High School and College Productions

Raphael wrote:It'll also require a little reworking of the lyrics since the "audience" is referenced during Il Muto, right?

Yes, there are constant references to the audience, starting from when Raoul says there are no seats available other than Box 5 to when Andre announces the ballet, not to mention Firmin's "the old audience" line and the traditional though easily changed playing to the audience of Don Attilio's sustained "herrrrrrrrrr...."

Raphael wrote:It'll also require a little reworking of the lyrics since the "audience" is referenced during Il Muto, right?

"Same old audience..." I love that line...though it tends to hit home more when you're seeing the show for the...er...fourth or fifth time in one week.

"Much of the time" just doesn't do it for me.

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By Kellie B. Gormly, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 25, 2010

Pittsburgh Musical Theater's all-student production of "The Phantom of the Opera," which played at the Byham Theater, Downtown, this weekend, was about as good as a student production could be -- and, often, the play seemed quite professional.
Students from Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts school, the Richard E. Rauh Conservatory and Robert Morris Colonial Theatre performed the well-loved Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about the wretched but brilliant Phantom and his obsessive love for beautiful soprano Christine Daae.
The vocal roles of the Phantom and Christine are challenging for even seasoned professionals, and much of the time, Channing Frampton and Ashley Reichl -- who played the Phantom and Christine, respectively, on Thursday night -- hit the right notes. Reichl's best moment of the evening was when she belted out "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." Kate Queen -- who played Carlotta, the opera's prima donna -- had the strongest voice on Thursday. Logan Williams also gave a good performance as Raoul, Christine's fiance. . . .

That's quite the "good for what it was" review.

I hear there are at least a couple more in the works around the country. I'm morbidly curious to read about them.

R.

PS: Rehearsal footage showing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wF8rlWW5rk&feature=related

Not terrible sounding, and decent deformity. Hate that mask, though. I'm picky about my masks, and don't want them to look store-bought.

This is exactly what I dislike and what makes me oppose the school edition idea. "Decent", "almost right", "not terrible", "much of the time"... If I wanted third-rate POTO, I'd see the Joel Schumacher movie.

The name of their school is not the kids' fault, but I just can't imagine going to see the Phantom at Box Elder High.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010 - 5:10pm
BRIGHAM CITY --

"Crash-on-cue chandeliers don't come cheap, so Box Elder High School on Saturday will host a fundraising dinner for its upcoming production of "Phantom of the Opera."
Drama teacher Melanie Day said Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals told her that Box Elder will be the first Utah school to produce the Andrew Lloyd Weber show. Professional productions of the show have been seen in 25 countries by more than 80 million people.
'Students would always beg me to do Phantom, but I would always have to tell them it wasn't available, it is still on Broadway," Day said in a press release. "I never dreamed I would be directing it."

High schools can't pull it off... I heard the Carlotta in that video and she was screaming out the notes- not [/i]singing[i], screaming! The best way to ruin a teenager's voice.

Princess wrote:High schools can't pull it off... I heard the Carlotta in that video and she was screaming out the notes- not [/i]singing[i], screaming! The best way to ruin a teenager's voice.

That was a university production.

operafantomet wrote:This is exactly what I dislike and what makes me oppose the school edition idea. "Decent", "almost right", "not terrible", "much of the time"... If I wanted third-rate POTO, I'd see the Joel Schumacher movie.

Epic win. EPIC win

R.

Apparently one of the high school/college productions out there will have the advantage of Sandra Joseph coaching them.

R.

I don't intend to see any high school shows, but I'm going to take a chance on a nearby college production:
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"The music of the night will ring through Pfeiffer Hall as North Central College students present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masterwork “The Phantom of the Opera” Nov. 4 to 7.
“Phantom” is the longest-running musical in Broadway history. The rights for production were recently made available for educational institutions, and Brian Lynch, North Central’s fine arts director, immediately seized the opportunity.
“We will be one of the first schools in the country to do it,” Lynch said. “I jumped at the chance because I knew we had the talent pool to do it here. I thought it would challenge our students and be a newer work that they would love to do,” Lynch is directing and choreographing the show.. . .
. . .Lynch has a cast of 36, and the pivotal roles of Christine and Carlotta are double-cast.
“We have the talent to do it, and I wanted to rest their voices a bit. And now I’ve got built-in understudies.”
Too much talent, he said, “is a very good problem to have. We have other people who could have done the parts too — that’s how deep the talent pool is. I’ve got an incredible cast. . . .”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbKkUDPj5I&feature=related

Did anyone see this from Pittsburgh?
I live in Pittsburgh and was curious to see it but I chose not to. I like having my hearing, and based off this I am glad I didn't go haha.

AngelOfMusic325 wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbKkUDPj5I&feature=related

Did anyone see this from Pittsburgh?
I live in Pittsburgh and was curious to see it but I chose not to. I like having my hearing, and based off this I am glad I didn't go haha.

Actually, I don't think it's that bad for a student production. Although the Phantom's wig looks terrible, & the mask looks pretty crappy. But the vocals sound all right to my ears. Not Crawford or McGillin, but decent for students.

AngelOfMusic325 wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbKkUDPj5I&feature=related

Did anyone see this from Pittsburgh?
I live in Pittsburgh and was curious to see it but I chose not to. I like having my hearing, and based off this I am glad I didn't go haha.

Guess the wig was too bulky for his hat to sit on his head correctly.

The Phantom struggling to undo his cloak immediately reminded me of Austin Powers having trouble removing his jabot.

Ah, live theatre...

R.

I think he is very good for most of the song, not so much on the money notes, "Soar," "BE," and the extended last note on "night." Makes me appreciate how good the professionals, who can really do those three notes justice, are. If the young man continues with his singing, he should be able to get them right.

She is kind of screechy.

The wig and mask make me want to check my messages, and the boat makes me think of a Maori war canoe.

The wig, the mask and those gloves were nasty. "Be" was butchered and his final notes were shakey but the rest of it I actually thought was pretty good. Of course it doesn't sound pro quality but it's not a pro production. I'd have been curious to see what the rest of the show was like (still wishing though it was limited to professional theatre groups though).

Not half-bad. Awkward in parts, but vocally not bad, at least. The orchestra (seems like a lot of it, obviously the title song but even in MOTN, was canned, not live) was really rushing him, tempo-wise. I like when the conductor lets the Phantom pause and cue the music after certain notes, like "soar" and "be."

Students from one high school production (in Kingston, NY...not too far from me, actually) visited the Majestic...and got a nice photo op with the cast.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_High_School_PHANTOM_Cast_Visits_Broadway_Production_20101111

(The official Phantom Facebook page has the pictures, too.)

I took a chance and went to the North Central College (Naperville, Illinois) POTO production.

I wasn't very surprised that they did a credible job---wouldn't have gone if I hadn't thought that there was a good chance they would.

Christine was double cast.
Vocally, the student actors were quite good. The Christine I saw was an almost painfully thin little slip of a girl with a very good voice. The Phantom wasn't quite as good vocally, but he could sing all the "money notes" in "Music of the Night" and held the final "Niiiiiiiiigt" well. His voice was just a little weak in places I didn't expect it to be. His acting in the Final Lair really made me forget I was watching a student production and brought tears to my eyes.

For whatever reasons, Christine looked slumped or a little hunched some of the time---I think it was a matter of the actresses's posture and not part of the way she played C.

Raoul looked the part and sang very well. "All I Ask of You" was well sung.

Carlotta was also double cast, and the one I saw had the pipes but was rather shrill. I thought her acting was right on the mark.

Piangi.....Sang just fine but was so thin it would have taken three of him to make up the usual Piangi. In Act II, he was wearing some fat padding. Could they have misplaced it for Act I ???

The singing in all of the chorus parts was good, and the two "Notes" were exceptionally good.

The orchestra was ALMOST good enough.

I was a little schizo through the whole show, slipping from being "in" the story to watching to see how they were going to do THIS scene and back again.

How they did some of the scenes:

They had a smaller-than-professional chandelier that looked pretty good and came down FAST. The woman sitting next to me said she was glad she wasn't sitting in center because the chandelier swooped LOW over the first few rows.


The mirror looked like it worked much like the professional ones, but i couldn't really see it as Christine was standing directly in my line of sight.

No travelator---a Christine and Phantom crossed the stage one way on a walkway,a little raised in the middle, right in front of an upper level platform with the organ on it---then crossed the other way---and back again.

I *think* it was the "real" Christine and different men in Phantom costume. One certainly wasn't the Phantom actor; he was, maybe, 30 pounds heavier.The Phantom actor was quite thin.

They had a boat that looked a little amateurish, but it worked! It came right in with the Phantom poling away and went to the front through some mist just as it was supposed to do. Four (I think) very tall candelabra came in from the sides. They got the scene done in recognizable fashion, but it was not a scene to make you go "OOOooooo."

The organ was up on a platform, stairways leading down to the stage on the left and right. The Phantom began the scene up there and came down the stairs for most of "Music of the Night." The blocking was similar to the standard blocking. They had a sort of portcullis but not really a proper one. The Phantom did a stretch somewhere else rather than on the portcullis.
The scene was done well, but I didn't feel any sizzle.

BIG PLUS: The Phantom caught Christine when she fainted. Being an American, I had never seen that before.


For "Masquerade" the cast was up on the platform (where the organ was---or had been. I didn't notice during Masquerade) and on the stairs, then came down for dancing on the deck. Choral parts were all good.

The Red Death costume was underwhelming. I would say, Costumes-R-Us, except it very much seemed hand made.


PONR--they had the bench and all but did not do the blocking we know on the bench. As they neared the end of the song, Raoul and police figures were moving into sight in the wings. Christine looked increasingly frightened as the song neared its end.

I couldn't see the Phantom's deformity clearly, but what I could see of it looked painted on.

The staging of the Final Lair was serviceable; the acting was very good.

At the end, the Phantom sat on a chair/throne of some kind, and Meg did the hold-up-the-mask thing. There was no veil for the Phantom to pick up. They did have a little monkey music box that was used throughout the play in the usual places.The Phantom's emotion was well played, but there was no anguished "Christine...I LOOOOOOOVE you."

One inadvertently hilarious moment happened in the Final Lair. There was a female figure clad in white slumped stage right, apparently supposed to be the Christine manikin. Suddenly, as the scene neared its close, the slightly plump, white clad girl got up and ran off! What were they thinking of ?? They couldn't afford to put together a dummy of some sort that could have stayed there? Was it supposed to be darker in that corner of the stage?
--Generally, the lighting was good, by the way. I don't know much about lighting, but I didn't notice it much so it was probably doing the job.

Before I went to the show, I rather expected to be disappointed with the voices compared with those in the professional shows I've seen, but if they weren't professional, they were mostly good, and I didn't cringe.

What was most obviously amateur were the girls' costumes (men looked OK), and the scenery, the whole look of the show. I think that they just didn't have either the money or the stage room to make it look more professional.

There was an article in the newspaper today. The Christine I hadn't seen lost her voice, allergic reaction to roses she had been given, they thought. Her best female friend had also tried out for the role but hadn't gotten it. They arranged for her to stand in the wings and do the singing for the struck-dumb actress. Apparently, it worked pretty well, and when Christine #1 still wasn't quite up to singing for her next show, they repeated the tactic.

Christine#1 pulled her friend on stage for the final bows, and they took them together.

Glad to know some schools are doing it pretty well. Just seems like there's a glut of these productions lately--seems like two a day are announced on Facebook.

Paula74 wrote:Students from one high school production (in Kingston, NY...not too far from me, actually) visited the Majestic...and got a nice photo op with the cast.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_High_School_PHANTOM_Cast_Visits_Broadway_Production_20101111

(The official Phantom Facebook page has the pictures, too.)

Go see it then! It's not terrible. It's got it's rough spots in production, but all in all it's not that bad. Also, it's only $15. Though scarily opening tomorrow.

toasterphantom wrote:

Paula74 wrote:Students from one high school production (in Kingston, NY...not too far from me, actually) visited the Majestic...and got a nice photo op with the cast.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_High_School_PHANTOM_Cast_Visits_Broadway_Production_20101111

(The official Phantom Facebook page has the pictures, too.)

Go see it then! It's not terrible. It's got it's rough spots in production, but all in all it's not that bad. Also, it's only $15. Though scarily opening tomorrow.

"Not that bad" isn't enough of a recommendation for me.

To be honest, I'd probably go see a local production if there were one. I gave a shot to the Les Mis school edition back in 2003, and it was phenomenal both from a production values standpoint and the performances. If I respected the quality of the school's drama department (if it were my alma mater, for instance), I'd go check it out.

Bric wrote:

toasterphantom wrote:Go see it then! It's not terrible. It's got it's rough spots in production, but all in all it's not that bad. Also, it's only $15. Though scarily opening tomorrow.

"Not that bad" isn't enough of a recommendation for me.

I feel the same. I don't want mediocre. Never wanted it in the past, don't want it now. I want to be blown away, or at least be mighty impressed. Labels like "not that bad", "could be worse", "decent", "good for their age" etc. repels me rather than attract me.

Sorry for being harsh. But there are so much mediocre in the world already, I need my dose of quality.

Apparently a production opened tonight in Asheboro, NC, but that's over an hour away. Not making that far of a drive. If the tour were there, of course, but not for a HS production.

Not that bad being the sets. The singing is classified as awesome. Sorry. I'm still impressed. It'll never be broadway, but honestly, not many highschool productions of anything are. I don't judge this one harsher because it's phantom (okay... thats a lie... but...). Hopefully the makeup will be decent. *crosses fingers, but then accidently surgical glues them together*

toasterphantom wrote:Not that bad being the sets. The singing is classified as awesome. Sorry. I'm still impressed. It'll never be broadway, but honestly, not many highschool productions of anything are.

I'm surprised that the singing is awesome, but it's possible for a few h.s. productions, and no, not many high school productions are near Broadway quality.

toasterphantom wrote:I don't judge this one harsher because it's phantom (okay... thats a lie... but...). Hopefully the makeup will be decent. *crosses fingers, but then accidently surgical glues them together*

There's the rub. I do judge high school show more harshly for those that I really care for---only a few, mainly Phantom and Les Mis. I saw a high school production of the student version of Les Mis. It was good for a h. s. show, but although the staging was excellent, the singing and acting were not consistently good. I don't care if a school does an amateurish job of Annie or Bye Bye Birdie or even Oklahoma, but POTO and Les Mis? I just don't want mediocre with my favorites. The same high school whose Les Mis I found wanting did a very good Joseph and the....(a much lighter and easier show to do).

operafantomet wrote:

Bric wrote:

toasterphantom wrote:Go see it then! It's not terrible. It's got it's rough spots in production, but all in all it's not that bad. Also, it's only $15. Though scarily opening tomorrow.

"Not that bad" isn't enough of a recommendation for me.

I feel the same. I don't want mediocre. Never wanted it in the past, don't want it now. I want to be blown away, or at least be mighty impressed. Labels like "not that bad", "could be worse", "decent", "good for their age" etc. repels me rather than attract me.

I remember when labels like those were used to justify a certain film adaptation

R.