Phantom Thoughts pt. 16

{"Yes, the other evening, it was he who was talking when you were listening behind the door. It was he who said, 'You must love me.' But I then thought that I was the only one to hear his voice. Imagine my astonishment when you told me, this morning, that you could hear him too."

Raoul burst out laughing. The first rays of the moon came and shrouded the two young people in their light. Christine turned on Raoul with a hostile air. Her eyes, usually so gentle, flashed fire.

"What are you laughing at? YOU think you heard a man's voice, I suppose?"

"It's you, Raoul, who say that? You, an old playfellow of my own! A friend of my father's! But you have changed since those days. What are you thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, and I don't lock myself up in my dressing-room with men's voices. If you had opened the door, you would have seen that there was nobody in the room!"}

Christine: So I hear this voice in my dressing room- it's the Angel of Music from my father's stories! He is only heard by those who are destined to achieve musical greatness!

Raoul, who is only a decent singer at best: But *I* heard the voice! So it wasn't the Angel lol

Christine: So you think there was a MAN in my dressing room??? How dare you! I am an entirely proper lady and would *never* do something so SCANDELOUS!!

Raoul: ...welp guess I'm alienating my crush then

{The first floor of the Setting Sun was at no great height and a tree growing against the wall held out its branches to Raoul's impatient arms and enabled him to climb down unknown to the landlady.}

So Raoul just casually climbs out the window and down a tree AT NIGHT in order to follow Christine?? Is his inner monologue at this point just 'what would Philippe tell me NOT to do because it would shame the family name? ok, I'm doing that. all for Christine, of course.'??

{Her amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, the young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead than alive, and when she learned that he had been found stretched at full length on the steps of the high altar of the little church.}

And after doing this ridiculously impulsive thing he falls asleep waiting outside the church and nearly FREEZES TO DEATH?? That poor landlady- she has no idea what she's gotten herself into.

{Q. "In what condition of mind were you?"

R. "Very healthy and peaceful, I assure you.}

Does a healthy and peaceful person climb out of bed, out a window, and down a tree IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT in order to follow his crush and see what she's doing???

{She knelt down by her father's grave, made the sign of the cross and began to pray. At that moment, it struck midnight. At the last stroke, I saw Mlle. Daae life{sic} her eyes to the sky and stretch out her arms as though in ecstasy. I was wondering what the reason could be, when I myself raised my head and everything within me seemed drawn toward the invisible, WHICH WAS PLAYING THE MOST PERFECT MUSIC! Christine and I knew that music; we had heard it as children. But it had never been executed with such divine art, even by M. Daae. I remembered all that Christine had told me of the Angel of Music.}

So the Phantom does get out of the Opera House sometimes! (Wouldn't it be awkward if he was staying in the same boardinghouse? The landlady is like 'so what guests do I have today? a pious girl coming to visit her father's grave, a vicomte who vehemently denies that he's following the girl so much that it must be what he's doing- oh, and that weird masked guy with the violin who keeps muttering about an angel of music!)

{"First a skull rolled to my feet ... then another ... then another ... It was as if I were the mark of that ghastly game of bowls. ... But I was quicker than the shadow and caught hold of a corner of its cloak. At that moment, we were just in front of the high altar; and the moonbeams fell straight upon us through the stained-glass windows of the apse. As I did not let go of the cloak, the shadow turned round; and I saw a terrible death's head, which darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, my courage failed me ... and I remember nothing more until I recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun."}

So was Erik just aggressively rolling skulls at Raoul to try & scare him off in what sounds like the world's weirdest game of bowling?? And then decides 'well, if skulls won't scare you away, what about MY TERRIFYING FACE??? oops he fainted- back to the Opera House!'

Phantom Thoughts pt. 17

I'm skipping chapter 6, since it's very short and I legitimately could not think of anything to say about it. For the curious, the chapter is basically the managers trying to figure out what's going on in Box Five while the Phantom scares them by somehow creating an illusion of statues laughing at them. Also, the managers resolve to sit in Box Five for the next performance of Faust. There was also some slight wordplay with Pandora's box and Box Five, which I highly approve of.

{"He has the chief management of the stable."

"What stable?"

"Why, yours, sir, the stable of the Opera."

"Is there a stable at the Opera? Upon my word, I didn't know. Where is it?"

"In the cellars, on the Rotunda side. It's a very important department; we have twelve horses."}

The new managers have been in charge for HOW LONG and they don't know about an important department and the at least 6 employees that work there??? Also why are horses such a necessary feature in operas that they need TWELVE of them?? Are there just a lot of horse-heavy operas in 19th century France that I just don't know about?

{"These are 'places,'" Mercier interposed, "created and forced upon us by the under-secretary for fine arts. They are filled by protegees of the government and, if I may venture to ..."}

So the GOVERNMENT did this? I'm just picturing government officials saying "Do you know what the opera house needs? HORSES!! At least TWELVE of them! And they need, of course, six stablehands to care for them!" "Simply genius! I shall implement this right away!"

{"Has Cesar been stolen?" cried the acting-manager. "Cesar, the white horse in the Profeta?"

"There are not two Cesars," said the stud-groom dryly. "I was ten years at Franconi's and I have seen plenty of horses in my time. Well, there are not two Cesars. And he's been stolen."}

I know the Phantom didn't leave a note, since there's such a mystery around this, but what if he *did*? Like this:

Dear stablehands,

Henceforth, Cesar is now MY little pony. Make no attempt to see him again.

xoxo the Opera Ghost

Phantom Thoughts pt. 18

{added Moncharmin. "We shall have the whole press against us! He'll tell the story of the ghost; and everybody will be laughing at our expense! We may as well be dead as ridiculous!"}

Mssr. Moncharmin appears to have a similar outlook to Hermione Granger's "We could be killed- or worse, expelled!"

{About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, rang for her maid, who brought her letters to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, written in red ink, in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran:

If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at the moment when you open your mouth to sing ... a misfortune worse than death.

The letter took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. She pushed back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. It was not the first letter of the kind which she had received, but she never had one couched in such threatening terms.}

The Phantom has messy handwriting- this probably offends Carlotta just as much as the threats. I imagine her having very flowing, elegant handwriting. She also has chocolate for breakfast! Good call. And is not threatened by hate mail! Good for her.

{The truth is that, if there was a cabal, it was led by Carlotta herself against poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. Carlotta had never forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had achieved when taking her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta heard of the astounding reception bestowed upon her understudy, she was at once cured of an incipient attack of bronchitis and a bad fit of sulking against the management and lost the slightest inclination to shirk her duties. From that time, she worked with all her might to "smother" her rival, enlisting the services of influential friends to persuade the managers not to give Christine an opportunity for a fresh triumph. ... Lastly, in the theater itself, the celebrated, but heartless and soulless diva made the most scandalous remarks about Christine and tried to cause her endless minor unpleasantnesses.}

That's seriously not cool, Carlotta. Faking sick (I assume?) then sulking because your replacement is *actually* good? And even if she thinks Christine is the Phantom, or else currying favor with the vicomte in order to supplant Carlotta, the extent she goes to ruin Christine's career is not okay. Yet I hesitate to agree with Leroux that she is a 'heartless and soulless diva'. (Especially since I love the headcanon that Carlotta was Erik's former pupil who cared more about securing her fame and becoming technically perfect in her singing than Erik and showing emotions in song.) Flawed, vindictive, and tempermental? Yes. A bully? Yes. A heartless monster? No, especially not when compared to Erik, who might be monstorous but is decidedly not heartless.

{The first thing she saw, when looking out of her window, was a hearse. She was very superstitious; and the hearse and the letter convinced her that she was running the most serious dangers that evening.}

Sorelli is also superstitious, isn't she? I wonder if the two of them get along, or can't stand each other. At least Sorelli cares for her underlings, while Carlotta seems to only care that she *has* them.

{The famous baritone, Carolus Fonta, had hardly finished Doctor Faust's first appeal to the powers of darkness, when M. Firmin Richard, who was sitting in the ghost's own chair, the front chair on the right, leaned over to his partner and asked him chaffingly:

"Well, has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet?"}

The managers are snarky, as usual.

But the existence of this minor character, famous baritone Carolus Fonta, just makes me wonder why ALW felt the need to invent Piangi for the musical. Why not just keep the name Carolus, change him to a tenor (I think Piangi is a tenor?), and add that he has a thing for Carlotta? He's already, at least from our short look at him, got a soft spot for Christine, so you wouldn't even need to add that. Why Piangi, not Carolus?