The London production 2

Well I'll be keen to see him if it is him, he has got an amazing voice and many people say he is an amazing Valjean so hopefully he'll be as good as the Phantom.

Geronimo Rauch was amaaaaaaaaazing as a Valjean both times I´ve seen him. I wish the rumour was true! Could this be a hint maybe? Check the "likes" on his FB fanpage https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geronimo-Rauch/39976406687

I think it may be true, as it does look like he has now left les mis. Which would give him a couple of weeks off before starting rehearsals at the beginning of August. And there does seem to be a lot of talk about it being him, so I think it probably is.

Gerónimo and his rendition of Till I Hear You Sing from Love Never Dies.


Just to have an idea of the way he would sound singing something Phantom related! 

It appears that none other than CLAIRE MOORE (!) will be taking on the role of Carlotta!

Well, I guess that's that rumor sorted out. Wasn't expecting it to be like this! Really hope she's still there in October 2014 (most probably not, but a guy can dream) when I take my sister to see the show. Now all we need is some confirmation about the new Phantom and Christine and it's settled.

phan101 wrote:It appears that none other than CLAIRE MOORE (!) will be taking on the role of Carlotta!

Wicked, that is awesome! I often thought it would be cool if an old school Christine joined the cast as Carlotta. I'm looking forward to the cast change even more now.

phan101 wrote:It appears that none other than CLAIRE MOORE (!) will be taking on the role of Carlotta!

I hope its true..it would be great to see her now as Carlotta!

I hope the cast announcement is soon ...for all roles!

Judging by recent tweets it looks like Sean Palmer will be joining the cast (although I'm not 100% on that) He was in Crazy for you in the West end, Prince Eric in Little Mermaid on Broadway and Tony in Saturday Night Fever on Broadway as well as other shows. Not sure what role he'll be playing but I'm thinking Raoul? That's providing he is actually joining the cast.
And the new cast start rehearsals today. So we should soon hear who's playing who.

Last year the official announcement was made the first week of August , so we are pretty close to know , they all been hints of almost every character change , the phantom , raoul , meg giry, madame giry , carlota , firmin , but the christines are a complete mistery , I would love to see Anna Obyrne coming back for the rest for the year ( Love never dies tour opens oficially in New castle in February 2014, so she will need time for rehersals ) and they will give Gina Beck time to come back as Christine next year after finishes her run in wicked , but who knows , but really what a maaaaasive cast change to come , excited !

So possibly Geranimo Rauch as the Phantom.
Claire Moore as Carlotta.
Cat Lane as Meg Giry.

This ain't shabby!  

Geronimo Rauch is the new Phantom. He just retweeted something about the Phantom vs Les Mis football match, with the quote “I know your loyalties are torn!”.

So that’s our new Phantom then – brilliant choice in my book. Thought he was great in Les Mis and it will be refreshing to finally have a Phantom who can sing the pants off the role.

Thoughts?

Geronimo has been confirmed as the new Phantom although i think we knew it was him. And looks like i was right about Sean Palmer being the new Raoul. Just found out the full principal cast list:

The Phantom - Geronimo Rauch
Christine       - Sofia Escobar
Raoul           - Sean Palmer
Andre          - Martin Ball
Firmin          - Andy Hockley
Carlotta       - Claire Moore
Piangi          - Jeremy Secomb
Madame Giry - Jacinta Mulcahy
Meg Giry      - Cat Lane
Alternate Christine - Olivia Brereton/Harriet Jones

So Sofia seems to be staying and there will be two alternates, that seems a bit strange. I wonder how the schedule will work for that? And Jeremy Secomb is also staying.

London-Phan wrote:So Sofia seems to be staying and there will be two alternates, that seems a bit strange. I wonder how the schedule will work for that? And Jeremy Secomb is also staying.

The alternates usually perform on Mondays and Fridays, so I guess Olivia will perform on Mondays and Harriet on Fridays.

BeautyUnderneath wrote:

London-Phan wrote:So Sofia seems to be staying and there will be two alternates, that seems a bit strange. I wonder how the schedule will work for that? And Jeremy Secomb is also staying.

The alternates usually perform on Mondays and Fridays, so I guess Olivia will perform on Mondays and Harriet on Fridays.

Yeah I did wonder if they might do it that way. I'm sure I heard Sofia was leaving, I wonder if she'll only be staying on for so long, just because it seems strange to me that they would have two alternates.

I've read on Sofía's Twitter account that she is getting married. So, perhaps she's staying for a ahort while and not for another  whole year. She's been playing the role for 3 years now. Is it common for an actress to play the role of Christine for so long?

sunsetbue wrote:I've read on Sofía's Twitter account that she is getting married. So, perhaps she's staying for a ahort while and not for another  whole year. She's been playing the role for 3 years now. Is it common for an actress to play the role of Christine for so long?

Yeah I wonder if she will just stay as principal for a short time. She's the longest running Christine in the London production so far, and by that I mean the longest continuous run not most performances. There's been a couple of other London Christine's that have done 2/2 and half year runs. I do like Sofia but I really want to see a different Christine now just purely because I have seen her the last 6 times that I've seen the show, so it would be nice to see someone else.

Very happy for the London production; but I wont lie and say I'm not a bit miffed that they get Sean Palmer and here in the states we are still stuck with Kyle as Raoul (who keeps extending his contract btw?) ...Anyways, Sofia is good but I agree someone else should step into the role; I have a feeling that the reason there are two alternates is because one of them cough:Olivia:cough may be coming to the states this fall..

London-Phan wrote:

sunsetbue wrote:I've read on Sofía's Twitter account that she is getting married. So, perhaps she's staying for a ahort while and not for another  whole year. She's been playing the role for 3 years now. Is it common for an actress to play the role of Christine for so long?

Yeah I wonder if she will just stay as principal for a short time. She's the longest running Christine in the London production so far, and by that I mean the longest continuous run not most performances. There's been a couple of other London Christine's that have done 2/2 and half year runs. I do like Sofia but I really want to see a different Christine now just purely because I have seen her the last 6 times that I've seen the show, so it would be nice to see someone else.

I think that could be the reason and Sofia will not stay long. Maybe its all only for a short time and then we have a new principal and maybe when Olivia goes to US Harriet take over the complete Alternate part. Its a special schedule for the 3 Christines. We´ll see and wait...

Met Olivia this evening - Sofia is staying until January apparently.

Any word on what US production she (Olivia) is joining? With the timing it could either be the US tour or Broadway

She isn't, as far as I'm aware...

Her and Harriett were both in the final call for Principal Christine, but directors felt neither was ready yet.

They will both alternate until January, when presumably, one will be chosen to take over from Sofia.

Interesting, she has told fans otherwise...on more than one occasion at the stage-door, that she will be heading to a Phantom production in the US this fall. Marni is only principal for 6 weeks, and the new tour opens in Nov. so it begs the question to which production was she referring to.

sunsetbue wrote:I've read on Sofía's Twitter account that she is getting married. So, perhaps she's staying for a short while and not for another whole year. She's been playing the role for 3 years now. Is it common for an actress to play the role of Christine for so long?

It's definitely not common for the West End production, where the principals usually stay for 1-3 seasons (one season = half a year). Cameron Mackintosh especially seems to prefer his Christines young, fresh and unknown.

But you have Jill Washington, who was in the original West End production as a cast member. She became Christine understudy in 1988 or thereabout, alternate from April 1989, and principal from October 1989 to December 1991, again from May 1993 to September 1995, and a short run in 1998/99 sometime. A total of 5 years, I'd say - but as STYDI pointed out it wasn't a continuous run.

In the US, in Japan and in Germany there has been some examples of extremely long running Christines - Lisa Vroman (ca. 2,500 performances), Colby Thomas (ca. 1,900 performances), Dale Kristien (ca. 1,700 performances), Marni Raab (ca. 1,400 performances), Sandra Joseph (ca. 1,300 performances) and Renée Knapp (ca. 1,000 performances).

http://operafantomet.tumblr.com/tagged/longest-running-christines

StrangerThanUDreamt wrote:Interesting, she has told fans otherwise...on more than one occasion at the stage-door, that she will be heading to a Phantom production in the US this fall. Marni is only principal for 6 weeks, and the new tour opens in Nov. so it begs the question to which production was she referring to.

I would be mighty surprised if they cast a young, totally unknown Brit as Christine on Broadway. Swedes and Canadians, yes. Brits, no. I think everything points towards the US tour. I had no idea about this, though. Interesting news (OK, rumours, but still).

I would like to know the new alternate schedule and if in fact olivia will be leaving to go to the U.S tour. I would have thought the more likely option would be that when Sofia leaves one of the alternates becomes principal and the other remains as the alternate. Also is there any word on if Scott Davies is staying? And I wonder who the new Phantom understudy will be.

Sorry to come up with this question a bit off subject, but still London-production related. I am from Argentina and want to buy tickets either B10, B11 and B12 in the stalls (right behind the conductor) because I know they are a bit cheaper. Do you happen to know a website other than Ticketmaster or See Tickets that sell those tickets?

Just found out that current Piangi Jeremy Secomb will be the new Phantom understudy! Do you know i nearly suggested it could be him the other day, i really did. I think that'll be very interesting and i really hope i get to see him play it. But Phantom understudies are pretty hard to catch for me as i can't really make the show at short notice. I would have loved to have seen Simon Shorten but never did. I think this is cool news. Still don't know if Scott is staying on though.

London-Phan wrote:Still don't know if Scott is staying on though.

Got told in a mail by one of the cast that "Scott is deco back"...whatever that means. Probably that he's staying on? Haven't asked further.

So apparently Claire Moore has broken her foot and will not be starring as Carlotta after all.