Phantom boo-boo's last night

[Marway44]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 4:36pm

Hi gang,

Last night I saw a rather interesting performance of Phantom. Now having seen the show well over a hundred times I know it like the back of my hand. First lets do the understudies though...Carlotta was played by Janet Saia, Firmin was played by John Kuther and Meg was Carly Blake Sebouhian. The understudies were just ok, with the exception of Janet. She was the perfect fierce Carlotta and had a terrific belt. John couldn't land the few comedic parts he had but he had a decent voice. Carly was not the nice higher pitched voice so Marni drowned her out in "Angel of Music". Same for John; he is a fine auctioneer but lacked the booming voice but he carried it better than Carly. Anyway Howard is not my favorite Phantom but he is servicable. Marni is my favorite Christine though. When she sings "WYWSHHA" she is just incredible!! And Tim is certainly not the best Raoul. Let's leave it at that.

So the first little boo-boo was when they announced the conductor. They announced "David Lai" and Kristen was on. I was in the first row behind her and the entire pit laughed and she said "well, this will be an intersting evening". And everything was fine until (SPOILER) Piangi's death scene. All was normal until Madame Giry is supposed to talk with Raoul and tell him she know's where they are. But this time, there was NO Madame Giry. Just Meg and Raoul. It happend so fast but Raoul had kind of a one sided conversation, a very short conversation. They waited for Madame Giry and she didn't show so Kristen speed up the music and Raoul yelled "Follow me". It was really wierd. Then Meg went left and Raoul went right. She is supposed to go right but she didn't follow him. She looked very confused as did Tim.

Kristen said it was the first time Rebecca missed a cue. Leila used to, but never Rebecca. And she did not look happy during curtain calls either, so something must have happened.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 5:14pm

Wait, is Rebecca Judd STILL playing Mme. Giry?! She's been doing it for what, 14 years now? Not that she's bad...

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 5:19pm

After reading that, you definitely need to find a new hobby. I suggest something outdoors in the fresh air.

Wow!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 5:56pm

Rebecca Judd only rejoined the Broadway company last February-ish, replacing Marilyn Caskey when she left to do Gypsy. How long did Rebecca tour before coming to Broadway?

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 6:01pm

Rebecca was a swing on tour a few years back and has been playing Madame Giry against since long runner Patti Davidson-Gorbea left sometime in 2006. Marilyn, I am guessing, will be back mid 2009 after Gypsy closes.

Janet Saia is a great Carlotta. She was actually the regular playing Carlotta on tour earlier this decade.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 6:09pm

I know I saw Rebecca in the final cast of the SF sit-down production, and that was Jan 1999.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 6:13pm

Wow. She must rival Leila Martin at this point for most performances in that role.

[Kev]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 9:22pm

I know I saw Rebecca in the final cast of the SF sit-down production, and that was Jan 1999.

And even before that, in the Third National Tour (she's in a Playbill I have, from when Grant Norman was the Phantom.)

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 9:26pm

"She was the perfect fierce Carlotta and had a terrific belt."

Why would you want a Carlotta to have (or at least use) a terrific belt?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/30/08 at 9:32pm

Spoilers?!


Who HASN'T seen the show?

[Marway44]

Posted: 12/1/08 at 12:13pm

While that is true theatrediva, if I didn't use the word "spolier" then everyone and their mother would be complaning that I didn't. And some peopole would just do it to get their rating up too.

by the way, I did neglect to mention that the house appeared to be full. It really is amazing that as alot of shows struggle and will soon be closing, Phantom still packs them in 20 years later. This includes having no big names. They just don't write classic shows like this anymore.

[LotteTBS138]

Posted: 12/1/08 at 3:53pm

>>Spoilers?!


Who HASN'T seen the show? <<

LOL!! What's next... Spoiler: Jesus dies at the end of JCS... Jean V dies at the end Les Mis...

but there is a discussion on another thread about how actors can last longer than a year. 14 years as Mme Giry?

[Fosse76]

Posted: 12/1/08 at 5:07pm

"by the way, I did neglect to mention that the house appeared to be full. It really is amazing that as alot of shows struggle and will soon be closing, Phantom still packs them in 20 years later. This includes having no big names. They just don't write classic shows like this anymore."

I wouldn't say Phantom "packsthem in" as you did. It's a holiday weekend, a lot of shows were full. However, during the weekday performances, Phantom is usually dead. The few times I was in the house during a performance the Mez was pretty empty as was rear orchestra. While it may still be profitable, it isn't really "packing them in."

[RoxieRose3]

Posted: 12/1/08 at 5:33pm

No.... they ARE packing them in. It has been at least 80% for weeks.