#poto Australian tour

[phantomchristinesuk]

Amy Manford in her 3 Christine wigs

(West end, Australia, Greece)

Pictures: Amy Manford instagram

[operafantomet]

I’m curious, what is the reason a production will give a Christine actress a blonde/different colored wig? I know smaller productions often have a blonde Christine (I think at least) but like- London for example, I thought they had a few Christine’s with a blonde wig, I assumed because the actress was a blonde but I swear there were some blonde Christine’s that also had a dark wig as well. Is there any reason for this? Or is it just random?

I the earliest days of POTO there was a will to adapt the 'Degas' wig to whoever played Christine and Meg. Whereas all three original Christines in West End followed the Sarah Brightmanesque look with big brown curls, they did feature Patti Cohenour on Broadway with a much lighter brown wig, to adapt to her colouring. It wasn't blonde, but it was a light auburn / reddish brown:

For the original Toronto production they also changed Susan Cuthberg's wig from brown to blonde during her run, making her the first blonde ALW Christine out there. This too was due to it being closer to her own colouring:

Equally, Janet Devenish started out with a very red Meg wig in West End. Later in her run it was changed to a blonder one. It's the blonde look that's stuck on Meg, but interestingly she was a redhead first!

A final example from early POTO days is that original Australian Meg, Sharon Millerchip, started out as a blonde, but it was decided that a brunette wig looked better on her. Once again to adapt to the actress' natural colourings.

But later in the 1990s the general formula stuck. Christine as a brunette, Meg as a blonde. A handful of Christines in West End was featured with auburn wig to match their own colouring, and one or two Megs got a brown wig, but they were definitely the exception rather than the rule. Especially in the US and the World Tour the Christines has worn a general dark brown wig completely unrelated to what hair colour they have in real life. This is what is generally done for the replica production, as the design indicates brown curls, but with some exceptions here and there.

With the first ever non-replica production, in Hungary 2003, their Christines partly wore their own hair, braided, with extensions in the back. This meant that a variety of colours has been seen there: Vanilla blonde, darker blonde, auburn, brunette. Here's barbara Fonyo (auburn), Renata Krassy (blonde) and Andrea Maho (brunette):

The non-replica productions that followed chose different strategies:

The 2008 Polish production emulated the 2004 movie, with curly brown wigs

The 2013 Restaged Tour did a less curly, general brown wig

The 2014 Estonian production featured their Christines with their actual hair colour (one brunette, one blonde)

The 2014 Czech production stuck fairly close to the original design, with long brown curly wigs,

The 2015 Finnish/Swedish production tried out different shades of red; first strawberry blonde, then flaming red.

The 2015 Romanian production and later Norwegian/Greek/Tour version went blonde. The Romanian production featured the actress' own hair, while the others has done wigs. But there's been different shades of blonde, different lengths and different curls. Gaston Leroux has been mentioned as inspiration.

The 2017 Serbian production also featured their Christine with their respective hair, which gave one blonde and one brunette.

Ditto for the 2019 Bulgarian production, ranging from light brown to black hair.

The 2020 Swedish production first went red for Christine. I have read they thought it was never done before and that's why they wanted to try it out (but as seen above, the Finnish/Swedish production beat them to it). When a new principal Christine was cast they gave her a blonde wig, to better match her colouring.

The 2022 Sydney Harbour production did fairly classic brown curly wigs.

The 2023 new Romanian production also feature Christine with her own hair - like the original Romanian production, and incidentally the same actress. But it looks like there's a bit of extensions going on as well.

Last, but not least, the 2023 Mediterranean production premiering in Italy did somewhere between honey blonde and auburn.

So in large, a non-brown Christine wig seems to be a way of adapting the hair to the actress - whether a wig is in use or not. In some cases it's also a way of actively differentiate the look from Maria Bjørnson's original design (as well as the iconic Mary Philbin look).

In replica production the 'wildest' things they did in the 1990s and early 2000s was auburn Christine wigs, and primarily in West End. But in the later 2000s more variations started to appear. The very light brown wigs of Janine Kitzen in Stuttgart and Robyn North in West End comes to mind, and Anne Görner's fairly redhead wig. Then Harriet Jones' first auburn red wig in West End, and them going all blonde on Emmi Christensson. Again the overall strategy seems to be to match the actress' own colours and the wig. Left: Anne Görner in Essen, and right: Emmi Christensson in West End.

In recent years there's also been a will to adapt the texture of the curls. From recent West End examples there is Lucy St Louis, Beatrice Penny-Touré, Paige Blankson and Chumisa Dornford-May with afro-textured hair. Ditto for Emilie Kouatchou on Broadway. Here's Lucy St Louis with Killian Donnelly:

And then the recent wig change for Eve Shanu-Wilson in West End, which is meant to closer reflect on her heritage. Though the Phantom historian in me also thinks it brilliantly reflects on the 1990s West End wigs, so I'm doubly happy...

So yeah. Usually the variations in wig colour and curls is due to a will to reflect on who the actress is and how she looks in real life. But the wig is of course also a tool to create a certain look for a certain role. Which means that every wig is an interpretation, and a negotiation between wanted look and the many possibilities for adaption.

[operachristine]

Hope you are having nice holidays :) would it be ok to share poto Australia audios dec 11 and dec 28 2022 please ❤️❤️

I can gift out the December 11th one but not the 28th

Raphael Wong (u/s The Phantom of The Opera), Amy Manford (Christine Daaè), Blake Bowden (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny), David Whitney (Firmin), Andy Morton (Andrè), Giuseppina Grech (Carlotta), Jayde Westaby (Madame Giry), Paul Tabone (Piangi), Mietta White (Meg Giry), Lachlan O'Brien (u/s Buquet) December 11, 2022; Third Australian Tour erikschillisocks

https://www.mediafire.com/file/b0y3ijxoo93mp92/Phantom+Aus+-+December+11+2022+.zip/file

[glassprism]

Where would you put the recent poto italy Ramin in your favourite Phantoms tierlist? And what about Amelia and Bradley? :)

As usual, it's way too early for me say anything. The production only opened a couple of weeks ago (yes, and they're closing now, I know, it's a short run but there will be others), they're basically treating the whole Trieste run as a preview and working on tech issues, and I only got an audio a couple days ago. I'm also behind on reviewing people again - I like going in chronological order of when people started in a production, so right now, Kim Ju-taek of the Korean production is ahead of everyone else, followed by Ma Jia from the Chinese production. So you know, if the Italian cast wants to get reviewed, they need to get in line behind the other guys.

It's also worth noting that I'm probably not going to review Ramin Karimloo in any depth because I already know to an extent how I feel about him. I might take notes on how his performance differs between productions, but in non-replicas, my focus is generally on all the differences in the production itself and with a sharper focus on the newer cast members, and that's more than enough things for my brain to keep track of! It's not a knock against Ramin Karimloo; I did the same to Josh Piterman when he went to the restaged Australian tour, to virtually all the cast members in Greece, to John Martin Bengtsson in the millions of productions he's been in, etc.

And I'll admit it - another reason I'm waiting is because I'm hoping someone got video of the production, not just audio. Listen, we got two videos of the Greek production which is unprecedented (non-replicas almost never get that kind of attention!), so I think there's hope! And non-replicas are so much easier to judge when there's a visual to look at, not just an audio.

So yeah, it'll be a while yet.

[marleneoftheopera]

'Morgan Large Studio will be adapting Simon Phillip's highly acclaimed Australian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's LOVE NEVER DIES for an Asian tour in 2022.'

Quote from www(.)morganlarge(.)com/about?s=09

The current/news page which seems to be very up to date by Morgan Large so uhh

Please let lnd die I BEG pllEASE

Thanks for the info! I remember they wanted to start a World Tour back in 2019, sort of a follow-up to the World Tour of POTO that was going around. I assume this is the same one that is finally taking shape.

Though half of 2022 is over so unless they have already cast the show and will be making an announcement soon, they may end up starting in 2023.

And of course, I think we have to take every upcoming production with caution until it's officially announced. World Tour's especially seem to be tricky because they have to follow Covid rules in each country they travel to.

(P.S. I don't think ALW will ever let LND die. Ever. It can't. It's in the title.)

(P.P.S. Jokes aside, if the tour does happen, I will be very happy to see a bunch of actors and crew getting employment.)

[forgottenghosty]

Since I’m still one of those people that has no way of going to New York and Seeing Beetlejuice the Musical, I still hold out hope that they will film it professionally and sell it at some point.

I have both Phantom of the Opera shows that were done in this manner. I was thankfully able to see POTO when it was doing the US tour one of the times, but later bought it on when it was released finally to buy. I love watching it. Though since they did have to change it a bit to fit the building so the chandelier doesn’t do that amazing drop and instead shorts out. That would be the 25th Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall in London with Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom. Sadly they didn’t have him for the sequel recording, though he was the original Phantom for that musical.  Love Never Dies. For that they filmed the Australian Cast. I wanted see it on tour last year, but things came up and wasn’t able. So it would be amazing in my opinion to have a Beetlejuice The Musical recording done in great quality in either fashion. Both had a different way of doing it. The POTO was live, but had cameras still getting in and up close.

Love Never Dies is filmed without the audience and has it where the Camera Men get up in there and stage it more. Re do cuts and add on like a film.

( I prefer Ramin as my Phantom in all in honesty and would have loved to have him film his role in this one as well. He had more emotions even when it’s just his hands. But that’s me. Though my first phantom was Gerard Butler and then I sadly can’t remember the gentlemen, or gentlemen I saw twice on tour, but I loved Gerard as well. )

( Ramin as the Phantom and all he has to act his his body and voice. You can’t see his face anymore. The full version is more impressive and gives you that much more of an idea. )

So now with this new video from Beetlejuice the Musical about them leaving the Winter Garden, it just brings my hopes up all the more they’ll do a recording.

And seeing the quality trailers they’ve had along with music videos, it would just be dang amazing to see for sure.

[ladywaffles]

LOVE NEVER DIES BY ALW, GIVE ME UR TAKES HOT OR OTHERWISE

vicky im so sorry, tumblr is a terrible website that ate this ask for a while BUT I AM HERE WITH MY LND TAKES, HOT OR OTHERWISE. THIS IS LONG IM SORRY!!!

Favourite Character: Meg! Her character development is so interesting and tragic, LND from her point of view is like a Shakespearean tragedy

Least Favourite Character: Gustave. please stop asking this nine year old boy to sing. i do not enjoy it.

Favourite OBC Cast Member: Sierra Boggess, a true sweetheart and killer soprano

Favourite Current Cast Member (If Applicable): N/A (I think? last i heard there was a north american tour but i’m not sure if it’s still running_)

Favourite Song: Dear Old Friend, but the rewritten version they used in the australian production that is Passive Aggressive to the Maximum. I love how cheery it sounds while everyone’s like :) Oh :) :) It’s You :) :) :) 

Least Favourite Song: The Beauty Underneath. not a fan of the rock-style singing in tandem with gustave’s ultra-high harmony. 

Favourite Act (If Applicable): Act II. the dramatic irony of knowing the phantom has stacked the game so that christine and raoul literally cannot win, and the reprises in Act II, both from Act I and from POTO, are Dummy Good (specifically i am thinking of the devil take the hindmost quartet and the reprise of twisted every way from phantom in the before the performance sequence)

Favourite Ship: i am a raoul apologist all the way through, raoul/christine until i die sorry

Least Favourite Ship: raoul and erik??? is a thing that i will Never understand. they’ve tried to kill each other multiple times but i’m sure somewhere out there is fic about them coparenting gustave.

If There is Something I Would Change about The Musical: HAUTE TAKE!!! love never dies actually has incredible potential and could be good!! the score is solid and the plot has a great backbone, but the execution is bad. i think it could be made better if (spoilers) christine didn’t die since she doesn’t have to face the music of her choosing the phantom over raoul; or meg dies instead because there isn’t a lot of closure there about her getting out from under the phantom’s thumb, and i feel like fatally shooting her best friend will have a big impact on her (already fragile) psyche. i also think it could be better if the ambiguity about gustave’s parentage was removed; in the novel The Phantom of Manhattan (which inspired LND), raoul was unable to have children for Reasons so both he and christine knew that gustave was not biologically his. i never felt like that was a big enough drive for him to gamble his entire life on the performance. i would’ve saddled him with old family debts and the responsibility of being the comte de chagny since his older brother passed away in the OG novel that would’ve pressured him to make bad decisions that resulted in him desperately needing money

Ratings: 7/10

leave a musical in my ask and i’ll reply!!

[wheel-of-fish]

Okay. I should've seen the US TOUR of LND when it came through my town. Ughhhh I missed out on Bronson and Meghan!!! (Well I'd never seen Phantom prior to this and my family and I had no knowledge of this sequel) I did, however watch LND the Australian version filmed in Melbourn with Ben Lewis and Anna O'Byrne which I thought was amazing (I watched it on like Amazon after the US Tour of POTO came through my town. I saw it and it was amazing! Yay Eva Tavares & Victor Wallace!)

(2/2) Also, Eva won't be Christine any longer. Her last show is July 14!😨😢

Aww, well at least you were able to catch the restaged tour in time! fwiw, I did see LND on tour and still didn’t get to see Meghan; Alyssa Giannetti was on as Christine that night.

Is Eva really leaving that soon? I thought Emma Grimsley wasn’t slated to take over until August. Anyway, happy trails to Eva! I’ve heard wonderful things about Emma, so I definitely wouldn’t complain if the switch brought about some new footage. :)

[a-love-poet-at-heart]

Love Never Dies Australian Cast Recording

So, a few days ago I saw the Love Never Dies US tour in Chicago. Well, I believe that that was the first stop to have the recording available in the souvenir shop. I, of course, bought it and am now gifting it out to all you guys.

Info: 29 tracks

The cast was the Australian cast, except for Casey Lyons as Gustave for only Beauty Underneath and the Streets of Coney Island (the song where they are looking for Gustave, right before Please Miss Giry). Both of these songs were reworked from the Australian production for the Hamburg production. They were then used in the US tour

I guess since they have Ben Lewis currently in PotO in London Webber got him to rerecord a song for the CD. But, I’m very interesting in who was the other voices in the new parts, I believe they belong to the US tour cast, but were just not credited. Meg has a few new lines in Streets of Coney Island, and it doesn’t sound like the Australian Meg, Sharon Millerchip. It sounds like Mary Michael Patterson. The Phantom’s “Gustave”s are clearly Ben Lewis, but the Christine and Raoul’s (and Madame Giry’s “Meg”) are probably the tour. Odd, how they credit Casey Lyons for both tracks, but not a mention to the new ensemble when they still credit the Australian ensemble.

From what I wear, the CD is just a rip of the Australian video (which has been fan ripped and tracked and has been available for quite some time, I actually have this “bootleg”) For example, in the end of Devil Take the Hindmost quartet, the Meg (? in the tour I recognized it was Christine’s disembodied voice) says the last “ Devil Take the Hindmost” and her voice crack/falters on the “-most” part. You can clearly hear it in both the video/fan rip and cast recording, so yeah... 35 bucks for 2 new songs and something you can get for free online

ALSO on the back of the booklet of the CD, it says

Also it mentions a copyright of 2018, so it wasn’t even finished around when the tour began. Even thought that was in September of last year.

ANYWAY, I’ll stop ranting and here’s the link

[phangirllnd]

Love Never Dies US Tour Review -  12/29/2017

Note that these are just my opinions and they are not fact. You can think any way you want to about the show. Personally I like it, and here are some things I had to say about the cast and show.

The Cast

Gardar Thor Cortes (The Phantom)

Awkward. Like, there isn’t a better word. Half the time he wasn’t standing up straight, but had his knees or back bent and appeared more hunched over. His arms and hands were off to his sides at most times making him look odd. Overall he played his Phantom very aggressively. He manhandled Christine, made a threatening gesture to backhand Meg, and dragged Gustave about the stage during “Beauty Underneath.” While he does have a nice operatic voice, it was lost a lot during his scenes with the other performers, as he was performing more operatically and they were performing in the musical theater style. This was most apparent when he sang “Devil Take the Hindmost” with Sean. He also did not articulate his words fully and often would let them blend together weirdly. This may be due to the fact that English is not his first language, but many times if I hadn’t known the lyric, I wouldn’t have known what he was even trying to say. Overall, not a fan unfortunately.

Meghan Picerno (Christine)

Sang well overall. However, her acting is lacking at times. When she is in scenes where she is yelling or overemotional, her acting begins to take on an over the top acting style of Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (“Oh no, Auntie Em!”). She chose to take on an English accent for this role, but when she went into the more emotional scenes this dropped quite often. She appeared older than I have seen the other Christines in Love Never Dies made up to me. This could have simply been heavy makeup. I believe she is on the shorter side, because her costumes almost appeared overly large on her or not cut appropriately. Most apparent was her white gown in “What a Dreadful Town” through to “Once Upon Another Time.” The bodice was too large and didn’t sit at her waist appropriately and the skirt was huge on her and she often had to push it to move with her, instead of flowing gracefully behind her. Overall not impressed by her either. I would have loved to see Rachel to be honest.

Mary Michael Patterson (Meg Giry)

Mary! Mary you did it girl. Really exceptional performance by Mary as Meg. She sang beautifully and had a charm to her. Her ever growing darker mood was apparent in every seen and she was very foreboding at the end. Lovely dancing and costumes fit her beautifully.

Karen Mason (Madame Giry)

At first I wasn’t sure what to think of Karen, because it appeared that she was straining her voice at times and she appears to be quite a bit older than her “daughter” (she could easily pass as Meg’s grandmother). However, she pulled through stunningly with the strained voice actually working in her favor as a kind of ominous character. She nailed the reprise after “Beauty Underneath.”

Sean Thompson (Raoul)

Sean was there. Not much else to say. I think he could have been more present in his role, but I believe that producers are pushing him to be more cold and aloof than ever to Christine. He was brash and careless in the beginning, setting the scene for how this Raoul would be portrayed. He did have a sweet moment with Gustave and the music box. Sean’s acting and singing were both great, with “Why Does She Love Me?” being a strong point for him as the audience definitely felt the hopeless and morose attitude of Raoul’s character at this point.

Katrina Kemp (Miss Fleck)

Katrina was amazing. The audience loved her and responded well to her. She definitely stole the show from her two cast mates.

Richard Koons (Squelch)

Not much to say about him. He played his part well.

Stephen Petrovich (Dr. Gangle)

Stephen was so overdramatic that at times it was cringy and at other times humorous. He reminded me very much of Herbert from Tanz der Vampire and if I had met him after the show I would have commented that to him. Just overly dramatic facial expressions and posturing. He sang well and played his part well however.

Casey Lyons (Gustave)

Nothing much to say about Casey. Beautiful voice. He took it in stride though as he kept getting dragged around stage.

The Show

I’m only commenting on songs that had parts I had something to say about, so not all scenes or songs are listed here. If they aren’t, I just didn’t have anything to say, good or bad, about them.

ACT I

“Til I Hear You Sing”

Nothing much to be said about this stage. It’s the same set and blocking as the Australian version. There was a light shining directly into my face from above though, so I was a little preoccupied with not being blinded. As this song ended and the next began, there seemed to be a bit of a weird pause where the trio of Dr. Gangle, Squelch, and Miss Fleck were beginning and the Phantom was just continuing to look down at them as they began. Then his little “tower thing” was jerkingly brought back bit by bit into the foreground. Not sure if this was on purpose or a technical aspect, because the Phantom was just hovering weirdly.

“Coney Island”

Set design the same as Australia again. Overall nice intro. The part that I noticed missing however were the “regular” customers of Coney Island who would have been on the carousel or mingling around the park. It was just the freaks. It made the transition smoother from this scene into the next when the “normal” people were entering the park and being a part of the experience alongside the freaks. The trio were riding the carousel horses instead.

“Christine Disembarks/Arrival of the Trio”

Christine came off the plank smiling and basking in the reporter’s presence which is very different from how other Christines have played this scene (most of them being apprehensive or taken off guard by the reporters wanting to speak with her). I didn’t like this as much, because it portrayed Christine as being almost conceited that she knew there would be people clamoring for her autograph. This takes away from the Christine we knew and loved from the original POTO who was overwhelmed by the praise and very humble. The carriage was HUGE and Miss. Fleck was driving it which was delightful. A loud thunder clap at the end scared a lot of the audience.

*also note that there were a lot of onstage cameras flashing so beware if you have sensitivity to this

“Beneath a Moonless Sky”

Christine appeared very angry with the Phantom, like seething mad, ready to slap him mad. The Phantom was very grabby and touchy. The Phantom was very aggressive in this scene, overly so, grabbing at Christine and manhandling her and she was just as aggressive at some points. The scene felt weird however, as Christine never truly dropped down from her anger and it was more like watching a guy try to force himself on a woman instead of remembering a moment together in their lives that meant something.

“Mother Please, I’m Scared”

Phantom was aggressive with Gustave, hauling him onto the railing which even made myself as an audience member kind of nervous for the actor playing Gustave. Phantom was very overly awkward in this scene too and his face was much too close to Gustave at certain points.

“Ten Long Years of Yearning”

This scene is where the anger did play out well, with the Phantom lunging at Christine near the piano and her fighting back. Even though I was expecting it, I was drawn to the scene with both actors fighting tooth and nail.

“Dear Old Friend”

My only comment is that it is not a wonder that the Phantom didn’t know you were into him Meg, because you slapped one of your fellow male dancer’s butts offstage.

“Beautiful/The Beauty Underneath”

I hated that this was changed so that instead of Gustave just doing his little piano part and the Phantom singing “he’s just 10 years old,” Gustave instead magically knows the tune to “The Phantom of the Opera” and he does the high notes like Christine did in the original. This was weird, especially as that scene is originally played as sexually awakening and personal. Just very awkward. The new lyrics were fine, but I still very much enjoyed the old ones just as much. The Phantom was literally dragging and grabbing at Gustave so much that I imagine the poor kid has bruises. There was a weird figure in white who appeared on one of the side balconies, who seemed to be channeling Christine dressed all in white like a ghost’s wife. Not sure why. Also, who let those It clowns into the carnival?)

“Phantom Confronts Christine”

When Meg moves forward to comfort the Phantom, the Phantom raised his arm in a gesture to backhand her and made an aggressive grunting sound. I also did not like this, as it harkens back to the new tour where the Phantom is very aggressive with women. The Phantom’s hair was sticking up all kinds of crazy during this scene and while I know this is common, it just looked very clowny and took away from the seriousness of the moment. Madame Giry’s entrance and song were on point.

ACT II

“Why Does She Love Me?”

The second shift bartender was chosen for his dark looks which look very similar to the Phantom’s. He bent down beneath the bar quite a few times and one of those times I was sure he was down for good, because he had been gone for a good 15 seconds, but then he popped back up again. The Phantom didn’t make the switch until a few seconds before confronting Raoul.

“Devil Take the Hindmost”

The singing styles between Gardar and Sean were very apparent during this and it made it so that the song did not flow as nicely and the Phantom’s threats didn’t seem as threatening when sung operatically.

“Mother Did You Watch?”

Meg did not get overly upset and scream too much at the end, which made it to be more ominous. She shouted briefly and then stood there facing the audience as the next scene was brought in with the light just slightly shining on her which made her appear foreboding and dangerous.

“Devil Take the Hindmost (Reprise)”

So I have no idea why, but there is a Phantom double in this scene. He appeared on stage right on one of the side balconies and as I was looking at him I noted that he did not look the same and his singing was not quite matching up to his lip movements. I honestly tilted my head in confusion which I think the double may have seen (sorry dude, work on your stuff). He exited and then about 5 seconds later, Gardar appeared on stage right on another side balcony. There was obviously not enough time for him to move across that whole expanse of stage, which threw the audience for a loop too with them wondering how he did that so fast. I just did not understand the point of a double. Just have the Phantom stand in one spot. It’s not a big deal. It was a bit hard to hear Madame Giry during this time. Not sure if her voice was just being overpowered or her mic was low.

“Love Never Dies”

Raoul steps forward involuntarily as soon as Christine sings, knowing he’s lost but entranced by her singing still. The Phantom was standing opposite to him awkwardly with his arms outstretched to his sides and gaping at Christine. When Raoul leaves and Christine looks back over, she honestly did not seem the least bit upset that Raoul was gone and immediately smiled and launched into the next stanza (I guess she didn’t really love him).

“Ah Christine/Gustave, Gustave”

The kiss was blocked in this scene because the Phantom’s arm came up in the front and blocked their faces. Not sure if this was on purpose or if the blocking was forgotten. Also the Phantom left first and slammed the door after him (Rude. Hold the door for Christine, man).

“Beauty Underneath (Reprise)”

I really liked this scene and thought it actually did add to the production. Meg is taking Gustave and she’s singing to him asking if he wants to see all the weird stuff and of course he agrees. A part of the roller coaster is in the middle and as the reprise is sung, it’s being spun around with Meg and Gustave on top of it. It appeared to be spinning quite fast and it was exciting to watch that. This gave a little more background into how Gustave was persuaded to leave the stage area however, as he trusted Meg and was very interested in “weird” things.

“Finale”

They used the same piece of roller coaster that Meg and Gustave had been spinning on. It was more curved than the Australian production and had a little platform at the end with no railing around it. There was only a rail on one part of it (and though Christine and Gustave were clinging to it, I don’t think Christine pulled it down like in the Australian version). The reason I really did not like this was because the coaster part actually had to be turned part way through so the other half of the scene on it could be displayed. Meg played her part very well. When it came time for the fight over the gun, it appeared that Gardar was manhandling the gun so much that Mary couldn’t even fire it, so the fight was prolonged for a few seconds until she could actually pull the trigger. This took away from the scene because the gunshot is supposed to be very unexpected and unintentional, but with the prolonged fight over the gun, it was inevitable that someone would be shot, it was just a matter of whom. The scene where the Phantom is holding Christine was a bit hard to see, especially since Christine was not sitting up that much (as is seen in Les Miserables with Fantine in “A Little Fall of Rain”). The Phantom’s breaths with obvious upset in them were touching and his cry at the end was also. The Phantom hands over Christine’s body to Raoul and walks to the end of the “pier.” When Gardar turned around to sing to Gustave though, one of his feet was dangling off the edge of the “pier” and it seemed for a moment that he might possibly throw himself into the ocean, so I think Gardar just needs to be mindful to keep his feet on the set, so as not distract from the moment.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I would see it again, but I would prefer to see a different Phantom and Christine to see their dynamic together. If it’s in your area, see it, even if just to say you have seen it.

I did make an audio recording of the show. I just need break it apart, see how I can improve the sound, and block out some of the white noise. I’m more sure how long that will take me, as I’ve never recorded a show before.

[phantomchristinesuk]

Bridget Costello in her 3 different Christine wigs

(West End, Australia, Riyadh)

Pictures: Bridget Costello instagram

[cristine-daae]

Welcome, it's nice to see someone new! (I'm fairly new myself; maybe a month old) For the Phan Ask thing: #'s 1, 6 & 30 :)

Omg thank you so much! Everyone is so lovely and friendly it’s nice to meet new people :)

1. Who is your favourite ALW musical Phantom?

I’m going to be a real basic bitch and say Ramin Karimloo. He just has a lot of feelings ya know. Plus, his voice is like velvet. I also love Anthony Warlow, his voice is gorgeous and so seductive I scream every time he sings Music of the Night. Enter at last master indeed.

6. How were you first introduced to PotO?

Gosh, I can’t even remember. I think it was from my mum years ago. She saw Anthony Warlow and Marina Prior in the Australian tour when it was here. So I’ve liked the musical for quite a white but I couldn’t tell you exactly how I first heard of it. However, it was only recently (last month) that I watched the 25th Anniversary for the first time and that just sparked my obsession. So I started watching other versions and now I’m reading the book.

30. How does Erik look in your imagination?

I picture something like the ALW!Phantom as that was my first introduction to the character. He’s tall, slim and impeccably dressed. I picture his face as deformed on one side but rather sculptured sharp cheekbones on the other. I see him as ghostly pale rather than yellow with decay. His hair is dark, patchy and unruly. And I can see him having bony fingers but his hands have a warmth to them.

[glassprism]

Hi Glass! I thought you'd might like a link to some full media call shots of the POTO Australian Tour! AIAOU is definitely my favourite, Blake kills it as Raoul!

https://youtu.be/y1k-YpSJitU

Oh nice, thanks! Looks like that's the same video this first gif / video clip came from, good to have the full scene!

The channel has all three of the scenes filmed at the media call, so for anyone who wants to go directly to them, here they are:

'Music of the Night'

'All I Ask of You'

'Masquerade'

[cecm23]

Bought my tickets! (I couldn’t contain my excitement so I have to share this. Sorry! 😝) I will never get tired of watching this timeless and phenomenal musical. Watching the American Touring Company this time. Can’t wait!👻 I think the South African and Australian companies are touring it in Asia including the Philippines so to my friends who are musical theater enthusiasts, you should go and see this. It’s worth your money. #OperaGhost #phantomoftheopera #LittleLotte #POTO (at Neil S. Blaisdell Concert Hall) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuIg96OFaAFFm0BJxuzCndY1Yh1ahWLCFh7eIQ0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=jx3taxun0va7

[robingurl]

Ah, so you like Phantom of the Opera!! :). Have you seen an actual live performance? And tell me what your favorite film adaptions are! :)

Oh yes! I went to see it live in New York and many times on tour! I’ve been in love with the musical itself since mid to late middle school. ^^’ I just never really dove in because I never saw a phantom that I loved.

I remember when the 2004 movie came out. I was ecstatic and went opening night dragging a few HS friends with me. I loved the sets and the feel of the movie but I was so disappointed that Gerald Butler couldn’t sing as well as Michael Crawford. I still love the movie to death though! I love the visuals it gave us! And Emmie/Emma as Christine was beautiful!

Michael Crawford the original had always been my favorite! I call him my little ass hole! XD

But this past spring POTO tour came down and a friend at work talked me into going to see it. So at last minute I got a ticket and saw it. Of course loving it as always.

I went back to work and another co worker said she had Love Never Dies on DVD. So I reluctantly borrowed it - I had heard good and bad things about it.

Also when I was younger on the message boards there was always a running joke you knew who your fave phantom was supposed to be when his voice sent shivers down your spine (I guess basically turns you on) and I’d never had that before. XD they were all good but not one had done it. Not even sure if this is still a thing or not or if that died back in the early 2000s. Lol

So I put on the DVD and I’ll be damned if Ben Lewis didn’t do that to me. I love hate LND but I really liked him and Anna O’Bryne.

TBH I would have dived in faster if I had known the 2018 LND sound track was the movie cast. But I didn’t so I fell out of POTO again. Then this summer I by chance listened to the 2018 cast and it went down hill from there.

So fave casts so far are the original and Australian LND. I’ve seen the 25th anniversary but Ramin just doesn’t do it for me as a phantom xD sorry girls. I don’t see the attraction.

I want to go back and watch the older casts. :D the ones I never had access too as a kid. I really want to see Michael Crawford as Erik so bad!

So yeah…I love POTO and have loved it for a long tome just never dove into it as deeply as I have now! :)

Film wise - I love the 2004. Started the Charles Dance movie - unsure about that. I want to see the original silent films. LND movie is good. And I still have to see the others as well! :) I did like the animated adaption.

[operafantomet]

Danielle Everett in Star Princess costume (Australian Tour)