POTO ending

[yarn769fink034]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 12:54pm

I have sceen the show twice and both times the Phantom has disappered(sp)at the end,but a teacher told me that sometimes they kill the Phantom...WFT is up with that?

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 1:24pm

NEVER, the crowd never kills the Phantom in ALW's production.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 1:51pm

Crowd doesn't kill the Phantom.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 2:03pm

They determine how impolite the audience has been at each performance, and that decides whether or not there is a bludgeoning.

[Juliet2170]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 4:01pm

wait what? i have never heard that rumor

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 4:18pm

ah, yes. sometimes the ensemble gets to the layer a little early and they are forced to slay him right there live on stage.

[Jenny1284]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 4:24pm

There's a 1925 silent film version with Lon Chaney, and in that movie, the mob does kill the Phantom. (So I've been told, I haven't seen the movie yet.) Maybe your teacher was referring to that, or maybe she confused the two.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 5:47pm

Meg Giry grabs his mask off of the chair, hunts him down, and cuts his throat with the mask's sharp edge.

This occurs only in Wednesday matinee performances.

[beacon1]

Posted: 5/4/05 at 5:48pm

LOL

*envisions Hugh Panaro on those nights... "Uh oh..." *

[Sant]

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:50am

That only happens every once in a while. That's when they have to change the actor to play the leading role. They kill off the actor at the end of their contract so they won't reveal how the disappearing is done...

Seriously, there is a musical PHANTOM which is based on the same book The Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux. PHANTOM is composed by Maury Yeston and in that musical The Phantom dies in the end. Maybe your teacher has seen that show and mixed them up by mistake.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:06pm

ok the Phantom does not get killed! Your teacher is wrong!!!

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:19pm

When Meg Giry removes the Phantom's cloak, only his mask is there. It's left up to the audience to interpret what happened to him.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:38pm

HE falls through a hole in the chair - you can see him throw up the blanket.

The hole was made by Christine...

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:45pm

Yes, the blanket isn't supposed to be part of the special effect. You watch him cover himself in the blanket, then Meg Giry comes and tears the blanket off of him and there is nothing left but his mask.

In the special features for the film's DVD, the magic consultant for the original production said that his original idea was to have Meg Giry tear off the blanket and the mask would be floating in mid-air, but Hal Prince said no.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:54pm

Nope, he's still in the chair, actually. He doesn't fall through it.

Notice how thick the chair is -- he actually retracts into it. If Meg sat in the chair, she'd be on top of his lap.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:03pm

When they say "in the chair", I think they mean actually sitting on the chair. He retracts into the chair, so he is no longer "in the chair."

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:18pm

the phantom never dies. though one time i saw it and the chair didn't work. so he kept the black cape over himself then meg giry picked up the wedding veil that christine threw.

[Sally]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:09am

<< HE falls through a hole in the chair - you can see him throw up the blanket.>>

That would be quite a special effect

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:30am

haha, it would be!

I am sure they have planned what would happen if the chair doesn't work.

I wonder why Hal said no to the flyinf mask...

[rawleygirl]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:34am

Sometimes they send the Phantom to prison, where he is gang-raped by the chorus of Irma La Douce.

[neocomposer]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:37am

I think the flying mask would have been too "magical" or whimsical for the ending of the show. Its supposed to be a little more dark, but really just bittersweet, because we know the phantom's life sucks, but Christine and Raoul are both free.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:48am

I think you basically got it neocomposer, with just a little difference in my thinking. The ending is bittersweet, but it's more for the Phantom than just his life sucks. Christine has empowered him to go on through life without the mask. That's the significance of Meg picking up the mask at the end. Also, well some of this I kind of interpreted from a couple things, the movie, a couple of books, but I've decided I like my interpretation: also when she gives him the ring back and says nothing, I once thought it just kind of bitchy of her, but now I realized/decided that since it technically was Raoul's ring to her she certainly could have kept it but she gave it back to the Phantom to reinforce what she told/sang to him that he is not alone.

And I really love the idea further explored in the movie that he always had a piece of her and while she was Raoul's on earth, perhaps she's with the Phantom in death.

Updated On: 5/7/05 at 01:48 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:56am

Raoul. O before u.

[BroadwayBallyBoo]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:09pm

When I saw Phantom in NY with Crawford in it. The end he gets into the chair and disappears only the mask it left for meg to find no killing. Maybe in the new movie they kill the phantom I have not seen it yet also there is a sword fight.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 1:28pm

The sword fight between the Phantom and Raoul happens when Christine goes to her father's grave. No one dies during it.

The Phantom doesn't die during the movie, either.