#poto secret santa 2016

[a-love-poet-at-heart]

It came!!! Finally my poto secret Santa gift arrived! I love it!! I’ve always wanted a pocket watch. I don’t really wear vests that much, so I added an old long necklace chain I had. So now I’ll wear it as a necklace, but I will totally add the original chain back on when I do wear a vest with pockets.

But, I don’t really know who my secret Santa is. The gift was bought and sent to me from Amazon (specifically China) as a little paper in the packet said “sincerely amazon seller”. Sooooo, message me Secret Santa person. I want to thank you properly!

[confessionsofanoperaghost]

🎭 for the PotO meme

1. Does the name “Erik” get your attention, no matter where or in what context you hear it? ,,,,,,,,,,actually yes.  

2. Would you travel or have you traveled to certain places only because they were PotO-related? Which ones? I certainly would! And I have a long long list of places that are from my headcanon as well!  But sadly they are in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Cost is a factor.

3. Would you see the musical by yourself because your friends or family weren’t in the mood to go with you? Have you done so already? I haven’t and I might. It really depends on how my relationship to the musical changes over the next 20-60 years. I’m not keen on most of ALW’s recent touch on the franchise and I’m worried about more and more or Maria Bjornson’s work getting dropped from the tour (and rumors say maybe from the Broadway and WE productions as well in time??). So, we’ll see. I will be happy to outlive ALW and bear witness to the various ways the The Really Useful Group shoots itself in the foot. But its so expensive to watch something that’s only going to break your heart--and not in the ways you want it to. So it REALLY depends. 

4. How often have you seen the musical?  I have seen it exactly once. It came to my hometown in 1999 (I was 15) and I spent every penny I could scrape together to get an orchestra-level ticket. And frankly I was unimpressed. I never went back. I feel bad for saying it. It might have been better for me if I had grown up with bootlegs, but I had only read the book and listened to the OLC. I literally didn’t know what to expect from the tour. I’m not sure.

5. How much PotO stuff do you own? I should just say “a lot of stuff I dunno, lol” but I suddenly want to think about this. 

My original deMattos paperback

A David Coward paperback

A Wolfe paperback (its at a friend’s house at the moment)

The “milestone collection” two DVD disc set with all the extras of the 1925 Poto with Lon Chaney Sr (my babe!!!)

The Cherik miniseries (as a bootleg copy on DVD...i paid good money for it tho, lol)

the 2004 movie cuz it was cheap as hell 

Original London Cast recording of the ALW musical on CD

This BRILLIANT book about the making of the 1925 silent film

An actual first run copy of The Phantom of Manhattan by Fredrick Forsythe (purchased for me on clearance as a joke.)

A cheap copy of Susan Kay’s book that a friend picked up for me. I’ve been asked to do a seething read-along. I figured I should probably own the book before I literally rip it a brand new shiny asshole on YouTube...

a weird, like, 14 pages long, full color, SUPER condensed version of the book with Greg Hildebrant’s drawings. This was the present our teacher purchased for the acting class that produced a weird 1970′s straight-play version of the story that no one seems to remember now (its not particularly good so don’t worry)

the “Barnes and Noble” deMattos hardcover edition that --because it started to fall apart right away--I have been using for art projects and pop-culture-based spells

A large locket with Lon Chaney’s Erik (and his Quasimodo)

one of Muirin007′s gorgeous prints

An adorable necklace made by MegLouiseGiry that’s got a slice from the book in it and a heart-shaped crystal (Poto Secret Santa 2017)

A Lon Chaney 1925 POTO T Shirt. And it glows in the dark! (I got his Quasi on a shirt too but sadly it does not glow in the dark)

a 17,000+ word Google document: a sticky rough draft of my Erik-life-story Phic that I may or may not have been working on for 2 decades.

similarly, a red and gold notebook stuffed with tangled notes and headcanons and bad phan poetry from the 1990s

A bunch of other books that look unrelated to the untrained eye (for research)

a 6 inch figure of Lon Chaney’s POTO dangling from a plastic chandelier that happens to be about to scale 

a thousand other items that may not look like references to Poto to the untrained eye... like: a red scarf and round-framed spectacles and an antique violin case and a choking kink and a skull mask and a dramatic red and gold cape and daddy issues and a balcony overlooking the sea and a black mask that covers the whole face and an attraction to the most beautiful hands........

6. Have you had dreams about the Phantom or other characters? Do you remember any in particular? I’ve only had dreams about Erik. Usually I am myself or Christine or some slurry of the two. Here’s the best one: 

Saturday, November 19, 2016. True Beauty.

There was the theatre. The wings and the lifts. Backstage lights. Curtains.

Joseph Bouquet spots the fiend in the catwalks and is--fast as lightning--slaughtered by the quickest of lassos. Other stagehands and security ascend to the tops, chasing a shadow they can barely see. Someone thinks they’ve captured his cloak only to find their fists full of nothing.They chase this shadow to the roof and find nothing but stars as the phantom killer slips away...down into the dark. 

Carved structure. The dark is black and warm. He feels near. Yes, Erik has come for you. A lucid dream, I am both player and played. 

I am playing you. 

You feel a dance. You cannot find your way out of all that warm darkness. Though she cannot see, she feels her maestro all around. Unable to retreat, unable to find light; she turns but I am already there... darkness and a warm, red, deep glow. She twists in anxiety and frustration--away! away! away!-- breathing as though she is counting her final breaths. Twisting and trying to find some cool air or a bit of sunlight.

Erik shows her that there is no escape from Erik. He is is every corner of her. 

She succumbs. 

 7. How many times have you read the book? Literally more than I can count. At 15 I had MOST of Chapter 13, Apollo’s Lyre, memorized (deMattos translation). Iv’e only read it in English and I have yet to read some of the less-recommended translations.

8. How many songs from the musical could you recite from memory? (Or just sing along to?)  So I have almost the whole thing more-or-less memorized EXCEPT that its ONLY the version as sung in the Original London Cast recording. So every single line that has been changed since then (or god forbid an unedited soundtrack where all the choruses of Hannibal are included, lol) I get wrong. But yeah i listened to that nightly for like 2 years of my adolescence and I can hardly listen to any of it now.  I burned places in my synapses.

9. Do you randomly quote lines from the book or musical in real life? Don’t you? Honestly, the most fun I have is calling up fun lines and needle them into my vocabulary throughout a regular day. Unless you do an obvious one your average person isn’t going to know.

10. Have you ever met up with another phan?  Yes but by the time I’ve me up with them its definitely about something more relevant than the Phandom that brought us together. 

[that-asian-annie]

"(subtract west end)" Hahahaha, that's so true though! And the restaged tour, those two versions we'll just pretend don't exist. Do you have a favorite song or quote from the show? One of my favorite quotes that resonates with me is from Wishing: "Too many years fighting back tears. Why can't the past just die? Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing we must say goodbye. Try to forgive, teach me to live, give me the strength to try!" - Phantom SS

I really like “I gave my mind blindly” and “It’s in your soul, that the true distortion lies” I feel those lines are where Christine shows strength and compassion.

[that-asian-annie]

Hello again! I had an idea for your gift, but I need to know some things. What are your favorite costumes? And some vary in huge ways (lookin' at you, rooftop and Star Princess dresses!), so is there a specific version of your favorites that you have? :D - Phantom SS

Dear Santa, be prepared for another Annie Goes Off Topic Post

Phantom Specific

Dressing Gown- THE RUFFLES FAM!!!!! THE FLOWINGNESS

Sylphides- Inner ballerina squeals inside

Star Princess - SO MUCH BEADING (subtract west end) SO MUCH FLUFF IN THE SKIRT (Especially vegas and broadway)

Wishing Dress- simple, but elegant

Weddiing Dress- YAY FLUFF! YAY RUFFLES! YAY EVERYTHING

Other Costumes

Elisabeth’s White Gown- SO MUCH FLUFF! SO PRETTY! SO ELEGANT!

Eliza’s winter ball dress- I JUST LOVE IT

Glinda’s Bubble dress- LOOK AT THE BEADING! LOOK AT THE SEQUINS! LOOK AT THE DETAIL! FLUFF!

Wait… I didn’t go off topic? YAY!

[that-asian-annie]

(continued) Christine wasn't JUST a damsel in distress in need of rescuing, because in the end, she was the hero of her own story. She saves everyone--herself included--with an act of selflessness and love and a pity that came from a true and honest place for her GREATLY misguided captor. That always resonated with me, and I LOVE when Christine actresses follow portray her as someone more than just the heroine in need of saving, but instead as someone who'll stand up against Erik. - Phantom SS

I believe it was Kaley Voorhees who did little fists during the final lair

[that-asian-annie]

I'm sorry, but I'm laughing because my Phantom SS asked me about my favorite version, etc., and I went on a HUGE rant about many things, but mostly about the atrocities of the 2004 movie (even though I appreciate a few things from it like the gorgeous transition from auction to the glory days of the Opera) even though it was my gateway to all things Phantom, hah. I also ranted about how Christine is my favorite character b/c in the end, she saved herself, her love, AND the Phantom. - Phantom SS

I love the overture in the 2004 movie. (Probably the only thing I love about the film) but I love Christine’s strength in the story.

[that-asian-annie]

*sigh* We can always dream about OHSHC series 2, but alas. :( Anyway, back on track! Do you have a favorite version of Phantom, a favorite character, or one thing you really, REALLY love about it? - Phantom SS

I owe much to the 2004 version no matter how much I hate it. ( It was my introduction to phantom when I was 5, also when Gerard Butler’s phantom deformity scared me, oh how far I’ve come) 

I can’t decide my favorite all together but I can happily tell you my least favourite (Restaged tour, don’t get me started)

I love Christine or book Christine.

“I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!”

(I also enjoy the blocking where Chrstine guards Raoul from the phantom and is willing to fight back)

The costumes are one of my favourite parts. (again there are large exceptions to this one)

(Sorry if I got off topic… again)

[that-asian-annie]

Oh, I LOVE Darcy's work! Her designs are always so great. I hadn't seen that one yet! :D And I saw your answer about wanting an Ouran High School Host Club to the question someone asked you, and... same. Saaaame. Such a shame that it never happened.

I know right? I really want another season, I want Tamaki to tell Haruhi the meaning of his name, Mori’s brother to come in, the gang moving to the US. I want everything that happened in the manga to happen. I WANT THEM TO DO WHAT THEY DID TO FMA TO OURAN.

[that-asian-annie]

WHOA WAIT, A SCHUYLER CHRISTINE DRESS?!?!?! Do tell! Is it an 18th century dress a la Schuyler's but with Wishing fabric/Wishing colored fabric? Or something else...? Do tell! I LOVE mashing things up like that (I just designed a historically-accurate-as-possible Batman design, if that's anything to go by), so I'd love to hear more! - Phantom SS

The wonderful Viscountess had designed the costume and I am taking inspiration from it. (Check out her blog viscountess.tumblr.com ) It has been the reason why I broke two machines. (Spiral steel can drop dead rn) but I am trying my hardest to make it work in time for Broadwaycon.

[that-asian-annie]

How're you doing? :D I'm so excited to be your Secret Santa! It looks like you sew, too? That's so awesome! I'm working on one PotO-inspired costume myself right now, and it's a lot of fun. Have you ever made a Phantom costume? If not, what's your dream costume to make?

YAY a fellow sewer!!! I am currently working on a Dressing gown (I bought one from online and adding embellishments.) I am also working on a Schuyler Christine dress. (Ready whenever I feel like it)

I broke two sewing machines and I am saving up for another.

I got really off topic sorry :)

[that-asian-annie]

Hello there! It's your Phantom Secret Santa here, just dropping in (like a chandelier) to say hi! :)

HI SANTA!!!