☺︎ Keep on Smiling! ☺︎

first off, let's say hello to the characters:

christine is shy and steadfast with a heart full of kindness, erik is an awkward yet witty stringbean with a love for music and raoul is a caring, optimistic lad with an affinity for the sea!

there are a ton of other poto characters in here like meg (she's in the group photo at the beginning of the post!), madame giry, nadir, ayesha, carlotta, piangi, sorelli and cecile (two ballerinas from the book) oroyeso (a mini series guy), carlous fonta (truly the most underrated poto character ever!), caesar the horse, madame valerius and of course good ol' daddy daae :)

the story mostly takes place in palais garnier (the lake isn't as magical as other adaptations make it but it's still pretty neat), but it goes far beyond the opera house! from bois de boulonge (book reference!) to the mazarine library and even the village of giverny, it explores the world of paris like never before! (and there's an eiffel tower cameo of course)

as you can already tell, there are quite a few references to other adaptations. the rewrite is a blend of various ones! poto soup if you will ;)

phans will certainly enjoy the rewrite since there are a ton of references to so many adaptations! from big bois like the book, musical, 1925 movie and susan kay's phantom to smaller ones like the mini series, the 1943/62 movies, love never dies and freddy phantom to tiny tales like ghost on the roof, angel's mask, phantom heart, and journey of the mask

some references are obvious like song lines from the musical (christine wanting to see the beauty underneath or whispering to her papa's grave, 'i wish you were somehow here again'), erik calling himself 'poor, unhappy erik' & raoul being on the naval borda ship like in the book, eristine having a picnic like in the mini series, erik having opera props on the wall like in ghost on the roof and masks from other adaptations being shown during the masquerade

others are super subtle like raoulstine reuniting on april 14th (the only thing i could pull from that lost 1916 movie das phantom der oper), walter plinge being a pseudonym from maskerade and cecile thinking the opera ghost is a canary (as 'the canary trainer'!)

and of course it wouldn't be a poto story without references to the creator, gaston leroux! manager armand is a fan of le gaulois (the paper that poto was originally published in), christina nilsson is name inspiration for christine (just like irl!), the maiden name of christine's mom is leroux (but they're not related probably) and-

...well let's just say there are a few neat cameos in store ;)

(see all of them here... but beware of spoilers!)

as you can see, the rewrite is a love letter to poto! and there are plenty of original ideas like the story taking place in 1888. want to see christine room with meg, explore paris with raoul or do adorable things with erik besides singing? the rewrite's got it all and more! ;D (it's a very eristine heavy story but there are plenty of raoulstine moments... and who she ends up with is another reason why i started the rewrite)

but the rewrite isn't just one story... just like with my original stories, i've planned out short stories and mysteries that take place after the main story ends. this is just the beginning! ;)