#restaging

[operafantomet]

Lisanne Clémence Veeneman and the Corps de Ballet in the Restaged Tour in Vienna

[marleneoftheopera]

More Kayleigh photos from her Christine show yesterday!

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

You know

I don't have a lot positive to say about the re-staged version of the ALW musical.

But I will admit I do kind of like the fact that Raoul barges into Christine's dressing room as she's undressing.

I like this because, on the surface its very ha ha, so awkward uwu, but it also highlights how very scandalous this very action is.

In 19th century theatre culture (especially in France) there's only one reason a man (the patron of the Opera, who is the main financial backer of the establishment) goes into a singer's dressing room with a bottle of champagne. Whether that is Raoul's intention doesn't matter: he's a man of society, he's the responsible one here, or he should be.

But setting that aside, this really makes me think about how Raoul is never thinking about Christine in a circumspect fashion. He is not thinking about the fact that this is a private area he is entering uninvited--a private area that is private for the very specific reason: at any point, Christine could very well be naked or otherwise in a state of vulnerability and/or undress behind that door. He does not knock, or announce himself. He either is not thinking about this or does not care. Both are bad.

(And yes I am conscious of the fact that Christine is not only undressing, but undressing in front of the mirror; the mirror that Erik is, in all likelihood, hiding behind, even as she does so).

To Raoul, as much as (perhaps even more so than) to Erik, Christine is an object. An object to be, by turns, admired, pitied, placated and protected.

Perhaps I find this so interesting because in the book, Raoul is shown to invade the sanctum samctorum of Christine's dressing room without her knowledge or consent several times.

"When you were pitying him the other night, the night of the masked ball. When you came into your dressing room, didn't you say 'Poor Erik'? Well Christine, there was Poor Raoul who overheard you!"

"That is the second time you have listened at my door, M. de Chagny!"

"I was not at your door! I was in the dressing room! In your boudoir, mademoiselle!"

An interesting contrast to Erik, who, in spite of abducting Christine, holding her against her will etc. always knocks three times on her door before entering her bedroom in the house by the lake, and gives her his word that in that apartment and in her dressing room she is assured of privacy from him.

"How can you believe yourself safer here in the theatre?" Raoul asked. "If you can hear him through the walls, then he can certainly hear us."

"No. He gave me his word that he would not be behind the walls of my dressing room again, and I trust Erik's word. My dressing room and my room in the house by the lake are mine exclusively, and are sacred to him.

Also very interesting to me is that on my fourth read of various English translations of the book [1911, 1911 restored, 1990 Lowell Bair, and 1996 Leonard Wolf] there is never any indication that I've noticed that Christine's mirror is two-way glass. It does not slide to the side as depicted in movies/ the musical. The mirror is built into the wall itself and turns with the wall on a pivot like a revolving door. There is never any mention of him looking at her through the mirror, only listening and speaking to her through her walls.

[boin-de-bindery]

The Witch With Sunlight in His Hair - boinin

Burned out on casebinding, I decided to give pamphlet binding a shot! I'd picked up this lovely reflective gold paper, but I only had one copy so it was a no-go for endpaper. Still, it was too pretty to let languish in my paper stash—so I decided to print out one of my own fics that features sunflowers and magic.

This is a short BachIsagi oneshot that gave me the opportunity to figure out how to format AO3 tags and metadata. I decided to omit the author's notes, but retain the summary information and tags. I printed it as four signatures... why, you ask? Because I'm an idiot. That ended up making this (a) two sheets per signature, a trivial amount to fold and sew given the length of this fic and (b) not a pamphlet bind. I sewed the signatures together with a simple stitch and glued on the cover paper with PVA. So this is closer to a perfect binding overall.

It turned out adorable, at least to me. It's just a lil guy! 🐝 I got along much better with the heat transfer vinyl this time around—I really love the bee graphic, which was one of the freebies on Cricut Design Space. I did mess up the signature imposer by leaving fold lines on, which are visible when you open the pamphlet. Not enough of a reason to reprint everything IMO.

It's nice getting to hold something I've written and published ✨ Though tiny next to my other binds, it adds some welcome sparkle to my shelf.

[kittysmittens]

important TO ME at least

[glassprism]

Do you have some least favorite final lair kisses or least favorite return of the ring scenes?

I don't think I have any least favorites because, for me, I don't think there's many ways to play this scene "wrong". Well, maybe during the kiss Christine could slobber her tongue all over the Phantom's face or something, but even then I wouldn't make it my least favorite, because it's entertaining! Heck, it'd probably be my ultimate favorite for the sheer hilarity.

The same goes for the returning of the ring scene; I'm pretty open to any and all interpretations, so short of Christine, I don't know, hurling the ring back at the Phantom's face whilst singing, "Sayonara, sucker!" I don't have any individual least favorites that I've seen. At worst, they're unmemorable, but that's also the majority of kiss and ring returning scenes.

No, I think my least favorite ring returning scene is from a specific production, and that is the scene from the restaged tours (the kiss scene is fine). If you don't know, in that version, after chasing Raoul and Christine out, the Phantom cries over his torn up music sheets (clearly the most important thing in his life) and sings, "Christine, I love you" to the audience. Unbeknownst to him, Christine has returned to his lair to return the ring, but the Phantom does not see her as his back is to her. Rather than facing him, Christine simply places the ring down on his table and leaves. The Phantom then turns around and sees the ring and cries some more, I guess, before diving under the bed to hide from the incoming mob.

And man, I just don't like this interpretation. First, it deprives us of that emotional, final face-to-face moment between the Phantom and Christine. Second, we lose out on the endpoint of the Phantom's arc from seemingly mystical, manipulative being to a sad, broken man; he's no longer the Angel of Music, no longer the Opera Ghost, no longer trying to force Christine's hand, entrance her into loving him, or manipulate her feelings, he's just a lonely man, telling her that he loves her. (Though the restaged tour overly humanizes the Phantom so much that it probably doesn't even matter much.) And third, Christine loses out on that final moment of choice, of agency. She doesn't get to look at the Phantom and decide, once and for all, "No, I can't stay with him, whatever I feel." Instead she avoids the entire moment, dropping the ring and fleeing. Her arc is all about seeing behind the Phantom's many masks and personas and finding the strength to face him, but then at this moment, maybe the most important moment of all, she's robbed of it. Blargh.

Anyway this turned into yet another "I hate the restaged tour" post so I'm going to stop. I actually do enjoy some aspects of it, I swear! But boy do I not like how they blocked some scenes.

[flea-palace]

obviously the restaged poto tour doesnt hold a candle to maria björnson's designs BUT is this a safe space to say i could write a dissertation about the restaged sets and the symbolism of tableaus/dollhouses/music boxes in some scenes (dressing room, stage, manager office, the masquerade scene ESPECIALLY, etc) vs the lair, the rooftop, and the graveyard and how it changes the tone and implications of the story is that anything or am i being extremely annoying

[cantikdaae]

why does the vienna restaged star princess look more decorated than the current west end star princess? i have so many questions

Vienna picture from here, London picture from here.

[jeremyonthelair]

So after ten years of watching the show only from bootlegs, I eventually got chance to see it in person, started with the Chinese and then the Korean production this year. And luckily it was the Brilliant Original in its entirety in Korea.

Playout is always one of my top favourite moments from the musical, so I made this compilation as a memory of my very first experience.

And this way, my 2023 Phantom Journey came to a curtain call.

--------------------

This video is to pay tribute to the Brilliant Original Production itself, to the original creative team as a whole, and to the genius designer Maria Björnson in particular, whose vision has been testified by a standing ovation from phans all over the world throughout the years.

This compilation contains:

• My recordings from the 2023 Chinese Production in Shanghai, and the 2023 Korean Production in Seoul

• A clip published on Weibo by @天酱_

• A clip published on Twitter by Conductor Yang Juin (Musical Director of Phantom Korea)

Available on YouTube at:

[lucygold95]

POTO gif - Josh Piterman & Amy Manford

[lacrimasaintegabriel]

Life Update as of recently.

Thank you so much for appreciating my works and my contribution to the Hellsing and Drifters fandoms.

I will have my works to rest for a while and will remake them as soon as I have energy to do so.

Wish me luck!

[operafantomet]

hi! by chance do you happen to have any photos of that stagehand outfit the phantom wears during il muto in the restaged tour? i don’t know if it’s a more recent addition to the production but i’ve only ever seen two quick bts photos of anton zetterholm and josh pitterman!

The best photo I have is probably these of Chris Mann in the Restaged US Tour:

You can see more - and an explanation - in this photoset. And yes, it is a more recent addition to POTO in terms of the Phantom wearing it. It reminds of 'Love Never Dies', where the Phantom does a similar disguise stunt as a bartender. But original POTO features actual stagehands and actors wearing these type of costumes throughout to the show. Kinda feels like they sat there with all these costumes and decided "Hey! Let's have fun with them!"...

Here's some of the stagehand costumes used in the original staging - but then worn by people who either do stagehand work for real, or within the play (and not being the Phantom). The most prominent viewing is inside the elephant in Hannibal:

And carrying dead Piangi across stage:

I guess members of the mob chasing into the Phantom's lair in the end of the second act could also qualify as stagehands:

It varies what kind of headwear they use, if the waistcoat is single or double breasted, if they wear a necktie, and if they wear an apron - there is a large variety. In the original design Maria Bjørnson added rare workwear quirks like a printmaker's hat (literally a hat of folded paper, looking like a box), separate knitted or sewn sleeves, and a wide array of aprons and tool belts. Her level to attention and a dash of historical accuracy will never fail to amaze me! But a typical stagehand costume in POTO may look like what Dustin Layton wore in Las Vegas:

Which, with variations and a different hat, is what they have the Phantom in disguise wear in the Restaged Tour.

(ETA: Buquet's costume is also made in this style, so that he technically blends with the other stage workers. Ditto for Meg Giry in the Final Lair)

[marleneoftheopera]

Linda Balgord has passed away. Among her credits, she portrayed Madame Giry on the Restaged US Tour and Broadway from 2013-16.

May her memory be a blessing.❤️

[britishchick09]

when phantom closed last year i hoped they'd tour before coming back to broadway...

and i just might be right!!! :D

[hongtonie]

i’m only halfway through it but the way this article talks about how hybe (and likely other companies) manufacture personalities and relationships and devise ways to increase parasocialism is kind of scary

[icantrecallaskysoclear]

Me, every single time Raoul proposes to Christine:

💞