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I don't know how else to say this, so I'll just copy my Tumblr post.

OH MY SWEET ERIK WHAT EVEN JUST HAPPENED.

I am in shock. Phantom tonight was amazing. That was the best Phantom I’ve ever seen. Jeremy was AMAZING and Sara was AMAZING and I mean FRICKING HUGH!!!! I rememer him being awesome the first time but this time I REALLY WATCHED and just WOW. ASLDKFJ. I am in total awe of everything. (I swear I got off a little to MotN.) And then the supporting cast was also amazing - sweet Meg and sassy Mme. Giry and hilarious Carlotta understudy and hilarious managers and everyone and just UGH SO GOOD.

Then I went and stagedoored and got Jeremy and Sara’s autographs and added all the understudies to my Erik collection but… no Hugh. So I went and asked someone if he had already left and it turned out to be PEARLETA his makeup artist!! And she was SO NICE and she gave me her phone number and told me to call on Wednesday so she could take me backstage!?!?!?!?!

In shock.

TODAY IS THE DAY OMFE MUST NOT SCREW UP MUST NOT SCREW UP

I will get pictures if I'm allowed to. I will get so many pictures. Possibly a video.

Also, Pearleta told me some valuable information when talking to actors, especially in special situations. Whatever you do, DO NOT SOUND LIKE A STALKER. If you've seen the show or the actor a bunch of times, do not say how many! Don't reference really obscure stuff that they did years ago - I think I got away with mentioning "overstudies" to Jeremy Stolle but do not count on them being cool about it. Stick to compliments and single-time praise and maybe a few questions or Phantom references or I don't know about criticisms and make them feel GOOD, not SCARED.

I have an Erik plushie too! I got it from the Leroux Erik Plush Project when they were still around. He has such a puppy face~


Oh, and in other news, I saw Diana Damrau yesterday. She was seriously the happiest diva I have ever seen.

Holy Leroux in Paris today was amazing. First of all, Hugh. Pearleta sent me a message saying that he wouldn't really have time to talk or anything... but I saw him. He was dashing out so no photos or autographs or anything and I managed to shout after him "I JUST WANTED TO SAY YOUR PERFORMANCE ON MONDAY WAS PERFECT!!!" and he was SO SWEET about it! He actually thanked me more times than I thanked him! So that was great.

Then... backstage. ASLDKFJSDLKJF. I saw Hugh's dressing room with his most important costumes and got to meet Soot who was just freakin' adorable. Then I saw his makeup room and Pearleta actually talked me through what she does to Hugh's face - while she's waiting during the show she gets the next show's prosthetics ready! Then she took me down under the stage to see the candelabra storage, very awesome. On the way I saw a huge wall full of pictures of previous Phantom actors, with a section specifically blocked off for the original cast. They have costume racks everywhere backstage because there are so. many. costumes so I got to see a bunch of them (but no touchy, obviously). Then we went onto the stage and I saw the organ (there is a real keyboard on there), a bunch of sets (which are hoisted up above the wings because there's nowhere else to put them), the masquerade steps (condensed and hung from the ceiling!), the masquerade dummies (preeeeetty), the throne (I'm sure all of you know how it works), and of course the CHANDELIER. And then, after feeling the thrill of being on the stage of the Majestic theater for a while, we left... and she promised to mail me a playbill signed by Hugh~

I took quite a few pictures, but the only ones I'm allowed to post are:


^ teh organ


^ me and the very chandelier that figures in the famous......... disaster


^ me and one of the nicest people on earth

All in all, experience of a lifetime.


EDIT: I almost forgot, the Erik collection got a pretty sweet update too!

Left: Unknown Y/K actor, Hugh Panaro, Paul Schaefer, James Romick, Jeremy Stolle, Cooper Grodin, Greg Mills
Right: Jason Mills, Braxton Peters, John Cudia, Tim Martin Gleason, Laird Mackintosh

It sounds like you had an awesome time, Ela. I'm so glad you got that opportunity, even if Hugh was scarce. She was very nice to invite you to something like that!

In other news I came across a supposed 1st edition English version of the Leroux novel yesterday. I couldn't find anywhere in the book where it stated its printing run or year and the spine looked like some rats got to it. All I know was it was young enough to have a photo from the 1925 film in it. I would have bought it just for collection purposes but they were asking too much for the tattered condition it was in. I should've taken pictures but I didn't know the store's policy on that.

Oh and I found a music box version of Angel of Music. Located here and there's a link in the about section on where to download the mp3 for free, legally. It's pretty.

The Monkey one plays Masquerade. But seriously they ALL play MotN? Boring.

So does anyone have any opinion on the black Phantom? (I forget his name) There's a video going around where he sings part of MotN with Webber playing the piano and he sounds pretty good, deep voice, but I imagine it's hard to tell until he's on the stage acting. I'm really curious how they'll make the deformity stand out.

Brightman as Carlotta? I'd pay to see that. She's grown so much vocally since she last was in the Phantom world, I don't doubt she could do it.

Yes! Norm Lewis. God I'm bad with names. And yeah that set up is pretty awkward, phandom wise. I'm just curious to see how he does and what he can bring to the table.