Posted: 10/23/21 at 12:03am
The chandelier is on the official twitter page, too.
https://twitter.com/phantomopera/status/1451730566710169601?s=21
Updated On: 10/23/21 at 12:03 AM
Posted: 10/23/21 at 12:06am
Surprisingly, no post-show speeches
Posted: 10/23/21 at 12:07am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 1:05am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 6:50am
Can’t believe no one is talking about that INSANE block party on W. 44th Street after the show. Music blasting. People dancing. INSANE!
Posted: 10/23/21 at 8:17am
Was hearing about the block party on Twitter, had just come home from a show and Joe Allen's and considered jumping back out to join. How special.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 8:52am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 10:27am
Eh, not that random... if it's the "Itsy Bitsy..." I think it is, he produced a pop cover of that in 1990 by a one-off group called Bombalurina (named for the Cats character) which was an unexpected hit that summer. Apparently, his wife bet him that as a musical theater composer, he wouldn't be able to create a hit pop song. (I'm guessing she didn't pay attention to most of his early career, even if the hits were spun off from shows.) He took that bet and did really well.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 10:52am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 10:53am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 11:01am
Posted: 10/23/21 at 11:15am
Thank you!
Posted: 10/23/21 at 12:05pm
So last night was legendary. I will save my comments about the blocking and lyric/ changes for the Phantom Updating thread.
What a thrilling evening it was! It was so exciting to get there early and see all of the swag across all of the seats. I sit in the middle front mezz. I haven't sat up there in about 5 years so I'll be glad to again tonight sitting in my usual front orchestra seat. I didn't notice anyone taking merch from the other seats. It was fun to watch everybody show up to their seats and go "We get free stuff? Just for coming! Wow!" It was hilarious and sweet.
The show start maybe 10 minutes late and when the speaker first started talking, that was probably the biggest applause of the night. He finally got everyone to calm down enough to tell us to put on our prop mask for an audience picture taken from the stage of all of us in our Phantom masks over our regular masks.
I gained a good 40lbs during lockdown and boyyyyy those seats sure are tight now. Was definitely some motivation to hit the gym because I don't want to stay being that uncomfortable.
ALW and Cameron came out and ALW called the show a tribute to Hal and he mentioned the full 28 piece orchestra I had hoped he'd give some side eye to Cameron when he said that but they were in full-on BFF mode. They brought out Chuck Schumer to noticeably less applause, but then he said some very motivational inspiring stuff about how economically important theater is to New York City and how he passed the bill that helped so many shows get through the pandemic.
Then the show started and I was a bit disappointed we didn't get the same announcement with that guy who says "flash photography is dangerous to the performers onstage and annoying to people around you" Normally the lower the lights, he says he thing, then the lights lower, the ghost light shines brighter for a second and goes out too. But last night all those lighting cues got squished together it seemed. When the lights came back up and the cast was onstage for the prologue, the crowded erupted again, and of course when the chandelier went up.
There were definitely some hiccups. A lightning bolt was stuck in the "on" position upstage right twice during the show. There was definitely some very loud buzzing like a speaker that's turned up too loud. And Christine's mic went out during her first lines of Masquerade and then I couldn't tell if her mic went out or if the cut the lines when she runs off stage left at the end of Managers II and she says she can't be part of the Don Juan plan. Was hard to tell what was happening there. For the final lair scene, there was definitely a few second pause before the leads came out. Never saw that before.
I was able to see Ben's hat all throughout All I Ask of You, which I never noticed before while sitting in the mezz. This was the first time in a long time the audience didn't gasp with shock when the Phantom appeared at the top of the angel, but that is to be expected with the audience full of Phanatics.
All in all a gorgeous night and I can't wait to go back tonight.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 12:56pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Video of last night’s post show block party. "
Pretty awesome! DJ Lloyd Webber is turning it up and out!
Posted: 10/23/21 at 1:06pm
Posted: 10/23/21 at 1:40pm
Jordan Levinson I just saw a friend’s video of the chandelier rising and it looked like kristen conducting- she always does it in 8 with a little hook on the last beat lol
Updated On: 10/23/21 at 01:40 PM
Posted: 10/23/21 at 2:26pm
Phantom4ever said: "So last night was legendary. I will save my comments about the blocking and lyric/ changes for the Phantom Updating thread.
What a thrilling evening it was! It was so exciting to get there early and see all of the swag across all of the seats. I sit in the middle front mezz. I haven't sat up there in about 5 years so I'll be glad to again tonight sitting in my usual front orchestra seat. I didn't notice anyone taking merch from the other seats. It was fun to watch everybody show up to their seats and go "We get free stuff? Just for coming! Wow!" It was hilarious and sweet.
The show start maybe 10 minutes late and when the speaker first started talking, that was probably the biggest applause of the night. He finally got everyone to calm down enough to tell us to put on our prop mask for an audience picture taken from the stage of all of us in our Phantom masks over our regular masks.
I gained a good 40lbs during lockdown and boyyyyy those seats sure are tight now. Was definitely some motivation to hit the gym because I don't want to stay being that uncomfortable.
ALW and Cameron came out and ALW called the show a tribute to Hal and he mentioned the full 28 piece orchestra I had hoped he'd give some side eye to Cameron when he said that but they were in full-on BFF mode. They brought out Chuck Schumer to noticeably less applause, but then he said some very motivational inspiring stuff about how economically important theater is to New York City and how he passed the bill that helped so many shows get through the pandemic.
Then the show started and I was a bit disappointed we didn't get the same announcement with that guy who says "flash photography is dangerous to the performers onstage and annoying to people around you" Normally the lower the lights, he says he thing, then the lights lower, the ghost light shines brighter for a second and goes out too. But last night all those lighting cues got squished together it seemed. When the lights came back up and the cast was onstage for the prologue, the crowded erupted again, and of course when the chandelier went up.
There were definitely some hiccups. A lightning bolt was stuck in the "on" position upstage right twice during the show. There was definitely some very loud buzzing like a speaker that's turned up too loud. And Christine's mic went out during her first lines of Masquerade and then I couldn't tell if her mic went out or if the cut the lines when she runs off stage left at the end of Managers II and she says she can't be part of the Don Juan plan. Was hard to tell what was happening there. For the final lair scene, there was definitely a few second pause before the leads came out. Never saw that before.
I was able to see Ben's hat all throughout All I Ask of You, which I never noticed before while sitting in the mezz. This was the first time in a long time the audience didn't gasp with shock when the Phantom appeared at the top of the angel, but that is to be expected with the audience full of Phanatics.
All in all a gorgeous night and I can't wait to go back tonight."
I haven't seen the show since 1999, and from what I remember, the seats at the Majestic are VERY small - I remember them being uncomfortable when I was only 19. Have they not been upgraded since? Wonder if they'll ever do an upgrade for wider, more comfortable seats. That show will continue running for a while, so it would be a nice financial investment by DJ Lloyd Webby-Wezz. :)
Posted: 10/23/21 at 2:42pm
JasonM12480 said: "I haven't seen the show since 1999, and from what I remember, the seats at the Majestic are VERY small - I remember them being uncomfortable when I was only 19. Have they not been upgraded since? Wonder if they'll ever do an upgrade for wider, more comfortable seats. That show will continue running for a while, so it would be a nice financial investment by DJ Lloyd Webby-Wezz. :)"
Unlikely - a full seat changeout would mean cancelling at least a weekend's worth of performances, and the loss of a few seats in each row. I don't think the theater has much reason to do it until Phantom someday closes.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 3:19pm
Some footage of the orchestra at the end of the performance:
https://twitter.com/fdilella/status/1451775134323331076?s=20
Posted: 10/23/21 at 3:31pm
thedrybandit said: "Unlikely - a full seat changeout would mean cancelling at least a weekend's worth of performances, and the loss of a few seats in each row. I don't think the theater has much reason to do it until Phantom someday closes."
Actually, they wouldn't have to cancel any performances. They would simply just need to replace the seats in sections. They began replacing seats at the Shubert during the run of A Chorus Line. The staff would come in each day and would notice a new row of seats.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 3:41pm
Posted: 10/23/21 at 10:17pm
Jordan Catalano said: "If they didn’t do it during the almost 2 years that nothing was happening in the theater, they’re not gonna do it now. "
Agreed.
given how Phantom has been at the Majestic since 1987, I’d think that’s one theater that would have gotten some sort of renovation during pandemic while it was closed.
Posted: 10/23/21 at 10:21pm
They would not have to miss any performances to install new seats. And now that I sat in the orchestra tonight, I can say that the seats are fine even with my extra 40lbs of Covid weight. Those front mezz seats though are very tight.
A lot of reno work was done on the exterior of the Majestic through most of 2021. Also, Phantom has been at the Majestic since 1988. Installation (and dynamite) did began in 1987 though.
Posted: 10/24/21 at 1:37am
Phantom4ever said: "Those front mezz seats though are very tight."
They're definitely tighter than I remember, that was surprising. I don't think they changed or anything, but it was a squeeze for sure, and I'm smaller than I used to be.
I stand by saying that it would be hard to replace all the seats without missing a performance - as someone that has done seat replacements in theaters, installing new seating with different spacing would involve removing all the seats, removing/filling the old bolt holes in the floor, drilling new ones, and carpet patching/replacement. It would be a hell of a replacement process, and while it's possible they would do it in sections, I don't think it would be worth it to them to lose any seats that could otherwise be selling tickets. After sitting in that front mezz at reopening though, I sure wouldn't mind it.
Posted: 10/24/21 at 2:28am
I don't have too much to add here besides what people have already said (an absolutely incredible opening night), and I probably didn't catch all the differences, but I think some of the lyrics were changed so that it's a more perfect rhyme. ie in Angel of Music, "distant through all the applause" is changed to "distant through all the encores" to rhyme with "yet the words aren't yours". It did kind of bug me just because they weren't the lyrics I was used to, but I suppose I can't complain too much.
I liked the changes in PONR, and this is the first time I saw Wishing as a turning point in how Christine approaches the situation with the Phantom/Don Juan etc., not sure if that's always been there and I just haven't noticed or if it was actually played differently this time, but I did like that Christine was able to do more than just act frightened until the final lair.
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
