“Damaged Gneisenau in Drydock,” Kingston Whig-Standard. March 2, 1942. Page 2.
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Undergoing repairs in a drydock in Kiel, Germany, the elusive 26,500-ton battleship Gneisenau is shown in an aerial photograph, presumably made from a Royal Air Force plane. The Gneisenau and her sister ship, the Schamhorst, recently escaped through the Strait of Dover from Brest, France, to Germany.
(Photo passed by British Censor)
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Okay, Just Putting This Out There…
Zach’s plane is massive.
I honestly didn’t realize the true size of his plane until I saw that little green blob on the front of it…And that little green blob, for those who don’t know is Chris in his peregrine falcon creature power suit.
And this episode also gave more power to the “Zach is vision impaired” Headcanon I can’t get out of my head.
Because Zach thought this (obviously Chris)…
Was a bird…
So…I’m starting a petition (jokingly of course) to get this man glasses/contacts/vision correcting surgery, because no one who thinks power suit activated Chris is a bird should be allowed to pilot a plane of this magnitude.
Who’s with me 😂?!?!
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Quick Thoughts - The Phantom of the Opera - London - May 29, 2023
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see Phantom in London! The last time I saw Phantom was the last public performance, which was an extremely emotional performance (I wrote my thoughts up here).
The main trio was Jon Robyns, Holly-Anne Hull and Matt Blaker. I’m putting the rest of the post under a read more cut, because it got very long.
I was really thrown off by the tempo of the music. It would be slightly faster than I was used to (which, for the record, I don’t have a problem with!!) but then, for certain lines, the tempo would slow almost to a crawl?? I don’t understand the rational behind it.
Holly-Anne Hull is a lovely Christine. She does have the head in the clouds aspect to her character, which makes you understand why she’d wholeheartedly believe that her father really did send the Angel of Music to her. She has a delicate, ‘floaty’ quality to her soprano. She does live up to the hype.
I saw Matt Blaker as Raoul the previous time I saw the London production. I’m so glad he remains such an awesome Raoul. He had such wonderful details. I especially loved in the dressing room scene, how he says the line “you must change, and I must get my hat - two minutes … Little Lotte.” He starts almost on his way out the door, and he turns, his hand holding on to the door frame and leaning towards Christine (like he’s Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain) to gently call Christine ‘Little Lotte.’ It was so goofy and sincere!
I walked in without knowing much about Jon Robyn’s take on the Phantom. I walked out thinking that he is a perfectly serviceable Phantom. He’s got choices I think are interesting, choices that confuse me, and choices I don’t enjoy. I think if I saw his Phantom frequently, I would probably end up appreciating his characterization more.
Vocally, I would say that Jon Robyns is one of the weaker Phantoms I have seen. There can be a strained and nasally quality that I find distracting. For reasons that I do not understand, his prerecorded singing sounded worse than his live singing. Additionally, I want to note, that his singing got better as the show went on and he did hit all of the money notes with no apparent issue.
But for me, vocals do not make or break a Phantom! Let’s discuss acting choices!
The first lair started off rocky. I prefer my Phantoms to move gracefully and fluidly and Jon Robyns did not deliver on that front. I was disappointed by the lack of details. The cape flip lacked pizazz, it just flopped down on the boat. The movements felt mechanic in the first half.
I did like that during the line ‘touch me, trust me’ Holly oh so slowly brought her hand to the masked side of the Phantom’s face. Jon then covers Holly’s hand with his own and in that moment, you can see how happy he is. When Holly turns her face towards his, Jon quickly turned his face away and pulled her towards the mirror bride.
London doesn’t do the catch anymore? When did this change??? I swear last year, they did the catch?
Just when I was thinking to myself “I don’t recall a Phantom choosing to sing the lines “Damn you! Curse you” in Stranger Than You Dreamt It” he started chuckling????? Like he was the goddamn Joker????? You could have knocked me over with a feather.
After the mask return, Jon’s Phantom made a sudden movement and it made Holly’s Christine flinch. It made me sad, as this moment is usually played almost weirdly-tender.
I just love Matt’s Raoul and Holly’s Christine together. Their All I Ask of You was perfection (weird tempo aside). I really love it when Raouls kiss the hand of Christine when they go down the stairs before the reprise starts, and Matt did it here.
Ok, so the reprise. It’s a lot angrier than I’m used to. During the bit when Raoul and Christine are singing, Jon made the acting choice to indicate the Phantom’s distress and sadness by using his left hand to hit himself three times on the side of the head in rapid succession (please note this decision; it is a surprise tool we will use for later).
Holly delivered an amazing performance of Wishing. That last note in ‘Help me say goodbye’ was so strong and powerful.
I had no idea what to expect from the Final Lair. I knew Jon Robyns was playing the Phantom with a violent, unpredictable streak, but his Phantom also likes to cry. We got some angry crying in this Final Lair.
Does it make me a bad person that I have to stifle laughter every time the Phantom’s face falls when Christine sings ‘tears of hate’? All of them always go from glee to such despair in 5 seconds.
During the like “why make her lie to you…” Jon made the acting choice to indicate the Phantom’s distress and sadness by using his left hand to hit himself three times on the side of the head in rapid succession (you see!!!! Paralells!!!!)
Matt Blaker coming in with the details. When he is let go from the nose, he did a nose dive to the ground. He was not moving for a good 10 seconds. He only got up because Holly helped him up. AND THEN he goes in to step in between Holly and Jon because he knew he had to protect her!!!! Guys!!!!! We do not deserve Matt Blaker’s Raoul!!!!
Jon did not do a repeated I love you which really surprised me (in a good way!) He instead made the choice to sob into the veil (which is a real mood btw)
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