Phantom of the Opera animated film!

There's a new project on kickstarter that some phans have started noticing. In Australia production is in the works for a new animated version of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera!

If you wish to back this project here's the link!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1386250237/the-phantom-of-the-opera-animated-feature-film

I would love a new animated phantom, so in addition to blogging about this, I'm also going to pledge some money as well :)

Bayshore High School's production of Phantom of the Opera (Notes)

On Thursday March 13, 2014, Friday March 14, 2014 and Saturday March 15, 2014, Bayshore High School in Bayshore, NY located on Long Island performed Phantom of the Opera. All performances started at 7 P.M. When I found out about the production, I had to go because Bayshore is very close to where I live. So I actually ended up getting my mother in law, my cousin, my aunt, my grandmother, a friend of mine and two of her family members to attend the production with me on Saturday night.

I figure when that awful time hits Broadway and phantom closes down (let's hope NEVER!), that I'll have to get used to attending High School productions to get my fix, supplementing these mediocre performances with any bootlegs I can get my hands on, and the filmed concert of the 25th Anniversary production at Royal Albert Hall.

Before I give you my thoughts & notes about the actual show let me just say my acting is mediocre at best and my singing is awful, so even though I might post some criticisms, I'm pretty sure almost anyone could do a better job acting or singing POTO than me. 

For a High School production the set designs were actually pretty amazing. The chandelier was way better than Great Neck High School's Chandelier. (Great Neck is the only other High School production I've seen to date). I'm not sure if the students used any strobe lights but they managed a stage effect where the chandelier flickered or blinked the lights. The Phantom's lair and the AIAOY rooftop scene were the best sets IMO.

The costumes were done pretty well too. Apparently one of the mother's hand sewed the costumes for the cast over 3 months time. She did a whiz bang job! The one costume piece that bothered me was Christine's wig in the beginning of the show. She ended up wearing a different wig for AIAOY and for the second act but during Hannibal, Think of Me and the title song she looked like she was wearing a rat's nest on her head.

Masquerade was performed circa the 2004 film! The cast wore evening dresses and suits or tuxes for the men and they waved red fans around during different parts of the Masquerade choreography. I would have liked to have seen renditions of the Broadway costumes but given the fact that the costumes were single-handedly done by one of the cast member's mothers in 3 months time I could understand why they went in this direction for Masquerade.

The principal cast had excellent voices. Lindsay Tierney seemed to have a mildly hard time with Carlotta, but Carlotta and Christine are very tough roles to sing. For a HS girl she did a good job. Asia Stewart was Christine, her voice seemed a little deep to me but she still pulled it off.  Remson DeJoseph played the phantom. He did really well until the final lair scene. He made Erik more angry, I do not like violent angry Eriks. For me there has to be a balance during the final scene. He's very angry but he's also hurt, confused and slightly tender. He just didn't get that at the end. James Vaughn played Raoul and he upstaged Remson DeJoseph during the final lair scene. He was choking on the punjab lasso and while Christine kissed Erik, he was screaming very clearly "No! Christine you don't love him!" It was a weird call but I guess that's what he felt when he was playing the part.

Overall this production had better sets, but Great Neck had better actors and singers. For a High School production both schools did really well. Phantom is very hard to perform on a High School level so mistakes are bound to happen. I've only seen one 17 year old who happens to be a friend of mine sing and nail the part of Christine to the T.

Erik: Portrait of a living corpse

Recently I purchased this movie for viewing and for my collection! Here's my thoughts/notes about it!

I thought the cinematography was good, I liked how the director used older black and white cinematography and mixed it with modern cinematography as well. I also thought this lent more to a view of Erik's feelings. I felt like this movie was a mix of the 1925 lon chaney version and David Staller's 1990 version.

As far as the acting goes I feel Christine was okay, Mme. Giry was excellent and Meg Giry left something to be desired. Erik is a good actor but his latex make up and mask could use a little more work. His voice is ghostly and less angelic, he's also a little more violent with a twist of humor when he performs a violent act.

Raoul's very jerky looking and his character is actually quite comical.

Overall for an independent film it's pretty good, funny at times, I'm guessing by the ending that the story continues and I would like to view the next production release of the continued story if it does indeed happen.

Manifestations of a Phantom's soul volume 2 by Michelle Rodriguez

This lovely work of Phan Phic was a Christmas gift to me from my dear friend Jessica. Even though I have lots of phantom books at home that I have yet to read I figured it was long overdue for a phantom reading and review blog entry. So I started reading!

This book is wonderful. There's ten short stories, the stories are variations on the theme of Christine and Erik's love. Some stories are erotic, some have happy endings, some have extremely sad endings. I liked it because it wasn't the same old Erik & Christine happily ever after, each story had a different possibility.

Michelle's work is worth the read I've already picked up one of her other non phantom novels and I intend to pick up more of her phan phiction to read in the future after I get through stuff in my personal collection that I have yet to read! Or re-read! I would re-read Michelle's work!

Phantom of the Opera #52 NOTES

My new prized possession! 

I thought on September 26 my performances of phantom were over for 2013, but I was wrong. My little brother wanted to take me for Christmas and in return for Christmas I'd treat him to dinner and drinks. Together we'd have a nice memory of the city at Christmas and seeing phantom and that would be our gifts to each other. I couldn't turn down phantom so off we went on December 3 for my 52nd time, possibly my brother's third time, and my fifth time this year! Can I re live 2013? I'd like to see phantom 5 times each year!

My brother and I in our seats, I look half crazed my brother has some swag!

The main cast members were Hugh Panaro (the phantom), Jeremy Hays (Raoul), and Mary Michael Patterson (Christine). I was really excited to see Mary Michael Patterson because I haven't gotten to see her in the role of Christine yet. In comparison to Marni Raab I think her acting is better but I feel she lacked luster singing the very high notes. Our seats were up in rear mezz though, so it's possible the seating affected how I heard her sing. As I've said in prior entries I'm also not the best judge of singing/acting capabilities for cast members so I just say how I feel without giving an authoritative review. 

Matt with Hugh Panaro

My other note has to do with the actor who played the conductor during the Don Juan rehearsal. I am not sure who this actor was but during the rehearsal after Carlotta and Mme. Giry have their mini - tiff about Piangi's singing and if the phantom is possibly present at the rehearsal, this actor looked at the rehearsing cast and nervously said "so, so, so" before continuing. The whole audience laughed at that point, I don't recall seeing that done before during a performance and thought it was an excellent and humourous touch. 

Latest photo of myself and Mr. Hugh Panaro

Besides those two notes, my brother and I had a great time. I impressed him with my red scarf and extensive knowledge of the show's lines and Masquerade choreography...okay so maybe he wasn't impressed maybe he just shook his head in disbelief! After the show we bought some broadway cares memorabilia, my brother bought me the autographed cast poster, I bought a phantom aids pin and the carols for a cure CD. After the show I bought Matt more booze and we rode the train home remembering an awesome show and I drank a coffee in phantom's honor from my new phantom of the opera travel mug (which is a very cheap travel mug that's overly priced but I bought it anyway because it's a phantom travel mug!). 

Saluting the phantom performance with my mug and wearing my new phantom pin!

 

Phantom of the Opera # 51 Notes

pretty theatre!

As of today my reviews/thoughts about anything phantom that I've seen, heard, or read will be titled notes. I figured this was most appropriate as my reviews sometimes aren't full reviews but are more of a review/thoughts combination.

Jen and I outside of the theatre with some random man in the background. 

This past Wednesday night on September 25, 2013 I had the luck of attending Phantom of the Opera for my 4th time this year (51st time in total) with my friend Jen. She had gotten a bunch of tickets at the Broadway Cares flea market including a voucher to see Phantom of the Opera this week. She had asked me at the flea market if I would be willing to take a ticket and I said I would if we can go on Wednesday night. I traded her dinner for the ticket. I'll feed someone giving me a phantom of the opera ticket anytime!

Pre-show excitement!

Hugh Panaro made this performance amazing! He's back in the role of the Phantom right now. He did some new things I've never seen him do when he performed the role before, he blew Jen and I away with the new stuff he's come up with. Right after MOTN before Christine wakes up from her boat fainting and spending the night in the phantom's lair while Hugh is banging away at the organ he has a new head shake dance move. Adds a great touch to that part of the show. During the final lair scene he whispered "You try my patience," to Christine, which gave the scene a shuddering touch that took my breath away.

chandelier!

Jeremy Hays needs to grow into the role of Raoul a little more and I'm sure he'll be just fine. Towards the beginning of his performance he seemed to just be reciting his lines but he's new in the role of Raoul so I'm willing to cut him some slack and say he'll definitely be better with a little more time.

Jen hiding behind her t-shirt purchase

Once the show was over Jen and I stage-doored. I haven't gotten to a have a real stage door experience in awhile. When I tried stage-dooring the night before the 25th anniversary things were a mess because everyone wanted to meet Sierra Bogess. I didn't bother for the 25th anniversary and even though I wanted to stage door when Joback was in I didn't do it because the two friends Shawn and I met after the show really didn't want to do the stage door thing. Notable actors we met while at the stage door included Jeremy Hays and the very lovable Jeremy Stolle. Stolle is incredibly awesome he cares a lot about the phans and is so easy going with anyone he meets.

A blurry bad photo of Jeremy Stolle and I but I still need to post it!

So those are my notes for performance # 51. Go see Hugh, even if you've seen him before! My next mission is to hopefully see Mary Michael Patterson in the role of Christine. (I ended up missing Sam Hill unfortunately. I heard she was quite good.)

Broadway Cares Flea Market 2013

MC autographs for sale!

Broadway held their 27th annual Broadway Cares Flea Market this past Sunday on September 22, 2013. Even though this flea market has been held for 27 years this is the first time I was able to check it out. I arrived at the Flea Market with a budget of $100 cash and I really didn't think I was going to get anything because I thought all the items for sale would be ridiculously expensive. I ended up getting quite a haul for my $100 cash budget.

shoes for sale at the Wicked Table

When I first got there I headed straight for the Phantom of the Opera table. Before I got to the phantom table though I came across the MC fan association table. Surprisingly I snagged an autographed framed picture of Michael Crawford for $35.

I got to talk some more with Kimilee Bryant I met her a few years ago and she remembered me!

I walked toward the Majestic after that and ended up meeting some new PHan girl PHriends at the Phantom of the Opera table. This year POTO sold prints for 25 cents each, actor and character nameplates for $1 each, Phantom of the Opera jackets for $150, Pillows from the gondola for $125, various costume pieces at various prices, pieces of the majestic theatre stage, posters from outside the majestic for various prices depending on which actor was featured, artwork by the cast of phantom, and other goodies which I was too late to snag or can't remember off the top of my head.

Some new and incredibly awesome phantom buddies! 

I spent the day going back to the phantom table and walking around different parts of time square with my new found girlPHriends. At various stops to the phantom table I picked up a little more merch each time. There were also a bunch of cast members from each Broadway show manning the tables at various times.

The Majestic will always have a piece of my heart.

The flea market was listed as being open 10 to 7 but some tables starting shutting down earlier than that. Some tips about the flea market, if you've never gone and plan to go next year. If you want your choice of all the items offered get to the flea market early, you'll pay top dollar but you'll have what you want. If you are a bargain hunter like me it's best to come later, sometime in the afternoon a lot of merch becomes marked down just to get it sold.