The
Phantom of the Opera: Mega Review
I
think I might be a bit crazy; combining three shows into one review, and I
didn't take any notes during the shows, so going completely off my memory,
which isn't always the best. The casts weren't even exactly the same! Yep,
crazy. So apologies for the disorganisation. I've got an idea of how this might
be organised and I'm going to try to stick to that, but if I go off topic…
sorry. If you’re looking for a specific part of the review, here’s the ‘table
of contents’:
Scott
(Phantom x2)
Geronimo
(Phantom)
Olivia
(Christine x2)
Harriet
(Christine)
Layla
(Meg x3)
Feb
6th Evening Show notes
Feb
8th Matinee Show notes
Feb
8th Evening Show notes
Closing
comments
Starting
with Scott; he’s the easiest as I don’t have a lot to say, since his portrayal
is pretty consistent and I’ve gone into more detail in previous reviews. Scott
and Harriet are definitely the preferred pairing to Scott and Olivia (I like
Olivia and Geronimo best together); I thought Scott’s absolute craziness in the
final lair was balanced out by Harriet’s more muted and ‘shy’ portrayal of
Christine, whereas Olivia’s is so outgoing and fierce that it became a bit of
state of confusion. But I did like the Scott/Olivia pairing more than I thought
I would; I was so worried Scott would be so tiny beside Olivia, but it worked
out ok. But back to Scott; I really do enjoy his portrayal, and I thought his
voice in these two shows were stronger than I had seen him in shows past.
Geronimo
was awesome as usual; I really like that his Phantom is a balance between
caring/loving and completely insane. There was this bit in the Final Lair
(around “You try my patience!”) where he put his hand around Harriet’s throat
(I’d never seen that before and had to stifle a rather loud gasp), and a few
moments later he released her and looked at his hand like he couldn’t believe
what he’d done. It made the character development more believable; what I miss
sometimes is the transition between the Phantom who loves Christine and Music
to the Phantom that absolutely terrorizes Christine in the Final Lair, and
Geronimo really gets that transition. You can see flashes of both personalities
in most scenes, whether the dominant ‘personality’ is one or the other. I think
there’s a lot of depth in his Phantom, which I love. Just one thing I didn’t
like; in Past the Point of No Return, he started out imitating Piangi’s accent.
For about 20 seconds, and then he stopped. I would’ve liked it more if he’d
kept up the accent until he and Christine really started getting ‘into’ the
song, when the Phantom’s disguise begins to drop (basically, I think the accent
should drop when the Phantom sort of forgets that she’s just playing a part).
But that aside, I really like how in PONR Geronimo didn’t just sort of sit on
the bench; even when Christine was nowhere near him, he was reacting to her
voice (and isn’t that really the point of the whole show; Phantom’s love of
Christine’s voice?).
 |
| Olivia Brereton (Tumblr) |
Onto
Olivia; what really is there left to say? Every time I come to one of her shows
and think she can’t possibly impress me any more than she already has, she
does. I’m continually amazed by her portrayal of Christine. Olivia’s Christine
is brave, strong, and smart, and it never fails to impress. There isn’t a
moment when the character drops or when you’re thinking about anything other
than the fact that it’s Christine on stage. Even when there are costume mishaps
(literally everything that could go wrong with the wishing cloak went wrong,
aside from it falling completely off), there wasn’t a second where the
character was in doubt. It was really interesting seeing the difference between
the first Wishing, where the cloak came undone and she was trying to keep it
on, and the second Wishing, where it stayed on fine and she was able to use the
‘regular’ arms, as opposed to holding the cloak on. Both were equally
beautiful, but it was nice to see how well Olivia handled costume issues (I
don’t think mistakes themselves matter; someone can fluff half of their lines,
have a singing mistake, and have their costume fall off during a song and I
wouldn’t care – it’s how the mistakes are handled that I think is important. In
Olivia’s case, the costume issues didn’t affect the rest of her performance at
all). Just a few more things about Olivia; I don’t think anyone else wants
another soliloquy (I’m sure two are enough?) but I do have a couple things I’ve
mentioned before that I’d like to point out again, and a few new things.
Olivia’s Wishing is the most perfect thing to ever come off that stage; if you
close your eyes and just listen, you can hear all the emotion in her voice.
That’s part of what I love about Olivia’s Christine; she acts with her face,
her body, and her voice. Those three elements make it the most believable
portrayal I’ve ever seen. But back to Wishing; if you close your eyes and
listen, it’s completely heartbreaking, but watching is just as good, if not
better – her face during the song is just perfect. There’s a massive contrast
between the first bit and the very end; “and speaks my name,” is a face of
complete despair, and to an extent, fear. By the end of the song, “help me say
Goodbye,” it’s a face of sadness, but acceptance. The emotional journey
throughout the song is so convincing. The other thing I really like about Olivia
is her dancing in Hannibal and Masquerade. I don’t know if she’s had any dance
training at all, but you all know my views of Christine as a dancer, and I like
that Olivia either had or has acquired dancer’s traits; spotting the head in
chaine turns, the way she points and extends her feet, and her sharp and
precise arms make it more believable that Christine is a properly trained dancer and is just a bit out of it during
Hannibal (and isn’t that the point?). The one thing I don’t think I’ve
mentioned before is Olivia in PONR; her faces are just the best. There’s a
reaction to every word she or the Phantom says, and the ‘Aminta’ characters
reaction are slightly over the top as compared to ‘Christine’s’ reactions. I
think the difficulty in PONR is making it look like it’s Christine acting a
part, up until the point she realizes it’s the Phantom under the cloak. Olivia
does that beautifully. Oh, and finally, her ‘Little Lotte’ is the only one that
I’ve seen doesn’t make me cringe. It’s such a horribly awkward song; I usually
ignore it to watch the ballet. I don’t know why, but whatever she does, it’s
makes possibly the worst written piece in the show sound massively better. I
could go on a lot more, but I don’t think anyone’s interested in reading a seven
page detailed analysis of every second of Olivia’s Christine…. (which I
probably could do after five of her shows – so far). But one more thing; I love
that Olivia’s Christine is really her own person. She’s not defined by the
Phantom or Raoul. She has her own personality, and you don’t get the sense she
needs anyone for protection. During PONR, when it’s just her on stage, she
really gets in his face and pulls her arms free forcefully (to me, this is sort
of the point in the show where she’s saying “you don’t control me anymore. You
can do whatever you like to me, but you do not control me.”) In the Final Lair,
she shows no fear or hesitation when protecting Raoul from The Phantom.
 |
| Harriet Jones (Tumblr) |
Harriet
time! She had a very clean show; no easily recognizable or memorable
mistakes. But what I loved about Harriet
is that she is continually improving. I can confidently say that I really like
Harriet’s Christine now, while I was on the fence about it two weeks ago. 90%
of the things I didn’t like the when I saw her such a short time ago (see my
January 25th Review) were fixed. Music of the Night was more
interesting and well-acted, in the title song it wasn’t obvious she was lip
synching, and although I liked her Wishing to begin with, I think she’s
improved upon it as well. The big issue of mine was her consistency. At this
point, I think her act one as a whole is consistent, and her act two as a whole
is consistent. Now I’d just like to see both acts come together. The first act,
she seems to very much love and trust the Phantom, so her angrier character in
the second act sort of comes out of nowhere. You can imagine how it would get
there just based on the final event of the first act, but it would be nice to
see her start transitioning to second act Christine nearer to the end of the
first act. But aside from that, I really do love Harriet’s Christine now. I can
watch her without analyzing her too much, which says a lot.
 |
| Layla Harrison and Olivia Brereton (Olivia's Twitter) |
Now
for my favourite part of the three shows; Layla-Meg! I was originally planning
only two, but since I could get good tickets and I’m not sure I’ll be able to
make it to any of her other Meg days, I had
to do the third show. The one thing with talking about Layla is I don’t want to
compare her too much to Cat, as I think if I do I’ll come off sounding really…
not nice. So I’ve got to be a little wordier than I normally would, so bear
with me. But I really can’t say enough about how incredible a Meg Layla is. I
like her for a lot of the same reasons I like Olivia; her facial expressions
are never turned off, she’s always doing something that Meg would be doing, and
I think her voice comes from a much more natural place. I think Angel of Music
is the best example of this; her singing doesn’t come off as contrived or
over-done. It’s so genuine, and I think that makes the friendship between Meg
and Christine more real and more meaningful. During Notes/Prima Donna, if you
watch Layla as opposed to Carlotta and the rest of the bunch, you can see the
absolutely brilliant faces she pulls (her reaction to Carlotta’s diva-moments
is priceless. So completely utterly teenager-ish – which Meg is, so it’s
perfect), and the fact that she’s always doing something. She could just be
standing in one place, but there’s still something going on in her face.
There’s still a reaction to the situation. Layla’s is also a very smart Meg;
she gives her character motivation and a reason to do the things that she does.
You get the sense that she really cares about Christine and is scared and
confused by the situation, but wants to help, which eventually leads to her
sneaking down to the lair. It’s easy to forget that Meg really does do a lot in
the show; in Notes, she’s looking through the notes trying to figure them out,
she’s the one that thinks to look for Piangi after they realize it’s the
Phantom on stage with Christine, she’s the first one (after Raoul) to find the
lair (and despite being told not go go, she does anyway. With Layla’s Meg, this
is a realistic development, because her Meg is a lot more headstrong than
others I’ve seen). But really, to put it in one sentence, Layla gives Meg the
personality that creates the motivation to do what she does. It doesn’t come
out of nowhere. Just onto the technical aspect; Layla’s timing is just so
perfect (and here I can’t avoid a comparison to Cat, but I’ll keep it brief).
If you’ve read past reviews from the last few months, you’d know that I have
major issues with Cat jumping up before Carlotta’s even done singing. Layla
doesn’t over anticipate it, and she still does it perfectly (it’s not as if she
needs to jump up early to get to her place in time). Just a bit about the
relationships with each Christine; I felt that Harriet and Layla’s characters
seemed a bit closer (they seemed to know each others mannerisms better?). It
looked more like they knew each other well; they really did seem like best
friends. Layla and Olivia didn’t quite gel as well; the relationship seemed
more like a close friend than an absolute best friend. It’s not that it wasn’t
still good, it’s just one of the things I was curious about was how the
Meg/Christine relationships were different depending on who was in each role. It’s
interesting, because I think Olivia and Layla play their characters very
similarly, but Harriet and Layla seem to be a slightly stronger pairing. To
finish up; there wasn’t a single thing I didn’t like about Layla’s Meg. There
wasn’t a moment I doubted the character or found the actions/reactions
unbelievable. Her voice is beautiful, her look is perfect, and she’s such a
lovely dancer. Layla’s Meg is the totally package; I’ve never seen a better
Meg, and in the West End and Broadway (I can’t fairly say anything about
touring or other European productions as I’ve never seen their Megs), I highly
doubt there’s ever been a Meg so well rounded, and just generally as perfect as
Layla's.
 |
| Harriet Jones and Layla Harrison (Harriet's Twitter) |
Onto
the specific shows themselves. Thursday’s show was pretty technically good; no
major mistakes that I remember, I enjoyed seeing Harriet and Geronimo together,
although I still think the best combinations are Harriet/Scott and
Olivia/Geronimo. The new additions in the Final Lair were good (despite them
scaring me at first). I guess I saw an almost full cast, which doesn’t happen
often, which meant I saw a new costume in Masquerade (‘Hula Girl’; not an
attractive costume at all. Might’ve been better if they’d put it on a
blonde-wigged girl; the dark wig just clashed really badly with the pale
colours of the costume). It was interesting seeing so many ballet girls; I
don’t think I’d ever seen so many of them on stage at once. Quite a contrast to
the Matinee on the 8th, when they were very short on dancers. But
yeah, not very much to say about a pretty perfect show.
The
Saturday Matinee was very eventful. Poor Olivia had so many costume mishaps (as
I already said, very well handled). She tripped over the dressing gown (I was
worried she was going to go right off the edge of the dressing room), the
Elissa skirt looked like it was about to come undone the entire song (it was
flapping open in the back when she walked, and what must have been a ‘fastening
panel’ looked like it was popping up), the Wishing cloak nearly fell off (I’m
not sure when it came undone, but somewhere between ‘Graveyard’ and about ¼ of
the way through Wishing, it came undone and Olivia had to hold it on. But
beautifully handled, as I said before. I’m not sure if this was a blooper or
not (I’d never noticed it before, but it happened again in the evening show, so
maybe not), the Aminta dress was completely open in the back on the boat ride
to the Lair, and was starting to fall off. When I thought this was a blooper, I
thought it was a brilliant mistake, as it connected PONR with Final Lair, in
that it almost looked as if the Phantom had started ripping off her dress
(honestly, there’s no way Christine put herself in the Wedding dress). It was
coming down off her shoulders, and Olivia trying to pull it back combined with
the terror on her face and her trying to cover herself made this work so well.
Early in the Lair after this had happened, Olivia wrapped her arms around
herself when the Phantom was talking about the “joys of the flesh”. So, blooper
or not, I loved it! While I’m talking about costume mistakes, Lara’s dress got
stepped on a few times in Prima Donna, and it looked as though Andy nearly lost
his footing. A final comment on this show; the final lair was awesome! I was
worried about Scott’s craziness and Olivia’s feistiness would clash badly, but
it worked so nicely. I like that Olivia’s Christine really looked as thought
she’d been pushed to the absolute edge of her tolerance, and she was done letting
the Phantom control her. It was great.
Evening
show! No major bloopers. The Aminta dress was once again open in the back
during the boat ride, but not quite as badly (it wasn’t falling forward as much).
So my guess is that they always undo it in the back to make the quick change to
the wedding dress easier, but at the matinee it just came too far undone. No
other issues, really. I think I probably got more involved emotionally in the
first show (it was just such an interesting show!), but this one was very
enjoyable as well. The first act just whipped past, which for me is always the
mark of a well-done show (in the past I’ve been a bit bored by the time All I
Ask of You comes around). I started crying at the end of the show when the
curtain was closing on Layla-Meg and pretty much didn’t stop until the end of
the curtain call (I also started crying in the middle of Notes/Prima Donna…
clearly I don’t handle ‘last shows’ very well). So back to Layla-Meg for a
minute; she adds so much to the show, and if you’re planning a trip to Phantom,
you MUST go see her. I promise it makes a huge difference to the show.
Despite
being a bit of a wreck after the last show, I had fun at Stage Door. Slowly but
surely getting more autographs in my program. The next challenge is the Ballet
girls; I want to get all of them since I love the ballet in the show, but too
scared to ask them or get their names wrong. But between both shows, I got to
see Harriet, Olivia, Layla (3 times! She’s way too kind), Lara, and a few
others. All in all, fun times. I can’t wait to go back soon! (hopefully in
March, though I’m not sure yet. Darned school).
So that’s all for now. If you’ve had the patience to read this entire
thing, I commend and thank you. Hope you enjoyed; stay tuned for a brief
Strangers on a Train review coming up soon.
