Phantom of the Opera to perform it's 10,000th show!

On February 11, 2012 at 2 PM Phantom of the Opera will perform it's 10,000th show in NYC at the Majestic Theatre!

If you are interested in tickets some are on sale through the actor's fund website as far as I know nothing is for sale through ticketmaster or telecharge.

Maybe I'll be seeing you at the show - who knows?!?

December 2011 Sexy Phantom!

A Phan's Christmas dream come true!

Sometimes my sexy phantom of the month floors me because I'm just surprised I never picked the phantom that I end up choosing. That's exactly what happened this month. I performed a google image search for Christmas and Phantom of the Opera, when I found this image I knew who the sexy phantom had to be!

His voice does lack much skill and the scar the make up artist gave him is the size of a quarter but the man himself isn't all that bad looking. So for Christmas rabid phans feast your eyes on Mr. Gerard Butler. 

Wouldn't you want to wake up here?

Here he is unmasked! 

Life after Phantom by Samantha REVIEW

Life After Phantom: Opera Erotica
Kindle Edition

It's been a very long time since I reviewed anything besides the show for this blog. While I was on the train choosing what my next kindle read was for my travels I went into my phantom collection on the kindle. I decided I was in the mood for erotic phantom and this was the read that I would finally get to after purchasing this book for the kindle last winter.

This book was a pretty decent read. The author tells her version of Erik's story after the opera house incident. Erik escapes the opera and he's ready to die from despair, but then Catherine comes into his life. She saves him from despair and shows him love he never thought was possible.

There's some excitement, there's happiness, there's love, there's terrifically delicious sex scenes and hunky photos of Erik created by the author. I was really surprised by this book I really thought it was going to be a bad read but it turned out to be much better than I had anticipated.

If you are going to buy but don't want to splurge the $25 the kindle edition is only $8. When I purchased the book there wasn't any used editions for sale but it seems like there are some now. You can also check libraries to see if you can borrow it. The library system I work for doesn't own it but if they ever allow me to build up a whole phantom collection this is one of the books I would want in it.

This is Samantha's website if you wish to check it out! You might recognize her Erik from a previous entry where he was the Sexy Phantom of the month!

PHan Holiday Gift Guide 2011

Last year I published a holiday gift giving guide for the Phans! I enjoyed doing it so much that this year I'm going to do it again. So my PHellow PHans here's this year's gift guide, hopefully it will provide some helpful gift ideas for PHans to gift to each other or for us to show to those we love so that they'll hopefully get the hint and feed into our insanity with phantom materialism!

Personally I think ALW should have given us a gift by not creating LND.

25th Anniversary POTO Merch: 
London just celebrated Phantom's 25th anniversary. If your Phan has mentioned this more times then you can count you can buy them some merchandise to commemorate the 25th anniversary.

Artistic or unique POTO gifts:
If you'd like to wow the Phan in your life with artistic or unique Phantom of the Opera merchandise, Etsy is a great resource. Just type in Phantom of the Opera as a keyword search and you can view all kinds of unique phantom of the opera items. I found my phantom egghead on Etsy. I take him everywhere I go and if I don't forget and I have my camera with me he comes out for location shots.


Books:
If there's a phan in your life that loves to read Phantom of the Opera books are the way to go! I have tons of books in physical book format and in digital format on my kindle. Amazon is the best resource for Phantom of the Opera books, most of the unique phan phiction you can't find in bookstores. Just type in a keyword search using the words Phantom of the Opera in the book department and you'll find tons of hits on great books to read having to do with our favorite story, which started out as a book.

Right now I'm reading this delicious book on my kindle

I'm loving every minute of this story, there are terrifically erotic scenes (which are the best part IMO), it's well written, extremely romantic and a pretty good story overall. Plus there's pictures of the Phantom!

Clothing: 

• Two great sites for clothing options are cafe press and zazzle. As with many of the sites I posted already just do a keyword search for the five best words ever created for the English Language and you'll find many results. 
• Quilting Treasures just released a line of Phantom of the Opera fabric! So if the phan in your life likes to sew or is eager to learn how to sew why not get them a few bolts of this pretty fabric. Hopefully I'm going to get a hold of some so I can make some PJs for myself as well as a garter to wear for my wedding. I'd like to have a swatch of every single piece of this fabric for collection purposes but I will only buy some yards of the pattern I want for PJs and my garter. There's just one minor problem with my plan I haven't sewed in years lol, but Shawn's mom is going to help me start up again with a skirt I bought material for. I'm sure she'll help me put together PJs and the garter they should be fairly easy projects. 

Collectibles:

• Carlton Cards has been putting out Phantom of the Opera ornaments for sale since I started college. I have a few of these ornaments but not all of them. Most of these ornaments can be found through eBay. My friend George picked one up for me at Kohl's one year and I paid him back for it, I'm not sure if they still sell them. 
• Franklin Mint issued a collector's plate and a set of beautiful Phantom of the Opera porclain dolls. I found two plates for sale on eBay. The dolls I can't seem to locate for sale but here's a youtube version of them. 
• My favorite collectibles are from the San Francisco Music Box Company. Unfortunately this company went out of business quite some time ago. Thankfully you can search eBay by using the keyword Phantom of the Opera Music Box and still find some music boxes for sale on their site. 

POTO Bargains gift ideas for $10 or under:
*PLEASE NOTE - Some items I located are priced in pounds, not US Dollars. I'm not sure of the conversion between both currencies and don't really want to put energy and thought into researching it so if the item is under 10 pounds I can't vouch for the US dollar equivalency equating to under $10. 

• Book lovers can mark their pages with this bookmark.
• Does your Phan like coffee or tea, they can indulge in their hot beverage of choice with this haunting mug, or you can opt for this beauty of a mug.
• For the Phans that really enjoyed the 2004 movie if they don't already have about 5 or 6 copies on film Amazon has the movie in DVD and blu-ray for less then $10. 
• If your phan owns a kindle why not surprise them by downloading a FREE version of Gaston Leroux's novel, they'll love you forever and can take this classic novel anywhere they take their kindle. 
• If your phan likes pictures and wants to oogle over images of phantom this brochure is fun. Or you can opt for this London Program if you can't get your phan to London for a performance at Her Majesty's.  
• Some charming little POTO items a lovely key ring, the MASK, a charm bracelet way better than anything Tiffany has to offer,  and a magnet so you can post things on the fridge that you do not want your phan to forget! 
• To keep the phantom close to your heart this pin does the trick. 
• Write your notes POTO style with this cute little pen. 

Tickets:
Last but not least on this year's gift guide is of course tickets! If you can swing the expense of some tickets to one of the major Phantom performances your phan shall be very ecstatic! I'd like to see Phantom again at some point in January but I don't expect Shawn to buy any tickets. He bought me them last year for my birthday and on that same night in the theatre he made dreams that I had long since forgotten come true by proposing to me after the show was over.

• Las Vegas - If you're planning a visit to Sin City be sure to check out Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. I'm not much of a traveler (I would go more places if I had more money and time off from work) but my goal is to one day go to Vegas to see this show and to see Barry Manilow. Most people in their 20s want to hit Vegas to get wasted and gamble of course I'm the odd duck out who just wants to see a few amazing shows. 
• London - If you live in London or are planning a trip there Her Majesty's is where you will go to see the legendary show where it first debuted. 
• New York - New York at the Majestic Theatre is my usual haunt! Here I've seen the show 45 times. My record breaker was 10 times in one year in between two of my birthdays. I've since slowed down in my attendance of performances, I'd like to hopefully get to go at least 50 times. Maybe I'll get to that goal by 2013 or 2014 since I now only go about 3 to 4 times a year.  

If you search the newspapers, visit a library or small campus theatre (sometimes they have discount coupons), scour internet sites such as Broadwaybox.com or visit the TKTS booth in Manhattan for same day tickets you can get greatly discounted tickets for New York's performance. If you don't want to deal with the hassle you can sit in rear mezz for about $40 on almost any performance. There's also standing room tickets for sold out shows if you're nuts enough like me or most other phans you'll stand for 2 and a half hours of showtime!

Phantom of the Opera Fabric

I've been alerted to the creation of Phantom of the Opera fabric by a PHellow Phan. The only information I could dig up was the article sent to me, a search for the actual fabric and prices from the company that is supposed to sell it was fruitless when I searched their website. I'm keeping an eye out, Shawn's mom is going to help me learn some sewing when we both have time so I intend to buy this fabric and create some items. I see Phantom of the Opera PJs in my future....well ones besides the two worn out shirts I sometimes wear to bed. If anyone out there is a nurse the material design looks like it would be good to make some fun scrubs with!

November's Sexy Phantom!

Thanksgiving 2011 is on it's way! That said let the phans give thanks for November's Sexy Phantom! Colm Wilkinson!

Colm Wilkinson and Anthony Crivello at Phantom the Las Vegas Spectacular 

C.W. is most known for the role of Jean Valjean in Les Mis, but he's donned the mask as well so he qualifies. I've only seen his performance in phantom on the screen when I viewed Hey Mr. Producer! and when he made an appearance for the Phantom's 25th anniversary in London.

Some drama to the sexiness of C.W. with a B&W image

This sexy phantom of the month comes along with a special shout out to my girl Danielle! She was at the phan gathering, as soon as I get myself a license and a car my ass is taking the 3 or 4 hour drive to visit her, planning massive road trips when I get my car! She's a les mis and phantom phan so being that this phantom performed both title roles in both shows she definitely gets a shout out. 

One more rambling note before this entry is over. I'm looking into the possibility of starting a sexy Christine of the month. Even though I definitely dig a sexy phantom, some readers could possibly be wishing for a sexy Christine. But I need some help. If there is a phan out there willing to work with me by naming sexy Christine's for my blog on a monthly basis please let me know. You can leave a comment on the bottom of this blog with contact info or you can e-mail me at Phantom245w44st@gmail.com.

Chaz Bono as the Phantom!

This has inspired me to learn the tango! 

My favorite thing about the month of October is that the phantom seems to be extremely popular due to the fact that it's Halloween and he's thought to be extremely spooky. There's all sorts of Phantom sightings, people dressed as him for Halloween, appearances or mentions in episodes of television shows etc. Which reminds me I've always meant to get a phantom sighting entry created. Last night my cousin informed me that Chaz Bono was going to dance to Phantom on dancing with the stars in honor of Broadway week. I missed it last night but found it on youtube today. I might have taken a slightly longer break than I was supposed to so that I can view the video on my cell phone but phantom is worth breaking rules for. 

Interestingly enough Shawn would like to take tango lessons, I am pretty sure he would like the tango to be our first dance at the wedding reception. I'm more than perfectly willing to learn the tango if that means Shawn will don the mask and the phantom of the opera title song can be our first dance. The question is can I get my dear sweet future husband to go along with this?!? 

Phantom of the Opera Masquerade Cruise

I've been a bad phan :( Haven't been checking the message boards or websites to keep up on my phantom news since leaving facebook. Thankfully a PHellow PHan alerted me of this Phantom of the Opera Cruise in an e-mail.

It's a Masquerade cruise on October 29, 2011 leaving NYC. It's from 9 PM to 12 AM. With your admission you get the boat ride, plus seasonal beer and champagne. There's a costume contest in which the lucky winner will receive tickets to Phantom of the Opera's 10,000th performance (If I do go there's a high chance that winner shall be mugged for their tickets before the boat ride is over).

Okay so I really want to go to this, so very badly. Sadly I don't think I'm going to get to go. There's a chance I might and if I do I will post some photos and give a blog entry. But I'm pretty sure I'm not really going to have the money for it. I'm trying to save every single penny I can for my wedding and honeymoon and I am also trying to get myself a car. I do have money saved but it's for the wedding (although this is a high temptation to blow some of the wedding money I have saved). Shawn and I have other local events we were invited to that night, which will be cheaper than this event, and Shawn might be suffering from Phantom burn out still. So the odds aren't in my favor as of this moment. But to the lucky Phans who definitely can go please enjoy!

Phantom of the Opera Candy...it is possible!

This past weekend I attended back to back street fairs. While I was at the fair in Farmingdale, I wandered into the chocolate duck with Terry, Anabel and baby Vincent. Anabel asked the cashier if they had masquerade molds, he pointed out the correct aisle to her and she made quite a discovery. Half mask chocolate molds that I'm sure are definitely phantom of the opera based circa ALW. I immediately bought them along with some white chocolate chips so that I could experiment and hopefully make some phantom chocolate. I found out what to do in order to melt the chocolate pieces in order to fit them into the mold....then I suffered through the rest of the fair until I could get home and experiment with this new creation.
I got home, tore open the chocolate, did what I had to do and was very successful, making chocolate is ridiculously easy. The phantom of the opera chocolate came out so great, that I intend to make them for my job's Halloween fundraising bake sale at the end of this month, as well as making them to send out to some of my PHan PHriends for Christmas....only thing is now their Christmas present isn't a surprise if they read this entry.
Here's the step-by-step process along with photographic accompaniment so that you too may create Phantom of the Opera candy if you can get the mold

Step 1 - start by boiling water in a pot

Step 2 - obtain a bowl made of metal, any other metal object that can fit on top of the boiling pot of water is fine, there are also appliances made to melt chocolate pieces specifically I wouldn't invest unless you intend to make much chocolate though.

Step 3 - place bowl or desired metal object on top of the pot of boiling water, then pour the desired amount of chocolate pieces or chips into the bowl. Begin to stir chocolate as it starts to melt and take liquid form.

Step 4 - Once the chocolate is in hot liquid form pour it into the plastic molds, than place in the freezer for a few hours.

Step 5 - after the chocolate has frozen into the shape of the mold and is solid again remove the mold from the freezer. The chocolate pieces should easily pop out of the mold, leaving you with your chocolate creations, now phans can be very happy with Phantom of the Opera candy!

Phantom Burn Out!

Okay don't panic! I'm not suffering from phantom burn out, but sometimes people close to me are in danger of phantom burn out. The purpose of this blog entry will be to explain the tragedies of phantom burn out and how you can handle it

What exactly is Phantom Burn Out

Phantom Burn Out is a horrible experience, usually phans don't suffer from phantom burn out, but people close to a phan are the ones in danger. These unfortunate people at a certain point will have had *GASP* enough of Phantom after being exposed to phantom for a certain amount of time. Sometimes they'll be nice enough to inform their phan that they are suffering, some burn out victims may start avoiding you like the plague. If you're lucky the burn out victim will be okay and ready for more exposure once they've been semi-phantom free or have had limited phantom experience for a month or two.

What to do for your suffering loved one

If your loved one is suffering from Phantom burn out there are many things to do! If there's another phantom event coming up and they are going through burn out, you may extend the invitation to them to attend the event but if they decline, lean on another local fellow Phan, or another friend or relative that you know. If you wish to hear music or watch a DVD and you live with the burn out victim, by all means indulge yourself but do so with headphones. Make sure to do this especially if your co habitating burn out victim must see your phantom shrine every day, as this will most likely ensure your shrine stays up and unharmed. Don't forget the burn out victim under normal circumstances isn't privy to your thoughts so feel free to think about Phantom as much as you'd like. After some time the burn out victim should be okay and than it's time to drag them to more phantom events once they're fully recovered.

That ladies and gents is phantom burn out and how it should be handled.

October 2011-Sexy Phantom!

I really should make sure my sexy phantom titles follow the same format. Hopefully next month when I name November's sexy Phantom I'll remember that I want to have this month's title the official format for the monthly sexy phantoms.

Now that my babbling gibberish about how I should format the title is over and done with, this month's sexy Phantom is Ciaran Sheehan. Ciaran is one of the phantoms who has played both the role of Raoul and Phantom. What inspired me to name him as sexy phantom for October of 2011, was the fact that he made an appearance with Kimilee Bryant to the Phan gathering a week and a half ago. I figured since he took some time out to speak with some of the phans he automatically deserved the title and glory as well as the buckets of phan girl drool that come with the title of sexy phantom.

So ladies and men who aren't straight...here's our sexy phantom this month, Ciaran Sheehan!

This is Ciaran on the cover of his CD, I bought this CD at the phan gathering but haven't opened it yet.

This is how we prefer to see Ciaran as the sexy man this blog pays tribute to every month!

Phantom of the Opera sans a falling chandelier

At 2 PM on October 2, 2011 - Phantom of the Opera streamed a live performance of the 25th anniversary performance from Royal Albert Hall to Phans accross the UK, Canada and USA. Thankfully my friend Michael snagged three tickets to the showing at Farmingdale Multiplex cinemas, thus ensuring that the plans for Sunday afternoon of October 2, for Shawn and I was to attend the screening of the live performance stream. The viewing started at 2 PM, Shawn and I were a little bit late so we ended up coming into the theatre during the rehearsal for Hannibal. It was the first time ever that I was late for anything involving phantom, I figure with all the phantom events I do end up being able to attend this misfortune was bound to happen sometime, it's better it happened for a screening and not for an actual performance so I won't gripe. Besides this will be available on DVD soon, which I'm definitely going to buy so it's not like I won't be able to view the little bit that I missed. The performance was wonderful. There were a few key elements and props that were missing because the show took place at Royal Albert Hall and not at Her Majesty's. I guess they were able to put together certain scenes and had to forgo using some prop pieces because the space they were using doesn't normally accommodate the production. Most notable items missing were the mirror bride at the end of music of the night, half of Christine's dressing room, the boat in the final lair scene and the most notable by far the falling chandelier. There was a chandelier in the hall, but my guess was the theatre managers at Royal Albert Hall were definitely not going to let that thing fall, not even for the greatest musical to ever grace the presence of the stage. The cast was huge, the biggest cast I've ever seen come together in order to perform the phantom. Ramin Karimloo played the man of the evening, the phantom. He was terrific, his voice was absolutely wonderful, and he added something great to the final lair scene that I've never seen done before, he actually almost huddled up and cried after screaming orders to Raoul and Christine to go after he released Raoul. I definitely lost it at that point and starting bawling like a baby as I usually do during the final lair scene. Sierra Boggess was a good Christine. Shawn said she was a bit creepy because he didn't really notice her blink, but creepy non blinking aside her Christine performance was pretty damn cool. She played up Christine's torn emotions between the phantom and Raoul more than any Christine I've ever seen. I was really glad to have seen these two perform the title roles, I've been dying to see them in action since I knew about them. I did see Sierra when she was the little mermaid on Broadway but was really glad to see her as Christine. I'm more excited over the fact that I will have this on DVD soon and will see them any time I want to pop my copy in the DVD player (which might be any time I'm home). Kiera Duffy was a fair Carlotta. The rest of the cast was good, very on target, and they did an admirable job in performing phantom in a space not entirely meant to house it. Masquerade was disappointingly undazzling, they chose to have the cast members enter the stage after the managers discovered each other in the beginning of the song, rather than have them waiting on one of the staircases while a curtain was pulled back. The cool part about Masquerade - three monkeys. There was some really cool digitized movie projections during the performance. I've heard rumors of a new version of phantom being released, I don't have my facts straight for any blog piece about this new version yet but I'm wondering if these movie projections will be featured in the new version or if they were just for the Royal Albert Hall specifically. The pit orchestra played above the stage, because the camera men were down in the pit. When the performance was over, of course Andrew Lloyd Webber had to come out in order to take a bow and give a speech. I think he does these special performances just so he can have some moments (maybe also because the phans might crucify him if he doesn't....but it's probably more to have his moments). Wasn't a fan of his speech, Shawn was ready to go to sleep the minute he came on stage, and Michael made fun of his fashionable shirt. He blubbered a few words, bought out the original London Company and crew, minus the few that have passed away including Maria Bjornson and Steve Barton. He introduced Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman separately, it was pretty amusing when Sarah came out, he was trying to grab her fiercely but she insisted on embracing Michael Crawford. Sarah Brightman sang the title song with four separate phantoms and Ramin, the four phantoms followed by singing a rendition of music of the night with many voices. That was very cool, I was able to see brief musical clips performed by John Owen Jones, Anthony Warlow, Colm Wilkinson, and Peter Joback. I only recognized Colm Wilkinson, at the end of the performance I ended up not being able to catch the names of the phantoms when they flashed on the credits screen. Thankfully my fellow phan Christopher Marsh in London saw the show in person and posted these phantom's names so I was able to get my reporter facts straight. (When I'm a real reporter I'll have to make a mental note not to reveal my sources). It's alright for my blog though, I think my friends and fellow PHans like the recognition. Overall I was pretty impressed with the 25th anniversary performance, I was really happy that the decision was made to stream it live to movie theatres, this was probably so ALW could have many more people see him make a speech, but still it was cool to have the opportunity to see this without having to take a plane to London, and to than be able to buy it on DVD in a month is pretty good too. May phantom have another 25 years...who am I kidding...I hope phantom has another 125 year and than some!

Michael, Shawn and I during the intermission, I used the front facing camera on my cell phone, grainy dark picture but still glad to have it.

Phantom of the Opera 25th London anniversary to be broadcast live in movie theatres

On October 1, 2011 at 7:30 and October 2, 2011 at 1:30 PM Phantom of the Opera will be celebrating 25 years. The performances will take place at the Royal Albert Hall with Ramin Karimloo as the phantom and Sierra Bogess as Christine. For detailed information visit the website. What's most exciting about this is that live screenings will be shown in movie theatres around the world! Screenings in the US will be on October 2, 5, 6, and 11th. There will be additional screenings in Canada and Australia. I'm lucky enough to be at the screening in the US this Sunday. Of course I'll review for the blog, I'm excited to see Ramin and Sierra perform the title roles!

Phan weekend 2011 and phantom #45

This entry is going to be pretty long, lots of coverage. This past weekend from September 22, 2011 to September 25, 2011 some phans got together in Manhattan for a Phan gathering weekend. I was lucky enough to be invited to the event. The out of town PHans arrived on Thursday and left Sunday. I had to work on Thursday and Sunday so I was only able to attend the phan events for Friday and Saturday (those were the main bulk of events though, so it wasn't so bad - I do regret missing the flea market though). For me the PHun started on Friday. I woke up at 9 AM to get ready and head to the city. I donned some phan girl gear, drank coffee from one of two phantom mugs I owned and got on the train. When I reached Penn Station as I was texting Shawn and getting my bearings I was already spotted by two PHellow Phans. So the three of us headed to the gathering. After everyone had arrived and was settled in, we started playing some games and had a round of introductions. I finally got to meet some phans I had been chatting to on facebook in person, Krista, Chris, Melissa, Bethany, Vicky, Maura, Kaedra, Kathryn, Jeff, Rebecca and Danielle. They were really nice, right away I felt pretty comfortable with everyone (it probably helped that we all had a common bond of being a phan of phantom). Throughout the evening we played three rounds of Who or what am I? and name that song. During who or what am I, Jeff placed a person or an object relating to phantom of the opera on our backs. We didn't know who we were, but we had to ask everyone questions about who or what we were. Once we thought we figured out the answer, we double checked with our partners. I was Lon Chaney, Mme. Giry's cane and Gillian Lynne. Shawn was Michael Crawford when he arrived later in the evening. I won a prize for the second round - now I have a lovely art creation by Kaedra. Kaedra is an extremely talented individual, she bought all of the prizes for the gathering games to NY with her, she had some drawings which were amazingly wonderful, a monkey bag, a plush rose and some phantom t-shirts. One t-shirt was pretty cool but there was no way in hell it was fitting me so I couldn't choose it for a prize. In between our game playing we had a visit from Kimilee Bryant and Ciaran Sheehan, Kimilee has played many roles in the show from Christine and Carlotta to the swing. Lisa Klages, Kimilee's stage manager was also there for the interview. All of the phans had a chance to ask Ciaran and Kimilee some questions, they both sang All I ask of you for us, and than Jeff and I had the privilege to act out a phantom scene, it was the dressing room scene between Raoul and Christine (my guess is that both Kimilee and Ciaran might have favoritism towards Raoul - which normally makes me twitch but they were taking time out to entertain us so I refrained from twitching). Jeff played opposite Kimilee, I played opposite Ciaran. It was pretty awesome, unless I completely change career paths and somehow obtain sensational vocal chords that's the closest I'm ever going to get to performing anything from phantom of the opera. Kimilee and Ciaran ended their visit by offering merchandise for sale. I bought a CD from each artist, a program insert which they both signed for me and a phantom red ribbon aids pin. Once Kimilee and Ciaran left, we ordered some dinner, played name that song, watched some phantom movies and hung out, after the pizza Shawn arrived to meet my PHellow PHans. After his arrival Krista and Chris presented a cake they bought for everyone, and I did my barista bit. Shawn was so sweet, when I cleaned up the coffee items and was getting ready to wash them he told me he would wash them and to go hang out with the phans. Once everything was cleaned up we had a little Masquerade cosplay. Maura a wonderfully talented phan who came to join us, had some pieces for me to try on so that I could possibly wear Christine's Don Juan costume that Emmy Rossum wore in the 2004 movie. I tried on the pieces and they did fit me, Shawn and I liked the costume so much we asked Maura if she wouldn't mind selling the pieces. She didn't want to sell certain pieces, so I went through her stuff and found different pieces for the ones she didn't really want to sell, once we reached an agreement she sold me three pieces plus some accessories for $10. Not bad at all. Kaedra dressed in her famous monkey costume, Jeff was Phantom, Rebecca was Christine, Maura was a triangle girl, Chris was a secret agent, Krista had a beautiful back and red Victorian dress, Kathryn was an opera attendee, so was Bethany. We took photos, had some fun, than put our regular clothes back on. When the masquerade was over I said goodnight to everyone and went back home. Saturday we had made arrangements to see the 2 PM matinee. Shawn, his mom and I got ready. I wore my new costume, Shawn dressed as what I'd like to call the rogue phantom (which I thought was pretty sexy) and his mom borrowed one of my phantom shirts. We met the phans inside the theatre (we got to sit pretty damn close, third row stage left) it was pretty exciting. The show was terrific. Thursday some of the phans who got into town spontaneously got tickets to the show and they witnessed some technical problems, this show went off without a hitch. Jeremy Stolle played the phantom I didn't get to see him before, he was pretty good. He definitely portrayed a lost little boy side of the phantom that I never saw an actor use before in the role. It was interesting and for me quite emotional. As usual I was almost in hysterics by finale time. Michele McConnell was Carlotta she was the other actress in the show, besides of course Kimilee which held my attention. She had an extremely distinctive look about her and played the diva very well. When the show was over we were lucky enough to have some of the actors come out to the stage to greet us and hold a Q&A session with us. We asked them about bloopers, and various other questions, I asked how often Hal Prince comes by the check on the show. Once the Q&A session was over, we went across the street to Sardi's for dinner. I loved the fact that I saw MC's caricature there, but as for Sardi's the establishment, I wasn't so keen about them or the service. The food was semi-expensive, our waiter kept stealing our utensils and plates before we were done with them, and the atmosphere was just too chaotic the place was way to crowded since it's pretty famous. Personally I enjoy Carmine's better, but at least I got to say I ate at Sardi's once and managed to have the Sardi's experience. After Sardi's we had to leave because Shawn's mom isn't feeling to well right now and wasn't up for bowling in costume. The other phans went bowling in phantom costumes. The next day they hit the Broadway Cares Equity fights aids flea market. So far it seems my desire to go to the flea market and check out the phantom booth is squelched because I end up at work. This year I was supposed to be off, but I ended up switching my work schedule for a christening that did not take place. From the bits and pieces I heard the flea market was pretty cool, at least one phan I know has pictures. As for my own pictures, I really would love to post some for this entry but I'm not going to right now. I posted photos on facebook and then I had to lock them down so that only those attending the phan gathering could see them. Since anyone can come across my blog for the time being I'm choosing not to post event photos here. I'm hoping lots of people read this though so that they can see the whole weekend was just good fun and comradery among the phantom phans who were able to attend the events. I hope we have a phan gathering 2012 and I hope whether it's in Manhattan or elsewhere that I can attend. I really liked meeting a bunch of phans, and I'm going to miss hanging out with everyone, even though I only got to see everyone for two days it felt like I knew them for a long time. There are a few phans who are in the tri-state area and surrounding states that are close to NY, perhaps when I start driving I can arrange to visit them and hang out. Perhaps if I ever reach Canada again (I only took a trip there once in 8th grade) I can see my Phan Phriends who came from Canada. Phan weekend was a great experience, I'm happy I took part in it and hope to be a part of another gathering in the future.

PHirst Ever Global Phantom of the Opera Day!

On September 23, 2011 the PHirst ever global phantom of the opera day took place. Global Phantom of the Opera day was a product of brainstorming among a PHew Phantom Phans. I thought of it after National Coffee Day took place last year, Rebecca Timmons pitched in to make the day global not national for Phans everywhere, not just US Phans. September 23, I believe is the first publication of Leroux's novel which is why the date was picked. For me it was a great PHirst global Phantom of the Opera day as I had a gathering with some phans who came down to Manhattan for the weekend, details of this gathering will be in an entry to follow.

September 2011 Sexy Phantom!

Howard with an Erik Buddy!

I am seriously shocked I haven't made this man my sexy phantom the day I decided to create the monthly sexy phantoms! I'm also so happy I thought about him when perusing my chart of previous sexy phantoms and wondering if this was the month I was going to be at a loss regarding which sexy phantom to name. Ladies get ready to mop up some drool our man of the month is Howard McGillin.

But this his how we really like to see him, mask please!

Phantom Variations by Ann C. Hall REVIEW

Phantom Variations: The Adaptations of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, 1925 to the Present

I haven't read any phantom of the opera literature recently although I have a lot on my kindle and a ton of books too, so when I finished my coffeehouse mysteries on the kindle, I decided to go to my phantom collection and chose to read this work by Ann Hall. I was pretty impressed, she looks deeply into the meanings of different versions of the story and provides a lot of insight as to why which version might have been made this way and why another version was made differently. This book satisfies a phantom nerd's mind in regards to the phantom of the opera variations available for viewing. It also inspires me to possibly become a phantom scholar, although some of my friends are already convinced that I'd have a Ph.D in the subject if it was offered in universities. If you wish to delve deeper into phantom this is definitely a good read, kudos to Ms. Hall for creating this work. 

Oxford Bookworms Library: The Phantom of the Opera REVIEW

The Oxford Bookworms Library: The Phantom of the Opera Level 1 (Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 1)

I feel like I haven't reviewed anything to do with phantom of the opera for a very long time, except for a review of the live Broadway show. Before hitting the sack I decided to read this very simplified version of the Gaston Leroux novel that I just bought from Amazon a few weeks ago.

Jennifer Bassett writes this adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel. It is pretty much very true to the tale, but it's very simplified as it's meant for a small child to read. In addition to the story  there is a glossary, and questions to answer before you read the book, while you are reading the book and after you read the book. These additional pages make this book a worthy tool for teachers who chose to introduce young kids to phantom of the opera.....or maybe it's just perfect for the crazy phan intending to make sure their future children know everything about the phantom of the opera.

Not a bad book to have in your phantom collection, especially when you want to teach your young relatives about phantom of the opera.

Sexy Phantom for August 2011

In the scary lair

Terrorizing members of the masked ball

This month's sexy phantom isn't all too sexy but I figured he deserves a small recognition...and he's alright. Truth be told sometimes I'm left puzzled for the month wondering which sexy phantom I shall pick. I need to obtain a list of Broadway and London phantoms as well as phantoms on tours so I have plenty of sexy phantom ammo. So here it is this month we salute Robert Englund star of the 1989 slasher phantom. This movie version of the story isn't the greatest, it's is own art form as far as bringing true horror and gore to the story, it's still better than the 1999 Julian Sands version and don't you guys and gals worry, I will stop naming a sexy phantom before I name the star of the Julian Sands version sexy because he looked too much like Raoul and did not wear a mask. Also the gore porn version of a beautiful story is not appreciated, I don't know which has the higher grossness factor Love Never Dies or the 1999 Julian Sands version. Okay enough ranting here's two photos of the great Robert Englund who scared us as Freddy and created an extremely gory, scary Erik.

Phantom #44 Review - July 15, 2011 Majestic Theatre and this blog writer's surprise proposal

Last night I had the fortunate luck of seeing Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre for my 44th time. Shawn was at a loss for my birthday present and asked me if I wanted phantom tickets, of course I could never refuse a set of phantom tickets (especially from my new fiancee) so we went to the show. We didn't get autographs this time, we plan on attending a phan gathering in September so I figured we'd save the meet and greet the cast again for the phan gathering.

There were a few new cast members we saw last night in addition to some familiar ones, every single actor was absolutely spectacular for this performance. Hugh Panaro as always did a wonderful job in the role of the phantom. Every time I see him he performs the role a little differently and seems to get better and better. Last night he was very gesterful with his hands, he bought out the monstrous side of the phantom but also made you feel the sadness and the pain of his character as well. Sara Jean Ford was an awesome Christine opposite Hugh. You could feel the tensed up chemistry between their two characters.

Kyle Barisich played the role of Raoul. He was good but didn't really stand out to me...then again Raoul is a character I prefer to conveniently forget about. Michelle McConnell was Carlotta she played an utmost excellent diva. Jessica Bishop played Meg she was also very wonderful in her role.

After the performance was over and the security guard was trying to chase every one out of the theatre, Shawn took me toward the front of the stage by the Orchestra pit. I thought we were going to be kicked out too but the security guard knew something I did not. Shawn said he had a question for me and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes faster than I'd ever down a cup of coffee then he took out the ring which for some reason I thought he might not have but I didn't care. We hugged, we kissed the orchestra clapped for us and Shawn gave me the dream proposal of a phantom phan.

So for now this newly engaged phan is signing off until it's either time to pick a sexy phantom for the month or I have another review, or something very incredible to report regarding POTO!

July's Sexy Phantom! 2011

Imagine the possibility of waking up to this grin in the morning...if you're a single horny phan may you have the most pleasant fantasy of this dream come true occurring. 

January, June and July! For me these three months are favorite phantom months. January because phantom made it's broadway premiere at the end of January on January 26, 1988, June because it is my phaniversary and July because it's my birthday and I've seen the show a few different years on my birthday because how else would a phantom phan celebrate the day! This year for the month of July may all of us who are attracted to the phantom drool over my sexy phantom pick TIM MARTIN GLEASON! He's one of the phantoms to play both Raoul and the phantom, of course unless you're a Raoul lover he looks a million times better when he's in phantom garb.

Tim Martin Gleason unmasked with Trista Moldovan and Kelly Jeanne Grant, this was closing night at the Pantages Theater October 31, 2010

Phantom murder by Sadie Montgomery REVIEW

Phantom Murder

This is the sixth and final book in the phan phiction Phoenix of the Opera series by Sadie Montgomery. I've been picking up one of these to read here and there until I finally got through the series with this book.

The book starts with the discovery of a corpse disfigured beyond recognition, than there is a flash back of events before the corpse is discovered, the events eventually come full circle back to the corpse finding throwing Erik, Meg, their family and the teatro de l'Opera into solving a mystery and hoping to save Erik from potential jail time. While all of this excitement is happening Mario and Francois both have affection for the same women, Meg won't sing anymore which leaves the reader wondering if she might go back to dance or pick up singing again, and Carlotta and Rinaldo are driven apart.

There's lots going on it in this finale of the Phoenix of the Opera series everything wraps up nicely and is happy for all of the characters at the end. I did enjoy the book, but reading the ending felt like watching Spiderman 3 to me all over again. The book could have ended two or three times but went on for more pages.

PHirst ever Phan Interview! Interview with Julia Tranberg

This afternoon I had the pleasure of interviewing Julia Tranberg, a phantom phan for five years now and a resident of Florida. This is the first of what I hope to be many phan interviews I will conduct for this blog. I like to use this blog to name the sexy phantom each month and well as review phantom materials, but since I don't get to much reviewing but would like to keep entries coming and this blog alive I figured phan interviews would be great. So below is a partial transcript of my interview with Julia, we did have other bits of conversation in between interview questions but I'll leave those out.

Julia Tranberg - resident of Florida and devout phantom phan of five years! 

Diana Brewster: I guess we can start with the questions lol. when did you become a phantom phan? how did it happen?
Julia Tranberg: I was in 7th grade and that was when the movie was comming out. For Christmas my friend gave me a copy of the OLC of Phantom....I was hooked the moment I heard the music! I saw the movie a few times and then in October of 2006 my mom took us to see Phantom. It was a touring company
I sat 3rd row and Gary Mauer was my 1st Phantom. Just looked at the ticket it was October 1st 2005. I have it framed with an autograph from Gary Mauer lol and since then I have seen the show 4 times 2 touring and 2 in NYC and I am going again in March of next year
Diana Brewster: who is your favorite phantom?
Julia Tranberg: Gary Mauer hands down the best one I have seen live...he brought sooo much emotion and passion to the role...and in his voice when he sang you could hear the phantoms pain and sorrow and yet it was beautiful at the same time, had me sobbing in the final lair scene
Diana Brewster: a great phantom will do that. Is your favorite version of phantom the ALW play? or a different movie or theatre version you may have seen?
Julia Tranberg: the ALW verion is my fav and my second fave is is the Charles Dance film! I LOVE it
and Yeston and Kopit Phantom is a good stage version too I want to see it live....
Diana Brewster: I've seen it live twice it's pretty good sometimes little companies put it on keep your eye out
Julia Tranberg: I deff will :)
Diana Brewster: how does phantom inspire you in your life? for example do you make phan art? write phan phiction? do you want to chose a career based on phantom?
Julia Tranberg: Phantom is a big part of my life...It's appart of who I am....since fiirst loving Phantom I have been in many shows...I did alot of shows my 4 years of HS...We even did a Phantom of the Opera marching band show my 2nd year of HS...my former band director and good friend is a huge Phan as well....It would be my dream someday to play Christine...on Broadway, tour company, or local production....I am going to become a music teacher and share my love for Phantom with my students and hopefully inspire them...My whole house is decorated Phantom...and I have a whole cuiro cabinet of Phantom music boxes...and I do like to draw Phantom art and I do alot of Phantom ceramics at the ceramic studio I work at. Plates and coffee mugs, and I love to read good Phantom Phan fics, I bought Angel of Music Tales of the Phantom of the Opera by Carrie Hernandez its good. Soon I am getting the hood of my car done Phantom lol
Diana Brewster: Do you like Love Never dies? Explain why you might like it dislike it?
Julia Tranberg: lol i have a huge respone for this lol
Diana Brewster: lol you can write it if you wish
Julia Tranberg: ok lol here it goes. I do not like it at all, ever since I heard there was going to be a sequel I was not happy. Phantom needs no sequel! The story was beautiful the way it ended, in the orginal novel he does of a broken heart. I tried to give LND a chance and bought the CD and watched the show on youtube...and it just made me dislike it even more. As a music major and all my experience with music the score is lacking and the plot makes no sense, it makes no sense that Christine found the Phantom had sex with him...he left and then she married raoul the next day. How does she know the kid is the Phantoms??? There were no tests back then!!!What happened to the Phantom's disformity???? Did his lip thing just fall off!!!! It looks like his deformity shrunk!!!!There was no plastic surgery back then..... what did he just get better looking with age???!!!! There is just sooo much wrong with that show, and don't even get me started with Bathing Beauty....shudders lol lol. Its like Phantom of the Soap Opera, I think it was a desperate attempt for ALW to get more fame and wealth out of it. He cant deal with the fact that Phantom was it for him It was his high water mark, he even said himself in an interview on the second disk of the 2004 film in the segment behind the mask that he know he will NEVER BE ABLE TO TOP PHANTOM, there you go straight for the horses mouth lol lol. I think love should die and I am a big supporter of the Love Should Die group :)
Diana Brewster: I agree with you 100 %. What is it about phantom that you love the most? is it the music, the story?
Julia Tranberg: its a good mix of both, the music stays in your head for days and sometimes wakes up up at night and ur humming it, MOTN is my fav song, such beauty and then PONR such passion and longing for someone you want but cant have...and then the story...guy loves a girl but she loves someone else. It's classic but in the phantom i think u get a hint of christine loving him, part of her loves him but she knows she cant be with him but he is appart of her soul... it never gets old to me
Diana Brewster: same here :)

At this point I had to conclude the interview. I must say it was a pleasure interviewing Julia, she made this first experience conducting a phan interview a great one :)

Curio cabinet full of Julia's music boxes! 

Julia's birthday cake! 

June 2011's sexy phantom

John Cudia decked out as we like to see him! 

Playing opposite Trista Moldavan as Christine

Cutting the cake with Andrew Lloyd Webber after the 9,000th performance!

The sexy phantom for June 2011 is John Cudia. I've conveniently announced him on my 17th phaniversary lol. I'm actually pretty surprised I thought by now he would have had the title already, Mr. Cudia is one of the PHellows out there who have played both phantom and the barf inducing role of Raoul too.

Happy 17th Phaniversary to me!

Today is the anniversary of the day that I became officially and certifiably obsessed and insane over Phantom of the Opera. On this day, 17 years ago when I was 11 years old I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway for the first time with my sixth grade class in elementary school. Little did the PTA know when they organized this trip for us that they'd end up creating a phantom monster....now I'm sure they regret choosing phantom as the Broadway show to see....they're not as regretful as my family though who have had to put up with this zaniness for 17 years, at least the PTA for the sixth grade class of 1994 don't really have to deal with me.

I'm not seeing the show today, right now I am at work. To commemorate the day I'm trying to do as much as phantomly possible for this day. I paid my brother to drive me to work this morning, as well as buying him breakfast, for two reasons #1 I have to huge bags to take with me to Shawn's later and I didn't want to walk 4 blocks and be on crowded buses with large bags, #2 I wanted to stop off this morning and get some goodies for the library to honor my phaniversary. So this morning on my coffee break I posted a little sign and left out some sugary goodness for the staff to enjoy. Of course I'm using my new web addiction get glue to check into phantom of the opera as a topic. I have worn my phantom of the opera earrings to work today, and a black and white outfit. I will pick a sexy phantom for the month of June, and I may start reading one or two phantom of the opera books that I own but haven't read yet. Later on perhaps I shall watch a phantom movie with Shawn if he's up for it, or even better maybe he'll wear the mask for me ;)

May's Sexy Phantom

It's about 11 days into May. I think I've kept drooling Phan girls....as well as some Phan boys in the dark long enough! So without further ado the sexy phantom for May 2011 *drum roll* is DAVIS GAINES :)

Davis Gaines in Phantom Regalia

DG in action! 

Davis Gaines unmasked! 

Phantom Egghead is HERE!!!

Myself with my sloppy hair and PE my mom took this shot for me lol

So yesterday I went home and found Phantom Egghead arrived at my house!!! I immediately took some funny shots of him at my house and he's already had about 4 or 5 location shots in the course of a day lol. If anyone wishes to follow Phantom Egghead's adventures more closely than the occasional blog photo I'll post you may find them on facebook for now, just friend request me to see them if you aren't my friend already. Most likely I may post them on Picasa too but I'm not sure. Oh the phan nerd excitement!

The trap door maker by Pete Bregman REVIEW

The Trap-Door Maker: A Prequel To The Phantom Of The Opera. Collected Edition

I bought this book when I was working on my masters thesis for library school, I read it than and now I've re read it for this blog. This is a sequel to the phantom of the opera mainly featuring Erik's life in Persia before he escaped to Paris to become the phantom. There's tons of political stuff, as well as unexpected twists and turns inside of this 137 page treasure of a graphic novel. It's also a great way to turn comic book/graphic novel fans onto phantom of the opera if they aren't familiar with it. (Oh the devious things we fans do to introduce people to the phantom lol). The artwork is okay, the storyline is incredibly interesting. I believe the author was supposed to create another graphic novel of the phantom of the opera but I've checked the website and have only seen this novel so I'm guessing he never published which is sad stuff. I want more phantom graphic novels, perhaps in the future I'll find others.