine’s lament, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, which both about her missing her father and about gathering the courage to bid goodbye to her angel of music. Which Christine felt she had to do because of the plan Raoul came up with.

Christine’s protestations about Raoul’s plan being spoken rather than sung works well in my opinion. But there’s a certain angst to how hysterical Christine sounds in the stage production.

Seriously, the Don Juan costume for Christine sucks.

The reveal in the stage production was better. They mention the hood of cloak in the song, the hood hides the fact that it’s so obviously not Piangi, anyone with eyes would’ve been able to see it wasn’t the same guy.

The background dancers, lol.

All the shots cutting to Madam Giry lowkey make it seem like she was secretly in love with the Phantom.

They could’ve made Point of No Return more tense.

Why does the Phantom’s wig look so bad before Christine pulls off his mask?

Now his disfigurement actually looks appropriate.

Madam Giry literally brought him to the opera house and he went willingly, the Phantom calling it a prison isn’t super accurate.

Erik has too much hair in this version. But props to Gerard Butler for killing it in the final scene in the Phantom’s Lair.

I like the detail that the cut on Raoul’s arm starts bleeding again due to all the action. It looks weirdly real though so maybe it was unintentional. I have not seen any behind the scenes footage to confirm this.

Why is Meg at the forefront of the mob? Why was she so interested in the mask? Is it supposed to be a hint about Love Never Dies? There is too much focus on Meg and Madam Giry’s involvement with the Phantom to just be as it is explained.

I adore the implication of the rose at Christine’s grave. Perhaps the most emotionally impactful moment in the whole movie.

7/10

Love the costumes and the aesthetics. The final scene at Christine’s grave was a very nice extra bit. Not as good as the stage production but enjoyable. The acting seemed a bit stiff and underwhelming but lots of movies from the early 2000’s were. I prefer the 25th anniversary performance but who doesn’t?

I can’t speak to how it compares to the book because I haven’t read it (I will sometime)

[analysisn3rd]

Erik (Phantom)

Morality

Erik’s morality is quite interesting yet obvious. I shall explain why I see it in this manner, but after placing him on my scale. He would be in the grey section, not near the dark but not near the light. This section is commonly associated with amoral characters and those who do know what morality is but don’t work with a moral code. 

Technically speaking, Erik is amoral. This is because he has no clue what morality even is, which is something that’s stated in the book. He’s always seen cruelty and people using others to get to what they want, and, since no one told him that these types of actions are frowned upon, he does them as well. Even though the reason why he did all of his terrible actions is just to feel loved and appreciated much like everybody else, that doesn’t excuse his actions in any way. However, he didn’t know that what he was doing is “wrong”. He was never taught the difference between “good” and “bad”. The first thing that he was ever met with was, actually, cruelty and evil.

Although he isn’t aware of the concept of “right” and “wrong”, there were some things that he did which would be considered “good”, like how he was kind to Madame Giry and Meg Giry and treated them with respect, even though he did that in order for them to help him.

In conclusion, Erik’s morality doesn’t exist, and, as a result, he doesn’t realise that his actions are “wrong”. However, not all of his actions were terrible.

Personality and insecurities

Erik’s personality is quite interesting and very simple. All of the characteristics and traits which can be associated with him are quite obvious within the novel, and I shall explain why he acts in the way that he does. 

He’s obviously quite creative, because he’s able to compose his own music and because he’s able to build brilliant, yet horrific, architecture within the Opera cellars. His creativity also shows that he’s quote smart as he’s able to understand architecture and is able to make so many trap doors that he’s called “trap door lover”. He’s also intelligent because no ordinary person would’ve formulated a complex plan as he did to get what he wanted.

This is very obvious about him, but he’s evidently an appreciator of the arts.  He’s able to see the beauty in music, musicals and plays. He adores music; it’s undoubtedly one of his passions, and I would even go as far as to say that it’s a form of escapism to him.

He’s obviously an introvert; he would much rather be alone than be with someone else. This is because, over time, he’s learned to fear people just as much as they fear him due to his appearance. They always cause him harm one way or another, and very few of them have actually done anything to help him. He also has no clue how to socialise normally, which causes him to be unable to communicate with anyone to begin with.

A characteristic that I find to be very apparent in him is loving forever. What I mean by that is that when anyone ever does anything kind to him, he will forever remember them and love them. People are mostly atrocious to him, so, as a result, he cherishes the memories of those who were anything but. The perfect example is Christine. She showed him what he wanted; love and kindness, so he wanted her to forever stay with him because he will forever love her for doing that to him.

Because he was brought up in inhumane ways, he doesn’t know or understand much about his own emotions. The only exception for this are extreme emotions, like intense love, which no one could help but recognise. The environment where he grew up in also taught him that he shouldn’t show emotion because, if he were to do that, it would make it easier for people to take advantage of him and use him for whatever they want. As a result of this, not only are the only feelings that he truly knows are sadness and loneliness, but he also isn’t able to realise that the Daroga is his friend. He doesn’t understand what are feelings of friendship, because they are usually not extreme. However, despite this being the case, Erik is quite comfortable around the Daroga as he was vulnerable, crying about Christine, in front of him at the end of the book. 

Erik has two very obvious insecurities. He hides a lot about himself, which makes it difficult to determine what he might be afraid of, but there are two fears which make the most sense for him to have.

He undoubtedly fears abandonment. He has experienced abandonment for his entire life. All of his life, he was alone, hated and feared due to something that he couldn’t control, where the first time that he experienced friendship, and wasn’t even aware that he was experiencing it, was when he was a young adult with the Daroga, which resulted in him fearing being left alone forever, which is why he would’ve done anything so that Christine would marry him. 

He also definitely fears vulnerability. I touched upon this in a paragraph above, but he’s fully aware that letting his guard down means that people could easily use him and take advantage of him. Besides, there’s no one to protect him for the most part. This is also why he most likely has trust issues.

Conclusion

Erik’s an incredibly interesting character, even if I feel like all of the details about his character and morality. I don’t know whether I like or hate him; my feelings regarding him are very much mixed because he did a lot of terrible actions, but he also was faced with a lot of inhumanity for the majority, if not all of, his life, so that type of behaviour would make sense. I hope that I did him justice either way, and I would’ve truly loved if there were more details about his childhood and adult life before moving to the Opera cellars. 

[estellamiraiauthor]

Some thoughts on the Ken Hill Phantom in Tokyo—both the show itself, since I’d never seen it before (only partial recordings, never even a full video) and this particular production.

Apologies in advance that I do not know the names of much of the cast… only three cast members are named on the website. I guess you had to buy a program to get some credit for the others, which seems a little shitty… they all did a great job and I’d like to be able to give credit where it’s due… if anyone happens to have a full list, let me know and I’ll add that information.

So, overall thoughts… it was a lot funnier and more fourth-wall-breaking than I expected. Not all of the jokes quite landed (either with me or with the audience in general), but it wasn’t because they were especially dated either, which is always nice in an older show. Just some moments that were like “I know I’m supposed to laugh here, but the joke’s just not that good.”

The banter between Richard (the only new manager in this version) and the old manager, and between Richard and Remy (his assistant or manservant, who kind of fills the role that a second manager sometimes does) usually worked, and all three of them were talented actors. Richard is the former manager of a railway company in this version, which he brags about quite a bit, and I think it was an interesting attempt to showcase the difference between a businessman who really doesn’t appreciate or even attempt to understand opera at all, vs. the Phantom, to whom art should be everything… unfortunately I feel like overall, the Phantom’s characterization was a little weak, which really hurt the emotional impact of the second act. More on that later.

Jammes sort of fulfills the ALW-Meg role here, and this was an interesting character for me because she wasn’t really very good of a dancer? What she did, she did competently, but definitely came off as “actress who has taken ballet lessons” rather than professional ballerina. It also didn’t seem to be much of a singing role, so not a case of choosing a singer over a dancer… I suppose she was maybe supposed to be comic relief, but the actress played her pretty straight?

Paul Potts as Faust is one of the three credited actors, alongside the Phantom and Christine. I LOVED him on Britain’s Got Talent, and watched a few videos of more recent performances when I learned he would be in this, but I wouldn’t say I’ve seriously followed his career. I was surprised in general that the role was such a funny one, and that he was extremely funny in it, because the image I had of him was definitely “Super Serious Tenor”. He was extremely enjoyable, both as a singer and as an actor here. For those who are wondering, because I Googled the role and didn’t find much, “Faust” is essentially the “Piangi” character here, except we never learn his actual name (although we do learn Mme. Giry’s!). He actually had a bigger role than I expected based on his first couple of scenes, unlike poor Mephistopheles, who got killed off fairs soon, for the actor to return as the Persian!

The other major character we meet in that first scene is Raoul, who is Richard’s son in this version. The whole “Little Lotte lost her scarf in the sea” backstory never seems to have happened. Christine and Raoul are already in love from the first scene, but we never learn where or when they met. Interestingly, while the whole “Raoul as aristocracy would never be with an opera singer” issue is not addressed here, since he’s not aristocracy, he does bring up how inappropriate it would be for Christine to be alone with a man in her dressing room. (Not that that stops HIM from barging in!) This Raoul was Sweet and noble, and I really wish I knew the actor’s name because he was a beautiful singer as well.

Christine actually didn’t get a chance to sing until fairly late in the show, and I’m pretty sure the first time she really sings is at her father’s grave, not during a performance or rehearsal! Tayla Alexander as Christine was AMAZING. It’s nice in general to see a Christine who actually is an operatic soprano (although I know that’s not really the POINT of a lot of versions, and don’t mind at all when they don’t, it’s refreshing to see a Christine close to the Leroux character?) She was a great actor too, and this is definitely a Christine with agency. I thought it was an interesting choice to have her come straight out and say “I PITY you!” at the end… that IS possibly a bit of “datedness”? Leroux, or at least the translation I have, also says “pity,” but pity isn’t necessarily seen as an emotion people WANT others to feel about them these days… not sure if that’s an evolution of language/evolution of disability culture thing, or just that this Christine is brutally honest?

So I guess this brings me to the Phantom… he also doesn’t show up until almost the end of Act 1, which is a choice I respect… mystery is good for this character! But I also feel like less interaction with Christine ultimately just made him come off as a creepy incel? I have to say, I did not love Ben Forster in the role. I just went and Googled him because other than playing the ALW Phantom, I wasn’t familiar with him at all, and it’s not at all surprising to me that he got his start in JCS and Rocky Horror etc… I’m much more interested in seeing him in those roles, because he has this like… rock-n-roll twang? To his voice that just did not fit a mostly-Leroux-faithful, generally-period-appropriate Phantom. He was overshadowed vocally not only by Potts but by the woefully uncredited Raoul and the Persian, and if the Phantom doesn’t have the most angelic voice on that stage, it just doesn’t work. I’m curious to see him as the ALW Phantom now, because I surprisingly don’t hate SOME more rock-ish voices there (Paul Stanley isn’t my favorite, but he’s far from my least favorite)… Looking those videos up once I get home!

Since I’m going through all the characters, this version actually has Mme Giry AND the Persian, although Mme Giry is in her original role as box manager! Mme Giry was another great actor and singer, she had a few nice funny moments to break up the overall gravitas of the character.

The Persian… well, this gets into the whole weakness of the second act and of the Phantom character in general. The actor who played the Persian (as well as Mephistopheles) was great, and I didn’t really have a problem with HIS character so much as the needlessly convoluted backstory they gave him and the Phantom. Just about the ONLY sympathetic backstory we get from the Phantom comes from the Persian, and he’s actually pretty brunt about it, just outright calling him “disfigured” rather than a monster or a devil’s child or whatever… which yes, is correct, but it just feels like it’s never really communicated to the audience with any degree of emotion how the Phantom (who never gets a name here) has really been robbed by society’s fear of any chance to have a normal life.

Christine doesn’t have that moment where she sees his face and is initially horrified. She doesn’t see his face at all until the end, so never gets to speak sympathetically about him to others. The Phantom never talks about his OWN past. And what we get from the Persian is mostly about how good at torture he is, oh and that he killed their parents. Because the Persian is his brother.

And I just… that feels so unnecessary? And I think, throws something in there that doesn’t need to be, because is this story set in France, written in English, now commenting on the treatment of children with facial differences in Persia? I don’t really think so, I think it was just supposed to be a big reveal, but it really fell flat. And honestly, if the dude’s parents neglected and abused him… we’ve all been following the Gypsy Rose Blanchard thing for long enough to say, maybe not that it’s OKAY to murder an abusive parent, but it’s certainly a lot more sympathetic than the Persian makes it out to be.

So, in the end, the Phantom is trying to force Christine to marry him by… yelling at her and telling her Raoul is dead. There’s no scorpion and the grasshopper, no Raoul held hostage. If she says no, he’s probably going to kill her, but he’s planning to do that anyway, so it’s a little hard to say what either of them hope to get out of the situation.

And in the end I guess he repents and kills himself, and then all of a sudden all of these people who have been physically and psychologically tormented by him gather ‘round to sing about how he won’t die without a friend? And Christine says he was once her angel of music, but because we’ve never really seen them in the same scene before this, it’s hard to really feel anything about that.

The second act just felt like a huge disappointment after the first… and a lot of that just hung on the Phantom, both the way he was written and the way he was played and sung. I’m glad I saw it, and it’s really interesting to see the parallels either way certain scenes that probably inspired ALW. I was particularly glad to be introduced to Tayla Alexander. But I’m also not going to be going back, at least not during this run.

[phanblog]

Why Meg Giry is one of the best characters in Phantom

alr i have a lot of thoughts so here we go.

Meg is such an underrated character, and i believe it’s because she’s not portrayed as a love interest.

First of all. Meg was the first person to be shown supporting and encouraging Christine. She tells Andrè and Firmin that Christine could sing Think Of Me. She’s also the first person to comfort and show concern for Christine. In Angel Of Music, she tells Christine “Christine you’re talking in riddles and it’s not like you.” and “Your hands are cold, your face, Christine, it’s white.”.

Not only that, but Meg shows just as much, if not more courage than Raoul does. During "Track Down This Murderer", both Meg and Raoul chase Erik into the underbelly of the theater. Neither knew that the other person had gone down. I believe the only reason that Meg was not in the final standoff was because she hadn't taken the shortcut that Raoul had.

Whether or not Meg was in the final standoff isn't important though. Both her and Raoul rushed to go save Christine with no hesitation whatsoever, and neither of them knew what to expect. It's impressive for both of them, but especially Meg.

We have to consider that though Meg is absolutely a strong woman (being a ballerina and all), she's also much smaller than Erik, when Raoul is closer to his size. If Meg had gotten into a physical altercation with Erik, she likely would've lost. Think about how Erik managed to overpower both Joseph Buquet and Piangi, who are two very large and strong (at least Joseph must've been strong) men.

Meg knew that Phantom had killed both of them and still went after Erik with no concern for anyone but Christine. Meg was risking her life, and is just in general an underappreciated character.

I'd also like to point out that Meg was the one in the end to find Erik's mask.

01.03.24

[flagbridge]

PoTOmer 2024/5784 Masterpost

From April 23 -June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat.

Follow POTOMER for the posts.

(Gif of @lilykerhoas is from @or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra January 2024 (2) video)

Day 49: PHANART-Phantom Returns to Broadway (as a Lego)

Day 48: PHANFIC-No Vows, POTO Queer Week 2024

Day 47: PHANART-Journey to the Lair made with Legos

Day 46: (No Post, Shabbat)

Day 45: PHANFIC-Mes Amicales Pensees (Young R/C)

Day 44: GIFSET-West End '23-'24 Phantoms having a mental breakdown during AIAOY.

Day 43: PHANFIC-Phantom of the Capitol Crack AU Idea

Day 42: GIFSET- Jon Robyns & Lily Kerhoas, West End 2024

Day 41: PHANFIC-Sangfroid, a Raoul Navy POTO Dark Week Fic

Day 40: AUDIO-Connor Ewing Phantom Debut Full Audio Gift

DAY 39 (no post, Shabbat)

Day 38: GIFSET-Jon Robyns unique acting choice

Day 37: PHANART: POTO Lego Figurines (Again)

Day 36: GIFSET-NEW BOOT (Jon/Lily/Mikey)

Day 35: GIFSET-MOTN Goodness (Jon/Lily)

Day 34: GIFSET-The Boatride

Day 33: (Lag B’Omer Special): PHANFIC All Vows FINALE

Day 32: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 31: PHANFIC- All Vows Finale Teaser

Day 30: LIVE SHOW-POTO Vienna Goes Wrong

Day 29: COSPLAY-Meg Giry

Day 28: PHANART-POTO Lego Figurines!

Day 27: HEADCANON-My Raoul is a Composite Character

Day 26: PHANART-Erik x Mirrorbride

Day 25: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 24: GIFSET-Random POTO Broadway Phantom Gifs

Day 23: PHOTOSET/HEADCANON-La Sorelli in ALW

Day 22: VIDEO-Moisten the Lad

Day 21: PHOTOSET- POTO Uganda

Day 20: PHANART: Erik and his Violin

Day 19: FANFIC - All Vows Chapter 39

Day 18: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 17: PHANART- Various crack posts and inside jokes illustrated by @bonzlydoo

Day 16: PHOTOSET-Joe-Griffiths Brown feeding the people what they want as Raoul

Day 15: HEADCANON/Raoul Navy Uniform Musings

Day 14: GIFSET-Ethan Freeman bows to the monkey.

DAY 13: LEROUX: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GASTON LEROUX (Ethan Freeman Reads Leroux)

Day 12: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 38: my longfic that will be concluding at the end of May.

Day 11: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 10: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 10 (Catch Up)

Day 9: ADAPTATION: Ghost of Zariya Hollow

Day 8: HEADCANON: Christine's Swedish Accent

Day 7: COSPLAY Hannibal Slave Girl Bodice Construction

Day 6: GIFSET: Raouls who make choices appreciation post

Day 5: PHIC UPDATE: All Vows Chapter 37! (And a bonus gif of Lily and Jon)

Day 4: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 3: GIFSET: Cape Twirl Comparison, Current West End Phantoms ('23-'24)

Day 2: BRAINWORM: "Ne Me Touchez Pas"

Day 1: GIFSET Robyns/Kerhoas: The Kiss

[mazm-imagines]

Sorelli, Meg and Jammes,

Advice for someone who is a beginner dancer? (And quite insecure about it)

Btw y'all are awesome. I love u 3

"Oh my, thank you! I appreciate your admiration!" Sorelli clapped her hands together in delight at the kind words.

"When did you learn to use big words?! Are you really our Sorelli?!" Jammes gasped audibly, her lips forming an "O" in shock.

"Oh you cheeky little brat-! When I get my hands on you... Is that the first thing you can think of instead of saying thank you?" As soon as Sorelli bit back, Jammes ran across the stage in fear of what was to come. Sorelli followed soon after, leading the two practically leaping around like sheep in imitation of a chase.

"Thank you for being so nice! At least someone appreciates my twirling-! AHHH Sorelli you'll fall in the bush-! Sorelli-! Sorelli-!" Jammes shouted her gratitude in between prances, swiftly avoiding Sorelli's grabbing.

"... Thank you. Although I don't think I'm a very good dancer... I remember a few things from training." Meg had stayed quiet during the discord, finally opening her mouth to speak once she realized the other two were too busy to answer.

"It depends on the dance you want to do, but a basic first step would be to stretch, and stretch wisely. No need to over exert yourself in the beginning. Do exercises you need to loosen the joints and muscles you will use."

"Dancing is all about a rhythm! It's always a good idea to listen to what you want to dance to first!" Sorelli returned victoriously with Jammes under her arm.

"You two almost wrecked up the stage-! Please stop fighting..."

"I will when this brat learns to keep her mouth closed!"

"It's because it's true! Who taught you 'admiration'?!"

"Be quiet-!"

"Anyways! For dancing here, the teachers always make us count when the music plays- I don't like doing that though! Jumping around is so much fun instead... so I do that! And I'm the best dancer anyways! All the cats love to watch me! And that's all that matters!"

"... Yes Jammes you are the best dancer. But form is important! If you wander aimlessly you will never set your sights on a goal! I would recommend learning some basic movements, and once you feel as if you have those down, try to feel a rhythm in your body. Whether it be natural or to a piece, just feel. And start moving accordingly. Like how an artist uses a paintbrush to express themselves, dancers use movement to express their rhythm." Sorelli imparted her words with her typical passion, leaving almost no room to argue with.

"But, as Jammes said in her own way... enjoyment is just as important. Without passion you will never get anywhere, and my friend I see that you have that passion." She gave a small smile of encouragement.

"It's true... I can't dance because I don't really like to do it. But you are different, and we all believe in you."

"If Meg can be a dancer so can you! You should come dance with us any time you want! Ahhhh I want to show you the kitty Girys!"

"Jammes-! I told you to change their names..."

"But they like those names! I can't change it now!"

[serafimo]

on the docket to make (in no particular order):

colleen rose curran appreciation gifset

jon robyns phantom hands

maiya hikasa as meg giry

holly-anne hull's last show gifset(s) still crazy that i commissioned the vid tbfh...

katie hall as fantine

haley dortch as fantine

lulu-mae pears as cosette

nathania ong as eponine

ruby church as eponine

les miserables 10th anniversary concert

les miserables 25th anniversary concert

les miserables 2019 concert

aimee lou wood as sally bowles

grace hodgett-young as eurydice and all of uk hadestown tbfh

isa briones as eurydice and jfish!

aaron tveit as sweeney todd

josh and annaleigh's last show

maria bilbao appreciation gifset

jojo levesque as satine appreciation gifset

solea pfeiffer in hamlet

phillippa soo in camelot

elizabeth teeter in beetlejuice

isabella esler in beetlejuice

love never dies 2023 concert

frozen west end and na tour

[queerolddad]

Soft poto h/c incoming:

Erik had never given little Meg Giry much thought. He knew she was Christine’s closest friend and he could appreciate their bond, but he didn’t assign her much importance. Until, that is, she pushed Christine boldly forward with a fervent proclamation of her abilities.

He had an elaborate plan to secure Christine the role of Prima Donna, the first step of which being the slow, methodical (light) torture of La Carlotta. It seemed the rest of his plan was rendered moot by one plucky ballerina. He would be sure to leave a rather heartfelt note and a bouquet of roses in her dressing room.

As Christine moved to the front of the stage and warbled out the first few notes of the aria, his heart broke. Her moment was finally here — their moment — she just needed to embrace it. Madame Giry’s cane cracked against the stage and it shook him from his panic. He began to sing, throwing his voice to play in her ear as he had done so many times before, with this very song. He saw the spark in her eyes as she heard him, guiding her through the melody. As she grew in confidence he drew back, accompanying her with a subtle harmony. By the end she was soaring through the notes all on her own, bringing each company member — and one ghost, in the darkness of box five — to tears.

[finalthreshold]

belated phantom of the opera 1/23 notes

jeremy stolle, julia udine, paul a schaefer were my trio. lots of understudies overall! when i was waiting at the box office for standing room tickets i made a comment to my friend like "hoping for an understudy for tonight!" and then i got there and there were sooo many names on the board. meg was kelly loughran and she was SO cute. i heard greg mills was originally supposed to be on that night though and i feel so bad he was out, especially since he missed the 35th :(

during think of me when christine tries to leave, meg moved towards her and looked apologetic, like she felt bad she put christine in a situation she was uncomfortable in, but she jumped back when madame giry banged her stick on the ground. it was a cute moment.

i love jeremy's phantom! so detailed and i love how he's able to be malicious and mocking and menacing and yet so heartrending and sympathetic and these two sides of him never feel incongruous or inconsistent. his delivery is great too, especially in how he talks to the managers, carlotta and especially raoul later on.

i didn't really like julia's christine much when i saw her a few months ago and i realized now that part of it was that i just didn't like her christine with ben's phantom. her portrayal still isn't my favorite but i still appreciate her take and there were some things she did that i really loved

the mask return, for example, was a really nice moment where you could see her feelings of fear and pity for him at war and the pity ultimately winning and there's a sense of compassion to her returning it. she's not asking him to hide his face because she's scared of him, she's giving him back the mask because he's broken and crying without it? and there was a long lingering moment after that where he reached for her face and it looked like he almost understood that that was her intent and was hoping or maybe even believing that fear actually could possibly turn to love, but then caught himself and snarled out the "come we must return" and pulled her up very suddenly.

jeremy's phantom overall felt like he needed to be in control. he felt so trapped in his own monstrosity and his own conviction of his monstrosity that he sabotaged genuine moments of connection he had with christine because he couldn't let himself be truly vulnerable. it still shown through though, that vulnerability and love for her.

his stdyi was fantastic. he sounded so biting and hateful when he talked abotu himself, and then becoming more and more broken and pathetic as he drew nearer to her. i feel like i could spend forever thinking about and analyzing his performance and not get tired of it.

paul was... kind of off for a fair bit of the performance? just kinda low energy. he flubbed a line in aiaoy and tried to sing "lead me save me from my solitude" at first instead of "let me lead you from your solitude." aiaoy had kind of been low chemistry (which was weird, bc i remember paul and julia having pretty fine chemistry and the two shows i saw with ben/julia/paul trio feeling much more r/c?) but it felt a little more natural after the mess up, actually?? they were kinda stiff feeling but seemed more familiar after the flub idk.anyways i'd heard he wasn't a super consistent actor, but i thought he was solid every time i saw him a few months ago so idk?

a lot was obscured in standing room. i was very glad i'd seen the show before AND had plans to see it again from proper seats (i ended up seeing it three other times haha) but for $29? not bad (remember when you could get rear mezz for $29 tho hahahaha sobs) but it was cool focusing on the stuff i don't normally look at. i was glad i had binoculars too tho since the back of that orchestra is pretty far from the stage

the saddest "dont gOo :(" during the graveyard scene.

carrington vilmont as passarino mixed up the lyrics for don juan. he and carlton moe didn't miss a beat though and carried it off effortlessly! i was like i KNOW thats not right but i cant even tell what isn't right about it.

throwing the mannequin so it hits the ground on the beat is so unreasonably funny to me i love it.

i said before i loved jeremy's phantom's line delivery towards raoul and it's just perfect in the final lair he's so gleefully malicious and a bit sarcastic at times? it's great.

but in contrast, i thought the way he said/did things in final lair towards christine were at times almost.. soft? he wasn't rough at all with putting the veil on her or giving her the bouquet. he also made the saddest face when julia, very bitterly, said "please raoul, it's useless" and i loved how he sat on the throne. he was like. perched on the edge of it, turned away. his body language was very tense and tight, and it seemed like it got increasingly difficult for him to look at her as the final lair went on.

he was still threatening and scary at moments though. there was a great duality to his performance.

"so do you end your days with me or do you send him to his grave" is a line i'm used to being delivered with more intensity, threateningly, but jeremy was so... pleading? im obsessed with it actually.

he really was so trapped in himself, in his own decisions and view of himself, and it felt like he felt like none of them had a choice here and he wanted christine to understand that so badly, that he doesn't want to hurt her but what else can he do? this is what he is.

when she kisses him, he did the flail but then looked like he was going to embrace her on the second kiss and then right before he did his hands sort of curled up and he pulled away.

it was like he felt that he'd never had any choice but to be this monster, and then realized now that he does have a choice, and he chooses to let her go. all this time he's been wanting christine to see him as a man, not a monster, but he can't even see himself as anything but a monster until that moment?

he was the only phantom i saw in that week (out of three total) who only said one i love you at the ring return, and i'm glad he didn't repeat the i love you, because as broken as he was, i felt like he needed to make that choice too to let her go? idk. catharsis of tragedy or whatever. something like that. i don't know.

kelly loughran's meg seemed almost dazed when she's in the lair, like she doesn't know what to make of it. she almost staggers towards the throne. considering how affectionate and concerned she was for christine the entire time, i felt like she was expecting to see christine there and was really surprised to find it empty and was a bit scared by that fact?

i might have had a less than ideal seat (... well, i didnt even have a seat), and there were a couple odd or low energy moments but overall i still had a really great time and i thought for the most part everyone gave really great performances! especially jeremy stolle whose phantom has been living rent free in my head for over a week now (he was also incredibly nice and easy to talk to at stagedoor!!!)