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.

Fall is in the air, shadows are getting longer (better for lurking Opera Ghosts), and it’s time to check in about our Phantom of the Opera experiences so far this year!

I started the year off with rereading Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera.  I more recently watched Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to his Phantom play.  It stirred up a lot of feelings, so I posted a video review if you’d like to check it out (spoiler: I’m not a fan).

I’m still aiming for the Lon Chaney Level of the challenge, by reading one book, watching one filmed play and, still to be done, watching one movie.  Haven’t decided which movie yet!

My main Phantom focus lately has been on putting my own Guardian of the Opera series out – Books 1 and 2 are already available, and Book 3 just went up for pre-order last week.  Any of them, of course, qualify for this challenge. 🙂

That covers my recent 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!

It’s (somehow) July 1st, meaning we are halfway through 2020 already!  It has been a strange and unusual several months, and I hope you all are staying safe and well.  If you’ve been escaping from the weirdness of the present moment by visiting below the Opera Garnier, this post is for you!  At the halfway point of the year, it’s time to share about our Phantom of the Opera reading and viewing so far.

I started the year off with rereading Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera.  In the last few months, my Phantom focus has shifted to getting my own retelling out.  I published Nocturne (Guardian of the Opera Book 1) on June 5th, which was of course very exciting!  I’ve also recently reread Book 2 (which will be out in September!) and am currently midway through Book 3.

I’ve posted quite a few videos on Phantom topics, including a review of the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie, starring Gerard Butler.  Check out my Phantom videos here.

Lately I also bought a Phantom-themed coloring book, and have been having a lot of fun with that.  Here’s a few photos, just because.

         

That covers my recent 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!

It’s April 1st, a quarter of the way through 2020 already, and that means it’s time for an update on Phantom reading and viewing adventures.  I hope you and yours are staying well in the midst of the pandemic situation, and maybe having time for some extra reading.  And remember – social isolation may be hard, but donning a mask and crashing chandeliers is never the answer!

I kicked off my Phantom exploration for the year with a reread of the original story, Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera.  This was my…third? fourth? time reading the book, and I enjoyed it immensely–and had lots of thoughts about the unreliability of the narration.

Read my written review of Leroux’s Phantom.

Watch my video review of Leroux’s Phantom.

If you’d like a refresher on the challenge, check out the launch post here.  And please share about your Phantom adventures so far in 2020 in a comment below.  I look forward to seeing what you’ve been exploring this year.

Shameless self-promotion: As a further update on my own retelling of the Phantom, The Guardian of the Opera: Nocturne will be out June 5th, and the cover reveal is this Friday, April 3rd.  Drop by Friday and see the awesome cover I can’t wait to share!

Are you intrigued by a masked man in the shadows?  Love being swept away by stirring musical tragedies?  Want to visit 1880s Paris?  Then this challenge is for you!

Join us to venture below the Opera Garnier and across the underground lake for a Phantom of the Opera Reading and Viewing Challenge.  Since Gaston Leroux’s first publication of The Phantom of the Opera in 1909, the story has been told, retold and continued dozens of times, on the screen, on the stage, and on the page.  Get a little more Phantom into your life in 2020 by participating in this challenge to go exploring through the many versions of the Phantom.  Maybe you’ll meet a new phan friend, or find a new version of the story to love.

I want this above all to be fun, so the rules (which are really more guidelines) are simple and, I hope, welcoming to all.

What Qualifies: Any book, movie or play based on Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, or an obvious sequel or prequel to the story.  If there’s a masked man with a deformity in love with a singer, while hiding in an opera house, it probably qualifies.  I’ve provided a (non-comprehensive) list of ideas at the end of this post.  Rereads/rewatches are just as valid as new ones, although if you’re someone who watches the Claude Rains Phantom every Saturday, it still only counts as one.  The exception to that rule is if you see a play version more than once in the year, with different lead actors.

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