1
December 2014 – Her Majesty’s Theatre
I live in
London and call myself a phan, but I haven’t seen POTO for almost three
years. In an ideal world, I’d get a chance to see every new cast, but it
doesn’t work that way. I like psyching myself up for a cast but equally I
like being surprised. Such was the case last time I saw the show (we got
swing Simon Shorten, who, despite having had a cold, soldiered on and was
pretty good as I recall), and such was the case this time. (I suppose I
shouldn’t be surprised considering the last time I saw the show was during the
Christmas holidays and last night was a Monday night!) Last night we got
the alternate Christine (who I find is normally just as good or often better
than the main Christine) and a house cover Phantom. I was most surprised
to check the board and see, not Geronimo Rauch or Scott Davies, but someone
called Jeremy Secomb who I had never heard of before!! (I had heard
really good things about Rauch and had always wanted to see Davies as I
understand he is a bit of a Marmite Phantom.) Some Internet digging
later, I discovered that Davies had lost his voice mid-show (I assume on
Sunday) and had continued miming onstage while Jeremy Secomb sang from
backstage, looking at the monitor. Apparently it was a phenomenal
save. But I would say it’s a real rarity to get a Phantom who normally
plays Piangi. I’m still on the fence how I felt about his vocal
performance, but his Final Lair was very powerful.
There
were a couple of unusual factors in this performance, in fact. It’s the
first time I’ve ever heard of a blonde Christine in POTO (although of
course in the original book Christine is blonde and Swedish); I feel quite
lucky to have gotten to see a blonde, Swedish actress actually play
Christine! This meant that Meg had a brunette wig, which was quite
trippy. It took some getting used to. I was pretty impressed with
Emmi Christensson as Christine, vocally and performance-wise, although I
thought she was better in the first act. Liam Tamne was Raoul.
Raoul is a bit of a thankless part, at least in my opinion; Tamne was
okay. Several of his character decisions were not to my taste, but I will
say he gave an excellent performance in “All I Ask of You,” which is something
I rarely say about a Raoul! It was nice, as well, to see a completely new
cast as in recent years I have had some overlap with supporting characters
(nothing against them, it’s just nice seeing different people in the roles).
Seats
were in the front row of the Grand Circle. (One day before I die I am
going to get seats for the stalls in Her Majesty’s. I don’t think I’ve
sat in the stalls at POTO since my 2nd show in Albuquerque,
more than 10 years ago.) Visibility was good (I could see Red
Death! Hooray!) except for bits of STYDI and some of the other stuff
really far downstage. We were nearly at eye level with the chandelier,
and if the angel hadn’t lowered so much during AIAOYR the Phantom could have
spat in our eyes. The orchestra seemed really loud at this performance—to
the point I couldn’t understand Raoul when he shouted “but this time, the
DISASTER WILL BE YOURS!!!” even though you could tell he was singing as loudly
as he could. The harpsichord effect on the keyboard sounded really
prominent in quite a few places, too.
Prologue
Auctioneer
unremarkable. Robert le Diable skulls didn’t get any notice.
It’s the first time I can remember seeing the Chalumeau poster very
clearly. I didn’t like the Raoul characterisation at all. He
shouted “Booooy!” loudly and gratingly. There was a lot of fake
coughing. Some Raouls can sound old convincingly; this one couldn’t (also
he looked nothing like Professor Travers J).
The nurse nudged him on the shoulder when bidding commenced for Lot 665.
Mme Giry (Jacinta Mulcahy) seemed subsumed in a giant fur wrap. Overture
excellent. For the first time I could see actual stagehands holding big
spotlights on the chandelier as it rose. Stagehands always seem to need
to help pull the cloth off the statues on stage left.
Hannibal
I was
ambivalent about the Carlotta, Lara Martins. She had a powerful and
operatic voice certainly and at least she wasn’t shrill. The accent was
muddled and inconsistent which is surprising given she’s apparently Portuguese.
I couldn’t really tell what kind of woman this Carlotta was, at least until the
second act. John Ellis was a good Piangi. He seemed much taller
than many a Piangi and therefore less silly as the bulk, though obviously fake,
made him look like a man who was more than a match for anyone (including the
Phantom). He prised his way up on the elephant but didn’t flail around
and only played the sword raise for laughs. He really got some laughs
after Carlotta screamed, “Ubaldo, andiamo!” He sort of sheepishly moved
across the stage which was a lot funnier than the last-minute
“Amateurs!”
I really
liked this Lefèvre (Tim Laurenti), he seemed ordinary and trustworthy.
Along with Firmin (Andy Hockley) and André (Martin Ball), they seemed far less
sleazy than many recent characterizations of them that I’ve seen (either
characterization is fine, I just thought it was interesting). I just got
a large sense of character from Lefèvre. He looked older and very dapper
(although he pronounced Firmin “FUR-min”). For example, “our leading
soprano for five seasons now” was said without any sarcasm or weariness, rather
refreshing! Firmin was really jolly. He spent a lot of the first
act laughing, and again, as I said, less of the sleaze factor. He seemed
like more of a legitimate businessman; in fact, André did, too, less of a
dilettante (and he seemed less sure about Elissa’s aria being in act three,
less sycophantic). Firmin, for example, didn’t seem to purposefully blow
off Piangi when introduced to him. What a hilarious moment when Firmin
started clapping prematurely after the first verse of TOM—André and a few of
the others tried to gently but forcefully motion at him not to start clapping
yet. “God in Heaven, you’re all obsessed” was like “WTF is wrong with you
people” rather than angry or shocked.
Hannibal lively as ever. I noticed a
stagehand who I later figured out was Buquet with the Wild Man’s huge,
ridiculous club at the back of the stage which I had somehow failed to see all
the other seven times I’ve seen this show. The Slave Driver was covered
in shine but it’s the first time I can recall a Slave Driver who didn’t
wax. There was also a moment when some of the supernumeraries were in the
background looking at what I thought at first was a map but realized later was
a newspaper! Oh and the stagehands in the elephant got a big laugh, they
never cease to do so.
Think of
Me
I thought
Emmi Christensson was so appealing. The really fair Swedish looks with
the big dark eye make up (echoes of Sarah Brightman!) worked really well, made
for a highly unusual Christine. I found her face highly expressive as
well; others have commented she was somewhat stoic in portrayal but I didn’t
think so. She made me think of the Clara Bow actresses from the silent
film age who used their faces in that way (though obviously she wasn’t
silent!). Rachel Barrell was really smiley and so was Sofia Escobar; Gina
Beck I don’t really remember and Celia Graham had a pretty mobile face.
But EC was at least as expressive as any of them; I thought she was
charming. Her voice reminded me of Catherine Porter, sort of pop-like but
also not too slack, not too showy either.
Not incredibly warm but not cold either.
She seemed genuinely excited and pleased, which was refreshing in a song
that (though it’s a joy to sing) can be a bit of a concert piece. The cadenza
was powerful and very ornamental. It
also looked as though she was putting a lot of effort into it—not necessarily
in a bad way.
Tamne
looked very young and rather handsome up in his box. He had a charming smile. He had to be restrained by Firmin after his
“brava!”; it wasn’t seemly, I guess!
AOM
Thought
this was reasonably well-sung, although Meg (Alicia Beck) sounded mousy. (I am very hard to please as far as Megs
go.) Not much else to say about it!
Little Lotte/The Mirror
After all
these years, I finally took a mental note of Madame Firmin’s line: it’s “greedy!” which she says in response to
Firmin saying that all the seats were filled.
Once again, Firmin and André seemed playful rather than sleazy.
Raoul was
being a twonk, which is a characterization choice you can make, and I quite
liked some of Tamne’s choices here—at least they were interesting. For example, when Christine greeted him at
her door, he leaned forward and tried to kiss her but she nervously moved
away. YOU GOT TOLD! There were a few more details in this vein
which alas I’ve forgotten, but the one that absolutely shocked me was after
Christine had protested, “The Angel of Music is very strict.” He looked her up and down with a proprietary
gleam in his (young, scuzzy) eye and said, “Little Lotte” in the same tone you
might say like “oooh baby.” “Two minutes
. . . Little Lotte.” Scuzz bucket! :-D
EC
flattened herself against the door when the Phantom appeared as if genuinely
scared. I don’t remember seeing a
Christine quite that shocked or scared.
“Who IS that in there?” Raoul demanded.
Title Song
I love
love love this. I can’t remember the
misty lake ever looking bluer! Good,
competent rendition. The hat toss and
the cape twirl were adequate. There was
a very good Dave Willetts hair slick back motion, absolutely carried through to
the front of the thighs, egads. I loved
EC’s reaction at the first “Sing for me!”
She looked suitably chastised, in a professional way, as if she realized
she could sing better and would try to do so.
At the very end of the cadenza, she looked genuinely scared as if she
couldn’t believe what was happening to her.
Not a sexual kind of “I’ve lost my innocence” kind of scared, but as if
she was afraid she was being possessed.
It was interesting. She even
touched her throat after the song was over as if she couldn’t believe that her
voice had come out like that. For his
part, he wasn’t super-sexualizing the bit at the end; if anything, he was on
the same wavelength as far as trying to push himself for musical
excellence. That was what I got out of
it, anyway.
MOTN
This was
beautifully staged, though to be completely honest, it wasn’t the best
rendition I’ve ever heard. I really
struggled as I watched this show to think how to describe Jeremy Secomb’s
voice. Now that I know that he is
normally Piangi, my “he must be a baritone” theory has gotten blown out of the
water. “Powerful” is the main adjective
I would use; not floaty or caressing (à la Simon Shorten or Hugh Panaro,
occasionally, Ted Keegan), nor raw and anguished (à la Gary Mauer, although
there were moments I thought of Mauer).
Looking back at my previous reviews, I think he most resembled Earl
Carpenter (who I loved, probably my third favorite Phantom, though I also liked
Ramin, who had some amazing acting moments and his voice was so beautiful . . .
but I digress) or possibly David Shannon.
Vocally, I thought overall he was a very strong singer, and his
characterization was very enjoyable. I
have to admit, though, his “soar” was breathy and the very last “niiiight” was
pretty weak. The final “Be!” was
excellent.
EC worked
well with Secomb. As I’ve said
previously, Christine pretty much has to look dazed. There’s no provision for her to stop the
Phantom mid-song and say, “What is going on?”
There’s no provision for her to be angry or annoyed. She just has to accept the magic of the song
and let him sing it to her.
Nevertheless, EC carried on her characterization of being slightly scared
of what the Phantom was making her become.
She looked as though she understood that he really meant darkness when
he sang, “the darkness of the music of the night.” Just before the “Let your mind” verse, when
he was back by the portcullis, she seemed to think to herself, “Okay, now I get
it, this is a seduction.” So she moved
toward him to lean in—to, what? Touch
him? Kiss him? He was surprised and pulled back, to the
point that she got frightened too and ran away.
He hung around on the portcullis—that is such a self-consciously sexy
pose in MOTN, it always surprises me. He
seemed very nervous to do the “touch me, trust me” pose and flinched when she
reached up for “savour each sensation.”
And he caught her, of course, hooray!
STYDI
I liked
how he worked on the score. It was like
he was doing miniature conducting.
Previously Phantoms I’ve seen have been really pissed off as they
composed. He was pretty equable about
it. She sat straight up at “on the
lake.” Again, this is something I really
liked: EC was really coquettish as she
started reaching out to grab the mask during “Who was that shape in the shadows
/ whose is the face in the mask?”
Normally I get the feeling that Christines are just overwhelmed with
Bluebeard’s wives-like curiosity which feels kind of wrong. The magic wore off so now you have an
uncontrollable urge to do what didn’t matter last night because he was singing
sexily to you? I guess that’s one way of
playing it, but I liked this better: it
was like she thought, okay, here’s the situation we’re in, if he wants me to
“help make the music of the night,” let’s be like real lovers, maybe he’s
playing a game with me. Or
something. And she also looped the
trailing end of her dressing gown under her arm for most of this scene. Maybe she slipped and fell another time?
“No!” he
shrieked. The “damn” and “curse” were
yelps. After “Damn you! Curse you!” he fell onto the stage with his
back to the audience. She was crying in
a heap. He was so heartbreaking on “fear
can turn to love.” As he was right next to the mirror, he
seemed to contemplate its jagged edges at, “carcass.” He pulled himself along on his elbows. He was quite unashamedly sobbing while she took
her time in getting the mask back to him.
He wasn’t angry for “Come, we must return / Those two fools who run my
theatre will be missing you,” and though he spirited her out post-haste, he
didn’t drag her.
This is
probably the youngest Buquet I have ever seen.
He reminded me of the Buquet in the David Staller Phantom, although that one had impressive fake facial hair and this
guy looked ill. It was very funny when
he seemed to think he had scared all the ballet girls off and it was actually
the Phantom appearing.
Notes/Prima Donna
Firmin,
not surprisingly, began the scene laughing.
André spent this song looking more bemused than upset. Yes, indeed, these were two of the most low-key,
calm managers I have seen. (But they
weren’t boring.) There was a wonderfully
long pause after “wrote,” at which point everyone turned to Firmin, who,
embarrassed, replied, “written.” “If you
didn’t write it,” said Raoul, “WHO did?”
Meg advanced on André for “she needed rest,” to such a degree he seemed
a bit scared of her. She was embarrassed
and backed off. At “here another note,”
they actually seemed to cry out in pain!
It was quite funny. “Why did
Christine fly from my arms?” was exceptionally clear. Yet Tamne was very quiet for the rest of the
song; I couldn’t hear his other lines.
“We need you,” said Firmin.
“Too,” he added.
Carlotta,
yes, fine; she seemed to enjoy singing, “Would you rather not have your
precious little ingénue?” They were very
firm about “Signora, no. The world wants
you.” And not very sycophantic. André
bumped Firmin who bumped Piangi at some point—quite funny.
Il Muto
“Observe
herrrr,” sang Don Atillo, though not as long as some have held that note. “Though I’d happily take the maid with me,”
he noted, while making bonking motions.
The Serafimo outfit seemed far less blue than normal, more of an icy
pale green.
I’m not
sure if this was intentional or not, but Carlotta didn’t seem to be wearing any
make up. This made all the
difference. The actress looked so much
younger and very appealing. If it was on
purpose, it really changed the scene. I
actually felt compassion for Carlotta here.
The singing was of course great, and she seemed to have fun with
it. There was a sense of “shrug, shrug,
I’m going to put you in your place,” when she said, “your part is silent,
little toad.” However, it wasn’t much of
a croak—just a “bleeehhh” sound. During
the Phantom’s demands to Carlotta, the orchestra was very loud, I could barely
hear him. And geez, he shook the chandelier. I can’t remember seeing it shake that much.
The
wonderful André-ness continued. “I will
be bringing you . . . bringing you the ballet from . . . uh . . . Act Three,”
he muttered to the audience. Then he
announced, with confidence, “The ballet!”
As nothing happened, he said crossly to the pit, “Now!” He almost ran into the hoops of not one but
about 4 of the dancers!! The Il Muto male dancer seemed to be
noticing the Phantom’s shadows; I always thought they were blissfully unaware
of them. Firmin announced “it was an
accident, simply an accident” seeming as though he had a bad taste in his
mouth. The Phantom’s laugh was
entertaining but not diabolically sinister like some I can think of.
Rooftop/AIAOY
Raoul
shouted, “Come on now!” before Christine added, “The roof, we’ll be safe there.” I forgot to mention that EC has a slight
accent, but frankly, for this part, it was charming. Okay, and I must say this is one of the AIAOY
that has made the biggest impression on me.
I try politely to sit through it but it’s rather boring after
awhile. However, there were some interesting
things in this one. She got really put
out with Raoul when he said, “There is no Phantom of the opera,” as if he was
suggesting she was childish or making it up.
This is very similar to Raoul questioning Christine at Mamma Valerius’
in the book. Christine therefore kind of
shoved him. “Raoul, I’ve BEEN THERE,”
she said, as if to prove him wrong. She
wasn’t frightened as she sang that part, just trying to get him to believe
her. However, she seemed a bit more
disturbed at “Raoul, I’ve SEEN him.”
“Yet his voice” was beautiful.
There was
a lot of coughing throughout AIAOY! For
once, this part actually made sense:
Raoul shouted “Christine!” but it’s because she had wandered to the very
edge of the roof and he seemed concerned she was going to fall off. When she began singing, “All I want is
freedom,” she threw herself into his arms.
He wasn’t expecting that and did not hold her. This was an awesome and very sad parody of
what was going to happen in Final Lair when she kisses the Phantom. That was GREAT. She was genuinely sweetly happy for “And
you.” He got pleasantly surprised and
got down on one knee. She tried to mimic
him, as if to go down on one knee, then raised him up beside her so he wasn’t
kneeling, as if to say “We’re equals, this is a partnership.” During the second kiss, she flung her arms
around him. Before that, she didn’t seem
quite sure. She giggled when she said,
“They’ll wonder where I am!”
AIAOYR
Not
bad. He put his hands over his ears
while they were singing and shuddered and sort of hid under his hat. He stood in that angel (it looked precarious)
and sang a very resonant “Go!” although the laughter was, as I said, not
insane.
Masquerade
The
Entr’acte seemed a very speedy tempo.
There was
a very drawn out opening. Firmin and André were circling around and
around and it seemed as though the actors were actually having trouble finding
each other to bump into each other. It made me want to shout “He’s behind
you!!”—but I didn’t. The certain laugh of the second act is André’s
skeleton costume, though for me at this point I’m sort of like, “Why is this
even funny?”
Not too
much to say here, Christine’s costume looked a little different than
usual. I caught Firmin flirting at the top of the stairs with two masked
guests (haha not mannequins though). Secomb did a great, menacing Red
Death.
Notes II/Sitzprobe
The
staircase rolling back was loud but not disastrously loud. Raoul here was
more compassionate than melodramatic; sometimes Raouls go nuts with this
scene.
André was
looking at the offensive score; Firmin was examining the notes. André pulled Firmin toward the front of the
stage for “if you could find out which / has a sense of pitch,” as they were
too close to Carlotta and Piangi and André was obviously anxious they were
going to be offended! Some great touches
from the managers in this show. “The
things I ‘ave to do for my art!” got a big laugh. “Aaaahhhh!” was very loud. By contrast, I could barely hear Christine
for “How dare you?” Not the sharpest or
most confrontational of Christines; she seemed to be losing it, in fact. As she sank into the chair and got up again,
all the men—including a rather sheepish Piangi—moved forward to help her. Raoul, on the other hand, however, was quite
vicious to Madame Giry for “Or could it be that you’re on his side?!” Carlotta was very subdued in this song. She stood on stage left looking helplessly
and a little sad at Christine. “She’s
mad” was said almost without emotion of any kind.
In the
Sitzprobe, the man who sits next to Carlotta laughed for a long time at Piangi,
then everyone was looking at him.
Including Reyer, who got in his face to say, “Nearly!! But no.”
Normally Carlotta just acts outraged when Madame Giry says, “Would you
say that in the presence of the composer?”
“The composer is not ‘ere, and if ‘e were—” “Are you certain of that, Signora?” At this, Carlotta had the good grace to
actually look chastised. A more human
Carlotta, at least in some parts of this show, I haven’t seen.
WYWSHA
I thought
this was sung well, and I felt EC was quite a bit more emotional than I recall
other Christines being. She was very
rueful for “her father promised her” and wiped away tears on her red scarf at
the beginning of the scene. She did a
motion with her arms that was physically “why can’t the past just die?” She did a lot of throwing her arms out and
making fists, much more physical than I can recall Christines doing
before. The endnote was towering, and
she held it for a long time.
Wandering Child
Okay, he
was totally in the front of the cross! I
always thought the Phantom climbed out of the back! She seemed genuinely spooked by his
appearance; not “deer in headlights” accepting it. She actually covered her ears when he started
singing. He was very emphatic on
“AAAAAn-GEL . . . what endless longings.”
There was a great moment when the Phantom visibly noticed Raoul for the
first time and snarked out, “You resist!!”
“To the grave” was very clear.
Raoul actually tried to ward off the fireballs. I really loved the ending here: they were gone by the time he got to “Don’t
stop, don’t st- DON’T GO!” The last bit
was a sob. Usually the Phantom is too
angry to sob at that part, but he was really upset that Christine had actually
left him and his seduction plan had failed.
I had the great pleasure of hearing someone behind me remark
incredulously, “Now he has a flamethrower?”
PONR
I was
quite amused by the police officer in the pit—I couldn’t see him, but when he
spoke to Raoul, his accent made me think he was going to say, “ ‘Ow will I
know, guv’nor?” LOL. The couple on the stage right side of the
bench left absolutely nothing to the imagination with their quite graphic dry humping. Egads.
Passarino’s expression was priceless when Aminta appeared: like “hot damn!”
Hilariously,
after the Phantom sang, “Passarino, go away for the trap is set and waits for
its prey!” the same person behind me more or less whisper/shouted: “It’s a TRAP!!!” I was rolling in the aisles after that
one. EC was demonstrative with the
apple. She seemed quite spooked
throughout, though I don’t think the intent was to suggest she knew it was the
Phantom.
This is a
pleasant song; there’s little revolutionary you can bring to it vocally
(IMHO). However, I have to confess I was
a little disappointed acting-wise from the Phantom. As one of the Phantom actors once said (I
forget who), you are basically acting from inside a big black sack! You have to be demonstrative—it’s the moment
for some real hand acting! From Secomb I
got nothing. Now, I wasn’t expecting
something along the lines of Eiji Akutagawa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4_DtX74VUk)
but some kind of sign of life would have been good. Oh well.
Once she
had realized it was the Phantom and got up to run away, she shouted something
like “No! Not you!” She pulled away quite heartily, but by the
end of the song, she had given up and seemed rather resigned to this
confrontation. I really like how the Phantom
reacted after she got the hood off. He
wanted to run away, then he went downstage toward the curtain, as if he seemed
then to remember what was behind it and there really was no escape, then he
seemed to think, “what the hell” and decided to lay his heart out for Christine
and give her the ring. He touched his heart for “SAVE ME” which was really
sweet. There was some screaming from
everybody when she got the mask and wig off.
Down Once More/Final Lair
He really
shouted “hell!!!!” In the boat, he
grabbed her as he spat out “Why you ask was I bound and chained in this cold
and dismal place?” It looked as though
he was pulling her hair! People were
visibly stunned when Raoul jumped into the “lake.”
She went
“ugh” when he tried to touch her for “the joys of the flesh.” Because she looked so repulsed, he pulled
backward in shock. “This FACE!” he
shouted. And he emphasized “scrrrrap.” He threw his face at her for “of this!” He gave her the bouquet quite late. He really winced at “soul.”
Raoul
spent this entire scene breathing really heavily. I don’t mind struggling with the noose
(although I think he went a bit overboard) but the heavy breathing—I guess in
real life Raoul would be gasping, but it’s one area in this production where
you don’t want verisimilitude. “I had rather hoped” came out as if he
actually was a little bit relieved that Raoul had showed up, because at least
here would be an end to it. I’ve noticed
that recent London Phantoms seem to like to say “your luuuuvver” in a really
patronizing way (as opposed to an angry way, or a sardonic way). That was true here; I’m not sure how much I
like it. However, I have to admit that overall the
Secomb Final Lair was really moving. In
fact, I actually cried at this Final Lair, which I haven’t done in nearly ten
years (I mean cry cry; getting tears in my eyes doesn’t count).
As Raoul
was making his passionate plea, the Phantom was half turning away as if he
couldn’t bear listening to him. I
struggle to describe the exact tone in which he sang, “The world showed no
compassion to ME!” although I could reproduce it vocally for you. Raoul was very cautious about the portcullis
(he seemed to think the Phantom was going to spear him with it as he ducked
under). And yes, once the noose was
around his neck, Raoul sputtered and struggled.
Not the way Michael Xavier did, which was sort of heroic, but just as if
he felt he had to constantly keep moving in order to keep our attention (or
make it look realistic? I’m not sure
what he was doing).
The
Phantom flung the dummy; that’s always a shocker, no matter how many times I’ve
seen it. There was a real finality—like
“no more games”—to “this is the choice.”
She was on the ground for “tears of hate!!” The Phantom looked tormented throughout the
trio. He went once for Raoul, shouting
“No!” Then he went for him
again—Christine shielding Raoul with her body—after Raoul got out “Why make her
lie to you to save me?” The Phantom
absolutely slammed the organ and got out a really vicious “You try my
patience.” Once again, the finality in
“make your choice.” It’s fascinating to
hear the different nuances different Phantoms give to this line. It’s a great index of character. The kiss was actually quite unexpectedly
amazing. She grabbed his shoulder and
forcefully spun him around into the kiss so that he absolutely couldn’t
resist. After she let him go after the
second kiss, he touched his lips. I love
when Phantoms do that. With Ramin it was
all about smelling his fingers, which me being me I adored, but this was more
about deliberation and not shock: here is the kiss, what do I do about it now? kind of thing.
After he
picked up the candle, Christine interposed, shouting something like, “No! Don’t hurt him.” Raoul collapsed after the thread was
burnt. “Forget all you’ve seen” was again said with a great sense of
deliberateness. He dropped the candle as
he strove to replace it at the music stand, fumbling around as he sang to try
to smoosh it back into place! “Angel in
hellllll!!!!!!!” I was reminded of John
Owen-Jones for the screamy/shouty/sobby “Go now! Go now and leeeeeaaaaaaavvvvvvve
meeeeeeeeeeee!” He turned on the
waterworks here, and so did I. I loved
that when the monkey started playing, he looked up as if wondering what it was. I always wondered how the Phantom would
automatically know that the music box spontaneously started playing of its own
accord. “Paper faces” was heartbreaking.
Usually the Phantom covers the left side of the monkey’s face with his
right hand, but this time he wrapped his hand around it from the right
side! Really interesting!
She gave
him the ring, then seemed to struggle with herself as if she wanted to give it
back. However, in a split second she
made her decision and ran off. Aw,
Christine. He spent the next few bars
crying into the veil. Waaaahhh. The last line was wonderful. And people were genuinely stunned that he
disappeared into the throne.
The only
inkling I ever had that Jeremy Secomb was Australian was at curtain call, when
he introduced Martin Ball who told us it was Worlds’ AIDS Day (which I didn’t
know). We were told we must be the kind
of folk who knew that kind of thing given we were at a Monday night performance
(that seemed more likely to him than “darling, let’s go see Phantom, it’s been playing for 28 years
and we have never seen it”). We were
given great assurance that the girls who play the ballets rats were going to be
stopping us in the lobby for donations, but Jamie and I—prepared to shell out
cash—were baffled to find no one collecting for Theatre MAD. Oh, and I enjoyed hearing the Exit
Music—normally I dash off to the stage door but this time I heard it in its
entirety.
Okay,
when do I get to go again??
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