25th Anniversary Restaged Tour

Hmmm I am really excited what the new production will tell us...

I wonder when we'll start seeing some glimpses of the new sets and whatnot, Im very excited to see what has been changed, but also a tad weary as how well it will blend with Maria's original (and might I add practically perfect) costume design; I was recently reading an interview with Webber and he stated how he believes the original show wouldnt have worked without her original vision...so I wonder now, what "look" will it have.

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote:I wonder when we'll start seeing some glimpses of the new sets and whatnot, Im very excited to see what has been changed, but also a tad weary as how well it will blend with Maria's original (and might I add practically perfect) costume design; I was recently reading an interview with Webber and he stated how he believes the original show wouldnt have worked without her original vision...so I wonder now, what "look" will it have.

ALW should know that we love the original, but I think it´s time that they try something new.
I love the original, but I have an open mind for new things and changes...
In all ways...costumes, sets and so on...
The original show work because of all elements...from the sets to the music....!

SweetChristine wrote:

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote:I wonder when we'll start seeing some glimpses of the new sets and whatnot, Im very excited to see what has been changed, but also a tad weary as how well it will blend with Maria's original (and might I add practically perfect) costume design; I was recently reading an interview with Webber and he stated how he believes the original show wouldnt have worked without her original vision...so I wonder now, what "look" will it have.

ALW should know that we love the original, but I think it´s time that they try something new.
I love the original, but I have an open mind for new things and changes...
In all ways...costumes, sets and so on...
The original show work because of all elements...from the sets to the music....!

Oh I'm sure he knows, he probably just doesn't care.

I too would like to see a good re-imagining of the material, but honestly, I don't think it's going to come from RUG. Both the film and the 25th anniversary concert make it clear they're much too wedded to ALW's mid-life crisis "young and sexy" Phantom and The Sequel Which Does Not Exist to do any revision justice.

One of my Star Wars: The Old Republic guildmates claims there's a clause in Bioware's contract which effectively prevents George Lucas from interfering with the development of the game. I wonder if we could get a similar restraining order on ALW...?

~LCD

LadyCDaae wrote:Oh I'm sure he knows, he probably just doesn't care.

I too would like to see a good re-imagining of the material, but honestly, I don't think it's going to come from RUG. Both the film and the 25th anniversary concert make it clear they're much too wedded to ALW's mid-life crisis "young and sexy" Phantom and The Sequel Which Does Not Exist to do any revision justice.

~LCD

Well, amen amen amen and aaaamen... But RUG isn't the ones producing the new tour, are they? I thought it was a Cameron Mackintosh thing.

operafantomet wrote:

LadyCDaae wrote:Oh I'm sure he knows, he probably just doesn't care.

I too would like to see a good re-imagining of the material, but honestly, I don't think it's going to come from RUG. Both the film and the 25th anniversary concert make it clear they're much too wedded to ALW's mid-life crisis "young and sexy" Phantom and The Sequel Which Does Not Exist to do any revision justice.

~LCD

Well, amen amen amen and aaaamen... But RUG isn't the ones producing the new tour, are they? I thought it was a Cameron Mackintosh thing.

Yeah I think whereas the original production is produced by both RUG and Cameron, the new tour is Cameron only (which, in terms of its marketing and financial success, can only be a good thing).

Something that just occurred to me: in the Les Mis 25th tour, the orchestrations were completely revised for the smaller orchestra (and, IMHO, were a change for the worse; many dramatic moments completely ruined). Phantom in the West End has a ridiculously large orchestra because of ALW's love of big sound, with no less than 27 musicians (I think). Will this be significantly compromised for the tour? Will Cameron want everything to be reorchestrated? I suspect the orchestrations are going to remain the same and will be no different from previous Phantom tours because of ALW's hatred of crap orchestrations. But, if he's not that involved with this production, who knows...? I really don't see how what David Cullen did can be improved upon (aside from taking out ALW's interference and eliminating those electric guitars).

In regards to the "restaged" Les Mis tour, they also made use of projections in the sets as well from what I remember, I'll be seeing it in a few months so I'll keep a close watch (as I always do when I see a show) on the sets; Seeing as Cameron was head in both of these and how the RAH performance was labeled "spectacular/unique staging and design" Im starting to believe what we will see is a tour version of the RAH version in terms of look, I could be wrong, and in a way hope I am in that they really decide to flesh out some of the sets, also I wonder if they would make use of the same chandelier custom built for RAH, however it is rather large, so I dont know if that could travel as well as a smaller one would

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote: I wonder if they would make use of the same chandelier custom built for RAH, however it is rather large, so I dont know if that could travel as well as a smaller one would

Just for clarity's sake, the chandelier used in the RAH performance was one that was built for and used in the 2004 Phantom film. It was specifically brought out of storage for use in the 25th Anniversary show because no other existing chandelier was large enough to have a significant presence in the vast open space of the Royal Albert Hall. The only other one that would have fit the bill would be the supersized chandelier from the Las Vegas production - which of course would have been impossible to use.

~Madame~

Madame Giry wrote:

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote: I wonder if they would make use of the same chandelier custom built for RAH, however it is rather large, so I dont know if that could travel as well as a smaller one would

Just for clarity's sake, the chandelier used in the RAH performance was one that was built for and used in the 2004 Phantom film. It was specifically brought out of storage for use in the 25th Anniversary show because no other existing chandelier was large enough to have a significant presence in the vast open space of the Royal Albert Hall. The only other one that would have fit the bill would be the supersized chandelier from the Las Vegas production - which of course would have been impossible to use.

~Madame~

This video that was posted in the RAH thread seems to suggest other wise (starting at about 4:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObXrFt4lyXY.

SenorSwanky wrote:

Madame Giry wrote:

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote: I wonder if they would make use of the same chandelier custom built for RAH, however it is rather large, so I dont know if that could travel as well as a smaller one would

Just for clarity's sake, the chandelier used in the RAH performance was one that was built for and used in the 2004 Phantom film. It was specifically brought out of storage for use in the 25th Anniversary show because no other existing chandelier was large enough to have a significant presence in the vast open space of the Royal Albert Hall. The only other one that would have fit the bill would be the supersized chandelier from the Las Vegas production - which of course would have been impossible to use.

~Madame~

This video that was posted in the RAH thread seems to suggest other wise (starting at about 4:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObXrFt4lyXY.

In which case I stand corrected and retract my earlier statement. It's just the shape of the RAH chandelier was very similar to the one used in the 2004 movie (as opposed to looking like any of the other stage production chandeliers), and I had heard other people say that they had just used the movie chandelier. However, after going back now I notice several difference between the two models - most noticeably that the movie chandelier has three tiers of lights and the RAH one has two.

My bad.

~Madame~

Scorp wrote:

operafantomet wrote:

LadyCDaae wrote:Oh I'm sure he knows, he probably just doesn't care.

I too would like to see a good re-imagining of the material, but honestly, I don't think it's going to come from RUG. Both the film and the 25th anniversary concert make it clear they're much too wedded to ALW's mid-life crisis "young and sexy" Phantom and The Sequel Which Does Not Exist to do any revision justice.

~LCD

Well, amen amen amen and aaaamen... But RUG isn't the ones producing the new tour, are they? I thought it was a Cameron Mackintosh thing.

Yeah I think whereas the original production is produced by both RUG and Cameron, the new tour is Cameron only (which, in terms of its marketing and financial success, can only be a good thing).

Ah, my mistake. That's a little better, although the revamped Les Mis has it's critics so we'll just wait and see. (I stand by my initial statement, however.)

~LCD

Similar to ads which have already been seen, I found this one today in the Yorkshire Post Culture section:



The more I see the new advertising, the more I like it.

But

I do wonder, though if the RUG isn't trying to tie in the revamped POTO with the Australian Phantom, since they are using a similar red color, and gold lettering in their advertising:



...Aaand it's probably already been talked about...so, oh well.

Do you guys think the iconic MOTN pose will be kept or not?




I'm thinking.... not?

operafantomet wrote:Do you guys think the iconic MOTN pose will be kept or not?




I'm thinking.... not?

I hope not....it must be something new! It must!

I can't imagine that being lost. It goes hand in hand with the show. They even kept it for the movie, the choreography for which otherwise was almost completely different from the show.

SenorSwanky wrote:I can't imagine that being lost. It goes hand in hand with the show. They even kept it for the movie, the choreography for which otherwise was almost completely different from the show.

There is a direct reference to this moment in the libretto: During all this, the PHANTOM has conditioned CHRISTINE to the coldness of his touch and her fingers are brave enough to stray to his mask and caress it, with no hint of removing it... If they stick with that, I think the iconic pose or something similar will probably remain--it is an effective bit of staging, after all.

~LCD

LadyCDaae wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:I can't imagine that being lost. It goes hand in hand with the show. They even kept it for the movie, the choreography for which otherwise was almost completely different from the show.

There is a direct reference to this moment in the libretto: During all this, the PHANTOM has conditioned CHRISTINE to the coldness of his touch and her fingers are brave enough to stray to his mask and caress it, with no hint of removing it... If they stick with that, I think the iconic pose or something similar will probably remain--it is an effective bit of staging, after all.

~LCD

I think it can..why is it possible in other countries to change it?

So the cast we have so far is:


PHANTOM: John Owen Jones (later Earl Carpenter)
PHANTOM UNDERSTUDY: Richard Woodford

CHRISTINE: Katie Hall (alt. Olivia Breron)
CHRISTINE UNDERSTUDY: Leigh Rhianon

RAOUL: Simon Bailey

MEG GIRY: (rumoured to be Daisy Maywood)

FIRMIN: Andy Hockley

DANCE CAPTAIN/SWING: Liesl Dowsett


And the opening is, what - three weeks away? Surprised the PR machinery is not working more effectively, dripping info and pictures and small tidbits to make the buzz fly. Are they so secure in their product, or just lazy because it carries the Phantom label?

operafantomet wrote:So the cast we have so far is:


PHANTOM: John Owen Jones (later Earl Carpenter)
PHANTOM UNDERSTUDY: Richard Woodford

CHRISTINE: Katie Hall (alt. Olivia Breron)
CHRISTINE UNDERSTUDY: Leigh Rhianon

RAOUL: Simon Bailey

MEG GIRY: (rumoured to be Daisy Maywood)

FIRMIN: Andy Hockley

DANCE CAPTAIN/SWING: Liesl Dowsett


And the opening is, what - three weeks away? Surprised the PR machinery is not working more effectively, dripping info and pictures and small tidbits to make the buzz fly. Are they so secure in their product, or just lazy because it carries the Phantom label?

Well if its projection heavy, I would think there wouldn't be much to show

This article: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Line-Phantom-announced/story-15187594-detail/story.html indicates that Carlotta will be played by an actress named Angela M. Caesar, who apparently has not been in Phantom before. Hmm.

~Madame~

Thanks to the name of the Carlotta, I found this article who has even more names!

Simon Bailey will star as ‘Raoul’,
Angela M. Caesar as ‘Carlotta’,
Andy Hockley as ‘Monsieur Firmin’,
Simon Green as ‘Monsieur Andre’,
Elizabeth Marsh as ‘Madame Giry’,
Vincent Pirillo as ‘Ubaldo Piangi’ and
Olivia Brereton as ‘Christine’ at certain performances.

They join John Owen-Jones who will play the role of ‘The Phantom’ and Katie Hall who will play the role of ‘Christine’.

The company also includes Alistair Barron, Rosie Bell, James Bisp, Greg Castiglioni, Cindy Corinne Ciunfrini, Caroline Crawley, Rachel Crocker, Michael Diana, Liesl Dowsett, A C Garcia, Hannah Grace, Henry Grant Kerswell, Sam Harrison, Sophie Hartley, Kirk Jameson, Sarah Joyce, Lauren Lotz, Lee Ormsby, Siani Owen, David Phipps-Davis, Claire Platt, James Pullum, Leigh Rhianon Coggins, Emma Roberts-Simms, Ben Sleep and Richard Woodford.

This spectacular new production is directed by Laurence Connor, with choreography by Scott Ambler, Set Design by Paul Brown, Costume Design by Maria Björnson, Lighting Design by Paule Constable, Sound Design by Mick Potter and Video and Projection Design by Nina Dunn for Knifedge. The production is overseen by Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh.

http://247magazine.co.uk/2012/02/07/cast-revealed-for-phantom-of-the-opera-at-plymouth-theatre-royal/

Madame Giry wrote:This article: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Line-Phantom-announced/story-15187594-detail/story.html indicates that Carlotta will be played by an actress named Angela M. Caesar, who apparently has not been in Phantom before. Hmm.

~Madame~

Am I wrong, or are we talking the first black Carlotta.... ever?

I too am a bit surprised by the lack of offical news and promo material for this new tour; I understand the costumes are basically the same as we've seen, but if they are going to tout "Spectacular New Production" they best be showing something to get people excited, I remeber that even for the RAH event a few weeks before the show they had at least released the concept art for the LED screen projections and lighting designs for a few scenes

operafantomet wrote:

Madame Giry wrote:This article: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Line-Phantom-announced/story-15187594-detail/story.html indicates that Carlotta will be played by an actress named Angela M. Caesar, who apparently has not been in Phantom before. Hmm.

~Madame~

Am I wrong, or are we talking the first black Carlotta.... ever?

I know of at least one other. Danielle White is an African American actress who understudies the role of Carlotta in the Las Vegas Phantom production. Her show bio, which doesn't mention her understudy role, can be seen here: http://www.phantomlasvegas.com/index.php?page=/biog/cast_bio_danielle_white.php?key=danielle_white

Great observation about Angela, though! I didn't think to look her up at the time.

~Madame~

Use of projections confirmed as well.

SenorSwanky wrote:Use of projections confirmed as well.

Thank you! I hope we all expect not to much and be disappointed.
I hope I see something new...!

SenorSwanky wrote:Use of projections confirmed as well.

...and everyone is very surprised...

I think that what we will see is Albert Hall in a smaller version, and I also bet that this version will then be the one cities all over the planet will use later on.
So in 2 or 3 years, The Phantom of the opera will come to Gothenburg Operahouse

PridePhan wrote:I think that what we will see is Albert Hall in a smaller version, and I also bet that this version will then be the one cities all over the planet will use later on.
So in 2 or 3 years, The Phantom of the opera will come to Gothenburg Operahouse

They, if any, would be able to stage the original version. Huge stage, competent crew, laaarge orchestra pit. Still have fond memories of Sunset Boulevard...

But I'm digressing!

[/quote]They, if any, would be able to stage the original version. Huge stage, competent crew, laaarge orchestra pit. Still have fond memories of Sunset Boulevard...

But I'm digressing![/quote]

The Operahouse in Gothenburg have big financial problems right now so I dont think they dare doing something as big as POTO. Maybe if there was a budget version of it.

But when it comes to the tour I felt the first time I heard about it that it will prob look like Albert Hall. And I really don't like it, a POTO without a falling chandelier is not a real POTO.