Ravenswood Theatricals

Background

Ravenswood Theatricals is Second Life's premiere all Furry a theater performance troupe. They are best known for their well received production of Phantom of the Opera. When asked about the furry cast, Alexia stated, "I find that furries are some of the most heartfelt and deepest people I have met, not to mention some of the wittiest and most talented critters. Doing it with furries adds a sort of tenderness to it that most people who are not animal lovers would not see. I think that animals are in some ways more sensitive than people." In early production actors are often encouraged to make their own decisions to the Furry identities of their characters, based on the role in the story, personality types, vocal qualities of the actor portraying the character in the sound track and to some degree the personal preferences of the actors.

Currently the Company is managed by four Directors, Alexiel Ravenswood, Sylent Phantom, Toruzo Senizen and Aspera.

The origins for this production company can be traced back to when two talented and passionate individuals and long time fans of both Furry and Phantom of the Opera attended a performance at a nonFur Opera House in Second Life. There they saw the potential, both realized and yet to be realized of performance theater in the Virtual World. Alexiel and Sylent began planning and working on their own production, spurred on when Alexiel befriended Saros Eclipse who generously gifted a replica of the Apollo Theater and also rented out the sim space to rez it. Joined by Alessandra Eberlain and Jareth Clowes the four of them built many of the early sets and some of the props still used in the show. Unfortunately due to real life issues and the loss of Saros's sim the work was suspended.

Productions

The Wizard of Oz

This was only a temporary setback, and soon Alexi and Sylent had found a new home in Jaguar Valley where they met Allen_Harrington. Allen agreed to construct a new theater with Alexi designing and dubbing it Ravenswood Hall. At this time Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz once again had captured Alexi's muse and she decided that this would be the company's opening production. Kelemvor Nostram build the sets. Long time friends AngeliqueDeFirmin(as Dorothy Gale), Toruzo(Tin Man) and AlonzoTribal(The Wizard) joined Alexi(the Witch) and Sylent(Scarecrow) to form the cast, lending their prerecorded voices as well as virtual presences to their characters. The preview performance was a hit with those that were invited to see it, but the performance never officially opened to the public. Alexia felt a yearning to do more with her theater, and decided to return to the production of Phantom. But Oz is not forgotten and is still on the theater's roster of performances to do.

Phantom of the Opera

Alexiel Ravenswood as The Phantom.

Allen Harrington, Kelemvor Nostram, and Kefir Lamont aided in upgrading many of the sets to fit the new Ravenswood Hall, drawing inspiration from the Palais Garnier itself, as well as recent real life Phantom productions. Sylent Phantom's animations and poses, as well as two major animated sequences created by Electra Karsin, help to bring life to the performance. With contributions to scripting by Marjan Tomba and Tursi Jackson, and Aspera and calculated use of the HORIZONS Holodeck System the effects strive to match and exceed the spectacle of their real life counterparts.

The major players from Oz returned to take roles in Phantom, with Alexi playing the title role, Angelique as Christine Daaé, Toruzo as Raoul, Sylent as Carlotta and Alonzo as Firmin. Joining the Cast for Phantom are Zelda Stripe as Madame Giry, Aspera as Little Meg and an understudy for Christine. Aiming for a release around Halloween, voice acting was set aside. Instead a soundboard of the 2007 Australian cast was used for most scenes, however the vocals for the opening Auction scene are done by Alexi herself

After seeing a preview performance in late October, Jack Belevedere generously offered to host the show straddling two sims to reduce the lag, allowing a larger audience, up to 48 seats. The first public performance was November 16th, 2011 in Jaguar Valley. By Monday March 19th 2012, Ravenswood Hall was moved to the new sim, Cross Check and the old site in Jaguar Valley now holds a outdoor stage for concerts. The Theater moved to its current and final home in Varano in 2012 in a area custom designed by Kelemvor Nostram.

Future Productions

A number of productions are under development including Les Miz, Tanz Der Vampire, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sunset Boulevard and Into the Woods. Also, a Musical Gala is being planed to showcase samples of each production.

A New Location

In the latter end of 2012, Alexi and Co were forced to move to the sim Varano, the location was provided by longtime member LKG01A_Duke, It provided a chance for a brand new custom built theater including a gift shoppe, a more lavish lobby including a larger stage designed by Kelemvor Nostram. This also included a lavish Castle ruin on the ground level along with a atrium with a lift that carries audience members to the theater.

After 2013, Alexiel moved the company into a private sim, “Alterra” which has been the base of operations ever since. In 2021, a reopening gala “Of Masks and Lions” which was a resounding success. Many of the cast and crew live and work in the sim.

Reception and Reviews

Michi Lumin posted a glowing review on Facebook.

Forepawz Golem posted a review on SLARF

Renoobed's review

External links

This person is a WikiFur user: AlexielRavenswood's user page AlexielRavenswood's talk page

• Ravenswood Theatrical's Page on Facebook