The Toronto Production

I don't follow any musical theater people on Twitter. What was the cause of death? He's gotta be only in his 50s or, at most, early 60s.

There's a few more details in an article just posted to BWW:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Former-PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-Star-Byron-Nease-Passes-Away-20131017#

oh no, sad to hear

I am just... There are no words. Rest well, thou sunshine Raoul.

Very surprised to hear the news of his passing. RIP Mr. Nease

R.

https://twitter.com/LairdMackintosh/status/457718498362683392

Paul Stanley got Melissa Dye and Laird Mackintosh (who tweets at Paul often and seems to really want him to do the role again) backstage passes to the KISS show at Jones Beach tonight. https://twitter.com/PaulStanleyLive/status/497255018064773120

#tbt https://twitter.com/PaulStanleyLive/status/497529247380934656

So I *think* the current proscenium in use in Hamburg is the Toronto one.

The Toronto one was shipped to Mexico, and from there it's traveled to (I think) Madrid, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. The current Hamburg proscenium is not the original one. They've made the stage opening narrower, both in height and length (which comfortably enough has given them a side scene stage right as well). And the original Golden Angel hangs out of view on the side scene in stage left.

So the most obvious explanation seems to be that Hamburg inherited the Toronto one, OOOOR that it's a cut-and-paste version. I've tried to compare photos, and it corresponds well enough - but then again, there aren't really too good photos of the proscenium in use in Toronto out there.

So... anyone knows for sure what's the case here? (and eventually which one they're using in Moscow, since that too is a Stage Entertainment production?)

It's definately not the Toronto one, Toronto had 3 at the top then a garland and ended with the dotted pole thingy. Kind of closer to original Hamburg but oroginal hamburg had 4 lyres and 4 garlands (toronto had 3 lyres and 4 garlands)
Im never a fan of starting with a lyre next to the angel (vegas and some world tour setups) or ending with the pole (london and Moscow)
Looking at pics though, the new Hamburg and Moscow ones look almost identical, and sometimes it is hard to tell them apart, down to the seams that hold it together up at the angel. Could be that they are both new. What ever happened to the original UK tour and Basel ones?
Another tiny detail that I prefer with the current Hamburg ones (and London and Moscow) is the way they made the garlands at the top. In Toronto and Broadway and US tour and World tour the garlands are solid fruit, where in London and some of these European ones, the fruit is only at the bottom and the tops of the garlands are these loopy bits that make it look less heavy

One more thing, the most curious thing I find about the Moscow production is that they use a physical production that has alot of the european aspects (thankfully) such as how the pros arch and candelabra look, but it also has alot of world tour/aussie influences in terms of some costume acpects, mainly the phantom's bulky porcelain looking mask and over the top world tour deformity.

Russia's always been the VAST bridge between Europe and the Far East. How fitting that its Phantom of the Opera production is a culmination of the two, physically. If I could decipher some Russian, I'd figure out a lot more as to why.

Well, but the lyres and various components might very well be cut-and-paste, just like their Masquerade staircase is. I wouldn't base the overall conclusion on them. I'm more concerned about the actual proscenium, the gold sculptures that is.

The original Hamburg proscenium was both higher and wider, they've narrowed it in a LOT for the current production, creating a whole new side stage at stage left. I know it's not the original Golden Angel they use, as the original hangs at the sidestage on the right side. This means either Hamburg or Moscow is using the Toronto proscenium, but I can't tell which one it is due to lack of good Toronto photos.

The Russian production is a super eclectic mix of UK and Canadian costumes with an added lot of Las Vegas/US costumes (Carlotta's Masquerade one, the slavegirl tiaras and more). But yeah, the mask and wigs are World Tour influenced. So the total look is a brand new one, and I agree that's rather fitting for a country stretching from Scandinavia to Japan!