#phantom of the opera thoughts

[bevy-obeyme]

As a general concept.. Satan fits way too hard in the role of the Phantom.

Both Satan and the Phantom of the Opera are INTJs sure, but they are also strikingly similar!

For example, in TSL, Satan’s counterpart - Lord of Masks - fits the Phantom who also wears a mask for the exact same reason; to avoid hurt.

Now, I’m going to sit back, imagine Mammon as Raoul, MC as Christine and Satan as the Phantom and relax..

[dumbfilmschoolkid]

you: phantom of the opera 2

me, an intellectual:

[melit0n]

Something that always confused me when I read TPOTO was why The Phantom chose box five out of all the private boxes to be his.

Out of all the seats in the house, box five is among the worst and would be (and still is) sold cheaply (average 65 francs at cheapest in 1880, now sold a between 10-25 euros nowadays) on general sale. A higher profit would've been made from a year-long booking, especially since there are multiple seats, so it would be 65 francs per person on a yearly booking no matter how many people are in there at once, but still not as much as other seats.

Visual wise, a good chunk of the left side of the stage is cut off and parts of the performance that would occur in the higher wings would be completely unseen, so, why choose it? Isn't the main point of going to go watch an Opera is to actually see the performance?

(A screenshot from the Palais Garnier's seat listing stating the best seats for viewing and the view from the box five via this video)

Having been there myself in late May, I found an answer to my own question and I'm gonna share it with you guys because maybe someone else was asking the same thing!

Although yes, the stage is half cut off, it's one of, if not the, best seats acoustic wise. You're a perfect distance from the orchestra as well as the stage for everything to sound just right. As much as The Phantom would've loved the operatic performance, I don't doubt he would've been more focused on the music itself as well as the vocals, and, mainly, Christine.

Further, although going to the opera was more of a social thing than an entertainment thing, so the boxes were built for aristocracy to be seen above all things, you can disappear from public view quite easily in that box. There are two to three rows of seats going backwards to the door, so all one would have to do to disappear from sight of anyone on stage or in the audience would be to just move a seat backwards (which means he wouldn't have been able to see the stage at all, but would still be able to hear everything perfectly well).

Plus, the box is located right at the end of the row of private boxes, as well as very close to entry and exit stairs, both public ones and private ones meant for stage hands and general workers.

All in all, those three reasons are why the box was chosen and kept in high priority for The Phantom, because he could quite literally disappear, like a ghost, by just moving himself in the box, as well as disappear out of the box and hear Christine almost perfectly.

[kyannnite]

danse macabre

(closeups below)

[thewizardofschnoz]

Jumping on a trend, sorry. They're looking at Peepaw Webber by the way

[friskafriskito]

Six fanarts! My second time :D

Sister Carpenter, from The Silt Verses (podcast)

Lyfrassir Edda, from The Bifrost Incident (album, by The Mechanisms)

Jonathan Sims, from The Magnus Archives (podcast)

Jiji, from Kiki's Delivery Service (animated movie)

The Phantom of the Opera, from The Phantom of the Opera (book version)

Jack Skellington, from The Nightmare Before Christmas (animated movie)

Requested by (in order):

@arianwells , @archivists-plus-one , @thekyuusanna @stephanie568 @princeofbadassery , @pixelferrets

I hope these turned out alright, because a lot of these characters have no official visual design. It was so much fun to come up with them though, I might do these again!

[blackghostm2o]

BLESS PEOPLE WHO MAKE BOOTLEGS!!!!

On yt someone uploaded a bootleg with the full last Hugh Panaro’s phantom performance and I’m so glad I could see it.

God I love his phantom, it is quite different from Ramin’s (the only other actor I’ve seen, thanks to the 25th), his is crazier and more of an asshole (not meant in a negative way, I love cocky characters, hell… Even Leroux!Erik was cocky)

Like look a this scene!

My goodness I love his mannerisms, especially he putting his hand to “listen” to Raoul, lmfao. His movements and his tone all mocking Raoul. In the 3rd gif he seems silently laughing at him. (I love the movement of his legs there)

He seem’s ashamed when Christine says that she has been deceived

But then he gets all snappy and seems ready to strangle her:

I’ve heard that he took inspo from Kay!Erik so this really makes sense.

In the 25th anniversary he too seems ashamed of his actions and seems also a lil shocked, you can see it especially from him falling (putting them both at the same level, no power position here), his expression and him repeating “Blindly…”

He obviously gets mad too, but it seems that he kind of knows that she’s right:

Idk… I just find this neat. It is cool to see how different actors interpret the same character and I’ve only compared a part of the final lair, but we could stay here all day and show all the differences throughout the whole musical.

One more violent and unhinged, the other more anxious and desperate (?). I absolutely love both of them. Really nice.

Also DAMN! MORE THAN 2000 PERFORMANCES AS THE PHANTOM??? Holy shit, wow. Kudos to Mr. Panaro.

The inclusion of his dog at the end was so nice :).

Bye

[forthegothicheroine]

The irony about people calling him a fop is that if Raoul had in fact worn wigs and embroidered colorful waistcoats and waved around lacy handkerchiefs all the time and said things like "Kill me if you must, barbarian, but let her go!", that would have been really hot.

[just-null]

YO, SUPER LATE SUPER LONG SUPER MESSY OCTOBER POST THAT I JUST SHOVED EVERYTHING INTO BC I DIDN'T WANT TO DO MULTIPLE. FUCK IT.

I forgot halfway that these were supposed to be costumes and not mini aus... SO REMEMBER IN MY PLACE, EVERYTHING IS HYPOTHETICAL. also. some have a bit of yandere elements to them bc its SO FITTING FOR NORITOSHI.

Happy late October, everyone. it's winter now. Let's get it, baby.

[Long rambles and doodles under the cut!]

Vampire!

I kept asking myself, "How sexy is too sexy.." and "How the fuck does a sexy vampire even look like without it being a shirtless guy w fangs or Edward Cullen....." I think I figured it out

Sure, sure, vampires are superhumans with sun allergies that can drink blood really hotly. They can also easily overpower you to feast and blah blah blah, but what if said vampire (Noritoshi) was too weak to do any of that? Not literally, but he craves your say. He wants not only your blood but your affection. He wants to get praised as he drinks you in. Are you comfortable? How much will you allow him to take? Do you want to get him back in return? Guidance with this makes him feel more at ease. It's still Noritoshi at the end of the day. He's going to find a way to be a little awkward about you because of his crush. He refuses to drink from anyone other than you, even if it causes his death. Therefore, he has to keep you healthy! For the rest of your lives..! Besides, he can't really go outside or else he'd.. y'know. So if you think about it, this is a very beneficial relationship for both of you!!

The only downside is that you're losing blood on the regular, and for some reason, more people are moving away... Probably nothing, right? Noritoshi is always there to keep you company and help you recover anyways.

Witch!

my attempts also bled into the witch design.... you got greedy with requesting two in one ask, but I'll spoil you this time bc I also wanted to see Noritoshi as a (sexy) vampire and witch. heh. AND I DIDNT REALIZE HED BE SO CUTE AS A WITCH..... WHAT THE FUCK?? rip momo, fight for your title of cute witch...

Noritoshi strikes me as one of those witches who'd rather be left to their own devices because they're running some important magic whatever in the background. though, he'll take some breaks and indulge you if you insist on having him around. Insist meaning you pass by and strike conversation, leaving him to neglect anything and everything to prioritize his time with you. He doesn't want to use magic on you unless it's beneficial for either you or both. Noritoshi likes a natural progression with you that he knows for a fact is true and not some product of some spell. Though it doesn't mean he wouldn't use charms and such to get you to interact with him more often to speed up the process!

Can't sleep? He has a remedy perfect for that! Bad luck? Oh no, take a charm. Nerves? A potion he perfected will help you ease your jitters. Annoying peers? With a snap of Noritoshi's fingers, they're gone! Just don't ask what happened. Enjoy yourself instead and come to him with any new issue. He's quick to resolve it.

Definitely has some sort of doll that looks suspiciously like you.. Noritoshi would probably talk to it and practice one liners that give you the strongest sense of nostalgia once he uses them. He's simultaneously giddy that the charm he put in the doll works but also a little annoyed that his hard work isn't surprising you, but leaving you with deja vu.

Idol!

i was crying the entire time bc what does an idol look like.... noritoshi is handsome enough to be an idol without actually being an idol... now i can confirm that idols are very well dressed though. thumbs up 100% but i had some thoughts...

[Idol]

Noritoshi would be the type to cherish his fans, but hold clear favoritism over you. he'd be those idols that look cold, but they talk, and they sound smug in a charming way. i don't know much about idols, but i know he'd be so fucking good.... he'd be the type of guy to sing to you amongst the hundreds in the crowd.... ahhh the interviews w these famous aus. they're just talking and acting like themselves. can you imagine Noritoshi getting asked the question if he has a lover or not? he can lie, im sure you're alright with that, but he doesn't want to!! he does have someone!!! someone he loves more than all his fans love for him combined!!! he just can't say it for the sake of your privacy and his career. so Noritoshi does what any charming guy who's good with their words does. he deflects the question. answering the question, but not really, that'd be something he's known for. fans online are split on why Noritoshi does this. some think he's trying to keep that side of his life private, others think he's trying to mess around, and others think he's hiding a secret lover!!! though the last one is usually seen as the outlandish one, sometimes it makes Noritoshi's heart drop bc they get some things right. "Having a lover is a complicated question hidden behind a simple disguise. If I had to answer, I'd say my lovers are my audience. they make sure i'm well cared for, some more than others." AND HIS FUCKING LITTLE SMIRK I CANT COUGHS UP BLOOD. IM A THEORIST TOO. SECRET LOVER. 🫵🫵🫵🫵🫵

ON THE FLIP SIDE....

[Not an Idol]

An amusing thought where Noritoshi goes out in his casual clothes, and he's mistaken for an idol. No one knows who he is, but he just looks like he'd be one. bro's just trying to buy groceries, and now he has a fan group asking him to take pictures with them.. He'd tell them that he's just a guy, not an idol, but the group would still want a picture with him. it'd be a waste to pass by someone who's so naturally gorgeous, so with a sigh of defeat, he relents. It's just a photo, right? No harm done. Noritoshi'd go home and feel overwhelmed/embarrassed by the whole ordeal. later, he gets a call from someone in the kyoto group or you to inform him how he's all over social media, known as that handsome guy in the supermarket. HED BE COMPLETELY UNREACHABLE TO MEDIA OUTLETS BC NORITOSHI IS THAT GUY WHO DOESNT HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA.... he'd have to make one to make sure no one pretends to be him online. "Hello, I don't use social media, but I've been informed I've been getting attention online. To prevent anyone from being fooled by an impersonator, this is my official and only account. thank you." P.R. STATEMENT WRITING ASS.. his single post gets flooded with likes, comments, and DMs. it almost blows up his phone..... he was just buying bread, dude...... people try to dig up and find him through the other Kyoto group's social media.

[bonus] my second in command requested to put him in a fem idol outfit bc he thought it was funny. after frothing at the mouth and coughing out blood, I complied.

Doctor!

THIS IS SUCH A STRAIGHT FORWARD ASK BUT IT HAS SO MANY IMPLICATIONS. MY BELOVED CULT MEMBER.. THOSE EMOJIS GIVE ME A DIFFERENT IMPRESSION BUT IM NOT SURE.

Noritoshi as a doctor...... apple sales would plummet. his little clinic's business would skyrocket. sick cases would peak in his area. getting your heart checked by his stethoscope would be so fucking embarrassing bc all he'd hear is THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP

LIKE IMAGINE IF THAT WAS YOUR DOCTOR? BRO.

COUGH COUGH HACK WHEEZE COUGH COUGH.

Noritoshi would probably own a small clinic that he wants to expand. That or he opened one after working for a hospital for a while. He's a great doctor who's most likely respected but a pain in the ass to work with. Among patients, he's gotten the hot doctor reputation. Most want to be treated by him, but he's so professional, any chance of trying to flirt goes down the drain. Yeah, he puts his hair up to avoid it in his face even though his eyes are closed classic lab safety procedures. He seems like the type to have a soothing but authoritative voice during examination, so he gets his message across. it's a bit difficult when dealing with patients for Noritoshi. If he sees them too often, he firstly scolds you for not taking care of yourself, then feels guilty for not giving you the proper care. Keep yourself safe and healthy, or else Noritoshi will clearly :( Putting him in a yandere setting would be dangerous. He'd have a lot of control over you, considering he can prescribe medication, shots, visits, and other things.... he'd have a ball.... nothing that would cause you any harm, of course. he's only looking out for you and doing what's best for you..!

Pirate!

my second in command wanted a pirate. pirates are so fucking cool and i know damn well if this guy were a pirate he'd have a bunch of battle scars under that fancy coat.

Noritoshi as a pirate would be more than a little odd, but also fitting. He looks like the type of guy who'd be well put together, yet he's willing to get his hands dirty. Like the guy who got into the pirate life because of some personal issue that couldn't be solved fast enough through conventional means. Even as a pirate, i imagine he holds everyone to high standards. They're still pirates though.. so his expected standards aren't even that high. He has more freedom here, so even he himself lets loose once or twice. Especially with you. He's even able to get away with more violent actions for you, the seas are unpredictable, after all. While taking some treasure, Noritoshi'd toss you a gem or golden coin, just so you can say you were the first to claim it. Just so he can see that happy glint in your eyes when getting your hands on treasure. God forbid anyone try to get their hands on your hard earned goods. They'd be met with a bullet to the foot or a sword at their neck. Everyone and their mother knows how you're his favorite, but Noritoshi downplays it. Its not a crime to help out someone from his crew is it? Not in the seven seas. He leans more into his cold ruthless killer side here. He has goals and people to help keep in line whether hes captain or not. Yet when around you, he's almost adorable in how he shows you a pearl so entrancing that it reminded him of you.

Corpse Bride!

my submission to my Noritoshi Halloween costume closet.. CORPSE BRIDE, THIS MOVIE FUCKS. esp w the yandere elements.

Noritoshi 100% made you recite the wedding vows to him before accepting the ring. If you fumbled up, he'd correct you with SO much attitude and expect you to start from the top until you got it perfectly.

Hypothetically, in the chalice scene towards the end..

Noritoshi is the type to never be fully relaxed unless he knows for sure you'll be eternally his. In this scenario, YOU proposed to HIM but have to die to continue being together. Not only that, but someone in the living world is also after your heart. Someone who bleeds. Someone who's the obvious choice. Someone who can give you the life that you deserve. Someone who will succeed in their pursuits if you. remain. alive. Noritoshi's life was cut short, yet he still managed to lose so much and be abandoned a considerable amount of times. When he meets you and finds out about the possibility of having to go through that again even in death, it finally clicks in his rotting mind. He realizes he's been doing something wrong to keep constantly failing. Noritoshi revises his methods to a more.. selfish course. Why should he care about anyone else's wants or how his actions hurt them? You were the only one who made him truly fulfilled, to make him feel alive. The only one who deserves anything and everything good that comes from this world. Destiny is never done toying with him when he realizes your marriage is invalid because of your pulse and his lack thereof no matter how hard he'd try, but the opportunity arises. of course, he's ecstatic to give you an afterlife worth much more than what a silly beating heart can achieve. "All people die eventually. If you miss your living family or friends, all it takes is patience, darling. I'll wait by your side in the meantime." He weighs the pros and cons of everything, but when it comes to swaying manipulating your thoughts he only highlights the ones that'll get you on his side. in this case, the pros of dying to be with him! Honestly, the answer was so obvious that Noritoshi didn't know why he was stressing about it before. It hurts him to see you in any type of pain, but he reassures both himself and you that it'll only be for a moment. Afterward, he'll have the rest of your afterlives to make it up to you!! What happened to Till Death Do Us Part? Noritoshi thinks it's insulting that something as shallow as that could be so widely accepted. If your love were true, it wouldn't stop just because the world decided to take them away. "Till death do us part? Darling, don't be silly. 'Not even death will do us part' feels much better, doesn't it?" 

[flagbridge]

"God give me courage to show you, you are not alone."

Jon Robyns (The Phantom of the Opera) and Lily Kerhoas (Christine Daae), in The Phantom of the Opera, West End, January 2024.

@or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra, master (you can get it here)

It's fine, this sequence doesn't live rent-free in my head or anything

[flea-palace]

in my opinion we need more christine daaes who are portrayed as viciously insane. discuss

[twilight-zoned-out]

Hadley Fraser showed up for two weeks rehearsal, almost forgot his line on stage, almost got singed by the props on stage, gave one of the best portrayals of Raoul in the history of the musical, and then dipped immediately from poto and its fandom

[whereisyourredscarf]

thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

[ladystormcrow]

Me:

[psychidion]

I think Leroux’s Erik is strangely both more and less terrifying than ALW’s. 

There is a more clear sense with Leroux’s Erik that he is capable of so many insane things: he built his world beneath the opera house, his voice is fantastical both in quality and the fact he can ventriloquize off of anything, he is the trap door king- lurking anywhere at any time, he can kill anyone almost instantly with his lasso. And then his appearance is rather otherworldly- he is not a disfigured man, but more of a living corpse. He is vaguely omnipotent, the reader sees it, and the characters feel it. It’s why Christine and Raoul are driven so close to madness over the course of the story, they can’t find a way out of this involvement, they can’t escape. 

So in all that Leroux’s Erik is more terrifying, more intimidating, more fantastic. 

But I also find his motives overall to be less menacing. He feels more innocent in his pursuit of Christine, not wanting to corrupt and consume her (like how ALW’s Erik seems to do), but to use her to gain a sense of normalcy. He still is being rather selfish, but his pathetic desperation concerning her, his grief, makes his motives feel more innocent. He wants to be loved, to live like a normal human being, and she inspires that in him. She is his inspiration as much as he is hers. Additionally, this end goal of some sense of normalcy seems to justify his rather questionable means better in my opinion. Of course, he does terrorize Christine's psyche and that is not great, but I think his last conversation with the daroga does a lot to redeem him. He just wanted to feel alive and normal, and Christine's compassion helps him reach that, and he wants nothing else from her.

[garnet-xx-rose]

It’s always “The Phantom is jealous of Raoul because he’s young, rich and beautiful “ but never “Raoul is jealous of the Phantom because despite his ugliness, inside and out, Christine has deep feelings for him and still thinks highly of him”