The London production 2

phantom10906 wrote:I guess the rumors about about Simon Bowman coming back were't true after all. Thanks for the update

Well, I haven't read anywhere how long Gerónimo Rauch is staying for. Might be until Christmas, might be until next cast change in May, might be for a year. It doesn't entirely rule out Simon Bowman (and I must say the rumours has been exceptionally strong on him being next in line). I know they also specifically asked other performers to audition, so they must have at least had a cast change in mind.

Rumours, rumours…   

There's a short article here on Richard Kingcott, deputy stage manager on the London production:

http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/news/latest-news/meet-richard-kingcott-deputy-stage-manager-london

Mary

"Sir Andrew Loyd Weber watching the show tonight! No pressure! #excited "

Lara Martin's Facebook update tonight (ignore the misspelt name!):
https://www.facebook.com/laramartins.singer/posts/484542705015346

Scott Davies was on today. Anyone know what's up with Gerónimo? Is he on holiday or is he unwell?

Scorp wrote:Scott Davies was on today. Anyone know what's up with Gerónimo? Is he on holiday or is he unwell?

Jeremy Secomb was on some days later too. I don't know what's up :/

Anyone going for the final week of the current cast (I.E. this week)?

So unless cast and crew is just having a field day messing with us on Twitter, it seems Emmi Christensson will be wearing an all-blonde wig as Christine, while Alicia Beck (Meg) will be wearing a brown wig. Apparently they're switching Harriet Jones over to a brown wig too, instead of the delicious light one she wore in her first year.

And apparently this is confusing the hell out of the light folks…

People on social media is cheering for the Leroux accurate wig situation. I'm more like… do we HAVE TO underline that Hollywood stereotype of all Scandinavians being blondes?

Caught the show yesterday. Still think Mr Rauch is great. I can't remember or not whether I'd seen Harriet Jones before; if I had, I'd forgotten. But her voice is quite exceptional, I thought. Very pure and sweet - hints of Sarah Brightman and Joke de Kruijf.

I asked someone I knew in the cast the other day about whether Hal Prince had made his visit over yet to rehearse the new cast. Apparently he's due to arrive on Friday.

Scorp wrote:Caught the show yesterday. Still think Mr Rauch is great. I can't remember or not whether I'd seen Harriet Jones before; if I had, I'd forgotten. But her voice is quite exceptional, I thought. Very pure and sweet - hints of Sarah Brightman and Joke de Kruijf.

Can't wait to see Harriet Jones. I've heard clips, and her voice really is fab. She also looks so bewildered and sweet in costume and wig; I'd be interested in seeing her portrayal.

According to some tweets, Olivia Brereton is emergency covering the role of Christine in West End tonight. Whazzup? Technically they should have both a principal, and alternate and an understudy to go on, but they put Olivia Brereton on instead. Anyone knows why?

Video here of Geronimo Rauch singing MOTN live on a TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQWbaAZ8ilI&feature=youtu.be

So are we in for a return of Ms Beck, our finest Christine in some time?

auctioneer wrote:So are we in for a return of Ms Beck, our finest Christine in some time?

I certainly wouldn't mind that!

But give me JOJ back as Phantom at the same time...

Every so often I Google JOJ +Phantom and no encouragement as yet. B-but there's still hope, right? A third run seems somehow fitting, although I imagine my wallet would disagree.

I think the Christine I enjoyed most was Robyn North. Not everyone's favourite Christine; neither was JOJ everyone's favourite Phantom. Each to their own...

I'm not at all enjoying the current cast, I'm afraid.

operafantomet wrote:So unless cast and crew is just having a field day messing with us on Twitter, it seems Emmi Christensson will be wearing an all-blonde wig as Christine, while Alicia Beck (Meg) will be wearing a brown wig. Apparently they're switching Harriet Jones over to a brown wig too, instead of the delicious light one she wore in her first year.

And apparently this is confusing the hell out of the light folks…

Ah yes! I saw that a couple of months ago when I was last there! And it certainly confused and perturbed me... I assume it fitted her complexion better. I like to pick out the Christine when she enters as a slave girl (usually second on the left, from the audience's POV); then I saw the blonde wig and was really confused. Doesn't quite seem right, somehow. Rather put me off.

Mandrake wrote:

auctioneer wrote:So are we in for a return of Ms Beck, our finest Christine in some time?

I certainly wouldn't mind that!

But give me JOJ back as Phantom at the same time...

Every so often I Google JOJ +Phantom and no encouragement as yet. B-but there's still hope, right? A third run seems somehow fitting, although I imagine my wallet would disagree.

I think the Christine I enjoyed most was Robyn North. Not everyone's favourite Christine; neither was JOJ everyone's favourite Phantom. Each to their own...

I'm not at all enjoying the current cast, I'm afraid.

To see JOJ and Gina Beck together would blow my mind. Easily my favourite Phantom and Christine respectively of the last decade. And certainly who I'd have cast at the Albert Hall -- a production which I don't even go near now. The cast didn't do it for me and the direction just annoys me. Sorry Laurence Connor, but you really do suck. It does annoy me when people of equal -- if not greater (well, certainly greater in my eyes) -- talent get so little exposure beyond the West End community of actors and audiences when certain others are publicised to a ridiculous extent.

I've actually enjoyed the cast at HM's much more so recently than I have in recent years. Seeing it again on the 16th of this month with Earlfan - want to see Emmi as I haven't seen her yet. If anyone fancies joining, let me know!

Robyn North was also quite good. Agreed. 2015 would ideally see a return to form. Would be nice to have strong leads leading into 30th anniversary and I think we will.

Scorp wrote:
I've actually enjoyed the cast at HM's much more so recently than I have in recent years. Seeing it again on the 16th of this month with Earlfan - want to see Emmi as I haven't seen her yet. If anyone fancies joining, let me know!

Argh, am suffering from Phantom abstinence.... if I'd seen this earlier I think I'd have tried to get a ticket. I need a good dose of Phantom right now, in the damp and dark midwinter, and aftermath of end-of-year accounting stuff...

Saw Rauch last year, and quite liked him. He was very much "inside the box" as it were, but he filled it up nicely. Good voice, and a very .... physical strong presence on the stage. Solid, stolid, and vocal in his exasperation, not whisperingly ethereal. Sort of impatiently harrumphing at times. Perhaps it was the way his mike was calibrated

I had a very interesting discussion with Emmi Christensson yesterday. She said it was Cameron's decision to make Christine blonde based on her Swedish roots -- a nod to the novel too -- but I suddenly recalled as I was talking to her that she wasn't the first Swedish Christine I'd seen in the London production. I remember seeing Myrra Malmberg around the time of the show's 10th anniversary opposite Peter Cousens (one of my favourite Phantoms)...she wasn't made blonde as far as I recall.

I do very much like Rauch -- I've preferred him over any of the other recent post-JOJ Phantoms in London. He does something interesting which I've always found jarring because no other Phantom I know has done it (and to my ears it doesn't sound right). He hits a D natural rather than an E flat on the note "prey" (during the phrase "for the trap is set and waits for its prey"). To me it sounds wrong, but I just had a quick look at the score and I might have misread it, but to my surprise it's written as a D natural there. Or have I misread it? Rauch is the only Phantom I know to have done this. Can anyone shed any light on this?

I found an old file on my computer that was sorely in need of updating - it's a list of all the principal Phantoms in the London production since the world premiere. I've updated it as best as I can for now, but is anyone able to help with the missing dates and/or make any corrections?

Michael Crawford - 27 September 1986
Dave Willetts - 12 October 1987
Martin Smith
Peter Karrie
Dave Willetts (Return)
Peter Polycarpou
Peter Karrie (Return)
Ethan Freeman
Mark McKerracher
Grant Norman
Simon Bowman
Peter Cousens - 21 April 1997
Glyn Kerslake - 9 March 1998
Mike Sterling
Scott Davies
John Owen-Jones - 25 June 2001
Earl Carpenter - 28 February 2005
Ramin Karimloo - 10 September 2007
David Shannon - 9 November 2009
John Owen-Jones (return) - 1 November 2010
Earl Carpenter (return) - 12 December 2011
Peter Jöback - 19 March 2012
Marcus Lovett - 3 September 2012
Gerónimo Rauch - 2 September 2013

IamErik771 wrote: Aye, I'm loving Rauch in the role, as well. I've been quite happy with the London cast in general since he joined.

Definitely agree with you there, IamErik771! Absolutely loved his performance at the 2:30 matinee last Saturday. I'd always heard that afternoon performances that theatre casts weren't always on form - I certainly didn't take away that impression! He and Harriet were absolutely perfect. I loved his subtly dangerous edge, which really gave off this electric charge - and he plays the Phantom with this adorable sexual uncertainty about where his love of music and Christine really meet. I'd say it's up there with the best!

Scorp, that's a fantastic list! I'm surprised no one's thought of it before - it's an excellent reference for performers in Phantom.

Was going to ask just how many people did a little dance of joy when they saw Earl Carpenter's Twitter earlier this week though about returning briefly in March? Super tempted to buy tickets now...

Scorp wrote:I found an old file on my computer that was sorely in need of updating - it's a list of all the principal Phantoms in the London production since the world premiere. I've updated it as best as I can for now, but is anyone able to help with the missing dates and/or make any corrections?

Michael Crawford - 27 September 1986
Dave Willetts - 12 October 1987
Martin Smith
Peter Karrie
Dave Willetts (Return)
Peter Polycarpou
Peter Karrie (Return)
Ethan Freeman
Mark McKerracher
Grant Norman
Simon Bowman
Peter Cousens - 21 April 1997
Glyn Kerslake - 9 March 1998
Mike Sterling
Scott Davies
John Owen-Jones - 25 June 2001
Earl Carpenter - 28 February 2005
Ramin Karimloo - 10 September 2007
David Shannon - 9 November 2009
John Owen-Jones (return) - 1 November 2010
Earl Carpenter (return) - 12 December 2011
Peter Jöback - 19 March 2012
Marcus Lovett - 3 September 2012
Gerónimo Rauch - 2 September 2013

Martin Smith started October 1989, played for maybe a month (probably less), was replaced briefly by Dave Willetts in mid-November 1989 as an emergency stint, followed by Peter Karrie December 1989, with Dave returning again by May 1990.

Scorp wrote:I do very much like Rauch -- I've preferred him over any of the other recent post-JOJ Phantoms in London. He does something interesting which I've always found jarring because no other Phantom I know has done it (and to my ears it doesn't sound right). He hits a D natural rather than an E flat on the note "prey" (during the phrase "for the trap is set and waits for its prey"). To me it sounds wrong, but I just had a quick look at the score and I might have misread it, but to my surprise it's written as a D natural there. Or have I misread it? Rauch is the only Phantom I know to have done this. Can anyone shed any light on this?

I believe Mikael Samuelson in the Swedish cast CD also sings a D there? I know I've heard some others sing it like that, at least. I agree that it sounds odd, I'll never quite get used to it. But yeah, it's an old school twist that fewer and fewer Phantom does.

I will be in London 17-19 June and will be watching The Phantom of the Opera on Thursday 18:th June. So excited to see the show and so excited over who will be in stage that day I saw on Emmi Christenssons website that she will only be performing on Monday that week so i guess i'll get Harriet Jones or Lisa Anne Wood as Christine

RichardN86 wrote:I will be in London 17-19 June and will be watching The Phantom of the Opera on Thursday 18:th June. So excited to see the show and so excited over who will be in stage that day I saw on Emmi Christenssons website that she will only be performing on Monday that week so i guess i'll get Harriet Jones or Lisa Anne Wood as Christine

Oooh cool. I think Emmi Christensson usually does Mondays and Fridays, so you wouldn't have seen her on a Thursday normally. But I see in her schedule she doesn't perform quite a few of the Fridays in May and June. I wonder why? Anyhow, have a wonderful trip to the "mothership"!

Thank you ! It will be so exciting. It's a childhood dream to see The Phantom in London.

I saw on Instagram that Lisa-Anne Wood is scheduled to play Christine on Friday 19:th June so i guess Harriet will be playing on Thursday and that Emmi is on holiday the whole week except Monday (maybe in Sweden to celebrate midsummer?)

I am not worried over who will play The Phantom. I have heard Geronimo, Scott and Kieran on Youtube and they all sound equally good

Does the Christine Alternate in London have regular scheduled days like on Broadway?

As Operafantomet stated, Mondays and Fridays, usually. It's been this way since November 2011, when the weekday matinee moved from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
Of course, there are variances. Here is current alternate Emmi Christensson's schedule through July from her website.

June:
Monday, 22 June, at 19:30

She put Friday 26 June at 14:30, but there is no such performance, maybe she means 19:30 or the 25 or 27 matinee.

Monday, 29 June at 19:30

July:

Friday, 3 July at 19:30

Monday, 6 July at 19.30

Friday 24 July at 19.30

Tuesday 28 July at 19.30

Wednesday 29 July at 19.30

Thursday 30 July at 14.30 & 19:30


Presumably during her break in July, Lisa Anne-Wood will play Christine on Mondays and Fridays.

Does anyone know yet if there will be the usual cast change in September, seeing the show around then so would be cool if there was one.

Gerónimo Rauch is moving back to Spain so he is leaving the company, and Oliver Savile is going to be Fiyero in Wicked.
I guess that in the upcoming weeks, there will be some announcements.

It would be excellent if the change over happens while Im there so I can see both, but I suspect it will be early September, would have loved to have seen Geronimo, oh well, just hoping the new phantom is actually 'new' as he was, and vocally awesome.

The current contract ends on 5th September.
Departing are Geronimo Rauch, Harriet Jones, Liam Tamne (judging from his tweet of '9 weeks left' earlier this month)... It's cool when all three leads are new.
This is the longest I haven't seen the show (in London) since 2013... Hoping to catch the next contracted cast. Would like to see Emmi Christensson (who is staying through June 2016) and the other Christine the same weekend. Probably February or March.

Being in the minority, I'm not a happy camper. Guess I'll have to sit through JOJ's shoutfest again.