So, ladies (and gents?), I saw Phantom on last Friday.... and it was... oh. my gosh.
I will probably never see another show with that level of amazingness.
I'm not going to leave a full-out, song-by-song review, because that would simply take too bloody long. But I'll give you an idea.
This really is a magical production, in every sense of the word. You have fireworks, the literal transformation of the Opera, people disappearing, people "teleporting", possessed organs, enough pyrotechnics to please a KISS fan, the illusion of another audience on the other side of the stage, a wand that shoots fireballs... literally, every magic trick in the book was used.
As to the storyline and plot itself, I actually love this one so much better. It's not too significantly different, but the order of scenes and the scenes that they left out for the movie add so much to the emotion and reality of the show. With Twisted Every Way, Christine doesn't just throw up her hands and say "alright, you guys, I'll DO it!"... in fact, that number comes before WYWSHA, and Christine runs off the stage crying "I'm sorry, no!". Another part that caught me by surprise in that part was the confusion afterwards, from the managers, Carlotta, Piangi, Raoul, and Mme. Giry (who, by the way, are all onstage when Christine sings Twisted Every Way; not just Raoul). At one point, they start pointing fingers at Mme. Giry, saying that "she's his accomplice!" and the way she responds to it just breaks my heart for her. The Masquerade was a writer's delight! Christine first bumps into a man dressed in black and white, with a white mask ('elloooo, Phantommuch?), and then returns to Raoul, but then bumps into another man, only this time, dressed in the Phantom's Mandarin clothing. She can't escape from him! The symbolism was WONDERFUL.
As for cast... oh good lord, as for cast. John Cudia as the Phantom... I'm in love. Literally, it's a sickness. I've fallen head over heels for his portrayal... with every gesture of his hands, he had not only Christine under his power, but the entire audience. With every unseen command, he had the audience shaking in their boots. With every romantic number, he saw the audience turn into puddles. They all melted entirely. I know I did. He is everything that I'd come to imagine for the perfect Phantom and more. So much more.
So much so, that for a moment, I _almost_ became an EC shipper, right there in row C of the Princess of Wales theatre. But, by golly, Raoul and Christine were just too bloody cute!! From the first time they hugged in her dressing room, I was *squee*ing everytime both of them were onstage. Michael Gillis as Raoul had a voice that needed getting used to due to the nasality of his power notes, but he well made up for it with his acting. In AIAOY... I'm pretty sure my internal *squee*ing was audible. The way he throws back his cloak to kneel and propose... the way they held eachother... the bloody ADORABLE way that, as they left the stage, Michael stopped, threw his arms out in proclamation, and sang "Christine, I love you!". I was also very, very pleased to see that the "sweeping her off her feet and spinning her" part was included. VERY pleased
And I was also happy to see a Christine that was willing to actually fight for Raoul's freedom in Down Once More, not just stand there looking helpless.
Speaking of Christine, I actually had the opportunity to see two! Marni Raab was Christine in the first act, but then she got sick, and Sarah Lawrence stepped in for her in Act Two. Marni was a wonderful actress; and so bloody fragile! What a tiny little thing! I believed that she had grown up as a dancer, because every move she made was graceful and delicate. As for her voice, she was a more traditional Christine in that vibrato made its way onto the majority of her notes, and her tone was very, very operatic. However, it was also fairly shrill and you could hear the rasp of a cold on her lower notes. Her high E was fabulous, though. Then we get to Sarah Lawrence... I hate, hate, hate showing favour from one actress to another, because they're people too, but good lord. What is that girl doing as the understudy. She needs to be the lead! Her tone was SO much richer than Marni's, so much more emotional and not as technical. She played a strong Christine; certainly not a wilting flower! Her WYWSHA was believable and wonderfully well-acted, as she really knows how to use her voice to express emotion! Seeing her in PONR, she really was the feisty young girl for the first part, but then her strength really showed through from the unmasking until the end of the show. (BTW, I completely understand what people mean by PONR being one of the hottest scenes onstage... I was shocked when he took her hand and dragged it up his body!).
Down Once More was hard to listen to, as was Prima Donna, because the acoustics in the theatre saw their voices overlapping TOO much. Not a word could be understood! However, it still managed to be a very emotional scene... John Cudia is wonderfully threatening as the animal backed into a corner, and wonderfully sensitive to Christine's kiss.
The curtain closed, reopened for a standing ovation and a reappeared Phantom, and closed one final time. But, my dears, the story does not end there. Rather, it ends behind the building in a shady alleyway, where there hangs a simple sign that reads "Stage Door".
Yes, my friends. I met them.
I waited around for a long while... longer than after Wicked, which is odd, because Shoshana had to worry about removing green makeup from her entire body, whereas John only had to worry about the facial deformity (which, as I learned later, is just a large prosthetic that comes off a lot like a bandaid). But finally, with some help from a random insider, I spotted Sarah. I'm not going to lie, though, I sincerely thought she was Marni, up until she signed my programme. Thank goodness I didn't call her by name. Apparently she was surprised that I recognized her, because apparently no one ever does lol and she's a blonde! Appears to be a fake blonde, from what I saw of the curls that escaped her hat, but a blonde nonetheless. She is such a sweetheart! And then, thank goodness, she pointed out Michael Gillis, who I NEVER would have recognized. He was all bundled up (it was COLD), and wearing these coke-bottle glasses that made his face look entirely different than it did onstage. I did catch him, though, and got a signature from him as well (hahah, Sarah only had a pen, and so Michael whips out this sharpie and she's like "fine! You'll just have two different signatures!" lol). And then, I proceeded to be the dorkiest I've EVER been. Me and Sarah got into position for a photo, but I wanted Michael in there, too, so I was like "Hey, let's get a threesome in here!" My conscience was like "Holy Crap. What. Did I just say." But they were good sports and had a little laugh before we got the picture. So, they then moved on to this family waiting farther down the alleyway, and that was the end of that. But CERTAINLY not the end of the night.
After about five or ten minutes, and some leftover squeeing, John finally came out. He was one that I could have spotted a mile away; he has a very distinct face. I was like "John!" and he smiled and came right over. I then proceeded to fangirl over him, saying things like "I'm pretty much in love with your voice" to which he laughed, the modest soul. He then realized he didn't have a pen and neither did we, so he went on a wild goosechase to find one for me! He searched the stage door hallway, he asked random people, but finally he found one
What an absolute dear. He signed my programme, and then I guess he saw my dad's camera so he offered to get a picture, to which I _obviously_ agreed. We got into position, put our arms around eachother, but my dad seemed to be having issues with turning the camera on, so John was like "...or we could just stand like this for a while" and I was like... *absolute and utter GLEE*. We got the picture, and then he held out his hand to shake mine, and I swear, I stood there for about five minutes just staring at it... my thoughts were something like "Oh, look, a hand. HIS hand. Those marvelous hands... oh. Wait. Normal people SHAKE the hand". So I finally did, and then he was off with a "have a good night!"
Yeah, I was gleeing right until the moment I fell into dreamland. That smile would NOT go away.
Here are the mentioned pictures!:
First, me in front of the Princess of Wales theatre...
Then, the infamous "threesome" picture, featuring me, Christine/Sarah, and Raoul/Michael...
And then, John signing my programme...
And finally, the official picture of me and John "standing there for a while". Note the gleeface.
Just in case you missed the Gleeface, here it is again, in high definition:
It was a good night
But, trust me, I would love to go. I haven't actually seen/heard any clips of the three leads, though ... anyone know much about them?
I'm squeeing for you, trust me.
And I was also happy to see a Christine that was willing to actually fight for Raoul's freedom in Down Once More, not just stand there looking helpless.