Phantom to change to "re-staged" production in flagship productions?

It keeps popping up on one of the fb groups I'm on that employees of Her Majesty were told the production is revamping to the "restaged" production. I know the recent  ill fated UK tour had aspects of both the original and the restaged productions. Back in April, I had a q&a event with a bunch of former US restaged tour cast members(one of the reasons why I basically got into broadway) and they were saying rumors were going around that the broadway production would get the updates the UK tour had. A good chunk of the former cast on there had also done Broadway, London, the Music Box tour, and one of them even did the RAH concert. It was interesting hearing them talk about learning both productions. (Here's the link to the recording if anybody is interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtuR-7N9toc&t=2528s)

 

i've never seen the brilliant original(besides the RAH recording and bootlegs)  as I was hoping to this summer before corona happened. Somebody said on fb that the reason they are doing this is to not pay the Bjornson, Prince, and Lynne estates. I remember the whole uproar on Les Mis (which I've only seen the restaged production on broadway and on tour) last year and Trevor Nunn and John Carid are still alive . I honestly think as a history major that things should just be preserved with slight tech/safety updates.

EDIT: Forgot to add that Scott Ambler the choreographer and  Paul Brown the set designer  of the restaged tour are also deceased.

Updated On: 6/20/20 at 09:51 AM

Phantom4ever said: "Do you think they would make an official announcement about it or just kind of let it happen?"

Somebody  said to expect announcement "soon"

God I hope not. Cameron Mackintosh's "spectacular new production" was a hot mess. The whole design looked terrible and cheap, and Laurence Connor's direction was terrible (as it almost always is). I saw the tour and found it to be ghastly.

Unbelievable.

Cameron did it for Les Miz and did not care at all if it upset fans. 

Here is the rumor posted on a theater fan site in the UK:

http://theatrefan.co.uk/rumour-the-phantom-of-the-opera-original-production-to-be-replaced/?fbclid=IwAR3SP63ghgPH-OthQLE69Jn7gYUlA2E2K4MNWlC4Q7pXiO8ji76mbayBPxk

This is about the West End production specifically. 

There's obviously nothing that can be done now. I hope everyone who posts about how Phantom needs to be updated is happy now. You're getting your update. 

Jenn........girl.........if it doesn't happen immediately but does still happen, I would probably do a Thursday to Saturday trip and see the original show 5 times over 3 days and then never step foot in the Majestic again. Until the new show that starts once the Cheap Phantom closes. 

I have seen both productions, the original 7 - 8 times, the restaged version twice.  As is often the case with a re-thinking, i thought there were a couple of things the revival improved upon the original.  The visual image of the chandelier as you leave the theater (I thought it was so mesmerizing that I took a picture to remember it) is one of them; another is a staging of the number where the 5-6 lead characters sing about the series of letters.  I just felt it was a better number.  I also thought that -- had I not seen the original -- I would have thought even more of the title number, which in its own right was done excellently; however, when it is compared to the original goose-bump inducing staging when the candles come out of the water (preposterous, but resulting in some of the most beautiful stage images I have ever seen), it pales in comparison, leading one to think 'why did they do that.'  I also recall that Masquerade was staged differently, but I can't remember whether i though it was bad, good or great.  I do know that the original number was also visually stunning, even though it took about 3 seconds to realize that there were a lot of mannequins on stage.

I am all for re-stagings -- the recent staging of Oklahoma turned for me a previously annoying and almost unwatchable show with great music into one of the best nights in the theatre in decades.  I have seen three other versions of the Les Mis staging, and thought all versions were outstanding.  I have to wonder, however, why one would feel a need to re-stage one of the most iconic moments in the longest running show in London (musical only) or Broadway history.  I would prefer that they take an objective look at moments that they believe truly excel the original production, and interpolate those into the current Broadway and London versions.  That will freshen it a bit, without removing altering / the moments that make Phantom Phantom.

I think this whole thing was blown out of proportion. If Cameron Mackintosh was set on not paying royalties or something of the kind he wouldn't have sent a brand new production of "the brilliant original" on the road not even 6 months ago.

 

Also, I doubt they would just let the show go without any fanfarre at all. ALW, most of all, must have at least a certain amount of power over the London production.

Updated On: 6/20/20 at 03:23 PM

Phantom4ever said: "Sparks, that was a revised production too. It wasn’t the brilliant original."

It was basically the original with a few revisions to make it easy for touring (like the chandelier), wasn't it? I must admit I never got to actually see it. However, it still used the original set and costume design, choreography (and I must assume) direction. Even if they modified it, royalties are still due, which would make the argument of "re-staging" it to avoid paying royalties kinda empty, wouldn't it?

 

As someone who has seen the show 100 times or more (and that's not hyperbole), this change would end my relationship with Phantom. Gutting the Prince/Bjornson masterpiece and installing Cameron Mackintosh's "re-imagined" U.S. Tour production in Her Majesty's Theatre and The Majestic would be an unforgivable sin. 

While first-time tourists in London and New York may account for a healthy slice of Phantom ticket-buyers, the show also enjoys an unusually large amount of repeat visits from theatregoers such as myself. Those whose first exposure to Phantom was the recent CamMack redesign may not care, and may even welcome such a change, but the vast majority of longtime aficionados who were introduced to the show via "the brilliant original" will almost certainly turn away.

As I've said before on this board, I have literally seen Phantom of the Opera at least once every time I've visited New York (which, pre-Covid-19, was typically 3-4 times per year) and London, including both the 25th and 30th anniversary performances in New York and two of the three Royal Albert Hall 25th anniversary performances. If this nightmare becomes reality, it's over. I predict that the show will limp along for a brief period and then close.

Goodbye, "Longest-Running-Musical-in-Broadway History".

Updated On: 6/21/20 at 09:44 AM