The London production 1

The birthday show this year (though I wasn't there) only featured the special announcement as the celebrations are being held off to the 23rd... I think a lot of people were disappointed to be honest but as you say it's the big one next year...

Happy 24th Phantom!!!

starryeyed wrote:The birthday show this year (though I wasn't there) only featured the special announcement as the celebrations are being held off to the 23rd... I think a lot of people were disappointed to be honest but as you say it's the big one next year...

From what I hear they will make a lot out of the 10.000 show, though. Anyone going?

There's celebrations both at the matinee and the evening on the 23rd. I'm at the evening after Mission Impossible to even get tickets as they're trying not to sell them for some reason... hmmmm! Ha ha.

starryeyed wrote:The birthday show this year (though I wasn't there) only featured the special announcement as the celebrations are being held off to the 23rd... I think a lot of people were disappointed to be honest but as you say it's the big one next year...

I was there for the evening performance, and yes, it was just an announcement before the show, which was a bit of a disappointment. A speech at the end would have been nice. It was a wonderful show, which is the main thing. It was my first time seeing the new cast, and I really liked them. I won't do a full review, as I don't have time, I'll just post a few thoughts here. Scott is a wonderful Phantom. I'd seen him before and liked him, but I liked him a bit more on Saturday. Sofia made a very beautiful Christine, I liked her a lot. Her cadenza at the end of Think Of Me was amazing. Her acting was great too, and she had lovely chemistry with Scott and Will Barratt. Talking of Will Barratt, he very much deserved his promotion to principal Raoul. He was fantastic. He reminded me a little of Michael Xavier. Barry, Gareth and Rohan were pretty much the same as usual. I like the three of them, particularly Barry. It was nice to see Wendy back as Carlotta. I saw her several times when she was in the show before, and I do like her, although her portrayal is slightly humourless. I'd forgotten how powerful her voice is, too! I'll admit it, I missed Rebecca Lock quite a bit. I thought Cheryl MacAvoy made a brilliant Mme Giry. Her acting was fantastic and her voice was lovely. I think I saw Leisl Dowsett as Meg. She was a very sweet Meg, I liked her a lot. Ensemble wise, I think they were a few women down. Ellen Jackson was off, but I liked whoever played the Wardrobe Mistress. There was no Mme Firmin either (disappointing, as I love her dress) and Fiona Morley was on in place of Leisl. I liked the new M. Lefevre, John Jack. Nicola Rutherford and Marc Vastenavondt were excellent as the Confidante and Passarino respectively. I noticed that they're now the 1st covers for Carlotta and Piangi. I hope I see them at some point. Anyway, here's to Phantom's 24th birthday, and the upcoming 10,000th performance!

I'm so glad you mentioned John Jack! I've been telling everyone to look out for him, so glad someone agrees. He's first cover Andre so hopefully I'll get a chance to see him in that role, I think he'd be fantastic. Glad everyone had a good time at the birthday show.

If a special 10.000 is made, would anyone be willing/able to get me one of those? I will of course repay you. They might not have any special brochures planned, but if the do I'm dying to get one!

Helen, thanks for the comments on the 24th birthday show.

I'll pick one up for you if there is one.

It's confirmed, celebrations will mainly be at the evening performance of the 23rd. RUG never do things the obvious way do they?

Stephen John Davis is performing todays matinee and Brian McCann will have his first performance as Phantom this evening.

starryeyed wrote:I'll pick one up for you if there is one.

Yay! Yay! Yay!

I'll drop you a message just before the show Saturday night to let you know if there is one. I'm getting quite excited now though a bit worried that SD won't be on... although I really would love to finally see SJD.

starryeyed wrote:I'll drop you a message just before the show Saturday night to let you know if there is one. I'm getting quite excited now though a bit worried that SD won't be on... although I really would love to finally see SJD.

Ooh could you let me know if there's one too please? If so, I'd love one. I doubt they'll bother though.

It's nice to be able to go to the London production now and be assured of seeing a great Phantom whoever is on. Could happily see SJD or SD again.

Scorp wrote:Ooh could you let me know if there's one too please? If so, I'd love one. I doubt they'll bother though.

They may do the lazy version - add a new cover to the current brochure. Just slap one outside, like they did for the 10th anniversary one... It would be a double bonus: they would have made something unique for the celebration, and they would also get rid of the Shannon/Beck brochure to make way for a JOJ/Escobar one... Last year they didn't release the new ones until late December, cause they tried to sell out the old ones. It was INCREDIBLY annoying to be at the theatre and being told that they had boxes and boxes of the new ones in the office, but alas they couldn't sell me one. It's not that easy to "come back next week" when I live in another sodding country!

I'll let you both know. Oh I know about how annoying the brochure thing last year was. It'll be the same this year though guaranteed, with JOJ coming in later. And yes I do love that London has two brilliant Phantom's at the minute (can't comment on Brian McCann but I know he has been getting fantastic praise for last night.)

starryeyed wrote:I'm getting quite excited now though a bit worried that SD won't be on... although I really would love to finally see SJD.

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't manage to see SJD, I really wanted to. I won't be back in London now until after JOJ takes over. I'm excited to see JOJ again, though. He was my first Phantom. I don't remember an awful lot about his portrayal, but I remember liking him.

That's a shame Helen it's always the way. It's look really likely I'll see SJD which technically means I would have seen every Phantom from last year, I've only ever managed to see all of the Carlottas once never seen all of another character...

starryeyed wrote:That's a shame Helen it's always the way. It's look really likely I'll see SJD which technically means I would have seen every Phantom from last year, I've only ever managed to see all of the Carlottas once never seen all of another character...

I know! There's a couple of understudies that I want to see in this cast, so hopefully I'll get the opportunity.

I just heard MC is going to be at the 10,000th matinee performance. I had one of the worst days of my life yesterday and am tempted to go to make myself feel better if this is true...only thing is I've just woken up at the matinee will start in just over a hour! Decisions...argh!

EDIT: Well it looks like I'm too late for this afternoon but I've decided on the spur of the moment to go tonight.

So Michael Crawford, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber are all there tonight? Baaaah, and I'm stuck in a freezing apartment in Norway with one one plan for the evening: laundry. Could my life be duller?

Hope those of you going will have loads of fun!! And I'm really curious which Phantom ends up doing the show after all. I'm guessing SJD (which is very cool for him!), but I also heard Scott Davies was better, so...

Stephen is on right now!

Hooray for him. What a recognition (in some way). Thanks for confirming!

Crawford's going to be there for the matinée, no idea about the evening show. Is it true Cammie's going to be there? Who said that? Cool if so. I really need to wake up and have a shower and get dressed...

Oh and yeah it's SJD today, which is cool because last time I saw Scott. Didn't think I'd get a chance to see SJD's Phantom again!

Scorp wrote:Crawford's going to be there for the matinée, no idea about the evening show. Is it true Cammie's going to be there? Who said that? Cool if so. I really need to wake up and have a shower and get dressed...

Well, I have that from a cast member: "...the main party will be for the 10000 performance in a couple of weeks with Cameron and Andrew there!"

I thought it was officially confirmed, but maybe not? Or maybe it's Cameron Diaz?

So Cameron Mackintosh did not appear yesterday? I mean ALW and Crawford is special enough, but it means that what I was told either was hearsay or plans changed. Anyone of you who where there? What did they say in their speeches? And how WAS the performance?

....and pictures??

(can you tell I'm jealous? )

operafantomet wrote:So Cameron Mackintosh did not appear yesterday? I mean ALW and Crawford is special enough, but it means that what I was told either was hearsay or plans changed. Anyone of you who where there? What did they say in their speeches? And how WAS the performance?

....and pictures??

(can you tell I'm jealous? )

No Cammie, just ALW and MC at the matinee performance thanking the sad culture of people fans for their money support.

Nothing happened at the evening performance, but I'm still glad I went as it did wonders to improve my mood and I got a chance to see SJD again as the Phantom, which I didn't think I'd get. I really do like his Phantom. Very good performance, though the final scene is not quite as moving as Scott Davies' and he cracked on the big 'Be' note in MotN, but that's nitpicking.

First time seeing Sofia Escobar. She's certainly not as bad as Tabitha Webb, but it seems the trade-off for having excellent Phantoms is to have sub-par Christines. She was a lot better in the second Act, but 'Think of Me' was quite flat and the acting in some places was...not there (especially in 'Little Lotte').

It was a really good show though, seemed quite fresh and not at all tired. Think the cast may have been exhilarated after ALW and MC popping in. Earlfan, starryeyed and I went to the stage door afterwards. SJD look shattered but happy. Will Barratt showed us a picture of the cake on his iPhone and told us about how surreal it was for him to meet Crawford.

operafantomet, do you remember that guy who came down to see PoTO for his birthday the night we saw it last year -- the one at the stage door who was trying to get all those autographs? He was there again! I recognised him immediately and he recognised me. Funny coincidence.

The hideous LND banners have gone and been replaced by slightly less hideous but still annoying LND banners. The flyers stand was full of LND flyers too. I was delighted to find there was no LND sign outside (instead we had the Sold Out sign, which has not been purplefied yet), but maybe the reason for that is because that sign has the original burnt sexdoll logo and they don't want to use that any more after the expensive rebrand...

And the person who started the rumour MC is coming back for the 25th year apparently seemed to think MC's appearance was to announce this comeback return. No such announcement was made at the matinee and I still don't believe it is true. To me, it makes no sense. Apart from MC being tied up with The Wizard of Oz, why would Andrew and Cameron want to pay him bucketloads when the show is selling perfectly well? MC took a big cut of the box office when he did the role initially and I doubt they'd want to pay any Phantom that amount again.

Scorp wrote:No Cammie, just ALW and MC at the matinee performance thanking the sad culture of people fans for their money support.

operafantomet, do you remember that guy who came down to see PoTO for his birthday the night we saw it last year -- the one at the stage door who was trying to get all those autographs? He was there again! I recognised him immediately and he recognised me. Funny coincidence.

YES! I remember that guy. He and his super cute family. How very cool he recognized you. Better luck with the autographs this time around? Hope so, if he had as long a drive this time around as last time.

Thanks for the words on the event and the 10,001 performance. Wish I had been there!

Had a great evening at the 10,001 performance, though I didn't get to see neither cake nor Michael Crawford. But I did see SJD for the first time and I thought he was a great Phantom so I'm glad I got the chance to finally see him in the role, he's got a great voice. Had a great time at the stage door too. That guy trying to get everyone's autographs, ah bless him, he stood there asking everyone if they had played Christine. At last Sofia Escobar came out and he finally got his autograph from Christine

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Phantom_Celebrates_10000th_West_End_Performance_with_Michael_Crawford_Andrew_Lloyd_Webber_20101023

Why does his mask look so wrong, why is his hairline so far forward on the sides, why is his coat so baggy.

I think Phantom really is in need of a quality control manager or something

justin-from-barbados wrote:http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Phantom_Celebrates_10000th_West_End_Performance_with_Michael_Crawford_Andrew_Lloyd_Webber_20101023
Why does his mask look so wrong, why is his hairline so far forward on the sides, why is his coat so baggy.

I think Phantom really is in need of a quality control manager or something

Yeah, I nagged about it we discussed it in the Crawford thread. Something looks off in those photos. But he looked good on stage, I would have been more annoyed had it been the other way around...

I agree with everyone, I'm not a fan of the London mask at all. They should go back to the original mask, the kind that MC & early Phantoms wore.