Phantom to change to "re-staged" production in flagship productions?- Page 19

[Tag]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 10:59am

cwilliams said: "Phantom's broadway site has been updated, the creative team section now includes the individuals involved in the new London version, not sure what that means, but I assume with only a few weeks left to go before opening, if the Broadway production was being scaled down it would have been reported on by now. I mean, that would be news worthy right?"

Uh oh.
Hold on tight folks.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 11:16am

This is from September 24th:

DJ Mike Borowski (@djmikeborowski) • Instagram photos and videos

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 2:19pm

If they do make changes, it won’t be now. There’s nowhere near enough time for them to do it, and also, I believe the UK theatre already needed refurbishment and the show overall is older and needed an update of some kind.

[Ella134]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 3:04pm

The creatives on that page are the London folks. Seth supervises both.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 9:59pm

A few things...

-the artwork on the Phantom Telecharge page now shows the updated London logo with the THE missing from the title. 

-The New York and the London do have the same updated creative team on the Phantom website. Ella, I understand Seth is involved in both productions, but why would they take the step of listing ALL of the creatives involved in replacing Hal, Maria, and Gillian on the New York page?  Doesn't that seem odd, unless they are planning to have the new creatives' work seen in New York rather soon?  Makes me curious about what will be in the Playbill.  And how off-putting to have Harold and Maria in the second row. 

-That photo from September 24th gives me a lot of hope for October 22. 

Don't know if you all have had a chance to see Ben Crawford's interview but a few things he said gave me pause and a couple things slightly terrified me:  First of all, the fact that they had to do the interview on the street, where they were constantly talking about how disruptive the sounds of the city were to the interview, rather than shooting inside the theater---anywhere, the lobby, the auditorium with the camera faced away from the stage--anything. The fact that they weren't in the theater felt like they were hiding something. Then when Richard Ridge asked about the rehearsal process, he said that "trucks are rolling things into the theater"  I was like DUDE!  you know the only thing on the minds of Phantom phans these days!  How can you say that TRUCKS are rolling stuff into the theater and not even explain what it was?  New sets? Old costumes fresh from dry cleaning? New dry ice? Sprite for the concession stand?  Come on!  Then Ben says that they put in a new HVAC system, and that they are still putting in a new sound system, which makes me wonder what happened to the 1 million dollar 2008 sound system? 

Then Ben's scariest comment of all "Everything is pretty much the same but there are LITTLE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES BECAUSE THEY'VE HAD TIME TO WORK ON THINGS."  

Huh?  Just to be clear, I echo everything Lot666 said earlier about safety updates etc.  If there is a way to have the lights shine in the same Gothic way they always have but with new tech, then go for it of course. But to update so that Cameron pays less to the Prince and Bjornson estate and the marketing team gets to use new phrases like "A Phantom for the 21st century" etc. then no, absolutely no. 

The little subtle changes to the London production seem to be endless. I just can't imagine what he's talking about?  

One last thing to Giantsinthesky. You mentioned the London sets being older, but they were installed mid 1986 and New York's were installed late 1987. Apparently the New York sets were looked after more effectively than the London sets?  

And as for reporting on the Broadway show getting downsized, CM and ALW totally botched that up in London that I wouldn't put it past them to just do it quietly in New York with no notice at all. 

I feel like it's only a matter of time though before this production is hacked to pieces and I hope they do announce a final date of the old show. 

 

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 10:22pm

I echo all of your concerns Phantom4ever! 

Surely there must be someone on this message board that has a connection to someone in the show that could put at least some of our fears to rest?

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 10:33pm

FANtomFollies said: "I just bought a ticket for Thursday, November 4th at 7pm. There isn't a matinee that day, so I'm wondering if anyone knows if I'll be seeing Meghan Picerno or Emilie Kouatchou as Christine?"

 

I have been trying to find out Emilie's schedule. I really want to see her. It still says "at certain performances" on the website.

 

[saxpower]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 10:50pm

As to the Ben Crawford interview,  BWW interviewed the cast of SIX outside the theatre as well.  Crawford's interview was entitled "Hangin' on 44th Street" while the SIX interview was "Hangin' on 47th Street"-  being outside the theatre may just be some sort of "hook" for the BWW interviews.

As to the "Creative" listings on the site- The first row is ALW, the two lyricists, CM, and RUG (both producer).  It doesn't seem too strange to have these folks listed first, so I don't mind Hal, Gillian, and Maria in the second row (I do question having the other person listed as director and the "adapted staging" credit before Maria and some other members of the original creative team (original lighting and sound design. co orchestrator, who I believe was the original musical director).   The question is what this paged looked like prior  to the shutdown. Some of these folks have a history with the NY production, and may well have already been listed.  With Hal, Gillian, and Maria having passed, it makes sense to have people covering some of the duties they (and the rest of the original team) continued after opening.    Further, any tech upgrades, even if they do not change the experience audience experience,  old require some sort of oversight, and those individuals deserve to be credited.    

 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 10:56pm

I'd imagine the street interviews are a Covid thing. 

And I'd also imagine that if big changes were happening we'd have a press release or something. 

[ImAProphet]

Posted: 10/3/21 at 11:29pm

uncageg said: "I have been trying to find out Emilie's schedule. I really want to see her. It still says "at certain performances" on the website."

I don't think the website has ever had the Christine schedule, I've only seen it published in the Playbill. Somebody on the Phantom subreddit said they messaged both actresses on Instagram, and got a response from Meghan Picerno's assistant saying that Meghan has not chosen her schedule yet but plans to post it on IG once she has.

Incidentally, looks like Julia Udine is back as a standby. I hope I get a chance to see her, I got into the show after she left but I've enjoyed her on bootlegs.

Updated On: 10/3/21 at 11:29 PM

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 8:00am

I, too, was alarmed by Ben Crawford's statement "Everything is pretty much the same but there are LITTLE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES BECAUSE THEY'VE HAD TIME TO WORK ON THINGS." Working on things to ensure continued safety and proper operation should not be resulting in "differences". This statement smacks of early statements made regarding the London production, before it became clear just how much CamMack planned to go with his hacking. I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but this says to me that it's only a matter of time before Broadway goes the way of London.

Regarding Julia Udine, I'm disappointed to hear that she's coming back. I thought her one of the weakest Christines I'd ever experienced. She seemed unable to consistently speak and sing with the requisite "British" accent and intonation, frequently straying to a decidedly American sound which immediately dissolved the period feel of the show.

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 8:32am

Speaking of making changes for safety reasons, there was apparently a fairly significant injury to a principal performer in London this past Saturday night:

https://theatreboard.co.uk/thread/150/phantom-opera?page=178

It's not clear exactly how this happened, but I don't recall ever hearing of such an incident with the original production.

I'm glad to have tickets for Broadway's reopening, as I'm very concerned that "The Brilliant Original" will only be around for a short time. The only thing I can't figure out is why they would reopen with the original production and then close it again to hack it up. Why not just do the hacking before announcing a reopening date, like they did in London?

Updated On: 10/4/21 at 08:32 AM

[Ella134]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 3:53pm

It feels to me like the Broadway page credits showing the same London creative credits are a mistake. New York has the production supervisor, assisted by the NY staff: the stage manager, dance supervisor, dance captain, and costume supervisor- the same people who have been responsible for the day to day maintenance of the show for many years. There’s not much overlap at all except for the very highest levels.Most of the conductors, except for a couple of supervisors, are NY only as well. I cant imagine that there would be a British conductor, AD, Resident Director, Asst. Choreographer, and Asst. Costume Designer coming to NYC regularly. It doesn’t make sense. You need someone there to look at the show regularly. And in order for the orchestra to be cut down, it is a six week shut down in order to reduce the orchestra size. The orchestra is now at the minimum grandfathered in for the Majestic, until Phantom is closed and reopens, or a new show comes in. So the band isn’t going anywhere for a while at least. As for the chandelier, the chandelier on the old US tours of the 90s-2010 had varying chandelier speeds, depending on the house. Sometimes it was super fast and scary!!! Not an artistic choice, just a technical capacity.

 

Updated On: 10/4/21 at 03:53 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 4:03pm

Lot666 said: "Regarding Julia Udine, I'm disappointed to hear that she's coming back. I thought her one of the weakest Christines I'd ever experienced. She seemedunable to consistently speak and singwith the requisite "British" accent and intonation, frequently strayingto a decidedly American sound which immediately dissolved the period feel of the show."

I want aware that a British accent was indicative of a period feel... especially by French characters who wouldn't be speaking with a British accent anyway. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:28pm

Take a look at nearly any period film that takes place in non-English-speaking Europe but is populated mostly by UK actors (the American ones adopt a matching accent). Or even older American productions of Les Miz. They were at least mid-Atlantic.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:38pm

Everything sounds classy in a British accent.

[Ella134]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 8:11am

NY rehearsal pictures show the same loooong time staff behind the table as always. The only Brit I could see was ALW. 

Updated On: 10/5/21 at 08:11 AM

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 11:40am

Ella134 said: "NY rehearsal pictures show the same loooong time staff behind the table as always. The only Brit I could see was ALW.

"

Is there somewhere I can see what you've seen?

[Ella134]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 1:24pm

 


https://www.instagram.com/reel/CUVyCVKFPHl/?utm_medium=copy_link

It’s from an Instagram page called phantomopera

 

Updated On: 10/5/21 at 01:24 PM

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 2:18pm

Ella134 said: "https://www.instagram.com/reel/CUVyCVKFPHl/?utm_medium=copy_link

It’s from an Instagram page called phantomopera"

Thanks for that!

[Ella134]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 5:12pm

Of course! You are most welcome. Everyone looks sooo happy to be back together.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 1:29pm

Hello all, 

Did anyone read the Variety article about ALW?  There is a picture of him in the Majestic auditorium and it looks like they have replaced the light beige curtains with black ones. I recall reading somewhere that Bjornson requested that the curtains be installed to better unify the curtain motif used in the show with the Majestic Theater itself. 

I feel like they used to be tied at the bottom?  

https://variety.com/2021/legit/features/andrew-lloyd-webber-broadway-reopening-phantom-of-the-opera-cats-cinderella-1235081430/?fbclid=IwAR200trIQYp3cWDYuT_6fNSbQDjPe4Brjvzky4t2_6SCCLCYpmY5Ux4amp0

[Lot666]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 1:36pm

The Variety piece is great.

[Kip4]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 1:50pm

I like how he said Phantom isn't all that expensive to run and yet they still had to cut costs in London.  Sigh...

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 2:05pm

Apparently at some point in it's history, there were black/dark curtains on the sides of the auditorium: 

https://s3.ibdb.com/ibdb/media/venue/venuefull_1252-2L.jpg

I think these new black curtains will help tie in with all of the black that is painted around the false proscenium...can't wait to see it for myself next month :)