We’ve come to the Final Lair – the last day of 2020, and what a strange year it’s been!  I hope you’ve stayed safe and well, and enjoyed some escapes into the world of the Phantom of the Opera.  After all, he was socially distancing 140 years before it became the trend!

This is our chance to give updates on what our Phantom experiences were in 2020.  Did you reach your target goals?  Did you find anything new and exciting to explore?

I completed the Lon Chaney Level of the challenge by reading one book (rereading Gaston Leroux’s Phantom), watching one filmed play (Webber’s Love Never Dies) and watching one movie (the 1943 Phantom).

I re-watched the 1943 Phantom, starring Claude Rains in the title role, in the last couple of months.  It had been several years since I last saw it.  I remembered that Rains was very good in the role, and that this was the source of the cultural impression that the Phantom got his deformity by being hit by acid (not the case in Leroux or Webber).  I did not remember how much focus was on Christine’s career throughout the movie.  It was actually quite nicely done, and surprising for the 1940s!  The Phantom is not a romantic rival here, but Christine is still torn between Raoul, another singer whose name I never remember and, unusually and crucially, the demands of her career.  It’s a refreshing different focus, and I enjoyed how it turned out in the end.

My main Phantom focus of the year was putting my own Guardian of the Opera series out.  The third book in the trilogy came out in early December, if you haven’t checked it out yet!

That covers my 2020 Phantom adventures – now I want to hear about yours! If you’d like a refresher on the challenge, check out the launch post here.  And please share in a comment below.  I look forward to seeing what you’ve been exploring this year, and I wish you a very good 2021 ahead.