** 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.
