the only time ive seen poto was in mid/late 2019 - it was the asian world tour. does this tour count as the "brilliant" original hal prince direction? or should i feel like a hypocrite by saying that ive seen the og staging haha
Listen, I know I'm one of those people who have been really touchy about what is or is not the "brilliant original", so I'm probably the last person who should say this. But I gotta say, the obsession I'm seeing with whether one has seen "the original" or not, here and on other places like Facebook, is getting kind of worrying. Like, you are not a better or worse phan for never seeing the original! You have not (hugely) missed out for not seeing the original! You are not a hypocrite for saying you saw it or didn't! Take it from someone who has only seen the restaged tour and Broadway post-changes: I'm not stressing about it, why should you?
Also, at this point, what counts as the "brilliant original" anyway? The show has had multiple changes over the years, and yes, that was before the COVID shutdown. By that standard, then the only way you could have seen the "original" was by viewing Japan pre-2019, because that's the only production that didn't include any changes for decades (and that's if you manage to get a theater where they didn't use the Pegasus statue - yes, that started in Japan for theaters that had too little space for the Golden Angel). Or what if it was directed by Hal Prince but had multiple changes anyway, like the Las Vegas production? What does that count as? Korea, meanwhile, is probably as "original" as productions can get, but it does have some altered 'Masquerade' choreography. Still the "original"?
Anyway, for the World Tour - there were some changes made to it, most notably the stationary Golden Angel statue and the flattened chandelier, lovingly nicknamed the "2delier". Are those technically changes? Yeah. Does it still count as the "brilliant original"? I dunno, maybe? Maybe not? Would anybody besides the most hardcore phan even notice the changes? Probably not! What do you say if people ask if you've seen the "original"? Just tell them you saw the World Tour. (If you want to be specific, say it's the 3rd World Tour or something.) Let them figure it out! Be the agent of confusion and chaos you've always aspired to become.
Especially in Hannibal slave girl costumes, Serafimo costumes, Star Princess dresses and Aminta dresses. I think I found all the differences, but I'm delaying uploading the post just in case :)