Phantom Las Vegas Final Week Pictures

So I thought I'd post a few pics from my Phantom Las Vegas Final Week collection. I'm a little short on time and patience at the moment, so I'll post quick snippets and keep it to photos for the most part (yay for short atten- SQUIRREL! )

THE DEPARTED(URE)
Phantomfett and I set off on early morning, Wednesday, 29 Aug. A few of our distinguished fan friends (ie. operafantomet ) were already out there and tearing up Vegas, so we tried not to lose too much time. Before we did anything, we unpacked the vital parts of the costumes, and suddenly our closet looked like this:


After we got back from a trip to the airport and while I was helping my best friend and her hubby check in at the Venetian, I ran into artistkae and Danielle (I cannot take stalking credit here, this was pure fan luck). After a little bit of that somewhat-awkward-but-not-really-because-we-know-each-other-on-the-interwebs "OMG HOW ARE YOU!", we had a laugh over their 69-code tickets and that's right about when phantomfett walked over.

The afternoon was spent with random stuff, and phantomfett settled in to work on his Red Death costume of awesome, while I apparently took pictures and lost all recollection of what else happened that afternoon:


Wednesday night was KA, which is even more spectacular up close. I would happily travel to Vegas just to see this show. Absolutely incredible from nearly every standpoint. The story, acting, physical feats all astound me, which is amazing considering the sheer engineering accomplishments alone are enough to completely blow my mind. See KA if you're ever in town. You won't regret it.

After KA, the fan group went to the Rainforest Cafe, where we pondered the meaning of "chicken fried chicken," drank, acted goofy, and generally had a great time. Wow...I MISS YOU GIRLS!

Thursday night was Phantom at 7pm. Was rather disappointed with the lead, as Tony was having vocal issues at the end of the run and barely hit the money note (MOTN's "Be"). The rest of the cast was incredible as ever. I could tell there was something extra in their performance. I loved that the crowd was much more lively and energetic than back in June when Raphael and I had seen it. It's amazing the difference an audience can make. After Phantom, several of us wandered down to Caesar's Palace for operafantomet and phantomfett's first exposure to Absinthe. That's another must see, but only if you love extremely offensive words, topics, girl-on-girl action and people standing on each others' heads. I love it.

FRIDAY FUN TIME
Ok, so this was interesting. Phantomfett pulled off a miracle that day and the night before and got Red Death looking simply incredible (thank you artistkae for the assist!). He put finishing touches on it that day, while I sat there and tried to will the makeup into getting onto my face via magic. This did not work, so I cursed a little, and finally got to work. I took longer than normal with the makeup, since I wanted it to look as good as I could given the venue. So I painted and quoted the episodes on tv of Law & Order: SVU with phantomfett, while I'm sure artistkae though we were both crazy, LOL.


^PANTS!

More Red Death awesomness:


Eventually I finished makeup, and it looked something like this:


And then finally, we both got into full costume:


Then made our way down to the theatre. Once we arrived, there was actually much applauding and right about then I realized that this was going to be a freaking fantastic night! There was a good 45 minutes or so of picture taking outside the Phantom Theatre. Lots of pics with our fellow costumed friends, as well as many, MANY picture requests from random patrons. We were all so popular, in fact, that we were asked to stop taking pictures and make our way into the theatre, as patrons were taking too long to get in there and get to their seats. LOL! We were, quite literally, all show stoppers.

Costume night pics:



^ A special moment for these two.


^One of my favorite shots.

After the show, there was a good hour spent taking these photos in the lobby, then some backstage field tripping, and then a great fan dinner at the Grand Lux. I decided to stay in costume, as I was stuck in makeup and figured at least the costume helped the makeup make sense (yeah, sure...). So phantomfett, and fellow fan Alessandra holed up at the bar with her buddy and Raphael. The five of us enjoyed some booze and discussion until everyone returned from backstage and changing out of costume. The dinner was great, but by the end of it I was ready to get out of makeup and return to normal. I tried to show phantomfett my crazy gelled-to-death TA-DAH! hair after I took my wig cap off, but he was already passed out from nearly 48 hours of phantom madness. Poor guy!

Saturday night shows I'll more or less pass over. There were fan shenanigans under the chandelier, and then it finally occurred to me that this was soon to be the end. I was sad, but tried to appreciate every bit of those two shows on Saturday.

Sunday night - what is there to say? The electricity in the cast and in the audience was something I will probably never experience again. There was so much emotion, so much energy and it was evident in every scene, in every line. I felt honored to be in the presence of that incredible cast and crew during their last performance. To meglett and all of her "phamily" - thank you. Thank you for your endless effort, for pouring your heart and soul into your performances, and to being so understanding and open to the fans. We are blessed to have been able to experience your art over the last six years, and we look forward to the opportunities that are out there waiting for you now.

After the show, the speeches, and the slow filtering of patrons out of the theatre, many of the fans stayed back. We stayed so long, in fact, that the theatre became empty and people slowly started filing on to the stage to have a look and take final pictures. SHENANIGANS ensued. It was quite an adventure that night, and in a way, whether it was planned or not, it was a nice last "gift" to the fans to be able to get on stage and say goodbye in various ways (that may or may not be caught on digital camera....)



I may add more when I have time, but for now I'm calling it a night.

-

Thanks, Phantom on a Budget, for sharing your photos and Vegas adventures with us! And those are some really great photos! Also, how lucky you were to get to stand on the stage after the final performance and just hang out in the theater -- awesome! And I have to say again how blown away I am by all those phantastic costumes you all were wearing -- WOW!

Phantom on a Budget wrote:
Eventually I finished makeup, and it looked something like this:


And then finally, we both got into full costume:

I bow before you folks. The costumes, the details, the accessories... It just floors me.

Phantom on a Budget wrote:

^One of my favorite shots.

Ooooh! Oh, I love this too! Sorry for the apple, Brianne...