#kcrabb talks phantom

[kcrabb88]

IT ARRIVED and it is GORGEOUS.

[kcrabb88]

This is the clearest rundown I can get. Dunno what this means for the Broadway production, but I am Upset y’all. The original London production is so special and the best version of the show I’ve seen, and I was lucky enough to go twice. Hopefully it’ll be back in it’s original form, London would be weird without it.

[kcrabb88]

Erik, upon listening-in to Raoul and Christine during Little Lotte, and hearing Raoul’s adorable little giggle:

[kcrabb88]

@4beit called Erik, “moody basement boy” in their comment on the new chapter of the Phantom fic, and that is what I’m calling him from now until forever, officially. 

[kcrabb88]

A Facebook memory reminded me of the (1) time I performed in a drama competition in high school (I did a lot of choir, but just me, or me and one other person, no thanks. Once was enough). I had friends in theater and would go to their shows, but moving to a new state and high school at the end of junior year did not inspire confidence in 17-year-old me. So, one day I was sitting in the computer lab at the end of the day, doing what I did in those days, which was fearlessly reading Phantom of the Opera fic openly on the school computer, and listening to the London Cast Recording on my old disc-man thing, when my friend Maggie (still one of my best friends) rolled her chair over to me very casually and was like “hey so, do you want to do drama districts with me?” I said no, immediately. I would surely pass out! She paused. I went back to reading my fic. And then she was like “...yeah but I want to do PHANTOM.” I of course, could not say no after that, which she knew. Though my dream of singing Christine’s part did not come true because though I could sing the high notes in “Angel of Music” I was too nervous to project and ended up singing Meg’s part instead, but we DID get an award so hey! Worth it. I also sweated through my clothes, but that’s okay. 

[kcrabb88]

Seriously, you have written the best R/C fic ever. Absolutely everything I ever wanted, you are an amazing writer and I can't wait to see what happens next with the sequel. Can I ask you one thing though? Do whatever you want with your story, I'm sure I will love it. But... I see you plan on including the Daroga which makes me so happy. But I struggle to read stories that use the name "Nadir Khan" for him as Susan Kay writes Persia in such a racist way and all women in such a sexist way. (1/2)

(2/2) Could you maybe consider giving him an original name of your own, or if not perhaps you could use the real figure Leroux based him on, Mohammed Ismaël Khan (who went by Ismaël). I'm so sorry, I don't want to tell you what to do and I know I'm a stranger. I'm sure anything you write will be amazing.

Hi Anon! I had been going back and forth with using Nadir Khan if only because it was the only the only full name for Daroga that existed, but I too, deeply dislike the Kay novel, and know the way she portrayed Persia was....decidedly less than stellar. I was using it as a placeholder until I made up my mind, but I did not know that Leroux had used a real historical figure as inspiration! I just looked him up, and you have solved my angst over the name, I will probably end up using that, so thank you! I appreciate you saying something. I’m very excited to introduce The Persian, and want to do him justice. 

And I’m so glad you are enjoying the fic! :D 

[kcrabb88]

With the news of Phantom West End’s closure (I feel at least fairly certain some kind of production will return to London, but I would bet money on it being the new touring version, and the original deserved to go out...not like this. I hate Cammack so fucking much) I am feeling even more emotional than I thought I would over it? And I think that’s because, much like Les Mis and Pirate Stuff has defined my adulthood, Phantom defined my childhood and adolescence. I first got into it when I was like, 7? I saw the Wishbone episode based on the book, and I remember my friend Laurel and I putting on the OLC and waltzing around her dining room to All I Ask of You and taking turns being different characters. 

I forgot about it for a while, as you do when you’re a kid, then I saw the movie when it came out. I’ve since come to know just HOW MUCH better the stage production is, but at the time, I was RIVETED. My parents both died earlier in the same year the movie came out, and Phantom was one of those things that I clung to. How could I not, when Christine was right there, also grieving? That’s one of the reasons I NEVER understood why people would want Christine to pick Erik--he ain’t gonna help her handle or reclaim her life from grief. But I fell asleep for something like a year listening to the OLC, two years before I ever saw the stage show live on tour for the first time. I read the book. I wrote (deeply middling) fic. All I wanted was to see it in London, and I did that in college before I ever even saw it in New York. Phantom well and truly saved my sixteen-year-old self. 

And I remember when I went back to see it in London in 2017, and I got to go on a backstage tour, standing on the stage next to the chandelier and looking out at the empty auditorium and thinking “look how far you’ve come, kid!” So I guess what I’m saying is that like, no, Phantom is not disappearing from the planet, it never will, it’s too popular. It’s still playing in New York and Seoul and probably again one day in London. But to see a deeply wealthy producer treat the original production that has had such an impact on so many people, the one that spurred everything, like trash, hit me more than I thought. There’s no doubt Covid is badly hurting the theater industry, but this is the show he’s putting out there to sacrifice so he can do what he wants with it, and it’s just...deeply shitty. 

[kcrabb88]

Deeply confused about this grand Cammack announcement that Phantom is shutting down “permanently” in the West End, but they are “determined to bring it back in the future.” What does that?? Even mean?? No other shows have had this said about them, which makes me deeply concerned. Is it just an excuse to revamp the show into the tour version and scrap the original (as was done with Les Mis) or is it ACTUALLY closing? I know the cast has been let go and things (including the chandelier) have been removed from the theater and that Her Majesty’s famously needs repairs, but?? I’m lost as to what it means for the future. Perhaps they don’t even know, but I wish what was actually happening was clearer. 

Anyway, I hate every conservative everywhere who won’t fund the arts, I hate people who won’t take the damn virus seriously, and, as usual, I can’t stand Cameron Mackintosh.