Apologies that this took so long; I just wanted to do a really brief review of the Harriet/Scott combination. Expect a longer review of Phantom next week, as I will be seeing three shows in three days! (1 on Thursday, 2 on Saturday) So expect a more detailed review (and a Layla-Meg Soliloquy!) some time next Sunday or Monday. As I said, this is a very brief review, mostly made up of point form notes, but I hope you can enjoy anyway.
Harriet has improved a lot. The improvement she made from the beginning of November to the end of January (3 months) was what I had expected from her around May or June. I'm hoping this speed of improvement continues. That's not to say I didn't like her; I did. Her voice is spectacular, and she absolutely owns Think of Me, the same way Olivia owns Wishing (if you know how much I love Olivia's Wishing, you know this is very high praise coming from me). The only thing I was missing in November was the acting. Instead of having brief, short-lived moments of convincing acting as she did in November, 90% of Harriet's scenes were well acted this show. Particularly good were Think of Me, I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It, Notes II/Twisted Every Way, Graveyard, Point of No Return, and Final Lair. Wishing, All I Ask of You (she had a vocal mistake in this song, surprisingly), and Angel of Music were quality performances, but not quite as strong acting-wise. The one thing in Phantom of the Opera is it was very obvious she wasn't really singing, which wasn't the case last time, so maybe just an off day. Her weakness was Music of the Night. She just kind of walked around smiling, which reminded me far too much of Sofia. There was no curiosity, intrigue, fear, confusion - anything - which just made MOTN fall a bit flat. I think the next thing for Harriet to do is work on consistency of character; establishing Christine's character and personality, and carrying it through the entire show (perhaps deciding on a more consistent way that she will grow). Each song/scene kind of stood on its own in terms of character development, and I didn't get the sense that there was any growth throughout the show. I'd like to see Harriet flesh out Christine a bit more; figure out what her personality is like, and keep it consistent throughout the show. So, while each scene (especially those I mentioned) were well-done, I would just like to see her have a bit more consistency. Just one side note I would like to mention - Harriet really cannot dance. At all. I'm not sure if this is a conscious decision on her part (in which case, it's very convincing), a director's decision, or just the simple fact that she can't dance, but I don't like it. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Christine is supposed to be a trained dancer. She would've been kicked out of the ballet corps if she sucked very badly. Harriet aside, I think there's a difference between being the 'airhead' girl who forgets the dance to actually being bad at said dance. Even just keeping the rhythm or making the arms and head sharper in their movement would be better. (Again, not directed at Harriet specifically. This is a general complaint of mine.) Ignoring the actual dancing for a minute, Harriet fits in SO WELL with the Ballet Girls. When they all run out, it takes a bit to figure out which one Harriet is. And I think that's important. Christine is, after all, 'just a chorus girl'. Of course, once she's identified, you can't take your eyes off of her (she's absolutely stunning!), but the initial blending in is nice. All in all I did enjoy Harriet, and I'm pleased with the improvement she's made.
Scott was the first Phantom I saw of my Phantom Revival (so this was my second time seeing him), and I like him quite a bit. He has great movement, and commands the stage, despite being quite small in terms of height. He and Harriet make a very good pairing. Harriet really responded to Scott's utter madness, especially in the Final Lair. Scott went a bit overboard on the acting, but Harriet was able to balance it out and make it look a little less crazy. But for Scott himself, I would've liked to see him tone down the lair a bit. There's a point where it just becomes too much. It becomes "I get the point! I get it, I get it! Now please stop it!" The overdone craziness becomes a little distracting. But overall, I very much liked Scott, and I really like the Scott/Harriet combination (wouldn't like to see him with Olivia though! She'd dwarf him!)
Just a few other notes, bloopers, etc. None of these are a criticism of anyone, I just like to note down the bloopers as they are part of the reason I love live theatre.
In Masquerade, Harriet seemed to be a bit confused at one part during the 'dancing'; I can't remember exactly, but I think someone might've been missing/missed their cue (maybe the man/woman)? It looked like she was making it up on the spot, and if you looked at her face, she snapped in and out of character a few times. Maybe nothing actually went wrong, but something certainly looked… off. There were numerous bloopers as well. The Mirror Bride started moving before she was supposed to, had to slow herself down, then do the 'lunge' towards Christine. Cat did something similar; instead of just standing up too early in Think of Me (as she usually does), she actually opened her mouth to sing, closed it again, then started again. I keep hoping she'll sort herself out, but it just keeps getting worse. At one point in the show, the Phantom accidentally said "fondling child" instead of "wandering child". I had to choke back laughter. It was funny. The biggest blooper was in Don Juan; the pig was missing, so people were just tossing apples all over the place. One got left on the floor, and people kept rushing past it and not picking it up. I was getting quite frantic! Thankfully, the last person to leave the stage picked it up and put it on the table, otherwise Harriet would've had to pick it up off the floor!
Well, that's it for this time! Stay tuned for more Phantom soon :)
