Review: 2016-17 Phantom of the Opera Tour

He's here! The phantom of the opera!

Phantom of the Opera is touring the US right now. I went and saw it in South Carolina over spring break and it was awesome! The set was amazing and I'm still trying to figure out how it all worked (trust me that's a good thing). The cast was phenomenal. Last time I saw Phantom, in 2014, I felt that the Christine they had was straining too much to hit those high notes and was doing strange, strange things. The Phantom was great, but Christine wasn't. But that was 2014. For the 2016-2017 tour, the Phantom and Christine are simply amazing. They sung and I wanted to applaud them right then and there. I love most of the little tweaks they did to highlight certain details. Like the fact that everything happening is a memory and Raoul has to clear the stage for the show to truly start. However, in order to make it a bit more child friendly (come on people, don't bring your tiny children to phantom and then get upset when he kills everyone; do your research!), they adjusted one of my favorite parts. The Phantom kills the keeper of the flies (scene changer, set person) towards the end of the first act. When I first saw it, I wasn't expecting him to kill the guy. We got flashed of shadows in the background and then all of a sudden a dummy fell from the rafters and looked like a body was hung. Yes, that's one of my favorite parts. Not because I like seeing people be killed, but because it really drives home the point that the Phantom is real and dangerous, that the Phantom will kill if he has to. But this time, and last time in 2014, they changed it to where they turned the set diagonally so you could see what was happening backstage. You see the guy messing with some ropes and another guy comes up behind him and puts a noose around his neck. The noose lifts up and so does the fuy. He struggles a little then goes limp and two seconds later everyone screams and freaks out. While this makes it better for families with young children (again, it's Phantom; do your research!), to me it takes the drama out of a key point in the show. Of course to make up for it, there's emphasis in other parts of the show to grab your attention, I noticed things I've never noticed before. The Phantom's love for Christine is played up more in this show, which is something I love. It shows that he's human, he's capable of feeling and loving. Does he know how to properly show these feelings? No. But does he still have them? Yes.

Overall, the show is great and I hope to see it again when it comes to Atlanta, but that won't be until February 2017 (that's why we went to South Carolina). I hoghly recommend seeing Phantom if you've never seen a Broadway show before. It's dark, it's got some humor, it's amazing when done right, which it is at the moment. That's it for my review. Not doing star things because I think they're annoying to mess with. Sanders out. (Cue Phantom of the Opera overture)

Broadway and The Tempest

*Caution: Slight spoilers to The Tempest by William Shakespeare*

In my lit class, we are currently reading The Tempest. It's pretty good so far and I find it interesting. However, there are moments when I'm reading the play that all of a sudden a random (or maybe not so random) song from Phantom of the Opera, or another broadway show, starts playing in my head. For instance, in Act III, Scene II, after Miranda and Ferdinand decided to get married, Prospero closes the scene by saying,

"So glad of this as they I cannot be,/ 

Who are surprised withal; but my rejoicing/ 

At nothing can be more. I'll to my book;/ 

For yet, ere supper-time, must I perform/ 

Much business appertaining."

 So for some reason, I hear in my mind, the stanza of All I Ask of You, the Phantom sings,

"You will curse the day you did not do!/

All that the Phantom asked of you!"

Of course there's also the tune that I've assigned to Ariel' song when he lured Ferdinand to Prospero. I did a mix of a couple of the melodies that are constant throughout Love Never Dies, the beginning of Beautiful and the middle of the Prologue of Love Never Dies.  

Of course, Les Miserables makes it's own appearance when Miranda and Ferdinand first meet and my mind can't help but bring up Valjean's part in the reprise of A Heart Full of Love and if my memory serves me right, at some point my brain decided that The Confrontation from Les Mis would make a good background track to the play.

I'm pretty sure these aren't the last moments that my brain will drag up show tunes to go with something I'm reading. As for The Tempest, I'm pretty sure something will lead my mind to some other song to play in the background. So for now, Sanders out.

Today In My Head

Ok... I had some pretty interesting (maybe strange) things in my head today as I did my eClass work. Where to start... How about...

Men's fragrance
I'm not much of a fan of women's perfume fragrance whatever you want to call that little bottle of death. Sure, I love apple scented things, just apple not apple cinnamon, just apple. I also tolerate flower scents to a degree. Anything with coconut can go back to where it came from. But the one thing that never fails to draw every molecule every fiber of my being to it, is a decent men's fragrance. Right now, I literally have a sample of Paco Rabanne Invictus in front of me from the Dillard's Scents for Men flyer. While it isn't something enough to draw me in like things tend to in a store, it's something enough to get me to sit here sniffing it as I type and leave me wanting more. Now, I don't know if that's the point of men's fragrance, it most likely is, but I'm a fairly scent oriented person so I could be here for awhile sniffing this paper. (Note: I just ran around the house for about five minutes looking for inserts in magazines for Men's scents... I found Jimmy Choo Man but I already have it in front of my laptop with the other). In addition to Invictus, I have a sample of Jimmy Choo Man, and it's alright. Not something that would stop me in my tracks if it was a department store. I'm looking at the back of the Dillard's thing and I see an ad for Armani's new fragrance... Kinda want to go to Dillard's now and smell it. Back to Invicus and Choo Man, for the moment, Invictus is what's occupying my attention. I put the two scents together and while it was interesting for like two seconds I got bored of it so I went back to just Invicus. Which is weird, you would think it would be more interesting if there were two together but no. I sniffed the sample of Jimmy Choo Illicit for women and I don't like it. It can go curl up in a hole with the coconut scents. I might as well go a little deeper into my scent orientation. I figured out I was drawn in by smells around my sophomore year. I had my first serious boyfriend then, I had had a boyfriend before and while it was slightly serious it wasn't like serious. Anyway, he wore some kind of scent and I still remember the scent, a little, I can't name it and I wish I could but I do remember it. (My favorite teacher wears something similar, I think). At one point, I remember texting my best friend that I was sitting on my bed sniffing my shirt because it had his scent on it. I liked the scent okay! So that's most likely where it started, and I haven't gone back. I've gotten better at figuring out which fruit to get and what's fresh. Fresh pineapples have the best fresh fruit scent. The down side is that I notice if my teachers are wearing anything if they are right next to me. If it's something I like, I have to root myself to not get closer to catch another whiff. I know I'm weird, but whatever, I'm me and stranger things have happened.

Follow up note: I just found a sample of the Armani scent and it's amazing. It's a stop me in my tracks and let me smell you for the next hour scent. I love it! If I could afford it, I'd by a bottle. Well, I probably can afford it, though something tells me that my parents wouldn't like it if I spent $62 on a bottle of men's fragrance.

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better
I can do anything better than you. No you can't. Yes I can. No you can't. Yes I can. No you can't. Yes I can. Yes I can.

Annie Get Your Gun, I want to see it now. I've heard the song before, and it's now one of my favorite songs. My obsession with this song started when I read a fanfic for Hollywood U (it's a mobile game). I was searching for a Hunt/MC pairing and I came across this fic and as luck would have it, that song was what the whole thing was centered around. So yeah, it's my new obsession. Love the song, it's great,

Reminiscing About An Ex
Not much to say except that it's annoying. I see his stupid face lit up on my gmail chat thing and I think back to when we were together and how nice it was before issue A and then issue B happened. He's got a new profile pic and he looks good, like college student good so I don't know. It's not fun to reminisce about this particular ex. But one day I won't think back to him as often and hopefully it won't be such a pain, or as painful as it is now.

Evita
I love this broadway show. It's by Andrew Lloyd Webber and it's amazing!!! I love it! I saw it on broadway and the soundtrack is phenomenal. I love Evita. I've listened to it all the way through like twice in three days. Come to think of it... I've listened to a couple of Webber's shows all the way through within the last few days... Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies... Yup, all Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Love Never Dies

YESSSS!!!! It's finally happening! Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera is FINALLY going on tour in the US!!! It's on tour right now in... Havana or something with an H. Anyway, I've been waiting for a looong time for this to happen. I saw the movie version, the recording of the Australian version, of Love Never Dies and loved it! The music... Oh the music!!! It's amazing!!! Sooo excited!!! The only thing is... Webber has said he might change the ending... I hope he doesn't because the ending, though heart wrenching, is fine the way it is.

That's all for now. Might have something to say tomorrow. Or not. Not sure really... So for now, Sanders out.