Re: 25th anniversary celebrations

AlwaysChristine Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:56 pm

operafantomet wrote:
Helen wrote:According to this website, Carlotta will be played by a soprano called Keira Duffy. I don't recognise the name from anywhere. Has anyone heard of her?

http://www.cami.com/?webid=2104
Never heard of her. She's probably brilliant and all, but seriously... this casting is getting on my nerves. Three LND stars, a Raoul and a Carlotta who's never done the roles before in their life, and still no announcement of who is Meg. They do ANYTHING to not honour the history of Phantom, don't they?

Speaking of which, Rebecca Caine was not invited to the event at all. How's that for honouring Phantom history?

I understand you. I don´t understand why they do this. Really, Rebecca Caine was not invited, why?

LadyCDaae Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:18 pm

operafantomet wrote:
Helen wrote:According to this website, Carlotta will be played by a soprano called Keira Duffy. I don't recognise the name from anywhere. Has anyone heard of her?

http://www.cami.com/?webid=2104
Never heard of her. She's probably brilliant and all, but seriously... this casting is getting on my nerves. Three LND stars, a Raoul and a Carlotta who's never done the roles before in their life, and still no announcement of who is Meg. They do ANYTHING to not honour the history of Phantom, don't they?

Speaking of which, Rebecca Caine was not invited to the event at all. How's that for honouring Phantom history?

I found a clip of her on YouTube--she has a lovely voice but it's hard to tell what sort of Carlotta she'd make, as the role requires a comic over-the-top bombast you (hopefully) wouldn't find in a standard recital performance.

I suspect the event is less about honoring PotO's silver anniversary and more about ALW trying to save face after LND tanking in London.

~LCD

Helen Thu Sep 15, 2011 9:42 pm

Madame Giry wrote:Ms. Duffy seems like a very accomplished singer and a fine choice for the role, but, again... would it *really* have been so difficult to get one of the many excellent actresses who have played her on stage over the past 25 years?

Not difficult at all. I'm sure several will be in the ensemble, and would do an brilliant job as Carlotta. It seems a bit strange to cast a relatively unknown singer who hasn't been in the show before.

Funnily enough back when they were making the 2004 film I suggested that it might be cool if MC could be the Auctioneer and that throughout the scene they would shoot in such a way you'd only hear his voice and that obscured his face in shadows, or out of frame, or in silhouette, until the plug-in of the chandelier and the lights flash to reveal his features. Would've been a pretty cool way to kick off an otherwise largely lacklustre production.

That would have been amazing. I really don't like the auction scene in the movie. To be honest, I don't like much about the movie.

PMB1034 Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:09 pm

What about Buquet! How about Matt Lucas? *ducks*

Regarding the autism comments....while it may be part of Ramin's thought process, I honestly never detected anything in watching his portrayal in LND.

Bric Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:42 pm

A lot of people, I think, will like this production very much. It has spectacle, beautiful music sung by competent singers, some familiar faces, possibly including Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in some capacity---and ALW smiling and taking bows, a certainty. It is one of the most famous musicals in the history of musicals, and it will be performed by easy-on-the-eyes leads. Carlotta, of course, doesn't need to sing beautifully. She just needs to be good enough to sing convincingly worse than Christine as a contrast.

I kind of think that a lot of the answer to the odd casting is that we should not mistake this show for a TRIBUTE to Phantom of the Opera. It is a commercial enterprise, and the casting, in some ways we can figure out and probably some we can't, makes it more commercial---or the producers hope it will.

SenorSwanky Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:00 am

justin-from-barbados wrote:A photo of the lair is up, not seeing any boat, maybe it will be cut. Maybe what they are showing is just the start of that scene, don;t get wny the organ is in the middle. Maybe it spreads out when the 'truck' comes onstage.

You'll notice the Masquerade staircase is there, probably because it's too large to move like the collapsable one they use in the original production. So it'll probably be an element throughout. Therefore, the organ has to be in the middle. I'm sure the boat will still be used, but this is how it's set up after they're already in the lair. I like that they've basically kept the same design rather than reinvent the wheel. I'll be interested to see what they do with the manager's office and other drap-heavy scenes, and how they handle the dressing room and Don Juan and the graveyard.

Anea: Did Caine say something about not being invited, or how'd you hear about that? I thought she was going. Ridiculous she was left out.

operafantomet Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:07 pm

Third design is up: Rooftop. Palais Garnier squeeee!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150288181402051&set=a.10150283748047051.344145.53351527050&type=1&theater

Madame Giry Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:52 pm

I bought a ticket to the live broadcast yesterday and a friend of mine is going to go with me. The sets continue to look very impressive and I'm loving the integration of the real Palais Garnier and Bjornson designs. I'm going to dress up when I go (hey, it's not all that often we Phans get to geek out at the movies!) - probably as Raoul in his Notes I costume. I was going to go with Phantom but I desperately need a better mask to satisfy my inner costume perfectionist. So, yes, despite my misgivings about various aspects of the production, I am getting excited. Smile

There's been plenty of discussion that I very much agree with here about the interpretation that the Phantom is autistic; namely, I disagree with that view entirely and feels that it really has a negative impact on that idea that the Phantom, by all accounts a genius, is really a product of society - not of a medical condition that explains, and even excuses, his behavior. However, as someone else has said, I'm curious as to whether, without knowing Ramin's interpretation of the Phantom's psychological underpinnings, your average audience member would be able to discern that vision through his acting.

~Madame~

PMB1034 Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:57 pm

Slightly off topic but for UK people with Sky, the BBC2 documentary 'Behind The Mask' is being repeated on Sky Arts 2 (ch245) at 22.30 tonight.

**Raphael** Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:58 pm

operafantomet wrote:Third design is up: Rooftop. Palais Garnier squeeee!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150288181402051&set=a.10150283748047051.344145.53351527050&type=1&theater

Just watch. Any second now somebody's gonna complain that the Phantom is standing on the dome and not hiding behind Apollo's Lyre Wink

TAFKaR

LadyCDaae Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:12 pm

Raphael wrote:
operafantomet wrote:Third design is up: Rooftop. Palais Garnier squeeee!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150288181402051&set=a.10150283748047051.344145.53351527050&type=1&theater
Just watch. Any second now somebody's gonna complain that the Phantom is standing on the dome and not hiding behind Apollo's Lyre

TAFKaR

This sucks, the Phantom is totally standing on the--oh wait, never mind. Embarassed

In all seriousness, I second Anea's squee--this is what I wanted the movie rooftop scene to look like! As long as they keep the Phantom hidden during AIAOY (Christine and Raoul's relationship is shortchanged as it is; let them have this one scene!) I'm loving it.

~LCD

Bric Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:27 pm

There's been plenty of discussion that I very much agree with here about the interpretation that the Phantom is autistic; namely, I disagree with that view entirely and feels that it really has a negative impact on that idea that the Phantom, by all accounts a genius, is really a product of society - not of a medical condition that explains, and even excuses, his behavior. However, as someone else has said, I'm curious as to whether, without knowing Ramin's interpretation of the Phantom's psychological underpinnings, your average audience member would be able to discern that vision through his acting.

~Madame~

Here's another little question, and for me the answer would have to be "I have no idea" because I've never seen Ramin play the Phantom:
Will his having played the Love Never Dies version of the Phantom for 18 months have any effect on how he plays the Phantom in POTO?

I would expect any actor's performance of a role to change after a fairly long absence, but will anything be traceable to his long stint in LND?

PMB1034 Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:52 pm

Bric wrote:I would expect any actor's performance of a role to change after a fairly long absence, but will anything be traceable to his long stint in LND?

I read in an interview somewhere, no. Ramin's thinking being that while, in his mind, it is the same character in POTO & LND, you can't play something that hasn't happened yet. That's not to say that his ideas won't have changed with time. However Sierra I believe, suggested that should she ever play Christine in POTO, she may reconsider her choices. Sorry I can't provide sources.

phantomgirl110 Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:23 am

I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the caption at the bottom of that rooftop set photo: "After Christine and Raoul leave the skies blacken and the conductor turns around and we see it is the Phantom. He sings the reprise." Am I understanding that correctly? Ramin's going to pretend to be the conductor and then suddenly--"Oh hey everyone, it's me, the Phantom!"? That sounds like the sort of thing that would inspire appreciative chuckling at best and hysterical giggling at the cheesiness (or is that just me?) at the worst. I like the look of the production so far, but I sincerely hope the Phantom's appearance on the rooftop doesn't play out like that.

Despite my near-total absence from the board these days I have been following the news about this concert and I'm more than a little confused by the cast. I was not at all surprised by the casting of Ramin and Sierra, but I was a bit taken aback by the casting of people with no connection to the show whatsoever. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the production team seems so opposed to casting people who have real history with the show. I understand that they want it to be commercial and we'll probably hear the word 'sexy' used to describe the cast at least once - sexy being ever our watchword in this phandom, naturally - but it's not as if they're casting names that will encourage people to tune in, with the exceptions of Ramin and Sierra to guarantee a LND-friendly audience. If they'd cast a major opera singer as Carlotta, for example, or a Jonas Brother (God forbid) as Raoul, I would be unhappy about it but I would at least understand their motivation. Big names equal big audiences. But this casting? This makes no sense to me so far. If they're not going to stunt cast, why not fill the roles with past cast members? It's not as if there aren't plenty to choose from. I've tried to imagine tuning into this concert casually, with no real knowledge of POTO; I would think, and I admit that I cannot entirely disconnect my imaginary self from my real self here, that I would be impressed and interested to learn more if I found out that the actor playing Raoul had played the role in 3 different productions, for example, or that the actress playing Madame Giry had played the role more than any other, or that the actor playing Andre had been with the show for over two decades. Doesn't that sound cool? Isn't that the kind of information that draws the casual viewer into the history of the show, makes them appreciate the hard work and devotion of the cast, makes them want to go out and see it?

I realize that I am reaching into the future a bit here, since we know very little about the cast and it could turn out to be an extraordinary concert that we all love and we'll all look back on this thread and laugh at how wrong we were. But I just can't quite convince myself of that future right now. Right now I just feel like the production team (speaking very generally, of course, I'm sure they don't all feel this way) is proving yet again that the people who love the show the most - the phans and the devoted cast members - don't really matter much to them.

operafantomet Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:37 am

phantomgirl110 wrote:I've tried to imagine tuning into this concert casually, with no real knowledge of POTO; I would think, and I admit that I cannot entirely disconnect my imaginary self from my real self here, that I would be impressed and interested to learn more if I found out that the actor playing Raoul had played the role in 3 different productions, for example, or that the actress playing Madame Giry had played the role more than any other, or that the actor playing Andre had been with the show for over two decades. Doesn't that sound cool? Isn't that the kind of information that draws the casual viewer into the history of the show, makes them appreciate the hard work and devotion of the cast, makes them want to go out and see it?

I agree, but I think what ALW rather want people to think is "Wow, awesome concert and singers... I wonder what the cast has done before... Hey, three of them has been in a musical called "Love Never Dies"... Wow, a sequel to the fantastic thing I just saw, I must check it out!". I'm not being ironic here, I really think that's what he's heading for.

Other than that, I've given up on understanding the casting. For a brief moment I thought the Raoul and Carlotta names circulating only was to mislead so they can surprise us with (OK, really random pick here) Rebecca Caine as Carlotta and Michael Xavier as Raoul. But I soon enough abandoned this thought. What I don't get, though, is the casting of the managers. That's how I would expect it to go down - two former (and great) London cast members reprising their roles. I mean, they could have cast Rebecca Lock as Carlotta if they wanted fantastic, beautiful former cast member. But no, choose one who hasn't been near the role in her life. Ditto for Raoul. Let's celebrate. Indeed.

As for the conductor thing, you're right. I though I misunderstood it, as the Phantom is high up on stage in the design, and I thought the conductor would be way down. But if this indeed is the case, I'm surprised they let us know that tidbit of info. They're giving away a big secret if this really is how it'll be done!

phantomgirl110 Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:02 am

Alright, I was just doing a quick search because I couldn't recall who the third LND cast member involved was, thought perhaps I'd missed something somewhere along the way, and I went to the official site of the anniversary concert and was confronted with this:

"This lavish, fully staged production of ‘Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall’ will star Ramin Karimloo as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess as ‘Christine’. They will be joined by Barry James as ‘Monsieur Firmin’ Gareth Snook as ‘Monsieur André’, Liz Robertson as ‘Madame Giry’ and Wynne Evans as ‘Piangi’ together with a cast and orchestra of over 200 together with some special guest appearances."

Did I toooootally miss the boat on some of these announcements or is this new information? My apologies if I'm just being an idiot. (I did attempt to do a search here on the board, but nothing came up when I searched for 'Gareth Snook' so either he hasn't been mentioned - and I'm pretty sure he has been in the London thread? - or the search function is broken.)

LadyCDaae Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:31 pm

I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the caption at the bottom of that rooftop set photo: "After Christine and Raoul leave the skies blacken and the conductor turns around and we see it is the Phantom. He sings the reprise." Am I understanding that correctly? Ramin's going to pretend to be the conductor and then suddenly--"Oh hey everyone, it's me, the Phantom!"? That sounds like the sort of thing that would inspire appreciative chuckling at best and hysterical giggling at the cheesiness (or is that just me?) at the worst. I like the look of the production so far, but I sincerely hope the Phantom's appearance on the rooftop doesn't play out like that.

Huh? Yeah, I missed that--and it seems to contradict the layout of the design (unless the orchestra is behind the projection scrim or something). I hope this was an idea that was later thrown out as too metafictional, but who knows...

~LCD

**Raphael** Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:08 pm

LadyCDaae wrote:
I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the caption at the bottom of that rooftop set photo: "After Christine and Raoul leave the skies blacken and the conductor turns around and we see it is the Phantom. He sings the reprise." Am I understanding that correctly? Ramin's going to pretend to be the conductor and then suddenly--"Oh hey everyone, it's me, the Phantom!"? That sounds like the sort of thing that would inspire appreciative chuckling at best and hysterical giggling at the cheesiness (or is that just me?) at the worst. I like the look of the production so far, but I sincerely hope the Phantom's appearance on the rooftop doesn't play out like that.

Huh? Yeah, I missed that--and it seems to contradict the layout of the design (unless the orchestra is behind the projection scrim or something). I hope this was an idea that was later thrown out as too metafictional, but who knows...

~LCD

They pretty much did that same thing (Phantom is the conductor) for one of the Australian charity shows. I thought that caption was someone's idea of a joke.

TAFKaR

**Raphael** Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:10 pm

phantomgirl110 wrote:Alright, I was just doing a quick search because I couldn't recall who the third LND cast member involved was, thought perhaps I'd missed something somewhere along the way, and I went to the official site of the anniversary concert and was confronted with this:

"This lavish, fully staged production of ‘Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall’ will star Ramin Karimloo as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess as ‘Christine’. They will be joined by Barry James as ‘Monsieur Firmin’ Gareth Snook as ‘Monsieur André’, Liz Robertson as ‘Madame Giry’ and Wynne Evans as ‘Piangi’ together with a cast and orchestra of over 200 together with some special guest appearances."

Did I toooootally miss the boat on some of these announcements or is this new information? My apologies if I'm just being an idiot. (I did attempt to do a search here on the board, but nothing came up when I searched for 'Gareth Snook' so either he hasn't been mentioned - and I'm pretty sure he has been in the London thread? - or the search function is broken.)

I missed parts of the cast announcements too, but I think I remember Snook's name being mentioned awhile back.

TAFKaR

IamErik771 Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:16 pm

phantomgirl110 wrote:Alright, I was just doing a quick search because I couldn't recall who the third LND cast member involved was, thought perhaps I'd missed something somewhere along the way, and I went to the official site of the anniversary concert and was confronted with this:

"This lavish, fully staged production of ‘Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall’ will star Ramin Karimloo as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess as ‘Christine’. They will be joined by Barry James as ‘Monsieur Firmin’ Gareth Snook as ‘Monsieur André’, Liz Robertson as ‘Madame Giry’ and Wynne Evans as ‘Piangi’ together with a cast and orchestra of over 200 together with some special guest appearances."

Did I toooootally miss the boat on some of these announcements or is this new information? My apologies if I'm just being an idiot. (I did attempt to do a search here on the board, but nothing came up when I searched for 'Gareth Snook' so either he hasn't been mentioned - and I'm pretty sure he has been in the London thread? - or the search function is broken.)

Yeah, I think there's something odd with the search function -- I've never gotten results for anything I looked for. (Kinda glad this is a smaller forum, so it's a tad easier to find things by hand.) But yeah, I'm glad to see that at least the managers are played by London cast members.

The conductor becoming the Phantom? Yeah, kinda hoping that was an early idea when they were designing the set and was eventually thrown out. It would look pretty silly, IMO, and I don't see how it could work with that set design.

About the sets we've seen thus far, though... dear lord, I love 'em. Perfect blend of Bjornson's designs and the real Opera House, IMO. Though I am kinda hoping that's not all there is to the Phantom's lair. I'd like there to be a pipe organ -- none of that rubbish about "Organs aren't sexy, so we won't have him playing it" like they seemed to have decided with the movie. In any case, I've got tickets for the 5th (can't make it on the 2nd)... Still not that enthusiastic about the leads, but looking forward to what the whole experience will be like.

LadyCDaae Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:33 pm

They pretty much did that same thing (Phantom is the conductor) for one of the Australian charity shows. I thought that caption was someone's idea of a joke.

The Takarazuka productions of Y/K also have the concept, but given the already abundant amount of surreal that they have going on it's hardly the biggest "lolwhut?" moment in there...

~LCD

SenorSwanky Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:09 pm

I'm not so hot on the roofttop design. And I definitely don't like the idea of the Phantom being the conductor. That's laughable. No breaking the 4th wall, so to speak. I do get the sense the orchestra will be behind the screen.

LadyCDaae Sun Sep 18, 2011 1:19 am

It's not just that it breaks the fourth wall, but that it does so at a very inappropriate time dramatically. The rooftop scene is a very intimate moment emotionally--we have two of our three main characters expressing a (presumed) private declaration of love, followed by the third undergoing the shattering not only of his hope, but of his very tenuous mental and emotional stability. Calling attention to the orchestra at that time would be like seeing the reflection of a crew member during a movie--a reminder of the technical underpinnings of the production where one is not needed or desired, and can only serve to pull the audience out of the illusion.

~LCD

Scorp Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:41 pm

I second operafantomet's Palais Garnier squee re the rooftop set design, I love it. Thank GOD there is no Opéra Populaire here. As for breaking the fourth wall with the Phantom being the conductor, I can't decide. At first it seems like an interesting solution as to how to hide the Phantom and it would still be a surprise for those who aren't following every piece of news about the concert...but it does create an alienation effect. But then, what with this being such a big event in such a large venue, I'm not sure the audience would be so engrossed in it that they would have been fully immersed in the story, so in that sense the breaking of the fourth wall may not be a big deal. I never felt fully immersed in the Vegas show, for example, and I think that had something to do both with the size of the theatre, the noise of the air-con and the fact that the show seemed to be bigging up its sometimes bizarre special effects to the point where it was difficult not to forget you were seeing a show in Vegas (cf. the Phantom's random "BRING DOWN THE CHANDELIER!!!!!"). I reckon the atmosphere will be similar at the RAH.

PMB1034 Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:06 pm

Scorp wrote:I second operafantomet's Palais Garnier squee re the rooftop set design, I love it. Thank GOD there is no Opéra Populaire here. As for breaking the fourth wall with the Phantom being the conductor, I can't decide. At first it seems like an interesting solution as to how to hide the Phantom and it would still be a surprise for those who aren't following every piece of news about the concert...but it does create an alienation effect. But then, what with this being such a big event in such a large venue, I'm not sure the audience would be so engrossed in it that they would have been fully immersed in the story, so in that sense the breaking of the fourth wall may not be a big deal. I never felt fully immersed in the Vegas show, for example, and I think that had something to do both with the size of the theatre, the noise of the air-con and the fact that the show seemed to be bigging up its sometimes bizarre special effects to the point where it was difficult not to forget you were seeing a show in Vegas (cf. the Phantom's random "BRING DOWN THE CHANDELIER!!!!!"). I reckon the atmosphere will be similar at the RAH.

I would agree. And if the orchestra is there all the time, they are already in plain sight so it'll just be the Phantom turning round - over in a second - I doubt there will be any "comedy conducting" sign posting his reveal. It's like the policeman in the pit or André talking to the conductor (which he'll presumably do upstage now). I'm disappointed they left that note there tbh.

Mandrake Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:23 pm

Sorry if it's already been mentioned elsewhere in the thread, but does anyone know if there's anything planned for HM's over the anniversary weekend?

I'm guessing the anniversary there would be marked on Sat Oct 8th?

operafantomet Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:46 pm

Mandrake wrote:Sorry if it's already been mentioned elsewhere in the thread, but does anyone know if there's anything planned for HM's over the anniversary weekend?

I'm guessing the anniversary there would be marked on Sat Oct 8th?

I wonder about that too. I hope they do more than the mandatory champagne-and-confetti routine when the show has played for Goddamn 25 years in the same theatre. I know the RAH concert is THE celebration, but I do hope the original venue gets celebrated as well.

At all accounts it'll be the evening performance on Saturday 8th, as Sunday is dark in the West End (mostly, anyway), and because Saturday is a better date of celebrating than Monday when it comes to the cast members.

LadyCDaae Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:51 am

PMB1034 wrote:I would agree. And if the orchestra is there all the time, they are already in plain sight so it'll just be the Phantom turning round - over in a second - I doubt there will be any "comedy conducting" sign posting his reveal. It's like the policeman in the pit or André talking to the conductor (which he'll presumably do upstage now). I'm disappointed they left that note there tbh.

But those are scenes in which the orchestra and orchestra pit would exist in-universe--it doesn't so much break the fourth wall as extend it, allowing the fictional space of the Opera House to "overlap" with that of the auditorium (the Vegas theater is clearly designed with this concept in mind). Bringing the orchestra and conductor into a scene where neither would have any business existing seems too likely to create awkwardness and cause a disconnection from the story, I think.

~LCD

Scorp Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:42 pm

Apparently the souvenir brochures for the event are going to cost £15. Surprised

Oh well, Cameron knows that I'll pay what I have to pay...

**Raphael** Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:30 am

Are they selling those souvenir brochures online, Scorp? I think I might want one of those.

TAFKaR

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