#nypl digital archives

[broccolidevourer]

This is insane but I actually fell in love with Timothy Scott's cryptic misto after all these years AGAIN! Like days ago Ken Page passed away and I was searching for his pics and even went to the MUNY's 1973 collections. HOWEVER I accidentally found our cryptic misto had actually did two shows (fiddler on the roof & south pacific) with Old D back in 1973 when they were like both teens and that blown me away. Anyway I got my account back(which wasn't in use for a while and I cleared up all the posts before) and it's time to go through old photos I collected when I was crazy about OBC and Tim. Also, congratulations on Tim and Ken's heavenly reunion.(Wonder if anyone has seen the full video tape in NYPL, please DM me)

I think in OBC preview Misto and Victoria had a tap duet as cockroaches but that was removed. Also, misto(Tim) and Victoria(Cynthia) appeared in 2 other shows together(a chorus line& dancin') and were great friends, cool huh. I love how they were like a family (Last pic 1973 MUNY South Pacific rehearsal)Ask me anything!

[image-junkie]

Bill Barvin's New York, 1992-1998. New York Public Library Digital Archives. Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy

Terrace view, Central Park West

15th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues

Avenue D Laundromat

Over 3,000 35mm negative strips and 1,000 print photographs related to Barvin's career as a location manager and scout for television, film, and video projects filmed in New York and New Jersey as well as Connecticut and Pennsylvania and arranged into series primarily by location. Images are of interiors of occupied and unoccupied apartments, lofts, homes, businesses, schools, churches, theaters, laundromats, factories, warehouses, and offices along with exteriors of properties as well as street views of larger exterior locations. Series contains photographs that were taped or glued together into manila folders to create a detailed view of the location. The collection also includes one box of production documentation materials.

[circa-obsolete]

Poster from the first earth 🌍 day!

C. 1970

Happy Earth Day!

[flagbridge]

I Saw the Phantom Proshot at the NYPL

Happy 36th birthday to Phantom's first preview on Broadway! I was going to save this post for the actual 36th, but I figure all of us need some more Phantom Broadway "original" content since the official Insta accounts are reminding us today that Phantom is no longer (though it should be) on Broadway. I'm going to post about what I saw, and I'll follow up on January 26 with all my answers!

Some time ago, @or-what-you-will and I went to the NYPL's Theater on Film and Tape Archive, and viewed the archival pro shot of the Original Broadway Cast of Phantom of the Opera, filmed live on May 25, 1988. There is only one copy, and its purpose is artistic preservation (not commercial distribution--the library owns it). It was kept under lock and key during the show's run. All information about how to access the archive is on the website. I can't really tell you anything more besides what's out there because it will become identifying. You get set up in a room with monitors and can pause and rewind, although you can't touch the media.

This was not my first TOFT proshot, but it was the best-filmed. Some, there's a single camera just parked, or there's some generation loss because of when the tape was transferred to digital. This had absolutely vivid colors, a multi-camera shot, and brilliant and clear soundboard audio. I heard lyrics I have never heard (especially during Notes when everyone is singing over one another), the sound balancing was so good. It was as transformative as seeing it live.

These are all the notes we took while there (apologize if they can seem disjointed) More below the cut.

ACT 1 NOTES: 

-Multicam shot

-amazing audio (soundboard), vivid colors

-Raoul/Barton is crying in his voice during the auction

-there’s a “voice” that sounds like a woman singing with the overture (maybe a theramin?) We jumped in shock at this. We've never heard this before, not even on soundboard.

-Sarah Brightman comes on stage during the Hannibal rehearsal, moving across the stage with Meg during “Rome not Roma”--so she dances in the front row during the Hannibal ballet

-Hannibal ballet then has 10 dancers and since Christine is in the whole thing, there is slightly different choreo

-there’s a synth under Meg’s “he’s there, the phantom of the opera” 

-Firmin lights a cigarette and Andre (Future Phantom Cris Groenendaal) stops him right before “Think of Me’ which makes the “Defense de Fumer” on the back of the curtain make even more sense

-Think of Me Gala skirt is not as full (but of note, Carlotta’s Elissa costume is much more ornate than we have now or even at the end of Broadway)

-Raoul sings slightly different notes in Think of Me. Steve Barton goes down a few notes on “young and innocent” (it’s not belted) and is clearly wistful. 

-The think of me cadenza is absolutely effortless

-The “Bravi, Bravi” is haunting and perfectly sound balanced!

-Meg can actually sing and the Angel of Music harmonies work

-Raoul (Steve Barton) is nervous before going into the dressing room. He taps his fingers on the banister and takes a deep breath before going in

-He’s also nervous inside the dressing room–you can see him going from seeing an old friend to suddenly having feelings, being attracted to her. When he’s standing behind her he has a slight moment when he nearly touches a lock of her hair. 

-Raoul is wearing a ring on his right hand (signet?)

-Steve Barton says MY Little Lotte

-Christine (Brightman) is excited about meeting the Angel of music and has a wanting and longing in “Enter at LAST master” (in a way that Lily Kerhoas does now and we haven’t had many Christines who do this) 

-The picture is VERY CLEAR and NO WASHOUT when we see Michael Crawford appear in the mirror for Phantom’s entrance. You see everything

-When the door opens for Raoul to the dressing room after they go through the mirror, it opens slowly (vs banging open). It’s the same tempo that Phantom moves to take Christine through the mirror

-1925 Phantom silhouette vibes at the first “sing for me” 

-Not a particularly aggressive cape twirl, but def a twirl. 

-They get VERY close on “turn your face away”, almost kiss (like, Russians, Panaro/Joseph close) 

- he has a nice portcullis sprawl but she does not press against him, there is visible space between them the entire time

-”Caress” and “hear it, feel it” are explicitly seductive, the former in how it’s sung, the latter because he self-caresses on “feel it”

-the “Touch me” in touch me/trust me is half sung/half spoken order, she strokes her hand over the mask and he does not pull away

-He does have a little panic when she faints and he covers her with the cloak. He’s holding her hair when he sings to her there

-At the unmasking, MC holds for a brief moment before covering his face with his hand so the audience gets a peek of the deformity (before “damn you”) 

-Vixen not viper

-Crawls on knees, not stomach. We get…lots of crying and whimpering 

-Christine sees his face a lot during this sequence. MC lowers his hand as soon as he’s on her side of the stage from “secretly dreams of beauty” to “Oh Christine”, when he turns away–but she is looking at him the entire time. MC is angled right by a mirror shard so we can see a bit of the deformity reflected back

-Right before “come we must return”, MC is about to cup her face with both his hands before changing his mind–she starts to reach for him as well. 

-His Mandarin robe is much longer than we have now (ankle length vs calf length) 

-This Giry has witch vibes

-Steve Barton is playing eager puppy Raoul and it shows even though he looks older (Barton was 35 at the time)

-The sound balancing is so good that you can hear lines you don’t normally hear during Notes 1 and Prima Donna–including the Managers thinking that Christine has just been off with Raoul all night. 

-Sarah Brightman does a different pose on the bed as the pageboy during Il Muto. She crosses her legs vs putting her hands on her hips. 

-Firmin yells “the role of Christine Daae” to the proscenium, clearly directed at Phantom

-Barton Raoul’s “There is no Phantom of the Opera” comes off more as “Christine this is just some dude” vs “he doesn’t exist at all.” 

-Raoul loves Christine so much. He strokes her hair gently to comfort her right before “No more talk of darkness”--his eyes are soft and he’s genuinely caring and concerned (vs trying to be a hero) 

-”All I ask is for one love one lifetime”--different lyrics, she does it twice (This is on soundboards from the time)

-Raoul puts his face to Christine’s hands at the proposal. 

-Christine is clearly kissing his cheek right next to his mouth during the kiss (the final lair kiss is a real kiss) 

-Christine’s “I must go” is not as playful as we often see it later. She really is trying to go. 

-Raoul is nervous at “Christine, I love you”--he lowers his head for a moment worried that he said something wrong. He’s excited when she replies “order your fine horses”

-AIAOY Reprise: Michael Crawford is partially slumped over the angel, he’s holding hands with it to the audience’s right, and arm is slumped over on the left. We get a lot of anguished weeping, and little distressed moans as Christine and Raoul sing, there is rocking and head shaking and then covering his ears. It’s a HUGE difference then when he stands up fully for “You will curse” (he does this again during final lair between “unfeeling scrap of clothing” and “pity comes too late) 

-He also roars before standing

-The Phantom laugh/cackle continues well into the chandelier drop into intermission at the light cut out for about 15 seconds. 

Act II

-Carlotta masquerade costume has no mesh in the skirt–it’s much more of a see-through skeleton crinoline, so the feature is the purple tights

-Not surprising since Sarah Brightman is a dancer, but Christine does the proper choreography during Masquerade--she's the center of attention. Barton also does quite a bit of dancing.

-There’s an organ (almost like a circus organ) underlying the finale during masquerade

-Red Death double doesn’t run down the stairs, he stays at the top

-Giry/Raoul exchange after masquerade–both holding the lantern and super closeup

-Reyer is clearly gay–coded. Some voice and hand gestures during Sitzprobe

-Wishing–only one “help me say goodbye” (when did the second one get added?)

-”Far-reaching” gaze, Wandering Child is a duet

-Piangi says “conquest” is assured (at some point, this became “congress”)

-Michael Crawford imitates Piangi until “past the point…”

-Sarah as Christine is listening intently to Phantom’s voice and immediately noticed something is off–she doesn’t figure it out right away but she notices something. She is suspicious the entire time. It's not clear when she knows for certain.

-Christine never flees from him, during the first caresses, he hovers over her body, she turns to kiss him, he turns away, her hand lingers on her back, before she gets up to sing her solo part away from the table

-Michael Crawford’s hands are in in his crotch when Christine’s singing on the other side of the stage (“you have come here”)--he’s moving his palms in his lap the whole time, his hands are shaking, we only get glimpses of him, most of this part it’s focused on her

-There is none of the arm waving circling while their hands are held, she takes his hands, he switches his grip to hold one of hers, and they keep them on him

-She figures it out when she reaches down–she’s holding his hands above him and she pushes her left (our right) hand down and he pulls and she notices something–we can only see to his upper waist but her hand disappears and her expression changes, it’s implied he has an erection

-she doesn’t ever feel the mask, either accidentally or on purpose

-She doesn’t actually ever try to escape. It’s not the current West End or the past blocking–but more accurate in that she is aware of the situation and plays along. She keeps going with the blocking

-they both get up and keep singing, neither drags the other to the centre, they move together and keep singing 

-The last “return”--he sings it at the unhooding, she doesn’t

-”Say you’ll share with me”--he is really pleading and almost crying on “say you want me” 

-The managers don’t come out to try to usher her offstage, she doesn’t signal to them to stay

-When Phantom gives her the ring, she takes it, but doesn’t put it on–she just holds it

-He doesn’t scream at the unmasking, he just looks shocked and sad

-Ratcatcher order is different–it’s after Raoul and Giry’s first lines, that’s the indication that Giry needs to turn around, Giry screams

-Phantom is crying at “flesh” and through “unfeeling scrap of clothing”, he’s also hunched over through this sequence, and then stands to his full height at “Pity comes too late.”

-Phantom makes a big show of raising the portcullis, hands fully raised

-Raoul swats at Erik with one hand (the other is still on the noose) when Phantom grabs Christine on “start a new life” 

-Phantom is probably the “minimum” amount of rough as we see Phantoms be with Christine in this sequence, as in, he’s definitely scary and menacing but he’s not harming her. He does grab her and spin her around on “start a new life with me.” There are a few wrist grabs (which is book accurate). He’s realizing more that his plan is absolutely crumbling. We get some shots of him on the organ looking panicked.

-Phantom makes a low growling noise before “you try my patience”, which is delivered quickly and almost casually. It is not menacing as some later Phantoms do. 

-”Pitiful creature”..MC’s hand is subtly shaking by his side

-The kiss: the 1st one MC stands with “claw hands” at his side, on the second one, the “claw hands” start shaking

-MC hunches over after he burns the noose

-He stands over the monkey, conducting it with one hand, he is mimicking the symbol clashes, he doesn’t touch it or cover its face

-When Christine returns the ring, his hand shakes as he takes it, he’s hunched over again. 

-She does seem conflicted about leaving, but she doesn’t press her hand back around his, she holds out the ring and his hand shakes as she takes it. She doesn’t linger very long. 

-He says a second “I love you” after she’s gone.

-He’s about to say it a third time, he says “I love…” and then see the veil, and grabs it and screams into it, and then turns and sees the boat leaving

-He sobs and keens a lot

-Raoul bends in the boat to caress Christine’s face on “say the word”)--this is halfway across the stage as opposed to during the stage right exit.

-Deliberately cracks voice on the "can" in “you alone can make” 

-MC Cradling the veil like a baby at the very end

SEND ME YOUR QUESTIONS! You can put it in comments, reblogs, AMA or DM's. I will answer all of them on January 26!

[werewiire]

Richard Kavanaugh as Renfield in the 1977 Broadway revival of the play ‘Dracula’.

( images courtesy of the NYPL digital archives )

[vinceaddams]

It's neat to go look at the recently digitized page on the NYPL archive site, there's always such a wide variety of new stuff there.

[saturn-c]

Hello, im an amateur archivist trying to find any surviving footage of John Cazale out of character (outside his 5 feature films and The American Way) and i stumbled upon your blog among others, as I noticed that you have visited the NYPL

i have so far found that he made an appearance on NBC sometime in 1972, but made no more progress as to getting a hold of the archives- my not living in the US hinders many efforts. are you perhaps aware of anyone to ask around, or found anything yourself? i realize i may be overstepping and i apologize for the intrusion

EXCELLENT ASK! There is an item in the NYPL that I was unable to view in 2022 because it was in the queue to be digitized. It's an audio recording of Cazale and Pacino in 1976 rehearsals for 'The Local Stigmatic'. So there is a slim chance that recording has John's non-acting voice on it. I was told by the clerks to check back in a few months, so when I return next year I hope the recording is available.

I am very interested to hear more about this NBC appearance, and if you care to communicate with me further I would love to investigate on your behalf. Please send me another ask, or send me an email at [redacted—EDIT: User reached me at my email😊]. If the NBC appearance is real, I will do my UTMOST to get my hands on it!!

If you haven't seen this already, John also appears in a NYPD episode called 'The Peep Freak' in 1968, which you can view here on Youtube. I imagine this doesn't meet your criteria because it is a scripted in-character appearance but there you go anyway.

Very excited at a new lead on Cazale material, and I hope to hear from you soon!

[buriedinleather]

info about photography / edits

lol, i doubt anyone will read this or care, but w/e i have time to burn :'D

your local photog here to remind you that copyright law is merciless & doesn't care much about if you don't know what you're doing or do - if you're profiting off of edits of photos / using them in work you are getting to do be CAREFUL. places like pinterest, tumblr, twitter, etc are NOT good sources to get images ethically. even the more acceptable options for free photos only go as far as to protect their users. indemnification clauses only do so much! know what your rights are as a creator making a profit off of edits. know what licensing the photos you are using have available. just because there's a lower risk of getting caught doesn't mean that things couldn't possibly get fucky - and, honestly, you gotta decide if it's worth fuckin' over other creatives if you keep using stuff that's not been ethically gained!

( example : if you grab a stolen photo off of pinterest and use it for your edit, sure there's an inherent risk of getting told to stop using it or worse, but that's also money out of another artist's pocket. and, of course, the photog could potentially ask you to pay for licensing or, worst case scenario, sue! )

it's getting pretty fucking easy to find photos that have been taken / misused - protect yourself, protect other creatives. there's a lot of stock open for non-commercial use and plentyyyy of stuff that you can use for free on the up and up - your results may vary, ofc, but pleaaase try.

Under the cut is a list of links - places where you can find public domain photos, info about creative commons, and info about different public domain photo sites.

Library Of Congress - Public Domain Photos Sample ( Primarily older images! There is an entire online section outside this that's comprised of millions of images, but rights differ for some collections. )

New York Public Library: Public domain digital collection ( Keep in mind this also has a lot of archived historical content - please don't traumatize yourself. You can see NYPL's statement on historic content here. I personally suggest just searching up exactly what you need - for example, you can pull a lot of lovely botanical drawings! )

Smithsonian Open Access: Everything from photos of wild animals, to vintage furniture, and more!

National Gallery Of Art: Their permanent collection has an open access policy for both commercial and non-commercial use.

Creative Commons Info: Information about the various types of CC licensing - also has a repository of CC images!

Images: A Guide To Visual Resources: UIC has an entire online section about using visual resources, public domain, and attribution for different types of content. Neat!

Pros & Cons Of Different Photo Sites: If you're not sure of where to start or need something more specific than what galleries / museums offer, you can consider places like Pexels, Wiki Commons, etc.

[insidemyfavoritemanuscript]

Episode 6: Emily Friedman on Fiction, Fan Fiction, and Writing for a Community

Title page for Reuben Rattle, from NYPL

In Episode 6 of Inside My Favorite Manuscript, Dot sits down with 18th century literary scholar Emily Friedman to talk about manuscript novels in the long 18th century. We talk about several different books, many written as gifts, and most written by women. You shouldn’t be shocked to hear that our conversation veers into discussions of fan fiction more than once. Our podcast’s first non-medieval manuscript, we hope you enjoy!

Listen here, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Join our mailing list to receive weekly updates about the IMFM pod!

Below the cut are links to the books discussed in the episode, and further reading.

Books mentioned in the episode:

The Life of Frederick Harley (a few photos on the site, which contains a lot of other interesting things) http://manuscriptfiction.org/

Navy Officer (fully digitized) - https://auburn.box.com/s/5qsmcvghq7k2a7xpgwllmqp4d9o9fsxx

Corinne - https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9949825343503681 - the volumes aren’t fully digitized, but I took some photos to include here.

Link to Twitter thread about George McDonald’s roll of The Light Princess (1864), including a video of the roll unfurled.

George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. "Reuben Rattle the younger son" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed December 4, 2022. (fully digitized) https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/26e71df0-c6d7-0134-bcfe-00505686a51c

Megan Rosenbloom. Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 2020)

***

Emily Friedman’s Main website: https://www.ecfriedman.com/

Selected relevant publications:

“Austen Among the Amateurs” Austen After 200. Eds. Kerry Sinanan, Daniel Cook, and Annika Bautz. (Palgrave 2022)

“Must Anonymous Be a Woman? Gender and Anonymity in the Archives” Special Issue on “Women in Archives” (Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature Winter/Spring 2021).

“Eluding Print: Manuscript Fiction and the Survival of Scribal Practices in the Age of Print” Special issue of Huntington Library Quarterly by the Women in Book History Research Group (Summer 2021)

“Novel Knowledge, or Cleaning Dirty Data: Towards Open-Source Histories of the Novel,” Data Visualization in Enlightenment Literature and Culture. (Palgrave 2021)

"Ownership, Copyright, Ethics of the Unpublished" in Access, Control, and Dissemination in Digital Humanities (Routledge 2021)

"Amateur Manuscript Fiction in the Archive: An Introduction." For After Print, (Ed. Rachael King). University of Virginia Press 2020.

"Becoming Catherine Morland: A Cautionary Tale of Manuscripts in the Archive" Persuasions 39 (2018). [preprint available here]

[sophiepatztone]

Week 11: November 13th - Prototype 4

Lowkey the title of this is misleading because this week was more about finding direction, organizing ideas, and collecting materials than creating a new prototype.

I met with both Jeff and Nancy to discuss the progress of my project and here were my key takeaways:

Try different ways of working. Make something with a direct stance or only explore collage through visual. Try cutting up objects and images

Meaning could come from source material

Paint into collage... i.e. Rauschenberg combines

Scan, print, cut, re-collage...

Themes of duplication in mass media

Fred Tomaselli: Pills and Thrills

Joseph Cornell

I have a template for montage with small, medium, large, texture, competing perspective

If I am the channel through which images are passing, what images are circulating through me? Which ones do I want to keep? What images resonate with me and why?

Let digital materiality come forth... pixels, blur, color halftone

Run pics through photoshop. Look at physicality and quality of printed photos

Show limits of digital technology?

Andreas Gursky

Sarah Sze

Visual Research is listed here.

After discussing my progress with professors and classmates, I concluded that I need to collect more images. My goal over the break and before the final critique is to create an image archive with as many images I can get, which may include going to the NYPL and accessing their collection. I'll see what kinds of materials I can find while I am home too. Overall, I needed this week to make sure I was still going in the right direction and make sure it was ok that I don't have an explicit statement yet. I feel like I have a good framework going into the final crit.

[image-junkie]

Alen MacWeeney, New York City Subway, 1977. Gelatin Silver Prints. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, New York Public Library Digital Collections.

[letlionslie]

reference later

[mackenzee]

"What's Sweeter than Literary Leisure?" – a Bibliographic Analysis

Project Title – ‘What's Sweeter than Literary Leisure?’ a bibliographic analysis of Memoires relating to the state of the Royal Navy of England, for ten years, determin'd December 1688

Project Description – This paper engages with descriptive and analytical bibliography, concerned with studying the ‘book as object’ through a multilayered perspective. Books were assigned from the New York Public Library’s Rare Books collection for the purpose of critical bibliographic evaluation. My research synthesizes material information like collation, binding, paper, type elements, and design attributes; while presenting contemporary cultural relevance of physical evidence. 

Methods – I conducted an intensive bibliographic study of a first edition, second

issue copy of Memoires relating to the state of the Royal Navy of England, for ten years, determin'd December 1688 by Samuel Pepys. Composing my bibliography involved an assessment of value, condition, and material evidence; both on-site at NYPL’s Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, and remotely using my own photographic documentation against digital surrogates. Throughout the semester, I engaged with a variety of resources – publications from Samuel Pepys’ scholars, early New York Public Library Bulletins, multiple University Library Catalogs, the English Short Title Catalog, early publishing house records, early and contemporary Auction Catalogs, and the Gravell Watermark Archive – to support my resolutions.   

My Role – I am the sole creator of this paper.

Read my final paper here | View my collation here | View my presentation here right click to open in new tab

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Learning Outcome Achieved – Research

Rationale – This project required us to research our assigned book thoroughly in order to contextualize it within historical and contemporary bibliographic conversations. This assessment predominantly required physical documentation in addition to text-based evidence. Multiple research appointments were performed on-site to materially evaluate the ‘book as object,’ compile photographic evidence, and consult with secondary sources. Throughout this course, I became familiar with numerous bibliographic resources essential for efficiently administering bibliographic research – as mentioned above.   

back

[flagbridge]

Q&A: The Phantom Broadway Proshot

Happy 36th Birthday to Phantom of the Opera's opening night on Broadway! We should be celebrating at the Majestic. The show never should have closed.

In order to create "new" ish POTO Broadway content, @or-what-you-will and I promised to answer your questions about the proshot on POTO Broadway's birthday. Find our summary of the Proshot here.

We got dozens of questions, which we've consolidated into 14 questions. Read them all past the cut!

Wait, what’s the Phantom Proshot?

The Phantom Proshot is an archival copy of the original Broadway cast and production of Phantom of the Opera, filmed at the evening performance with a live audience on May 25, 1988. The New York Public Library, Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center has archival copies of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional theater going back to 1970. You can’t view currently running shows, so since Phantom ran for so long, it was under lock and key.

2. How do I see the Pro-Shot? 

Pretty simple how to guide here on the NYPL website. 

We are both NYPL cardholders and made a reservation in advance. You are required to state why you are accessing the recording as they exist for archival and research purpose. Both of us are published authors and researchers under our real names. 

Here's a picture of the room we were in from NYPL's website. We had an appointment and were set up in a room with lots of monitors. We were seated at monitors next to each other with two sets of headphones and had one set of controls to pause/rewind etc. There are 20 monitors in the room and it was pretty full that day. This was not my first time at the TOFT and it’s always had a good number of people around. 

3. Can someone get a boot of it/send me the link to it? Pleeeeease? 

No. Seriously, stop asking about this. Stop joking about this. It’s not online, and never will be. All of the recordings are on digital media (videodiscs or DvDs) in the basement and only library staff get to touch them. Don’t be the person who tried to do this and ruins the archive for everyone else. You can’t even bring electronic devices into the room.

4. Why won’t they release it to the public? And who the heck does it benefit to keep this locked away?

It isn’t. It was locked away when the show was actually running. It is available to the public. We are the public! We have library cards and went to a public library and watched it for $0! It’s owned by the library so the public can see it! At the library! 

The availability of us to access it now that the show has closed is what constitutes public release. There were several other phans, members of the public there to see it after us, and the library allowed them to max out the number of monitors the library allows people to view on. They had a later appointment and were watching disc one when we were on disc two. I’m sure there was someone after them too. Were we all wearing Phantom gear? Also yes. 

(@or-what-you-will here) The library is not allowed to show recordings of anything currently running on Broadway, presumably because of fears about economic loss from those who own the rights to the musicals. The library does not own the rights to the musicals in the archive, and there are likely a lot of stipulations the library has to follow to be able to have recordings like this. 

As someone who works in a library doing digitization work, libraries and the media they contain are very complicated. TOFT likely has the rights to show it under a very limited license, and to make copies for preservation purposes only, but things like this mean they would not be able to do anything like put it online or charge for it or do anything that would be them acting as though they owned the copyright (as opposed to the physical media). This is why when a library or archive has a book or tapes they don’t usually have the right to photocopy the entire book or digitize the entire tape and put it online (unless it is in public domain), however, if you go in person you can see it all you want. Someone else (usually the creator) owns the right to distribute or copy, and libraries and archives can get in a lot of trouble for violating it. 

The copyright is still owned by the holders of each respective musical’s copyright. It’s essentially like when you buy a DVD and you are technically not supposed to copy that DVD but you can invite your friends over to watch it at your house. Copying it and distributing it violates copyright. Putting it online violates copyright. If the library violated copyright it would likely lose the ability to archive musicals altogether. If you copied the DVD it would be a lot harder to find out who put it up because the DVD is owned by lots of people, though you could still be prosecuted by the law. If the library did, they would know immediately who did it because they are presumably the only ones with a copy of this recording. 

Likewise if someone took a bootleg recording of a show and distributed it, the copyright holders wouldn’t know it existed. If they found out that individual would then be eligible to be prosecuted under the law. Because the library is a public institution, if they were found out to be doing this, it would be the library itself that would get in trouble and it would damage their reputation, their funding, and quite possibly the funding and reputation of libraries around the world. A lot of this is done on trust. The copyright holders trust the library as a public institution and the library has a lot more stakes in the game than a single person recording the show and distributing it.

It’s a very tenuous agreement at times, and likely the library is only allowed to even record because there are so many protections in place and they have a history of enforcing these rules. These agreements also usually cover digitization and preservation, but again, violating them could have those abilities taken away as well. It’s all tied up in copyright law and the library has no control over that. I have talked to archivists where I live who have to record performances with tape over the lens because it’s considered for preservation and they want to make sure it cannot be possible to profit off of it in any way. 

When the show goes into public domain they will be able to put it online all they want without fear of repercussions, but until then, unless those agreements change, we are all limited by the whim of the copyright holders.

5. Hello! Is the pro shot you watched what this clip is from https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp2_80CJqI3/?igsh=MWNja2wwYWw4OHUwbw== ?

I know all of us here on Tumblr were freaking out that they maybe had a copy of the pro shot when this came out. Thank you! (@imstillhere-butallislost)

Not the proshot, it's a press reel. It has its own cool story though! Answered this here.

6. How good of a shot was it? I know you said ProShot but is it a ProShot like Hamilton or just a camera recording the whole stage at once?

I’d definitely say it was Hamilton pro-shot quality as to what was available at the time between image quality and mixing up of close ups and wide shots. I’ve watched other proshots and many just park a camera in the back of the orchestra and call it good. Cats in particular had multiple cameras but just did close-ups when they felt like it, not when it made sense or added anything. As @or-what-you-will explained in their re-blog, Phantom was one of the first proshots where they had a soundboard plug in, and let me tell you, with the exception of a few moments in Act 1 where Sarah Brightman maxes out her mic, the sound was delicious. Have we talked about how Judy Kaye is singing over the overture (yes, that’s Judy Kaye, original Carlotta, warming up!)? Or that you can hear every single word of Notes I and Prima Donna and Notes II, which usually just sounds garbled because everyone is singing over one another? Actually hearing words that I sort of know exist changed my experience of the show for me. 

7. How did the tempo seem, compared to the pace of the show at the end of its run? I saw the show a few times in the last few years, and the music seemed significantly faster in person than it sounded on the London cast recording. I’ve always wondered if that was just a difference between the London and NY productions, or if the tempo just sped up over the years.

Uh…normal pace??? I’ve watched a lot of boots and most solidly clock in 2:15 of run time. This was no different. There are definitely some that run a little faster. London during Earl Carpenter’s 2023 run was notorious as he had to catch a train. It does seem to have settled back out. I will say, the music does always feel more intense in person because the whole place just vibrates. 

8. I'm curious about the comment about the Ratcatcher? I think I remember that character from a film adaptation, but was he ever in the ALW musical? (@lord-valery-mimes)

Yes, Ratcatcher is still in the musical, even now. It’s a blink or you miss it type of moment. If you hear a thud and a scream right before Madame Giry tells Raoul “He lives across the Lake, Monsieur”, the thud is the ratcatcher running across the travelator.

9. Does Christine really recognize the Phantom in PONR from his boner? 

No, but at this point she probably already know it’s him and has been trying to get through the scene, but definitely acts surprised because, well, that’s surprising. But it’s definitely the moment where the Vibes Are Officially Off. 

10. Can Sarah Brightman act? 

Yes! All three of the trio have far more nuanced performances on stage. Sarah doesn’t act the way that we do see many later Christines (including late 80s and early 90s Christines), but she absolutely created the blueprint for the role. Her “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” is missing some soul, but at the end of the day she was one of a kind, and she made some very strong acting choices. 

11. there anything unexpected? Any interpretation that stood out to you and particularly striking but didn’t stick around as others took on the roles and put their own spin on things?

Guys, I want to talk about Steve Barton as Raoul. The man made choice, after choice, after choice. And yet we have had so many Raoul’s that are kind of just strutting about looking pretty. Some seem to even forget they’re onstage during Final Lair. It can be such a juicy role if the actors choose to make it that way but so few do. 

Besides some small details I mentioned, the show did maintain its integrity through its 35 year run, which is truly remarkable. 

(@or-what-you-will here) Seconding what Flag said, Steve Barton brought so much more to the role than I’m used to seeing, and it really opened my mind to what Raoul could be. 

The blocking in PONR did surprise me, I knew they had changed it but I hadn’t realized how much. I always found the kind of pinwheeling arm thing Christine does with the phantom strange, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that they didn’t do that at all, the embrace from behind made more sense to me.

I also found after she took his hood off no one really ran out, the phantom and Christine got to have their moment. The blocking where they (the managers and Raoul) run out and tell Christine to stay makes no sense with their motivations to stop him. The more recent blocking where Christine motions them to stay in place as the phantom sings the All I Ask of You Reprise makes way more sense with the characters’ motives and matches this original blocking much more. 

12. Also are you truly working on a research project? If so, how is progress and where might we find your final results when it’s complete?

To quote Dr. Who, “Spoilers.” Yes, always. Both of us have day jobs that have us doing research, but I can’t promise I’ll put it on here when complete since I keep fandom and real life separate. Sorry to dodge this one but getting into specifics about this starts to identify us. 

(@or-what-you-will here) Seconding what Flag said. 

13. Hi there, I was wondering if I could ask you a general question about the NPL’s archive. Something about the language on their website made it sound like viewers could only watch a recording “once”. I wasn’t sure if that meant “once per visit” (i.e. you can’t sit there for 8 hours restarting the tape every time it ends) or “once” as in forever (like, once you’ve watched a recording you are never allowed to request it again). Did you have any clarification? I wasn't sure if the librarians explain the policies when you arrive at your appointment. Thank you for providing so many details about the Phantom pro-shot and offering to answer our questions! That's really kind of you!

You’re welcome! So if there’s nobody after you, you can hang out with the media as long as you want. However, we did have another group come in about 90 minutes after us. That gave us enough time to watch both acts with all the rewinds we wanted. We watched PONR and parts of Final Lair like five times. On a previous TOFT trip I watched two shows and was there for like six hours.  The prohibition is on coming back and watching the recording again. I have no idea how strict they are about this, although I suspect it’s to keep people from monopolizing certain media. Would I want to try to watch the proshot again in the future? Probably! I know there’s stuff I missed, or I’d see something different depending on what I’m working on. The TOFT is also an absolutely incredible resource and I have so many other shows I’d like to check out. 

(Will here) They do log on your library account when you visit that you visited and what you saw. However, if you have accessibility needs that would require you to watch in multiple viewings or something along those lines, I would talk to them about it, because I’m sure they’d be able to work with you to figure out something so you wouldn’t have to sit through the whole thing in one shot.

14. > Barton Raoul’s “There is no Phantom of the Opera” comes off more as “Christine this is just some dude” vs “he doesn’t exist at all.” 

Could you elaborate on this part? I'm having trouble imagining how that would be conveyed. (also, thanks for sharing your notes on the procast!) @clutzyangel

You're welcome! Yes, he's telling Christine that the Phantom is a human, flesh-and-blood man, not some fantastical creature. I've seen many Raouls who seem to try to convince Christine that the Phantom doesn't exist at all. Barton's Raoul seems to understand that he's a man with ulterior motives possibly duping Christine.

And he's not wrong.

[thechowk]

Vandamm theatrical photographs, 1900-1957 - NYPL Digital Collections

On the World Theatre Day, explore some elaborate sets from 20th Century New York theatres.

On the World Theatre Day, explore some elaborate sets from 20th Century New York theatres. “Porgy and Bess” in 1935 Noël Coward’s “Present Laughter,” Plymouth Theatre 1947. “Point Valaine,” 1935 at the Barrymore Theatre Scene from “Wonderful Town”, Winter Garden Theatre, 1953 “Jumbo”, Hippodrome Theatre, 1936. See more pictures from the archive here.