The Phantom of the Opera (Debut of the new cast, September 1st, 2014)

The Phantom of the Opera

New Cast Debut

September 1st, 2014, marked the debut of the new cast of The Phantom of the Opera in London, including new a new Christine, Raoul, Piangi, and Meg, as well as two new Ballet Girls and a mostly new ensemble. After having such an incredible cast finish on Saturday, I was wary of the new group, especially since few of them had a good track record - or a track record of any kind! I had a rough idea of what I was walking into, and I was mostly unsurprised, and disappointed, with the new cast. But there were a few pleasant surprises, and a few parts that I enjoyed about the new bunch. I should also say that I'm not giving any leeway for nerves (i.e. you won't hear me say, "I'll put that down to nerves, it'll be better next time." Nope, don't do that. There are ways to combat nerves, and regardless, it's not good to let nerves affect a performance to the point that the audience can notice it). 

Emmi Christensson
(Phantom Official Site)

The auction scene started out as normal. Liam Tamne as Raoul had a bit of weird speaking/singing going on - he was emphasising strange words and taking rather bizarre pauses here and there. The one thing I'll say for him in this scene is that he's got a very clear voice; it's very easy to hear and understand. Chandelier went up without a hitch, though for obvious reasons I wasn't feeling the usual excitement I do when it begins to rise. In Hannibal, the new ensemble looks great. Some costumes looked a bit ill-fitting (Lisa-Anne Wood's Hannibal Princess doesn't look to fit her very well and some of the BGs have bizarrely cut/fitted bodices). There are a whole host of new wigs. I didn't notice that there were new wild-women wigs, but apparently there were. Most of the BGs appear to have gotten new wigs. Some changed shade (i.e. Layla appears to have a darker wig, and there are more blondes), others kept their normal shade. Meg (Alicia Beck) was a brunette, though I didn't mind that as much as I thought I would. It's a nice colour, but it's a shame the wig was very, very flat. Christine (Emmi Christensson) also had a nearly straight wig, and it was a rather unflattering shade of blonde. I know she's a natural blonde, but the shade they chose for her wig suits neither her nor the costumes. But more on that later. Emmi also has a very weirdly cut Hannibal Bodice (and I think all the girls got new tiaras? But maybe I just wasn't paying attention before). The new Piangi (John Ellis) hasn't got a very big voice; I found it lacking in volume as well as being able to hold the notes. No sense of humour either; Piangi's supposed to be a funny character. All of the clever lines were so poorly delivered. Also, they need to get rid of his blue eyeshadow. Lara did a beautiful Think of Me as usual; I looked over at Hannibal Princess when Lara was singing and she's doing that Olivia-Christine thing where she mouths along - I think I'm going to like her Christine. when the set came down, there was the usual screaming from the BGs…. but nothing from Meg. She opened her mouth and said the line, but I only caught "….Phantom of…..Opera!" The BGs were much quieter than usual in general (I found out later that the BG who usually carries the volume in it wasn't mic'd today, so that explains that). Alicia clearly does not have a strong voice (nor do I actually find her dancing very interesting - she sort of smirked through the whole thing, and I don't even think she was standing up particularly straight - something about it just looked bizarre), so her "Christine Daae could sing it, sir!" was sort of an inaudible squeak. As soon as Emmi spoke her first line, I could tell her accent was going to be a problem. It's very, very audible in her spoken voice, and a bit in her singing voice. Her Think of Me was fine, nothing extraordinary. She was shaking (I assume nerves) and did this weird little hip jiggle on the cadenza. By this point I could tell there wasn't going to be a whole lot of acting go on (I didn't expect an established character, but I expected something), nor did I find her voice pleasant (rather shrill in some places, raspy in others, some words sounded bizarre or the notes were held in the wrong places). 

The Raoul/Christine scene and Angel of Music were nice enough; nothing special (though I did like Liam's early character development. He's made Raoul more of a self-centred jerk than I prefer, but it's not badly done). Emmi's accent was a bit off here as well (as it was for pretty much every song, unless I say otherwise). Side note: I think the BGs have new Degas costumes; those things were puffy! The Phantom of the Opera was ok. This was probably the only song where I didn't hear her accent (probably because it's prerecorded and she had a few tries to get it right). Her lip synching isn't great, but I've seen worse. I honestly only watched Geronimo during MOTN, and he was fluffing awesome as he always is (the perfect balance of creepy and charming). I Remember/Stranger were fine. I mostly watched the Mirror Bride, to be honest. Lisa-Anne Wood's picked a different position than Ashleigh and she seemed to have some trouble holding it, but I'm equating that to a lack of practice. Buquet was fine as normal, Notes was lacklustre without Cat's spunkiness and Jeremy's humour. Alicia has some cute moments (i.e. when Mme Giry dismisses her from Christine's dressing room, she stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes; it was funny), but aside from a carbon copy of Jeremy and Lara's interaction during Prima Donna, John has no merits. I didn't enjoy Emmi in Il Muto; there was just nothing to it. Alicia's costume for that scene is a bizarre colour - I probably would've gone with something more purple and a different shape of dress. Enough said about that. Loved the Il Muto Ballet as usual; the BGs seem to be a good bunch, though I would've preferred if Georgia had taken the solo part instead of Alicia. AIAOY was nothing special. Again, Liam's done quite well. Arrogant portrayal and very overacted at points, but overall it was good, and opposite Emmi's very flat portrayal, it was nice to have something more well-developed. Emmi's dropping the ends of letters off of words, and again struggling to hit the notes (well, that's what it sounds like to me. There was something off about her voice; it just didn't sound right). The chandelier coming down was sort of "I'm going to stand here with my mouth open until something happens." Not the most convincing acting. 

Liam Tamne
(Phantom official site)

Onto act 2 (yes, this is going to be a long review). Started nicely enough with Masquerade. The new Masquerade dress is pretty hideous, but it's the only colour that the new Christine wig looked nice with. I just wish they'd stop it with those horrible Elizabethan ruffs on the bodice and sleeves. They're not flattering on either Harriet or Emmi, and the costume itself looks very plastic-y. The new Triton Girl's wig is very blue. Too blue, it clashes with the costume. Despite being made 2nd cover Meg, Georgia is still the Butterfly (thankfully - I love that particular costume to bits). Danielle (goldfish) disappeared so the bane of my existence (hula girl) made an appearance. The monkey costume didn't look any different. I didn't get a good look at most of the ensemble costumes, so I can't say anything about Triangle girl et. al. Meg's costume is very unflattering on her. The skirt is far too puffy; it looks ridiculous. Cat could pull it off because she was little and cute, but on Alicia's longer, slimmer frame, it just looks stupid (there's no other word for it). It looked like Liam got in the way of two of the BGs as they nearly missed their kicks (if they'd kicked at the normal time, he would've gotten a boot up his nose). Notes II/Twisted Every Way aren't really worth commenting on. Aside from Liam, all the new people in it were mediocre at best. Don Juan Rehearsal was fine. New Passarino's laughter isn't as funny. I sort of ignored Emmi and Alicia and watched Lisa-Anne (I was pining for Olivia and she's as close as I'm going to get with the new cast). Loved her facial expressions; not overdone, but still big and funny. At least as good, possibly better than Ashleigh's. Wishing wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. The fake crying was pretty bad, but she did a nice "Little Lotte" and there were a few other moments that were quite nicely done. Still lacked emotion, but it wasn't painful to watch/listen to (still a weird voice, but oh well). Wandering Child was well done on Liam's part. I've already said it all, but he's doing a good job. I think he forgot a line as it was a bit slow coming out, but he got there in the end.

In PONR, Emmi made a lyric mistake. Instead of "To that moment where words run dry," she sand "to that moment where dreams come true." I'm not sure where those particular words came from, but I'll give her this: she didn't flinch, and if you didn't know the lyrics, you wouldn't recognise the mistake, so well done to her on that. In ending to PONR, she did a very good job trying to resist the Phantom, such that he had to grab her hand because she wouldn't hold it herself. She also did a convincing job pulling the Phantom's cloak and mask/hair off. I could believe that the Phantom wouldn't have seen it coming. I almost wonder if she forgot the choreography a few times though, as sometimes she'd get half way through a move, stop, and then rush the rest of it (the apple on the skirt… I nearly cried it was so badly done. She'll wear a hole in the dress if she keeps that up). The Final Lair wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either. Liam was fabulous (he wiggled around too much in the noose, but that might be a personal preference, and he didn't do some of the things I've loved that Antony did, but again, personal preference). Emmi was ok in this, surprisingly. She does angry better than any other emotion. Bit of an awkward moment when Geronimo grabbed her and she didn't respond the way he or I expected, so he had to throw her down a bit early. Not a fan of Emmi's wedding dress; the skirt was very limp and the bodice seems to be missing something. Too much emphasis on the shellfish bra thing. I don't mind the current style of west end wedding dresses, but I hate that shellfish bra. My main complaint about her and Liam in the Final Lair was when they were waiting for the Phantom to chase after them, that's just it - they were waiting. Standing there, arms around each other, just waiting. Emmi did do a great face when he came after them though. Total lack of emotion when giving back the ring. 

Well, that was that! It definitely wasn't a very enjoyable show. Unlike Harriet, who was just oozing potential in her early shows, I don't see anything in Emmi. Liam's definitely got a lot in him and I'm hoping he continues to give passionate performances and doesn't settle into it too much. There's nothing worse than a bored Raoul. I see potential for improvement in Alicia as well; she just need to work on her voice more; both hitting the notes and getting her volume up. No comment on the Piangi. All the new BGs seem good, though I wasn't paying too close attention to the new girls. Very good ensemble; they've got some big voices, great acting, and interesting details in their parts; most of them (especially Lisa-Anne Wood and Lyndsey Gardiner) managed to give their very short-lived ensemble characters a personality, which I appreciate. Some interesting new costumes, both nice and not-so-nice. 

I'm not going to hurry back, nor am I going to recommend this particular cast to anyone (definitely aim for a Harriet show, then you're almost guaranteed a pretty strong trio). Though it wasn't as awful as I had predicted, I didn't enjoy it very much.