The Phantom of the Opera (October 18th, 2014)

The Phantom of the Opera 

This is another composite review of two shows; it was an identical cast for both, but obviously there were some different things that happened differently in either show, so where applicable I’ll note that. I've organised it by scenes; so if something has an arrow, that just means the first scene through to the end of the second scene listed.

Auction à Think of Me

Raoul’s "Boy" is very loud – he doesn’t sound like a weak old man, though it fits with the rest of the portrayal. Hannibal was pretty normal; they were short a few dancers so they looked a bit sparse, but not a big issue (the BGs were also very blonde today). The ensemble is missing most of the little details that the last cast put in. Fiona Finsbury as Carlotta has improved quite a bit. She’s much less shrill and bug-eyed (makeup fix or she’s just stopped opening her eyes so wide; whatever she’s done, it’s great). The accent is much more accurate and consistent now. I still miss a bit of personality (there’s no consistent trait/traits that carry through her performance). Anyway, Hannibal and her bit of Think of Me was well sung and well acted. What I most love about Layla’s Meg is that she’s not the Phantom’s resident (and very annoying) announcer. She makes Meg a real and important character who has a huge (and very unappreciated) part in the show. That said, she does do the Phantom’s announcements very nicely (volume, conviction; nothing much to say aside from it’s just the way I like it). LOVE watching her and Reyer. She’s cheekily peeking over at the score, and makes the most proud face when Christine starts being a good singer. It’s really cute. Emmi’s definitely worked on her accent; it’s much less apparent now. It mostly pops up when she has small spoken bits (or any phrases that need to be sung/spoken very quickly; i.e. “we must go to the roof, we’ll be safe there!” It also tends to come out when she’s saying something with a W in it. No idea why, but she’s not dropping the ends off of words now, so yay!) The weird thing she does in Think of Me is on the cadenza and the vibrato (I think that’s what it’s called?) at the end, she ‘jiggles’, for lack of a better turn. As in, her shoulders and arms wiggle up and down. It is very bizarre and not particularly attractive. Think of Me was great until that (well, she did get her scarf caught in her face, but that was pretty funny and she handled it well – I have massive respect for performers that are able to shake off something like that – in this case, literally!).

Angel of Music 

Layla and Emmi are absolutely adorable together. Their Meg and Christine gel really well; their mannerisms match each other and they really do seem like best friends. I like that because so often Meg just gets ignored, and I don’t think she should be, so having the “BFF” aspect of Christine and Meg be very apparent is great. Layla’s got a beautiful voice; clear, pure, and really nice volume this time. And the face she makes when Mme Giry is annoyed at her. I died. I honestly didn’t watch the Raoul/Christine part of Angel of Music. The ballet was too enticing. 

Phantom of the Opera/Music of the Night/Stranger Than You Dreamt It

Nothing special about the Title Song; it was good enough. Emmi missed the big ‘swish’ to the audience near the end (when the Phantom sort of ‘throws’ his arms outwards), but it looked ok. Both do the lip synch very well. Music of the Night was beautiful performed by Scott. Emmi was fairly uninteresting (honestly I remember nothing that she did during MOTN, which means she did nothing that wowed me but nothing bad either). But WOW that STYDI! Loved it. Fabulous acting from both Emmi and Scott. Bit of an awkward mask hand-back, but still, the acting was great! And the Mirror Bride kept still this time, so good for her.

Buquet à Prima Donna

I loved this Buquet (no idea who it was though). He was a lot less outwardly creepy, but there was just something very dark, yet almost comical, about him. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it worked very well. I loved when he jabbed his finger at Meg, then sort of drew it around at two of the other girls. Also his reaction to Mme Giry was pretty funny. But oh my goodness, Notes through Prima Donna is the Layla Harrison show. I know Meg’s not technically supposed to be the focus of those scenes, (Hi, Carlotta) but you can’t not watch her (aside from Layla’s generally magnetic stage presence). She just does the most brilliant facial expressions in reaction to Carlotta’s diva tantrum at the end of Notes and the beginning of Prima Donna. I’d love to know what’s going on in Meg’s head at that point, because it’s probably pretty funny. But that changes to sincere concern for Christine; she’s obviously trying to figure something out, but everyone just sort of pushes Meg away. Layla expresses this beautifully; it’s just so real. You don’t hear too much from Meg in this scene (though with Layla you can actually hear something!), but what you do is beautifully sung. I can’t really say too much about anyone else in that scene, but nothing disastrous or outstanding happened (you know, aside from Layla-Meg being incredible).

Il Muto à Chandelier Crash

This was certainly Emmi’s weakest scene. There was just nothing coming from her. Nothing. It was like she’d accidentally found herself on stage and was trying really hard to blend into the background. Not too impressed with that. I don’t mind people not going for the really out there Serafimo (a la Olivia Brereton or Samantha Hill), but if you’re going to play shy/quiet Serafimo, sell it. Don’t just stand there and look blank. Everyone else was good; I loved watching Layla (again, the faces!! So perfect and funny. Also I love her costume for Il Muto; the dress is a gorgeous colour and the style suits her perfectly. And those shoes are my favourite costume piece in the show). Fiona was good in this scene; not as pissed off as I usually like Carlotta to be, but she did the croaking and panic very convincingly. I love Tim Laurenti as Andre’s introduction to the Ballet. The audience, myself included, were in hysterics.

Excuse the most unprofessional sentence I will ever publish, but ASFHASJGSG Layla danced the featured part in Il Muto! And she was beautiful at it; she’s just such a gorgeous dancer to watch. The movements were all fluid yet precise at the same time, and the expressions is just WOW. Can she dance that part every time? Please?

All I Ask of You was fine. Not hugely emotional but better than last time. Liam and Emmi are still doing the face smush kiss (that’s a literal description of it). Because I’m a ten year old (*insert eye roll*) I usually cover my eyes for the kiss, but I’d rather sit through Olivia and Antony’s ultra passionate kiss than the face smush. It’s just not romantic at all. That’s one thing, I didn’t get a lot of connection between Christine and Raoul in this show. I mean, they were fine, but there was no overwhelming sense of love; nothing that made you think they were meant to be together, no matter what happened. I feel like Christine would’ve dumped Raoul shortly after the show ended. I never like how Christine’s pulled off when the Chandelier goes down. What the heck is Raoul doing on stage?! And why doesn’t Christine just run? (I have a theory that Christine is just really, really stupid). Anyway, it was fine. Everyone looked suitably terrified.

Layla Harrison and Emmi Christensson
(Emmi's Twitter)

Masquerade

I LOVE this scene so much; the bursts of colour, the gorgeous dancing, the sparkly costumes… it’s beautiful. Also for other reasons that’re unrelated to the show itself but nonetheless make the scene one of my favourites. Of course made better by my favourite Meg just being generally perfect. No major things to note, but I do love how everyone freezes during “Christine, Christine!” and then all hell breaks lose. It’s a nice piece of choreography. Poor Layla had to do the kick in the corner on her own (usually there’s two dancers supporting each other), which looks... hazardous. Also, I seriously love Georgia’s Butterfly Costume. The bodice (purple with a black lace overlay) is stunning and the skirt is just so darn sparkly. A note on Emmi’s Retina Burner (aka her Star Princess dress). It’s not so bad on stage. Still obnoxiously fluorescent, but the colours relax under the stage lights. The skirt is beautiful actually; the combination of blue, white and pink is lovely when it twirls. It’s the bodice that just thoroughly ugly (and brighter too; the bodice and skirt aren’t the same colour). Still a hideous version of the costume (can the costume dept please bring back the beautiful pale dresses?), but not as bad as it looks in photos.

Notes II à Rehearsal

Notes II was very uninteresting. Not bad, just nothing special. I liked Liam’s “You don’t have to, they can’t make you!” The way Raoul interacts with Christine, it seems as though he thinks of her more as a business rather than someone he’s in love with. Liam plays this angle well, though I don’t like to see Raoul played that way. The rehearsal for Don Juan was another Layla-Meg scene; she’s just so much fun to watch. There’s never a dull moment; I could spend ages writing about all the little details and the cute/funny things she did. Super Meg! Also, Emmi and Layla have an adorable connection as Christine and Meg; they gel very well, so the friendship between the two characters seems very real and strong, which I love. Layla’s Meg is very attentive to Christine, and Emmi’s Christine responds nicely to Meg as opposed to ignoring her.

Wishing à Wandering Child

Emmi’s cloak fell off in the first show. As in, the backpack straps and clips in her hair were the only things holding it on her body. Again, well handled; she didn’t fuss with it (I do prefer when they fix things like this rather than just ignoring them, but I can’t fault just ignoring it; there’s nothing wrong with it, just personal preference). But Emmi’s ‘Wishing’ is nice enough. Nothing extraordinary, but there’s nothing to fault (except her basically blowing her nose in her scarf at the beginning…).  Wandering Child was nice; Emmi does a really good ‘hypnotized’ face. Convincing, not overdone. Ignored Raoul.

PONR

I think PONR is probably Emmi’s favourite song; is where we get the most personality from her. I think what her Christine lacks is development; she just speaks the lines or sings the song, there’s no motivation or carrying character traits behind it. I like the way that Emmi and Scott do everything on the bench, and him dragging her around after she realizes who he is. One thing that did make me giggle was when she ripped his mask and wig off. Blank face. Arms went up. Arms came down with a mask and hair in them. Finito. It was just so… lackluster? Unexpected? Either way, it was strange.

Final Lair

Holy bananas, Scott went a little beserk here, especially the second show! On the boat ride his hands were shaking and spasming – it was legitimately terrifying. It looked as if he was having a psychological break or something. Brilliant, but terrifying. I liked him a lot better than I have in the past; really big and dramatic, but not as overdone (though that might’ve been because he was beside Emmi’s stoic Christine and Liam’s forgettable Raoul). Liam’s “Christine! Christine!” when she was kissing the Phantom was very well done; I liked that addition. Emmi gets quite fiery in the final lair… but her face doesn’t do a whole lot. Stoic really is the best word for it. And finally, the reveal of the Phantom’s mask at the very end of the show. Layla managed the most elegant cape sweep I’ve ever seen (she did it such that she got both the cape and the wedding veil out of her way so she wasn’t kneeling on them. Very impressive). What better way to end the show that with one final look at the most well-rounded, expressive, generally perfect Meg.