The Broadway production + US tour

I'm looking forward to seeing Ryan with another christine--Him and Jennifer were simply amazing together as Raoul and Christine. He has such an energy I haven't really seen with other Raouls. (I still have my review from when I saw the production back at the end of june I haven't posted...)

Cape Twirl of Doom wrote:Hugh & Sara were both phenomenal tonight! What amazing performances from the both of them. As much as I loved Hugh as the Phantom back in 2005, he's even better now. Sara I had never heard before and I really like her. Her "WYWSHA" brought several cries of "Bravo!" from the crowd, and the people sitting around me were quite loudly sobbing by the end of the Final Lair. (I always love it when people are moved by the show.) Sitting as close as I did tonight (front row center!) I was able to marvel at just how gorgeous the costumes are. (The last time I sat that close was back in 2005.)

Congrats on attending Hugh and Sarah's first performance! Glad you had a blast

On the US Tour front, I took a peek at how the "closing night" performance was selling on Ticktmaster, and it looks like over 3/4 of the entire orchestra section is already sold out.

R.

operafantomet wrote:The new Broadway cast has also been announced. RUG is really working hard today!

http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/new_york/meet_the_people/

Marni Raab stays on as Christine alternate, ditto for Susan Owen as the understudy. Biggest news in this list is of course Hugh Panaro, which I highly welcome. Yes, I had hoped for someone new, but I liked what he did with the role last time, and I'm looking forward to see how he'll portray the Phantom now.

They sure have a lot of swings. I imagine they're not all actually permanently with the show, and it's just that a lot of them are in-and-out vacation covers.

Hugh Panaro wrote:Michael Crawford was not a spring chicken when he did this. I recently re-watched him at the Lincoln Center library [video archive]. I love to go back to the creator of a role—not that you want to copy someone, but to see what the original show looked like so you can maintain the integrity of Hal Prince’s vision. People think that Michael Crawford did a lot of dramatic hand movements and spooky gestures, and I was really surprised when I watched him. He was very minimalist in his approach, and it was a great lesson.

I love this comment. MC managed to convey a lot with just a little, and a lot of over-the-top Phantoms could learn from that. Not that over-the-top is necessarily bad; I love me some Peter Karrie. But the basis of MC's performance started in his soul and backstage--he was a method actor who brought out his past experiences to convey real human emotion, and he used simple gestures and props to strengthen his ties to his own memories. He really thought out the character and identified with him, and he embodied the role from the time he entered the makeup chair until the show was over.

MajesticPhantom wrote:The photos from BroadwayWorld are up. I must say, the execution of the Phantom makeup on the "good" side has really become EXCEPTIONALLY good in the last four years for the Broadway production. Hugh looks amazing in his latest incarnation. BroadwayWorld has the best photos...

I generally think the makeup execution has gotten worse in the last half decade or so, but I agree that it looks good on Hugh here. Could be the bright lights, but it seems like they've toned down the arch and thickness of that eyebrow and desaturated the rouge and lips a bit. Now to see the bad side, which I think is where the quality has really dropped off since the early days.

justin-from-barbados wrote:Great Pics, I guess they decided to use his old style mask

No, as someone else noted earlier, he got fit for a new mask. It's the newer design with the scooped area over the mouth, which his old mask didn't have.

SenorSwanky wrote: No, as someone else noted earlier, he got fit for a new mask. It's the newer design with the scooped area over the mouth, which his old mask didn't have.

Do you have pics that compare this scoop that you mentioned?

phantomfett wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote: No, as someone else noted earlier, he got fit for a new mask. It's the newer design with the scooped area over the mouth, which his old mask didn't have.

Do you have pics that compare this scoop that you mentioned?

Now comparing shots of him from his second run as the Phantom to the ones we've seen so far now, I don't see much if any difference. But I do see a difference between the current design and the original Broadway and tour design in the area around the mouth--for instance, look at Davis Gaines in my avatar. I think they stopped using that design sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s. I know I started noticing this "scoop" around when Cudia came on the tour, and then I saw that McGillin's then-current mask had it, as well as any other recent Phantoms on tour and Broadway. But I guess Panaro's previous mask had it too; we just didn't see him from that angle where you would notice the gap over the mouth.

I dont know, to me it looks the same with the shorter eyebrow that is raised like an object in itself, whereas the newer ones the raised eyebrow is longer and blends in more with the rest of the mask, and there seems to me to be less over the lips in the newer masks.

I agree the mask looks like his original one. I wasn't that big on Hugh the first time. Now that the discounts during the week are back down to 40%, I'll have to go again. I do like Ryan though.

So the Broadway Cares Flea Market was today. Most of the items Phantom had for sale were the same things there every year, but there were a couple very cool (and rare) pieces this time: We sold the mirror bride's mask (worn & signed by Kimilee Bryant), the Phantom's noose from the Final Lair, and the red Don Juan score the Phantom throws during "Why So Silent?"! No one there remembered ever seeing that particular item up for sale before. (And I would have bought it myself, except the price was $250.) No large hardboard posters this year.

Cape Twirl of Doom wrote:So the Broadway Cares Flea Market was today. Most of the items Phantom had for sale were the same things there every year, but there were a couple very cool (and rare) pieces this time: We sold the mirror bride's mask (worn & signed by Kimilee Bryant), the Phantom's noose from the Final Lair, and the red Don Juan score the Phantom throws during "Why So Silent?"! No one there remembered ever seeing that particular item up for sale before. (And I would have bought it myself, except the price was $250.) No large hardboard posters this year.

Damn! I missed the score?! Did someone buy it?

phantomfett wrote:

Cape Twirl of Doom wrote:So the Broadway Cares Flea Market was today. Most of the items Phantom had for sale were the same things there every year, but there were a couple very cool (and rare) pieces this time: We sold the mirror bride's mask (worn & signed by Kimilee Bryant), the Phantom's noose from the Final Lair, and the red Don Juan score the Phantom throws during "Why So Silent?"! No one there remembered ever seeing that particular item up for sale before. (And I would have bought it myself, except the price was $250.) No large hardboard posters this year.

Damn! I missed the score?! Did someone buy it?

Yup. And for the full $250.

Sad me....

Finally...some new photos with Hugh and Sara.






I should be getting the hi-res version soon, possibly today.

And I probably shouldn't mention this, but the boat scene photo of them that was released a few weeks ago is a Photoshop. I recognized the picture of Hugh from 1999.

I like the darker blue lighting better than his old photos with Pitcher and Hanson, but I'm definitely going back to my thinking that this new mask is different around the mouth than any of the ones he wore in his two previous runs. It's not as shapely and elegant in general, as well. I do like how it looks in the photos from the curtain call, but in this brighter lighting, not as much.

I definitely feel the darker blue is an improvement. The sky blue in that one photo used outside the theatre was just too bright and cheery for a title character who lives in a candlelit lair under an Opera House.

Also, there's a lovely MOTN photo that the PR people gave me the chance to post before anyone else. It's on the site's News page under today's update. '

SenorSwanky wrote:I like the darker blue lighting better than his old photos with Pitcher and Hanson, but I'm definitely going back to my thinking that this new mask is different around the mouth than any of the ones he wore in his two previous runs. It's not as shapely and elegant in general, as well. I do like how it looks in the photos from the curtain call, but in this brighter lighting, not as much.

Yes, the cut around the mouth is different, but it is from the same mold as his previous mask.

Paula74 wrote:I definitely feel the darker blue is an improvement. The sky blue in that one photo used outside the theatre was just too bright and cheery for a title character who lives in a candlelit lair under an Opera House.

Agreed. Thanks for sharing these new photos! SJF reminds me of Marni Raab in that latter one.

The last two are actually Marni.

Callie Daae wrote:The last two are actually Marni.

Ahahahaha! That explains it!

atleast they aren't arm wrestling anymore

PANARO/FORD/SILVERMAN Broadway 2010


By the way, I love how intense her dress is here!

This has to be one of the best photographs of this pose, ever...

That rooftop dress looks brand new, doesn't it? Or is it just the intense colours fooling me? Cool to see her in the stripy Wishing dress, but boy it is patched over the hip... It's almost like the bodice is brand new, and the skirt is very old, and a new piece of fabric is used to patch it up.

Lovely photos though!

I noticed that very colourful rooftop dress too. There was either a backstage interview vid on youtupe or a photo gallery from the US tour (Marni was in the shots) and they showed the rooftop dress and I could not believe it was the same dress, It looked more like the confidante's dress with all the purple and loud colours.

Joan Marcus is back on her game these past few years. I just love that they brought back a Final Lair pose, which they've been using since last year when Silverman joined the Broadway production. (I think it started prior to that, with the Vegas production?).

operafantomet wrote:That rooftop dress looks brand new, doesn't it? Or is it just the intense colours fooling me? Cool to see her in the stripy Wishing dress, but boy it is patched over the hip... It's almost like the bodice is brand new, and the skirt is very old, and a new piece of fabric is used to patch it up.

Lovely photos though!

I don't think they ordered a new rooftop dress for her, but it's always possible they finished it while I was away. I also saw them working on the bodice, but it was pretty much complete by the time of the fitting, so maybe it's possible that they managed to find one that was still in amazing shape.

“Phantom” is much more than mere figures. Stengel knows this better than most. She has played Carlotta, “Phantom’s” resident prima donna, longer than anyone else in the world, a feat that still amazes her. Over the course of this “personal marathon,” Stengel has watched fans grow up, have children, and come back to her.

“It’s being connected to the audience for a lifetime, not just for a night,” Stengel said.
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2010/09/phantom-opera-close-out-national-tour-pantages-theatre

Age old question, (I know the answer is somewhere but I cant find it) that days does the NYC Christine alternate usually play?

Monday and Thursday evenings. Been that way since 2006, actually.

Thanks, would you happen to know if they still sell box seats (pref. stage right)?

If so, what do they usually go for?

David Cassidy

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Phantoms_from_Crawford_to_Gleason_Talk_Tour_Closing_20101010