The Phantom of the Opera (June 5th, 2014)

The Phantom of the Opera

This show was my birthday treat from my parents (yes, for my birthday, I wanted to see the show I've seen 25 - now 26 - times. What can I say, I love it!); when I first saw the cast board I was a little disappointed, but not for long - this was one of the best shows I've seen! So here's my brief review of what I like to call "my" birthday show :) What I'm doing with this review is combining it with my June 6th review; identical casts aside from Olivia as Christine, and not too much to say about that one. So everything in (italicised brackets) is from the June 6th show. Everything written normally is from June 5th. 

Harriet Jones as Christine (Tumblr)

The auction went as normal; there was a little delay getting the chandelier up but for me, when the chandelier begins to rise is possibly the most magical moment of the show. A piece of the 'covering' got caught on the lighting and they didn't manage to pull it off until halfway through Hannibal (no problems the next night). Lara was fierce as usual, and the dancing was absolutely beautiful. I was having one of those shows where I could focus on little details without missing the big picture, so I was able to really enjoy the dancing in Hannibal. Of course, the main focus was Layla, she is such an expressive dancer - a perfect combination of Charkashyna's elegance and Maksymenko's energy that is utterly captivating. But moving on, Cat is still on her feet before the set's actually fallen. Thankfully they have sorted her wig out though. Harriet sung Think of Me beautifully - she performs the song with such confidence and elegance. It's stunning. Admittedly, I ignored Angel of Music to watch the Degas Ballet. I caught some of it, but not enough to say much about it other than I liked it (I did watch this on June 6th; my eyes were basically glued to Olivia this show because it might be the last of hers that I see. Her expressions are wonderful; very genuine, which makes the scene with Raoul look so much less awkward). The girl that does the walk-off at the end of Degas has slowed it down a great deal, which was incredibly effective. I loved it. Harriet does her Angel of Music solo absolutely amazingly. Beautiful facial expressions, not an overdone voice (more natural than operatic), and she's not doing that awkward bodice-strokey-thing at "enter at last", instead keeping her hands clasped at her chest, which I much prefer. She does the 'hypnosis' very nicely; it's believable, with a change in the movement - if that makes sense. She slows down a lot when she's under the control of the Phantom, which is effective at communicating the difference between normal Christine and 'enchanted' Christine (with Olivia, I like that she never does the exact same blocking - arms, head, etc. - for this; makes it more interesting and realistic). 

Harriet Jones as Christine (Tumblr)

Phantom of the Opera was normal; not a lot to say other than the 'singing' was well done. Scott's not my favourite Phantom (I often find his voice weak and his portrayal very overdone), but Music of the Night was the beginning of a very good show for him. There was so much power in his voice and conviction in his portrayal; it was wonderful. Harriet aced Stranger Than You Dreamt; fabulous range of emotion from curiosity to complete terror. I know I'll say this a lot in this review but she has come so far. I never would've guessed in November that she would become as incredible as she has (I mean, I knew she had potential. Anyone that beautiful with that voice had to have potential to be good, but I didn't think this good, at least not by now). Every time I manage to think of something I'd like to see her do or change, she goes and does it. She's really, really incredible. But back to the show, Notes/Prima Donna was pretty uneventful. I watched Lara and Jeremy mostly; they're a great pairing with the perfect combination of comedy and drama (as well as huge voices). 

Onto Il Muto; here's where my only issue with Harriet is (and seriously, any complaints at this point are down to personal preference, not anything she's doing wrong, per say). In both Il Muto and PONR, I'd like to see her decide whether she's Christine playing the part full out, or if she's Christine attempting to play the parts but not feeling confident/knowing something's about to go wrong. She went back and forth a bit between these two approaches (at least from my perspective) and I'd like to see her settle on one. I think she's leaning towards the latter though, which is the more challenging approach, so if she can completely commit to that one I think it'd be very impressive. It's fine to take different approaches for Aminta and Serafimo, but picking one approach or the other for each character would be easier to watch and would help with the consistency of Christine's character. 

Anyway, Lara is hilarious in Il Muto. There was a slight issue getting the chairs off the stage in time; the backstage people were whisper-screaming "Chairs! Chairs!" until someone ran on and whipped them off as the ballet was going on (Andre's introduction to the ballet was hysterical. The audience was really responding to comedy that night, so he played it up, drawing out the introduction, using longer pauses to make it funnier. He then proceeded to run into two BGs instead of the usual one, and then hurriedly say "The Ballet!!" before sprinting off. I've never laughed so hard at Phantom. Also, Olivia in Il Muto is so funny. She really overdoes Serafimo at the beginning, which I love. That was probably the funniest Il Muto sequence I've ever sat through). Ballet was lovely as usual (gorgeous pirouettes both nights from Danielle and Layla). Rooftop/All I Ask of You was fine; Harriet's toned down the panic a lot, which I didn't think she needed to. Again, personal preference. I Gave You My Music was haunting as usual, and the chandelier went down without a hitch.

Scott Davies as The Phantom (Tumblr)

Onto Act Two! Masquerade is consistently one of my favourite songs (used to be my second least-favourite until Layla decided to be awesome. Now it's one of my favourites). The two cover Managers (Duncan Smith and Tim Laurenti) are so humorous in this. They lack a bit of connection to each other, but that's to be expected. Individually though, incredibly funny. Tim's really good at playing up Andre's comedic moments. The Raoul/Mme Giry scene has gotten louder, so it covers up the sound of the stairs being pulled back better. Notes/Twisted was good. Again, Harriet's toned down the panic a bit, which I still don't think she needed to do. But I'm still so impressed by her though; she's got a solid grasp of the character now and plays her really well and consistently (at least if she's going to understate the panic, she does it that way all the way through). The Don Juan rehearsal had a slight glitch; I don't know what happened because I was watching Harriet, but for some reason Lara didn't get over to Reyer to hit him with the score and nearly missed "Those who tangle with Don Juan!" (no problems the next night). Loved Harriet's face while everyone was creepily singing; perfect combination of confusion and terror.

I think Wishing is Harriet's weak song, vocally (surprising) and acting-wise (it's a challenging song; you've got no one else to work off of so everything really has to come from her). It's still come so far even since May, and I figure it'll come together for her eventually, especially if she continues her current rate of progress. Anyway, I'm not worried about it. She still does it beautifully, I just don't find it quite as emotional as it could be. Both Olivia and Harriet do Wandering Child perfectly; nothing much to say there. 

The beginning of Don Juan was fine as normal (side note: you know you've seen the show too many times when you start being able to tell swings apart to the point that you actually have a favourite Swing. Had a different one filling Ashleigh's role each night; my preferred one was on on June 6th). PONR was probably my favourite song of the night; I think it's Harriet's best, most natural song (along with Think of Me). Basically, she does the song and the blocking exactly the way I want it (though I still have a soft spot for Olivia's twirl after "Let the dream descend"); from the start of Christine's part in PONR Harriet is basically flawless; it's natural and believable. Nothing really seems planned; it comes off as much more instinctive/immediate, which I love (I've noted that Olivia seems to lose energy during PONR in the past - not the case this time. Solid, energetic performance all the way through. She's pulling her arms away on "stand" now, as opposed to just letting them fall away, which Harriet's always done and which I much prefer).

Incredibly emotional Final Lair. Shame about Sean and his emotional range of a teaspoon, but oh well. No issues with the noose either night. Honestly, I don't remember a whole lot about either Final Lair because I was crying a lot (June 5th because it was really emotionally performed - Harriet's really bringing out Christine's fierceness now! and June 6th because I was thinking that it could be the last time I saw Olivia perform it - best case scenario I've got one more show of hers left, and that'll be her last). So both were good, but I don't remember any particular details.

All in all, I had an amazing time. I know it seems I'm being quite critical of Harriet but I've never enjoyed her so much and I am SO impressed how far she's come in such a short time. Also I like to make a note of things I'd like to see changed because half the time, the next time I see her, they've been changed. But she was seriously amazing, and I am SO excited to see her Christine again.

Some final thoughts on the June 6th show; as I said, I was mostly watching Olivia, and something occurred to me. She gives Christine humanity and integrity, in the same way Celinde Schoenmaker does with Fantine and Layla Harrison does with Meg (Gina Beck as Glinda early in her run is another example). That is, she makes a character that's hard to feel for or that can come off as very shallow very interesting, and someone that the audience can feel sympathy for. 

Layla Harrison is nominated for West End Frame (@West_End_Frame) Understudy of the Year! She's a truly incredible Meg, bringing life to an often understated role,  and amazing in her Ballet Girl part as well. You can vote for her here: http://www.westendframe.com/2014/06/vote-understudy-of-year-2014.html#more

Matilda (June 4th, 2014)

Matilda

Children's Cast

Just a quick little review of Matilda. It's a fairly consistent show (rarely do things do wrong aside from a few jumbled lines), but I was sitting three rows back this time and had an idea of a few things to watch for that I hadn't seen before. Mike Denman was on for Mr Wormwood, and Juliet Gough for Mrs Phelps. 

The children were amazing, as usual. Lollie is a very well-rounded Matilda. The dancing is definitely her strength, but she's got a good voice and convincing acting too. Because she's such a strong dancer, I was surprised that she didn't do the stunt in Smell of Rebellion (Tasha did it on only her second show, so there must be something else preventing Lollie from doing it). She also had an unfortunate mishap with her skirt getting caught in her blazer for most of "I'm Here"; beautifully touching song, but it can't've been fun to have her skirt tucked into her blazer (showing her Smell of Rebellion costume) the whole song. Naughty is Lollie's best song, but the strength and power in her voice has improved since November, making Quiet a strong song for her as well. As for the other children: Jaime Adler as Lavender was fine. She didn't quite have the energy and enunciation of Emily Robins (it was hard to understand half of her lines and she got her words turned around a few times). Oliver Loades as Bruce was mediocre until Revolting Children; his (bright blue) glasses kept coming down through the show, and he wasn't really acting. But in Revolting Children he was amazing; huge voice, funny dance moves, playing with the fact that his glasses were falling down. Eithne Cox as Alice seemed to be permanently angry for some reason. Ruby McNamara is a fabulous dancer. Gabriel Werb has the BEST facial expressions. He's absolutely hilarious.

Of the adult cast; Mike Denman did a good job as Mr Wormwood. Not as humorous as I usually prefer, but it was a solid portrayal. Juliet Gough was a mediocre Mrs Phelps. She seemed to be struggling to remember her lines and act at the same time. Mrs Wormwood was FABULOUS. I love Loud, and she has some amazing tricks that she throws in that song. Rudolpho didn't do the split drop on "Calculate this!" which was a bit disappointing, but oh well. Alex Gaumond as Miss Trunchbull was terrifyingly brilliant as usual, though he's still a bit too manly in his voice. Haley Flaherty has a humorous and moving take on Miss Honey, but her voice lacked strength and power during "My House", which is unusual for her. Otherwise, I thought she was incredible. I loved her reaction at the end of Bruce, and she makes Pathetic a more tolerable song. The adult ensemble in London isn't my favourite; they have a massive bearded man playing an 11 year old. Really?! An amazing swing (Katie Price, I think?) does both child and adult roles, taking Lollie's place during Smell of Rebellion, so hats off to her.

It was a very enjoyable show; loved seeing Lollie (even though I'd been hoping for one of the two I haven't seen yet), and had such a great time in general. Highly recommend this show at the moment; the two Matildas I've seen are particularly strong, as is the majority of the cast.