The Broadway production + US tour

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

Thank you so much!

Can anybody tell me who was in the cast that performed the hysterical "Twelve Days of Phantom" on the 1999 Carols for a Cure album? I believe the Phantom was Howard McGillin, but beyond that I'm not sure.

Incidentally, I discovered today that I've listened to that version of the song so many times that I no longer remember the traditional lyrics.

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

Funny story! I ended up meeting Thelma at the stage door back in NYC and it turns out some of her family lived around my side of the city of Toronto and we ended up talking for about 20 minutes until we passed a subway stop and we went separate ways.

Also--does anyone know who is singing on the new Carols for a Cure release? I think the cd has it listed as the Phantom cast singing The holly and the ivy--but I only hear 2 voices. Anyone know who is singing it?

phantomgirl110 wrote:Can anybody tell me who was in the cast that performed the hysterical "Twelve Days of Phantom" on the 1999 Carols for a Cure album? I believe the Phantom was Howard McGillin, but beyond that I'm not sure.

"The Twelve Days of Phantom" performers are Howard McGillin, Adrienne McEwan, Sarah Pfisterer, Richard Poole, David Gaschen, Mary Leigh Stahl, Susan Russell, John Kuether, George Lee Andrews, Liz McCartney, Richard Warren Pugh, Torrance Blaisdell, John Schroeder, Larry Wayne Morbitt, Paul B. Sadler, Jr., Joelle Gates, Kate Wrayy, Susan Gladstone, Elizabeth Southard, Ken Waller, Jim Weitzer, Gary Mauer, Wren Marie Harrington, Leslie Giammanco, Johanna Wiseman, Teresa Eldh, Joe Gustern and Leila Martin.


"The Holly and the Ivy" performers are Geoff Packard & Chris Bohannon.

Thank you!

I thought you guys might enjoy this. Members of the Broadway company cast and crew rocking out backstage.

That's so awesome.

Bleeeeh, another video not available outside the USA. “This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” If YouTube continues with this, they will die a slow death, with their users flocking to the first alternative coming along. Cause so many videos on there is not available to European (and probably other) citizens right now.

I think it's an issue with Sony, not YouTube. I don't know why there's a discrepancy between being able to view it in the US versus other countries, though.

SenorSwanky wrote:I think it's an issue with Sony, not YouTube. I don't know why there's a discrepancy between being able to view it in the US versus other countries, though.

Thing is that YouTube didn't have these limitations in the past, but they've voluntarily started to implant them on everything they host. They're trying to become "legal" (I.E. not break any copyright issues or offend companies). If you're not a US citizen, you get limitations on stuff related to Sony, Universal, BMG, CNN, Fox and whatnot*. Like the example above, where a backstage Phantom clip probably use music from Sony, and hence is blocked in most of the countries of the world. Or like a friend of mine, who had his video removed because the "Friends" soundtrack could be heard 15 seconds in the background. If YouTube continue this, they won't have a future, cause they'll be replaced by a company without such self-implanted limitations (on the other hand, YouTube would probably be sued by everyone had they not taken action).


*A few other examples exist; like BBC only being available in the UK. But usually when stuff is reserved for one country it's for the USA.

I'm not sure why they're restricted, though. I mean, you can buy Michael Jackson's Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough on the Sony label beyond the US, can't you? Isn't Sony a Japanese company originally? YouTube has this software that I guess recognizes when copyrighted recordings are used in videos, and now lists that below the video, advertising where the song can be legally downloaded and what label it's on. But while I think that's preferable to banning the video, why is the video then banned to non-US IP addresses?

Anyone know of anything out there (photos, a Playbill, etc.) from Jason Danieley's time in Phantom? Or if he was even in Phantom at all? Apparently he played Raoul in the Tour.

I can't say it's the craziest story he's ever shared...but it even got my partner to

http://www.broadway.com/shows/the-phantom-of-the-opera/buzz/154761/showering-with-cloris-leachman-tops-phantom-star-hugh-panaros-2010-memories/

Paula74 wrote:I can't say it's the craziest story he's ever shared...but it even got my partner to

http://www.broadway.com/shows/the-phantom-of-the-opera/buzz/154761/showering-with-cloris-leachman-tops-phantom-star-hugh-panaros-2010-memories/

Resolution for 2011: “To take more showers with famous people!”

I'll drink to that!

That's hilarious. I guess Cloris Leachman is as blunt in real life as in the movies.

Paloma Garcia-Lee was recently featured in Bucks County Woman magazine. You can read the article here and flip through a digital copy of the magazine here. Her article appears on pages 34-39.

phantomgirl110 wrote:Paloma Garcia-Lee was recently featured in Bucks County Woman magazine. You can read the article here and flip through a digital copy of the magazine here. Her article appears on pages 34-39.

Cool article, with some memorable quotes!

At just seventeen, she was the youngest cast member ever hired to appear in the American version of the legendary musical. The Broadway show is twenty-three years old. Garcia-Lee became the first person hired who was younger than the show. “There is one person in the cast who has been doing it for twenty-three years,” she said. “He just looks at me and laughs.”
They finally got it right. Youngest in the US, not in the world. And I love that last comment.

How Garcia-Lee doubtfully added her name to the list of 300 or 400 girls that early morning of the open call. How she started dancing, and the casting directors kept making cuts until she was one of the final five auditioners left. How they asked her to sing, and then sent her home. How she didn’t hear anything for four months.
That's quite a ride! Going from a couple of hundred girls to top 5, and then not hearing anything for months until you get a four-day notice on joining the ballet chorus, and then landing the role of Meg in the tour. Wow!

“There are thirty-six people on the stairs, and we all turn and sing,” said Garcia-Lee. “It hit me then. The tears were running down my face. I couldn’t sing. I had to mouth the words. I was looking out at 1,500 people, and I could feel the volume of the voices behind me (...)
Another wow. That's just so cool.

Garcia-Lee suspects that the Broadway version of “The Phantom of the Opera” may ask her to return.
I sure hope so. I liked her a lot as Meg Giry, and I think she's both über sweet and talented. I hope POTO manages to hold on to her!

That piece on Paloma is great.

And a nice piece with Sean was just posted:

http://www.broadway.com/shows/the-phantom-of-the-opera/buzz/154752/sean-maclaughlin-on-going-from-geek-to-broadway-heartthrob-in-phantom/

Good for Sean. I didn't realize he and Elaine were getting married.

Encouraging news from the Broadway production, which had its highest-grossing week ever this past week. Not in inflation-adjusted dollars, of course, but to be doing better now than even in the last few years is a good sign that the show will still be running for quite some time.

Major BRAVO to the Broadway production, what an achievement!

Have this been posted yet? From the FB site of the Bway production:

Last night's performance (Weds eve, Dec 15) was Broadway performance #9,518. The 10,000th performance will take place in February 2012.

From the Broadway production's Facebook page:

Two NY cast updates: HARLAN BENGEL has returned as one of our rotating Slave Master/Solo Dancers. Scheduled to begin tonight (during a leave of absence for James Zander), he actually went on both shows this past Saturday. And the National Tour's divine KELLY JEANNE GRANT will step in as the Innkeeper's Wife for two weeks (1/24-2/5) during a leave for Mary Illes. It marks KJG's first appearance with the NY Company.

Yaaaaaay Kelly! <3 They also posted a shiny new (well, never before seen) picture of her:

According to the announcement just a few minutes ago on the Facebook page, Cristin Hubbard is going on maternity leave starting 1/29, and in her absence, Nancy Hess will helm Giry's cane from 2/4-4/13, and then Marilyn Caskey returns from 4/14 to an unspecified date (presumably 3 months or so if Hubbard takes a half a year off).

Interesting situation at the Majestic tonight: Kara Klein will be going on as Meg, and both she and her "mother" Cristin Hubbard are pregnant. Apparently that coincidence has never happened before, according to the FB page.

So there will be a "surprise" curtain call after the matinee tomorrow to celebrate the show's 23rd anniversary. I'll be at the evening performance, so I hope they do something for the event then as well.

Cape Twirl of Doom wrote:So there will be a "surprise" curtain call after the matinee tomorrow to celebrate the show's 23rd anniversary. I'll be at the evening performance, so I hope they do something for the event then as well.

The Facebook moderator said there'll be some sort of acknowledgment at the evening performance as well. Let us know what goes on.

I'm going...to the matinee.

It ended up being a next-to-last minute plan. I didn't know until this weekend if my schedule would be free, but I'm catching the bus to NYC within the hour. And I didn't want to mention it sooner due to some ongoing difficulties with someone on Facebook.

Definitely excited to see Sara and Sean because a good friend went over the holidays and raved about them (she's been raving about Sean since he e-mailed her to let her know he was going on as Raoul for the first time on the tour). And I suppose I can endure seeing Hugh yet again.

Expect details tonight or earlier tomorrow and, if you're friends with me on Facebook, I'll probably be posting some nonsense there.

I just want to congratulate them for 23 years of a great show and can't wait to see it a couple of times when I get there in April

Reviews, people! I expect FULL reviews

Awesome, so we'll get reports from both the matinee and evening shows today on what happens!