On this day in history...
...November 26th, that is. Back then, it was a Wednesday. Anyway. Nine years ago today, I saw The Phantom of the Opera for the very first time. Big life-changing event for me. I've been a giant huge fan ever since, I've run (and ran) websites I wouldn't have made otherwise, written stories I wouldn't have created otherwise, met some extremely awesome people, and made some of the best memories of my life.
The place: the Majestic Theatre on Broadway.
The occasion: My high school marching band was in town for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I was: Fourteen years old.
I want to make special mention of two people who were in the cast that day:
Thomas James O'Leary played the Phantom. He's still my favorite, and I miss him; he left the show on January 31st, 1999 and then seemed to waste no time in more or less disappearing into the ether. I don't think he's done any singing since then, which is a damn crying shame because his voice is beautiful. From what I've been able to pick up off the internet, he's done a lot of Off-Broadway plays in the past several years, and I think he's moved base to Los Angeles here recently to work in television and film. I did have the very good fortune to catch his appearance on Law and Order back in 2000 (I think it was), which made me really freaking happy because he got to share the screen with both Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston. Tom, wherever you are and whatever you do, you will always have a fan in me. :)
Ted Keegan played Monsieur Reyer. He is the person responsible for making me such a devoted Reyer fan. :D I had the great pleasure of seeing him as the Phantom on tour twice, and speaking with him afterwards both times. I cannot say enough good things about him as a person. He was absolutely brilliant at putting an extremely nervous me at ease, and he seemed to have been pretty chuffed about my fansite. Plus he sent me That E-Mail once (eclecticmuse, you know what I'm talking about). He's currently with the Las Vegas production of Phantom, once again as Reyer, and I don't care that his part has been pared down to nothing--I STILL WANT TO SEE HIM. Ted, you will always have a fan in me, too. :D
All this is probably the only thing in life that I will ever thank my high school band director for.
The place: the Majestic Theatre on Broadway.
The occasion: My high school marching band was in town for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I was: Fourteen years old.
I want to make special mention of two people who were in the cast that day:
Thomas James O'Leary played the Phantom. He's still my favorite, and I miss him; he left the show on January 31st, 1999 and then seemed to waste no time in more or less disappearing into the ether. I don't think he's done any singing since then, which is a damn crying shame because his voice is beautiful. From what I've been able to pick up off the internet, he's done a lot of Off-Broadway plays in the past several years, and I think he's moved base to Los Angeles here recently to work in television and film. I did have the very good fortune to catch his appearance on Law and Order back in 2000 (I think it was), which made me really freaking happy because he got to share the screen with both Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston. Tom, wherever you are and whatever you do, you will always have a fan in me. :)
Ted Keegan played Monsieur Reyer. He is the person responsible for making me such a devoted Reyer fan. :D I had the great pleasure of seeing him as the Phantom on tour twice, and speaking with him afterwards both times. I cannot say enough good things about him as a person. He was absolutely brilliant at putting an extremely nervous me at ease, and he seemed to have been pretty chuffed about my fansite. Plus he sent me That E-Mail once (eclecticmuse, you know what I'm talking about). He's currently with the Las Vegas production of Phantom, once again as Reyer, and I don't care that his part has been pared down to nothing--I STILL WANT TO SEE HIM. Ted, you will always have a fan in me, too. :D
All this is probably the only thing in life that I will ever thank my high school band director for.