Hey Fish! I Was Wondering If You Have Any Recommendations For The Portrayals Of Erik That Are More On

I think of Immersive Phantom as the random protein/granola bar stashed at the bottom of your purse or bookbag. If you’re super hungry between meals it’ll tide you over, but you’re really just saving your appetite for your favorite restaurant and dessert after work.

And you’re also waiting for the place to release the dang cast list—I mean, menu—to see if Jordan Donica is on it.

I feel like an outlier bc I know immersive phantom is the hot thing rn but I'm actually more excited for the (vastly more accessible) U.S. tour and all the new phans it's going to bring in

I have never seen Hadestown but the gifsets constantly convince me that I might not be able to handle it emotionally.

So I took him underneath my wing, And that is where he stayed, Until one day...

Melanie La Barrie as Hermes, Dylan Wood as Orpheus, Hadestown West End 2025: @callmelasagna’s master

What drives me absolutely crazy about the 25th Anniversary performance is Ramin Karimloo says a second (nearly imperceptible) "I love you" in the final lair and we don't even get to see it because the cameraperson is in love with a man who played Raoul with all the nuance of a block of wood.

Phantom Acting Choices That Live in My Head Rent Free (Part 3)

Final lair edition because this scene alone has permanent residence in an entire area of my brain.

When Davis Gaines and Stephen Buntrock take "this face which earned a mother's fear and loathing" up an octave. If you got the range, flaunt it I guess.

Hugh Panaro absolutely torments Raoul. Why are you waving at him from the other side of the portcullis? Why are you singing "raise up your hands to the level of your eyes" like that?!

The way Ian Jon Bourg and Kevin Gray scream "I love you."

The way Hugh Panaro whispers "I love you."

The way John Cudia fumbles "I love you. I--" in his performance with Sarah Lawrence.

Honestly there are no less than fifty Phantom I love you's that play in my head at any given moment. I'm obsessed with extra ilys.

But also Earl Carpenter saying "fuck an ily" and just dropping to his knees to offer Christine the ring again like the sad wet cat he is.

David Shannon screaming "No!" when Christine says "you deceived me."

Phantoms who lean their cheek against Christine's hair between kisses (shout out to Ben Crawford, Laird Mackintosh, and Jonathan Roxmouth, this is an underrated 2020s calling card).

Any Christine putting their hand to the Phantom's cheek during the kiss. Common West End staple, but bonus points if a Phantom reacts to it (Ramin, Earl, David Shannon, etc.)

When Sierra Boggess turns back to look at Erik one last time during the 25th anniversary performance and RK gives her that slight nod like, "Go ahead, it's ok." Kill me.

Lucy St. Louis staring down Killian Donnelly's Phantom through the portcullis while she (supposedly) sings "share each day with me" to another man.

And of course I'm thinking about Phantom of the Opera.

panna a netvor (beauty and the beast), dir. juraj herz (1978) + anne williams - art of darkness: a poetics of gothic

David Thaxton's Phantom is a special kind of unhinged and...amazing?

Slowly starting to discover Phantoms 2018-present as I build my mini archive. He and Killian Donnelly (but also maybe Dean Chisnall?) are carrying the post-Panaro era on their backs.

SCREAMING.

thinking about that video of hugh panaro being a slut just about about the normal amount!!!! and had to do something about it

An Essay on Why David Shannon and Gina Beck Are My Favorite Final Lair Coupling

They are just absolutely brilliant together. And I think it's a combination of bouncing off each other's spontaneous reactions well, but also having a plan and complete synergy in how they understand their characters and the arc of the scene. It all works together to secure the Phantom's transformation and redemption while also leaving the audience feeling like Christine made the right decision, which is such a hard line to walk in the final lair.

I think Gina's Christine genuinely loves Erik in this one, but there was absolutely no way she was going to stay with him after everything he'd done. The decision is questionable for other Christines, but her particular take on the character just wasn't going to allow for that, especially given his Phantom's more aggressive approach to the final lair.

And unlike other interpretations of this scene, both she and David/the Phantom know that and it plays out in their body language post-kiss. Up to that point, David had literally been grabbing Christine at will and throwing her all over the place, all while desperately denying that his actions were dooming their relationship. And now she comes back to return the ring and he literally can't make himself touch her because he knows he's pissed away every claim to that kind of intimacy with her. There's no verbal or physical bid for her to stay; that unfulfilled caress says "I recognize what I've done and that I have no right to ask you to be with me, so I'm letting you go." And even worse is the fact that David also plays Erik with chronic pain, so we can hardly tell if the face twitch/wince he does is literal or figurative (let's just say it's both).

GIVE THEM A DAMN OSCAR, IDC.

God give me courage to show you, you are not alone...

Killian Donnelly and Lucy St Louis as The Phantom and Christine

For @meilas

@lasagnatrades master

Not sure if I'm allowed to do this (so someone tell me if I need to trash this post) but I just can't witness this Anthony Warlow near-hand touch and not do something about it.