Howard McGillin

[HamletWasBipolar]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:31pm

Um, what the hell happened during the generous 12 bars of Phantom that he sung....???

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:33pm

The orchestra was ahead of him.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:38pm

Poor guy. Did that seem under-rehearsed or what?! I still adore POTO just the same. :)

~Roz

[Fabrizio2]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:41pm

i thought he just messed up

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:43pm

No, I think the applause drowned out the beginning of the song and he didn't hear it. They should have waited for him. That was ridiculous.

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 10:45pm

Mr. McGillin did not screw up. The orchestra did.

*Calls Union - asks for 80 new musicians*

[Blanche]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:44pm

By the way, when then they introduced Howard they should have introduced Jennifer Hope Wills who was playing Christine. I thought that was a bit rude. She is playing the role on Broadway, after all. And if you haven't seen her Christine, you should. She's amazing.

[Elphabuff2]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:51pm

I don't think the orchestra had anything to do with the flub. It seems like he was singing an abridged version arranged for this performance and forgot to..."abridge" it. He went right on into "Touch me, trust me..." when it seems this version called for him to skip to the last line of the song. That's just what I got from it.

BTW, Jennifer Hope Wills along with Howard. I dunno' how that was overlooked. That's just my take.

[Johnnytoc]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:54pm

Was that Jennifer Hope Wills with him? I wasn't sure.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:55pm

That was Jennifer Hope Wills, she announced she'd be at the Tonys on her website.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/11/06 at 11:58pm

The orchestra was not live. It was pre-recorded. I was at the rehearsal this morning. He got it right then, but there was a sound problem with his very last note.

What happened was Howard kept singing and forgot the song cut to a new section. It was his fault, but understandable. After singing the role for thousands of performances and many years, the guy must be like a robot.

[Tag]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 1:00am

Why would the orchestra not be live in this case?

Also the make-up around his mouth totally did not registar well on televison.

[Bialyhoos22]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 1:08am

Howard McGillin is easily one of the greatest Phantoms ever to grace the stage and is the consumate performer; I felt terrible for him as he had no control over the proceedings. If they had used the live orchestra, they could've vamped until he came in, but he was already in trouble from the minute the sound operator pressed play - indeed a real shame. Surely he deserved a far better set-up to showcase his dynamic turn as the Phantom. I wasn't too thrilled with the entire Prince tribute either, they both deserved much more. All things considered, I thought he recovered as well as anyone could have.
Updated On: 6/12/06 at 01:08 AM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 5:52am

They really should have said "Howard Mc Gillin and Jennifer Hope Wills" , it was funny that Mc Gillin and Mitchell were in Prince's Kiss of the Spider Woman together along Vanessa Williams.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 6:08am

hehe, muscle. Gee I wonder how you knew that?

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 6:59am

Aside from his mess up, I'm so happy he got to sing! Beautiful voice!

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 7:05am

I wish I could've seen KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN. Such a great score!

[rocky2428]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 7:13am

"What happened was Howard kept singing and forgot the song cut to a new section"

Actually, if you listen to it again (everyone taped it, right? you can hear two measures at the beginning that appeared to be an intro, but should have been the start of the song. If McGillin had started singing immediately, everything would've fit fine. The fact that he came in two measures late meant that the music changed while Howard was still trying to sing the verse.

Just clarifying that it wasn't a case of forgetting the new section, but a case of starting late against pre-taped music.

[AlmostFamous]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 7:16am

I found it rude they didn't introduce Jennifer too! I definately agree with Blanche...if you haven't seen her in the role, you should!

Howard tried to fix what went wrong...but it just wasn't working...I didn't think it was that bad though

[Linds]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 8:00am

Mitchell was still introducing him as the music started the "floating, falling..." bit. If Howard was supposed to enter there, then it wasn't his fault as the recording was well ahead of him. So rocky I agree with you, except that by the looks of it if Howard entered on time he would have had to sing over Mitchell.

Either way I feel quite terrible for him.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 8:34am

It was an unfortunate timing issue. I feel bad.

[Born2cthelightsofbway]

Posted: 6/12/06 at 9:13am

I know, I felt really bad too, but I wasn't sure at the time who made the mistake. Either way, Mr. McGillin still did great. Truthfully though, I think that they should have given him a little more to sing.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 3:42pm

The worst part is that he had to stand there for over a minute on stage staring out at 6000 of us while they went to commercial. Of course he knew what happened.

Music started too early, he jumped to catch up, and they dropped the score at the end because it wouldn't have fit the final note.

I felt awful for him, but it's not the end of the world. He will continue to get ovations every night at the Majestic.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 4:07pm

aww Howards awesome, he did a great job!

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 4:22pm

Howard can save anything! I'm sorry about the screw up, but love Howard nonetheless!