The Phantom of The Opera

  Background:
This is a costume that has been with me my whole life, seriously I was dressing up as the Phantom at the age five.

The musical had come out in London and my father had bought the  recording (on the high tech  Tape rather then the record ooooo :))  and he told me the story as he played the music I fell in love a=in that moment. The story moved me as no other story has  ever done.  Not too long after when the show started to Tour the US my dad got me tickets to the stage show. We went Opening night in Atlanta, my parents went whole hog for me.  My mom had a dress made for me and my Dad took me out to dinner at beautiful old restaurant and  he hired a limo that drove us to The Fox Theater (one of those lovely old gilded theaters).

  It was also the first time   I had seen a stage show (I think unless I had seen the Nutcracker before it). Anyway it was a very special night.  I dressed as the Phantom for many different Halloween's and during middle school I introduced my friend to the show, and she in turn introduced me to Dragon*Con.

The first costume I ever wore was the Phantom and I experienced the thrill of someone stopping you in the hallway to get a picture.  We would actually go on to win best horror during the Masquerade  one year .

We also got hired to play the parts for a bit of atmosphere during a charity auction.  During collage I dropped the costume embarrassingly because I had gained quite a bit of weight and because there where now many Phantoms  at Dragon*Con, mostly of the movie variety. The last year during  the ALS walk I brought the costume out again for the walk  finding that after my dieting the previous year (see Sharaz Jek for details)  the costume fit again. Also this year marked the end of the Touring company of the Stage show which of course I went to see.

Which brings me to the present day  I've done a minor over hall to the costume this year, I've bought a new tailcoat  and while this year I'll be borrowing  a friends cloak I plan on making a new one to better go with the costume. new Phantom will be making an appearance at Dragon*Con 2010.
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