Dr.OO7

An article listing some of Phantom's milestones: https://playbill.com/article/35-years-of-phantom-of-the-operas-history-making-moments-on-broadway And listing all the actors who have played the leads: https://playbill.com/article/every-actor-whos-played-the-angel-of-music-and-christine-in-phantom-of-the-opera-on-broadway

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Former-Christines-Share-the-Stage-at-PHANTOM-Charity-Performance-20230415

If they do, it will probably be only audio, not video, as the ushers have gotten VERY vigilant about walking around to make sure no one's recording. I was there tonight for the charity performance, for the 26th and final time. It was glorious, as always. The audience clapped and cheered for EVERYTHING and you could tell the cast was really giving it their all. I've never cried so much at the ending. The best part was the curtain call, where they brought out the milestone Christine's from the 25th and 30th anniversary performances, as well as the original Christine, Sarah Brightman. They were all profiled in this Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/interactive/2023/phantom-of-opera-christine-broadway/

Not for me in the 23 previous times that I've seen it. I can't speak to the skillion other times it's been performed. I've often wondered how the actress would play it if the mask wasn't there and last night, I found out! 😄 That's the danger of theater. Because it's live, the actors have to be damned good at ad-libbing. At a performance I went to in February, the actress playing Christine tripped and fell during a scene, but luckily, she played it off as a natural result of the chaos. But then later in the show, the gun didn't fire, so instead of Raoul yelling at the guy for shooting recklessly, instead, he yelled at him for NOT shooting.

One of the benefits and drawbacks of seeing The Phantom Of The Opera as many times as possible before it closes is that the more often you attend, the more likely it is that you'll catch an error. There was a HUGE one at the performance I saw tonight. Meg comes into the Phantom's lair at the end, pulls back the cape. . . And there was NO MASK. The actress just had to sit there stunned without lifting it up for the final effect.

Another reason why I like Season 3, it's the only time I liked her. That was another very good and realistic story arc for a character. While she was still the Straight Man to everyone else, the edge came off of the prickliness from the last season. And her friendship with Jeanie started that year. Even with her own distaste over Doug's behavior, I love the way she firmly shut down the gossip about him bringing in the woman who overdosed--"It's none of our business!"

I agree. While the show has been very good so far, at some point in Season 3, everything clicked. Plus, we got some major, yet realistic character arcs--Doug getting his act together, Mark turning into a jerk, etc. My favorite season. I loved Doug and Carol and I was so glad when they finally reconciled. That moment when he tells her he loves her is so beautifully simple.

Ironic, considering how utterly obsessed she was with managing. Let's not forget how reluctant she was to report her mentor despite clearly being concerned about his visible cognitive decline, and her letting Mark come back to work after having a BRAIN TUMOR REMOVED without a thorough physical and psychological evaluation, letting him wander around for several weeks mixing up his pronouns, then not having either the personal or professional courtesy to tell him to his face that she'd finally reported him for competency testing.

Well, it was an awesome show, so as far as that, he's got nothing to be ashamed of. By the way, I made a mistake in my earlier post--enter the Phantom lottery before NOON on 3/31, not midnight.

Phantom Of The Opera is having a lottery for tickets to its final show on April 16. They'll be in the rear mezzanine, though I'm not sure exactly where, and cost $99 should you win. Enter before midnight 3/31 and there will be drawings April 3, 4, 5, 6, with 24 hours to purchase should you win. https://rush.telecharge.com/ Spamalot was hysterical. I regret seeing it only once. Something Rotten was okay.

So of course, I bought a ticket for the April 14 show. I was hoping to sit in the orchestra section one last time, but those cost $1500. On the plus side, there's no service charge, so. . .

The Phantom Of The Opera 's 3rd to last show on April 14 will be raising money for various charities. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-to-Present-Special-Charity-Performance-Closing-Week-20230316. As far as the other shows, tickets are mostly sold out for nearly all of them, but StubHub has, if you don't mind paying $12,000 for an orchestra seat. https://www.stubhub.com/the-phantom-of-the-opera-new-york-tickets/performer/10170/ (Yes, I actually saw a ticket for that price) BTW, Lucy St. Louis has finished her run as London's first black Christine--there's now a black Madame Giry as well--and is now London's first black Glinda in "Wicked".

I can't help but admire how calmly Abby asks Peter to wait outside as if she hasn't been caught doing something incredibly inappropriate that could jeopardize her career. And I really liked the scene between them afterwards where she asks if he's threatening to report her and he makes it clear that he never even considered it. No matter how desperately he wanted that pediatric fellowship --"If your recommendation isn't based on my skills as a doctor, I. DON'T. WANT. IT."

I was watching an episode of "American Detective" the other night and Kenda stated, "People get emotional when they kill. They don't think clearly." He was referring to the fact that a young woman's killer had dumped her body in the middle of a public park, it somehow never occuring to him that her body would rapidly be found. And that applies to Chris as well. Did he really think the cops would think it was just sheer coincidence that his wife and daughters bodies were dumped at his WORKPLACE? If that isn't a blatant declaration of "I did it", I don't know what is.

And the cops will figure that out too--there was a crime show episode about a couple attacked while out walking with their daughter. The wife was killed, the husband injured. The daughter was mercifully unharmed, physically, at least. When the cops questioned him, it didn't take but two seconds for him to feebly blurt out "It was an accident". Yeah, he "accidentally" arranged for a hitman to kill his wife and shoot him to look like a mugging gone wrong. Nevermind that the guy never made any attempt at taking their wallets, the very first thing that would make the cops suspicious.

That's exactly it. It never occurs to these guys that all that is still better than going to jail for the rest of your life.

Don't feel bad, I thought I was bonkers for feeling the way I did. If it hadn't been for the phenomenal episode "Hell & High Water", I probably would never have become a fan of ER.

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/203060/watch-ben-crawford-talk-about-the-phantom-of-the-operas-legacy-in-this-extended-interview-from-the-broadway-show/ I caught the show tonight for the 20th time. Kanisha was Christine and she was just as lovely as before, except she tripped and fell at the end of the "Bravo, Monsieur" sequence. And the guns didn't go off, though I'm not sure if that's a mistake or a change they're making.

I was so devastated when they killed Falconer--real nice, writers, finally making Teddy happy after years of misery only to cruelly yank it away from her in five minutes--that I actually couldn't watch ER's first season. StartTV has added "Providence" to its lineup. Was it always this hokey? It's amazing what about TV/movies you view differently as an adult.

An interview with Emile Kouatchou: https://www.ebony.com/phantom-of-the-opera-star-emilie-kouatchou-interview/

So would I. I loved it. And there were a few episodes that I never got to see.

I wanted to add that they're airing even more shows than the ones I initially listed, but I don't remember them all. We need a channel that will re-air all those made-for-TV movies/miniseries that were all the rage throughout the 80s and 90s.

It was really awful. Completely inconsistent with the original both in story and in characterization. I like to imagine that it simply exists in some kind of alternate universe because said inconsistencies are so glaring: The Original: Meggie blasts Ralph for not realizing that Dane was his son and thinking that she could go back to Luke after being with him. The Missing Years: He finds her trying to do EXACTLY that. There's too many others to count. Ironically, had it been consistent with the original/the book, it would have been fine.

The Rewind Channel (462 for FiOS customers) is showing a wealth of shows that were popular in the '80's and '90's: 227, Becker, Caroline in the City, Dear John, Designing Women, Diff'rent Strokes, The Drew Carey Show, The Facts of Life, Family Ties, It’s a Living, Growing Pains, Head of the Class, The Hogan Family, The John Larroquette Show, Just Shoot Me!, Mad About You, Mork & Mindy, Murphy Brown, My Two Dads, NewsRadio, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Suddenly Susan, Who's the Boss?, and Wings

What I especially hate about when Dateline does that is that once the victim turns up dead, all of a sudden it's revealed that all of his/her people thought that their spouse was a bitch/jerk, and the very same perfect love story they've been touting for the past five minutes is now riddled with flaws--"He/She was controlling/cheating/spending too much/too cheap!", etc.