Last note of "Phantom of the Opera"

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:04pm

My music theory teacher told us that Christine doesn't sing that very last high note (I believe it's an F or F#) in the title song of "Phantom of the Opera". He said that there's a button the sound board operator pushes which already has a pre-recorded Christine singing the note and that's what you hear coming out of the speakers. He said that the note is too difficult to sing every night. Does anyone know about this?!

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:07pm

I thought it was an E.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:09pm

Does anyone know about this?!

Yes.
http://www.phantomoftheopera.com/modules/icontent/index.php?page=8

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:13pm

Ahhh. Okay. Thank you!

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:39pm

Yeah, I've always been sure that the whole song is not sung live.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:44pm

It is an E.


There's a lot in Phantom that's pre-recorded, HA.

[Gingersnap]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 9:47pm

There are rare times when they do some of the pre-recorded stuff live...I was lucky enough to be there one night recently when they did and it was amazing.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 10:27pm

it depends, sometimes they use a click track. but that works for any broadway show.

[secret-soul]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 11:09pm

Actually, most of that song in particular is pre-recorded. Once Christine goes through the mirror, you don't see the real Phantom and Christine again until they come around the corner in the boat. The other 4 (I think it's 4) couples you see are fakes and the vocals are pre-recorded and lip-synched to. But once you get to "those who have seen your face draw back in fear/I am the mask you wear/ it's me they hear" it's all them. That final note is pre-recorded when a woman is cast as Christine or a possible Christine u/s. Before each performance, whoever Christine is will tell the SM whether or not she'll be able to carry it. It's her choice. If she wants to (which I've witnessed Sandra Joseph do) she will, if not (which I've also witnessed SJ do), it's the sound guy's button.

[ainsleyconstancea]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 9:15am

edenespinosalover said: "My music theory teacher told us that Christine doesn't sing that very last high note (I believe it's an F or F#) in the title song of "Phantom of the Opera". He said that there's a button the sound board operator pushes which already has a pre-recorded Christine singing the note and that's what you hear coming out of the speakers. He said that the note is too difficult to sing every night. Does anyone know about this?!"

Yes, your music theory teacher is correct. In the title song of "Phantom of the Opera," there is a high note (typically an F or F#) that Christine Daaé is supposed to sing. However, due to the technical demands and the difficulty of consistently hitting that note during live performances, a pre-recorded version of Christine's voice is often played through the sound system for that specific note. The soundboard operator triggers the pre-recorded note at the appropriate moment to ensure a seamless and consistent performance.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 9:47am

I have also heard that it's up to the performer playing Christine. It is pre-recorded and then-as previously said-she lets them know if she can or not. I didn't know the whole song is recorded though...

[defenses]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 12:59pm

Wow! This is a very old thread but it’s fascinating to see that some things don’t change. The title track you hear is recorded until “sing my angel of music” then again for the high note. I’m pretty sure the actors usually sing over it (at least it sounded like they did when I was close), and sometimes you can clearly hear the Christine hit that note at the end over the recording. 

(They stopped using the doubles, though, so the Phantom and Christine you would see were the “real” ones.) 

[Tag]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 2:50pm

Sometime in the last few years didn't they cut Christine & Phantom going down the stairs into the floor, and added Giry & the ballet girls crossing to cover time so that the doubles weren't needed?  ...Just something else they changed to sh*t on Prince's legacy.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 3:11pm

I always remembered it as being prerecorded (the title song itself, not just that note) due to the technical aspects of the boat being very loud and able to pickup on the mics, on top of the doubles and the final note. 

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 3:18pm

Tag said: "Sometime in the last few years didn't they cut Christine & Phantom going down the stairs into the floor, and added Giry & the ballet girls crossing to cover time so that the doubles weren't needed? ...Just something else they changed to sh*t on Prince's legacy."

That's what I thought..I sat close enough to see that the actors were not doubles or anything. They gave them enough time to do the whole cross. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 4:07pm

Tag said: "Sometime in the last few years didn't they cut Christine & Phantom going down the stairs into the floor, and added Giry & the ballet girls crossing to cover time so that the doubles weren't needed? ...Just something else they changed to sh*t on Prince's legacy."

If I recall correctly, the doubles that did the onstage cross and down the stairs into the "basement" were cut when Emilie Kouatchou, and the reason I had heard was that they didn't have enough black actresses in the company to do both that cross and the travelator crosses.

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 5/30/23 at 4:21pm

defenses said: "Wow! This is a very old thread but it’s fascinating to see that some things don’t change. The title track you hear is recorded until “sing my angel of music” then again for the high note. I’m pretty sure the actors usually sing over it (at least it sounded like they did when I was close), and sometimes you can clearly hear the Christine hit that note at the end over the recording.

(They stopped using the doubles, though, so the Phantom and Christine you would see were the “real” ones.)"

Just for clarity, Christine doesn't sing at all during the song. (Not that some haven't sung anyways, but the whole song is recorded for her.)

And for the poster that said "I have also heard that it's up to the performer playing Christine" - that's also not how they do it. It's the same thing night after night for consistency, so it's always recorded unless the tracks go down, which is VERY rare, especially once theatrical sound technology got further along. I'm not even sure that happened once the show got into the 2010's and they upgraded their sound system.

[mememe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 8:07pm

Tag said: "Sometime in the last few years didn't they cut Christine & Phantom going down the stairs into the floor, and added Giry & the ballet girls crossing to cover time so that the doubles weren't needed? ...Just something else they changed to sh*t on Prince's legacy."

Well, to be fair it’s Gillian Lynne’s work in this instance but yes.

[ainsleyconstance]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 8:26am

Nice!

[ainsleyconstance]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 8:27am

I like that

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 9:48am

I think the “ask Christine if she wants to sing it” question is in regards to whether they use their voice on the final note or the super-treated quasi-synthesized sample of Sarah Brightman’s final note.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 11:26am

It wasn't always pre-recorded. But it must've been changed at some point in those early years, since Dale Kristien insisted on singing live each night in the LA production, so the switch to pre-recording must have happened in the early nineties at the latest.

The Phantom's voiceovers were also live, and similarly I'm not sure when that changed, either.