The Phantom of the Opera
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| Principal Cast |
Two amazing shows in two days - my brain is a little tired. I'm going to have a go at organising this review chronologically rather than by person, since aside from Harriet Jones (Christine) and one of the managers, it was the exact same cast as last night. Going into this, I was really excited to see Harriet's Christine against Earl's Phantom; he was very violent with Lisa-Anne, but Harriet's Christine is very gentle and timid, and a lot less headstrong than Lisa-Annes, so I was legitimately concerned (someone please remind me that this is a show) about the wellbeing of Harriet's Christine. Fortunately Earl toned it down a lot in that respect. There were a lot of really excellent performances in this show (and some I wasn't so fond of, but isn't that always the way?), so I'm excited to write about it! Anyway, onto the review:
The Auction
I like how Oliver plays old-Raoul; he changes the way he sings and the way his face moves, unlike others who just put on a raspy voice and leave it at that. He doesn't even look like the same person with all the fake facial hair and the changed facial expressions. I liked it a lot.
Hannibal -> Angel of Music
I still get a bit pouty when the Ballet Girls dance out and Layla's not in her spot. The ballet leaves something to be desired without her beautiful, elegant dancing. A couple of the girls (Danielle, Claire, Daisy) are lovely, but aside from them, no one else really extends everything to the last possible second, such that the movements seem very abrupt from some people. Anyway, moving on. Hannibal was nice. I'm not the biggest fan of this Piangi; his voice doesn't seem right for the part (it's very dull and almost raspy, if that makes sense? There's no fullness to it) and he does everything exactly the same every single time. There's nothing fresh about it.
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| Harriet Jones (Operafantomet on Tumblr) |
I loved Fiona Finsbury's Carlotta. Like, entirely adored it. But just in Hannibal, she had the entire Prima Donna, "I'm the best, everyone look at me!" vibe going on. It was sooo Carlotta. A touch obnoxious and very haughty, but justifiably so in that she had a fabulous voice and great stage presence, so you can see why Carlotta's the mega star. I loved how worked up her Carlotta got when the set curtain fell down; she was visibly very shaken. I like this because it didn't make it seem like Carlotta just had a tantrum and left; she was actually terrified for her safety, and walking out was the result of a lot of scary moments for her. And that's when I started to feel bad for Carlotta and had to stop for a second and think, "wait, what?" I never feel bad for Carlotta. Shows you what detailed, thoughtful portrayals can do to your perception of a character.
Harriet's Think of Me was gorgeous. She started off very stiff and nervous; the first "think of me..." was barely audible. I like that the first person Christine turns to is Meg (even if Meg was a bit wooden in this performance). The rest of the song was just divine though; Harriet's voice is absolutely stunning, and she grasps the ingenue-esque acting so well. It really feels like you're watching a young singer come to life on stage for the first time. I love it. But I've always liked Harriet's Think of Me.
Angel of Music was cute; Georgia (Meg) has a nice voice; she's a very young, very cute Meg, even if she's lacking some depth of character. Harriet and Georgia looks so alike with the similar wig colours, height/build, and face shapes - it's a little unnerving. But they were a cute Christine and Meg combination, and their voices sounded good together.
I love, love, LOVE Oliver as Raoul. Adore. The way he says, "Where is your red scarf" is so charming and adorable. He doesn't give off that vain, self-centred vibe at all. He and Harriet were a lovely Christine/Raoul pair; she's so gentle and sweet and he's so kind and caring, it just worked. Great voices on both parts; I love that Oliver's got really great volume (you can always hear his singing parts, whereas often Raoul fades into the background behind Christine and others).
Awesome Angel of Music from Harriet. I don't have much to say about it other than it was amazing. Harriet's really getting her facial expressions down; she has this thing that whenever the Phantom's around, she gets a very… haunted look on her face. It's not exactly a trance, but it's not full awareness either. I love it. It's different, and it works for her.
Phantom of the Opera -> Stranger Than You Dreamt It
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| Earl Carpenter (Earl's Twitter) |
Earl's lip synching was so much better this show. I guess it's just a matter of practice and him getting used to it again. Harriet's always been very good with faking the singing, though from my angle off to the side I noticed that when her back is mostly to the audience, she barely moves her mouth (speaking of noticing things being off to the side; one of the stage hands spent the better part of Notes II velcroing a piece of black fabric onto something. The bright yellow tape on the walkie talkie on his/her belt didn't help. Someone else forgot to close the curtain at one point, so I could see people running around backstage. It was awesome). I guess the majority of people can't see that though (I was five seats in, in the second row), so no biggie. I just love the colours in this scene though; Harriet's wig gets very light under the lights, so with that white gown she's practically glowing agains the blue and black fog, and you can really only see the Phantom's mask and the sparkle of his cape. It's very effective. One thing I really liked that Earl did was when he was doing "SING!", he moved his arms like he was conducting her, not just shouting at her to sing. It was a really nice touch.
Music of the Night was entrancing, which I think is the way it needs to be. I was trying to watch Harriet to get a sense of how she responded to the new Phantom, but for the most part I couldn't take my eyes off of Earl. Powerful voice with lovely intonations here and there. Also, Earl's generally really good with his hands and his movement; he seems to truly control the portcullis and the mannequin.
Stranger Than You Dreamt It was scary. Not as bad as last night, but scary. Earl's Phantom completely loses his marbles when Christine rips his mask off, and Harriet did very well getting a bit more panicked than she usually does. I like how when the Phantom sings, "Who dreams of beauty, secretly…" he gestures to the mannequin and basically adopts the stance of a sad puppy. It's almost heartbreaking. I really, really, really love how Earl does the mask return. As Harriet started to reach for it, he tried to as well, but pulled back when he realised she was already reaching for it. He sort of steals glances at her as she picks it up and looks at it, and the relief when she hands it to him is so palpable.
Notes -> Il Muto
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| Fiona Finsbury (Tumblr) |
I'm just going to ignore everyone but Carlotta in Notes because that scene makes me sad without Layla's spark in it. Fiona as Carlotta was extraordinary in this scene. Such a haughty, imperious diva at times. She wasn't just going along with the scene; it felt like she was the one controlling how everything worked out. I loved her ferocity when the Phantom was challenging them all; her face just said, "It's on."
Also loved Fiona-Carlotta in Il Muto. She really 'acts' the scene; and by that I mean it's Carlotta acting badly ("Carlotta must be taught to act, not her normal trick of strutting round the stage!" Right?! Fiona's the only Carlotta who seems to have taken that line into account and designed her portrayal of Carlotta to fit it). Harriet's nice in this scene too; she embraces the Seraphimo character for the most part, and does get quite scared looking when the Phantom pops up. Harriet-Christine looks horrified when Carlotta's voice starts to go; it's funny and sad all at the same time (that was the annoying thing - I actually felt really sorry for Carlotta! Fiona-Carlotta looked so traumatised I couldn't not). The one thing I'd say is I prefer when Carlottas use the fan a bit more extensively rather than it just hanging around on their wrist a lot.
All I Ask of You -> Interval
This. I cried. Raoul is so adorable, holding onto Christine, kissing her head…. so cute. He's really protective of her, and wants to keep her close to him rather than letting her off on her own. It's adorable (and yes I'm overusing that word, but it's accurate). Anyway, strong voices, adorable (there I go again!) relationship between the two… it was perfect.
I still don't get why Raoul is onstage at the end of the first act (well, obvious reason, but why would Raoul be anywhere near the stage? Also, why is the Phantom sending the chandelier down on Christine? On Carlotta I understand, but Christine? Even if she ticked him off by singing a gorgeous love song with Raoul, it seems a bit extreme to seriously attempt to kill her.
Masquerade -> Raoul/Mme Giry
Another song that's very pout-inducing without my favourite Meg and dancer on. It's weird how much of a difference one person makes. Guess it's the stage presence, because there weren't any gaps in the dancers or anything. Anyway, it was nice. Masquerade's usually pretty consistent; I've never seen anything majorly interesting happen.
From my angle during the Raoul/Mme Giry scene, I could see Harriet walking on for Notes II. That quick change is fast! Oliver and Jacinta have great volume; oftentimes you can hear the staircase pulling back over top of the scene, but not this time.
Notes II -> Wishing
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| Harriet Jones (Harriet's Twitter) |
Harriet's Christine is just so calm and timid, it's not fun to see her get upset, so it's particularly annoying that Carlotta (and Piangi and everyone but Mme Giry) are blaming her for creating everything, because you can see her going from being angry at Carlotta, to being completely and utterly defeated. She looked a bit deranged by it all, actually, which was very different, but it was a realistic character development, so it worked. I'm enjoying some of the neat little character quirks Harriet's coming up with lately. Carlotta's "She's mad!" (said with a devious little chuckle) was perfectly timed and suited the scene perfectly. Christine looked literally mad at this point (the wig had gone a bit wild too, adding to the effect). I liked how when Christine ran away, Oliver slammed his hands on the chair, started to run after her, then went and threatened the Phantom.
Don Juan rehearsal was fine. Liked Fiona's faces and unimpressed little vocalisations. Her Carlotta seemed really fed up with it all, and is going to do her darnedest to show everyone how annoyed she is, but is still there because she remembers what happened last time she ticked off the Phantom. You have to laugh at how little she cares about Christine's little mental breakdown just moments before.
And this is where I totally lost it. Harriet's really figuring this song out. She's emoting it, rather than just singing the song with a crystal clear voice like she used to. It's much more effective from an emotional perspective, especially after Twisted Every Way. I loved that she spoke more than sang "no more silent tears". I don't know why. Sometimes things just work, and there's no good reason that they do, they just do. This was one of those.
The Wandering Child trio was great. Earl's got that fabulous voice that draws you right in, so it makes sense that that's exactly what happens to Christine.
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| Harriet Jones (Tumblr) |
Point of No Return -> Final Lair
This was the part I was concerned about, because it was really violent last night. Poor Lisa-Anne has to be sore from all that today.
Anyway, Earl toned it down a lot, thankfully. It's nice that he keeps that faux italian accent going for a bit to keep up the pre tense. It makes it more believable that Christine wouldn't know it was him that way. I liked Harriet's PONR a lot, though I wish she wouldn't manhandle her skirt so much. On the bright side, I think I've figured out the exact constriction of that skirt. Otherwise, I think she does a nice PONR. It's not too sultry; she keeps it appropriate for Christine. Harriet also did really nicely with fighting to get away from the Phantom after she realise it's him (that scream, by the way. Loud. And awesome); like Lisa, she didn't give into him at all. Harriet's usually quite sympathetic to the Phantom, but she wasn't this time, which was really good.
Final Lair was intense, to say the least. I don't really know how to process it at the moment, so I'm just going to make a few notes tonight then expand on it tomorrow when I've had time to think about what happened. One of the things I really liked was when the Phantom was singing the bit about the joys of the flesh, he reached towards her and Harriet just noped (excuse my language, I'm a teenager, I'm entitled to use that phrase) right out of there. She did not want him anywhere near her, which made the veil and all that hard to watch, and also made the kiss, where she put her hand right over the deformity (thank you!!) all the more effective. It made Christine look very compassionate.
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| Harriet Jones and Oliver Savile (Oliver's Twitter) |
Tears of Hate was great; slow build up, took her time with it, then exploded. I loved it. Harriet was really good at standing up to the Phantom in this; she got very confrontational, even after he'd thrown her around quite a bit. At "Angel of Music, who deserves this?" he had to give up and back away from her or get walked right off the stage. Very well done. I still really like the way Earl does "You try my patience; make your choice!" all quickly and loudly; no pause to think in there. Another one of those things that just worked. He takes his time getting to releasing Raoul after the kiss; but he doesn't just sort of ramble or waste time to build up tension. He looks back to Christine, looks at Raoul - you can see him processing what's going on around him and trying to decide to do what's right, or what he wants to do.
Interestingly, Raoul was the last person left on stage before the Phantom yelled at him. Christine was out of there like a shot. Earl's Phantom doesn't chase Raoul and Christine off; he slumps in his chair and just tells them to go, with an eerie sort of calm. I died a little inside when Earl just held his hand out for the ring. Completely and utterly defeated. I felt a lot more sympathy for his Phantom tonight than last night. Probably because he was less scary, but still. He also does a good cloak sweep on the throne to hide the fact that he's disappearing.
As I said, I'll come back to this bit tomorrow when I've thought about it a bit more.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this show; the cast was completely on fire (for the most part, anyway). It was just an all-around good show. I'd say the highlights were probably Earl as the Phantom and Fiona as Carlotta, though I really enjoyed Harriet as Christine too. I may or may not have cried through most of the first act (and accidentally dug a few holes in my arm with my nails during the Final Lair). I wish I could see it again tomorrow, but oh well. It was a great time while it lasted. And the quickest stage door ever allowed me to get to writing this very quickly, so it's mostly fresh in my memory.
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