#there's a good ten/donna one I cannot find a big enough image of

[mizgnomer]

SFX Covers featuring David Tennant click for high res

The regular/non-subscriber versions of some of the ones above:

...and some special editions:

[glassprism]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but did you have any (well, strong) opinions on the Greece production? I guess since most of the visuals aren't new there's not much to say, but maybe more cast-wise, like Amy who came pretty much straight from doing a flagship replica? I hope you are doing well during this time and are able to stay safe, I saw the batman(I think???) paper fam and thought it looked super cute

I actually watched through the videos I have of the Norway and Greece productions a little while ago, so I definitely have some opinions on it, though less on the cast, since I was watching to view differences between the original and non-replica productions, not so much for the cast.

This ended up being long, so under the cut.

Overall, the Norway and Greece production clearly seem to take some inspiration from the original and the restaged tour and use it to build off the foundation of the Romanian non-replica. The key thing is that they do it terrifically well and definitely make it their own thing or incorporate neat touches that I liked. The Overture, for example, features the cast members from the past running out, setting up the show, etc., just as in the tour. Something else I liked was the beginning of ‘Think of Me’, where you can see cast members growing frustrated with Christine’s shyness and starting to leave, only to reappear in awe as her voice strengthens. It’s also clear that some inspiration from the original comes into play with the ‘Think of Me’ blocking; instead of Christine just standing there as in the Romanian production, she actually has a scarf and plays with it throughout the song. I’m still not that huge a fan of ‘The Mirror’, where the Phantom appears at the window, but I will admit it gives us a nice visual of the Phantom “looking in” to a world that has rejected him and which he cannot inhabit, done effectively with Espen Grjotheim’s body language.

Another big similarity with the restaged tour is of course the drum set during the title song, with the Phantom and Christine going down the steps. This felt a bit wasted in the restaged tour, as the tour has the pair spend a lot of time with the pair just hovering at the top aimlessly, followed by a boat ride that lasts all of five seconds. The Norway/Greece production, however, have the pair walking down the steps throughout, and actors in both really enhance Christine and the Phantom’s feelings, with Christine alternating between following the Phantom or cowering against the wall and the Phantom coaxing her after him. Probably the only flaw is that it looks kind of funny to have the Phantom yell, “Sing for me!” while simultaneously rowing the boat (though you have to admire his breath support, I suppose).

‘Music of the Night’ is another that appears to have great similarity to the restaged tour, with the Phantom handing Christine his music and singing to her while she looks over the sheets (which is also a holdover from the Romanian production). What sells it, though, is the way the Phantom actors play out the scene: Espen Grjotheim in particular sings to Christine almost in desperation, his arms constantly reaching out to her, at one point crawling right up next to her; it’s clear that music is the only thing he feels he can give Christine and that by accepting it, she is implicitly accepting him. This is an element that I did not see in the restaged tour (maybe because it spends so much time with Christine blindfolded or waltzing about), where it seems the Phantom cares solely about his music, not Christine. Put simply, in the restaged tour Christine is just a vehicle for the Phantom’s music; in the Norway and Greece production, the music is a vehicle to Christine. It’s kind of amazing how just a few changes in the blocking and acting can make that change much more palatable. (Also, at one point the Phantom leaps on his chair and it’s kind of hilarious in an enthused-puppy sort of way.)

I have to admit, I did not watch much of ‘Notes I’, ‘Prima Donna’ and Il Muto, partially because there’s only very short clips of it, though it looks a bit reminiscent of the 2004 movie, with the full cast running around at points. Buquet’s death plays out similarly to the original, only with no shadows, just a reveal of the body. The rooftop scene also plays out pretty similarly to the Romanian production, with Christine and Raoul utilizing the drum set to run up to the roof. In terms of set, it is a bit boring to see the same one again, but the symbolism is very apparent - with the Phantom Christine descends down, with Raoul she ascends up. ‘All I Ask of You’ is sweet but not too memorable, though I still find it very funny that Raoul proposes then and there. (Slow your roll, Raoul, you’ve only been singing for ten minutes.) The Phantom’s reprise is nice, and the Norway chandelier fall is epic. Can’t say the same for the Greece one, sadly.

‘Masquerade’ as a scene works well enough; the fact that it takes place in a mirrored hall is reminiscent of the restaging, while the stark color scheme seems inspired by the 2004 film / Polish production. Christine’s costume is pretty, even if the symbolism is a bit on-the-nose (yes, Christine is an angel! She is a savior, etc.). ‘Notes II’ and ‘Twisted Every Way’, as far as I can tell, take place in the same hall. Christine sitting on a chair for part of it feels direct from the original; the rest of the cast leaving when she breaks down feels a bit from the Polish production. Having Christine and Raoul alone in that moment gives it some nice intimacy. I’m still unsure about ‘Wishing’ taking place on the rooftop (the production is really lacking some set changes), as it looked rather cramped for the actress, though I suppose there is some symbolism to it (Christine running upwards, perhaps to get closer to her father in heaven). As others have noted, I am glad that the Greece production changed ‘Wandering Child’ so that the Phantom stands over Raoul and Christine, whereas in Norway it was Raoul who initially appeared at the top. The height difference adds a lot more to the Phantom’s threatening presence.

‘Point of No Return’ is probably the scene I get most nervous about, as many productions will either have too little intimacy or too much. For the most part, I thought the production did a good job of walking the line between the two, though the first half did err a little on the side of too little; however, the actors kind of made up for it by focusing their attention on each other and not running around the stage too much, which can make the scene feel too confused. This did a good job of building the tension, which when finally resolved, also did well at not becoming too sexy; the two basically just grabbed and held each other. The “unmasking” was a bit strange though, with the Phantom seeing something offstage (the police) and then unmasking himself as a distraction. I did like that you can hear Raoul (I believe) shout, “No, don’t shoot her!”, emphasizing that it’s Christine’s safety, not the capture of the Phantom, that’s foremost for him.

‘Final Lair’ opens with the Phantom rowing Christine to his lair (having previously been chasing her down the steps in ‘Down Once More’); Christine subsequently spends much of the first part of the scene in the boat, and it isn’t until Raoul is caught and tied to the boat’s mooring pole that she gets out, or rather is flung out by the Phantom. The Phantom (Ben Forster in this case, since I lack footage of the Norwegian productions for these scenes) spends a lot of time ranting, while Christine (Amy Manford) alternated between huddling against the wall and pleading with him. At one point she picks up the music sheet (”You deceived me!”), which feels inspired once again by the tour. But with the context from ‘Music of the Night’, it also plays out better, as if Christine had been lured into thinking that he was a good person, with a beautiful world, because of his music, only to find out, nope, he’s a terrible person. Kiss plays out like the original, but after the Phantom frees Raoul he and Christine row off really fast, so there’s no last scene where Christine returns the ring. Instead we are left with the somewhat ambiguous image of Christine in her angel costume.

Overall, this is probably one of my favorite non-replicas, because of what they changed but also how well the changes work. It’s definitely a bit of a mix of different ideas, some of it’s own but some also clearly inspired from other productions, but melded together so that it’s still cohesive and coherent. The cast is uniformly great, though the Norwegian cast stood out a little more to me, maybe because Espen Grjotheim’s body language and Astrid Giske’s warm voice and clear facial expressions were just that good. I only wish I had more than just clips so I could get the full experience.

[chronicbatfictioner]

A Real Boy - Chapter 22

"So... King Kong is real, and even Solovar don't know what to do with it."

"Technically--" Barbara started, and then changed her mind. "Forget it. I can't even-- I don't even know what's real or not real but is... real, anymore."

Dick placed his elbow on the table and chin on his hand. "I'm with you in this. But if you're gonna say that 'technically Solovar of Gorilla City is King Kong', you're not wrong. Just... this King Kong is about three, four storeys' tall. And Solovar himself isn't even eight feet tall. He's like, seven-foot-two? Something?"

"I'm lost." Tim admitted, as he walked in to the room in the middle of the conversation.

"Hi, Lost--"

"Grayson, no dad jokes. You're not a dad, yet." Jason interrupted.

"Did my bike get home in one piece?" Dick turned to Jason.

"Definitely not, it's in approximately 142 pieces between here and Sprang Bridge." Jason replied insolently.

"Oh, cool. Considering there are about 800 pieces on that thing, means the puzzle pieces that was my bike are still big enough to reassemble..." Dick responded idly.

Tim met Barbara's glare before simultaneously rolling their respective eyes.

"Uh, guys? King Kong?" Tim finally decided to press. "I know I'm not gonna like the answer. But I gotta ask, don't I?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't like it either, but I ended up facing it..." Dick replied, shifting. Tim finally noticed and realized that under the fitted V-necked shirt, there were parallel bulges. Slight enough to not be noticed, if Tim hasn't seen the sliver of white under Dick's collar.

"You're injured." Jason, who apparently noticed the same thing, commented first.

"Pretty much. Bruised ribs, several stitches--"

"Dozen. Several dozen stitches," Barbara corrected.

"--several dozen stitches. And they all came from a freakin' King Kong."

"Dick was the damsel in distress, shrieks and all. Only Kong wasn't looking to like, rescue him from the nasties that is Men's World, but rather to devour him or something." Barbara elaborated. "And I have the only unedited footage, complete with sound."

"Dibs on watching it!" Jason exclaimed.

"It squished me." Dick said, looking almost proud. "And I gotta say that was the first I've seen Kong vs Elephant."

"Zitka was... clearly unhappy and expanded herself to be bigger than the Kong. Rammed herself onto Kong and freed Dick. The others... Arsenal was then able to shoot it with enough tranquilizer to sedate... --uh..."

"Ten gorillas?" Jason's unsuccessful attempt to not smirk was all too visible.

"Yeeeah, thereabout. Probably closer to like, twenty gorillas from Gorilla City that are larger than common gorillas by default..." Dick concluded. "And then Donna Troy moved it from Downtown Manhattan to... I dunno where she brought Kong to." he admitted.

"Best to not know, really. It was re-shrunk into its ordinary size - which is, as anyone would suspect, that of a common silverback gorilla..." Barbara finished. "Sooo... you guys got Cthulhu, I've heard."

"What the hell's going on, anyway? We've got literal made-up creatures coming out the wazoo..." Jason groused.

"I thought Cthulhu was real...?" Barbara queried.

"It is - the species. But not as massive as the one we saw on campus. Just like your Kong." Jason explained. "So yeah, what the hell...?"

"Those creatures were made up. Man-made with... Well, I'd say Lovecraft probably had the better prosaic description of the one we saw. But a massive Kong was absolutely... unimaginative." Tim remarked. "I'm just hoping that whoever did this won't do Jurassic Park next..."

"I would probably roll my eyes so hard at the first live T-rex or velociraptors I see, shoot them damn things and make steaks." Dick growled. His eyes suddenly widen. "I am, however, hoping this person isn't a sci-fi fan..." he said dramatically, glaring alternatively at Jason, Barbara, and then Tim.

Tim groaned exasperatedly. "If I see a Jabba or an ewok, organic or not, I'm gonna change them back to plastic."

Jason gasped mockingly. "But Tim! There could be creatures like them anywhere else in the universe! It's like we're alone in the whole universe!"

"Oh shut up." Tim snarled at him. "Eh... wait..." a thought suddenly hit him. "They were all man-made, organic, and sentient."

"I seriously could see a lightbulb switched on in his head..." Dick remarked as Tim mulled his thoughts, which promptly changed into the thought of 'what if all humans or magi would have an image of a lightbulb getting switched on whenever they got a brilliant idea?'

Fortunately the split second question did not interrupt Tim's main line of thoughts at all.

"They weren't supposed to be alive, or sentient, or exist. Or organic. Sizes notwithstanding..." Tim muttered under his breath after the pictures of his thought lined up a little neater in his mind.

"The person has the same powers as yours?" Barbara hazarded a guess.

"I can't make living things out of inanimate ob--" Tim said, and stopped abruptly. "Where is Lex Luthor now?"

"Belle Reve, last I checked," came Bruce's voice. "he's constantly undergoing psychiatric evaluation on daily basis. He's still there and has no contact with either his former associates or employees."

"How well do you trust the staff at Belle Reve?" Tim insisted. "I mean, he managed to make Conner. He's the only one who had managed to turn an effigy - a statue - into a human being!"

Bruce glared at Tim contemplatively - at least that was what Tim hoped for, and not anger out of Tim's insolence in doubting him.

"The staff at Belle Reve is... commanded by Amanda Waller, a staunch proponent of controlling magickal abilities and artifacts for the good of humankind, regardless of their magickal abilities or lack thereof. She will not let Luthor meddle with anyone under her watch." Bruce explained. "Some things Waller has done that I... generally do not approve of. She is a warlock, you see. But like me, she had opted for protection rather than destruction. Her methods still made me cringe, sometimes. But it is... out of my jurisdiction."

Tim could see that Bruce was gritting his teeth for the last few sentences, and Barbara confirmed his suspicion by saying, "she's like, a government-sanctioned agent. She could and has actually applied the death sentence and perform... experimental methods upon her inmates."

"Oh," now Tim cringed, too. It was public secret that the government - their government - has agencies that were authorized to do things that would be frowned upon by general morality, and that was just Tim's brain being nice. Human experimentation - through magickal or other means - was at the forefront of the reasons. Not surprisingly, death sentence was far further in the list.

Still, there was a more important question in Tim's mind that was not answered by either Bruce or Barbara.

"But do you trust her enough not to use Luthor's abilities for her own advantage?" Tim insisted.

The quiet that followed was punctuated by a distant screech of a bat, as if mocking their sudden silence filled with blatant uncertainty.

"I do not." Bruce finally said after some good long seconds. "I should have given you excuses and reasons on why, but I cannot provide you with answers that will not sound like a cliché."

"Good to know that you're not a typical adult who'd say we youngins should trust our government implicitly and explicitly." Tim deadpanned.

"I wouldn't still be here if he's like that. I'll check if Waller is in any way complicit or in any way behaving differently in the past... well, through the times of the strange goings-on, really. You'll need a broad data points to see patterns, right?" Barbara asked, and Tim froze a little at just how easy it seemed for Barbara to offer an activity that would generally constituted to a 'Big Brother' type of thing. Barbara, probably sensing his uneasiness, smiled and added, "no, Tim, I don't watch her 24/7 deliberately. But we do live in a kind of Big Brother country, after all. She was the one suggesting that the government keep watch over all of its citizens."

"Barbara just figured out ways to keep certain people out of the loop, like - you know - what the government itself would do for their secret agents and CIA and stuff." Dick elaborated.

"But if she's like, out of the loop...?" Tim hesitated.

"That's what I did, she can keep the government watching common people and hide her own people - or people like her; but she can't hide from me." Barbara smirked. "The Oracle's Tiara made it possible for me to manipulate cameras and programs to literally show what is hidden. So no, there's no need for me to keep watch on people 24/7. I'm not that dedicated. Or have nothing better to do with my time..."

"Oh, cool," Tim was interested this time. "If, say, I want to know where Dick is at certain time and date, you can find that out." he ascertained.

"Yes, if I allowed you to. But no, Tim, I don't stalk Dick, either." Barbara chuckled.

"Yeah, no... that was just an example 'cause I think Dick and Bruce - at least - would've been hidden from the government cams, anyway. But... not your cams, right?" Tim spluttered. "I mean, I've made sure that all recordings of me would at least be distorted - if not destroyed - every time I did something magickal in public..."

"...and you've done a very good job that none of us even know of your existence. I figured that if you can hide that well, it shouldn't be a big trouble for you to figure out how to reverse engineer your trick to find what you want to find, yes?" Bruce hinted, not-so-subtly.

Tim glared at him, blinking owlishly, more lost in his own thoughts than anything else as methods after methods of reverse 'engineering' camera filters started spinning in his mind.

"Right," Bruce nodded. "Just let Barbara know what you need and how we can help." he decided.

"I haven't even say I'll do it!" Tim protested out of habit.

"Your mouth denies it, but your entire body language is already trying to figure out how to solve this, little Timmy!" Dick chuckled. "So let's! I want to know how King Kong came to happen and if I can use it to make a bat that I can ride on!"