Who's going to see PHANTOM 25th in theaters today?- Page 2

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 8:26pm

I'm a pathetic PhantomPhan who backed out at the last minute. Was too tired to go but I'll get the DVD first week of November when it's supposed to come out.

Friends who went say that Sarah most definitely DID NOT lip synch the final high note. Good on her!

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 8:58pm

Was the orchestra onstage?

What were the encores? (ie, what did Sarah, Colm, Anthony, etc. sing?)

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 9:04pm

i really liked her portrayal of Carlotta and I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought she wasn't bitchy... i liked her being played as sympathetic! and i did feel bad her during Il Muto and during the rehearsal

[zepka102]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 9:22pm

Orchestra was on a platform onstage above and behind the action. I really like how they used the space. It was great to see a full orchestra!



SPOILER (for those who don't want to know)
The encore was 4 Phantoms singing Music of the Night, then Sarah singing the title song with them.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:02pm

I have to agree with all of the talk about Carlotta. Usually she's played so over-the-top that it becomes irritating and you wind up hating her for no real reason.

I really liked being able to sympathize for her. Wendy Ferguson did an excellent job of conveying how genuinely scared Carlotta becomes, along with everyone else.

Added a completely new layer for me!

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:03pm

Barely writing about it now, but I thought it was a wonderful way to experience PHANTOM for the first time. In any format. I have the OCR, the movie and the soundtrack, and never get past "The Music of the Night" only because I listen/watch all the way through and never have time to catch up. I was determined to get my $22 with this lavish production and (obviously) watch it all the way through! Also, I've never seen it on stage in any fashion; I saw THE LION KING on my last trip to Vegas. Anyway...

I loved the staging of the production and thought it was very well executed in the space. I felt that the ensemble was a tad too large for some numbers, especially "Masquerade", but otherwise there were some very beautiful stage pictures.

Maria's design is wonderful and I loved the closeups on some of the artistic details of the set and costumes. I did expect the chandelier to fall, but I found the way it was executed tonight done very well, but not as good as it would have been if it had fallen.

Sierra and Ramin were wonderful together and had fantastic chemistry going. I could really feel for them and the characters' love for each other and how much they did and didn't want to be with each other. I really loved them both and cannot wait to get the CD/DVD of this production just to relive the experience they both gave me.

Hadley was a wonderful Raoul and I couldn't help but wonder what Steve Barton would have thought about the entire evening. I also did not get the memo about the Carlotta understudy, because in our theater (which only had about 30 people in an average size movie theater) we were each given programs that listed the entire cast, crew, and orchestra and thought that Kiera was the one playing Carlotta. I found her acting choices interesting, as well, but rather liked it more than how she is usually played as the super diva.

Liz Robertson and Daisy Maywood as the mother-daughter pair seemed odd at some times. The audience probably couldn't tell from afar, but it seemed that Daisy was far older than the age that I thought Meg was supposed to be; probably because of close-ups. I also wondered why Sumemer Strallen didn't play Meg seeing as she, Ramin, and Liz were all in LOVE NEVER DIES. Same with Joseph Millson. Liz was great and I was very impressed with her performance.

I thought that all of the musical numbers were magnificent!! No other words to say about it! A lot of the projections worked for me, especially the one after "Think Of Me" and Christine performing to the Royal Albert Hall audience and the labyrinth during the title song. I thought they were very effective, but never seeing the show on stage, I cannot compare them to what "probably" was better in Maria's design.

I, compared to some, love LOVE NEVER DIES and (although I enjoy it and its concept album) I can see now why many thought it wouldn't work or shouldn't even happen; the ending was already too, too powerful the way it was and should have been the definitive ending to the story. But again, I appreciate LOVE NEVER DIES. lol.

The encore was great and I did not expect any of it; except their appearance. It was a wonderful addition to a wonderful performance and reminded us who and why the show exists in the first place and why it has become such a success.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and had a tremendous time watching this production! I seriously cannot wait for the DVD and CD release. If you didn't get to see it today, I suggest you see the encore showings. Even if you don't like ALW or PHANTOM, it is still a wonderful experience!
Updated On: 10/2/11 at 10:03 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:44pm

Can someone please explain in detail the projections and the chandelier?

[binau]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:48pm

Video of the chandelier posted on the west end board:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUpqH7RvoHw&feature=channel_video_title

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:53pm

So, it explodes instead of falling? Whoever taped that probably had a better angle than what was shown in theatres. Did it go up in the beginning?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 10:58pm

In the beginning, it has a tarp around it that says "Lot 666: Chandelier" (see photo below). It never leaves from the ceiling. What the video caught is almost exact to what the audience saw in movie theaters.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:00pm

No, It didn't go up, it was concealed in a large muslin cylinder which was raised to reveal it. The top of the proscenium went up instead.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:05pm

I also agree that Wendy Ferguson was the best Carlotta I have ever seen. Her acting choices were amazing.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:09pm

Chandelier reveal: http://youtu.be/cFaPaiMn6KQ

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:15pm

You know, now that I look at it, it DOES seem like the chandelier moved up and down some... those two videos are taken by the same person, in what I assume is the same seat. In the "drop" video the chandelier is up above the railing on the top level of seats... during the reveal it's down much lower. I swear a couple of times when they cut to wide shots it was so high up it wasn't even visible.

I imagine it would have been obstructing the view of the top of the stage if you were sitting in the higher seats looking straight at the stage.

If that is the case (that it moved up and down a bit), I wonder why they couldn't have at least lowered it somewhat faster, and made it seem like it was falling, Vegas-style.

Updated On: 10/2/11 at 11:15 PM

[metropolis10111]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:46pm

I think because it's was not a prop that they use but the REAL Albert Hall one that they were able to 'trick' up a bit. I didn't mind, but yea it would have been cool if they did have it come down

[A Director]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 11:50pm

When will Phantom finally close once and for all?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 12:00am

Didn't they say it was the chandelier from the movie? I don't think it was the real Albert Hall chandelier.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 12:36am

It looks way too much like the movie chandelier to be the RAH's permanent one.

[winston89]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 1:09am

While I agree that the chandelier looks more like the one in the movie, there is something that I am wondering. I thought that the one from the film is no more. That when filming, they saved the shooting of the crash till the very end of filming and were only able to do it one take because they didn't have another chandelier to use.

[Leonardo2]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 1:27am

The chandelier was the one from the film. Because of time constraints and the nature of the venue (RAH being a historical building... not sure it's official designation) raising and dropping it was impossible.

Brightman DID lip synch the high not. There was an issue with the click track at one of the performances. Oops.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 3:07am

I believe they had two in the film. One was specifically designed to be crashed while the other, which is presumably this one, was used in all other shots, and is probably more 'structurally sound'

[sueb1863]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 6:28am

Looks like YouTube's pulled all the Phantom videos...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 7:56am

Wow, when's the last time RUG moved that quickly?!

[metropolis10111]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 8:37am

I wonder if they will edit the footage differently for the DVD/Blu-Ray so that it looks more like it crashing

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/3/11 at 8:49am

Quick question that I just thought of... was there a reason the duplicate Christine (which I assume is the "automaton" I hear so much about, lol) was not used in this production?