Illusions of Grandeur

illusion, she/her, 34

[toastjadan]

[damejoansutherland]

men need to STOP starting podcasts and START forming barbershop quartets. NOW.

[litloverscorsetlaces]

Tim Martin Gleason final lair appreciation gifset. I will never get over the way he throws his arms around Christine like he's clinging for dear life.

[litloverscorsetlaces]

Don't ask me why I'm thinking about this right now (nonreplica palate cleanser I guess), but I just realized that the way Gleason embraces Christine here is so important because this is the same boot where Erik constantly hugs himself as a self-soothing stim. And so of course he throws his arms around her like that. This is probably the first time someone else is holding him--the first time he goes to wrap his arms around himself and finds someone already there.

I'll see myself out.

[greenstripedcat]

Double feature highlights, do her taxes sexual style stream notes

(title courtesy Mary<3)

a pre-stream animatic from Deb <3

@TheEggSaysPLocklyer: back when filmers made dvds

[skip from Carlotta's opening aria] @marumotto: Rik edited the footage

@litloverscorsetlaces: Rebecca Pitcher is also the sister of Rob Pitcher, who was an understudy Rik in the hamburg production and was such a wonderful virginal Rik lol @lit-ari-ture: @Maroo Rob Pitcher's Rik has truly never known the touch of a woman. @maroogaly: it grows back if he doesn't use it @lit-ari-ture: For folks interested in Rob Pitcher, I made some gifs of him a while back

The happy clapper Raoul

@beyond-this-illusion: I saw a video clip recently where Rebecca said she had to try to warn her Phantom of trap doors that were still open from the candelabras during MotN with like just her expression. I have to look for it

@warpweight: respectfully: rebecca. your pitchers @GlassPrism: It's better than her nickname in ye olde days of the phandom, where she was called Rebecca Pitchy for certain, er, qualities of her voice

@warpweight: ugh she has such a fun character design!!! the way it's so recognizably rebecca pitcher even through the haze of years and pixels

@maroogaly: how dare they be mean to this angel, we should probably drop a chandelier over it

@GlassPrism: Oh I just remembered that TMG was called "DnD Raoul" because he decided what emotion he was going to act based on a roll of the dice

@dot-qhost: short king rik and short queen stine

@from-aldebaran: He actually vibrates his coat right off

HIM!

@motelpearl: we hired a male stripper for forests birthday @dimmedghosts: #whoremembers @lit-ari-ture: NATIONAL EMERGENCY @dot-qhost: STRIP! STRIP! STRIP! STRIP THE RIK!

@-Aldebaran-: You can see where he hesitated, he tried to go for the cape first and then remembered his hat had to go first

@AngelofMusicals87614: Peter Lockyer is probably better known for playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. He played the role for the Tour back in 2012-13 and then played the role in London around 2015-16 Basically being the defacto Valjean for London's 30th Anniversary

@dot-qhost: excellent choice i feel like im a female bird getting peacocked at . and its working .

@lizzie-boredom: One more thing I love about stream: different people love different riks. Like... this guy's not doing it for me. But i'm into the nakey

@warpweight: HE GOT THAT HARD DRACULA WIGGG

@ravens-repine: With the white I can really see the arm choices @from-aldebaran: It is so intimate in the shirtsleeves....

@GlassPrism: Ah he is a bit of a short king @GlassPrism: I heard 5'8? @maroogaly: 6 inches taller than me....hm. @dimmedghosts: 6 inches. heh @GlassPrism: @dimmedghosts The length of an average penis @-Aldebaran-: Celina

@maroogaly: god there's just something special about a Rik who looks like he could be snapped like a twig for kindling.

@Ravens_Reproach: Barb is the intimacy coordinator

@TheEggSaysPLocklyer: spread her like brie

@maroogaly: okay but why does he move like a perfect Rik - just. his gesturing at her like he really does know it all. He's about to tell her how to do her taxes sexual style.

@GlassPrism: Well at least he got the Mandarin coat on okay

@dimmedghosts: in his stupid little robe with his stupid little hat on @GlassPrism: It'd be funny if he messed that up too @GlassPrism: Phantoms sometimes struggle just to get into the Mandarin coat in the short time they have @backlitmademoiselle: i enjoy how all of the costumes so far are a bit too large. it makes it feel even more like he's playing pretend, putting on a show for her @motelpearl: theres a couple shirtsleeves stydi scenes too which i feel works better than the mandarin coat bc most people seeing phantom are unaware of chinoiserie and i feel like shirtsleeves makes him look more vulnerable even before hes unmasked

@beyond-this-illusion: "Noooo don't unmask me, you're so sexy hahaha."

@warpweight: ben crawford was kept in a windowless room before he started on broadway and it was only by terrible accident he was allowed out of that stimuli-free dungeon

@lit-ari-ture: I love when they put the one knee up lol

@Lizzie_Boredom: Celina do understudies get their own masks made? @GlassPrism: @Lizzie_Boredom Depends on the production. Some make masks that are individually fitted for all their Phantoms. In the US they just used 5-6 molds and whatever fits best is what the actor gets

[on Don Atillo's rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr] @GlassPrism: Yeah thought so, John Kuether was the guy known for that and he was definitely in the tour at this time

[the parts below is likely out of order, i copied in haste]

@paper-faces: swm erik too whimsical, full of hope, promising, and redeemable. @lit-ari-ture: "Don't look like a fridge." @GlassPrism: @paper-faces I can kind of see it because SWM takes a LOT of liberties. He has a TON of freedom in the role. Not quite Saulo levels, but he's getting there @paper-faces: @glassprism that makes sense tbh. and i know most people dont see the show a million times like us, but i just imagine that thats part of the fun of live theater? i know im speaking as a fan and not a business person

@probablynotben: Do you think they were told not to do it like the World Tour because that's the Hal Prince direction, and Cameron Mackintosh doesn't want to pay royalties for that? @GlassPrism: @probablynotben Possibly but I think SWM was also doing more than what was allowed in the Hal Prince direction. Like I feel like he'd be one of the guys Prince would swat for going off-script lol @GlassPrism: Which I know Prince did do to the West End production everytime he visisted @beyond-this-illusion: Hal Prince haunts SWM's dreams confirmed @GlassPrism: Also when he went to see the show in 2012-2013 he got so mad at some of the stuff they were doing apparently lolol. This was the Marcus Lovett era I think

@GlassPrism: So if your goal is to provide a consistent show where the audience will get the same experience, SWM going above and beyond, while great, is not being, well, consistent

@AngelofMusicals87614: According to John Owen-Jones, Hal Prince made him change something in his performance when he came to visit once

@GlassPrism: Hal Prince did hate it lol [the kneel i think?]

GlassPrism: @beyond-this-illusion He died around 2019, yeah, but he only visited the West End production every 5-6 years, so he might have missed Thaxton entirely even if he had survived. Thaxton only had a limited run as well

GlassPrism: But yeah going back to consistency - I will always be for the new and novel but I also get it, because you don't want audience members to, say, visit the US tour and then see snippets of the World Tour and feel like they missed out, ya know? @GlassPrism: And that was what Broadway did - it was very consistently the same, and it meant that it generally gave good performances, vs. the West End which had some high highs and some real lows lol

@AngelofMusicals87614: @Glassprism Hal Prince also lived in New York so he could visit the Broadway Production whenever he wanted? @GlassPrism: @AngelofMusicals87614 Yes and he worked with the new actors personally for Broadway as far as I know, hence how he was able to keep it the way it was

@warpweight: THE ROUGH CRYING OUUGH HE SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IN THE NEXT STALL IN THE BATHROOM CRYING AT WORK @maroogaly: WARP....Rik and Christine meeting in the all gender bathroom ....he asks for toilet paper under the door to mop up his tears....

[Wishing] @paper-faces: hate to say it but this christine is LOVELY

@paper-faces: IT WAS FAR REACHING FRIENDS

@GlassPrism: What is cool is that the boots were only, what, 6 days apart? This is February 11, the next boot is from February 17, I think

@warpweight: it's so funny how like. in poto proper the phantom has less screentime and is like this kind of mysterious presence that flits in and out. and then LND is just The Erik Show. he's just chilling. it's Erik Hour @opera-ghost: warp exactly it's like if jaws 2 was from the shark's pov

@Bway-Ghost: It’s the mister Y show… @leeringsatyrs: Mister Y makes me so mad because Mister E was RIGHT THERE

@maroogaly: ....what if he was in his shirtsleeves for this..... @paper-faces: @ mary then christine would kiss him right away without the threats probs

@-Aldebaran-: His heart grew three sizes and now fits his suit @Ravens_Reproach: Deb, something else grew three sizes...

@motelpearl: he is NOT making it to coney island @GlassPrism: He is his own emotional comfort item

@-Aldebaran-: He actually has a full head of hair, he has just pulled it all out himself....

@maroogaly: he's bent over like he's trying to repeat his order through the wendy's microphone. but he's at arby's and doesn't know it. He's not making it to Curly Fryland @-Aldebaran-: He's bent over like a man who lived in a cage for part of his life...

p.s. and midstream edit

[orgxnas]

Gwayne Hightower on his hike of Doom and Despair with Criston Cole

[wickedhawtwexler]

me when other people tag me in things: this person??? thought about me???? i'm so flattered??????? 🥺💕🥺💕🥺💕🥺💕

me when i consider tagging someone in a post: i am annoying!!!! i am overstepping every single boundary!!!! i am making an absolute fool out of myself!!!!!!

[bitterhalf]

im sorry it's so funny to me how aemond and aegon are having a telepathic argument about which of them was their mother's favorite child and all the while she literally traded them both in a heartbeat for helaena's life weeks ago

[chandeliermaxxing]

Gaston Leroux I see your vision. Setting your horror novel in an old opera house LIKE I GETTT ITTTT!! 🧠👈🏼👈🏼

[chandeliermaxxing]

Like it's this huge sprawling space with several floors and people who have been living there for decades all serving this machine that creates fake worlds. It's filled with fake trees and skies there are people making dozens of shoes just for actors and this is what they have always done and will probably do until they can work no more and SO many people live here it's like it's own little ecosystem in there. Like a lil town you could technically just shut yourself in all the time and have everything you'd need to live and there's so much space how do you even keep track of it all YEAH A SPOOKY GHOSTLY MAN COULD JUST BE LIVING IN YOUR BASEMENT AND YOU'D HAVE NO IDEA!! GASTOOOOON YOU ARE MY GUYYY

[alisonzai]

[tomb-mold]

the problem is i really do love staying up until one billion o'clock. it just cant be helped

[bonivers]

if people know a showrunner by name then u just know they were committing war crimes throughout their shows

[writerxwren]

THEY INCLUDED CAROLINE'S CHINA SHEPHERDESS?????? OH THIS IS NICHE BOOK LORE

[paperandsong]

I commissioned this piece from the amazing @lebzpel for my Leroux-based longfic Le roi de Lahore. If you’ve read it before, you probably know which scene this is from. This image is exactly as I imagine it in my head. This is the first fic I wrote and it will always be the closest to my heart. Thank you leb, for bringing this image to life!

If you haven’t read it yet, you can read it on AO3. Here is the summary: 

Le roi de Lahore

Erik takes Christine on a strange and dark journey from Paris to Lahore where she learns about his life in Punjab, before Persia, and long before the Opera house. Christine must learn how to overcome the challenge and horror of her marriage. Erik’s redemption arc is on a much longer timeline.

Happy 2022!

[gigglybumbug]

randomly getting intensely interested in some bullshit like

[from-aldebaran]

FRIDAY, July 24, 2026 • 9 p.m. EST:

FRIDAY NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS

Lockyer/Pitcher/Gleason (US Tour 2005)

Gleason/Pitcher/Lockyer (US Tour 2005)

Travelling again this weekend, so instead of not streaming at all, decided to try one on Friday night instead!

The past few streams in this 40th Anniversary year have represented performances from the birthplace of Phantom in London's West End, the current World Tour, Copenhagen and the unrealized Paris production.

This week we hop across the Atlantic and into the world of US/North American productions. Of course, the granddaddy here is the Broadway production, which began its historic 35 year run in 1988.

There has also been a series of U.S. National Tours, beginning in 1989.

The two performances for this stream are from the Third U.S. National Tour, also called the Music Box tour (or Music Box Company) which ran from December 1992 through October 2010.

The first performance is from February 11, 2005 in Ft. Myers, Florida, featuring understudy Peter Lockyer as the Phantom, Rebecca Pitcher as Christine and Tim Martin Gleason as principal Raoul. This performance is notable for Mr. Lockyer removing his coat as well as his cape during the end of the title song and persisting through Music of the Night, which he memorably performs in his shirtsleeves and vest. Saturday Streams presented this performance once before in March of 2025. This is a highlights reel which runs about an hour. To round out the evening, I chose another highlights reel of the same company, at the same stop, just a few nights later on February 17, 2005. This time, for reasons I do not know, Tim Martin Gleason, principal Raoul, stepped into the role of the Phantom--he would become the principal Phantom for the last year and a half of this tour, beginning in May 2009 through October 2010. His Raoul would be the Phantom from our previous highlights reel, Peter Lockyer. As to why the switch happened, we will have to consult Celinapedia.

I thought it might be interesting to watch the same three people in the show with the Phantom and Raoul actors switching roles, and see how that changes the dynamics, especially playing against the same Christine actress. I have not seen this reel, nor has it been played before on Saturday Streams so it could turn out to be not interesting at all...we shall have to see!

As always, the stream will be on cy.tube and shy anons are welcome!

⭐Link and password will be posted here at 8:45 the day of the stream.

⭐For more info, please see the Saturday Streams FAQ 

⭐Remember to follow @from-aldebaran for stream posts going forward.

⭐PFPs featured on the Saturday Streams banner are left to right Streams Founder @operaofthephantom, 300 Club Streams Host @wheel-of-fish, new host @from-aldebaran, and our Phantom Founder, Gaston Leroux. Massive thanks to @opera-ghost for the PFP additions to Fish's original banner design.

⭐ Modified Friday banner by @opera-ghost Thanks, friend!!!

⭐ Gif by @wheel-of-fish

[funstyle]

Im always like "i will not add my two cents. i will not add my two cents" but i cant lie the pennies are getting sweaty in my hand

[lioncourtz]

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT 03.03 | "Toronto"