nerdy writer

Hugh did not disappoint. He has such a way of articulating his words that's so well practiced and yet spontaneous-sounding. You can tell, especially with the lines that carried over from the OG show, that he has experimented with the best way to phrase his lines. No question that’s Kay!Erik come to life and I was agog.

During MOTN he kneeled down next to an older woman (I believe she was on the ada track) and sang directly her to. She got very emotional and it actually made me tear up.

Similarly, a mother an daughter were gently tapped and I saw them lean into each other after. Reminded me of my own mom taking me to the show when I was a kid.

Got split up into automatons, shadow box, then the bedroom

So as we were walking to the mirror bride and groom/automatons, the mirror groom stepped out from his vogueing chamber. (idk what else to call it lol) the woman in front of me did not see his extended hand and walked right on by. So I took it 👀

Yes friends I got the newspaper(!!!!!) I had no idea it existed before this moment and I feel like a blessed unicorn

So Bridegroom did a little dance with me. I believe he spun me around and he motioned his hand over his heart. I mirrored the motion. He then showed me the vanity with a little box and pointed to an ad in the newspaper (laying on the vanity) that mentioned a stolen diamond ring. He then beckoned me to open the box. The ring was inside and he showed it to me. I thought for a minute he wanted me to look at it but when I reached my hand out he put it in his coat pocket (sorry my dude lol) he then put his finger over his lips. I did the same and promised I’d keep it secret

He let me out, taking my hand. It was so gentlemanly and he is fantastic at what he does—he sells it so well.

The automaton dance scene is such a new favorite of mine.

We went to the shadow box room next. Hugh came to his seat (I have never seen this sequence before) and he led another audience member to his little music room before we moved on to the bedroom. I was aghast as I didn’t realize this was an option 🤣

Had the pleasure of being close by for this scene 👀 Hugh’s Erik kissed Christine’s shouler (or at least grazed his lips there) 🥵

Christine led an audience member to STYDT and we were some of the ones who were on the little platform. Had a bad view but Erik really engaged with the audience here, looking directly in the eyes of multiple people, including me. Hugh conveyed the despair so well.

Erik led my group to the carnival. I almost fell down the platform but thankfully I caught myself In Hugh’s interpretation he solelmly and like a funeral dredge led us up the elevator. I as I was going up I caught a glimpse of him leaning over the elevator reaching across with longing.

I was positioned near young!Erik’s cage. He saw my newspaper and pointed at it. I handed it to him and he pointed to the same little blurb about the missing diamond ring before pointing at himself. From my understanding of the scene and moment, Erik (I believe it was Kody) was conveying that Erik always longed for a wife.

He reached his hand out to me and took my hand, then preceeded to tie a little ring on my left finger. Most others I’ve seen they for the wrist braclet so I was pretty shocked. I now have an engagement string.

In all seriousness it was utterly lovely and devastating. I told Erik he would be okay and “you are good.” Really not sure what else I could have said, wish I could have said more.

He handed me back the newspaper and I stepped aside so others could interact. I couldn’t see who got the note from his mother, but I saw him show others his music box.

I feel so stupid that I finally realized this show was subtly answering the age old question of where Erik got the monkey: HIS MOTHER. (Or Madeline if you’re like me and ready Kay when she was in high school and knows she has issues but has unfortunately imprinted on your subconsiois)

Smaller room for LTBL as we did the indoor track this day, but I was at the front of the room. Giry talked to us a little bit before we left for the next room about how angry the phantom is Christine was casted as the page boy. Clever use of crowd control so not everyone rushes out at once!

Clay’s Erik is genuinely having fun in this scene but I think Hugh’s Erik is a little more methodical and menacing.

Dan Hoy as Raoul ran by me and gently touched my shoulder in a “oh my I am so sorry pardon me!” Sort of way as he ran towards Christine. In general I loved his Raoul as it reminded me of a classic Barton-esque performance.

Christine and Raoul were right by my side as they finished AIAOY. Listen I may be an Erik apologist but I’m also a love song lover so AIAOY has a special place in my heart (also my mom sang it to me as baby 🥹) so being inches away from them made me and the person next to me misty-eyed.

I wish I had more coherent thoughts on the reprise but all I got is OHMYGOD

In the indoor set for Wishing, Dan was letting audience members put flowers on Gustave’s grave saying “this is Christine’s father.” He also really sold the moment where the DJT score turns to fire.

Great Wishing. I could really feel Christine’s desperation and sadness, it was like she could finally vent.

This was by far my favorite “version” of the dressing room scene I’ve seen. I believe it started with Carlotta and Piangi. Phantom of course makes the switch of Carlotta’s voice spray and then pulls piangi into the coat closet. Hugh threw away the line “don’t fret friends, he has an understudy,” and that got a big laugh. Perfect delivery.

Raoul and Christine came in and he kissed her so tenderly. Unfortunately she was very distracted 🤣

She asked me to move out of the way to get the note lol.

Once she left the managers came in. They were on fire this performance—the little ticking clock wouldn’t stop and I believe it was Andre who said “oh shut up!” Then when the lights went out he yelled “I want to go home!” That got another a big laugh.

I had never seen the dead Piangi on the floor before this so it was new for me to see the managers run over to him and decide “he was just drunk” then see their rising panic when they realized he was dead. Andre even picked up his hand and started waving it goodbye as we headed to the next scene.

I had to side step over Piangi...I am so sorry RIP. (it was for a good cause.)

I don't have many coherent thoughts over PONR but it was like the thread that Hugh's phantom was holding onto finally broke during the unmasking and he could just not take it anymore.

Also no coherent thoughts for the Final Lair other than the fact it was truly a master class (The whole performance was.) Hugh did seem a little tired this performance but that just added to it. This man was at his last straw and was tired of everything...even was almost nonchalant, but the kiss saved him from falling from the edge.

I cried.

Well, that is certainly applicable as I prepare to step into the role long filled by a person who has demonstrated a dedicated commitment to building community. A person who changed my life with just a few words, and, as I have learned especially these past few weeks, changed so many people's lives for the better over the years.

That person is @wheel-of-fish, and this past Saturday was her 300th Saturday Stream of so many versions and visions of The Phantom of the Opera.

Fish has built an amazing and enduring community in the Saturday Streams. She brought us all together weekly, gathering amid the highs and lows of our internal lives, the highs and lows of the real world swirling around us, often shadowed and dark and incomprehensible these last several years.

Fish's Saturday Streams are a refuge, a source of companionship and wit, of shared heartbreak and sadness, as we long each week for a different ending for our trio despite knowing it is not meant to be. And amidst the tragedy on stage, there is always that glint of compassion and redemption, sparked by a kiss--and the specter of hope for the future held in an empty chair.

One of the truest things I know is that shared pain is lessened and shared joy increased. Thank you so much, Fish, for what you have made here in this place you have built, and thank you for entrusting it to me so that it can continue to be a place for us to gather and share joy. This week we will be watching a performance that has significance in Streams history and personal significance for me.

The Streams had been a bit intermittent in the fall of 2019, with two Streams in October, two in November, one in December and then...had gone quiet. Meanwhile, the Fourth American Phantom Tour was nearing its end and came through my home city in November 2019. It was then I saw Phantom for the first time, with Derrick Davis as the Phantom, and I was thunderstruck. I saw it twice, in November and December, followed it to a neighboring state for a third show and then to Chicago for a fourth and last performance. The show was closing at its next stop in Toronto January and February 2020 and the pieces almost came together for me to get to the closing show, February 2nd...but work had other plans and I was not able to go.

What was I going to do now?

I was not yet on social media at all, but had been poking around as a visitor to tumblr and fate smiled when I saw an announcement for something called Saturday Streams:

"Special reappearance of Saturday Streams!

Saturday, Feb. 15 • 9 p.m. EST: David Shannon, Gina Beck & Will Barratt (London 2010)"

And written in that announcement, the words that would change my life in such a profound fashion: "shy anons are welcome."

This stream that we are playing again this coming Saturday was the first time I saw the brilliant original, and not the restaged version which contained enough of the heart and soul of the show to already hook me completely. To say the stream was a profound experience is a profound understatement.

I was not yet a tumblr member and so I missed the announcement a month later--as we all became aware that the world was heading into a crisis and we had no notion of how it would all turn out--that Fish was bringing back the Streams on March 14, 2020 with stream number 34...and well, we all just experienced number 300 this past Saturday. I missed 34 and 35 but then saw the announcement for 36 and here I have been ever since.

This performance is a Streams favorite and has been played five times since that first showing in 2020--once for Fish's 100th stream! The last showing was in a colossal marathon of eleven productions of London Phantom that began on August 2nd, 2025. Both Fish and @glassprism -- keeper of Phantom knowledge-- agree that "this is a much-requested pairing with great chemistry and acting and a classic", and that Gina Beck is widely regarded as one of the best Christines of all time.

And so, after all that being said, I get to post for the first time the words that brought me into Phantom fandom, onto tumblr, into POTO fanfic writing, and led to more friendships and experiences than I could ever have possibly imagined:

As always, the stream will be on cy.tube and

shy anons are welcome.

Thanks for all of it, Fish.

Here goes...everything.

⭐PFPs featured on the Saturday Streams banner are left to right Streams Founder @operaofthephantom, 300 Club Streams Host @wheel-of-fish, new host @from-aldebaran, and our Phantom Founder, Gaston Leroux. Massive thanks to @opera-ghost for the PFP additions to Fish's original banner.

⭐For more info, please see the Saturday Streams FAQ 

⭐Remember to follow @from-aldebaran for stream posts going forward.

⭐Streams announcement posting schedule after this outlier on Wednesday will go back to the usual Tuesday and Thursday posts, a post noonish on Saturday and then the showtime post Saturday evening.

⭐Link and password will be posted here at 8:45.