For those who are running a little behind the curve, Sept 23 kicked off the 100th anniversary of the Gaston Leroux novel. Now if you missed it, don't be too upset because the book ran as a serial in a newspaper from the 23rd of Sept through the 10th of Jan. So you've still got a little time to use the anniversary as a really good excuse for obsessive behaviour!
At any rate, I went up to NYC for the day with one of my friends in costume for the occasion. It was just the two of us so pictures are a little sparse, and I haven't gotten quite so far as to upload yet because of work and packing for actual genuine vacation! But they will be posted soon, I promise!
I loaned her one of my "Christine" dresses and a red scarf to wear. I was absolutely thrilled when the wardrobe lady from Phantom came out after the show and made a fuss over how close the material of the dress was to Christine's robe from Angel of Music through Stranger Than You Dreampt It. Apparently the chief difference was that the fabric on my dress is slightly heavier. Still, very cool!
The box office was very blase about our costumes, but then again I suppose one gets used to whack jobs in New York. We sat in Box F, though on the ticket it's listed as Box 50. The boxes on the stage right hand side are pretty awesome to sit in as it's usually only you in there, the chairs are movable, and the only thing you really can't see is Box 5 on the stage. Well, we were the only people sitting in ANY of the boxes for that particular matinee, so we got quite a bit of attention and more than a few pictures taken of us before the show and at intermission.
Apparently we were the hot item to discuss backstage during the show. More than one of the chorus people said they saw us and that everyone was talking about us. One of the guys said that Carlotta told him during Hannibal to look up and see what's sitting in the box. Apparently someone also tried to convince the Marksman to shoot at me rather than Box 5 as well!
Unfortunately the only autograph we got was John Cudia, as everyone else stayed in the theater between shows apparently. He was very sweet and took pictures with us, although he gave me rather a blank look when I wished him a happy 100th anniversary.
After the show we went to Jekyll & Hyde's for a bite before heading home. That was an absolute blast as well as it's probably my absolute favourite restaurant ever. Our waitress was super awesome as were the actors walking around that evening.
We're already making plans to catch the other end of the anniversary and go up overnight on the 9th and 10th of January. The next time should bring a few more people as the ones who couldn't go this time were quite upset about not attending, so everyone's already putting in requests for the time off!