The London production 1

auctioneer wrote:You may be right, Helen. In my experience, this varies greatly -- sometimes the board simply isn't updated at all. Other times, though, I've seen names removed from the ensemble even when they're not covering a principal role. I remember chatting to a girl who used to work at the box office (this would be about eight years ago), and she told me that sometimes the company manager forgot to send along the info! It's too bad that this is so casual, especially as there are never pre-show announcements. The average audience member may therefore not be aware of who is playing each part on stage, though I imagine that the casual audience member isn't all that concerned. I do wish that they would either announce or include leaflets (as in New York).

I remember the first time I saw last year's cast, for some reason I didn't check the cast board. There were several understudies on that day, so the interval was spent going through the programme trying to figure out who was who. I like it when leaflets are put in the programme, because when an announcement is made, I sometimes forget which name has been said.

Yeah, the lack of cast info is a serious flaw at HMT. No announcements, no inserts, and a cast board that's updated at will. For the general audience member this might not matter at all, but for the sake of understudies and alternates, I think there should be some sort of system...

But back to my standard question: do Scott Davies have any planned performances before cast change? I'm dying to see the combo Davies/Beck/Lock!

I really don't know, but as cast change in Saturday, one would think that David Shannon will finish the run. I'll stop by the theatre today and see what I can find out. I'll be heading into the city before long.

Sadly, I didn't get to the theatre at all today, as I was tied up longer than I had hoped. I will check tomorrow. Meanwhile, I may try to put my thoughts together in a (short) review. It's funny because I've seen the show many times and never written one. Maybe guys are just less organized in general with their thoughts, but who knows?

I understand that Mr Shannon is due to perform all week.
Expect a JOJ announcement before too long. I expect it'll be that he is returning to the role in November.

Blast... OK, the Shannon/Beck/Lock combo was a long shot, so close to cast change, I mean it's no wonder David Shannon will be on all week.

Looking forward to see Scott Davies and Sofia Escobar together, but the whole idea of Wendy Ferguson returning throws me off. I understand what y'all say about her taking a serious approach to the role and all. Problem is I don't like how she does it. To me Carlotta needs to have a certain quality, be it humour, charm, beauty or "it" as well as a stunning voice, to make her rise above the average good soprano and take her natural place as the first lady of the Parisian opera house. You need to immediately see or understand why she's kept her position as first lady for so many years. You don't get there with voice alone. And to me (and this is of course very subjective) I don't find such qualities in Wendy Ferguson's Carlotta. She's angry, she's a tantrum, her voice is thunderous, and she doesn't seem to have a sense of humour. Carlotta is not a valkyrie!

That is not to say she is bad. I'm not blind to her talent. It's just not how I envision Carlotta. I hope she'll try a new approach to the role this time around, or else I'll be seriously bored.

John Owen Jones announcement coming in the next two days...

starryeyed wrote:John Owen Jones announcement coming in the next two days...

Can't say I'm too excited by that prospect. I just wanted to be surprised by someone new.

Believe me I am of the same viewpoint but I think we are in the minority. I've rambled long enough about being disappointed by the cast of old faces. On the other hand I am pleased for those who have been bumped up from being understudies.

Well, I'm thrilled about the opportunity of seeing JOJ repeat the role, especially after having done other stuff.

That said, they're definitely playing it safe this season. Oldtimers, people repeating roles and bumped-up understudies is not the most experimental project they've had...

It looks like I didn't "tip my hat" that much longer before word is about to break about JOJ. I expected the announcement at the beginning of next week. Ah well.

Just a brief word to say that I attended the performance tonight, and I have to do a 180 on my thoughts on Mr Shannon. Tonight he was dramatic, projecting his voice and doing a killer final lair performance. I guess I must have seen him on an 'off' night. I had not planned on attending tonight but had a last minute opportunity to do so. I also saw Sofia Escobar observing the show.

auctioneer wrote:Just a brief word to say that I attended the performance tonight, and I have to do a 180 on my thoughts on Mr Shannon. Tonight he was dramatic, projecting his voice and doing a killer final lair performance. I guess I must have seen him on an 'off' night. I had not planned on attending tonight but had a last minute opportunity to do so. I also saw Sofia Escobar observing the show.

For whatever it's worth, I had the same opinion of him back in December, and I saw him twice. All through the show I had the feeling he held back, somehow. He had some extremely fine moments ("I gave you my music", final lair), and he had some where I was almost bored. From both his acting and singing I got the feeling he had a lot more to give, but didn't. I'm guessing that he's seriously giving it all these last performances.

I'm so annoyed by the JOJ news! I really like his Phantom, and he's a great performer, but I hate to see old faces in a production as big as Phantom. I got really annoyed when the Broadway news were unveiled, and now this is added to my anger. I'm not saying they should cast someone just out of college- just someone who hasn't performer the role before, who can bring something fresh and different in his interpretation. I'm going to see him next year, and I can't wait to see how he will play the part.

My take on JOJ is that I'm thrilled that we're getting someone who is so good in the role back with us. As for new blood, I honestly believe that we have already quite a bit of 'newness' and 'freshness' in the rest of the principal cast - in that many of the ensemble members, who are not 'tried and true' leads in the west end - are having an opportunity to move into principal roles. To balance that off, they're bringing in a sure shot for the lead role. I see it as win/win. And if JOJ is as good this run as last time, I don't think too many will be dissapointed with the performance.

David Shannon annoys me! Not in a bad way, it's more of I "since the first time I saw him I knew he could be an amazing Phantom and now he IS and he's leaving and it's so late into his run" sort of way. He did the same when he was Valjean except at least with that he stayed onto the November of that year. Sigh. I really feel for him as you don't see many positive reviews of him around but I've never found him to be that bad and now he really is quite good.

Also I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but Sofia Escobar won't be off every Monday/Thursday it will change every week so... it'll be hard to track when she is on and when she is off.

starryeyed wrote:
Also I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but Sofia Escobar won't be off every Monday/Thursday it will change every week so... it'll be hard to track when she is on and when she is off.

Where did you hear this?

From Sofia Escobar herself.

Starryeyed, I think you're right....though it might be more of a moody thing than we believe, since I didn't find him strong last week. Either way, I wholeheartedly agree that Mr Shannon had the potential to be an excellent Phantom, but it seems as though the performance was not consistent.

Too bad we have to say goodbye to so many wonderful talents on Saturday.

From Sofia Escobar's artist profile over at Facebook:

Sofia Escobar is proud to announce that she is back with the London production of The Phantom Of The Opera playing the part of Christine Daae 6 shows a week starting Monday the 6th September
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sofia-Escobar/269910184709

auctioneer wrote:it might be more of a moody thing than we believe, since I didn't find him strong last week. Either way, I wholeheartedly agree that Mr Shannon had the potential to be an excellent Phantom, but it seems as though the performance was not consistent.

I didn't find him particularly strong when I saw him in July. He seemed to be holding back a bit, but it was a matinee, so he would have had another show to do. I do like his approach to the role, I just wished he wasn't quite so reserved.

Also I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but Sofia Escobar won't be off every Monday/Thursday it will change every week so... it'll be hard to track when she is on and when she is off.

Thanks for the info. I'm quite keen to see her, so I was going to avoid Mondays and Thursdays. Just to clarify before I book a ticket, is Scott Davies still going to be principal Phantom from Monday until the end of October?

Yes he will indeed be Helen.

Also if anyone is going to cast change you may well see Matthew Gent's last performances as Raoul, he's been on all week.

I seem to have missed Mr Gent....I was in on Wednesday, and Will Barratt was in his usual role. Looking forward to cast change tomorrow.

It's really nice that Matthew Gent is getting a meaty shot at Raoul before he goes.

I hope everyone going to either performance tomorrow has an amazing time. I can't make it, unfortunately. I had a wonderful time at last year's cast change performance. I can't believe that was a whole year ago! Anyway, a massive thank you to the 2009-2010 cast and all the very best to the ones who are leaving.

I second Helen's motion. This was a very strong cast - one of the strongest I've seen in recent history. As I said before, we never get to keep the excellent ones for long, as they move on to other projects (as they should do for the sake of their careers.) Still, I'm glad that we were fortunate enough that they spent at least a year with us (more in some cases) and that we've had such tremendous talent treading the well-worn boards of Her Majesty's this past year.

So here's a toast to the 2009/2010 company with best wishes for two performances tomorrow, for a wonderful and memorable party, and for all best of luck in their promising careers.

auctioneer wrote:I second Helen's motion. This was a very strong cast - one of the strongest I've seen in recent history. As I said before, we never get to keep the excellent ones for long, as they move on to other projects (as they should do for the sake of their careers.) Still, I'm glad that we were fortunate enough that they spent at least a year with us (more in some cases) and that we've had such tremendous talent treading the well-worn boards of Her Majesty's this past year.

So here's a toast to the 2009/2010 company with best wishes for two performances tomorrow, for a wonderful and memorable party, and for all best of luck in their promising careers.

I second both the "extraordinary amazing cast" and "here's a toast to them" sentiment.

For some weeks, there have been rumours of Mr John Owen Jones' imminent return to the title role of The Phantom of the Opera. He can now tell you that these were all true.
(via Twitter)

I find myself more excited about Panaro's return.

To those attending cast change tomorrow - I'd like to start applause at the end of the Phantom's final phrase during the evening performance. This has not been customary over the past few years, though it used to be fairly commonplace. If I start, I'm hoping that others will follow.

Just don't be the person at a performance in London I was at back in JOJ's early run when a guy started clapping and whooting after the "go now and l eave me" bit. He quickly realised he was the only one clapping