#the outsiders musical cast album

[pepsicurtis]

Darry/Ponyboy and Dally/Johnny parallels

When the Curtis Parents died, Darry did everything to keep his brothers together. He provided them a house and food over their heads. He’s stressed and that causes him to treat Pony differently than before because he wants what is best for his little brother. He’s in charge now and he feels obligated to make something out of him, something that Darry could never be.

When Johnny came to Dally after he killed Bob, Dally provided him with some money for food and a place to hideout. But when Johnny wanted to go back, there was a side of Dallas Winston that never appeared before. He begged Johnny not to go back to Tulsa because jail changes people and he didn't want Johnny to turn out like himself. According to Pony, whatever decision Dally told Johnny to do, Johnny would have did it because his word is law.

When Ponyboy ran away, Darry was miserable. In the musical, he wanted to give up, throw in the towel because this ontop of everything else was too much for a 20-year-old to handle. Thank goodness Sodapop was there to assure him that he wasn't alone and that Darry needed to keep his spirit alive and fighting. When Ponyboy met him at the hospital, it was the first time Pony had ever seen him cry.

When Johnny dies, Dallas is obviously a wreck. Ponyboy says that Dally’s face was sweaty, but what if that was an unreliable narrator talking and Dally was actually crying? (Just watch a clip of “Little Brother” and look at Joshua Boone! Musical Dally IS crying.) He didn't know how to cope with this much despair and why did the world matter if Johnny Cade wasn't in it? There was no one there to keep Dally afloat, except maybe Johnny’s words to him in the letter. Words, how little they mean when they're a little too late.

They are two older brothers just doing everything in their power to protect their little brother.

[youaremydearestdream]

the outsiders musical rant !! sorry if this doesn’t make sense, i just had to get it out there !

i find it interesting that despite being the main character of the outsiders musical, ponyboy does a lot of harmonizing with others instead of just taking the melody

he takes the melody when he’s narrating,, especially about his problems (tulsa ‘67, his solo parts in i could talk to you all night and far away from tulsa, etc.) but when he sings with other people, he is normally heard harmonizing

he opts up in grease got a hold and great expectations, leaving everyone else behind as they sing the melody. this shows his yearning for a life outside of tulsa, and a life outside of his problems. he takes the lower harmony in i could talk to you all night with cherry, and the highest harmony in throwing in the towel. he is always consumed by the need to get away.

cherry keeps him grounded. he can relate and connect with her, but it’s not enough. meanwhile, pony is disconnected from his brothers, but with darry most of all (darry sings the lower harmony, musically the furthest away from pony) while soda is the connector between the two, which is why soda is the one who takes the melody during the chorus of throwing in the towel when all three brothers sing together— soda is literally in the middle of them, stuck between a rock (darry) and and hard place (pony)

ponyboy is almost always harmonizing with everyone, except for when he’s with johnny. johnny is who he sings of running away with. by killing bob (in self defense!!) johnny is the one who makes running away a reality, which is why it’s fitting that johnny is the one takes the harmony when he sings with ponyboy in far away from tulsa and death’s at my door. he’s the one that pony feels the most safe and comfortable to be himself around because pony knows that johnny always understands him.

it’s only until after johnny dies that pony begins harmonizing with him instead, jumping between low and high harmonies during stay gold. this shows how affected he is by johnnys death— his harmonies are as “unstable” as he is. he finally comes back to the melody when he sings the last line of the song by himself, internalizing johnny’s message: to stay gold, to be himself, and to learn that there are so many more reasons to why life is worth living.

during the finale, he lets darry and sodapop read out the narration, showing that he has successfully mended the gap between him and darry. he sticks to the melody throughout the entire song. he no longer opts up like he did in the beginning because he has realized that running away from his problems (and running away from the melody) cannot solve anything. by the end of the outsiders musical, ponyboy has finally grown into his own skin and is no longer ashamed of where he comes from.

[frommybedroom]

did. did dan stream himself playing dress to impress on tiktok.

[swirlzberry]

They’re talking about Jen from To Kill a Mocking Bird btw 🤓☝️

[qprpbj]

do u have any idea how agonizing it is being an autistic person w broadway special interest but u live in fawking canada.

[moreaujeans]

my toxic trait is the way i physically grind my teeth every time i see a post comparing the wicked book and “movie” instead of “musical” for something that is not exclusive to the movie & also the movie is still a musical

[darrys-laundry]

oh i fear friday at the drive in (la jolla version) eats

[vivitalks]

im going to gatsbymusicalpost in a little bit. sorry not sorry in advance since i am sure this post will have an audience of like. 1.

[loveesiren]

𝖡𝖾𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗂𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝖭𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖾

Thanos x American!reader

a/n: hi my babies! so this is my first thanos (choi su-bong) fic i'm posting. however, i kind of wrote this as an aftermath of a little series i've been working on of them in the games. so, once i am done hating it and editing it, i will posit it! but i hope you guys enjoy this cute lil fluff. i suck at writing fluff tbh but i tried! xx also, t.o.p is my gwiyomiii, my honeyyyy, my angel babyyyyyyyyy! i'm so inlove with him so feel free to send requests!

synopsis: nightmares of the games still haunt Thanos a year later, but luckily Y/n will never leave his side.

warnings: language, fluff, very brief mention of sex if you squint

wc: 1.1k+

You couldn’t sleep. Insomnia had wrapped itself around your mind ever since surviving the games last year, a constant shadow in your otherwise bright new life. You had so much to be grateful for—making it out alive, the money that had saved you in more ways than one, and, of course, Su-Bong. Though, to this day, you still called him T. Your T.

Never in a million years would you have imagined living in a sleek penthouse in downtown Seoul with a man you fell in love with while playing deadly children’s games. Yet here you were, in a world that once seemed as unreachable as a dream: Thanos’ World. And you loved it.

The games had changed Thanos in ways you never thought possible. He quit the drugs, buried his oversized ego, and spent six months holed up in his apartment with only you for company. It was a metamorphosis you never expected but cherished deeply. When he finally emerged from that cocoon of self-reflection, he returned to music—his first true love. But this time, it wasn’t about sex, drugs, and wealth. His lyrics delved into the rawness of his childhood, the pain of his struggles, the weight of his dreams—and you. Always you. You were his muse.

Being with the Thanos, however, was far from simple. Going out with him was an ordeal, a gamble. Fans flocked to him wherever he went, now more than ever, since he’d announced his new album. He once thrived on the chaos, basking in the adoration of women throwing themselves at him and men idolizing him. He was a star, and he reveled in the glow. But now? Now the attention suffocated him. He avoided crowded places as much as he could, especially when you were by his side.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to show you off—God, he did. But the fear gnawed at him. What if something happened to you? What if someone hurt you? You’d already faced your fair share of vitriol when the media leaked that Thanos was dating some American girl. “American bitch,” they’d called you, throwing their venom your way in tabloids and comment sections. But the hate didn’t break you. If anything, it hardened your resolve.

You refused to let him hide away forever. When his anxiety tried to keep him tethered to the penthouse, you were the one who dragged him out into the world. You reminded him of what life outside these walls could offer, even if it wasn’t always kind. And slowly, piece by piece, you were helping him reclaim it.

You glanced over at Thanos, his peaceful face softened by sleep, his arm draped lazily over your bare thighs. Carefully, you lifted his arm and slipped out of bed, moving quietly so as not to disturb him. Padding toward the kitchen, you glanced at the clock: 2:30 a.m. Another sleepless night. You sighed, the weight of endless insomnia pressing down on you.

You set the kettle to boil, deciding tea wouldn’t cut it tonight. The staleness of the room felt suffocating. What you needed was air. Before stepping out to the balcony, you peeked into the bedroom again, reassured by the steady rise and fall of Thanos’ chest.

The view of Seoul stretched before you as you stepped outside. The city pulsed with quiet energy, its lights casting a warm glow against the dark sky. The faint scent of cherry blossoms drifted through the breeze, mingling with the night air and brushing your hair across your face. This view, this life—it was something you’d never take for granted.

Pulling out your phone, you typed a quick message to Se-mi.

y/n: You up?

Minutes passed before your phone buzzed with a reply.

Se-mi: Yeah. Can’t sleep?

y/n: The insomnia is never-ending.

Se-mi: I miss when we all lived together.

Your lips curved into a bittersweet smile. Memories of those first fragile weeks after escaping the games flooded your mind. The four of you—Thanos, Se-mi, Min-su, and you—crammed into your tiny apartment, clinging to each other for sanity. For weeks, you barely left the safety of those walls. Eventually, Thanos invited everyone to move in with him, but Se-mi and Min-su had decided it was time to go back to their families. The games had taught them how precious life was. That, and your shared space wasn’t exactly conducive to privacy—especially with how loud things could get between you and Thanos when you couldn’t keep your hands off of eachother.

y/n: I miss it too. I miss you. Shopping tomorrow?

Se-mi: You know I hate shopping.

y/n: But you love me, and T gave me his black card.

Se-mi: Spoiled brat.

y/n: See you tomorrow 🥰

Se-mi: Can’t wait ✌🏼

You smiled at her response, warmth spreading through you at the thought of reconnecting with your best friend. But the moment of peace was shattered by a sound from inside—faint whimpers carried through the air. Your heart clenched. Setting your tea down, you hurried back to the bedroom.

“T?” you called softly as you stepped inside.

No response. Only the faint cries that sent chills down your spine. You rushed to the bedside table and flicked on the lamp. Thanos was thrashing slightly, tears streaming down his cheeks, his hands grasping desperately at the empty space where you should have been.

“Fuck! NO!” he suddenly screamed, his voice hoarse with panic.

“T!” you gasped, climbing onto the bed and pulling him into your arms. “T, baby…” you murmured, your voice gentle but firm. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

His hand found your shirt, bunching the fabric in his fist as though clinging to reality. He fought against the demons clawing at him, his breaths ragged and uneven. Finally, his eyes fluttered open, glassy and unfocused at first, until they locked onto yours. His lip quivered as shame filled his expression.

“Hi, baby,” you whispered, brushing your thumb tenderly across his cheek to wipe away the tears. “You’re okay. I’m here.”

“Fuck…” he sighed, his voice trembling as he buried his face in your shirt. His shame was palpable, but you held him tightly, cradling him as though the weight of his nightmares could be eased by your embrace.

“Another nightmare?” you asked softly. He nodded wordlessly, slipping his hand into yours. He hated these moments. Hated the way his past still haunted him, dragging you into his darkness. But you didn’t mind. You’d made a decision long ago: this man was worth every struggle, every sleepless night. Some may say a few days isn’t enough time to know who is your person, but when your life is on the line, time has a way of fast-tracking love.

“M’sorry…” he mumbled, his voice muffled against your chest.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, T,” you reassured him, your fingers running soothingly through his hair. “You know I’ll always be right here.”

“Promise?” His voice was barely above a whisper, raw and vulnerable.

You kissed his forehead, tightening your arms around him. “Promise,” you said, and you meant it with every fiber of your being.

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© loveesiren 2025 - do not copy, translate, transfer, or repost my work without my permission. if you find my work on sites other than through links i've provided, please notify me.

[finchesslingshott]

the only appropriate response to "run run brother" from the outsiders musical tbh

i just listened to run run brother for the first time and. wow. no words

[krawdad]

H. Jon Benjamin does a damn good job as the title character in a musical for someone who might not actually be able to sing

[pepsicurtis]

So I have the musical as a private playlist on YouTube. I haven’t shared it to anyone, it’s just me listening. I haven’t been checking the views on the playlist but apparently there are 742 views AND ITS JUST MINE! In two months of this album existing I’ve somehow viewed 23 videos 742 times!! (I got the first version of GE and the MV of TITT and SG and LB on there twice so that’s why there is extra). My jaw dropped. It has to be wrong but I like…I believe it 😂

[sodapopper]

Watching the Macy’s parade performance honestly made me a little emotional. This cast is so young, and for many of them, the Outsiders is their broadway debut. It never would have worked otherwise; this story needs to be told by outsiders, newcomers, fresh faces with nothing but dream and passion, hard work and a name to make.

And they did it.

All the big things, they’ve done. Cast album. Nominations. The buzz. The fans. They earned the Tony—can you imagine, being in your 20s, debuting on broadway with so much to prove, and your first show wins best musical? And now, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, taking their place beside hundreds of other acts that children have watched and been inspired by, faces glued to the screen, thinking one day that’s gonna be me.

They were once those children, awed and dreaming. Now they create the dreams for others.

The video of the cast album listening party will always stick with me. Brody and Sky on the floor, holding each other’s hand. The huddle of friends around them. Emotions thick. I feel like a privileged intruder, watching these young actors overcome by the climax of their aspirations. No matter what happens when their contracts end, no matter who moves on to new goals and different projects, this show will always be theirs. This album will exist for the rest of time as their album. The original cast of the Outsiders on Broadway. These beautiful young people with so much to prove.

The musical is not a perfect book adaptation, and I’ll always have my personal differences with how they chose to tell the story. But you can’t deny that these actors deserve every moment of glory and acclaim they’ve gotten. They poured their souls into this story and these characters, and here they are. This is their moment.

They made it.

[frommybedroom]

very slowly and slyly turning my parents into outsiders fans

[opalblade]

19 JANUARY 25

𓂀 PUNARVASU NAKSHATRA EXPLORATION .

🌈 PUNARVASU ELEMENTS .

punarvasu spans 20°00 gemini - 03°20 cancer. its vimshottari ruler is jupiter.

punarvasu's deity is aditi - mother of the adityas, goddess of earth, harvest and fertility. her name means 'boundless' or 'limitless' and she is the embodiment of the infinite and vast cosmos.

punarvasu nakshatra is the 'star of renewal' and has several meanings, some being "good again", "prosperous again", "light again" and "the return of the light".

its symbols are the bow and quiver of arrows and a house.

punarvasu's shakti is vasutva prapana shakti meaning the power to 'gain wealth and substance'.

punarvasu's basis above is air or wind and its basis below is moisture or rain. its desire is 'to produce herbs and trees'.

🌈 PUNARVASU THROUGH MYTH .

mrigashira is the birth of mars and where polarisation, competition and temptation are born. in the bible, we see this with eve biting the apple and adam and eve realising they were naked.

this leads to ardra when adam and eve are finally cast out of the garden of eden and left to their own vices. ardra is the star of effort and represented by a teardrop. outside the garden, they learn of true suffering and man is condemned to pain and to "till the earth" for ever. claire nakti corresponded the tower of babel to ardra, and the creation of the tower of babel is what sets off the events in the punarvasu stage: noah's ark.

god feels like there is too much evil in the world and so he decides to renew the earth and then the earth is just vast seas due to the copious amount of rain and flooding. punarvasu is the star of renewal and aditi is the goddess of primordial vastness. noah and his family were deemed worthy enough to be saved and noah was tasked with building an ark big enough to house one pair of each animal on the earth. another one of punarvasu's symbols is a house.

punarvasu's symbol is the bow and quiver of arrows archers had to release the arrow and go and get it back. noah sent out a dove to see whether the flooding had reduced and it kept coming back until one day, when it returned with an olive branch, signifying new life. punarvasu's basis above is air or wind, which relates to the dove flying to see whether the floods had reduced enough and its basis below is moisture or rain, which relates to the vast floods used to cleanse the world of evil. punarvasu's desire is to produce herbs and trees, which is symbolised by the dove bringing back an olive branch to show the floods were over - later becoming a symbol of peace.

after the whole ordeal, god placed a rainbow in the sky to symbolise peace and as a promise that a flood like that would never happen again.

🌈 PUNARVASU IN POP CULTURE .

mariah carey, punarvasu moon

punarvasu themes are all over mariah's career. @vindelllas noticed that butterflies are linked to punarvasu natives, relating to their transformative nature, and mariah carey's first album that she had creative control over was called "butterfly". this album is also deemed her magnum opus. her album after butterfly is called "rainbow" and mariah also has a song called "through the rain". the theme of renewal and "prosperous again" arises with her 2005 album "the emancipation of mimi", which invited immense success and earned her the moniker "the queen of the comeback".

kali uchis, punarvasu sun

kali uchis is another punarvasu native whose music reflects a lot of punarvasu themes. her song after the storm is highly punarvasu and even reflects the noah's ark floods with the lyrics "cause after the storm's when the flowers bloom". the entire song is punarvasu coded and everyone wanting to understand punarvasu themes should go and listen to it.

she uses a lot of flower imagery in her music and has a song called "i wish you roses" and an entire album called "orquídeas" (orchids in spanish). she also used butterfly imagery on her album cover for "red moon in venus".

penelope cruz, punarvasu moon

penelope cruz starred in the movie volver, meaning "to return" in spanish and is about a dead mother who comes back to life. (ps. i haven't watched this movie yet, but the theme of renewal and returning is very punarvasu).

natasha lyonne, punarvasu moon

natasha stars as nadia in russian doll, a show in which she dies and keeps coming back to life to relive the same day over and over again. this theme of reliving the same day seems to be quite punarvasu, and also extends to the other jupiter nakshatras.

franka potente, purva bhadrapada jupiter atmakaraka (trine nakshatra)

lola, played by franka potente, has to find 100,000 deutsch marks in 20 minutes or her boyfriend will be killed by gangsters. each time she fails, she restarts the day again, playing on the punarvasu theme of repetition and renewal. the movie also discusses the butterfly effect, which is also very punarvasu.

the director of lola rennt has purva bhadrapada saturn as his atmakaraka.

eva green, punarvasu sun

eva green plays miss peregrine in miss peregrine's home for peculiar children. she takes on a motherly role and provides a home for these peculiar children and rewinds time to stop a bomb from destroying the home. all inhabitants are essentially stuck reliving the same day over and over again. punarvasu's symbol is a house and its deity is aditi, the mother goddess.

. *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　    ˚ . *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　

© 2025 opalblade. do not copy, repost, or translate my works to any other platforms.

[earlycuntsets]

"DEATH COMES RIPPING" - SPOOKY ISSUE

'THE BLACK PARADE, THE TRIUMPHANT NEW ALBUM BY MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE MAY HAVE A TRAGIC STORYLINE, BUT IT'S NOTHING COMPARED WITH WHAT THE BANDMATES ENDURED TO BRING THE DISC TO LIGHT

PHOTOS BY JON WIEDERHORN PHOTOS BY JUSTIN BORUCKI

STANDING ON A BALCONY nine floors above the teeming streets of New York, Gerard Way overlooks the city in which My Chemical Romance began assembling their ambitious new album, The Black Parade. The newly peroxide- blond frontman takes a deep drag from a cigarette and exhales with a sigh. He knows he shouldn't smoke, but it's his only remaining vice.

"If I hadn't been sober, I think The Black Parade surely would have killed me," says Gerard, who climbed on the wagon in 2004. "We were going insane the whole time, and I had to cling to my sobriety to stay even a little lucid. The album became like this beast that was consuming us."

Following up a release as successful as 2004's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, which sold 1.4 million copies in the U.S. alone, is never an easy task. And the various scares the band experienced as they worked on the new record-drummer Bob Bryar had a near-fatal staph infection, Gerard seriously injured his foot, and some restless spirits at the studio where they recorded kept them all on edge-did not help matters. And neither

did MCR's decision to make The Black Parade (Reprise) a concept disc. Together, Gerard and his bandmates-Bryar, guitarists Frank lero and Ray Toro, and bassist Mikey Way (Gerard's younger brother)-decided to craft a record about a dying young man who is visited by a cast of strange characters that help him examine his short life.

But diving into the conceptual deep end proved well worth the hassle. The Black Parade is not only MCR's most realized offering; it's also one of the most eclectic, enjoyable rock records of the year. One listen to tracks

like "House of Wolves," "The Sharpest Lives," and "Dead!" makes it clear that My Chemical Romance can still rip a good metallic punk tune. But the bandmates are now equally influenced by epic albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall, David Bowie's The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, and Queen's A Night at the Opera.

"A lot of bands from the scene we came from try to strip down their music to 'keep it real," Gerard notes. "But the real you is what you've always had inside you and what you strive to be. So when we started compiling the material we had written, we were like, You know what? This has to be a huge, theatrical record."

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE started working on ideas for The Black Parade in the back of the bus while on 2005's Warped Tour, after which they flew to New York and rented a rehearsal space for two months. And that's when things started to get weird.

"I was living in Queens, and I had to commute on the subway every day," Gerard says. "I was suddenly very scared and paranoid. I felt more like an outsider than I ever had, and I had no confidence, which is bad when you're trying to work on a record. And I had no anonymity because there were a lot of teenagers on the train." In reaction to the young fans he encountered on the underground,

Gerard wrote "Teenagers," a T. Rex-style romp with the chorus line, "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me." "The song came directly from commuting when school let out and being so terrified of them," the singer says. "I was like, Wait a minute. These are the same people that listen to our band. Why am I scared? And I realized it was because they're scared, too. Teenagers are made to feel like they can only solve their problems with violence. They lash out at each other in a really volatile way." After several months experiencing the joys of mass transit, MCR had completed only a handful of songs and felt like a change of scenery (and climate) might do them some good. "I couldn't keep working in New York," says Gerard. "We wanted isolation."

id: Gerard leads the way to what will likely be the band's second platinum record

So the group relocated to Paramour Mansion, outside of L.A. Nestled high in the hills, the deluxe estate overlooks the trendy Silver Lake area and boasts spacious rooms, a gorgeous pool, lush gardens, a state-of-the-art recording facility-and a few special guests.

"The place is definitely haunted," Gerard says. "Doors would slam, and the faucets would turn on. You'd get a bath drawn for you of freezing-cold water in your room, and you wouldn't know why." As unnerving as its mischievous spirits could be, the Paramour was also inspiring, and contributed to the haunting vibe of songs like "The End" and "This Is How I Disappear." More important, it led Gerard to come up with the bleak, surreal concept for the record. "I would have these night terrors, where it would feel like someone was choking me, and my heart would stop and I would stop breathing," he says. "I would wake up in the middle of the night and write these notes to myself, and one of them read, 'We are all just a black parade.' So I started thinking about how this band is kind of a black parade, like a funeral-procession rock thing. And I used that idea to piece together this story about the idea that when you die, death comes for you however you want." Gerard molded his concept into a narrative about a character he dubbed the Patient, whose strongest memory from childhood is of his father taking him to the city to see a parade. Two songs into the album, he dies, and the black parade comes for him.

"During the rest of the story, he meets this entity of death and all these characters, like Mama, who represents anyone who's ever lost their son in a war," Gerard explains. "It's almost like these Canterbury Tales, where he goes along on this journey, and at the end he decides whether he wants to live or die." With the concept in place, My Chem made the songs as sweeping and theatrical as Gerard's lyrics. They accomplished this, in part, by combing through their own eclectic record collections and pulling choice elements that would set them even further apart from other melodic punk bands.

The first two minutes of "Welcome to the Black Parade" stemmed from Gerard's love for Broadway musicals, the horns in "Dead!" came from Mikey's interest in Blur and Britpop, and the jaunty feel of "Mama" was informed by Tom Waits and Nick Cave. But the most poignant moment on the record, "Cancer," was (unlike its morbid moniker) something of a pleasant surprise. "I was very upset about something in my personal life, and that's when that song came out," Gerard says. "It was really spontaneous, and it was recorded pretty much live with Rob [Cavallo, the record's producer] on the piano and me in the vocal booth. Then we added layers of drums, which gave it a certain urgency. It's the song I'm most proud of because it was the most pure emotion we've ever captured, and it gets such an immediate response. You can't shake what the song is about."

As the CD approached completion, some members of the band began to show signs of nervous exhaustion. The group was scheduled to fly to England to play the Reading Festival, and as the date grew near, Toro, who has a fear of flying, got noticeably agitated. Then, after the band tracked "Welcome to the Black Parade," which was originally called "The Five of Us Are Dying," the guitarist lost it.

"I thought I had this premonition," Toro explains. "I was flipping through the TV channels, and on the news. there would be something about a plane crash, and every time I woke up in the morning, the clock would say 9:11. I was playing Tomb Raider the night before the flight, and on the level I ended up at, there was this whole flashback to a plane crash. So right before the flight I was like, 'That's it. I'm not flying."

Despite his misgivings, Toro boarded the plane, and when My Chemical Romance returned to L.A. (all of them still very much alive, thank you very much), The Black Parade was completed without further incident. Listening back to the record, the band members were in awe of what they had achieved and eager to share it with their fans. "There was a real confidence that came to us," Gerard explains. "Having survived it, we felt like we were changed forever. I feel different as a performer now, and I think we really finally discovered who we were as a band." But just because MCR were done with the record didn't mean that it was done with them. About a month later, the band was shooting a video for "Famous Last Words" with director Samuel Bayer (Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins) on a set featuring walls of flame, when-seized by the moment-lero grabbed Gerard's throat from behind and wrestled him to the ground. The singer rolled one way; his foot went the other. "It bent completely backwards, and I heard a crack and felt this agonizing pain," Gerard recalls. "I tore all the ligaments in my foot, but I got up and continued to perform." "I didn't know what I was doing," says lero, shaking his head. "I wasn't trying to hurt him. I felt awful. I still do." Gerard's injury was serious, and he still walks with a cane, but it paled in comparison to what happened to Bryar. At the end of the shoot, the pyro was so intense, the drummer could feel his leg burning, but he stuck it out for the rest of the song. By then, he had a nasty third-degree burn. And the misfortune didn't stop there. Bryar didn't take his antibiotics regularly, and he failed to keep the wound clean. By the time the band got back from a brief tour of Japan, the burn was severely infected. Then Bryar's face swelled up and, after doing the MTV Video Music Awards preshow telecast and a special club show, stumbled into a hospital emergency room in intense pain. "I thought I'd be there for 10 minutes, but as soon as they saw me, they got all serious and gave me an IV and said they had to do a CAT scan," recalls Bryar."They did all these blood tests and kept me there for 14 hours." Doctors discovered that Bryar's leg infection had spread to his blood and caused an abscess in his face that was creeping dangerously close to his brain. If it had been left untreated for another two days, he could have died. "The whole thing was such a nightmare," Bryar says. "This doctor stuck my cheek with a needle about six inches long and the width of an IV tube. Then he went in and out of the inside of my mouth with the needle about 10 times. Fortunately, the treatment worked, and Bryar left the hospital three days later. With tragedy averted, My Chem are now focusing on touring for The Black Parade. They'll be in Europe for most of November, and when they get back at the end of year, they'll start rehearsing for a U.S. arena tour that starts in February. "We want to put on a full show with props and staging like The Wall," Gerard says. And MCR plan to keep the Patient alive long after they're done touring for the CD. "I would love to see the story turned into a play or a musical, and it could easily be a movie," enthuses Gerard. "Making this record, we cut ourselves open every day, pulled out every organ, and lay them on a table so it would be something we're completely happy with. We want The Black Parade to exist for a long time." "The whole hole thing nightmare. This doctor stuck my cheek with a needle about six inches long and the width of an IV tube." -BOB BRYAR

"I felt more like an outsider than I ever had, and I had no confidence, which is bad when you're trying work on a record."

-GERARD WAY

12/2006 revolver - mcrhollywood on flickr