#teresia bokor

[operafantomet]

Just came across your blog! I’m stunned at everything you have on here! Btw your header looks amazing! I love that wedding dress on the Christine!

Thank YOUUUUUU <3

And aaaah, Teresia Bokor from the 2009 Copenhagen production. The tiny woman with the grand voice. And kind enough to pose in silly Phantom photos with me and friend Josefine.

(and this photo is a happy accident, I tried to stay out of the way when they took a photo with friend Josefine - in blue dress - but then they urged me to join in and this photo happened. Too cool! The Phantom is powerhouse Flemming Enevold)

[glassprism]

I completely agree with what you said that acting is important to Christine's character. Stiff acting is boring to watch, but it's also difficult to overlook very shrill voices. Shrill, screeching voices are distracting. I've actually skipped ahead on some boots if the voice is too much. I'm noticing a lot of the girls do go the route of over-the-top type singing. Is this expected of them? Is a more sweeter sound frowned upon these days?

Without knowing exactly what "over-the-top type singing" is, it's hard for me to say. What I can say, at least, is that I do feel like singers in the flagship productions (London and Broadway, also the US tours to an extent as they often share actors with Broadway) basically sound the same to me, with a few exceptions.

A lot of this, it seems, is due to a certain technique that's being taught nowadays, discussed here on @operafantomet's blog from an interview with Rebecca Caine, where singers are taught to belt and sing soprano but with much less attention being paid to finding that unique "color" in a singer's voice. And part of that, I think, is that we're seeing less and less roles for those "legit sopranos", for singers with that classical sound. Most musicals, especially newer ones, are looking for something more belt-y, more modern-sounding.

And so I get why that technique is being taught - it's almost a matter of career survival at this point, you have to know how to sing that way - but like Caine, it is sad to hear so many singers who sound the same. Like, look back at when Phantom first started: if I listened to Sarah Brightman, Claire Moore, and Maria Kesselman, I could immediately tell who is who, even though it's the same role, the same notes; or similarly if you have Sarah Brightman, Patti Cohenour, and Rebecca Luker sing, I think even people who don't know the singers very well, would know they were different people.

But that's not really the case anymore. Like, if you put, I dunno, Leila Benn Harris, Robyn North, and Tabitha Webb together, I... well, I'll probably be able to tell them apart, but only because I know their voices well. Or you stick Julia Udine, Rachel Zatcoff, and Rachel Eskenazi-Gold together, same thing. Some of this could also be put down to direction - I've talked a bit about how I felt Meghan Picerno was told to downplay her operatic voice on Broadway, for example. Also, none of this is meant to say they are bad singers - most are great! And certainly they bring more than just vocals to the role - acting, interpretation, chemistry with their fellow actors. But again, those unique voices seem to be gone, and even the exceptions - Celinde Schoenmaker or Amy Manford in London, Meghan Picerno or Elizabeth Welch on Broadway - are more exceptions to an increasingly common trend.

That being said, if you go outside those productions, you'll still find all sorts of singers. The Helsinki non-replica, for example, loves to cast actual opera singers in the roles. The Copenhagen productions have always been good at casting a more operatic or classical singer (Susanne Elmark, Agnete Munk Rasmussen, Teresia Bokor, Sibylle Glosted) with a singer with more musical theatre background for contrast (Viktoria Krantz, Mia Karlsson, Isabel Schwartzbach). Japan has always done its own thing; culturally they tend to prefer singers with less vibrato. And the (now closed) World Tour is just full of variety, including the operatic singers (Meghan Picerno), the very light, sweet voices (Clara Verdier, Caitlin Finnie), your typical Broadway-type singer (Kaley Ann Voorhees), the classical voice (Claire Lyon), and of course, the God-only-knows (Megan Ort).

So as an overall answer to your question: yes, some voices are definitely more favored in some productions, for a number of reasons, but also no, you'll find some fantastic voices outside of them.

[allthefights]

I'm here, nothing can harm you My words will warm and calm you

[marleneoftheopera]

Principal & Alternate Christine’s in Copenhagen:

Susanne Elmark (2000-01)

Hanne Damm (2000-02)

Viktoria Krantz (2001-03)

Agnete Munk Rasmussen (2002-03)

Mia Karlsson (2009, also u/s 2000-03)

Teresia Bokor (2009)

Sibylle Glosted (2018-19)

Isabel Schwartzbach (2018-19)

Casandra Lemoine (2018)

The photos come from either Google Images or operafantomet.

[love-little-lotte]

Okay, last photoset before I go to sleep. 

The iconic nightgown of Christine Daae from The Phantom of the Opera. Also a fan-favorite.

[cdaae]

Flemming Enevold, Teresia Bokor, Tomas Ambt Kofod, 2009

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qup3jfm9ya0nn4p/Copenhagen+2009.zip

[phantomotheoperapics]

Teresia Bokor and Tomas Ambt Kofod 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark Credit: Unknown.

[donadrakes]

I just traded for that Teresia Bokor/Peter Jorde/Tomas Ambt Kofod Phantom audio and have been listening to it nonstop for like 3 days Teresia = favorite Christine Tomas = favorite Raoul Now if I could just get my hands on that Michael Crawford/Claire Moore audio!!!! (Want sooooo baddddd)

[glassprism]

this is a question i've had for a while and you seemed like a good person to ask i hope you don't mind! do shows vary noticeably from country to country? like as in do you see say, japanese or german productions consistently have different stylistic choices to american ones? sorry if i'm phrasing this badly 😭

Oh yeah, definitely. Just off the top of my head:

London - Generally tends to be the more "experimental" production, the one more open to changing up the blocking. In the last decade before it was shut down, there was an increasing tendency for violent Phantoms. There was also a tendency to cast Christines with very light, squeaky voices.

Broadway - In contrast to London, the more staid, "consistent" production, with actors keeping more strictly to the blocking. Phantoms, apart from Hugh Panaro, don't seem to lean too strongly towards any one interpretation (e.g. crazy, violent, sad, etc.). Christines tend to sound very similar, neither light not dark, with a generic, fairly heavy vibrato.

Japan - The acting here tends to be more subdued, which could be cultural but could also be that many productions use a pre-recorded orchestra. Singers also tend to not use a lot of vibrato, which I believe is a cultural preference.

Vienna - Fantastic orchestrations. Phantoms, Christines, and Raouls tend to be either really, really good with some fascinating interpretations, or kind of boring.

Germany - If Vienna is like London in being more open to experimentation, the productions in Germany are like Broadway, preferring not to deviate too far from the beaten path. Generally tends to be a pretty top-notch production in terms of casts with plenty of classical voices.

Toronto - Home of the crazy Phantoms. Seriously, Phantoms here and in the Canadian tour definitely seem a little nuttier than the norm. Also, the Christines are either these beautiful, operatic voices, or they're super squeaky.

Copenhagen - Another generally good production. Tends to double cast so that one Christine tends to have more of an operatic background and the other is more experienced in musicals. Also, everyone here seems very tall (Peter Jorde, Flemming Enevold, Susanne Elmark, Tomas Ambt Kofod, Isabel Schwartzbach), which might just be a Scandinavian thing... unless they're actually really short (Teresia Bokor).

Budapest - Probably part of the blocking, but the Christines here tend to be more independent, intelligent, and not playing so much the naive, child-like interpretation favored elsewhere.

Poland - Stylistically, in their first production, everyone seemed to be imitating the 2004 movie: growly Phantoms, light-voiced Christines, tenor-y Raouls. By the revivals though, that seems to have died down a little.

Helsinki - Really loves casting operatic voices.

[marleneoftheopera]

are there any christines who you think would have looked good also as blondes?

Off the top of my head (and nowhere near a complete list):

(Robyn North, Corinne Cowling, Gina Beck, Lauri Brons, Katie Hall)

(Patti Cohenour, Karen Cuilliver, Tabitha Webb, Harriet Jones, Maria Coyne)

(Clara Verdier, Samantha Hill, Sara Jean Ford, Lisa Anne Wood, Celia Hottenstein)

(Sylvia Rhyne, June Crowley, Susanne Elmark, Teresia Bokor, Agnete Munk Rasmussen)

And finally, Amy Manford and Celinde Schoenmaker. They might not count because they did actually go on to be blonde Christine's in a non-replica, but they didn't wear blonde wigs when they were both in the replica version.

And yes, most (if not all) of these actresses either are blonde in real life and/or wore lighter wigs. Or at least wigs that had a good dose of highlights if they were in the right light. I suppose they are the easiest for me to imagine in a blonde wig because there's already a bit of an example. (And some have played Cosette and/or Glinda where they wore a blonde wig, so there's that too.)

[love-little-lotte]

“Think of me waking, silent and resigned.”

[nadaalopov]

Peter Jorde and Teresia Bokor singing Point of no Return, April 30, 2009, Copenhagen. This is indeed one of the best PONRs I know; Peter Jorde's singing is really enchanting, too.

I have mixed feelings about his Phantom overall; judging solely by the audio, he has some brilliant finds, but generally I feel he sings too much and his acting is less intense than it could (and should) have been.

His singing though. 

[withalittleillumination]

7/50 Favourite Phantom Photos

[donadrakes]

Forever In Love With Your Voice…

↳ Teresia Bokor

[glassprism]

So this might be a very stupid question, but do you know why after Raoul is freed they (meaning mostly he) just stands there watching the Phantom? Like why not just get the heck out of there immediately? I've actually seen one Raoul act like he is a bit concerned of what will become of the Phantom but I know that is a rare reaction, are there other takes on it from different actors? Wasn't there one or two who tried to go at the Phantom as well?

I actually don't think many Raoul actors just stand around, at least not the ones in the last decade and a half or so. I don't see many in the official productions that are all that sympathetic to the Phantom - at best they are confused, after all this is a man who just threatened to kill him and forcibly marry Christine, and the only Raoul I recall showing sympathy is from a community theatre production in Hawaii. However, many of them are still doing some pretty interesting things in the background of the Phantom angsting.

First, for the Raouls who are just standing there, hugging Christine, I think there's some fairly good reasons for them to do that, being that either the two of them are utterly surprised that the Phantom has let them go and are hesitating because what if this is some OTHER trick to trap us, because they just need to comfort each other for a moment, or because Christine is reluctant to leave and Raoul is hovering around her to protect her. This sometimes leads into moments like this, where Raoul (Michael Shawn Lewis) throws himself in front of Christine (Jennifer Hope Wills) at any vaguely threatening move on the Phantom's (Gary Mauer) part:

Sometimes the Raoul just needs to recover from his ordeal, as we see with Rachel Barrell's Christine here having to support David Shannon's Raoul out of the lair:

Others will be actively searching for a way out, given that the portcullis is still closed. Here's Tomas Ambt Kofod doing so (the guy actually did a lot of things during this scene, but the gif can only be so long) while Teresia Bokor's Christine is busy being confused and sympathetic towards Flemming Enevold's Phantom:

You also get Raouls who are raring to go, but Christine is the one who is unsure whether to stay or go, forcing him to return and try to talk some sense into her. You can see it here with Giulia Nadruz and Henrique Moretzsohn:

And yes, you have the Raoul who are raring to fight. Hadley Fraser seems to have popularized this move, if not being the first to do it, and I've seen many subsequent Raouls in various productions do it. Here's Jeremy Hays with Kaley Ann Voorhees:

Of course, none of these are mutually exclusive, and you'll often see Raouls doing combinations of them - going from needing to recover to protecting Christine, from looking for a way out to persuading Christine to flee with them. So as a final example, here's Evgeny Zaycev (with Tamara Kotova as Christine and Dmitri Ermak as the Phantom) going from "I need a bit of time to recover" to "YOU'RE GONNA DIE" to "You know what, maybe we should get out" in the space of a minute:

So yep, far more interesting things going on usually than Raoul just standing around!

[marleneoftheopera]

Is Meghan the shortest Christine ever or has there been shorter? We will all miss Tiny Christine, but I feel she’s not gone good. Sierra came back, Michael Crawford came back. They say they reached their limit, but then, surprise, they make a come back!

There’s not a height for every single Christine, but I’ve seen online that Amanda Jane Callaghan was 5’0” and Tabitha Webb and Teresia Bokor were 5’1”. Meghan is 5’2” so she’s definitely one of the shorter Christine’s, but not the shortest!

And yes, I believe the saying goes “once you’re part of the phamily you never really leave”. Especially with Covid and its variants, the time may come when they need someone to fill in. And if she’s in the area and they keep her costumes around, she very well could be back again! But sad to see her go for now.