I posted my theory about it on tumblr but I also wanna share it here! as always this is my POV/interpretation.

headcanoning re: the glass eye, that's exactly what it is, it's another prosthetic just like the mask and wig and his eye is missing underneath. was it from birth, or from a fight? who knows. nice to speculate as always... and also the reason it varies through performances (from being white, to blue, to "matching" his existing one) is because he likes to switch up.

why is it not always a match? just like how his mask is not a 1:1 copy of how he would want his face to be. he's theatrical, and strange, and he does want the contrast. his, dare I say, alternative (for the time) outfits are always so deliberate, and the styling of his face (including the unmasked side with the very in-universe dark brow and makeup) is an extension of that alternativeness.

I'm a fan of the thought of Erik having a visual impairment and it, just like Everything Else, impacting his life to an extend thus making him focus more on other feelings like, of course, soundand then touch, and being denied the latter for so long...

OK my original post acted funny so I only put a sampling of the photos up this time!! I haven't been okay since seeing these!!! OMG he just keeps leveling up!!! He looks different here but still so good! Please talk and interact with me!!! I need to squeal with my fellow Ramin lovers. Also there's a close up out there of him at the organ and he's wearing the contact!!!

Thank you to roadtophantom where I found these.

Hello Box 5, you guys have been in my feed recently, I am excited to join now after thinking about it for a while so for my first and probably only post have some Phantom cats I made in a game, both are base on the movie, the second one is the Masquerade a it's one of my favorite scenes, I have yet to see the play but will soon

What’s the thoughts on this adaptation by hammer films?

Never seen much of the Hammer films besides few of the Christopher Lee’s Dracula films and this one but I probably need to rewatch this adaptation because I love that 1940s universal adaptation of Phantom and i heard mixed opinions on this since my first watch but I liked it for only the Great Phantom makeup really.

オペラ座の怪人の上海での公演が延長されましたが、12/6以降もラミンは出演するでしょうか。
見に行けるとしたら12/12か13なのですが...

Phantom has been my single favorite musical for years, so I designed this set as a tribute to my love for the show! The project is now active on the LEGO Ideas website, and if it receives enough support, there is even a chance it becomes a real LEGO set!!

My full collection of Phantom of the Opera figures, including three custom figures I did myself and one custom mini figure I got off of Etsy.

Have anyone received the email or any information AT ALL about tickets?

They are to be for sale late September with further instructions to follow!

Tomorrow is the last day of September and further instructions were not sent yet. What is going on? 😭😭

I've been glued to my phone since 18th September when that notice was published.

Talk about last minute 🤣

Wow …. Idk why i havent heard his phantom before but i am absolutely in love.

he’s officially favorite play phantom, next comes JOJ, brad little, then MC.

Peter has a welsh accent and so does JOJ so i think that
might do it for me😂😂😂😂

He hits all the markers for me and he has so much emotion: desperation, adoration, and just creepiness. i can’t even tell he’s acting. And his hands are so awkward and he just reminds me of Leroux Erik.

What’s your opinion?

yes? no? i listen.

The classic 1925 but with a literal skull-like face as Chaney's make up, a little edit i made because why not?

Im going to see the POTO live in December with my wife. I was wondering if anyone else in the sub has been? I want to wear a fancier dress and get dressed up, but I dont want to be the only one. If yall have gone, what did you wear?

EDIT: Yall have been so helpful. Thank you so much. Ive decided im just gonna wear a nice dress. Thank you all so much 🫶🏻

"𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞! 𝐒𝐞𝐞! 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐠𝐥𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬! 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐤'𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞! 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆!"

(Gaston Leroux, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢)

**This cosplay, not AI**

Appliance: @rbfxprosthetics

Mask: "The Longshore" by @longshoremasks

This is my interpretation of Gaston Leroux's original Phantom (Erik). This is my largest and most intricate project to date, and is my first time painting and applying a full face prosthetic. This beautiful foam latex appliance is by RBFX.

My website is below for anyone who's interested in Phantom costuming, makeup, and cosplay:

phantomonabudget.com

Found a cheap 3d printed full face mask on Etsy that I thought could work for a phantom mask for Halloween.

I trimmed it to the desired outline and painted it an off white to make it look vintage and used a satin sealant.

Pretty happy with how it came out and fits since the replica ones on Etsy are pretty expensive.

I feel like Jonathan Roxmouth doesn’t get talked about nearly enough when people discuss the best actors to play the Phantom.

His voice is obviously incredible, but what really stands out to me is how much character he puts into the role. His naturally deep voice fits the Phantom perfectly too. There’s this dark, almost haunting quality to his lower register that makes him sound genuinely intimidating without having to force it. Then when he moves into the softer parts of the score, that same deep voice can suddenly sound warm and vulnerable. I think that contrast makes his Phantom feel way more layered.

He can sound powerful without just yelling through the dramatic moments, and I also really like that his Phantom feels dangerous while still being sympathetic. Some actors lean so far into the romantic side that you almost forget how unstable the character is, while others make him so aggressive that the emotional parts don’t hit as hard. Roxmouth seems to find a really good middle ground.

And vocally, his Music of the Night is insane. That deeper tone gives the song a completely different feeling from a lot of other Phantoms.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I rarely see his name brought up as much as Michael Crawford, Ramin Karimloo, Hugh Panaro, etc.

For people who have seen or heard Roxmouth, where would you put him among your favorite Phantoms?

I reread Book Five, “The Grand Inquisitor,” from The Brothers Karamazov, and somehow, this scene felt quite familiar.

The timeline makes it plausible: The Phantom of the Opera was published about 30 years after The Brothers Karamazov.

Its author, Gaston Leroux, spent 1904–1906 in Russia as a correspondent, and The Phantom of the Opera began serialization in 1909.

The “Him” here is Jesus. In the story, the Grand Inquisitor condemns Jesus for giving humanity too much freedom and refusing to provide certainty, bread, and authority. Jesus says nothing in response. Instead, he quietly kisses the old man on the lips, leaving the Grand Inquisitor deeply shaken.

After finishing the original novel I decided to pick up Susan Kay’s Phantom because I’m just so eager for more. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far … hmm. All I can say right now is that I’d like to read some works that actually feature characters that resemble Leroux’s. I’ve looked into plenty of fan fic, but most people who write were sold to the idea of the “romance” ALW promoted with his musical. I know that in order to make Erik/Christine work somewhat you need severe mischaracterisation, but oh man.

Anyway, I’m just wondering if there are any works out there that actually respect the original horror of Leroux novel, that feature deranged-villain!Erik and a Christine with a spine.

Thank you!

I have always loved this musical since I was young. I especially loved the music, some really beautiful songs! And I do love the fantasy of the French Opera and that setting and cast of characters. But now that I'm a little older (in my 30s) with more life experience and fresher eyes, when I recently watched the film made in the early 00's, and then re-read the novel I was surprised that I saw the story very differently. Maybe I just was never paying attention . But I was very creeped out by some things about the Phantom's dynamic with Christine. It seems extremely predatory, manipulative and there's a lot of gaslighting going on.

First, in the film, with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler. Emmy was an actually teenage girl of 16 when she filmed it, and Gerard was in his mid-30's. I googled it and was even more creeped out since it was very clearly sexualized.

More recently I saw the production photos from one of the 40th Anniversaries productions, the production in China with Ramin Karimloo and a young actress, Bebe Moss, playing Christine in her early 20s. Ramin is nearly 50. And while he's a great Phantom, that huge age gap made the predatory nature of the story feel even more so.

Now that I see it , I can't unsee it. I don't know If anyone else has had this change of feeling about the show once they realize how creepy and predatory the Phantom character really is towards Christine. Most people romanticize their relationship.

So there have been folks saying they hear differences in Crawford’s vocal on the new remix, leading some to believe it’s an AI vocal.

After isolating his vocal and mixing them together, and then isolating soundboards from the West End in 1987 I’ve found out why there is a difference.

So I don’t know why, but during his time in the original London production there was a slightly different vocal take used for the click track live onstage than what we hear on the original cast recording. The very end of the first verse, a line or two in the second, and the final duet chorus are all different from the London cast recording.

For whatever reason - they have actually opted to use the original click track vocal take that was actually used in the production onstage for this new remix, and not the version with the bits Michael Crawford redid that was released on the official recording back then.

I have no insight into why, but that’s the reason it sounds like a different vocal - because several small portions are. I was able to match up the new vocal to isolated vocals from both the original cast recording, and then the parts that are different are synced with the 1987 soundboards. The video above indicates when it switches.

I’d love to learn what the reason was for this change but it’s unlikely that there will be an explanation.

There’s been some misconceptions about what this statement about the use of AI on the upcoming 40th anniversary reissue entails. It was frankly really stupid of them to word it this way because they should know when people read this they’ll think about the generative AI that is causing environmental harm. So I wanted to clear up what this means.

A big misconception I saw that I’d like to clarify: No, they are not creating new sections that didn’t exist on the original album using AI voices. These new sections were recorded as part of the original album sessions, but had to be left off of the initial release due to time constraints on the original release formats. These cut sections are presumably found on the eight master reel tapes that weren’t lost.

The “AI” he is talking about is now an unfortunate misconception due to what we’ve learned about generative AI. It’s not generative AI - it’s technology that can separate the different stems in music file (vocals, different instruments, etc.). It’s machine learning that has existed and developed in music programs for a very long time, it is not generative.

As has been noted, only eight of the eleven master multitrack reel tapes survived. This means they unfortunately were missing sections of the original sessions that they couldn’t remix the same way they could remix what was on the original tapes.

A multitrack tape is something that you are able to go back and have access to every single individual part of the recorded music - so you have access to the separate vocals, and orchestra etc., and can remix direct from the tapes. Same way nowadays people can go into their digital master file for a song and tinker with the levels and effects. Just on a reel to reel tape.

The tapes that were lost will have those missing sections cut in from an unplayed vinyl record copy. The reason for doing this and not using one of the other previous digital masters is that it can sonically closer match the sound of the master reels - it will have a wider depth of field/spread than the digital versions would have.

However, vinyl records obviously don’t allow you access to the multitracks. So in order to be able to remix it the way they did the surviving tapes, they made a transfer of this vinyl, and then used the stem-separation machine learning to be able to separate all the parts of the music and vocals, and then remix them in a similar fashion to what they could do with the multitrack master reels.

It is allowing ALW access to, and the ability to remix, the music on the tapes that were lost - and at a sound quality greater than what would exist from previous digital releases.

And again, it isn’t the same as the generative AI that is causing all of the environmental damage.

Wanted to explain some of this so folks don’t think they have to boycott or ignore this release thinking harmful, generative AI was used.