The Phantom Within
Christine Daae (center) with the Phantom (left) and Viscount Raoul (right)
In the files of MI6, his code name was Diablos Nocturna.
He sat in a pub in London eating steak and kidney pie π₯§.
A very very very beautiful woman entered the pub for a take out order.
She paid the bill and left with her order.
Diablos Nocturna recognized the woman as Lucy St. Louis the woman who played Christine Daae in the 35th Anniversary West End London production of Andrew Lloyd Webberβs The Phantom of The Opera.
Lucy St. Louis as Christine Daae in the 35th Anniversary West End London production of Andrew Lloyd Webberβs The Phantom of The Opera
Diablos Nocturna took a quiet sip of his glass of ale πΊ.
Andrew Lloyd Webberβs The Phantom of The Opera was his favourite musical and Lucy St. Louis was his favourite Christine Daae.
There had been great singers/actresses who had played Christine Daae in Lloyd Webberβs The Phantom of The Opera over the years- Sarah Brightman, Emmy Rossum, Sierra Boggess.
Yet when he saw Lucy St. Louis as Christine Daae, he had said, βThat is Christine.β
He had never understood why.
Then one day he had watched a YouTube video of Lucy St. Louis as Christine Daae singing with the Phantom the title song Phantom of The Opera and in the comments below the video, someone had posted the comment, βLucy St. Louis sings the role of Christine Daae the way I had always imagined in my mind the way Christine Daae would have sung in Gaston Lerouxβs original novel The Phantom of The Opera.β
And that was it.
Not many people had read Gaston Lerouxβs The Phantom of The Opera but he had.
In fact he had read it when he was 10 years old.
With the impressionability of someone that age.
And it wasnβt the character of The Phantom who had captivated him.
It was the character of Christine Daae.
The character who could have tamed the Phantom if the Phantom had got over his insecurities and allowed her.
For Diablos Nocturnaβs entire inner life seemed to have been a battle between the Phantom within and the Viscount Raoul within.
Which one would win?
He did not know the answer.
For he had yet to meet his Christine Daae in life.
Diablos Nocturna finished his meal, paid his bill and walked out alone into the night.
The labyrinth of night.
-A vampire novel chapter
written by Christopher
Monday March 27th
2023.
What Is Causing The Paris Riots: A Free Verse Poem As Explanation
Several weeks ago, the Cyborg Octopus Kraken
Who called himself Emperor Napoleon VI
Had been dining with his wife Medusa
(The ex-Gorgon famed for getting people stoned
In the glory days of classical and ancient Greece)
In a Parisienne cafe
When Medusa suddenly found Vincent Van Gogh’s ear
In her house salad
so she sent it back.
“I hate to do this to you, Banksy,”
The salad prep chef said to
The famous graffiti street artist
As he cut his ear off with a carving knife
Banksy had thought of becoming a musician
As well as an artist
but now he had no ear for music.
“Much better,” Medusa said
As she bit into Banksy’s ear.
“You’re becoming somewhat cannibalistic in your old age,”
The Kraken remarked as he bit into the evening dinner special
which was roast octopus.
“How old do you think I am?”
asked Medusa
who used Oil of Olay
She looked very young indeed.
Medusa then bit into the fried snake
As the hairs on her head stood on end.
“Charmed I’m sure,” Sir Anthony Hopkins tipped his hat
And bowed to the couple
as he exited
(He had eaten the roast lamb souvlaki that evening)
He was in Paris doing a one night special performance
at Le Phantome Masquerade
Musique de Le Soir
Faberge Garnier Christian Dior Coco Chanel Opera House –
a musical version of
The Silence of The Lambs.
Jodie Foster emerged from the restaurant closet
with a woman tennis player and a woman golf player
and followed the knighted Welsh actor
to the theatre
as director Martin Scorsese
tried to hail a taxi driver
and Beelzebub the lord of the flies
plotted the last temptation of Christ.
“You don’t seem to be enjoying your roast octopus this evening,”
The Norse trickster god Loki
(who looked and talked a lot like actor Jack Nicholson)
remarked
as he fed Donald Trump’s toupee
(which he had swiped from the Oval Office of the White House)
to the restaurant Maitre’ D’s pet red spider monkey.
“I’d like to be Emperor of France,”
The Kraken calling himself Napoleon VI
wiped a tear from his eye,
“but I can’t while Emmanuel Macron is President.”
“Hm, I think I can do something about that,”
Loki remarked as Ricky Martin’s dinner date for the evening
accidentally peed all over Loki’s Casablanca Humphrey Bogart looking white dinner jacket
turning it a very vibrant yellow colour.
“And I think I’ve got an idea,”
Loki remarked
as he looked down at his now yellow coloured jacket
and just received a text message on his smart phone
from his accountant
on what would be the heating cost
of his Paris apartment
next year.
“And that dear children,”
The inebriated looking Santa Claus
took off his wired rimmed glasses
and wiped them
at the Ayn Rand Daycare Centre
where he was speaking,
“is how the origins of the Paris riots
and fires came to pass.”
-A comedy horror poem
and vampire novel chapter
written by Christopher
Friday December 7th
2018.
Rita Hayworth won’t be coming down Emmanuel Macron’s chimney tonight.
Wilkie The Cat Performs Nat King Cole: A Poem
Wilkie The Cat
had a lovers’ spat
His girlfriend Mitzi
was raging spitzy
She had broken her parasol
saving Wilkie from a very deep hole
by red hot pokering a Saudi librarian mole
Trump defended the Saudi librarian assassin
and took to Twitter tweety bashin’
Saudi Arabia had threatened to fly planes into Canadian Toronto’s CN Tower
while Mohammad bin Salman like Putin gave Trump a golden shower
No wonder the Donald’s hairpiece was a sickening gold yellow toupee
for Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince performed like it was a rainy day
Mid-term elections were soon on the way
Was Robert Mueller making hay?
Democrats wondered
as Lizzie Warren blundered
The New York Times defended the Senator’s DNA test
because of brains and intelligence, The Times had not been blessed
It took one to hate one was that old adage
which is why Trump and The Times exchanged nasty tweets and cabbage
But fortunately for Wilkie’s relationship, he got a good gig
and an assignment that his girl Mitzi should really dig
He and she were invited to perform at a political party function
and did not have to play the part of Beverly Hillbillies at Petticoat Junction
It was at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre
and Wilkie promised Mitzi he wouldn’t go on a bender
Mitzi dressed as Elizabeth Warren took to the stage
while politicos gazed at her like lions released from a cage
Mitzi began to sing,
Cherokee people,
Cherokee tribe,
so proud to live
so proud to die
…
and maybe someday when we’ve learned,
Cherokee Nation will return, will return
Wilkie The Cat came on stage dressed like Nat King Cole,
he really relished getting into this role
He pointed at Mitzi as Warren and began to sing,
“Oh yes, she’s the great pretender…”
after the show, Wilkie went on a bender.
For he got the attending crowd wrong
turning this into his Lincoln Center swan song
He thought he was performing to Republicans but alas! they were Democrats
and now Wilkie and Mitzi were once again unemployed performing arts cats.
-A Wilkie The Cat poem
written by Christopher
Friday October 19th
2018.
Phantom of The Opera: A Poem As Sung and Recorded By Amadeus Emanon
Phantom of The Opera: A Poem
Sung and Recorded By Amadeus Emanon
Amadeus Emanon was at London music promoter Heathcliff Dionysus Campbellβs Wuthering Heights and Glencoe Hospitality Recording Studios (owned by Heathcliffβs company Aulos Music and Recording Ltd.) to record his first album Erikβs Lament: The Agony and Ecstasy of A Phantom In The Night.
Amadeus Emanon sang this song:
Phantom of The Opera: A Lament
Oh Phantom, you are the lonely one
You loved Christine who was daylight
to your realms of darkness
She let the sunlight shine in your heart
You taught her to sing
But she taught you to love
And hers by far was the greater gift
There in your lair beneath the Opera deep
Where you lay many an hour to lie there and weep
And let the hate consume your heart like heat
Burned and singed was it making your scar look neat
For your look you thought no one could love
Depriving you of joy on earth and in heaven above
But Christine looked and she saw
but you turned away and you let her go
For in the mirror you saw just the scar
But in her eyes, she saw your very soul
But you did not see and you did not know
And your love departed by the riverβs flow
Oh what music you could have made
But your heart you buried in hateβs grave
For Christine wanted to be your love not your slave
Now sheβs left you and gone away
While you pine all night and long for day
The day you once had but chased away
leaving you with childhood toys you used to play
And now your soul then your music will decay.
(-A poem written by Christopher
Friday September 7th 2018)
Inspired by the character of Erik as he is portrayed in Andrew Lloyd Webberβs musical The Phantom of The Opera.
Amadeus Emanon as he appears on the cover of his album (making it look like he was posing with his violin in an old 19th Century style photograph)
Renfield’s Past Forays Into The Theatrical Arts
Britain’s The Sun newspaper decided to do a story on newly elected British MPs.
The first MP selected was Renfield R. Renfield the newly elected MP for the constituency of Tewkesbury In The Cotswolds.
He was one of two MPs elected for the British Transhumanist Techno-Progressive Anti Bio-Conservative Party.
Allthough Mr. Renfield founded the British Transhumanist Party in 2013, he was ousted as Party Leader in 2015 after the British Transhumanist Party’s disastrous showing in the May 2015 UK General Election.
He was replaced by Welsh songstress Morgana Fay Lee (who some people call the Welsh Vampiress Morgana) as Party Leader.
Morgana Fay Lee was likewise elected an MP in her constituency of Newbridge in Wales.
After their two parliamentary electoral victories in this past June 8th UK General Election, Morgana announced she was stepping aside as Party leader saying she was unable to carry out much duties in the daytime (further leading to speculation that she’s a vampiress).
Welsh Vampiress Morgana After Twilight
Although Mr. Renfield R. Renfield is a long-time Chief of Security and Intelligence Gathering for the British firm Set Enterprises (owned by the billionaire Egyptian Mr. Sol Invictus Set), he is best known for his forays into the field of theatrical arts.
Scene from Renfield R. Renfield’s West End London’s stage production of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.
Scene from Renfield R. Renfield’s production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.
Scene from Renfield R. Renfield’s production of the musical My Fair Lady.
A scene from the music video Renfield R. Renfield shot for the song Hot Girls In Love.
And upon not seeing either the March Hare or the Mad Hatter anywhere in sight, Alice poured tea for herself.
-From the Renfield R. Renfield production of Alice In Wonderland.
-A vampire novel chapter
written by Christopher
Thursday June 15th
2017.
The Welsh Vampiress Morgana: Never appeared in a Renfield R. Renfield production thus saving her musical and artistic career and allowing her to be elected to Parliament.
Adolf Hitler: The Opera: Interlude Between Act I scene i and Act I scene ii
Adolf Hitler: The Opera: Interlude Between Act I scene i and Act I scene ii
Renfield R. Renfield has decided to put in an interlude between Act I scene i and Act I scene ii for the opera on Adolf Hitler he was commissioned to write.
In this interlude, an actor who looks a lot like the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin but who has a singing voice that sounds much like singer Harry Belafonte stands on stage between acts and sings the following song:
Hey, has anybody here seen my old friend Adolf?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He killed a lot of people but the evil they die middle aged
I just looked around and he’s gone.
Hey, has anybody here seen my old friend Josef?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He killed a lot of people but the evil they die somewhat old
I just looked around and he’s gone
Hey, has anybody here seen my old friend Mao?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He killed a lot of people but the evil they die elderly
(particularly if they’re Asian- must be that rice diet)
I just looked around and he’s gone
Hey, has anybody here seen my old friend Kim?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
You’re probably asking me which one?
But to me, North Korean despots all look the same
I just look around and they all look the same
* * *
At this point, Amadeus Emanon stopped reading Renfield’s script.
Said Amadeus while munching on a chocolate eclair, “I’m amazed at the way you were able to work politically incorrect ethnic stereotypes into a song that was already politically incorrect in its praise of despotic dictators.”
“I know,” Renfield grinned, “I just can’t help being a genius.”
-A vampire novel chapter
written by Christopher
Thursday December 22nd
2016.
Adolf Hitler: The Opera Act I, scene i
Adolf Hitler: The Opera Act I, Scene i
Renfield R. Renfield had been commissioned by an individual known only as Robur The Conquerer to write an opera about the life of Adolf Hitler.
Most artists would have been reluctant to write an opera about a figure of such infamy.
Renfield was the type of artist who would not succumb to such reluctance.
He’d do anything for money- or a great tasting tuna fish sandwich- or a steamy blow job from a sexy and voluptuous porn star in a hot tub.
Robur The Conquerer arranged for Renfield to get all three.
As a result, Renfield was now working on an opera about Adolf Hitler.
Act I, scene i, Adolf Hitler: The Opera
(The young Hitler stands on the set of a Wagnerian opera that was staged in Linz, Austria and imagines himself to be the knight Parsifal)
Hitler (singing) : To be a Fuhrer King,
to be a Fuhrer King
it is, it is, a glorious thing to be a Fuhrer King.
(He pauses)
Hitler (breaks into song again):
How much is that Swastika in the window?
The only with the squiggly tail.
I do hope that Swastika is for sale.
(He pauses again)
Hitler: I could have Crystal Night
I could have Crystal Night
I could send my troopers
in German beer stein stupors
And smash a thousand windows…
(He pauses again)
Hitler: Oh why can’t the Germans teach their children how to hate
Oh why can’t the Germans teach their children how to hate
For being the Aryan Master Race is assuredly our fate…
(He pauses again)
Hitler: The camps are alive with the sound of screaming
with screams they have screamed
for a thousand years
Our Reich will be blessed with the sound of screaming…
Hitler: Stormtroopers with pistols
marching to Aryan whistles
these are a few of my favourite things…
(He pauses again)
Hitler: Old Jews charge exorbitant rent
Kaisers and Czars are duly spent
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the world
I know all of the nations and all of their names
They will drown in Nordic god rains
old legends I have found
will make our Aryan future sound
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the World
(He pauses again)
Hitler: To be a Fuhrer King,
to be a Fuhrer King
it is, it is a glorious thing
to be a Fuhrer King
Deep Booming Sinister Voice (from back of the theatre) : And what would you give, young Adolf, in return for being a Fuhrer King?
-A Renfieldian opera
written by Christopher
Thursday December 8th
2016.
On Don Quixote, Foolishness and Christ
On Don Quixote, Foolishness and Christ
I was a boy at a public speaking competition
the prize: a trip to visit the UN in New York City
but I didn’t win
I came in second
so no trip to the Big Apple for me
just a week at a summer camp in the Alberta Rockies
My uncle tried to cheer me up by saying the truly great orators of Roman history often started out winning 2nd in public speaking competitions in their youth
Those who won first were usually devoid of original ideas and won by singing praises and kissing the ass of the current status quo in Rome
They quickly went into obscurity and were forgotten in the annals of history
Those who won second were brilliant speakers who couldn’t be ignored but yet their original ideas frightened the competition judges so they were awarded runner up rather than the big prize
My uncle’s words did cheer me up
but what I remember most about the competition was the event’s guest adult speaker
an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada
who chose as his topic Cervantes’ Don Quixote
The minister mentioned that in writing Don Quixote,
Cervantes’ purpose was to mock ideas of knightly chivalry
That chivalry was an idea from long ago
only kept alive in novels
and those who tried to live by such ideas were foolish
and ended up being made fools of like Don Quixote
But the minister said that in reading Don Quixote himself,
Cervantes’ work had the opposite effect on him than the author intended
That Don Quixote was a fool, yes
but a fool in the sense that Christ was a fool
fighting for ideas that were worth fighting for
That Don Quixote suffered and was mocked
but then so Christ suffered and was mocked
that there are causes worth suffering for and being mocked for
Quixote had taken a loose woman and imagined her a lady Dulcinea del Toboso
Christ took a woman out of whom He had cast 7 devils and made her a lady Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene went from sinner to saint because Christ truly saw who she was and what she could become
And Mary became that because she was transformed by this image that Christ had for her
In the musical Man of La Mancha the loose woman that Quixote imagined a lady Dulcinea del Toboso
although cynical and scornful at first
slowly turns into that lady
because Quixote’s love for her is more noble and pure than any she has ever known
By the end of the musical,
she too wishes “to dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go…
To reach the unreachable star.”
And the last stanza of Don Quixote’s Impossible Dream,
“And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.”
That man in the last stanza, the United Church minister concluded in his talk, was Christ.
He dreamed the impossible dream- that God could become truly human and would know the suffering and toil and pain it is to be human.
He bore with unbearable sorrow, betrayed by a friend, denied by a friend, abandoned by friends, a Crown of Thorns, beatings and mockery and a Cross unto death.
He went where the brave dared not go
The place that was foreordained for His death – in His case the city of Jerusalem (“And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” -Luke 9:51).
He fought the unbeatable foe- Death- and beat him.
He reached the unreachable star- He restored fallen man -who was trapped in a Hell of his own making- to Paradise.
-A personal narrative poem
written by Christopher
Monday July 20th
2015.
Haiku About Scottish Singer Susan Boyle’s 2009 Appearance On Britain’s Got Talent
Haiku About Scottish Singer Susan Boyle’s 2009 Appearance On Britain’s Got Talent
She did dream a dream
wowing stern Simon Cowell
dreams sometimes come true
Phantom of The Opera: A Poem
Phantom of the Opera: A Poem
Watch, watch the chandelier fall
on the rafters Erik does crawl
a sensitive soul ill treated by the human race
now his vengeance is wreaked in this place
The Paris Opera House
Christine his desired spouse
now Christine might have loved the artist in him
but for her- murder is the darkest sin
so Viscount Raoul de Chagny becomes her mate among the human race
for Christine detested Erik’s scar but not the one on his face
(listen to the drum roll)
for the one on his soul.
-A poem written by Christopher
Monday October 27th 2014
inspired by the Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical The Phantom of The Opera
Dracul Van Helsing 
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