Phantom 25th Anniversary Tour – Wales Millennium Centre – 10th December

** Warning – This Post Contains Spoilers from start to finish**

Eight months after excitedly purchasing tickets to see my favourite show take on a national tour, the day finally came. I knew the touring version would bring about some changes and I’ve therefore spent the year anxiously avoiding spoilers... with almost 100% success. The only things I’d really caught wind of was the chandelier not falling, which I’d assumed anyway, given the logistical problems and talk of not sitting too near the front due to the high stage which (although implying there was an element of revolve) was welcome information as I’d have been gutted to have waited so long only to have a restricted view.

I sat in the mid stalls at the Wales Millennium Centre, row F in the centre. These were great seats for a good, open view of the entire stage, while also catching acting nuances (though it was more standard definition than high definition from this distance).

It’s an open set as you enter the auditorium, much like the West End production, with the Auction House waiting for its occupants behind a gauze. The main difference is the chandelier doesn’t sit upon the stage ready to be lifted to its majestic resting place high above our heads because it’s already in place, covered in the typical dust sheets.

And it’s the magical disappearance of these dust sheets where we first see illusionist Paul Kieve’s input into this show. I immediately noticed his name in the programme before the show began and was even more excited; If you’ve read my previous blog posts you’ll know I’m a big fan of Paul Kieve’s work - he’s an illusionist at the very top of his game. It’s not that Paul Daniels’s original illusions have been disposed of, as they’re still very effective today – it’s more that they’ve been tweaked to fit in with the tone and capabilities of a touring show. The one that will stick in most people’s mind is the Phantom’s disappearance at the very end – more on that later.

The set is very different to the original – not just to accommodate the many recieving theatres but to give the show a modern, updated feel. Set designer Paul Brown, who once himself worked with the irreplaceable original designer Maria Bjornson, took on the challenge and has created something wonderful for a new age of Phantom. This design focuses more on the backstage areas and the Phantoms labyrinth. I was moved by the beauty of the stagecraft during the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ song as they move from Christine’s dressing room, into the passage behind the mirror, through the catacombs and entering his lair. The journey we see unfolding before us in this production is true to the books description and is mesmerising to watch.

The main set element is a large revolving drum, which during its rotation can change a scene smoothly from Christine’s dressing room, to phantom’s lair to the manager’s office.

The outside of the ‘drum’ creates the gantries/catacombs of the Paris Opera House from which magical stairs appear to allow the Phantom and the object of his obsessions to descend into the mists of the underground lake. As the ‘drum’ rotates to reveal the phantoms lair, candles descend from the skies and float eerily above the scene. Words cannot do justice to the scenic beauty unfolding in this scene.

All this said, It was a little let down by the noticeable lack of the Christine wedding mannequin. She therefore had no sudden shock and no reason to faint, so instead the Phantom just sweeps her up and puts her in the bed – perhaps she is just really tired from her operatic debut, followed by her excitement & exertions visiting the phantoms underground world? Another reason I don’t like this omission is this mannequin highlights the Phantom’s obsessive nature and insanity.

In fact, the down-played insanity of the phantom is the thing I least liked about this tour version. I’m not sure whether this is a directorial decision or if it’s the way that Earl Carpenter plays the character. Perhaps people who’ve seen John Owen Jones in the role could enlighten me to this?

Laurence Connor, the director, has intrigued me with an interesting direction he has taken Christine’s character. In the original, she is often confused, frightened and bereaved but we have never questioned her sanity before. There are a few moments in this production where we see Christine clutching the sides of her head, distressed. Then there is the scene around the piano. As the piano starts playing itself, the stage goes from the normal ‘room’ lighting to an eerie cold wash and all the ensemble turn and point at Christine, singing the phantom’s opera suddenly perfectly where before they struggled. Once it ends they all return to their arguments, as they were, just before it happened. This creates the question in the audience mind – did Christine just imagine that, or was it the phantom’s trickery once again?

Past the Point of No Return has been perfected for this production – I’ve always felt that, despite this being such a passion filled song, the London production has kept this song quite restrained and reserved with just a hint of sensuality but none of the fire I’ve always wanted from it. With this tour, I finally got that version. Christine dances a tango on a long banquet table while the words melt from her mouth, setting alight the phantom’s longing for her and the sexual tension is palpable. This makes the moment she pulls off his mask stand out in more stark contrast as we feel the atmosphere turn from desire turn to disdain.

It’s the last 20 minutes of the show that really has people on the edge of their seats, however. For all the fidgeting, coughing and singing along(!) that had been occurring throughout, there was an absolute hush that fell over the auditorium from the moment the phantoms mask is torn off by Christine to the moment Meg holds it up into a beam of light at the end. This is where the three main characters release all the emotion & energy that has been building throughout into the dramatic finale and Earl’s portrayal of the broken man that the phantom has become is simply heartwrenching.

There is a new disappearing trick from the phantom in the last few moments of the show. Instead of Meg walking into an already abandoned lair, she walks in with the phantom still there. He is quickly surrounded by the guards and you wonder how he will possibly get away – but get away he does in a breathtaking illusion; the audience gasps were audible from all around.

The trio of performers at the heart of this production were superb and have all put their own stamp on the characters.

Earl Carpenter’s Phantom is a pitiful creature indeed... but insane? It’s hard to tell. The trademarks of his insanity from the original production – the awkward hand movements, for example – didn’t make an appearance. I miss the old school completely insane phantom’s of olde, a la Peter Karrie. And I can’t help but wonder if this is to play on the more romantic side of the story that Lloyd Webber seems to favour these days, seemingly forgetting it’s as much a story about a tortured, deformed man driven insane from a lifetime of isolation and being shunned by the world.

I also felt he occasionally stumbled over words, as though he was rushing to fit them into the sentence. Perhaps this was a character choice to portray the phantoms frenetic, chaotic mind or perhaps he really was struggling to fit the words in due to a faster paced tempo?

Katie Hall is exceptional in the role of Christine. I really enjoyed this take on the character – she seems more passionate, more in touch with her sensuality while retaining that naivety essential for her to be led by both the mysterious charms of the phantom and the confident assurance of Raoul.

Raoul was played by Simon Bailey in a way that showed his over confidence that borders on arrogance without letting it consume the character, like it did in the Royal Albert Hall concert version (which I suspect has something to do with Love Never Dies). This is important. Raoul still needs to be likeable, in my opinion. He has always been overbearing and a little controlling but he is not the monster. We should expect Christine to want to choose him. Simon’s portrayal was of a self assured man who loves and wants to protect Christine, as it should be.

I wasn’t too keen on the casting for the managers, or for Piangi. In fact, it wasn’t until toward the end of the first act that I even noticed Piangi, which isn’t right. Piangi is the leading male in the Opera Populaire and should be an overbearing presence, only eclipsed by La Carlotta. I also couldn’t help feeling that the general look Monsieur Firmin was given was rather more fitting of a certain wizard who lives at the end of a yellow brick road! This recurring thought was quite distracting.

My verdict? – This is a beautifully staged reimagining of the brilliant original, exploring some new avenues and modernising the classic for a new generation of Phantom Phans. For me, however, the London production has been dubbed ‘The Brilliant Original’ for a reason. There is something about sitting in the intimacy of Her Majesty’s Theatre with its living room like auditorium and its the old stagecraft still wowing audiences every night that really bolsters the magic and atmosphere. For this reason, nothing will ever replace the original production in my heart.

Phantom of the Opera will be at the Wales Millennium Centre until the 12^th of January, after which it will move on to Southampton. Don’t hesitate to book as there is limited seating available.

What's On Stage?

... Errr... well... nothing,  according to critic Michael Coveney, or nothing worth seeing anyway. This interview being one of the low points at last night’s whatsonstage.com awards (or high points depending on how sadistic your viewpoint is)

If you didn’t see it, because you were actually there enjoying the live performances that those of us watching online weren’t privy too, I’m sure you’ve already heard about it. Yes, perhaps he was slightly intoxicated but for a renowned theatre critic who writes for whatsonstage.com themselves to not be able to pull his thoughts together at an awards ceremony for the very industry he critiques is very embarrassing and was horribly cringeworthy to watch.  I wanted to be able to post a link to a clip, for those of you who missed, but rather unsurprisingly there was nothing to be found.

That aside, I found the whole evening a bit disappointing, which seemed to be the general consensus from fellow tweeters. I suppose the problem of having the awards voted for by the theatre goers themselves is that, having not seen all the nominees, most votes go to the popular ones that everyone is familiar with ... hence the reason I don’t vote in these awards – I feel it’s only fair to vote if you can give a well thought out, reasoned, balanced vote having been to see all the nominees... or at least a good proportion of them. Unfortunately, I can’t get to London often enough for that to be the case.

I think this bias towards the more “popular” nominees was demonstrated in the results. Especially when you consider that Amanda Holden won the award for Best Actress in a Musical. I haven’t actually seen any of the actresses nominated, but I have heard so much better things about Caissie Levy, for instance and twittersphere seemed to agree that the Matilda girls should have won it.  

Again, there was outrage on twitter when the Theatre Event of the Year award was given to the reunion of Catherine Tate and David Tennant. This is not an event, the people cried. It seems so unfair that it went to this rather than the Phantom 25^th Anniversary, or at the very least, Michael Sheen’s Port Talbot based ‘Passion’ play – both of these being actual events, rather than clever casting decisions.  Maybe this award needs better guidelines as to what constitutes an event.

Another perplexing aspect to the evening seemed to me the decision to employ Alan Davies as a host.  Did this decision happen after asking Sheridan Smith to host because of their connection through Jonathan Creek? At first, his between awards banter was very funny, it has to be said. But as the evening wore on (perhaps again to a slight inebriation) it got slightly irritating and repetitive. The Benedict Cumberbatch joke definitely got to a point where you could hear the slightly awkward laughter of a Sheridan trying to politely move it along. And his excitement at getting to the last few prompt pages of the awards evening was more than just a joke, it seemed. Something tells me he didn’t particularly want to be part of this evening at all.

There were some well received winners though such as 'One Man, Two Govnors', for best new comedy and 'Sweeney Todd' for Best Regional Production. The most notable and well celebrated winner being 'Matilda the Musical', which looked as though it wasn’t going to get its recognition until the end of the evening, where the show swept up Best Choreographer (Peter Darling), Best Newcomer (Tim Minchin), Best Set Designer (Rob Howell) and – the icing on the cake – Best New Musical (and looking at the statistics it won quite comfortably).

I was pleased that those of us who couldn’t attend the ceremony got to share the experience online, even if we had to miss out on the performances – but then, if we had been allowed that privilege we may have missed out on that wonderful interview with Michael Coveney.

To see the results and the corresponding voting statistics, along with pictures from the evening, please go to http://awards.whatsonstage.com/index.php

The Music of Scott Alan

Who? I hear you ask; which is exactly why I chose to blog about him today. Far too few people know about Scott Alan, given his song writing talent and what he could bring to musical theatre.

I came across the music of Scott Alan quite by accident. It was the beginning of last month, just after I’d returned home from London to see the Phantom 25^th Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall. Having been impressed with Hadley Fraser, but not having heard much of him before this (except for in clips of him singing with Ramin Karimloo in their bluegrass/rock inspired band Sheytoons) I was looking for videos on youtube, when I came across the following:-

The music and lyrics are both perfectly matched in heart wrenching melancholy. Rarely am I moved to tears simply by hearing an out-of-context song, but this managed to really tug at the heart strings.

Intrigued, I clicked on some more of the recommended videos that had been posted by Scott Alan’s youtube channel. It seems lots of well known musical theatre stars are supporting him by singing at his showcases.

Another of my favourites is a song called ‘Always’. Below is a clip of Sierra Boggess singing this song (again get the tissues ready – Scott Alan is a master of emotional ballads).

It was on the strength of the songs I’ve featured here that I bought the album Keys: the Music of Scott Alan (though ‘Always’ is sung by Sutton Foster on the album – still beautifully) and have listened to it almost every night since. It is such soothing music to put on when winding down from the day. Here is the link to the mp3 download on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keys-Music-Scott-Alan/dp/B002HNUBTI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320452235&sr=8-1

I hope this has sparked your interest in someone who I think will be important to Musical Theatre in the years to come and deserves to be. He currently has a show in production called ‘Home’ http://www.homethemusical.com/  and will be coming to London later this month (Sunday 13^th November) for ‘Diva’s Sing Scott Alan’ at the Arts Theatre starting at 4pm, featuring some of the West End’s leading ladies including Caissie Levy, currently starring in Ghost the Musical and Alexia Khadime (current Eponine and former Elphaba). Lending his support to these leading ladies is, the recently confirmed, Daniel Boys.

I would certainly be attending this if I lived closer to London, so instead I am going to support by encouraging anyone reading this that can make it to go along.

I predict in a few years time people will no longer be asking ‘who?’ upon hearing Scott Alan’s name, but rather ‘who wants tickets to his new hit show?’    

Phantom 25 Encore

It seems only appropriate to start my blog with a review of the 25^th Anniversary of Phantom of the Opera. This has been the event of the year for musical theatre and, being a lifelong “phan”, I feel really lucky to have had the privilege to have seen it live at the Royal Albert Hall.

Not being very rich, I had to go for the cheap seats (and by cheap I mean relative to the top price tickets - the 'cheap' tickets being £85). These were high up in the circle and though the atmosphere of actually being there is irreplaceable, the one thing that I missed out on was the acting. From where we were sat the sound was perfect, the general overview was perfect but the performers were little more than blurry blobs with indistinguishable features, moving about on stage.

So, it was with much excitement that I went to see the Phantom Encore screening at the Vue last night. Being able to see the actors so close up is usually only a luxury afforded to the top priced seats. Even then, not in such detail.

And in detail, it was. Filmed in HD, we could see every bead of sweat! (and sweating we all were. What you can't know from just watching the recording is how sweltering the heat was – I don’t think I’ve ever been so uncomfortably hot, not even when I was a bridesmaid in Malta wearing a dress complete with padded bodice. Phans with fans made from leaflets for other shows all around).

   

From the moment it began I was completely mesmerized and enchanted. I already knew the singing was flawless from all involved, but I was blown away by the incredible acting. They all seemed to understand their characters and embody them entirely.  

Ramin Karimloo’s phantom is lonely, desperate  and clearly insane, yet at the same time occupies a strange allure for both Christine and the audience. Something Sierra Boggess’s Christine plays very well to. Her facial expressions when looking at the phantom at the beginning, shows her complete intoxication with him, which over the course of the show turns to fear, then pity.

Hadley Fraser’s Raoul is imposing, wilful and, quite frankly, a bit of a bastard! Through, I imagine, no fault of Hadley himself, but rather a directional insistence, no doubt to fit in with the story of Love Never Dies.

Before you dismiss this as hate toward Love Never Dies, know that I was actually a supporter. The music is beautiful; in my opinion, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best since Phantom. The story, however, was massively flawed. So, I would urge:-

Do not mess with the well loved original for the sake of a show that wasn’t well received!!

Another example of this:-  Christine turning to Phantom at the end of the lair scene to sing a reprise of ‘All I Ask of You’ rather than singing it to Raoul, giving us the impression she still hasn’t fully made her choice. This, of course, in keeping with the story of Love Never Dies.

These are, however, minor complaints of an otherwise perfect celebration of my favourite musical, with my favourite west end stars of the moment and I, for one, cannot wait to own the dvd. Never again will I have need to watch Joel Schumacher’s disappointing let down :- 

I hope you were taking notes, Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, because this is how it’s meant to be done.