New POTO casting for Broadway and US Tour- Page 2

[phantom phan]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 8:13am

Oh Man, I don't even want to THINK that Hugh Panaro will not renew.

Any word on TMG and Rebecca Pitcher? How do they compare to John Cudia and Sandra/Julie, respectively?

[jynni]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 11:18am

With Rebecca Pitcher, people either seem to love her or hate her. I personally thought she was awful. Over-operatic chipmunk was a description I read once and from what I saw of her, it fits.

That said - there are many who love her, so it's really just a matter of opinion and preference. When I saw Julie Hanson she was excellent but I've read that others have not liked her.

My fav Christine is Kimilee Bryant. I saw her and Brad Little on the tour about seven-eight years ago and the two of them brought the house down.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 11:33am

"I definitely hope they get a new Christine, preferably one who is under 45...." --> Glad I'm not the only one who thought that.

And I'm sad. I LOVED Cudia as Raoul.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:10pm

Peter as Piangi?

That's gotta be funny. I never saw him as an opera singer I guess. He is my favorite Marius, however (15 recordings, 7 shows - and he remains my favorite).

I'd rather him be Raoul on Bway.

My luck, I'd never see him. I've seen POTO twice on bway - both times with the Raoul understudy and the marksman understudy (5 years apart).

Updated On: 5/16/05 at 01:10 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 1:39pm

I actually liked Sandra Joseph--however, she's not really the right physical type, and is getting a bit old for it...I first saw her perform the role like, ten years ago!

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 3:13pm

As long as Hugh's not going anywhere then I'm fine =-D

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 3:30pm

Peter is such an awesome Raoul! I hope he gets to become principle Raoul soon. And he's done opera before, right? Wasn't he in La Boheme for a while?

Really? Sandra renewed her contract for another year? Wow...she's been with POTO for a LONG time.

"As long as Hugh's not going anywhere then I'm fine..": My sentiments exactly. LOL! :)

~Rosalynn

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 3:34pm

I saw Sandra Joseph play Christine...exactly 6 years ago on Broadway. With Jeff Keller, Larry Wayne Morbitt, and the incredible Hugh Panro in the same roles. Hugh was the one performer I remembered vividly from when I saw it, Sandra did not impress me that much. I was, however, very impressed with Julie Hanson when I saw the show back in March. I'm sad Cudia is leaving, is was a very good Raoul.

[jflynn]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 5:01pm

Saw it for the first time yesterday in Boston. Rebecca Pitcher was great, I thought. Gary was so-so for the first half, but definitely redeemed himself through the second act and during the final sequence. Saw TMG's understudy (Geoff Packard) and wouldn't have been able to tell it was an understudy. The best of all, though, was definitely Patti Davidson-Gorbea as Madame Giry. Great stage presence, although that might just come with the role...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/16/05 at 5:50pm

"And he's done opera before, right? Wasn't he in La Boheme for a while?"

Yeah, he covered Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann's Boheme in San Francsico and on Broadway, but it was his first opera.

[phantom phan]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 9:52am

Does anyone know if there's been any word yet on Hugh Panaro renewing his contract?

[Lori]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 4:13pm

Jynni I agree with you about Rebecca, she annoyed me. And I have to say I didn't love TMG as Raoul either. Gary was a terrific Phantom though.

I had the pleasure of meeting Brad Little a few weeks ago in London when he was a featured artist at the "Night of 1000 Voices" at the Royal Albert Hall. He was absolutely lovely to talk to, very friendly and very excited about singing at the RAH (his Mom and Dad were there with him as well as his wife). I too, had seen him on the National Tour of POTO, he was great! When I told him I was seeing the National Tour in Boston the following week he heaped praises on Gary Mauer and I was pleased that he was right!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 8:12pm

For those of you that asked or are wondering. Julie Hanson's final Broadway performance as Christine will be July 9th (matinee show). Hope you have a chance to catch her one last time! :)

~Rosalynn

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 8:46pm

You know, I saw Gary Mauer in Boston just a couple of weeks ago when I came home for the summer. I am a self-proclaimed Phantom PHANATIC and, like so many of us, my understanding of the uh story of POTO has become something dramatically different than just the musical throughout the years, but I always still love coming back to it. It's where my obsession began, hehe. But Gary just... didn't do it for me. Hugh was AWESOME when I saw Phantom the last time on Bway (you don't want to know how many times I've seen it...) and I had heard good things about Gary but... alas. I was not very impressed. I felt that he played menacing far too much and when he got to the emotional parts (and ESPECIALLY when he was saying 'Christine, Christine' any of the oh 1000 times he says it in the show--and I do believe this man added even more) he overacted to make it almost laughable. When he fell--I should say collapsed--onto the floor after Christine took his mask, I actually did laugh. Only loud enough for my aunt--the woman responsible for my obsession--to look over at me and smile too though. I really hope Hugh stays on Broadway. I would like to see him again.

About Rebecca Pitcher... I'm not entirely enthused about her joining the Bway cast, mainly because I think I've already seen her 3 times on tour--has that lady been with the show a long time or is it just me? Now, I love Phantom, but as an actor, wouldn't you want to branch out and do other things? Many of these women seem to be using up the last of their youths playing Christine when they should be pursuing other roles before they have to stop. That may have sounded mean. I don't know what I'm trying to say. My mind's all crazy--does everyone know it's only FIFTY MORE DAYS UNTIL HP & HBP?!?! ...Well, since my lil banner says that, you probably do...

Okay, signing out now.