Did you Notice....from Phantom Notes Feb/Mar 1990

Quote from the journal

A favorite part of Phantom is "Did you notice" Each time we go we allways see or hear something new

Note Many of these items vary from production to production

In the Angel/Rooftop sequence the Angel's eyes light up (Except in London)

in Masquerade there is a dummy dressed as Lon Chaney's Phantom (He is the guy with the purple fave at the bottom left of the staircase.

The traveloator which the Phantom and Christine use to travel to his lair moves upstage & downstage, as well as up and down

Once Christine removes the Phantom's mask he begins to limp

In the 2nd managers scene, Madame Giry goes off stage in a trance and returnswith her note from the Phantom(Except in London where the note falls from her score of Don Juan

Andre seems to be a flirt, sometimes it is with Meg (New York) and sometimes it is with Carlotta (LA, Toronto)

The Phantom's escapades are often missed because people do not know that they are supposed to look up

Some Raouls and Christines, sneak off for a kiss during Masquerade

If the Marksman's gun fails to fire, Raouls line is "You fool, why didn't you shoot. (A classic damed if you do damned if you don't

The monkey girl takes Christine's make during the masquerade dance

During Hannibal Raoul borrows Firmin's opera glasses to get a better look at Christine, Firmin had been checking out the audience

Andre sings along duting IL Muto, Firmin sleeps (Toronto)

The Managers have an actual program for the production of IL Muto

All the Notes have black borders and are printed with the words that the actors sing

Andre orders the Orchestra leader to bring the ballet forward, the orchestra leader shake his head no (In Toronto)

In the London, Toronto and US productions there is a picture of Gaston Leroux on Christine's dressing table

The Chandelier is raised againe to the ceiling during intermission, and after the show it is lowered

In London most Phantoms catch Christine as she faints

More Did you Notice from Phantom Notes June/July 1990

The Statues and Angels around the Proscenium wear braceletes and necklaces

The fly that nearly bobs Carlotta during the Hannibal rehearsal is from Il Muto's Act 3 Ballet

During Hannibal, the slaves that bring out the elephant, pat and stroke it to keep it "calm" (NYC and Chicago

M. Reyer "directs" the chourus during the Don Jaun rehearsal

Backdrop of the lair is reflective to enhance the illusion of depth in NYC and Chicago, and is a matte finish scrim in London

M. Firmin has multiple newspapers which he tosses around his office during the Notes (NYC and Chicago) everywhere else only one newpaper

Raoul wears a black sash while watching Il Muto (Chicago)

During Wishing you were somehow here again the Phantom is either hiding inside a hollow cross (Toronto, LA, NYC) or behind a solid one (Chicago, London

When Mme Giry takes Raoul down to the lair they encounter a "rat Catcher" on the bridge. (Sometimes they are still out of sight on the travelator when this happens, but that is why Giry screams at the beginning of this scene) In Chicago, Raoul brushes away rats from his legs as the rat catcher passes by

Thank you for sharing this, ladygodiva. It's fun and interesting facts to read

in Masquerade there is a dummy dressed as Lon Chaney's Phantom (He is the guy with the purple face at the bottom left of the staircase.

I've never noticed this before! I'm intrigued.

Is it this guy? I had to go through a fair few files to find him in the scene, though...is he always used? He seems to be missing from some of my Masquerade pics.

Yes it is indeed, Maria Bjournson gave a nod to The Silent Phantom Lon Chaney, some productions may or may not have all the "staircase people"

Scorp wrote:

in Masquerade there is a dummy dressed as Lon Chaney's Phantom (He is the guy with the purple face at the bottom left of the staircase.

I've never noticed this before! I'm intrigued.

Is it this guy? I had to go through a fair few files to find him in the scene, though...is he always used? He seems to be missing from some of my Masquerade pics.

He's not always easy to spot, because the dummies might be placed differently in the various productions. Productions with small stages will push the figures up in the staircase so they're not blocking the access to the floor, and they might also skip a couple of them. Sometimes the "Lion man" takes the place of the Chaney one. They're quite similar, except the Lion Man has a golden lion head. The Lon Chaney one isn't all that easy to recognize as Chaney, because he's got a red face and has wild hair, but seeing closeups is another story!


This fella is from the Latin (Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina) productions.

operafantomet wrote:

Scorp wrote:

in Masquerade there is a dummy dressed as Lon Chaney's Phantom (He is the guy with the purple face at the bottom left of the staircase.

I've never noticed this before! I'm intrigued.

Is it this guy? I had to go through a fair few files to find him in the scene, though...is he always used? He seems to be missing from some of my Masquerade pics.

He's not always easy to spot, because the dummies might be placed differently in the various productions. Productions with small stages will push the figures up in the staircase so they're not blocking the access to the floor, and they might also skip a couple of them. Sometimes the "Lion man" takes the place of the Chaney one. They're quite similar, except the Lion Man has a golden lion head. The Lon Chaney one isn't all that easy to recognize as Chaney, because he's got a red face and has wild hair, but seeing closeups is another story!


This fella is from the Latin (Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina) productions.

That's amazing! I didn't think it was possible to love Maria's designs even more than I do, but apparently it is. There's so much in the production that's inspired by the Chaney film, from major staging such as the descent to the lair and the appearance of the Red Death to minor details like the black borders round the notes from the Phantom, so I'm glad there's a nod to it.

<minirant>

The whole staging of that scene is so brilliantly done. Although I could say this of pretty much any scene from thefilmthatshallnotbenamed, the way they handled Masquerade is a prime example of how they completely missed the point. The whole scene is supposed to be an illustration of the carnivalesque, where the repressed subconscious Dionysian elements of the Phantom himself emerge from the shadows and take centre stage, before collapsing back into the underworld with the disappearance of the Red Death and thereby underlining the hypocrisy of a decadent fin de siècle society. To have the scene colour-coded, with very ordered choreography, not only contradicts the libretto, but also the spirit of the scene. As does the transformation of what is supposed to be a chilling allusion to Poe's Red Death into yet another excuse to depict the Phantom as a stud muffin. Completely superficial and vapid with no understanding of the story.

</minirant>

Yeah, I noticed Lion Man seems to take the place of Chaney guy in some of the pictures on my computer. I assume Chaney guy is there in London? Any other pics of this fellow? Next time I see the show live, I'll have to look out for him.

Totally agree about your minirant there... There's so many shallow moments in the movie, it doesn't seem like they grasped the core of it whatsoever. Masquerade is indeed a good example.

I have one more closeup of "Lon Chaney", but it's from the same productions as above:



I don't know if he's present in London or not. Looks like they have the lion man and the bull man (another b/w clothes guy, but with a golden bull head) in his place, but for all I know they could have placed him elsewhere. I know the "Mefisto" figure in red and black have been placed both to the left and the right in various productions; the same might be the case with "Chaney". I don't think they had him in Copenhagen, though.

Yes the Chaney phantom was in the London stage at least in the original production, He should still be there, I hope so, and yes Scorp I agree totally with your minirant, You took the words right out of my mouth, and also Operafantomet, you as well. Maria Bjournson,was an incredible gift to the stage. Amazing, totally amazing,

and while there were some interesting things in the Movie, it totally missed the mark on the Masq ball, (It missed the mark on several things I will have a grand rant on the movie, there were some good points on the movie not many but some.

there are more did you notice I am still digging through my old phantom stuff, Like I said, I am trying to get the older phans to write in, in the meantime, I do have their reviews somewhere, (I never threw anything of phantom out, they are just scattered all over my place.

ladygodiva wrote:

Once Christine removes the Phantom's mask he begins to limp

Interesting, I've never noticed that. Anyone know why?

Michael played it that way, in the mask the phantom can be "Normal" once this Normality is taken away from him, he is bare, I remember Michael in the final lair when Christine comes back, his back is to her and he senses or hears her and straitens up and then when he turns round he sees her returning the ring and once again he slumps, devastated

Some actors don't limp or slump, it is more heartbreaking when they do though

I noticed that last time I saw Phantom in Las Vegas I noticed that the dummies actually slide across the staircase. Does this happen in other productions?

the dummies in other productions move but just a tad, wow, I did not know that the Vegas ones slide, the Mannequins in other productions are usually put in the stairs and screwed in or pegged in and they shake a little and if the actors touch them they move slightly,

ladygodiva wrote:the dummies in other productions move but just a tad, wow, I did not know that the Vegas ones slide, the Mannequins in other productions are usually put in the stairs and screwed in or pegged in and they shake a little and if the actors touch them they move slightly,

Gillian Lynne said in some article that the original idea of the mannequins was that the actors turn them around as they move in the staircase. I dont know how it was executed in the original production.

You are right, Gillian Lynne, had the cast "Flirt" with them, touch them, the original thought to make them look real, Gillian Lynne was as usual, amazing engaging with the "props"

and they can be spun around, at least in most productions, some dancers, spin them around, they are screwed in but they are pliable, they can be moved around in their spots as it were.

also, such as the one with the feathers some actor or actress would touch it and fluff it a bit, part of the staircase flirting

So this used to be a popular topic in the newsletters back in the day. I thought I might try one myself that others might like to add to. Here are a few that just spring to mind that I don't recall seeing here before.

Did you ever notice...
...that in the Auction scene many cast members already have their Hannibal outfits on underneath the black stuff?
...that the keyboard player manually plays the Masquerade song (from the monkey) on every cue that it's supposed to go off?
...that there are monitors on stage right and stage left that show live shot of the conductor, and that they are used during the Il Muto rehearsal so that the cast can see him conducting?
...that the travelator moves into place for the final lair scene during Don Juan Triumphant/Point of No Return?
...that the orchestra doesn't actually start to play in the overture until the brass cue, after the organ (prerecorded) bit at the beginning is over? Also, pit lights are out until that moment.
...that most Christines appear at the beginning of Hannibal, then dissapear, then reemerge just before Reyer and the new managers talk about her?
...that the Bride in Mirror does a little stretch during the blackout after MotN and then gets into position (usually)?
...that two of the "Porter" characters actually stay on stage when the chandelier starts up in the Overture, make sure all curtains are off, and steady it before it starts its ascent? Then they bow to each other and manually pull the two side curtains down off the proscenium while crew take off the top part
...similarly, that two of the "Porter" characters "catch" the chandelier after it falls just before interval - again, to steady it, and to make sure that the curtain closes neatly behind it? If ithe chandelier gets caught in the curtains, then there is usually a brief delay before house lights come up.

Anyway, just a few. Some of these may have appeared here before over the years, but I thought I'd start in case anyone else is interested in taking on some others.

I'm merging this with an existing thread on the topic. But great contribution!

Oh right you are, operafantomnet - I never noticed that this had become a thread. Must have missed it. Great idea to merge, and interesting reading all these older ones again!

No wonder, it was in the "Reviews and phantastic events" part of the forum. I moved it here, but left a shadow thread where it used to be. Hopefully we'll get other fun contributions too!

Wow, the more you know!! I never knew or noticed about 1/2 of those listed above.

also, the Chrstine dummy-doll that the phantom throws around is made in the likeness of the actress who plays Christine, (Except the Alternate) the actresses are placed in a wet plastic mess and a cast is made and then plaster or some sort of resin is poured into the negative cast and made into the dummy doll, for the most part the dummy doll looks perfect and you can tell who is the main Christine by looking at the dummy, most of the actress have said that that was the roughest part and it feels claustrophobic while they are having it done, and every actor who plays the phantom has the casting made as well so that the make-up prosthetics can be a perfect fit to the actor, the main understudies as well,

Wow - do they really still do this? I remember reading about it in the old days....but it does seem to me that the Phantom has been throwing around that same dummy for years now. I was front row on throne side last night, and that dummy didn't look anything like Gina Beck. You may well be right, but I have a feeling that this could be one of those things that they used to do when the show was new and just gave up on when they realized that it will run forever!

auctioneer wrote:Wow - do they really still do this? I remember reading about it in the old days....but it does seem to me that the Phantom has been throwing around that same dummy for years now. I was front row on throne side last night, and that dummy didn't look anything like Gina Beck. You may well be right, but I have a feeling that this could be one of those things that they used to do when the show was new and just gave up on when they realized that it will run forever!

I remember the mirror bride in West End wore the mask of the principal Christine some years ago - I could definitely recognize the face of both Rachel Barrell and Celia Graham. But as for the actual dummy, I've never thought it looked particular alike a specific actress in West End. But Marni Raab told one was modeled after her and that she found it creepy. I don't know if that was in the World Tour (Aussie design) or in the US.

Maybe it's something they still do stateside. I'm pretty sure that the dummy goes back to, at the very least, Deborah Dutcher days!

A follow-up on the "spot the Chaney dummy" game:
https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v323/reiseaudun/danishphantom/dmmasque11.jpg

He's behind the white domino/clown to the right, isn't he?

operafantomet wrote:A follow-up on the "spot the Chaney dummy" game:
https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v323/reiseaudun/danishphantom/dmmasque11.jpg

He's behind the white domino/clown to the right, isn't he?

Is that Copenhagen? Looks like Tomas (!). Yeah it looks like him behind the white domino.

Scorp wrote:

operafantomet wrote:A follow-up on the "spot the Chaney dummy" game:
https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v323/reiseaudun/danishphantom/dmmasque11.jpg

He's behind the white domino/clown to the right, isn't he?

Is that Copenhagen? Looks like Tomas (!). Yeah it looks like him behind the white domino.

It's Tomas! allright. And Teresia Bokor.

POTO's Facebook site just posted info on how the Phantom's makeup process. They're still using the numbers and facts from early London days... They even claim the Phantom is still wearing the lenses. Why don't they update this info? I think it's more lazyness that anything, but it annoys me. Here's their site, if anyone is curious:
https://www.facebook.com/ThePhantomOfTheOpera?ref=ts

ETA: I'm not out to "get" them in any way, I'm just surprised they chose info from 1986 as their main news this week...

I saw that on Facebook right before I went out...I was tempted to comment about the information being a bit old, but I was in a rush. But I see others have.

another did you notice, in the Toronto production in the Angel sculpture on the procenium, where the Phantom hides, there is a belt and brace that Colm used to buckle himself in , you can see it in the pic with Colm in the angel,

there is nothing wrong with it just another interesting tidbit

ladygodiva wrote:another did you notice, in the Toronto production in the Angel sculpture on the procenium, where the Phantom hides, there is a belt and brace that Colm used to buckle himself in , you can see it in the pic with Colm in the angel

Isn't that common in all productions? I know they had one in Denmark/Sweden, at least. It was VERY noticeable when we sat in a box giving us a perfect side view of the Phantom on the angel.