A Review of Phantom of the Opera 5/20/2010, Part 2
Can you believe this thing got to be EIGHT PAGES LONG??
Act 2
Masquerade: everyone jumped when the managers bumped into each other and screamed. LOL. Other than that, what can I say? It was Masquerade. It was beautiful, and I had to stop from doing the choreography in my seat, because I am a dork. Anyone who says the production needs an overhaul must have seen a different production-the whole thing is as glittering and glamorous as usual and made me happy just to be alive. LOOK, A MONKEY!
And Christine actually danced. And Sean actually lifted her, so yay for strong Raouls. :-) Also, I think there were a lot of first-time viewers in the audience because they all gasped when Red Death appeared (and subsequently disappeared). I love watching a show with first-time viewers, I truly do.
Madame Giry Spills the Beans: Nothing much about this scene, except she honestly sounded scared out of her mind and Raoul is legitimately concerned for everyone’s health.
Notes II: This show runs like a well-oiled machine, I tell ya. Seriously. Watching them all together in such a confusing scene is watching a work of art. Carlotta is bitchy, Christine is defensive, the managers are baffled, Raoul is annoyed, and Mme Giry is just trying to protect everyone’s collective sorry skins by pointing out that being stupid is probably NOT the way to survive an opera written by a man who could kill them all without thinking twice… or feeling too bad about it later, either.
Oh, and Kelly does the little fainting move at “oh God if I agree”. I’ve only seen Rebecca Pitcher do that. Love it. It falls under the category of “act, woman!” Though it doesn’t say much for any tender feelings for Erik does it? Tsk. Can you be afraid and regretful at the same time? To be honest the refusal sounded more like she was just too scared to do anything as opposed to actually caring about whether Erik lived or died according to Raoul’s "ingenous plane." But at least she sounded pretty when she sang it.
Rehearsal for DJT: LOLOL OH PIANGI NEVER CHANGE. The one thing that stood out in this scene, to me anyway, was when Christine arrived. Before she goes to her seat she stops by Mme Giry and they share a Moment. Giry takes her hand, they look silently at each other in complete understanding, and then Christine goes to her seat. I really, really enjoyed the dynamic those two had going on through-out the show. Anyway… cue creepy self-playing piano, cue hypnotized singing, and cue….
The Violin. Oh lord, do I love the violin. I will ALWAYS love the violin. It remains one of my favorite instrumental pieces in the whole show, and whoever they had in the pit did it justice. It’s just so freaking HAUNTING. Le sigh.
WYWSHA: Wow. That sums it up. Wow. Kelly made this song her own, man. Very emotional, very, very much a little girl lost who wants to grow up but isn’t entirely sure how. Right down to crying into her pretty red scarf. That last chorus was heart-swelling, throat-tightening “cry-to-heaven” goodness. For all that I don’t agree with how she plays her character, I believed Kelly WAS Christine during this song and for that I must say Bravo.
Wandering Child: stick a fork in me, I’m done. I’ve always adored this scene. Absolutely. No matter that the Phantom is once again using his voice in combination with her memories to manipulate her again, I still adore it. The triumph in “Come to me strange Angel”, on BOTH sides, has always made me choke up because it…. It plays like a reunion, doesn’t it? Like she’s finally accepted that she needs her Erik, will take him however she can get him, and wants nothing more than to climb up that proscenium and get swept into his arms. That and the lyrics “Wildly my mind beats against you but the soul obeys” became something of a personal leitmotif in my own early Phan days when I was told this obsession was unhealthy and that I should forget about it. Him. But for some of us it’s next to impossible to forget once that music, and the magical voices that bring it to life, are in our heads. The soul ALWAYS obeys, and denies him no more…
Performance-wise, this was another “mirror” moment for me. Once Stephen stepped out and started to croon his come-hither, I was on the edge of my seat. Literally. It’s a good thing I’ve never seen Phantom from the very first row because I’d probably end up in the orchestra pit! He certainly made Raoul look-well, a little dumb. “Monsieur, I fear you not!” Sure you don’t. Raoul, honey, do you ALWAYS run straight at unexplainable balls of fire shot by someone you believe is more monster than man, or is that a recent lapse of judgment on your part? Either way… but of course once the brave Vicomte is out there doing his brave Vicomte thing the moment is shattered, Christine remembers that she’s afraid of this man in a mask, and drags her brave Vicomte away while Erik cries after them. And I do mean ‘cries’. Amid all the masterful snarling and pronouncing himself to be the Angel of Death his voice quite suddenly sounds… very human for the after-the-fact “Don’t go!”. The ecstatic reunion he had planned had gone wrong, and now they are doomed to play this out to the end in their assigned roles of Villain, Hero, and Heroine.
That’s probably why I’m torn between laughing evilly and sniveling when the stage blows up. Not sure what this says about me, but I want him to get his revenge-and I’m sad that’s all come done to this.
Don Juan Triumphant: is Don Juan Triumphant, and listen to Kim go! Wow, that woman can sing. Amazing. And Kelly is not slouch either once she gets on stage. Lovely.
Point of No Return: …..wow. Where do I start? The breath-taking fluidity of every gesture of our Phantom? The “I am seducing you and you like it” beauty of his voice? Or maybe the perfect synchronicity of their combined caresses because lets face it, Christine was getting into it. Until he freaks out, of course. Then the actress within an actress, in a show within a show, comes back again and before you know it she’s halfway across the stage wondering what in Hell Piangi is doing with this scene anyway. All illustrated very well on her part. And man oh man, I love that bench. I love the little touches like the hands digging into his knees as he realizes that this? This was a bad idea. This was a VERY BAD IDEA. What made him think that singing something like this with the love of his life in front of a full house was a GOOD idea? The morphine? Because holy crap now he’s there and she’s… doing that… and EVERYONE IS WATCHING OMG…
(Yeah, you can’t tell me Erik wasn’t kicking himself mentally for setting this up.)
Well, we all know how this ends. She realizes who it is, they power through the last verse, (and bloody hell does she HAVE to scream like that when he grabs her hand? Has she been taking lessons from Meg?) She throws back his hood, my sisters gasp, he proposes. She unmasks him for all of Paris to gape at, and I contemplate character assassination. Namely, Christine’s.
Final Lair: Oh man. Has someone been reading the “Erik rapes Christine” theories online? Because long before those two get back onstage you can hear Kelly wailing “No! Please…” as if…. As if. Which squicked me out a little because hell, I’VE read the theories even if she hasn’t, and my brain just had to go there. With effort I dragged it out of that particular gutter and crossed my fingers in the hopes that Stephen would deliver a Final Lair that would break the theatre’s collective heart.
And boy, did he ever. I have to say I LOVE how he played it. So much love. Perfectly balanced between rage, desperation, and sheer mind-bending grief. And that was just his voice. Nothing better than a Phantom who can be in full-on powerful Angel-of-Music mode one second and the next sound like a man who is losing everything he holds dear. Humanity again. You need that for the empathy/sympathy chord to get touched, or the show loses its depth. Clutching the veil and very quietly giving Christine a five-second window into his childhood balances out the bitter, biting sarcasm with which he welcomes Raoul to their showdown. So yes, Stephen did an amazing job.
It was Kelly who let me down here, sad to say. To quote another phan who saw this production recently, there was no conflict on her part. She knew she was going to choose Raoul, she’d know it from the beginning. Pity and hate really were all she felt for the Phantom at this point, and that took something away from the whole scene. It nearly took something away from the kiss, because the beautiful “Pitiful creature of darkness” lacked believability. You can’t be shrieking like a fishwife at someone you call a monster one moment and then convince me that you feel sorry for him and/or have enough left-over affection to induce a kiss the next. Maybe if she would have paused longer after “I gave my mind blindly” to give me the impression that she was actually THINKING. Though I would jump too, if my Erik shot out of his throne so fast and loomed over me like that. Whew. Thankfully Stephen redeemed the whole thing though, by actually managing to get his arms almost around her during the second kiss! And she pets his head! Hurray for at least a little physical contact, bless him! Probably why he was so shaky when he went to let Raoul go.
Note to Christines past present and future: you have just kissed your Angel turned captor. He has responded. He has responded BEAUTIFULLY. His breath catches in sobs as he stumbles back from you in total shock, tears in his eyes. You have, essentially, won. Do NOT, for the love of God, DO NOT ruin that gorgeous, intimate moment by jumping to the conclusion that he’s going to kill your boyfriend anyway, or this phan will have to climb up on stage and beat the crap out of you. You’ve been warned.
Let me pause for a moment to say something about Sean. He’s a damn decent Raoul. Not unforgettable, not horrible, but decent. Very much the nobleman, very much in love with Christine (though I still think it’s rather presumptuous for him to assume after two seconds conversation that she’s still in love with him too), and very confuzzled by the whole situation with the Phantom. I wish I could say I caught his reaction to the kiss but I was too busy watching it. ::wink::
“Go now and leave me”: Some Christines I can understand why they linger. Mainly those who make me believe that they love/could have loved Erik. This was more “I’m not moving because I’m still scared/think it’s a trick.” He’s LETTING YOU GO, YOU TWIT. Do what you’re told, you’re good at that!!!!!
Ahem. Sorry. In either case, she comes back to return the ring. I’m bawling at this point. I’m not too proud to admit it. Not just misty but all-out crying. A good Final Lair will do that to me. Top it off with a very tear-jerking moment between the two and… Stephen got me. He got me good. Holding Christine’s hands in both of his, the right amount of pathos in his voice as he murmurs “Christine, I love you”, the little sob when she shakes her head and pulls away for the last time, smoothing the discarded veil over his hand and then bringing it to his face to inhale the scent of her hair trapped in the lace before whispering those three words again as if he’d just now realized how very, very true they were….
Yeah.
Bravo, Mr. Tewksbury. Bravo. You made what will no doubt be my last time seeing this show a memorable experience, gave my sisters a wonderful first time, completely brought down the house, and bought yourself a place in my list of Phantoms I Would Kill To See Again.
And yes, my sisters loved it. :-)
Act 2
Masquerade: everyone jumped when the managers bumped into each other and screamed. LOL. Other than that, what can I say? It was Masquerade. It was beautiful, and I had to stop from doing the choreography in my seat, because I am a dork. Anyone who says the production needs an overhaul must have seen a different production-the whole thing is as glittering and glamorous as usual and made me happy just to be alive. LOOK, A MONKEY!
And Christine actually danced. And Sean actually lifted her, so yay for strong Raouls. :-) Also, I think there were a lot of first-time viewers in the audience because they all gasped when Red Death appeared (and subsequently disappeared). I love watching a show with first-time viewers, I truly do.
Madame Giry Spills the Beans: Nothing much about this scene, except she honestly sounded scared out of her mind and Raoul is legitimately concerned for everyone’s health.
Notes II: This show runs like a well-oiled machine, I tell ya. Seriously. Watching them all together in such a confusing scene is watching a work of art. Carlotta is bitchy, Christine is defensive, the managers are baffled, Raoul is annoyed, and Mme Giry is just trying to protect everyone’s collective sorry skins by pointing out that being stupid is probably NOT the way to survive an opera written by a man who could kill them all without thinking twice… or feeling too bad about it later, either.
Oh, and Kelly does the little fainting move at “oh God if I agree”. I’ve only seen Rebecca Pitcher do that. Love it. It falls under the category of “act, woman!” Though it doesn’t say much for any tender feelings for Erik does it? Tsk. Can you be afraid and regretful at the same time? To be honest the refusal sounded more like she was just too scared to do anything as opposed to actually caring about whether Erik lived or died according to Raoul’s "ingenous plane." But at least she sounded pretty when she sang it.
Rehearsal for DJT: LOLOL OH PIANGI NEVER CHANGE. The one thing that stood out in this scene, to me anyway, was when Christine arrived. Before she goes to her seat she stops by Mme Giry and they share a Moment. Giry takes her hand, they look silently at each other in complete understanding, and then Christine goes to her seat. I really, really enjoyed the dynamic those two had going on through-out the show. Anyway… cue creepy self-playing piano, cue hypnotized singing, and cue….
The Violin. Oh lord, do I love the violin. I will ALWAYS love the violin. It remains one of my favorite instrumental pieces in the whole show, and whoever they had in the pit did it justice. It’s just so freaking HAUNTING. Le sigh.
WYWSHA: Wow. That sums it up. Wow. Kelly made this song her own, man. Very emotional, very, very much a little girl lost who wants to grow up but isn’t entirely sure how. Right down to crying into her pretty red scarf. That last chorus was heart-swelling, throat-tightening “cry-to-heaven” goodness. For all that I don’t agree with how she plays her character, I believed Kelly WAS Christine during this song and for that I must say Bravo.
Wandering Child: stick a fork in me, I’m done. I’ve always adored this scene. Absolutely. No matter that the Phantom is once again using his voice in combination with her memories to manipulate her again, I still adore it. The triumph in “Come to me strange Angel”, on BOTH sides, has always made me choke up because it…. It plays like a reunion, doesn’t it? Like she’s finally accepted that she needs her Erik, will take him however she can get him, and wants nothing more than to climb up that proscenium and get swept into his arms. That and the lyrics “Wildly my mind beats against you but the soul obeys” became something of a personal leitmotif in my own early Phan days when I was told this obsession was unhealthy and that I should forget about it. Him. But for some of us it’s next to impossible to forget once that music, and the magical voices that bring it to life, are in our heads. The soul ALWAYS obeys, and denies him no more…
Performance-wise, this was another “mirror” moment for me. Once Stephen stepped out and started to croon his come-hither, I was on the edge of my seat. Literally. It’s a good thing I’ve never seen Phantom from the very first row because I’d probably end up in the orchestra pit! He certainly made Raoul look-well, a little dumb. “Monsieur, I fear you not!” Sure you don’t. Raoul, honey, do you ALWAYS run straight at unexplainable balls of fire shot by someone you believe is more monster than man, or is that a recent lapse of judgment on your part? Either way… but of course once the brave Vicomte is out there doing his brave Vicomte thing the moment is shattered, Christine remembers that she’s afraid of this man in a mask, and drags her brave Vicomte away while Erik cries after them. And I do mean ‘cries’. Amid all the masterful snarling and pronouncing himself to be the Angel of Death his voice quite suddenly sounds… very human for the after-the-fact “Don’t go!”. The ecstatic reunion he had planned had gone wrong, and now they are doomed to play this out to the end in their assigned roles of Villain, Hero, and Heroine.
That’s probably why I’m torn between laughing evilly and sniveling when the stage blows up. Not sure what this says about me, but I want him to get his revenge-and I’m sad that’s all come done to this.
Don Juan Triumphant: is Don Juan Triumphant, and listen to Kim go! Wow, that woman can sing. Amazing. And Kelly is not slouch either once she gets on stage. Lovely.
Point of No Return: …..wow. Where do I start? The breath-taking fluidity of every gesture of our Phantom? The “I am seducing you and you like it” beauty of his voice? Or maybe the perfect synchronicity of their combined caresses because lets face it, Christine was getting into it. Until he freaks out, of course. Then the actress within an actress, in a show within a show, comes back again and before you know it she’s halfway across the stage wondering what in Hell Piangi is doing with this scene anyway. All illustrated very well on her part. And man oh man, I love that bench. I love the little touches like the hands digging into his knees as he realizes that this? This was a bad idea. This was a VERY BAD IDEA. What made him think that singing something like this with the love of his life in front of a full house was a GOOD idea? The morphine? Because holy crap now he’s there and she’s… doing that… and EVERYONE IS WATCHING OMG…
(Yeah, you can’t tell me Erik wasn’t kicking himself mentally for setting this up.)
Well, we all know how this ends. She realizes who it is, they power through the last verse, (and bloody hell does she HAVE to scream like that when he grabs her hand? Has she been taking lessons from Meg?) She throws back his hood, my sisters gasp, he proposes. She unmasks him for all of Paris to gape at, and I contemplate character assassination. Namely, Christine’s.
Final Lair: Oh man. Has someone been reading the “Erik rapes Christine” theories online? Because long before those two get back onstage you can hear Kelly wailing “No! Please…” as if…. As if. Which squicked me out a little because hell, I’VE read the theories even if she hasn’t, and my brain just had to go there. With effort I dragged it out of that particular gutter and crossed my fingers in the hopes that Stephen would deliver a Final Lair that would break the theatre’s collective heart.
And boy, did he ever. I have to say I LOVE how he played it. So much love. Perfectly balanced between rage, desperation, and sheer mind-bending grief. And that was just his voice. Nothing better than a Phantom who can be in full-on powerful Angel-of-Music mode one second and the next sound like a man who is losing everything he holds dear. Humanity again. You need that for the empathy/sympathy chord to get touched, or the show loses its depth. Clutching the veil and very quietly giving Christine a five-second window into his childhood balances out the bitter, biting sarcasm with which he welcomes Raoul to their showdown. So yes, Stephen did an amazing job.
It was Kelly who let me down here, sad to say. To quote another phan who saw this production recently, there was no conflict on her part. She knew she was going to choose Raoul, she’d know it from the beginning. Pity and hate really were all she felt for the Phantom at this point, and that took something away from the whole scene. It nearly took something away from the kiss, because the beautiful “Pitiful creature of darkness” lacked believability. You can’t be shrieking like a fishwife at someone you call a monster one moment and then convince me that you feel sorry for him and/or have enough left-over affection to induce a kiss the next. Maybe if she would have paused longer after “I gave my mind blindly” to give me the impression that she was actually THINKING. Though I would jump too, if my Erik shot out of his throne so fast and loomed over me like that. Whew. Thankfully Stephen redeemed the whole thing though, by actually managing to get his arms almost around her during the second kiss! And she pets his head! Hurray for at least a little physical contact, bless him! Probably why he was so shaky when he went to let Raoul go.
Note to Christines past present and future: you have just kissed your Angel turned captor. He has responded. He has responded BEAUTIFULLY. His breath catches in sobs as he stumbles back from you in total shock, tears in his eyes. You have, essentially, won. Do NOT, for the love of God, DO NOT ruin that gorgeous, intimate moment by jumping to the conclusion that he’s going to kill your boyfriend anyway, or this phan will have to climb up on stage and beat the crap out of you. You’ve been warned.
Let me pause for a moment to say something about Sean. He’s a damn decent Raoul. Not unforgettable, not horrible, but decent. Very much the nobleman, very much in love with Christine (though I still think it’s rather presumptuous for him to assume after two seconds conversation that she’s still in love with him too), and very confuzzled by the whole situation with the Phantom. I wish I could say I caught his reaction to the kiss but I was too busy watching it. ::wink::
“Go now and leave me”: Some Christines I can understand why they linger. Mainly those who make me believe that they love/could have loved Erik. This was more “I’m not moving because I’m still scared/think it’s a trick.” He’s LETTING YOU GO, YOU TWIT. Do what you’re told, you’re good at that!!!!!
Ahem. Sorry. In either case, she comes back to return the ring. I’m bawling at this point. I’m not too proud to admit it. Not just misty but all-out crying. A good Final Lair will do that to me. Top it off with a very tear-jerking moment between the two and… Stephen got me. He got me good. Holding Christine’s hands in both of his, the right amount of pathos in his voice as he murmurs “Christine, I love you”, the little sob when she shakes her head and pulls away for the last time, smoothing the discarded veil over his hand and then bringing it to his face to inhale the scent of her hair trapped in the lace before whispering those three words again as if he’d just now realized how very, very true they were….
Yeah.
Bravo, Mr. Tewksbury. Bravo. You made what will no doubt be my last time seeing this show a memorable experience, gave my sisters a wonderful first time, completely brought down the house, and bought yourself a place in my list of Phantoms I Would Kill To See Again.
And yes, my sisters loved it. :-)