Where: Broadway

When: July 9th, 2005. Julie's Final Performance

Today's phantom performance was the 20th time I've seen the show. I am officially insane.

What a day it was too. I got into the city at noon and went to a candy store to find a nice gift for Julie. I settled on a $20 box of Jelly Beans. Katrina (JHO Web mistress) had sent me a card also to give to her. It was such a cute card.

Julie, Cara, Steph and I met at the Olive Garden. Mm. I love the bread there. So lunch went well. I love meeting with other fans. It's like being with people your age who actually understand what you're talking about.

Around 1:30 we went over to the theatre. The lines were so long. Even the Will Call line took 10 minutes. It's nice to see Phantom so full. Understudies were Janet Saia as Carlotta, and Harlan Bengel as Solo Dancer.

We were all sitting front row front mezz. The seat were pretty perfect, no blind spots and no one in front of us. I was sitting next to this family who asked me if we knew anyone in the cast because I went in there caring for Julie's flowers, a box of candy and the card. Hehe I told him about Julie and he clearly did not understand a word I said.

Okay so the show started and sitting next to Steph was so much fun because we are Carrington Vilmont's biggest fans.

The auction was the perfect auction scene. Carrington is SO shady and I Love him as the Auctioneer. His deep *sexy* baritone voice just echoed. As his monologue continued he stressed certain syllables. "Aaaaa Littllle Illumination...GENTILMEN" I almost expected him to cackle at the end.

Overture - So yes the chandelier is SO slow. The people sitting behind me, someone said something about it a magic transformation thing.

Hannibal was great. Janet was great as Carlotta. She has got the perfect vocal range. Her voice seemed too light when she was going through the vocalizations. Only when she sang Think of Me and the whole rant scene did she do the Carlotta accent. I love the dancing in this scene, Julie came out and she was dancing en pointe as well! Julie actually came out and looked a little flustered. She finished the scene but then went off stage, maybe to gather herself together. She came back a minute later.

Think of Me - Can I say perfect Christine? Julie started out very softly. I had forgotten what she sounded like. It was nice and refreshing to hear her again. Her high soprano voice was not too harsh at all. The cadenza was great. She put a lot of energy in it. The last note was so full, so to speak. I think it finally hit her that it would be the last time she would be singing those notes for some time.

Kara Klein has gotten better since the last time I saw her. She is definitely an alto and the D in Angel of Music almost didn't get all the way out of her. She is very cute though. I like her. She’s one of the best of all the Broadway Megs I've seen.

When Hugh's voice first boomed through the theatre, it sent chills through my spine. I heard Stephanie squee with delight. Julie's acting was right on. She seemed truly enchanted.

TPOTO, I couldn't tell at first if it were recorded or maybe she would go live on her last day. It was not live.

Music of the Night, Hugh is just gold. I love the lines that he chooses to emphasize. He and Julie seemed on the same wavelength with each other. When Julie fainted she really hit the floor. I remember thinking Ouch that looked like it hurt. The end of the song was the most interesting. Some will argue that Hugh forgot the words, while others like me think he was doing some dramatic pauses. He kind of went "Help me make the...music.......*long pause*.... *piano cue/chord* of...the....night"


Damn You bla... I just LOVE the blocking of this scene for some reason. I think it's fun how Christine gets to run around on stage and then has to place the mask in the right spot so it catches the light. Julie went into this recoil fetal position. Very interesting.

Magic Lasso, Joseph Buquet is just totally creepy. He is so shady, just like Cara, Julie, Steph and I are shady after the show.

Notes & Prima Donna. At lunch I was saying how much I dislike this scene. I admit now that okay it wasn't SO bad. It the funniest part of the show. The people sitting behind me said at the end "I didn't understand a word of it," yet it ALWAYS gets such a Huge applauds.

Il Muto, Don Attilio (Greg Rahming) held the long F. Woo! The ballet is fun. I keep thinking...hum maybe it's not so hard. Then I think to myself, keep dreaming kid. I love the shadows the phantom double makes. The last one is the funniest when he points his finger in a dance kind of way.

Rooftop/All I Ask of You, I am so biased against Tim Martin Gleason. Vocally I think he sounds wonderful. Other than that he doesn't impress me much. He looks very...teenage druggie. I can't see him as Raoul. Because of this image I have in my head, I really didn't like AIAOY. I was not convinced at all.

Intermission. Steph suggested we go find some phan sluts (cough hehe) and have a dance off. Kind of a mix between West Side Story and Newsies

Masquerade baby! Woo mega partying there.

Twisted- Good I love Julie in this scene. Hello Christine who isn't just a girly girl. She totally went crazy Christine, I loved it. Tim still does his trademark finger flick after "The disaster will be yours"

Wishing was very emotional. Her voice had that tone again. The 'sing as if you won't ever sing again' sound.

skipping to Don Juan. Whee Carrington's big number. Once again a shady Passarino.

Point of No Return was hott. There was a lot of passion play. It was wonderful.

Final Lair. SO SO sad. Everything was drawing to a close. Julie started crying at the end. She was very strong though trying to reason with phantom. Hugh was psycho in "Go on and leave me". And yes Julie and Hugh did hold hands for a very long time.

"You Alone can make my song take flight..." He seemed to be singing directly to Julie. Like those really would be the last words to her. It was chilling. And of course we applauded when he went under the chair.

Curtain Call was SO sad, I can't even tell you how many tears there were. Every cast member came out with a Rose. The pink and yellow kind. When Julie came out they all threw them at her. And she took her final bow. Then Hugh came out with a bunch of roses and gave them to her. He took a bow then did his curtain speech. It was very sweet something about how Julie challenged him as an actor. He got very emotional at the end and started Crying. And as I was looking at the entire cast, the ballet girls were hysterical. I was screaming "We love you Julie"

Backstage. Steph and I were stood up by Carrington. We met Daniel Rychelc who is cut nicely. He is super nice and seemed to be the only one who wanted to talk to us fans. Susan Owen was surprised I recognized her. I actually just took a wild guess. We went inside and waited for Julie to come down. She was really upset and was probably in the room with family and friends. She came down and looked completely fine. Sweet as always and looking very cute. She took photos and talked with us. I gave her various gifts and she thanked us for coming. That was it.

It is so sad to see her go. Just know that she's on the bigger and BETTER things. WE LOVE JULIE HANSON!!!