The Broadway production + US tour

I've had what seems like a billion e-mails asking me how long Hugh will be staying this time and I felt bad not having an answer sooner...but he e-mailed today to say he's just been signed through June 4. Or, in his words, "Yeah!!!!"

In context of the closing of the US tour and the possible downscaling of sets:

I came across one of Maria Bjørnson's obituaries today. It was written in December 2002, I.E. before movie, sequel and all that crap. There's an interesting passage there:

She was discussing with Mackintosh the creation of a new Phantom production that could be toured more readily, with less technical complication but without sacrificing the storytelling magic.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article802389.ece

I cross my fingers that she actually made some sketches or ideas on this. I know her assistant(s) probably will be involved in an eventual downscaling and that it'll be in her spirit. But at the same time I'm not at all a fan of those extended sets and changes in Vegas (apart from the boat scene, which I love, and the Palais Garnier facade which is pointless but still very cool). And I know it was her assistant(s) who developed the extended Vegas stuff. So... it might be in her spirit, but not her work. Pretty much like a painting of "School of Leonardo" is not of Leonardo da Vinci himself. Big difference.

I'm digressing. My point is that I hope they developed some ground ideas and design before her all too sudden death. And I hope we see a new US tour or World Tour soon.

Interesting. I also hope she laid the foundation.

phantomgirl110 wrote:The second installment of my tour closing review is up: Clicky! Longer than the first, and I haven't even gotten to the actual show yet. I'm finding it difficult to wrap my mind around everything that happened, so I'm trying to pace myself and post in segments rather than attempt to force it all at once.

At least one part of this segment won't be a surprise to some of you who are friends with a certain Phantom on Facebook. He blew my secret!

Rather late to the party here, but just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for writing it so very, very well! How completely awesome! I think, if I tried to describe my perfect ever evening seeing Phantom I *still* probably couldn't top your experience because I'd think 'Nah, that's just getting too crazy...' Love it!!!

operafantomet wrote:In context of the closing of the US tour and the possible downscaling of sets:

I came across one of Maria Bjørnson's obituaries today. It was written in December 2002, I.E. before movie, sequel and all that crap. There's an interesting passage there:

She was discussing with Mackintosh the creation of a new Phantom production that could be toured more readily, with less technical complication but without sacrificing the storytelling magic.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article802389.ece

I cross my fingers that she actually made some sketches or ideas on this. I know her assistant(s) probably will be involved in an eventual downscaling and that it'll be in her spirit. But at the same time I'm not at all a fan of those extended sets and changes in Vegas (apart from the boat scene, which I love, and the Palais Garnier facade which is pointless but still very cool). And I know it was her assistant(s) who developed the extended Vegas stuff. So... it might be in her spirit, but not her work. Pretty much like a painting of "School of Leonardo" is not of Leonardo da Vinci himself. Big difference.

I'm digressing. My point is that I hope they developed some ground ideas and design before her all too sudden death. And I hope we see a new US tour or World Tour soon.

I know what you mean, I cringe to think the tour will come out with someone like David Rockwell re-doing the sets

But I dont really mind the vegas changes, yes the paris opera is pointless, but its nice to look at, and I love the new Don Juan. And a pitty the chandelier does not have the large lyers around the main ring (early designs have them but I believe they were cut because of the movements it has to make and all the cables in the area)

justin-from-barbados wrote:But I dont really mind the vegas changes, yes the paris opera is pointless, but its nice to look at, and I love the new Don Juan. And a pitty the chandelier does not have the large lyers around the main ring (early designs have them but I believe they were cut because of the movements it has to make and all the cables in the area)

The Don Juan set is.... tolerable. But the Il Muto one makes me cringe. If I could change two things in the Vegas version, it would be the butchered PONR and the Il Muto set. Both makes me . I'm not saying others need to feel like I. I know most of you are very enthusiastic about the extended Vegas sets. But I'm no fan and would not want to see them appear in the original version. I think they contradict the whole "black box" design of Maria Bjørnson.

I guess I disagree, particularly with the Il Muto which I think is a vast improvement (although the colours are a bit ghastly)
I've always thought the black box and the disappearing into the shadows was meant more for scenes that are not on the opera house stage. Yes I like Il Muto with just the bed, but filling the room is a nice touch (there are no more side boxes so something needed to b e added) The only on-stage black box that works is Think of Me (although back in the day I thought it odd that there was no scenery for that) I have come to appreciate the visual of just Christine against all the black with the 2 side boxes.

I don't mind the extended set for Il Muto but I'm not particularly a fan of the Vegas set for the DJT scenes either. I can't quite make up my mind about the Vegas production. I like the fact that the chandelier is big and is directly above the audience, but it looks nothing like the chandelier in the Palais Garnier (I miss the lyres) and I find the 'UFO' arrangement in the prologue bizarre. I also find the Phantom's 'Bring down the chandelier!!!!!' command cheesy and unrealistic.

Congrats to the Broadway production which has its 9,500th performance tonight!

The Broadway production just released a great new discount that is good from Jan 10-March 11. All Orchestra & Front Mezz seats are just $69! There's no code, they just lowered the price on all seats if you buy before Dec 24, so if you buy at the box office you won't have to pay any Telecharge fees. I just got a front row seat for the Jan 26th anniversary performance.

Holy crap, that's a good deal! I'd love to take a trip up to NY; haven't been in over 5 years. But I wish the code extended to April so I could pair it with my first trip to the new Yankee Stadium.

OH MAN, and I want to go in April, I hope they may extend it.

Per my suggestion in a comment on one of their posted items, the Broadway Phantom Facebook page will begin rolling out the top 10 Phantoms, Christines, and Raouls from the Broadway production by performance count starting tomorrow. I know we'd had threads on previous boards estimating who had spent the most time in the various roles using available data on their first and last performances, so it's interesting to me and others. They apparently do keep an official count for the US productions, but the moderator said it's harder to determine counts for other productions without going manually through performance reviews and paycheck records.

He/she did confirm that Howard McGillin is the world's longest-running Phantom as of a few years ago, with 2,544 times behind the mask, followed by Rob Guest with a little over 2,300, then Franc D'Ambrosio with a little under 2,200, and then Brad Little and Peter Karrie, though no performance number was given for them. It's basically as I imagined, though I did think Karrie had done more than Little considering how many productions he performed in over 10 years, but I guess since Little has done the show for longer (intermittently from about '96 to last year), he surpassed Karrie, who hasn't done the role in 10 years last month.

How very cool!

I would assume John Owen-Jones and Hugh Panaro also have a decent number of performances under their belt, especially now when both are performing the role full-time again. But I have no idea of exact numbers and such.

operafantomet wrote:How very cool!

I would assume John Owen-Jones and Hugh Panaro also have a decent number of performances under their belt, especially now when both are performing the role full-time again. But I have no idea of exact numbers and such.

I know that, when Hugh left in 2005, he had 1,005 performances as The Phantom. I haven't figured how many he's done since then...he said he missed at least one show due to laryngitis back in October and I know that he missed two due to a concert obligation the same week he came back to the role.

So, he's up to about 1,098...give or take a show or two.

Davis Gaines and Thomas James O'Leary have to be up there as well, since they've done three and two productions, respectively, each for multiple years in two of them. If I had to guess, the top 5 Broadway Phantoms will be:

1.) McGillin
2.) Panaro
3.) Gaines
4.) O'Leary
5.) Jacoby

After that, I'm not really sure, because those are the ones who did the multi-year runs. It'll be a battle between Nolen and Lovett for the bottom, with MC actually not far above them. Barton also didn't do the role long, and was out quite a bit. Nor did Gray. Could Cudia and Groenendaal be #6 and #7? Am I forgetting someone, other than the interims?

I had 4 and 5 reversed, and I didn't realize they'd be including understudies, but here is the note. Interesting stuff.

SenorSwanky wrote:I had 4 and 5 reversed, and I didn't realize they'd be including understudies, but here is the note. Interesting stuff.

Good guessing still! As I commented in the note, Michael Crawford would definitely get a bump if his West End and L.A. run was included. But it seems fair (and easier!) that they count Broadway only.

Internationally I would think Ian Jon Bourg, Thomas Schulze, Peter Jorde*, Anthony Warlow and Saulo Vasconcelos also would have impressive statistics. That is in addition to the already mentioned ones (Peter Karrie, Rob Guest etc). There's been some long-timers in Japan too.


*I asked Peter Jorde early in the 2009 run, and if I remember correctly he had done ca. 270 performances by then. He did some 40 performances after that. I'm giving the rough numbers here, as I'm not exactly sure...


ETA: how could I forget Mikael Samuelson! Of course. He definitely had a decent run!

Not to mention Mikael Samuelson. Interesting that Keller and Romick surpassed even two principals, Barton and Nolen.

The rest of the list of 29 who have performed the role on Broadway here.

This may sound like an odd question but does anyone know if Ryan Silverman was in Sex and the City 2? I am convinced he was in the choir at the wedding as the camera concentrated on him reacting to Liza Minelli coming out. It may have just been someone who looked very like him though.

ETA: Never mind, I used the wonder of technology, it was him. Random!

According to IMDb, he was. You can always search there. He was also apparently a bartender in It's Complicated, which I saw.

I figured that out AFTER I posted. I was surprised to see "It's Complicated" come up as well. A few minutes later I saw a guy that looked like Norm Lewis, IMDB'd and Norm Lewis was indeed also in Sex and the City 2.

A bit off topic, but does anyone know the name of the current Phantom make up artist on Broadway? Or where to find out who they are?

Not off-topic. It's been Thelma Pollard since the start. She's done every Phantom from Crawford to Panaro.

SenorSwanky wrote:She's done every Phantom from Crawford to Panaro.

Tee-hee-hee-hee...

operafantomet wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:She's done every Phantom from Crawford to Panaro.

Tee-hee-hee-hee...

Here's your mind. Here's the gutter. Now here's your mind moving out of the gutter.

I watched the interview she gave (Thelma) and was so proud that she is from Barbados where I am.

The list of the 10 longest-running Broadway Christines was posted here today, with our own Sandra Joseph not surprisingly topping the list by far. I was surprised to see JHW and Katherine Buffaloe so high.

They're also offering a Playbill from the record-breaking performance to the first person who can list all 32 actresses who have done the role on Broadway by tomorrow morning. Someone came close, but didn't quite get it. They'll have the performance counts for the other 22 tomorrow.

SenorSwanky wrote:The list of the 10 longest-running Broadway Christines was posted here today, with our own Sandra Joseph not surprisingly topping the list by far. I was surprised to see JHW and Katherine Buffaloe so high.

They're also offering a Playbill from the record-breaking performance to the first person who can list all 32 actresses who have done the role on Broadway by tomorrow morning. Someone came close, but didn't quite get it. They'll have the performance counts for the other 22 tomorrow.

I won!!! Me and this other girl were neck and neck, so they decided to give us each a playbill!!!

Congrats! Well done too, I could probably only list half of the Christines who's been on Broadway. I think I am better on the West End list.