Costume Blog

Phantom 30-Day Challenge: Day 2

2. Your first ALW show and/or your first Phantom; when and where.

I saw my first Phantom show in January of 2006 in my favorite city (Pittsburgh!).  I did not have access to “boots” or YouTube vids or anything like that, because I didn’t know about them at that point.  I simply saw some photos of the show online, and loved the albums so much, that I knew I wanted to see the show.  When I learned the show was coming to Pittsburgh (I think… 8 months in advance?) I BEGGED my parents to take me for my birthday present (my birthday is in the beginning of January).  No presents, no party, no cake, no NOTHING - I just wanted to go to Pittsburgh to see Phantom!!  And they obliged.

I was 16.  It changed me.  It was like a religious experience.

It was also my first time in Pittsburgh.  We did a day trip, and drove to Pittsburgh, saw the show, and drove back to Ohio.  When we arrived in Pittsburgh for the first time (heh… WOW… the roads!  The roads the roads the roads… confusing) and when we finally found parking, we walked to the Benedum center.  It was super cold and super windy.  I remember being surprised at how gorgeous the Benedum Center was - rich golds and scarlets and so many chandeliers.    

I sat in the right side of the Benedum center balcony, quite a few rows back.  I don’t know how I can express it, but I know you’ll all understand: the Overture.  Holy fucking moly.  I didn’t even know things like that could be done in a theatre.  The mirror scene, OH! How beautiful and magical it was!!  The pyrotechnics… the Masquerade scene… the ventriloquism… the Phantom spreading his back against the portcullis in MOTN in an oh-so-sexy way (I LIKED THAT).

I cried, and cried, and cried at the end.  It was so beautiful.  I was so sad to leave Pittsburgh and go back home and not know when I was ever going to see this show again.

I can’t remember if we saw Marie Danvers or Elizabeth Southard that day, it was a long time ago when I was not familiar with actors in the show.  Gary Mauer was the Phantom, and to this day, he’s still my favorite.  IMO He’s always been the most believable Phantom, completely losing himself onstage and becoming the character, and with the best voice I’ve ever heard (even compared to Michael Crawford).  

As I said I don’t remember if I saw Beth or Marie, but whichever it was, they were TOP NOTCH at the show I saw.  I was blown away by Christine’s cadenza at the end of “Think of Me”.  I didn’t know people could sing THAT GOOD, LIVE, without being in a studio or autotuned or a full-out opera singer.  My respect for stage actors grew tremendously.

I actually did get to see the show again in 2007 in Toledo, OH, which was not as good as 2006 (due to a few substitutions and alternates that I disliked), but I had 7th row seats.  I can’t ever remember sitting that close in a theatre before Phantom - we never had the money to buy those kind of seats.  But it was January (2007) and once again, all I wanted for my birthday was to go see Phantom!  We did another day trip to and from Toledo and saw the matinee.

Fast forward THREE AND A HALF LONG YEARS and go to June 2010, when I had front row center seats in Dayton, OH.  By now I’d seen the show quite a few times… on… *cough*DVDs*cough* and was a super-mega phan.  It was actually the show that I, for the first time ever, dressed up in costume (alone!) - which was nerve racking and incredible.  But that story is going to be saved for Day 7 (favorite Christine costume) and I’m sure I’ll blah blah blah for 10 pages about the costumes.  But I also have a cool story about that night in Dayton.

Until tomorrow…