Phantom Closing? — Page 18

bdn223 said: "Ah you misunderstand why tickets to the final performance are invite only. It is precisely so that it would allow for the show to extend without having to deal with the headache of refunds and exchanges for persons who thought they bought tickets to the final performance."

Hey all,

Just got back from a few days in New York where I saw Phantom three times. It was my 83rd, 84th, and 85th times seeing the show at the Majestic. I have 5 more shows left : (

A few thoughts:

-the first show I saw on Wednesday had a "clap starter" which grew quite annoying as the show went on. At first I thought well ok, now that the show is closing, every audience is going to be rapturous and adoring. Fine. But then the clapper started as soon as the Phantom *started* to sing the last note of MOTN. So by the time he got to the end of the note, which is a beautiful moment, the Majestic Theater was a Lower East Side rock club at 3am with all the hooting and hollering. Even the scene after Masquerade, with Giry explaining the Phantom's origins, got emotional, overblown applause! It really interrupted the flow of the show and it was quite obvious that the obnoxious clap starter was egging everybody on. Thankfully , the other two shows had zero obnoxious clapping, to the point that not even the chandelier rising or the staircase reveal got any applause.

-I got to see Ted Keegan go on as the Phantom one day and as Piangi the next! I though that was so cool. His Phantom was quite good, but his Piangi was not strong, especially with the "your army HAS come home!" line.

Nehal Joshi is the new M. Andre and let's just say he really hams up the scene where he has to introduce the ballet during Il Muto. The audience eats it up and I know a lot of that is Seth adding SO MUCH UNNECESSARY EXTRA HUMOR to the Il Muto ballet....but it is too much. By the time that scene is over, all tension is totally lost and there is no longer any horror to the ballerinas being scared; Seth restaged it strictly for laughs only.

-Got to see a few mistakes! When Emilie pulled off the Phantom's mask and hair, she dropped the mask. Yesterday, the Phantom never appeared in Christine's dressing room mirror/the lighting cue didn't work, so they simply opened the mirror much earlier. It worked perfectly today. When Carrington Valmont, who was on as Firmin, sat in the chair at the big table at the top of Notes, he was kind of gleefully spinning (not complete circles) the chair and the curtain got stuck on the chair and for a minute I thought he was gonna pull the whole damn curtain down because he did not see that the curtain was snagged and he was so into twisting the chair around. Very odd! Then when he got up, all of these papers and letters fell to the floor under the big table.

Today, I sat in the front row so I had a good view of the pit during the show. Now I can't remember if it was the bassoon or the clarinet player, but one of them stuck his fingers in his ears and put his head down on his knees before the fire explosions at the end of Wishing. I wonder if the gas lines somehow make a loud noise for the pit players? Nobody else in the orchestra reacted at all. He also plugged his ears for the first gunshot, and I felt bad that he had to play for the second gunshot so he couldn't cover his ears when I knew he wanted to. Or maybe he didn't hear it over the orchestra playing.

I also thought it was interesting that the actor playing the marksman in the pit can't leave the pit until well into Don Juan Triumphant when there's a break in the music.

Seeing Emilie twice this week and Julia once, Emilie is definitely the more popular Christine. I know I can't go by the audience with the psycho clapper, but still.


So that's about it I think. I scolded myself anytime I caught myself looking at my phone before the show started or during intermission. I wanted to spend as much time as possible admiring the statuary on the proscenium, etc. Something I never noticed til this week is that there are carvings on the walls of the Majestic Theater at the very top of the side walls that are almost exact replicas of the candelabras that rise from the stage. Surely those carvings are original to the theater? I've always thought it was cool that the carvings in the box seats look like Degas ballerinas. Whoever has to get off all that black paint has quite a job ahead of them next spring.

One final note: all three audiences were PERFECTLY BEHAVED. And I sat mid orchestra, front row center orchestra, and mid-front mezzanine. I sat around little kids, talkative teenagers, foreign tourists, etc. Nobody talked during the show. NOBODY had a phone out during the show! Nobody ate loudly or clinked ice all over the place. Probably the three best audiences I've ever seen.

Updated On: 12/31/22 at 01:50 AM

In response to the last 2 comments i was also at this past Wed matinee which was my #92 performance and my #1 for my 6-year-old daughter which was so special :)

So, upon getting there my wife noticed immediately Ben was out AGAIN!!! lol She loves him so much and her last 4 performances has missed him, which after MOTN she was won over by Ted lol, he has gotten better with age, I've seen him when he was the principal Phantom over 20 years ago, and i really like the old school Phantom he brings to the stage.

Emelie is a good Christine, shes grew into the role nicely, she is not my fav but shes def very pleasent.

Paul is a much better Raoul than Phantom so its nice seeing him take over until John Riddle comes back.

Nehal since he started has brought such a fresh spark to the role of Andre, him and Craig are such a great pair. Carlton is great as usual and Raquel is just so AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS!!!! I have such a crush on her lol.

Anybody see the show recently please write a little review, i love to hear what others think :)

Ive been def noticing that trend alot

Ted Jeremy and Greg are great but Ben has become 1 of my top 3 Phantoms and ive seen over 20 diff ones at the Majestic lol

Phantour said: "Speaking of Ben Crawford being out of the show, he is on vacation this week. I believe he was supposed to perform yesterday, but Jeremy Stolle filled in for him. For the rest of the week, the role will be split between Greg Mills, Paul A. Schaefer and Ted Keegan."

Any idea when Ben will be back or where to find that info? Have tickets for Mon Jan 9 and would love to see him.

Phantom4ever said: "the clapper started as soon as the Phantom *started* to sing the last note of MOTN."

I HATE that.

Phantom4ever said: "I got to see Ted Keegan go on as the Phantom one day and as Piangi the next! I though that was so cool. His Phantom was quite good, but his Piangi was not strong, especially with the "your army HAS come home!" line.

I'm quite surprised by your reaction to Ted Keegan. I thought he was easily one of the weakest Phantoms I'd ever seen (right up there with James Barbour). In fact, I found him so disappointing that I would probably request a ticket refund/reschedule if I arrived to find that he was on as Phantom.

Phantom4ever said: "Nehal Joshi is the new M. Andre and let's just say he really hams up the scene where he has to introduce the ballet during Il Muto."

I am a big fan of Bradley Dean and I was disappointed when it was announced that he was leaving, but I've seen Nehal Joshi three times now and I absolutely love him. I passed him on 8th Avenue one afternoon and had to stop to tell him how much I enjoyed his performance.

Phantom4ever said: "When Carrington Valmont, who was on as Firmin, sat in the chair at the big table at the top of Notes, he was kind of gleefully spinning..."

I don't recall ever seeing Firmin sit in that chair.

Phantom4ever said: "I also thought it was interesting that the actor playing the marksman in the pit can't leave the pit until well into Don Juan Triumphant when there's a break in the music."

Why can't he leave?

Phantom4ever said: "When Carrington Valmont, who was on as Firmin, sat in the chair at the big table at the top of Notes, he was kind of gleefully spinning..."

I don't recall ever seeing Firmin sit in that chair.

It was at the VERY top of Notes (Mystery! After gala night..) Normally he gets right up for some reason he sat in the chair and spun around with the curtain getting more and more stuck. I was seconds away from yelling "you're gonna pull the curtain down!" lol. VERY bizarre.

Phantom4ever said: "I also thought it was interesting that the actor playing the marksman in the pit can't leave the pit until well into Don Juan Triumphant when there's a break in the music."

Why can't he leave?

My guess is that would have to walk past some of the violinists who might hit him as they're playing.

Did anyone catch the shade Patti threw on the NYE special? I lived.

YvanEhtNioj said: "Did anyone catch the shade Patti threw on the NYE special? She ate that."

I didn't and I should resist asking since this will only erupt into a needless debate, but she through shade against POTO?

What has she been in (recently) that lasted?

Does she think no one should be doing Evita or Les Mis anymore?

I think we've all learned to not take LuPone seriously, It would have been bigger news if she had said something positive about Phantom--or really almost any Broadway show.

And to be clear, she was involved in the "competition" during the 1987-1988 season but not because of Into the Woods, but because of Anything Goes. She should remember that ALW's wife famously was not even nominated in her category (best actress in a musical) and Joanna Gleason from Into the Woods won that award over Patti LuPone. Additionally, Anything Goes ran from October 1987 to September 1989, slightly less than Phantom's January 1988 to April 2023 : )

absalom said: "Phantour said: "Speaking of Ben Crawford being out of the show, he is on vacation this week. I believe he was supposed to perform yesterday, but Jeremy Stolle filled in for him. For the rest of the week, the role will be split between Greg Mills, Paul A. Schaefer and Ted Keegan."

Any idea when Ben will be back or where to find that info? Have tickets for Mon Jan 9 and would love to see him."

Since Monday begins their new week (being dark on Sundays), I would imagine he would be back. However, with his current attendance record, I couldn't be 100 percent positive about it.