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Feb. 15th, 2021 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI learned about Synetic Theater's lesbian Phantom of the Opera ballet via ambyr's Yuletide write-up; at that time it was not internet-available, but an archive video has since been made available through the dance company. ambyr is hosting a discord watch of the currently-available recorded version at a time that I cannot do, so instead I made several people watch it with me last week and it was a FANTASTIC choice.
Here's the trailer:
In this no-speaking no-singing all-dancing version, the Phantom is a ballerina who's haunting the Opera House catacombs after acquiring the signature Phantom scarring and a boatload of PTSD in a stage fire. (The Phantom and the ghost of the Phantom's ambitious younger self are played by different dancers, which allows for a lot of very cool staging and doubling around the Phantom's lost dreams and the way she's projecting herself into Christine.) Aside from obsessing over Christine, the Phantom's hobbies include staring into mirrors with anguish and despair, murder, building automotons (?), and playing a large stringed instrument with an exceptionally long neck that we dubbed the celloelloello.
Christine is a young dancer who's very clearly delighted to have a mysterious hot older woman giving her some strict ballet discipline under the opera house -- shout-out to the extremely funny (to me) sequence where the Phantom is like "here, I've turned my creepy ghost/automotons into furniture for our date in my lair, would you like some tea," and Christine is very visibly weirded out but also very visibly attempting to project "PLEASE DON'T THINK I AM A SQUARE, I AM DEFINITELY COOL AND DOWN WITH YOUR CREEPY LAIR, PLEASE LIKE ME" --
Anyway, this relationship may not be strictly healthy but everyone (except Christine's cute but useless boyfriend Raoul, dumped for a ballet lesbian) is having a good time until the Phantom kills Mean Ballet Rival Carlotta to give Christine a chance at center stage.
From there, everything proceeds rapidly through a condensed version of the familiar Phantom of the Opera story that includes the Phantom/Christine demasking and breakup, the Phantom's entree into the Masquerade (the Phantom's extremely dramatic Masque of the Red Death outfit is maybe my favorite costume of the show), the Christine kidnapping, and Raoul's progression through the opera house for a rescue attempt. All this plot really happens in maybe the last half hour of the ballet, though -- the first full hour is intensely focused on the Phantom/Christine dynamic, which means that this is the first version of the story I've ever experienced where I was like "oh, Christine is ... really digging this? Christine is having fun!" instead of "Christine is experiencing some very intense gaslighting." (Christine obviously also still justified in dumping her girlfriend for nonconsensually attempting to advance her career through murder, but.)
Aside from the obvious appeal of lesbian Phantom of the Opera, it's also just a really fun show to watch as a ballet -- all the dancers are doing an incredible job projecting character and emotion (Mean Ballet Rival Carlotta is SO much fun to watch, her dance-fights with Christine are a JOY). Extremely worth the $4 I spent to access the recording! Would spend $4 again!
ETA:genarti reminds me I should definitely however warn for strobes & dramatic lighting effects!!
ambyr's Yuletide write-up; at that time it was not internet-available, but an archive video has since been made available through the dance company. ambyr is hosting a discord watch of the currently-available recorded version at a time that I cannot do, so instead I made several people watch it with me last week and it was a FANTASTIC choice.Here's the trailer:
In this no-speaking no-singing all-dancing version, the Phantom is a ballerina who's haunting the Opera House catacombs after acquiring the signature Phantom scarring and a boatload of PTSD in a stage fire. (The Phantom and the ghost of the Phantom's ambitious younger self are played by different dancers, which allows for a lot of very cool staging and doubling around the Phantom's lost dreams and the way she's projecting herself into Christine.) Aside from obsessing over Christine, the Phantom's hobbies include staring into mirrors with anguish and despair, murder, building automotons (?), and playing a large stringed instrument with an exceptionally long neck that we dubbed the celloelloello.
Christine is a young dancer who's very clearly delighted to have a mysterious hot older woman giving her some strict ballet discipline under the opera house -- shout-out to the extremely funny (to me) sequence where the Phantom is like "here, I've turned my creepy ghost/automotons into furniture for our date in my lair, would you like some tea," and Christine is very visibly weirded out but also very visibly attempting to project "PLEASE DON'T THINK I AM A SQUARE, I AM DEFINITELY COOL AND DOWN WITH YOUR CREEPY LAIR, PLEASE LIKE ME" --
Anyway, this relationship may not be strictly healthy but everyone (except Christine's cute but useless boyfriend Raoul, dumped for a ballet lesbian) is having a good time until the Phantom kills Mean Ballet Rival Carlotta to give Christine a chance at center stage.
From there, everything proceeds rapidly through a condensed version of the familiar Phantom of the Opera story that includes the Phantom/Christine demasking and breakup, the Phantom's entree into the Masquerade (the Phantom's extremely dramatic Masque of the Red Death outfit is maybe my favorite costume of the show), the Christine kidnapping, and Raoul's progression through the opera house for a rescue attempt. All this plot really happens in maybe the last half hour of the ballet, though -- the first full hour is intensely focused on the Phantom/Christine dynamic, which means that this is the first version of the story I've ever experienced where I was like "oh, Christine is ... really digging this? Christine is having fun!" instead of "Christine is experiencing some very intense gaslighting." (Christine obviously also still justified in dumping her girlfriend for nonconsensually attempting to advance her career through murder, but.)
Aside from the obvious appeal of lesbian Phantom of the Opera, it's also just a really fun show to watch as a ballet -- all the dancers are doing an incredible job projecting character and emotion (Mean Ballet Rival Carlotta is SO much fun to watch, her dance-fights with Christine are a JOY). Extremely worth the $4 I spent to access the recording! Would spend $4 again!
ETA:
genarti reminds me I should definitely however warn for strobes & dramatic lighting effects!!
no subject
Date: 2021-02-15 11:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-15 11:35 pm (UTC)(I do want to warn that there are some VERY strobe-y sections, in case that's a concern for anyone -- if flashing lights and strobe-y motion pose problems, there are some long sequences that may well be an issue. Getting to the Phantom's lair involves a lot of dramatic lighting effects.)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-15 11:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-15 11:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-16 12:06 am (UTC)Very excited to see what the partnering might look like!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-16 12:59 am (UTC)The costuming is almost always amazing, but the Red Death outfit was one of the more memorable ones!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-16 01:11 am (UTC)That sounds delightful.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2021-02-16 11:58 am (UTC)