10 Of My Favorite Hadley Fraser As Raoul Moments (gif Edition).

10 of my favorite Hadley Fraser as Raoul moments (gif edition).

No doubt Hadley is, and will probably remain, one of the most popular Raoul’s. Personally, I think his Raoul could sometimes be a bit emotionless or on the more aggressive side, though I don’t entirely blame him. Besides the fact that he was going off of what he was being directed to do, he had also never been in the show before and had only a short time to get acquainted with the part. But I think he also had some wonderful moments that make up for it. So here are some of my favorites!

Being so proud of Christine and excited to see her again,

I have always interpreted this as him not just being happy to see her, but also happy that she remembers him too!

Visibly being more serious/concerned/sympathetic when Christine mentions that her father has passed and coming down to her level to comfort her.

Him being adorably confused as to why Christine is asking him to love her when he already is!

Just cause I love Hadley’s smile.

Bringing her hands to his chest and closing his eyes because that’s just how much he loves Christine and needs her to love him in return.

I love how he holds Christine’s head. And of course the kiss. Cuteness overload.

More of his smile. And also how happy and relieved he is to find Christine after looking all over for her.

Christine is his number one priority.

This part has always stuck with me all these years. He looks so defeated and disappointed thinking Christine chose the Phantom.

Not to mention the lack of orchestration diversity, the lack of creativity in the storyline or the direction and the samey samey soundtrack thank to the small band carrying everything with their backs.

Bandai's Sera Myu feels like an actual musical adaptation for me. IDK if it's hard to understand that what makes a good musical is not being one on one faithful to the source material. What makes it good is the quality of the direction, the art and the music. Bandai Myu was so ambitious to be on par with bigger musicals, and while it didn't work sometimes, the outcome paid off.

Let's give an example of SuperS Kaiteiban, my favorite Myu from my favorite era. The lighting is exquisite, especially in the Dead Moon Kuroi no Yume and the lighting show that is La Moon. You can see how great lighting immerse you into the scenes so easily. The props are very cool, some are cheap but well they literally cut the confetti themselves in Gaiden. The little Zircon and the soul orbs of the Amazones Trio snatched my weave off my head. While the laser Pegasus was silly, I also appreciate them for trying and committing to it.

Moving on to the music and orchestration. Just compare triple dreams to whatever is the equivalent of it. Triple dreams is a very strong number that represents three factions by using their previous leitmotifs in the best way possible. Someone said it before that this is the Sera Myu's one day more. I can see it as the Final Lair as well with the powerful impact it leaves for the audience. The Nelke Myu (maybe except Nogimyu) feels like you're watching the same small band playing every score, be it love song or final battle song. I also want to talk about the vibe of the numbers but that's for another day.

I am sure I have a few things to compliment the poor Nelke Myu but I don't think I have anything at the moment. I like that Nogimyu feels very much like Bandai Myu to some extent. It is honestly my favorite modern Myu with the cool transformation sequence, the ambitious set pieces and the diverse numbers. I wish the newer Myu can take notes from it.

Ps. I don't hate Takarazuka casting. I am probably the minority here but I just need a bit of male tenor or bass to balance the chorus ensemble. I have that problem with Takarazuka's musical adaptations like Y/K Phantom or Elisabeth as well.

newmyu be like

My OC, Soraya in the costumes of Christine Daaé: Act 1

I need to thank @operafantomet thousands times for providing all the amazing references and sources for costumes and background. I haven't got enough time to design my own variations of each costumes. So as of now, they are Frankensteined together like German Slavegirl bodice (with bra-like collar) and epic red Elissa skirt, 2000s west end mint/pink rooftop with Rococo flair German decorations.

Act 2 is coming soon, I haven't finished Aminta yet so 🙇

Didn't know that the plague has infected the wedding dress too...I get that it's to keep the dress silhouette the same after all the sitting on the stage but goddamn that's ugly as hell.

What are your thoughts on the ugly taffeta worm on the train of the current west end wedding dresses? 🙃

This made me laught out loud. HAHAHA, but tell me what you really think of it, don't hold back... :D

But I'm with you. I like the addition in Lucy St Louis' Wishing dress, where it manage to look quite period and reflect on Victorian fashion plates with a puffed-up bustle. Here's her dress next to an 1874 day dress from La Mode Illustrée:

The wedding dress backdrape, on the other hand, looks like an afterthought. Or a way to drape the backdrape up so it won't get in the way? In my personal opinion it's not particluarly elegant, it's just massive:

I'd rather see them funk up the bow which (again in my personal opinion) is just big and limpy. A more defined bow with long decorative ends would make more of an impact and more of a bustle without drowning the waterfall backdrape. Something in the vein of the Aussie/World Tour and Canadian dresses:

Yeah, not a fan of the "worm" overall. But I do like the same idea (albeit different execution) for the Wishing dress.

I wouldn't say they are all over the place, to be honest. Maria Björnson was really careful with the historical details. Most civilian dresses (in the design) are based on the silhouette of years 1874-6 including the background dresses that are referenced from Harper's bazaar fashion plates.

The Elissa costumes used to look more historical and in line with the 1876 bustle silhouette, but they've been amped up over the years to bell shaped skirts with backdrape. They're opera costumes after all. They don't have to follow the current fashion as long as they stay theatrical.

The reason why the bustle silhouettes seem to all over the place is because the choices made by different productions. Some production goes for a more pronounced bustle, some with something almost natural form but they never mix the silhouette up together (unless they start inheriting costumes from different warehouse and workshop)

TLDR: The concrete style and aesthetic of the late 1870s is there but the bustle size and shape is for the productions and workshops to interpret. Even though I don't agree with 'The costumes in the show are all over the place' but great research, op!

How come the wedding dress for Christine in the musical is somehow based of the bustle era? Which was in late 1880's. But then Wikipedia says its based of 1860s for the musical but now I don't know which to trust?

Always a good question. For this and more I give you the following tag:

THE TIMELINE ISSUE

Long story short, there's many different takes on when the story is set, both in the prologue and the main story. For example, the original cast album said 1861, but the West End stage show said 1881. Meanwhile Hamburg listed 1871, and the Japanese productions "mid 19th century". Today I think they all list "Late 19th century". And that's just the replica versions!

Meanwhile the prologue has been pushed from 1905 to 1911. But then "Love Never Dies" came along and claimed its main story was 1907.

So in short, nothing makes sense.

The Maestro, the angel, the man and the monster