The Phantom of the Opera (Monday, June 24th, 2013)

The Phantom of the Opera

This is my sixth time seeing Phantom; third within the last eight months. Each time, it has been a very different experience. Twice, I saw Anna O'Byrne as Christine, whom I admire so much it's not even logical. She's just a fantastic person. Anyway, she unfortunately left the show to work on Barnum just last Friday, which I was devastated about. Instead, I saw the brand new Christine alternate, Olivia Brereton, as well as Marcus Lovett (whom I had also never seen before).

This night was, in short, magical. I walked in with not many expectations; I had heard that Olivia was good, but I adored Anna's performance so much that I doubted I would much like her replacements. Thankfully, I was so, so wrong.  Olivia, while not perfect, was nothing short of outstanding. There are certain timing issues that will be worked out with practice, and I'm honestly not a fan of Christine's who don't do pointe (although I understand that not everyone can, but part of what I loved about Anna is that she was a decent (en pointe) dancer. From my perspective, Christine can't be a terrible dancer. They would've kicked her out of the opera if she was). Anyway, small me-being-nit-picky issues aside, Olivia was wonderful (she's moved to #2 on my list of favourite Christines). She has these moments that are hard to describe, where she almost completely breaks down, but not quite... whatever it is, it's heartbreaking. I nearly cried at the beginning of Wishing because of one of these 'moments'. I can't really describe what she does; it's almost like choking up, but not quite. Anyway, it's beautiful and powerful. The other thing about Olivia is she is the only person to have been able to pull off the Dressing Room scene with Raoul in a way that I liked. To me, that scene is the most awkward, worst written part of the show, but Olivia and Antony Hansen played it such that Raoul and Christine were instantly familiar and comfortable with each other. The usual awkwardness of the scene disappeared, and I loved that. A final thought on Olivia; I hope she stays longer than just until the Cast Change. I'd love to see her develop more; I see so much potential in her Christine that it would be a huge loss to the show if she only played her until the end of August. Something I'd heard about Olivia via tumblr is that she overacted; I didn't think this was the case at all. I think it was Layla Harrison who said that she was very natural on stage; I think this is a very accurate description. While she didn't play Christine as passionately as Anna, her performance was very believable. There wasn't a moment when I doubted the character. 

Marcus Lovett with Sofia Escobar

I had mixed expectations of Marcus; so many people had said he was a bad singer and actor, while others had said he was incredible, so I went in with a very confused head. I don't understand the people who said he couldn't sing or act; he's not got the strongest voice I've ever heard, but there's nothing wrong with it either. His boat-pushing isn't very convincing either, but aside from that, I loved him! Between him, Olivia, and Antony, I was sobbing during the Final Lair. I've hardly shed a tear in Phantom before; maybe a few during Anna's last Wishing, but that's about it. I was full on bawling during the Final Lair, which took me entirely by surprise. Also, I swear he was staring right at me during I gave you my music. Scariest/most awesome thing EVER. He also stood right up in the angel as it was going back up; I thought he was going to fall out of it. An awesome effect; it really added to the Phantom's reckless character. Anyway, back to Marcus. I don't really have too much to say about him; he was quite good, a great Phantom (like Olivia, he is also moving to #2 on my Favourite Phantoms list). I'd definitely love to see him again as well.

There were some glitches in the show, but I LOVE glitches. It shows what performers can do when things don't go quite right. Anyway, in this show, Christine's Aminta dress ripped (I think when Marcus sat on it by accident), the veil was being extremely stubborn during the final lair (sorry Olivia, but I don't think that veil likes you very much), and Carlotta's scarf accidentally caught on her costume and she walked off with it right before Think Of Me. There were a couple others that I can't remember right now, but anyway, as I said before, I love bloopers and glitches. They make a show I've seen multiple times so much more interesting.

Also, I need to go back to the Final Lair for a second. I've seen this show so many times that I watch it from an analytical, theatre critic's perspective as opposed to actually getting very involved in the story. It's the same issue with Wicked (which I have now cried during twice, mostly thanks to Gina Beck). But in the Final Lair with Olivia, Marcus, and Antony, I lost myself in it. My heart was pounding, tears were running down my face - I don't know what it was about it, but this final lair hit me more than any other has. While I'm talking about the Final Lair, special mention to Antony for full on belly-flopping onto the stage when the noose was cut. One, that must have hurt. Two, that was brilliant and effective. Three, OUCH. And four, I love this Raoul. I'm team Raoul usually, even though I'm not fond of him in general. Antony did a very good job making me actually like Raoul, so props to him. 

As well, special mention to Layla Harrison, who played a Ballet Girl today but is my favourite Meg. She danced beautifully today, as did all the Ballet Girls (a side note: I want my own white tutu. Those things are gorgeous!) I actually love watching the Ballet parts of Phantom (I love watching Ballet on youtube; Miko Fogarty is my favourite dancer to watch, but I love the Children of Theatre Street documentary as well), and I guess they were three dancers short today, but it looked lovely anyway. Also to Lara Martins, who is my all time favourite (and most viewed) Carlotta. She's hilarious! 

And now, it is 1:30 in the morning and I really should get my butt to bed (even though I'm doing nothing tomorrow). Any questions about the show or about Olivia, just ask me on Twitter! (@ElizabethRGFS)*

*(A note on my username, RG stands for Rhythmic Gymnastics, FS is for Figure Skating. These are my two favourite sports in the world, and both major parts of my life).

A next day addition: Something else I liked about Olivia was kind of strange, but when am I ever not strange! Anyway, part of what I loved about Olivia is her look; she's not perfect. She doesn't have perfectly straight teeth or a perfect pointed nose or extremely skinny legs. But she's still extremely beautiful. As I said, it's sort of a weird thing to notice, but as someone who is extremely self conscious of her worst features, it's a huge confidence boost to see someone who doesn't have the stereotypically perfect features, but is still ridiculously beautiful. Odd thing to comment on, but there you go.