Phantom US tour-Opinions?

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 3:05pm

just saw it with the guy from The Voice

He talks several important lyrics

He slurs words together

his singing voice is very whiney

his acting is poor

 

the christine was barely passable vocally, and neither christine or raoul could act either

the stars of the production are teh ten ton rotating set, and the ballet girls

I left at intermission and was grateful i had a comp ticket....

 

 

other than that how was the play mrs lincoln?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 3:18pm

I saw the tour back in May. I thought the whole production was a dreadful mess. The cast was terrible, the new sets were cheap and ugly, and the direction and staging were just embarrassing. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 4:03pm

A friend of mine back in the Bay Area saw it this past week and really enjoyed it -- for what it's worth, she's more into sports/gaming and is kind of a theatre neophyte. Her husband saw touring shows a lot in Sacramento/SF while growing up and really wanted to go and introduce her to it.

(I still haven't seen this production, but I'm so curious!)

[Alessio2]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 4:21pm

I saw it and enjoyed it for the most part. We must have seen a different Christine. The girl I saw had a phenomenal and strong voice. I saw a Raoul understudy and he was excellent. The new sets I didn't enjoy but whatever. My boyfriend had never seen Phantom and he really enjoyed it though he had nothing to compare it to. And the last time I had seen it was on Broadway 15 years ago and it was wonderful. So maybe my memory of the original is not as strong, if it were I probably would have been more critical.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 6:39pm

Here is a thread with many reviews on the production...

 

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1066535#4677035

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 7:23pm

I saw the original cast for this production and the phantoms acting was either too weak too strong especially in the final scene. The Christine's accent kept on falling in and out of British and I got annoyed by her. The Raoul was not memorable. Bad show. The set was really cheap. I like the round stair case, but to have some scenes take place out of it ruined it for me.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 10:53pm

I actually enjoyed it a lot. The set didn't look cheap at all to me. Especially since recent shows touring at the same time like Once, Pippin, The Lion King,.. that have small sets. This Phantom tour looked expensive. Everyone has different opinions :p

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 10:58pm

I've seen this twice. Once in Phily and once here in Oklahoma. Chris Mann was okay. I felt his voice didn't have enough presence. Maybe it was because he covered to much. Both times i noticed something pretty interesting. It seems they are having the Christine's belt a part of Wishing you were somehow here again (why can't the past just die). It's very weird  

Posted: 8/27/15 at 11:17pm

I saw this at the Pantages in LA and didn't care for it. Chris Mann, Celia Hottenstein (who I believe is the Christine alternate) and the actor who played Raoul were all good, but I found the blocking and sets to be dreadful. (Especially how they did Music of the Night. WTF was that?) I felt like I needed to go see the show in NY again just to cleanse myself. But the one part I did enjoy was the staircase during the title song. That was really impressive. But like Jose said, people have different opinions. The people around me seemed to enjoy it. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 4:42am

A big part of why this show appeals to me (like the main reason,) is because of Maria Bjornson's stunning design and Hal Prince's perfect direction.  EVerything I've seen of this cheapo version (part of a series of cheapo CamMac productions right now all, I believe, done by the same director who worked most of the shows before as an assistant director--but Phantom seems to suffer the most,) has made me have no interest in it.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 8:18am

I believe Christine gets thrown on the bed right during Music Of The Night right? I was like Wtf

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 2:32pm

ok glad to hear most posters agreed, right?

 

This is the freaking phantom of the opera, the longest running musical in broadway history

I think the tour deserves much better in terms of its leads selection

staging is what it is...hard to get the same from a tour as a set stage

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 4:25pm

Except, you know what?  CamMac in the 1980s went on and on (and much to his credit) about how HIS tours would give viewers the same experience as Broadway or London in terms of staging.  Of course tours had replicated the Broadway stagings before but they rarely were such massive productions and they usually had to cut a lot of corners.  Mackintosh wanted to change that.  Some elements of course always still had to be changed--but for the most part the tours of  Phantom, Les Miz and Miss Saigon came pretty damn close to the originals.  And this was a huge point of pride for him.  I feel lucky to have seen the first Garth Drabinsky produced Canadian Phantom tour as a teen in Vancouver, Les Miz not long after (I didn't see Miss Saigon on tour but saw it in London.)  And part of the appeal of those spectacle based shows for me is--and I know some people hate admitting this--the spectacle.  The new versions hold little interest to me

So now that he has gotten cheaper versions of all three shows (all directed by the same no-name director, despite CamMac claiming that one reason to do this was to get a fresh vision from a young team--of course Hal Prince and Trevor Nunn have both called him out on how much of their direction is still used, without credit,) he said the main reason was so that they could tour to cities that didn't have theatres big enough for the original productions.  This has proven false--since they've toured to many of the same cities (although there have been some smaller markets.)  But it's obviously all about money--these shows can do shorter stints since they are easier to travel and set up.  Which is fine, but I wish he would be honest about it...  Of course, when was his last original hit as producer?

As for casting--keep in mind that, at least for a long time, Hal Prince would personally approve the casting of Phantom's leads for every major production and tour.  He's been cut out of he show he helped to create, so there goes that quality control.  They might as well do like Cats and other shows and give them over to NetWorks to tour.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 4:58pm

I saw it almost a year ago in Memphis, and I thought it was an absolutely spot-on repurposing of the original - which I hadn't seen on Broadway since 2001.  I thought every single change was smart and gave the production a forward momentum lacking in the original staging (the overture, "Prima Donna", Bouquet's demise, among others).  "Masquerade" was the only low point for me.  If they couldn't have kept the set, they should've stuck with the gorgeous costumes that saturated that number with color and life.  

So many smart changes - I was very impressed, having been a fan of the original since I was 6.  Cast was stand-out.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 5:01pm

Didn't want to start a new thread for this: 

 

CURTAIN CALL PICTURES: They're allowed/encouraged now?  See POTO on tour's Instagram account stating "We love curtain call pics!"  I'd thought these were illegal?

[TellZ]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 5:05pm

Saw it at the Pantages. My group and I had to cover our gaping mouths in shock multiple times. The Phantom is now played as a rapey psychopath devoid of any mystery or magic. He just walks into the graveyard like a normal person, because in this show, the Phantom is just an ugly guy with a chip on his shoulder.

 

The staging and direction were amateur on a level that I couldn't comprehend. It was as if they chose to not ever read the script or score and make up a new show around it. Christine almost kills herself randomly just before the start of All I Ask of You. She pretends to almost jump off the roof until Raoul be like NO DON'T. OKAY!

 

Having the chandelier start suspended and the cheap-out of no false proscenium meant a VERY long overture in which nothing happens. Raoul just stands on stage staring at the chandelier while eventually what little scenic elements are used come on stage and some ballerinas flop around. Why didn't Hal Prince think of that?? He sure has a lot to learn, that Hal Prince!

 

The Music of the Night sees the Phantom blindfolding Christine and doing all this unnecessary stage business with her not finding him because she's blindfolded or something. Then the poor guy had to PICK HER UP mid-song. I can only imagine the rehearsals. "Can you sing Music of the Night for us please, but hold this 110 lb woman while you're doing that? Should be easy right?" No bride dummy. Just awkward blocking.

 

And the LAIR. Or should I say, the organ and the bed. Because that's all it is. An organ and a bed. How magical! How atmospheric! Just some dude who can't afford an apartment so he hobo's it up in the basement!

 

After MOTN, Phantom removes his OWN mask and appears to dab his face with a cloth (?!) while Christine sings Stranger than You Dreamt It. She then taps his shoulder (there's no mask for her to remove) and he explodes at her. All she did was tap his shoulder. Why is he GRABBING HER BY THE HAIR AND DRAGGING HER AROUND. HOW IS THIS BETTER. WHY. WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS.

 

The manager's office set is so small they had to move Prima Donna outside of it. GENIUS! Why didn't Maria Bjornson think of this drum thing? SO BRILLIANT! Use it for a set that's too small so you end up not using the set! Where do they find these new geniuses?!

 

Speaking of Bjornson, who is still alarmingly enough credited with costumes - those are not her costumes. I read somewhere they are from some of her other designs. Fine. But they're not the original show costumes. They're almost all poor people versions of the previous costumes. Less beautiful, less interesting and often uglier. Christine's Masquerade do-up looks like something one of Tinker Bell's friends would wear in the light parade at Disney World. Not a compliment.

 

Speaking of Masquerade, where were the costumes? Everyone was just in suits and dresses, and then the Phantom shows up...in a red suit with a cape. Where's Red Death? And he just casually hands the score to Andre, because there are NO STAIRS and no depth to the stage picture. I bet Hal Prince learned a whole lot about how to direct from watching this show! They sure showed him!

 

And having the Phantom onstage during Notes to sing his letters...no. NO.

 

The graveyard scene was laughable. The awful stage fighting, the ill-timed explosions, the amateur staging. Phantom's just walkin' around. He's just a normal guy! Except ugly and rapey!

 

And RAPEY. He threw Christine to the bed multiple times. And the entire "Down Once More" sequence was an embarrassment. The Phantom would NEVER even THREATEN to snap Christine's neck. And yet there he was, holding her head and threatening to snap her neck. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

And those poor music pages that got tossed around during that scene. Why? THE WHOLE THING. WHY.

 

We saw a Christine who I won't name here to be kind. To put it mildly, she should not be performing this role. The rest of the cast was actually rather good, especially the understudy Phantom we saw.

 

The set looks cheap except for the giant drum thing, but the giant drum thing is just a way to cheap out on everything else. The only cool effect that happened was the appearing stairs - but that's hardly some technological leap forward. And the Buquet killing was ridiculous. Happened in full view of the audience, and the Phantom spent about 30 seconds snapping his harness on while Buquet never struggled. Hurr durr someone tryna kill me, just gonna stand here hurr durr!

 

Phantom was thoroughly slaughtered. It makes you realize just how brilliant Prince and Bjornson are/were to see their work destroyed. The show does not hold up without their work in place. There might be a director out there who could do a new and exciting staging of Phantom - this wasn't it.

Updated On: 8/28/15 at 05:05 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 5:27pm

I was just going to comment to the post above yours, TellZ as to why the Overture in particular was an improvement--just because the Chandelier climbing while the curtains are whisked away to reveal the theatre is one of my fave moments (Hal Prince admitted that he was inspired by his own famous Loveland reveal in Follies for it--funny enough Bjornson did her own Loveland reveal a year later for the London Follies.) 

Your detailed post had me hysterically laughing--and basically confirmed everything I expected from the clips, etc.  I've alwayshad some issue with the dramatics of the show, but it particularly sounds wrong headed for the Phantom to manhandle Christine so much from the start.  Sure, he's creepy, but (except for the finale perhaps,) even when he loses his temper with her you get the sense he would never physically harm her, and he always restrains himself.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 5:39pm

I'm surprised more general audience members aren't expressing their distaste for the production. Is it just us, the fans, who notice the differences? Do the majority of audiences and subscriber houses just not care or are they not familiar enough with the original to spot the major differences?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 6:03pm

It seems like this production is best if you've never seen any incarnation of the show before.

I'm on bad wifi at the moment, so I can't link it, but I remember reading on the Deserted Phans forum (google it if you have to) that a lot of early US tour audiences didn't realize this was non-replica and were not happy.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 6:28pm

I know it's being advertised in my city as having new special effects, scenery and lighting design and direction and choreography but it only says that on the website and in the paragraph description of the show in the season brochure. It doesn't say it that specifically on the poster or television commercial aside from saying that it's Cameron Mackintosh's "spectacular new production" which can be slightly misleading if people just assume it's a new tour of the original staging.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 7:11pm

I'm aware of Trevor Nunn voicing his opinion on the new Les Misérables staging, but has Hal Prince said anything publicly about the new Phantom staging?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 8:27pm

I don't believe he has as publicly as Nunn has, but I have read he's made several shady quick comments about the new production.  On the other hand Hytner hasn't said anything about MS.  Laurence Connor of course directed all three new versions--and has worked on them all (I believe) previously as tour director so would know the original staging.  I guess it worked for him--I believe he's directing School of Rock.

Posted: 8/28/15 at 10:03pm

 

 

Updated On: 8/28/15 at 10:03 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 10:23pm

I personally would be a lot more fine with this production if it weren't treated as a "Spectacular New Production" but instead as what it is--a cheaper touring redesigned version akin to something from NETworks (and don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed some of their tours.)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 10:25pm

And I am an idiot--apparently the N American tour of this IS being handled by NETworks http://www.networksontour.com/current-shows/the-phantom-of-the-opera.html