Phantom of the Opera

[tattooedsiren]

I know with that is going on in fandom, not many people are likely to care about this post. No worries, move along, no hard feelings. But for those who want a respite from the madness or who wanted to hear about my night at the theatre, this is for you. :O)

So I went and saw Phantom of the Opera last night. I had never seen it on stage, only the movie.

It was so awesome.

Bad new first - Anthony Warlow was still sick so we had the understudy phantom. For those of you not in Oz, Warlow is the Australian Phantom. I was disappointed - but at least I didnt moan and groan like the rest of the audience when it was announced. Feel so bad for the understudy - he must get that every time.

And now for the good - it was so awesome. The stage and sets were mindblowing, the way they used the theatre was genius, the cast was awesome. Understudy!Phantom was great - though he did seem to struggle once or twice while singing. Maybe he just wasnt prepared to be performing every day of opening week. Christine - her voice was so amazing. She is so tiny! Everyone was really great.

I'm so glad I went and saw it. And my brother-in-law and I are planning on going back, as is most of the audience last night, coz we want to see Warlow.

If you've seen it and want to chat, feel free to comment. :O)

Other news:

*hugs fandom*

I do have one stupid question about moving to another journal with all the deletions and what not. Wont most other journals have the same policies and as such what is to stop the same thing happening there??

Should I be concerned about my header? I dont think its too explicit or anything, but the whole fuzzy line for if a character drawn is underage or not, plus the fact it was drawn by Ponderosa, makes me a bit anxious.

Will hopefully be seeing The Simpsons Movie today.

♥

Comments

[caitlen.livejournal.com]

Isn't Phantom AWESOME. My sweetie wants to go and see it, but I've already seen it and I admitted I wasn't sure I was up to seeing it again, but OMG I was so overloaded with the music in one part of my life, I think I might have had enough Phantom. But still... you're inspiring me!! My parents (Mum & step-Dad) brought me over to Melbourne when I turned 13 to see Phantom, so we were lucky enough to see Marina Prior when she was singing it. OHMYGAWD. Her voice. *sigh* I'm not sure who played the Phantom, because Anthony Warlow was still in remission from his cancer at that point and not singing yet.

Now. I know you have reservations about moving. I completely understand. I don't actually WANT to leave LJ! But I got an IJ yesterday because (a) my username was still available there (unlike on GJ, so I have to think up something else), and (b) I don't want to be left behind by my fandom. If HP moves, I want to be able to at least partly follow it.

IJ has these things to say:

To what level of decency are journals held?

InsaneJournal generally holds to the standards of "indecency" set forth by the United States Supreme Court decision handed down in the case "Miller vs. California".

The "Miller Test" for defining indency sets forth three guidelines:

-- The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
-- the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexually explicit conduct;
-- a reasonable person must find the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

In order for material to be considered indecent, it must meet these guidelines (with the exception of material that is illegal under applicable law, such as sexual images of minors).

Also, InsaneJournal has many users that are legally underage to view explict material. Because of this, in some cases, stricter guidelines can be imposed. In particular, posts to non-age-restricted communities, comments in others' journals, and default user picture icons should be kept free of explicit content.

If you frequently post material to your journal that can be considered of an "adult" nature, InsaneJournal asks that you place a warning in your User Information ("bio") to that nature, warning that underage users should not view your journal. This is not mandatory, but can serve to protect both you and InsaneJournal.

If you are the maintainer of a community in which users regularly post explicit images, you must monitor the membership of your community carefully to make sure that all of your members are of legal age to view such material. Again, this is to protect both you and InsaneJournal.

To learn how to contact the Abuse team to report violations of the Terms of Service, see http://www.insanejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=18 .

* * *

The most important thing about that statement is that it can be found here on IJ, and hasn't been updated since October 2003. Which is when I believe IJ was created.

That, and IJ is owned by a person (can be seen here) and not a corporation, according to the FAQ.

So whilst IJ might get attacked by the same people who put all the pressure on LJ, they don't have a whole bunch of advertisers supporting their corporation. GJ is based on advertising, so I'm not sure how steady they'd be under a barrage, but IJ? I think it'll be good :)

It's called InsaneJournal! How awesome is that :)

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

OMG Phantom was sooo awesome. :O) I would have loved to have seen Marina Prior - she woulda rocked. I am so going to see it again - hopefully with Warlow next time. :O)

Thanks for the info. I've registered my username over at GJ and IJ just in case - but I really dont want to go. Heres hoping it will all work out.

[sellthelie.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about your header, because it took me awhile to figure out who it actually was! Took someone saying, is that...? for it to click. It's not obvious to me at least, but then I don't really picture Remus at all.

Shame about it not being AW, least you've got a good excuse to go again!

Enjoy the movie, I'm going again next week. ♥

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

I think it doesnt really matter who it is, just if someone looks underage. I think it should be okay but thought I would just put it out there and see what other people think.

I was so disappointed. But it is the perfect excuse - hopefully I can get my sister to come with me and her husband next time.

OMG The Simpsons was soooo funny. The opening was totally brilliant, with the whole 'paying to see something you can see for free on TV' and Barts lines being 'I will not download this movie'. Loved the advertising in it along the bottom of the screen, Barts nudie streak, and the 'To be continued' where people in the cinema actually thought it was for real. :O)

[sellthelie.livejournal.com]

Ah, well I don't think she looks young/underage. I think it would be fine anyway, it would be a really bad sign if they started reporting people for headers.

Ah it was all good! Not a let down at all, I want to go again. And they need to do more movies... ;)

[cyclonejuliet.livejournal.com]

I am glad that you enjoyed the Phantom, despite the absence of Warlow. Thanks for letting us know what you thought.
On the LJ front - I got myself a GJ journal (same user name), just in case. I won't be doing anything with it unless I have to.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

I loved it. :O)

Yeah, I'm the same. Registered my username at GJ and IJ but wont be moving unless fandom does. Heres hoping it all blows over.

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it was really good!! =D

What is all this? Has LJ out-lamed themselves again?

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

It was awesome. :O)

Yeah, users were deleted this time, with no warning and no chance to take the 'offending' art down. One of them was the user who drew my header art. People are flailing and screaming - its happening all over again.

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

Augh, what the hell is wrong with LJ?

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

I do have one stupid question about moving to another journal with all the deletions and what not. Wont most other journals have the same policies and as such what is to stop the same thing happening there??

If the same kind of pressure is brought down on them as it was here on LJ, then yes, eventually. Unless people are able to get the laws governing these policies changed.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

The whole thing sucks. The worst of it is I can see both sides so cant even scream blindly about the whole thing. But I love LJ and dont wanna move ... *sigh* I hope the whole thing sorts itself out soon.

Awesome icon BTW. :O)

[acoustics1220.livejournal.com]

LJ is being ambiguous and jerkin' us fandomers around; it's quite annoying!

And that's what I figure - if we all go to some other BLOG, the same thing will probably happen *rolls eyes*

I'm staying with LJ.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

So annoying. And the fact we have not heard anything from them since the whole thing went down is even more annoying. And thats just it - this potentially could happen at any blog...

[acoustics1220.livejournal.com]

OH DUH!!!

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!

The BEST musical around...or, well, one of the best.

It's MY fav at least ;)

Such an amazing work of art. I remember seeing it on stage/broadway and I was just blown AWAY. I'm VERY HAPPY you enjoyed it.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

I was so blown away. Especially since I had seen the movie I was wondering how they were going to do it on stage but they used the space so well and all the little tricks were awesome. It rocked.

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

i saw miss saigon last night.

it was ok.

great that you enjoyed the phantom.

it is a shame for the understudies when they get a bad reception, but also it is often their big chance to show they can win the crowd.

i have a greater journal which i got during the lj down time recently. i'm 'mrsquizzical' there too.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

Just okay???

Phantom was great. I felt so bad for the understudy but he got the biggest cheer at the end so he totally won everyone over (either that or everyone was feeling guilty for moaning at the start LOL).

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

Just okay???

yeah. 'fraid so.

don't get me wrong. there were some fantastic performances and the sets and staging were really wonderfully done.

but i found it all a bit ... um... 2 dimensional. apart from the 'comic relief' character, it was either 'quiet contemplation' or 'omghigh emotion'. nothing in between.

also - they couldn't afford to bring the chopper to brisbane so we had cg. which is ok. but it just meant we didn't even get that 'wow!' thing. the cg was pretty impressive. it really did seem to hover in the sky above them.

and jack(?) had a beautiful voice. as did kim. and the little boy was adorable.

also some of the lyrics (i've only heard snippets of the music before) made me think a bit of disney movies.
so yeah - i was a bit underwhelmed. and when you've paid over $100 for tickets i figure you can expect a bit more. anyway, we went because hubby has always wanted to see it, and it's the first time it's ever got this far north, so that was ok, and we had a good night out at the theatre.

sorry if i've stepped on anyone's toes.

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

That sucks. Especially when you pay so much for it and you are looking forward to a good night out to have it be a bit average is disappointing.

Nah well, what can you do. Hopefully the next time you venture out to the theatre it will be better.

♥

[xqueenrosefaex.livejournal.com]

He wasn't performing? Oh, I would also be so incredibly disappointed. But I would not be so crude as to moan and groan at the announcement of an understudy's place against Warlow's. I hope he recovers soon. The sickness must be so frustrating and tiring.
He was beginning to become ill on the official opening night. I saw the first performance, which was the opening night of the "Previews". Practically all the important people were there + families, etc. I suspect it would have been the same around the 28th when the official night happened. I think so. Because that was when they had the after party, the press and such.
I am so glad you loved it. You're certainly right about the use of perspective, sets, costume, etc. Everthing was magically superb.
I'm very ready for bed, but I wanted to say that I completely understand the instinctiveness to see it again (and again lol). Unfortunatly, I don't reside anywhere near Melbourne and it's a difficult project to get there and organise such endeavours. Glad all is well. ♥

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

I was totally disappointed, but the pessimist in me was expecting it. I felt so bad for the understudy when everyone groaned - but at the end he got the biggest cheer (maybe everyone was feeling guilty LOL).

I really hope we can see it again with Warlow. If I do I will let you know. :O)

[xqueenrosefaex.livejournal.com]

I would have ultimately felt the same.
Same. Thankyou.

[chocky-mousse.livejournal.com]

I'm just confused about the whole 'moving to another jounral thing' - what the Hell happened? I ain't even gonna comment seeing as I know nothing about it but PHANTOM ON STAGE ROCKS. I saw it in London in 2005 and I loved it. I wish I could have gone this year back home bt, well, I' kinda out of the country, lol. Phnatom IS awesome though. =)

[tattooedsiren.livejournal.com]

If you havent seen it - a couple of users were deleted for posting NC17 fanart where they say one of the characters were underage, thereby making it underage porn. They say it was judged to see if there was 'artistic merit' and there wasnt so they just deleted the users (one of which drew my awesome header pic. Since then LJ fandom as gone explodey. Took forevr for them to make a statement and even then it wasnt clarified enough. People are thinking of moving to other Journals - probably InsaneJournal or GreatestJournal.

But nuff about that.

Phantom was so awesome. I'm so gald I saw it. I need to see it again. LOL.

[chocky-mousse.livejournal.com]

thanks for explaining that, it really sucks. I mean, good protection for the younger users I suppose but if they're in the fandom, I can't say that they've probably not already seen/read worse. Hope it all works out and we can all live happily ever after on LJ. =)

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