Christine has made her choice: save Raoul, and bind herself in marriage. She now finds herself trapped in a house full of secrets, her husband chief among them. Secrets have never done them any good: perhaps, if she investigates, the truth will be enough to set them free.
At the end of the title song, when Christine hits those high notes, Seanās phantom is just ENRAPTURED. Heās basically conducting her with his arms outstretched, as if pulling her voice forth, pushing it upwards, and he kept nodding and audibly said āyes!ā at one moment. There was a smile at the corner of his mouth. His eyes never left her, until MOTN starts, and he goes to do audience interactions.
Hand. So much hand. Unfurling, clenching, plucking at invisible chords in the air. And all the while, even when heās looking at us, we feel like heās still staring at Christine.
Audrey Loganās Christine was feeling herself, too - hands all over herself, expressions of bliss and desire. Fairly sure she wouldāve, ahem, done some rather scandalous business if Seanās phantom had allowed it, but he was very much a gentleman and didnāt realize she was DOWN, nor do I think he would have allowed himself to touch her indecently.
At the end, when he scoops her upā¦ oh boy. Oh good lord. He does not stop staring at her, and thereās just this look of crazed obsession, his eyes wide and just like āsheās here, sheās in my armsā and at first he had his hands kind of clenched, but then he flexed one hand and settled it protectively over her arm. He clutched her like she might disappear. There was a look in his eyes like he never wanted to let her go, that she was the most precious thing, and he feared she might break. Almost like a china doll. He was so gentle and tender with her.
I also got the feeling that, if she hadnāt removed his mask, he would not have let her go. At least, not that day. He would not have forced her to stay with him but I do think he would have pushed her return date as far as he could without upsetting herā¦ which honestly, Audreyās Christine was DOWN. She wouldāve married him down there that very moment.
I can still see Seanās Phantomās eyes from MOTN. I can see āthose pleading eyes that both threaten and adoreā every time I shut my own. He stays with you. Heās in my MIND, guys!
The most devastating moment of Masquerade yesterday was, by far, Final Lair. Iām still reeling from it. Sean, you absolute menaceā¦
In Final Lair, Audrey Loganās Christine touches the phantoms deformity during āthis haunted faceā¦ā and Seanās phantom GASPED and MOANED into her touch. His whole body shuddered and he pressed her hand to his cheek, then moved as if to kiss her, before she pulled away.
S I R
sir
Illegal. ILLEGAL! The sound he made went straight to the soul. Chills. This was a man who had never ever been touched on the deformed side of his face. The SOUND he made!
Before I forget, Iāll do a quick post on the badā¦ which was, unfortunately, Dan Hoyās Raoul
I have seen two other Raouls in Masquerade that were spectacular, especially considering how small the role is in Masquerade. They managed to balance their Christineās perfectly, being protective, loving, caring, just very well matched in their performances. And you got the feeling they loved her and would die for her.
Danās Raoul was, uhā¦ Look, he was acting like he had bodies hidden under the baseboards at home. Not sure if he was given the wrong character description because he played Raoul as a villain. Which listen, Iām okay with that for Masquerade, as it is the Phantomās viewpoint and therefore Raoul is the āvillainā butā¦ youāve still gotta believe Christine is better off with Raoul by the end. And youāve at least got to believe Raoul loves and would die for Christine.
I did not believe Danās Raoul loved Christine. In the very first scene with Christine, he is INSUFFERABLE and acts as if heās procuring a mistress for the evening, not meeting with his childhood sweetheart. He treats her like an object more than the Phantom which is WILD. Honestly he was more motivated by the idea of killing/capturing the Phantom. He had these serial-killer grins he would do, and when he delivered the āthis time, my clever friend, the disaster will be yours!ā line, it was VILLAINOUS. I mean he played it like he wanted to tie the phantom to a rack and torture him.
I genuinely believed Seanās phantom was the better choice by comparison. Yeah heās got a lot of baggage and dead bodies but at least he loves Christine? Iām not even sure why Danās Raoul was engaged with her at all. He spoke rudely to her, was dismissive, there was no love. In a teen romance movie, he wouldāve been the rich jerk the girl is with before she discovers the soft, sweet nerd she breaks up with him for at the end.
I have zero doubt Danās Raoul wouldāve had multiple mistresses just one week after his marriage to Christine. I have no doubt he wouldāve been a horrible husband. Maybe Dan Hoy was trying to set up Love Never Dies?
Anyway, Iām okay with the idea of Raoul being the villain in the Phantomās mind, but he needs to be more excited at the prospect of marrying Christine than of capturing the phantom. The only time he showed excitement was when he talked about catching the phantom. Genuinely.
Danās voice was good, though. And heās handsomeā¦ thatās about it. Iād love to hear otherās thoughts, and I dearly hope he improves, or that it was just me that has this opinion. Iām happy to be proven wrong!
The most gut-wrenching thing about Sean Seamus Thompson is that he has accepted the fact heāll never be loved. He truly believes himself unworthy of it, and even seems resigned to that fate.
The scenes that most embodied this were the bed scene, when he comes back in after the veil disappears, and STYDI. For the bed scene, after he comes back in wearing the Persian robe, he sees the monkeyās mask removed, and there is *fear* in his eyes. He sees that and you can see heās like no, no if she wants to see my face, remove my mask, sheāll never love me. I canāt let her. Otherwise sheāll see me for what I am. I have to keep up the illusion or else Iāll lose her.
For STYDI, when he does see Christine, thereās that same trepidation. He offers his music to her, even points to a few bars as if he wants her to sing it, but then his eyes lock onto hers in just awe. Then the mask comes off.
Man is spitting. Heās raging. But itās all directed at himself. And where some phantoms still have hope when they start singing āfear can turn to loveā¦ā Seanās phantom doesnāt even believe the words heās saying. Heās trying to convince himself more than her. And when she returns the mask, he just stares blankly at her, and again thereās that resignation of yes, I must hide, otherwise Iām unlovable. I must maintain the illusion. And itās almost like heās putting on shackles instead of a mask.
Then his younger self shows up andā¦ I canāt even describe his expression. Resignation, fear, and just *sorrow*. All with a single look.
During All I Ask of You, Seanās phantom was hand. So much hand. He reached out towards Christine when she sang about her time under the opera house, and he almost smiled like yes, that was nice, right? You still love my music, and therefore me, right? Then his hands sunk to his sides in defeat when she went to Raoul for comfort.
When Christine and Raoul started singing the main part of AIAOY, Seanās phantom started basically trying to break his nails on the brick wall beside him. This guy was grabbing with his fingertips and nails, hands pulsing with rage and sorrow in equal measure. He was crashing out HARD.
The AIAOY reprise was insane. He was spitting every line and even acted like he was having a seizure when Christine and Raoul started singing again at a distance? He was just shaking. Poor baby boy! It was just ONE murder, come on now.
Sean Seamus Thompson never took his eyes off Christine. Not once. And his gaze was just UGH the yearning was palpable! āthose pleading eyes that both threaten and adoreā Sean was taking notes cause he EMBODIED that!
Iām just going to post random thoughts on my experience at Masquerade yesterday (7/25, 1:30pm) so stay tuned! My cast was Sean Seamus Thompson (u/s) as the Phantom, Audrey Logan (u/s) as Christine, and Dan Hoy as Raoul.
Sean was the best phantom Iāve ever seen - and thatās saying something! Audrey was good, with a gorgeous voice, but I do think she needs a bit more time to really flourish in the role. Dan Hoy wasā¦ where do I beginā¦ letās just say his take was odd. I wasnāt a fan but I do see why he might have made the choices he did. Iāll go into further detail later.
Went to the 1:30pm pulse for Masquerade today planning to see Hugh Panaro in the role. But instead I got Sean Seamus Thompson. And I was disappointedā¦
for like, ONE MINUTE! because good LORD Sean played the Phantom like it was his last day on earth!
I was floored. Speechless. Where do I begin? I forgot completely about Hugh (which is WILD) and by the end I couldnāt even speak, just open my mouth like an awed goldfish.
I will have more thoughts later. Sean Seamus was hand. So much hand. And man was STARVED for touch! He was so incredibly tender and devoted with Christine but then turned into a cackling, broken madman when murder times began.
By the end, he was soaked in sweat, looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Man gave it his all and THEN GAVE IT AGAIN!
Please, if anyone else has seen him in the role, I beg for you to gush with me cause I am still in awe. Best Phantom Iāve ever seen in person. No competition. And Iāve seen Jeff Kready and Isaiah Bailey! So Iām not starved for good phantoms.
Would there be interest in me giving a review of the accessible experience at Masquerade? I havenāt seen one yet and since Iāve experienced it as an able-bodied person before, might be helpful to provide a comparison/review for anyone who might be interested in seeing Masquerade but wants more info on accessibility accommodations.
Iām able-bodied but my sister uses a wheelchair so Iāll be staying with her during the show.
Hey does anyone have experience contacting accessibility services for Masquerade? I emailed them early this week to make sure my sister, who uses a wheelchair, gets elevator access and they havenāt responded yet.
On the website they said you had to schedule/reserve if you needed the elevator during the show. There was no timeframe on notifying them but weāre about 1.5 weeks away and Iād like to at least give a weekās notice.
Hey does anyone have experience contacting accessibility services for Masquerade? I emailed them early this week to make sure my sister, who uses a wheelchair, gets elevator access and they havenāt responded yet.
On the website they said you had to schedule/reserve if you needed the elevator during the show. There was no timeframe on notifying them but weāre about 1.5 weeks away and Iād like to at least give a weekās notice.
Saturday, June 13, 2026 ā¢ 9 p.m. EST: David Shannon, Gina Beck & Simon Bailey (London 2010)
You've most likely heard the phrase "Here goes nothing..." usually spoken before someone tries something that is seemingly impossible, something they are not at all sure is going to succeed, but hoping so very much that it will.
Well, that is certainly applicable as I prepare to step into the role long filled by a person who has demonstrated a dedicated commitment to building community. A person who changed my life with just a few words, and, as I have learned especially these past few weeks, changed so many people's lives for the better over the years.
That person is @wheel-of-fish, and this past Saturday was her 300th Saturday Stream of so many versions and visions of The Phantom of the Opera.
Fish has built an amazing and enduring community in the Saturday Streams. She brought us all together weekly, gathering amid the highs and lows of our internal lives, the highs and lows of the real world swirling around us, often shadowed and dark and incomprehensible these last several years.
Fish's Saturday Streams are a refuge, a source of companionship and wit, of shared heartbreak and sadness, as we long each week for a different ending for our trio despite knowing it is not meant to be. And amidst the tragedy on stage, there is always that glint of compassion and redemption, sparked by a kiss--and the specter of hope for the future held in an empty chair.
One of the truest things I know is that shared pain is lessened and shared joy increased. Thank you so much, Fish, for what you have made here in this place you have built, and thank you for entrusting it to me so that it can continue to be a place for us to gather and share joy.
This week we will be watching a performance that has significance in Streams history and personal significance for me.
The Streams had been a bit intermittent in the fall of 2019, with two Streams in October, two in November, one in December and then...had gone quiet.
Meanwhile, the Fourth American Phantom Tour was nearing its end and came through my home city in November 2019. It was then I saw Phantom for the first time, with Derrick Davis as the Phantom, and I was thunderstruck. I saw it twice, in November and December, followed it to a neighboring state for a third show and then to Chicago for a fourth and last performance. The show was closing at its next stop in Toronto January and February 2020 and the pieces almost came together for me to get to the closing show, February 2nd...but work had other plans and I was not able to go.
What was I going to do now?
I was not yet on social media at all, but had been poking around as a visitor to tumblr and fate smiled when I saw an announcement for something called Saturday Streams:
"Special reappearance of Saturday Streams!
Saturday, Feb. 15 ā¢ 9 p.m. EST: David Shannon, Gina Beck & Will Barratt (London 2010)"
And written in that announcement, the words that would change my life in such a profound fashion: "shy anons are welcome."
This stream that we are playing again this coming Saturday was the first time I saw the brilliant original, and not the restaged version which contained enough of the heart and soul of the show to already hook me completely. To say the stream was a profound experience is a profound understatement.
I was not yet a tumblr member and so I missed the announcement a month later--as we all became aware that the world was heading into a crisis and we had no notion of how it would all turn out--that Fish was bringing back the Streams on March 14, 2020 with stream number 34...and well, we all just experienced number 300 this past Saturday. I missed 34 and 35 but then saw the announcement for 36 and here I have been ever since.
This performance is a Streams favorite and has been played five times since that first showing in 2020--once for Fish's 100th stream! The last showing was in a colossal marathon of eleven productions of London Phantom that began on August 2nd, 2025. Both Fish and @glassprism -- keeper of Phantom knowledge-- agree that "this is a much-requested pairing with great chemistry and acting and a classic", and that Gina Beck is widely regarded as one of the best Christines of all time.
And so, after all that being said, I get to post for the first time the words that brought me into Phantom fandom, onto tumblr, into POTO fanfic writing, and led to more friendships and experiences than I could ever have possibly imagined:
As always, the stream will be on cy.tube and
shy anons are welcome.
Thanks for all of it, Fish.
Here goes...everything.
āPFPs 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.
āFor more info, please see theĀ Saturday Streams FAQĀ
āRemember to followĀ @from-aldebaranĀ for stream posts going forward.
āStreams announcement posting schedule after this outlier on Wednesday will go back to the usual Tuesday and Thursday posts, a post noonish on Saturday and then the showtime post Saturday evening.
