Guys. The Pride Playbills Are EVERYTHING. So Pretty. Couldnt Resist Seeing Phantom Again To Get It. Number

Guys. The Pride playbills are EVERYTHING. So pretty. Couldn’t resist seeing Phantom again to get it. Number 29 was magical from the front row. I also impulse bought more Phantom swag cause why not?

We caught Elizabeth Welch as Christine, Ben Crawford as the Phantom, both of whom I’ve seen before, and Jay A Johnson as Raoul. I’ve been DYING to see the Raoulstache in action and it was wonderful.

I have lots to say about how wonderful Jay is as Raoul, which is super exciting cause I’m a huge Raoul fan. Aside from being Leroux Raoul in appearance, I thought he was very Leroux Raoul in his choices as well.

His dressing room scene was an adorable mix of childhood memories and clearly humoring Christine about the angel of music. I loved the confidence he has in his entrance.

He played the spoiled but sweet, appropriately entitled +childish but regal Raoul, and his rooftop was caring and reassuring, not too harsh or angry. And WHAT a swoon worthy AIAOY. I was on the side where I could see his reactions and hopefulness and love and adoration and everything wonderful. My sis said she teared up, and I know I had the dorkiest look on my face as I watched.

Elizabeth Welch is always a dream to watch. She’s such a wonderful Christine with a BEAUTIFUL voice. She has a lot of great reactions in MotN and is just lovely. I can’t say enough about how much I love the way she carries her Christine.

Ben Crawford has such an awesome Phantom voice it’s ridiculous. I don’t know how such a dorky person can play such a fierce Phantom. I love how he uses the accent in PoNR, and his AIAOY reprises (Act 1 and in final lair) are simply heartbreaking. He’s a menace in STYDI. He uses a different physicality than I’m used to, being MUCH more of an imposing figure than Peter was. It is fun to have seen him progress and I look forward to seeing where he takes it when I inevitably see it in the future.

Front row made for lots of eye contact, especially during masquerade, which was great. This cast has some of the best Carlotta, Piangi, Mme Giry, Meg and managers I’ve seen, understudies and all. It’s amazing to see it run so well even after 30 years.

Gah I just love this show. Some of the cast had even started remembering me at the stage door, which is, ya know, phantastic.

Time to dream about/plan my next visit. Have a few new shows in the mix to see, but of course I’ll always return to my one true love.

oodles of eriks

Reblog if it’s ok for your mutuals to just send you posts they think you’d like or talk to you about random parts of their day

The best cape flourish ever. 

i love the third one!

Christine Daaé wigs backstage

Headcanon time:

Leroux Erik trying to write Christine a letter, but he is ashamed of the way his writing looks, and just so ashamed in general, so he has all these letters that he’s begun, but never finished writing.  

“Dear Christine, I just wanted to say that you sang beautifully today. When you started singing, I felt - “ Erik crumples the paper and throws it across the room.  His breathing is laboured and he leans forward on the desk, his shoulders slumping.

He takes out a fresh piece of paper and begins again. “Dear Christine, I am writing this note to tell you something important, something I have wanted to tell you for a long time. You see, I am not an angel. I am simply a man. My name is Erik. I’ve been wanting to tell you this for such an agonizingly long time. You are beautiful, everything about you is beautiful, and you make me feel - “

His room is littered with scrunched-up papers - notes and letters that he’s never sent. “Dear Christine, I must tell you how much I admire the way you - “, ”Dear Christine, you look lovely today, and I suppose I have no right to tell you this, but - “, “Dear Christine, I saw you crying last night. I cannot express how much I wanted to comfort -”, “Dear Christine, I love - “

This wasn’t supposed to be so long.  I sort of got carried away, but you get the idea.

Plus, another headcanon, he decided to start practicing his penmanship.  He uses the reactions of the managers to gauge whether or not he’s succeeded.