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igenlodeWell, it's an interesting experience to watch two different productions of the same musical on successive evenings, though I wasn't entirely emotionally engaged in either of them. At least this one doesn't seem to have introduced a whole lot of questionably consistent extra backstory.
Although... Carlotta has been leading lady for nineteen seasons? That's definitely a change -- just how young did she start and how few alternative candidates are around? I assume the idea is to make her old enough to be Christine's mother, but it doesn't sound very realistic to me to suggest that the Opera Populaire has only had one leading lady in twenty years.
And there's what I think is an extra line where she says that "these things do 'appen" for the last three years, which is presumably supposed to be the period of time for which Christine has been at the Opera, or at least the Phantom has been actively interested in her. (Though I'm not sure that makes sense; if his aim was to get Christine better roles by making a pest of himself, he hasn't been very effective at it if she is still in the chorus line after three years ;-p)
Also, this Carlotta is apparently a man-eater; she is all over the slave-driver during the rehearsal (and who can blame her? Those are some impressive leaps and fouettés -- I just looked him up, and apparently the actor is a bona fide Royal Ballet star) and then all over the managers once they come within her orbit. (Not much interest in Piangi, though.)
Is Piangi supposed to be struggling to hit his top notes during the rehearsal, in addition to having trouble with the French pronounciation of "Rome"?
The word "Vicomte" has an audible "T" [passim] :-p
Also, "Meyerbeer" is a composer, not Mynheer Beer (or whatever title the auctioneer thought he was using...)
Meg gets a new verse in "Angel of Music" (in place of "Christine, you must have been dreaming" - not sure if the objection was to Meg disbelieving her friend, or the suggestion that this is "not like you" when the plot requires her to be credulous) where she talks about hearing Christine's voice "but the words aren't yours", which is a weird way to put it. Of course the words aren't hers -- she is singing existing music, not having a spontaneous bout of composition ;-p
Christine doesn't seem to faint from terror in the Phantom's lair in this production; she just falls asleep in mid-song for no obvious reason. Collapsing from exhaustion and general adrenalin crash, presumably (she has after all performed her first-ever leading lady role before any of this extra excitement started).
Why does Raoul not after all have his hat when he returns to Christine's dressing-room after going to fetch it? He does have one the next morning in the managers' office ;-D
(And why does Christine dutifully learn her part and attend the "Don Juan" rehearsal after telling everyone at great cost that she won't sing the role?)
[Edit: he does have his hat and outdoor coat when he returns. It's just black on a black stage, and the close-up is cropped so that you can't see that he is carrying it.]
According to the new lyrics, Carlotta has actually tendered her resignation before "Prima Donna" takes place (and Christine is deemed to have done "a moonlight flit" -- but she no longer "burns the midnight oil" -- too literary a reference for modern audiences?)
I didn't like Hadley Fraser's voice :-(
He sounded very harsh and gritty as Raoul -- especially immediately after listening to Patrick Wilson's performance, which was so outstanding on the quiet notes. None of the others made me conscious of their voice quality in particular, as opposed to their characters, but Hadley's Raoul really sounded out of place during "All I Ask of You" -- complete voice/face mismatch. (His voice is downright ugly at the start of the rooftop scene, presumably intentionally as characterisation; he comes across as actively annoyed with Christine at this point.)
I did notice that Christine took some breaths in odd places -- I think we got a "Don't put me through this. Ordeal by fire!" rather than "Don't put me through this ordeal by fire". I don't know if it was by deliberate direction, or simply running out of breath during live performance, but it came across as a mistake :-(
And I can see why people complain about the ending; I definitely got the impression that this Christine wanted to return to stay with the Phantom (though I couldn't see why, unless she just feels really, really sorry for him!) and would have gone back down the stairs to him after giving him the ring if he hadn't shaken his head to forbid it.
The Phantom's prosthetics coming detached are very obvious, as are the singers' intrusive microphone headsets -- one of the disadvantages of filming close-ups of a production designed to be seen from a distance :-(
I liked the detail that you can see the "Act I, Scene 2" and the music written on the "Don Juan" parts in the managers' office -- and that the folders and paper are the same that we see the Phantom working on just before the unmasking. You can also see the actual "Le Figaro" headline "MYSTERY AFTER GALA NIGHT" when Firmin is reading the newspaper coverage!
And now -- since my grasp of stage canon does seem to be reasonably coherent -- I have absolutely no remaining excuses for not attempting to write this story. I've got slightly under three weeks left, and only half the regular writing time I used to have...
I still think it's an idea with potential, but I'm not feeling that fabled thing called 'motivation' that people moan about losing; partly, I think, because this is going to be yet another retelling of the whole canon plot, and I've already done at least three of those (Christmas as it ought not to be, Blue Remembered Hills, and If I Were Vicomte), partly because I just feel so emotionally and physically drained all the time (and constantly riddled by self-hatred and fear), and maybe because I've simply been at this too long. I thought I'd got a clever new twist, but apparently I'm not as enthused about it as all that.
(And I know that someone else is working on the same idea, because she mentioned it to me a few months ago -- so if the simultaneous existence of a deadline and of competition doesn't put a kick up my backside, then what can? I know-- I know that you don't get anywhere if you don't try. But when I've got an idea I don't usually have difficulty even starting, only in keeping going.)
Maybe this one is too long; I can't face another long one with Arctic Raoul still hanging over me (and my failure to do any work on that is not improving my mental happiness or stability.) But I'm not planning to make it a long story, only to pick out 'highlights' in my usual fashion, as I did with "If I were Vicomte", which barely mentions all the parts unchanged from canon at all.
Maybe I'm burnt out. Maybe I'm simply lazy. This is meant to be a hobby for my own entertainment, not an obligation. Nobody will care if I don't write it -- except me. I had a whole load of ideas a few days ago; where have they gone? (Well, actually I think watching the movie knocked the stuffing out of most of the recent ones, which is probably one reason why I'm feeling down...)
Although... Carlotta has been leading lady for nineteen seasons? That's definitely a change -- just how young did she start and how few alternative candidates are around? I assume the idea is to make her old enough to be Christine's mother, but it doesn't sound very realistic to me to suggest that the Opera Populaire has only had one leading lady in twenty years.
And there's what I think is an extra line where she says that "these things do 'appen" for the last three years, which is presumably supposed to be the period of time for which Christine has been at the Opera, or at least the Phantom has been actively interested in her. (Though I'm not sure that makes sense; if his aim was to get Christine better roles by making a pest of himself, he hasn't been very effective at it if she is still in the chorus line after three years ;-p)
Also, this Carlotta is apparently a man-eater; she is all over the slave-driver during the rehearsal (and who can blame her? Those are some impressive leaps and fouettés -- I just looked him up, and apparently the actor is a bona fide Royal Ballet star) and then all over the managers once they come within her orbit. (Not much interest in Piangi, though.)
Is Piangi supposed to be struggling to hit his top notes during the rehearsal, in addition to having trouble with the French pronounciation of "Rome"?
The word "Vicomte" has an audible "T" [passim] :-p
Also, "Meyerbeer" is a composer, not Mynheer Beer (or whatever title the auctioneer thought he was using...)
Meg gets a new verse in "Angel of Music" (in place of "Christine, you must have been dreaming" - not sure if the objection was to Meg disbelieving her friend, or the suggestion that this is "not like you" when the plot requires her to be credulous) where she talks about hearing Christine's voice "but the words aren't yours", which is a weird way to put it. Of course the words aren't hers -- she is singing existing music, not having a spontaneous bout of composition ;-p
Christine doesn't seem to faint from terror in the Phantom's lair in this production; she just falls asleep in mid-song for no obvious reason. Collapsing from exhaustion and general adrenalin crash, presumably (she has after all performed her first-ever leading lady role before any of this extra excitement started).
Why does Raoul not after all have his hat when he returns to Christine's dressing-room after going to fetch it? He does have one the next morning in the managers' office ;-D
(And why does Christine dutifully learn her part and attend the "Don Juan" rehearsal after telling everyone at great cost that she won't sing the role?)
[Edit: he does have his hat and outdoor coat when he returns. It's just black on a black stage, and the close-up is cropped so that you can't see that he is carrying it.]
According to the new lyrics, Carlotta has actually tendered her resignation before "Prima Donna" takes place (and Christine is deemed to have done "a moonlight flit" -- but she no longer "burns the midnight oil" -- too literary a reference for modern audiences?)
I didn't like Hadley Fraser's voice :-(
He sounded very harsh and gritty as Raoul -- especially immediately after listening to Patrick Wilson's performance, which was so outstanding on the quiet notes. None of the others made me conscious of their voice quality in particular, as opposed to their characters, but Hadley's Raoul really sounded out of place during "All I Ask of You" -- complete voice/face mismatch. (His voice is downright ugly at the start of the rooftop scene, presumably intentionally as characterisation; he comes across as actively annoyed with Christine at this point.)
I did notice that Christine took some breaths in odd places -- I think we got a "Don't put me through this. Ordeal by fire!" rather than "Don't put me through this ordeal by fire". I don't know if it was by deliberate direction, or simply running out of breath during live performance, but it came across as a mistake :-(
And I can see why people complain about the ending; I definitely got the impression that this Christine wanted to return to stay with the Phantom (though I couldn't see why, unless she just feels really, really sorry for him!) and would have gone back down the stairs to him after giving him the ring if he hadn't shaken his head to forbid it.
The Phantom's prosthetics coming detached are very obvious, as are the singers' intrusive microphone headsets -- one of the disadvantages of filming close-ups of a production designed to be seen from a distance :-(
I liked the detail that you can see the "Act I, Scene 2" and the music written on the "Don Juan" parts in the managers' office -- and that the folders and paper are the same that we see the Phantom working on just before the unmasking. You can also see the actual "Le Figaro" headline "MYSTERY AFTER GALA NIGHT" when Firmin is reading the newspaper coverage!
And now -- since my grasp of stage canon does seem to be reasonably coherent -- I have absolutely no remaining excuses for not attempting to write this story. I've got slightly under three weeks left, and only half the regular writing time I used to have...
I still think it's an idea with potential, but I'm not feeling that fabled thing called 'motivation' that people moan about losing; partly, I think, because this is going to be yet another retelling of the whole canon plot, and I've already done at least three of those (Christmas as it ought not to be, Blue Remembered Hills, and If I Were Vicomte), partly because I just feel so emotionally and physically drained all the time (and constantly riddled by self-hatred and fear), and maybe because I've simply been at this too long. I thought I'd got a clever new twist, but apparently I'm not as enthused about it as all that.
(And I know that someone else is working on the same idea, because she mentioned it to me a few months ago -- so if the simultaneous existence of a deadline and of competition doesn't put a kick up my backside, then what can? I know-- I know that you don't get anywhere if you don't try. But when I've got an idea I don't usually have difficulty even starting, only in keeping going.)
Maybe this one is too long; I can't face another long one with Arctic Raoul still hanging over me (and my failure to do any work on that is not improving my mental happiness or stability.) But I'm not planning to make it a long story, only to pick out 'highlights' in my usual fashion, as I did with "If I were Vicomte", which barely mentions all the parts unchanged from canon at all.
Maybe I'm burnt out. Maybe I'm simply lazy. This is meant to be a hobby for my own entertainment, not an obligation. Nobody will care if I don't write it -- except me. I had a whole load of ideas a few days ago; where have they gone? (Well, actually I think watching the movie knocked the stuffing out of most of the recent ones, which is probably one reason why I'm feeling down...)
no subject
Date: 2020-10-10 12:57 pm (UTC)It's not worth putting your time and effort into something you don't care about, especially if you're not in a good place physically or mentally. Just because you don't want to write this particular story right now doesn't mean you never will.
I don't think you're lazy. You are the opposite of lazy. I think you're burnt out. Maybe take a break from writing, or try writing for another fandom if you don't want to do that. If athletes need to rest after matches and games, so should writers after finishing stories.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-10 11:49 pm (UTC)But I haven't been in a good place for twenty-six years -- I still wake up and hate myself every morning, and after pretty much every interaction with other people -- so that isn't really a good guide to whether I can write or not :-(
I mean, it's basically been the situation for every piece of fan-fic I have ever written; a little more obvious in some situations than in others, perhaps (I do notice a high proportion of angst/horror stories), but it's sort of baseline-normal.
I don't think it is a question of not wanting to write the story; I think it probably really is as simple as a question of getting down to it.
Six hours or so ago, I picked up my new (secondhand) pen, opened my current notebook, and spent an hour or so writing five hundred words of Hertha, her husband and the managers (whom I hadn't originally visualised as being present, but of course they ought to have been) positioned in the opera box just before the curtain went up on the opening night of "Hannibal".
It really wasn't that difficult -- not nearly as many crossings-out as the first page of "The Writing on the Wall", which really was a nightmare to start. I do need to try to keep in mind that it needs to be readable canon-blind (so, for example, it needs to be clear that "Raoul" and "the Vicomte de Chagny" are the same person), which is an additional constraint, but after the first paragraph or so I found the ideas starting to chain ahead as expected. (The disapproving lorgnette which was originally visualised as appearing in the opening sentence eventually made it onto the page as the opening of the third paragraph, once the intervening imagery had fully developed.)
And the thing is I knew this would happen. It [almost] always does happen. It is entirely intellectually predictable.
All I have to do is simply sit down to it. If I do, writing happens. If I don't, then obviously nothing ever gets written at all. The difficulty is not in the word-smithing. It's in the sitting down...
Now all I have to do is keep writing, and at the end of the process a story will result. I can't control whether it's any good or not (though they generally are), but whether they have any chance to happen or not is entirely within my control.
(And I already know the necessary ingredients. Write with a pen. Walk up and down. Never switch on the computer until after you have done your writing for the day. Write every day, however little you end up achieving. It works.)