Profile for SweeneyPhanatic

I was really enjoying the telecast this year until CBS Atlanta literally cut it off mid song to start the news. If anyone wants a good laugh, behold how our local news anchor tried to make up for it. And the bastards probably won't get into any trouble over this unprofessional crap.

I was thinking earlier about starting a thread, probably in the off topic section, about how we all came up with our screen names, but this thread actually ties into mine so never mind. Personally, I'd lump myself into the more sane spectrum of the Phans. I've only seen the show twice on tour, but I do pop in the video of the Albert Hall performance every now and then. I can see and hear everything that is wrong with the show, but it has yet to stop me from enjoying every second of it. It was...

Bummed I missed out on the Chess album, but I'm really happy to see so many people are into vinyl, too. Thanks for sharing these, tazber!

I'd definitely like to see the list of what you've got on vinyl. I recently acquired a large collection of musical CDs and records (almost a thousand items total, and many with programs and ticket stubs tucked into the sleeves), but I'd love to fill any holes in the collection if I can.

I found these two albums (Stage 1: How I Love You, and Stage 2: The Human Heart) in a big musical theatre CD/record collection I recently acquired. I haven't given them a listen yet (they're syncing to my iPod now), but it seems pretty obvious what they are: love songs from musicals sung by men, to men. I glanced through some reviews on Amazon, and people seem to really like these albums, so I'm looking forward to hearing them. Question: Were these a big deal when they came out (1996-97)? Lik...

Did any of the European productions have issues like this when they were being mounted? It just seems odd to me that this production keeps running into trouble when it's been done successfully many times over six years. Or more, but I believe the original production was in 2006. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Here's a synopsis of that production, apparently taken from an English handout given to English patrons at the theatre: DAY 1 The Russian chessplayer Anatolij Sergievski leaves his family's suburban apartment in Moscow to depart for the World Chess Championships 1986 (Story of Chess). At the airport, he is greeted by the KGB-man and his advisor Molokov and another few KGB-men (Where I want to be). In the Italian town Merano they meet the American chessplayer Freddie Trumper and his advisor Fl...

AH! I can't believe I missed the announcement of the second edition. I was unemployed when the first edition was released, and figured it would be one recording of Follies I'd never get to have in my library. Then today I saw the second edition listed in Talkin' Broadway's Sound Advice email, and got even more excited about my new job. I'm going to make this my splurge-of-the-month. :)

Rebecca is not the main character in REBECCA. In fact, she never once appears on stage at any moment in the story.

Well THIS was fun to read! No tainted memories of what I saw, thankfully. I'd be interested to go back and see this again to see if 7 more years of seeing shows and studying theatre would change my opinions. To whoever called Kathy Voytko "short and pudgy" (I believe that was the exact phrasing, it's somewhere in the early pages): wow. I walked from the stage door to the crosswalk with her after the performance I saw, so I got a good look at her. If she is pudgy, I ought to be dead. As for sh...

To be fair, I was 15 and my only other exposure to "Evita" thus far had been the movie (which I don't hate), the Tony Award clips of the original cast, and the Premiere American Recording. It could have been awful, but I wouldn't have known. If it was bad, I'm lucky I didn't know any better, and was able to enjoy the show and my memories of it. Now I'm off to read the aforementioned thread & taint my memories!

An old friend of mine from high school is in the ensemble of this production. I'm looking forward to reading some more detailed reviews of this later, but it's a shame what's been posted already isn't enthusiastic.

LOL, I really was joking about wanting to mount a copy-cat production. I have more important things to focus on right now, like school and finding a job. But that's all good to know, just in case. I should have been clearer: I did mean the physical production, like sets, lighting and such. I wouldn't ever try to analyze every bit of blocking from one production of a show to another. I mean it would be so...no! I would have sworn the stage deck lit up. I remember moving from the balcony to an ...

I saw a touring production of "Evita" back in 2005 (?) starring Kathy Voytko (who I thought was AWESOME, and who was so sweet all the way from the stage door to the crosswalk). The program stated that the production was a recreation of Hal Prince's original staging. It's my understanding that most productions which have recreated Prince's staging have slightly modified it for various reasons (space, budget, et al). I was just wondering if anyone here knows what (if anything at all) was differ...

I know the entire title song, during the descent to the Phantom's lair, is pre-recorded because the real Phantom & Christine have to...well, I'm not sure exactly WHAT they're doing, but it involves disappearing through the mirror & getting into the boat off stage while doubles lip-sync on the ramp. I wouldn't be surprised if the Phantom's voiceovers are pre-recorded, but the only song I know for certain is the one I mentioned above.

It's not on Broadway yet, but I have played the second-act title number from "Rebecca" far too many times on repeat just to hear Mrs. Danvers' BIG note at the end again, and again. There's a video of the Stuttgart cast performing songs from the show on what appears to be the facade of a big, pretty building (is it the theatre?). In that video, Pia Douwes hits that note like it's NOTHING. I don't know how to describe it. When I listen to the original cast recordings, I can tell it's the money ...

Doesn't FUNNY GIRL have quite a few in-one scenes and songs? At least, in my high school production, it seemed the scenes for Mrs. Brice, Eddie, and the ladies served mostly to cover big set changes. Anyone know if they were planned that easy, or came later in the original production’s process? I also remember a few scenes in MARY POPPINS being done this way, obviously to give the massive house set time to shift.

"Oh and note the term "Angel of Music" is also NOT from the book. It was a lyric for the show." By what means indeed but that of music? He knew Christine's story. After her father's death, she acquired a distaste of everything in life, including her art. She went through the Conservatoire like a poor soulless singing-machine. And, suddenly, she awoke as though through the intervention of a god. The Angel of Music appeared upon the scene! She sang Margarita in Faust and triumphed!... The Angel...

I was in high school when the movie came out, and I was one of the only theatre kids who didn't know the show. When I saw it I thought "This is it? This is what everyone has been raving about all these years?" It wasn't until I saw the live recording of the final Broadway cast that I was able to appreciate the show for what it was, and actually grow to like certain parts of a show I had hated for so long after seeing the movie.

The Fox Theatre in Atlanta uses a local publication called "Encore Atlanta." It usually has an artsy photo of some part of the Fox on the cover, but the last two times Phantom came through it featured a show-specific cover. I believe the cover in 2005 featured the shattered logo and a big mask, and in 2009, the normal small mask in the corner of blackness. [end details nobody asked for]