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cestlefantome · 8 months

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POTO Italy review

Ok, that’s gonna be a very long post. My synthesis capacity is clearly lacking but I really wanted to put down to paper all the details possible from the Italian production before my memories faded. If you don’t want spoilers, better stop reading this now.

First of all, let me tell you that I absolutely love the Brilliant Original and that I’ve never seen a non-replica production before (except for the 25th anniversary, which I consider a non-replica as it is missing key elements from the original). I was very skeptical of the Italian production after seeing the bootlegs and photos posted on TikTok and also listening to the audio of the first show sent by a friend of mine who was there for the first show. I spent the first week of the run moaning about all the changes and how cheap the production looked, so my expectations were very low. I really thought I was going to hate it. Even Ramin didn’t impress me in the bootleg audio, and if you know me, you will know how much I love his Phantom. That was the state of mind I was in before seeing the first show on July 11.

I am an experienced traveler but arriving in Trieste was a strenuous adventure even for me. It took me 3 flights (the longest one was 11 hours long) and a train, a 30-hour journey in total (and 32 hours to get back home). I stayed with a friend from London in an Airbnb on the same street as the theatre, a three-minute walk. We were really lucky in that regard. The whole city was celebrating Phantom, it was a great happening to them, with many store windows with Phantom-inspired decorations.

The Il Rossetti (Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia) was built in 1878 and heavily restored 3 times, the last one in 1999. It sits 1,531 people and it is stunning with a beautiful ceiling mimicking the sky that can light up as stars. It has an opera house atmosphere which I think is very appropriate for staging Phantom. The original theatre chandelier looks tiny though. We were surprised to find out that there were no rows 1 and 2, so we were closer to the stage than we thought. That was indeed a very pleasant surprise. I saw the show 8 times, from July 11 (the first show of the second week) to 16 (the last show), including both matinees. I sat twice in the first row (in reality numbered as row 3), one of them on the right side and one on the left side of the stalls. Sat 4 times at the second row (numbered as row 4), all of them on the left side of stalls, and twice on the third row (numbered as row 5), one of them on the right side of stalls. The stalls are divided into left and right with a central corridor. I will say that for this specific production, and because of the revolving stage, the seats on the left can have a restricted view in at least two crucial scenes, depending on where you are seated (most specifically as you get the farthest from the center, but not so bad if you are seated near the central corridor).

As you enter the auditorium, the whole stage is blocked by a huge mirror wall written "Phantom".

At the beginning, they had a recording of Ramin saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to MY theatre. Consider this your first and only warning. Recording or taking pictures during MY show is strictly prohibited. Should these commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination will OCCUR (a low sinister laughter). Enjoy the show.”

When the auditorium goes dark for the show, there’s a flash and a very loud sound of shattering glass, as the mirror wall is lifted to reveal the auction scene. The auction is set at the Opéra Populaire dilapidated and abandoned auditorium. There’s a very cool backdrop of the destroyed boxes and only a partial ceiling, revealing the sky and the Eiffel Tower in the background, with birds singing. The covered chandelier is in the back, near the auctioneer who is standing on the ground and not higher as in the original production. The chairs are arranged just like in the real auditorium, with two rows of chairs on each side with a central corridor. The people attending the auction have their backs to the audience, so in a way, we feel as if we are part of them as well. Old Raoul doesn’t have a wheelchair, he is seated in a normal chair like everyone else. He still has a nurse by his side. I’m pretty sure old Raoul wasn’t played by Bradley Jaden, but by the same actor who played Monsieur Lefevre (Jeremy Rose), wearing a beard. I think that was a nice touch because it looked way more realistic to have an older actor instead of a younger one with not very good makeup.

Fun fact, in lot 664, the wooden pistol and three human skulls from the 1831 production of “Robert Le Diable” by Meyerbeer was replaced by only one human skull. The Monkey music box is very similar to the one from the 2004 movie, wearing a green vest, a red waistband, and a red Fez hat. When Lot 666 is to be revealed, the auctioneer walks to the side and turns an old electricity knife switch that is part of the “backstage” wall of the revolving stage (lateral side of one of the boxes). The chandelier is revealed and the whole theatre goes dark as it is then illuminated in tiers, according to the overture playing (I love this part, it always makes me cry). In the few seconds in darkness, the chairs are removed from the stage to prepare for the next scene, in the past. As the chandelier rises, we can see actors and ballerinas coming into and going from the stage in slow motion. It was a very clever way to represent the restoration of the Opera Populaire to its full glory. During this scene, the revolving stage rotates, and we have a first glimpse of Joseph Buquet (Matt Bond) going up a side spiral staircase with a noose in his hand. Madame Giry crosses the stage looking at him. On the side, Christine and Meg appear talking, also in slow motion.

In this production, the revolving stage acts as a stage within the real stage. From one side it shows as the front of the stage, with the footlights and a prompter box. The back of it is the backstage view, with old black brick wall, a spiral staircase on one side, a hidden door, and the knife switch on the other end. On each of the sides there are three tier theatre boxes and behind each of these boxes there is part of a wall with a window and a curtain for the Manager’s office and on the opposite side, it is Christine’s dressing room set. This revolving set also has a beautiful, decorated ceiling where the chandelier hangs. A very clever set in my opinion.

The stage then stops facing the audience, the Hannibal backdrops falls in place as Meg and Christine leave and Carlotta enters the stage to sing. Carlotta was played by Italian Opera soprano Anna Corvino, and she is fantastic and a very extra and funny La Carlotta. I loved her voice (even though she was trying to sound bad) and how dramatic she was. She was also very nice at stage door.

The stage during Hannibal looks very crowded, because everything happens within the revolving stage limits (because they have to be behind the footlights). The backdrops, costumes, and choreography are all different from the original, but it didn’t bother me, and they didn’t look cheap at all, just different from Maria Björnson’s. There’s no elephant, instead, they have an open sedan chair carried by two people. There are 6 slave girls (counting with Christine) plus the slave master, Christine is on stage dancing from the beginning of the scene, and at one time, she loses her balance and falls on stage after which Madame Giry calls her out “Christine Daae, concentrate girl”. I had the distinct impression that, except for the slave master, none of the girls had ballet training, especially not the actress playing Meg (Zoe Nochi). She had a horrible posture, certainly not one for a trained classical dancer. If it was an acting choice, it was a weird one.

Monsieur Lefevre comes with Messieurs Firmin (Ian Mowat) and Andre (Earl Carpenter). Monsieur Reyer is hidden in the prompter box, we never get to see him. Piangi was played by Italian tenor Gian Luca Pasolini and he has an incredible voice but was a bit stiff on stage. Maybe he was supposed to be like that, I don’t know. It’s not a bad thing, but he doesn’t stand out much, except when he is singing. When he steps inside the sedan chair, the two guys carrying it have a really hard time suspending it until its floor breaks due to Piangi’s weight. It was funny and made up for the missing elephant at the end of Hannibal. Monsieur Lefevre seems overly joyful when he announces he is retiring.

The part in which La Carlotta sings “Think of Me” to Monsieur Andre is also very funny. She’s over dramatic and as he approaches her, she actually spits on his face when singing “Spare a THOUGHT for me” and Andre has to clean it with his hand. Earl’s face at that moment was hilarious, he was born to play Andre. Then the backdrops fall, and Meg comes forward to sing “He’s there, the Phantom of the Opera” and when Firmin replies “Good heavens! Will you show a little courtesy? Mademoiselle, please!”, she actually challenges him with a sarcastic smile on her face, until Madame Giry pulls her back. I will say I didn’t like Meg in this production. Her voice was very harsh and annoying, and I didn’t like her attitude in general, with the exception of one scene.

When Andre asks if there is an understudy for La Carlotta and Monsieur Reyer replies “There is no understudy Monsieur, the production is new”, Meg literally pushes Christine to the front saying “Christine Daae could sing it, sir”. Christine almost loses her balance again. That was a choice because it happened in every single show. Christine then starts singing very shyly and when she tries to leave the stage, Meg comes forward, holds both her hands, and encourages her to keep singing until she is confident enough to sing with her full voice. I really liked that added moment between the two friends. A curiosity, there was no scarf for Elissa, so indeed Christine was a bit more restricted in her (lack of) choreography and sang more or less standing, facing the audience, not much different from the 2004 movie. While Raoul sings his part, the stage rotates 360° so everyone can see him in the box with Andre and Firmin (no Madame Firmin) as well as a view of Christine as seen from “backstage” and that is when Christine moves the most on stage, she does a quick choreography similar to the one she does at the back of the stage in the original production at this very moment.

I have to say that before seeing the show, I told many of my (poor) friends (who had to deal with my moaning for over a week) that Amelia was, in my opinion, the weakest link in the cast, as she had no previous experience and I didn’t like any of the videos of her singing posted previously (not the ones with Ramin in NY and not the ones on her own YT channel). Well, I learned that we should keep our harsh opinions to ourselves after we see the show in person. We can’t judge someone’s talent by a video filmed in a living room, a crappy bootleg, and even worse, by other’s opinions. I personally loved Amelia Milo’s Christine. She has a beautiful, strong voice, is very sweet and both her face and voice convey a lot of emotion. Her voice also blends beautifully with both Ramin’s and Bradley’s. Both men have very powerful voices, and none held back but she just kept up with both, her voice was never drowned by theirs. Bradley Jaden is a very attractive Raoul (he has long hair and wore it in a low ponytail, except for the final Lair) and also has a big, strong voice. He was an overall enjoyable Raoul, at least in my opinion (I’m still team Erik all the way), although at times he seemed very annoyed but in the end, I think it worked and I’ll explain later why.

The whole scene with the ballerinas surrounding Christine, and she holding the big flower bouquets and bowing with her back to the real audience while the curtain closes doesn’t happen in this production. Monsieur Reyer doesn’t appear talking to her either while the ballerinas rehearse in the background. When the Phantom sings “Bravi, Bravi, Bravissimi”, she is already in her dressing room changing to the dressing gown, which looks similar to the one from the original production, except for the sleeves. Ramin’s “Christine” sounded a bit harsh for me. In the 25th anniversary, he sings her name pianissimo, like a caress, so that was something that I didn’t quite understand, because he was supposed to be happy after her successful debut, but it sounded (to me) like he angry.

As I said before, Christine’s dressing room is located behind the boxes on one side of the revolving stage. It consists of a dressing table, a chair, and a huge, tall mirror that sits above her dressing table. When she sits down to change her ballet shoes, there is already a single red rose on her dressing table, from the Phantom. Christine stands up when Meg comes in and she gently makes Meg sit while she sings “Angel of Music”. For most of the song, Meg keeps touching everything on her dressing table and not paying much attention and is sitting in a very unladylike way, not like I would expect a ballerina to sit. Madame Giry comes in, tells Meg to leave, and gives Raoul’s note to Christine.

The scene where Raoul walks to Christine’s dressing room in the company of Messieurs Andre and Firmin (and his wife) was cut, but depending on where you were seated, you could see Andre, Firmin, and Raoul talking in the very back during “Angel of Music”. Raoul then comes to her dressing room (no rose or champagne bottle) and when she recognizes her childhood sweetheart and hugs him, the two sconces positioned on each side of the mirror flicker. Both Christine and Raoul notice it, Raoul looks particularly intrigued, although he doesn’t miss a beat on his part. That was another small change that I enjoyed. We know the Phantom is not happy. The dressing room scene is one of the two scenes I mentioned that have a partially restricted view for those sitting on the left side of the audience. When the revolving stage rotates after “Think of Me”, it stops at an angle, facing the right side of the audience. For the most part, the view is ok. But as Raoul leaves and the Phantom appears in the mirror, his image can’t be seen by at least half of the theater audience. That was a very unfortunate choice by the production, I can’t believe no one sat in different parts of the auditorium to make sure everyone could see this crucial scene. We can only see Erik when he steps out of the mirror and extends his hand to help Christine climb the chair and the dressing table and enter the mirror with him.

I was lucky to be able to see the full scene at least half of the time but was still annoyed by the times I couldn’t see him. Ramin looks amazing inside the mirror. By the way, when he appears in the mirror, Christine knees down and extends her arms as in prayer for her Angel. I absolutely loved this scene, which made it even worse that I couldn’t properly see it every night, even though I had excellent seats very close to the stage. The title song staging is very cool. After entering the mirror, the revolving stage rotates again and stops with the backstage facing the audience. They appear crossing the dark stage from right to left and then a hidden door at the backstage wall opens and they come out from it. The Phantom then comes forward to the edge of the orchestra pit to get a lamp. He reduces the intensity of the lamp light; turns back to get Christine and they go down a stair in the pit. They then appear at the top of the spiral staircase on the right side of the stage (the same we saw Buquet earlier) and descend until they reach the boat (a gondola) and cross the stage, reaching his lair.

The boat stays on the left side of the stage, while a massive organ comes up from the floor in front of the conductor and then slides a little to the middle of the stage. At the same time, a 4-poster bed and the monkey music box appear on the right side. A backdrop of the cellars appears in the back. There are no candelabra or candles in the Phantom’s lair, except for some in the organ. While they are in the boat, there is some dry ice effect and a bluish light, to mimic the lake. The background reminded me of an artwork from Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Carceri d’invenzione) that is mentioned in one of my Palais Garnier books. It is not as spectacular as the original production, but it is still magical, and impressive. Ramin’s Phantom is particularly shy in this production. Except for holding hands (which many times you can notice his shaking), he hardly touches Christine. For “Music of the Night”, Christine is standing on the left side of the stage, near the gondola, where she sings her high E. Erik then plays his organ dramatically (“I have brought you to the seat of sweet music's throne (…)”. He is standing and looks at her. A bench then slides on the stage, and he sits down, facing the audience and with his back to her. He has music sheets on his hand. He sings part of Music of the Night while seated and hardly acknowledges her, but you can see he is very nervous. He stands up only when he sings “turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light and listen to the music of the night”. He slowly approaches her from behind, but when he sings “darkness of the music of the night”, she runs to the opposite side, but then she stops near the bed when he sings “Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world!”

When he approaches her again, he takes a candle from the organ and immediately after he sings “Only then, can you belong to me”, he blows the candle in her direction. You can see some kind of powder and then she is in some kind of a trance. He comes behind her, but he doesn’t really touch her, she is the one to rest again him while he sings “Floating, falling, sweet intoxication! Touch me, trust me savor each sensation!” and she touches his hand and his face very gently and he slightly leans into her hand until he sings “Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write the power of the music of the …”. She faints, he holds her, closes his eyes for a second, looks at her and sings “night”. He then gently places her on the bed and covers her with his cloak and walks around the bed while singing “You alone can make my song take flight, help me make the music of the night”.

I know some people have been pretty vocal about the candle part and him “drugging” Christine and taking away her “consent”. I respect those who felt uncomfortable with this scene, but honestly, I much prefer this to that creepy mirror bride with the likeness of Christine, which implies that maybe Erik does “things” with the mannequin. Even though he did put her in some kind of trance, the way I see it is that they were both overwhelmed and he was bidding his time, without not really knowing what to do and maybe trying to postpone the hard conversation ahead of them, having to explain why he lied about being an Angel. He never touches her inappropriately (before or after the candle), he never approaches her while she is sleeping, and the scene between the candle blow and her fainting takes about 40 seconds (yes, I tracked the time). I’m not saying it is right, but then we will have to discuss if it is right to bring her to his home in the first place, unchaperoned. Is it really much worse than drugging her with chloroform like in the book or hypnotizing her with his voice? Those were different times and men tended to think and treat women as their property. Right or wrong, at least the Phantom was a gentleman.

After Music of the Night, the stage went dark for a few seconds. Erik took off his jacket and moved the bench closer to the organ (no Mandarin coat and hat). I didn’t mention it before, but he has pretty much the same outfit as in the original, except that his waistcoat is white silk with a chain clock (he also wears a red lining black cloak with a shoulder cape with no embellishments and no fedora hat). When the lights go back on, he is sitting on his pipe organ playing, his back to the audience. The music box then starts to play. Erik looks at the Monkey and does the same movement with his hands as if he was playing the cymbals too. A small detail but one that I loved it. He then is back to composing. Christine wakes up and begins singing, he looks at her and is back to composing for a few seconds, but when she sings “Whose is the face in the mask?”, he watches as she gets up from the bed and he stops composing. He then turns on the bench, facing the audience, but he sits at the very end of the bench and starts fiddling with his hands, with his head down, very shy, without really knowing what to do. She approaches him and sits on the bench very close to him, his hands are shaking, he closes his eyes, and she touches his face, and he leans into her hand, so trusty and vulnerable and that’s when she tears the mask from his face. He immediately screams and turns his back to the audience, leaning against the organ while cursing. She tries to escape to the boat, but he goes after her and yanks her from it, and she falls to the floor. When he sings “Curse you”, he sits on the bench, still covering his face with his hand and he actually chuckles and starts singing back again a bit more menacing while he approaches her again, she crawls to the opposite side and then he collapses on his knees and sings “this loathsome gargoyle, who burns in hell, but secretly yearns for heaven, secretly. secretly.”.

In this last part, he sings almost sobbing. The part “But, Christine. Fear can turn to love you'll learn to see, to find the man behind the monster, this repulsive carcass, who seems a beast, but secretly dreams of beauty, secretly. secretly” He sings with so much despair, except for the words monster, repulsive carcass, and beast, which he sings with anger. It’s heartbreaking. The whole time after the unmasking, Christine hardly breaks eye contact with him. Bonus points for her, as most Christine cowers in fear. After her initial shock during his cursing, she looks more regretful than afraid. He covers his head with both hands, bends down, and rocks like a small child while sobbing. She approaches him slowly and tries to touch him and he flinches and sobs a “No”, his voice bears so much fear at this moment, that it seems as if someone is trying to beat him. He then moves his body away from her, still rocking. This whole scene was devasting and the best I’ve ever seen so far. She then extends her arm to him, holding the mask, he looks at her still afraid but takes the mask and puts it on his face, breaths, recovers himself, stands up, and says “Come we must return those two fools who run my theatre will be missing you”, He seems resigned, not angry anymore. Thank God there was no creepy crawling, which is something about this scene in the original that I dislike.

The scene then shifts to the backstage of the opera, while the revolving stage rotates to show Buquet on the top of the spiral staircase with the noose in his hands, singing his part about the O.G. to the frightened ballerinas. Madame Giry arrives and sends the ballerinas away while singing her part “Those who speak of what they know find, too late, that prudent silence is wise. Joseph Buquet, hold your tongue he will burn you with the heat of his eyes.”. At the same time, Buquet comes down the stairs. He comes really close to her, his face is inches away from hers and he actually threatens her with the lasso. She doesn’t even flinch. He starts laughing like a maniac as he leaves the stage.

The stage rotates again to show the manager’s office. That part is about the same, except that the Managers seem to be a bit annoyed with Raoul, and Raoul looks particularly annoyed with La Carlotta, and he is even rude to her. While the conversation between the managers, Raoul, Carlotta, and Piangi is happening, those sitting in the right side can see that Meg is seated on the stage floor in the background, playing with Buquet’s lasso. I have no idea how she got it, but she even has it around her own neck until Madame Giry sees her and takes the lasso away. Meg then follows Madame Giry to the manager’s office where Madame informs everyone that Christine is back and shows them the new Phantom’s note. There are a few amusing moments involving the managers and La Carlotta. The trio is responsible for most of the funny scenes. They start singing Prima Donna in their office but then everyone moves to the stage (as the stage rotates again) to sing the last part “Light up the stage with that age-old rapport! Sing, Prima Donna, once more!”. We then listen to the Phantom threatening them “So, it is to be war between us! If these demands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur!”, while they sing “Once more!”.

For Il Muto, there is no bed, in fact, there’s no furniture at all on the stage. They have a backdrop very similar to the 2004 movie, with a fake balcony in the middle. Raoul is in Box 5 and Firmin and Andre are in the opposite box, drinking. They both seem to be a bit drunk. Meg is not on the stage. Besides the Countess and the Maid/Serafimo, there’s only the hairdresser, the Jeweler, and the Confidante. Don Attilio is much younger and is not a bass. He is also not so funny. When Don Attilio and the Countess both sing “Addio!” they both hold the note for ages. Don Attilio then leaves and hides in the fake balcony. Christine rips off the maid's skirt to reveal herself as Serafimo. Everything is alright until we hear the Phantom’s voice say, “Did I not instruct that Box Five was to be kept empty?”. Meg then invades the stage out of nowhere, in her Degas-like ballerina outfit to sing: “He's here, the Phantom of the Opera”. Everyone looks terrified. Madame Giry pulls Meg from the stage.

Everything happens as in the original production. The Phantom says “A toad, madame? Perhaps it is you who are the toad” and Carlotta panics. She calls for her dresser that brings that throat spray, just like in the movie. On her way back, she takes away the maid’s skirt, so when they play the scene again, Serafimo has no skirt, like in the original. When Carlotta starts to croak and seems to be losing her voice, chaos breaks loose, Raoul jumps onto the stage, Carlotta leaves crying, Christine runs to Raoul and Firmin announces that the role will be played by Christine. At this, she looks at Raoul in panic and both leave the stage, while Andre goes to announce the ballet. He has a bottle of champagne and a flute glass on his hands and this scene is particularly funny. Earl Carpenter is indeed the perfect Andre. The ballerinas come to the stage, no Sylvan glade costumes, they are all wearing the regular Degas ballerina costumes. The scene happens more or less the same way, but it’s a different choreography, and twice the Phantom swings across the stage in a rope, laughing. The third time, the rope swings with Buquet hanging. The Phantom swinging across the stage wasn’t necessary but I enjoyed the way Buquet hangs, it was way more realistic than the dummy they have in the original production; I believe it is indeed the actor playing Buquet in that scene.

The scene then changes for the rooftop. They have a raised rooftop for the scene and Christine is already there in her dressing robe when Raoul finally climbs the stairs singing “Why have you brought us here?”

The whole scene reminds one of the domes in the Palais Garnier, below it, you can see a structure that reminds the arched structure that supports the main dome above the auditorium and that houses the chandelier counterweights. There’s a backdrop of Paris, partially showing one of the Angel statues and you can also see Notre Dame in the background. The rooftop scene is very different from any version that I’ve seen so far. Raoul is terrified from the height and also because Christine is dangerously close to the edge. Christine is frantic, walking from one side to the other. The only time she seems a bit calmer is when she sings “But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music in my mind. And through music, my soul began to soar! And I heard as I'd never heard before. Yet in his eyes all the sadness of the world. Those pleading eyes, that both threaten and adore.” But then she hears his eerie “Christine” and is immediately frightened again. Raoul tries to pull her from the edge many times and she refuses his touch every single time. In fact, she hardly looks at him, It’s like she is going mad, and she looks suicidal. At one point, Raoul just sits on the edge of the rooftop with his legs out and very slowly moves closer and ends up calming her. It’s one of Raoul’s cutest moments in this production. Christine doesn’t look much at Raoul, she sings most of All I Ask of You looking at the horizon like she is singing to (or thinking of) someone else. Only at the very end, she looks at him and they kiss.

When they leave the rooftop by the same stairs, the spotlight illuminates where the Phantom is seated hidden in the shadows, just below where Raoul and Christine are (no big hat with black feathers). He looks devasted and furious at the same time. He comes to the edge of the Orchestra pit to sing “You will curse the day you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you!”. The chandelier then lights up behind him in the dome structure. He goes to the chandelier and lights it on fire, climbs on top of it, he has some kind of knife on his hand, and he seems to be cutting some of the cables that hold the chandelier. The chandelier then is pushed to the back and when he screams “Go”, it swings to the front of the stage with Ramin on it, while real fire lights up at the very edge of the stage near the Orchestra pit and the lights go down. This was one of my favorite scenes in the musical. Even though I love the chandelier falling over the audience, this scene was spectacular and very impressive as well.

The second act begins with two people fully covered and hooded in Venetian carnival cloaks (a nice touch considering it’s an Italian production). They are standing in front of the mirror screen (the same that was covering the stage at the beginning of Act 1)) and light spots illuminate each of them briefly while they move closer to each other until they meet and show themselves as Firmin and Andre. Andre is wearing his usual tailcoat under the cloak (no skeleton costume), but Firmin reveals a pink bow gown. They leave the stage laughing and happy, the mirror screen opens and reveals the empty auditorium with the chandelier lowered and Meg seated on the floor below it, wearing a monkey music box costume and pretending to be playing the cymbals. Although cool, I didn’t understand why she would be wearing this specific costume. As for the lower chandelier, it is obvious that the Masquerade ball is the inauguration of the new chandelier, as it is raised during the celebrations. There is no great staircase in this production, but in the book, the Masquerade happens in the Grand Foyer and in real life, it usually happened in the auditorium (they would remove all the seats and have wood planks covering the floor to protect the carpets). The ensemble enters the stage one by one, all of them wearing Venetian cloaks and masks in different colors. They are all dancing with mannequins dressed similarly and as they dance, they look like real people, because they move their heads to face the audience, just like the actors. The ones not wearing Venetian cloaks for Masquerade are Andre who took his down at the beginning), Firmin, who is in the pink ball gown, Madame Giry in her usual black costume and a mask, Meg in her Monkey outfit, Raoul in a tailcoat and a silver mask (which he takes off almost immediately) and Christine, who is wearing a beautiful off the shoulder cream satin gown, that reminds me a lot of Chirstine’s wedding dress in the 2004 movie.

At some point, part of the actors on the stage leave and stand in different parts of the auditorium with the audience, Firmin and Andre stand near the first row almost in the middle, there are others that stand near the exits of the auditorium and some in the boxes around the theatre. Christine and Raoul stand just in the middle of the stage and gold and silver confetti falls from the ceiling over the stage and the first few rows of the theatre while they sing Masquerade. It’s a visually very beautiful scene. Then comes Red Death. And I’ll say I was prepared to hate this scene because Maria Björnson’s extravagant, over-the-top Red Death is one of my favorite costumes in the show. In this version, the Phantom wears just a red velvet cape with a hood covering his face. On his hands, the Don Juan score. He looks very much like the figure of a reaper, like the original artwork of Edgar Allan Poe’s Red Death. Raoul and Christine immediately leave the stage. As the Phantom sings “Here I bring the finished score, Don Juan Triumphant!”, Andre approaches him to get the score, but Raoul comes running and prevents him from getting closer. People surround Red Death, he has his back to the audience at this moment and they rip off his cloak but there’s no one underneath it, the Phantom is gone.

Then, a spotlight illuminates Christine and someone all covered in black standing in the auditorium near the first row, inches from the audience and the Phantom takes off his hood and sings “Your chains are still mine; you belong to me!”. I was lucky to be seated front row once, just in front of where they stood. In fact, I noticed that as they both approach their positions, Raoul looks at them and tells them to stop and wait. It gave me the impression that Raoul left Christine in the care of this person, without knowing it was the Phantom, and he is as surprised as everyone else when he sees it’s in fact the Phantom. I already knew it would happen, because it was my last show, but it was incredible to see Ramin as the Phantom standing so close that I could actually touch him if I tried. Since Ramin wasn’t on the stage during this scene, his part was pre-recorded, with the exception of the very last line he sings to Christine.

Immediately after this scene, the auditorium is empty, except for Raoul sitting on the floor, looking bewildered. When he sees Madame Giry and calls her, she says “Monsieur, don't ask me. I know no more than anyone else”, he asks very calmly “That’s not true. You've seen something, haven't you?”. She then replies “I don't know what I've seen. Please don't ask me, Monsieur”. That’s when he stands up and shouts at her face “Madame, for all our sakes”. She then explains what she knows about the man locked in the cage of so many years ago. At this point, they have a background illuminated as the silhouette of a traveling fair, which reminds me of Love Never Dies Phantasma. I like these small details connecting both stories.

The second manager’s scene shows that at this point everyone is on edge, Firmin and Andre are annoyed with the whole O.G. thing, as well as Carlotta’s antics and also at Raoul's permanent presence at the Opera house barking orders. Christine is behind Raoul with the Don Juan score in her hands. She has an aqua dress with small roses embroidered. It was my least favorite of her costumes, to be honest. It wasn’t ugly and I believe it was period-appropriate, it just didn’t stand out to me. Carlotta kept challenging Christine the whole time (while Raoul just stood there like an idiot) and at some point, Christine couldn’t stand anymore and came face to face with Carlotta while singing “How dare you! You evil woman! How dare you!”. After the Phantom’s new note brought by Madame Giry, Christine seems very distressed, especially after Raoul suggests having her as bait to catch the Phantom minutes after assuring her that the managers couldn’t force her to sing. He even has the audacity to put both his hands on her shoulder while he sings “but remember we hold the ace”. This disturbed me way more than the candle thing with the Phantom during MOTN.

While all of them are speaking at the same time, Christine stands up and is even more distressed with the whole situation, and finally collapses on her knees while pleading “Raoul, I'm frightened, don't make me do this. Raoul, it scares me, don't put me through this ordeal by fire. he'll take me, I know. we'll be parted forever. he won't let me go”. While she sings this, everyone in the room is looking at her, except for Raoul, he has his back to her, his hands resting on the manager’s table and he looks really annoyed and frustrated. Only when she starts singing “What I once used to dream I now dread. If he finds me, it won't ever end” he finally faces her but just stares like everyone else. When she cries “and he'll always be there, singing songs in my head. he'll always be there, singing songs in my head.” Carlotta looks at Raoul and says “She is mad”. Only then does he finally kneels down near her and sings “You said yourself he was nothing but a man. Yet if he lives, he will haunt us till we're dead”. She then stands up and moves away from Raoul, and she sounds angry while singing Twisted every Way. Raoul comes closer to her, puts his hands on her shoulders to have her face him (again), and sings gently but very forcibly at the same time “Christine, Christine, don't think that I don't care, but every hope and every prayer rests on you now.”. He then holds her by the waist and leads her against her will to the auditorium (while the stage rotates again) and has her seated with the score. She just looks at him resigned. She clearly doesn’t want to do it. Raoul just stands there, looking at her to make sure she won’t run away, and then shouts to no one in particular “So, it is to be war between us! But this time, clever friend, the disaster will be yours” and leaves the stage as Don Juan rehearsal starts.

The Don Juan rehearsal happens more or less the same way as the original, but instead of the piano just playing alone, it also spins on the stage. Monsieur Reyer was supposedly coordinating the rehearsal from behind the piano and at one moment, we see his arm raised, but when the piano spins, there’s nobody there. Chaos breaks loose as everyone starts to fight. The rehearsal scene is the other scene which is a bit restricted to people seated on the left side because the stage stops at an angle facing the right side of the audience too.

As the violins start playing, Christine stands up and goes to the back while the stage rotates again. As she emerges on the front of the stage (that finally stops rotating), she has her cloak and is holding a single red rose. She walks towards the edge of the stage and in the background, we see the silhouette of the people fighting in slow motion during rehearsal, throwing chairs and things like that, a total mess. Then the graveyard backdrop falls, and Christine is alone on the stage as snow starts to fall and we hear the bells. There is no Daae mausoleum, which never really made sense to me, as they weren´t rich. She sings a good part of the song kneeling down in front of the conductor, as if in front of a simple grave or headstone. She even has the rose resting on the ground as she sings. When she finishes (her Wishing is fantastic) and is ready to leave, the Phantom with raven wings appears illuminated by a single spot behind the backdrop while singing Wandering Child. Christine seems totally mesmerized by the vision of him as an Angel, she sings back to him on her knees with her arms raised, as in prayer, and starts moving towards him when he sings “yet your soul obeys”. As he starts singing “I am your Angel of Music”, he rises from the ground.

The whole time, the Phantom is very aware of Raoul’s presence and becomes more agitated and angrier by the minute. When Raoul manages to shake Christine out of her trance, it culminates with the Phantom fully rising to the sky, maybe 10 meters or more from the ground, and instead of the pitiable fireballs from the original production, he commands lighting and very loud thunder effects. At the very end, he shouts “So be it! Now let it be war upon you both!” and flies down as to attack Christine and Raoul while a thunder sound explodes loudly, and the stage goes dark. That was another favorite scene of mine. Say what you want about it, I’ve always had this canon of the Phantom as a black-winged Angel, so to see my idea turned into reality on the stage by my favorite Phantom was truly incredible.

We are then back to the stage of the Opera house, Raoul, Andre, Firmin and the chief of the Gendarmerie are on the stage and the Gendarme with the gun is in a box, with the audience, instead of the orchestra pit. The Chief of the Gendarmerie shouts, “Are the doors secure?” and someone replies back “secure” only once, there’s no sound of slamming doors from all around the auditorium, which makes way more sense, because soon after, the Phantom sings “Let the audience in”, which would be impossible with all the doors closed.

As they leave the stage, the revolving stage shows the silhouette of the actors in Don Juan from the backstage until it fully rotates and stops facing the audience. The backdrop falls and it is very similar to the one in the original production. Piangi’s Don Juan outfit is somewhat similar too. Passarino’s outfit is different from the stage musical though. The first time I saw an image of this scene, I absolutely hated it, I’m so used to the black hooded cloak that I couldn’t understand the yellowish-brown cloak and big hat. But it makes sense with Passarino’s outfit, that it’s about the same color. So, when Don Juan changes his red cloak and hat with Passarino, it makes sense to have the Phantom dressed as so. The more I watched the show, the less it bothered me. There is really no right or wrong, this scene doesn’t even exist in the book, only in ALW’s version. At least it makes more sense than the outfit he wears in the 2004 movie when he doesn’t even try to disguise himself.

Christine’s outfit reminds me of Emmy’s outfit in the movie, and she even has the basket. When the Phantom comes out singing, it is the voice of Piangi that we hear. It is supposed to sound like the Phantom mimicking Piangi’s voice to perfection. This had me very confused when I first listened to the audio from the first show my friend sent me. I knew it didn’t sound a bit like Ramin, but at the same time, it was supposed to be him singing and my brain was so confused. Only when he starts singing “Past the point of no return -no backward glances (…)” it shifts to Ramin’s voice. I believe that’s the exact moment when Christine realizes it’s him and not Piangi. She even looks at Raoul at this point.

This scene is very interesting because Erik acts as if very much in control while he is singing, but as soon as Christine is singing, he looks very nervous and even terrified. He sits awkwardly and doesn´t know what to do with his hands, they are shaking, and Christine acts very provocatively and touches him a lot. By the time she sings “In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining defenseless and silent”, she has her leg almost on top of him, and after “And now I am here with you: no second thoughts, I've decided, decided”, she is already seated across the bench facing him, while he seems even more nervous, seated facing the audience. By the “Past the point of no return -no going back now (…)” she forces him to look at her by holding both his hands, and when she sings “When will the flames, at last, consume us?” they both stand up, she leans her back on him, they are both still holding hands. He slowly sits down again, bringing her to sit on his leg while they both sing “Past the point of no return the final threshold, the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn. We've passed the point of no return”.

The whole scene is very sexy. At this point, she actually tries to kiss him, but he pushes her away and moves to the very end of the bench, opposite her. He then takes off the hat revealing himself on stage. Everyone gasps, including Christine, but I believe she is shocked because she wasn’t expecting him to show himself like that. The stage is invaded by the police, the managers, Madame Giry, and Meg. Raoul immediately jumps from box 5 to the stage and tries to reach the Phantom, but Christine prevents everyone from getting near him. He starts singing All I Ask of You reprise, very softly, looking at the floor and fiddling with his hands. At that moment, I think he believed it was his last chance to win her willingly, he is very vulnerable, and there are lots of people pointing guns at him, but he keeps seated, the way he sings is truly heartbreaking, it is a pleading, his last chance to be happy. He then stands up and puts the ring on her finger and she betrays him, pulling his mask and wig. His scream is painful, and he just catches her and flees the stage with her under his cloak. Piangi is not dead (which I appreciate because his death is pointless). We see Piangi in the background, on his feet, being helped by two men while Carlotta cries out his name.

Firmin is hysterical shouting “We are ruined Andre, ruined”. He is holding a lantern. Andre faces him and holds the lantern too. He shakes his head in an affirmative way, silently telling Firmin that there is only one thing they can do. They both release the lantern, initiating a fire that ultimately destroys the theatre. I believe they did it seeking for some kind of insurance. I prefer this to the idea of the Phantom being responsible for all the destruction.

Madame Giry calls Raoul and leads him to the same staircase near the orchestra pit from where we see Erik and Christine descending in the journey to the lair during the title song. She doesn’t go with him. Meg is not with them either.

The scene changes to the Phantom and Christine in the gondola, on their way to his lair, and he is totally unhinged at this point. His humor shifts from totally devasted (and almost crying) to very angry and violent. Christine is still wearing Aminta’s outfit. Erik hands her a veil and a wedding dress, but she never gets to change. He doesn’t sing “That fate, which condemns me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh. This face, the infection which poisons our love” angrily as in the 25th anniversary, he sings very softy, almost as if he is about to cry. The same happens when he sings “This face, which earned a mother's fear and loathing. A mask, my first unfeeling scrap of clothing”, it is all very shy and sad until the “scrap of clothing” part, when he touches his face in disgust and sings these last few worlds more harshly.

Christine sings “This haunted face holds no horror for me now” and he looks at her almost hopeful, but then she says “It's in your soul that the true distortion lies.” And he shakes his head in disbelief. But then he senses Raoul’s presence, puts his hand over Christine’s mouth, and says “Wait! I think, my dear, we have a guest!”.

Raoul is crawling from the lake and the Phantom pulls him inside by his hair, throws him on the ground, towers over him with his feet on each side, and slowly bends over Raoul while singing “And now my wish comes true, you have truly made my night!”. Raoul seems as terrified as Christine and manages to crawl away from him, hiding near the bed. The Phantom then grabs Christine (sometimes the Phantom would grab her by the neck, but not always. Not my favorite part) and Raoul starts to plead for him to free her until Erik says “be my guest” and releases her. He always looks at his hand, as if he regrets his action. Christine runs to Raoul and they both embrace each other until Erik comes and puts the lasso around his head. He then climbs on the bench and pulls Raoul about 1 meter from the ground. This scene is very impressive, and I believe that’s the reason why Raoul is shirtless because we can’t see any harness and still, he is literally hanging by his neck. Of course, there’s a trick here and if you are close enough, depending on where you are sitting, you can understand how they are able to do this scene, but it is still way more impressive than the original and makes the whole situation much more dramatic, as we see Raoul struggling to breath for a good time.

On the last Sunday matinee, the mechanism to raise Raoul didn’t work, so his feet were on the ground the whole scene. It actually took a bit for Ramin to realize it wouldn’t work (he tried more than once). To compensate, he was way more aggressive and gave Raoul a really hard time. I have to say that from the moment Erik and Christine arrived at the lair, he looked already defeated. He knew he lost his last chance during Don Juan. We could see on Ramin’s face and body language that he knew he ruined everything. It was very clear, especially at one point while he sat on the side of the gondola and looked at Christine trying to free Raoul, but even before that. He had nothing else to lose at this point, he was literally fighting for any paltry crumbs. That’s his state of mind when he sings “You've passed the point of no return”

Christine furiously replies “Angel of Music, you deceived me. I gave my mind blindly.” At that, he approaches her like a predator, lifts her chin with one finger, and says very slowly and menacingly “You try my patience. Make your choice!”. Christine is shaking and crying while this happens. He then moves away from her. She looks at him, and then at Raoul struggling and kisses the Phantom after singing her lines. During the second kiss, she touches his deformity. He doesn’t touch her during the first kiss, during the second one, he puts his hand over hers. In some of the shows, he was the one to break the kiss. In others, it was she who ended it, but it was always him that moved away from her, totally overwhelmed, and crying, touching his lips. At this moment, he looks at Raoul, hanging limp and Christine follows his gaze. When she realizes that Raoul looks lifeless, she tries to swallow a sob. They both look at each other. She doesn’t move, she just keeps still staring at the Phantom with tears in her eyes. He looks from her to Raoul, shakes his head, he is still touching his lips as he approaches Raoul, looks at her again, pulls him down, and yanks the lasso from his neck while singing “Take her, forget me, forget all of this. Leave me alone, forget all you've seen”. Raoul has hardly any strength left to move. The Phantom brings the gondola to near where they are, and Christine practically drags Raoul into it and he collapses in the boat.

As they leave, the Phantom is the one who collapses on his knees, crying with the veil on his hands. The Monkey starts to play. Erik takes the music box from the bench at the foot of the bed and puts it on the ground next to him and starts singing Masquerade. In some of the shows, Ramin’s voice broke (on purpose) when he sang “Hide your face so the world will never find you”. He then senses Christine, but he never looks back at her, I think he knows it is pointless, but he sings “Christine, I love you” anyway. She is crying too, so she leaves the ring on the bench near the bed (where the monkey was) and leaves. He looks at the monkey very sadly and only then, looks back and reaches for the ring. He puts the ring on his finger, holds the veil again, and rocks like a child, crying, while she and Raoul sing on their way out. He then stands up and sings “You alone can make my song take flight. It's over now, the music of the night”.

That’s when he hears the mob coming. He sits on the bed and half covers himself while crying and rocking. Madame Giry arrives at his lair and sees him. They both look at each other and his face is incredibly sad. They both reach for each other with their hands from afar. The mob comes closer. She silently tells him to hide. He lies down and covers himself with the bed sheet. The mob arrives and Madame Giry points in the opposite direction, to give him time. When they finally notice something moving under the sheets, an armed Gendarme points the gun to the bed and pulls the sheet, but they find only his mask. The Phantom is gone. Meg takes the mask and gives it to Madame Giry and the spotlight illuminates it on her hand instead of Meg’s. I really enjoyed this change, because it clearly shows that they were indeed friends, and it makes more sense if you think that in Love Never Dies she admits she helped him escape.

And that was it. I love this production very much, all the changes were very clever, and even the ones some people found tacky, I enjoyed seeing them live. The show as a whole works very well and it is still visually beautiful. I have to say I never had a clear view of the Phantom’s deformity, despite having sat in the first row twice. Even the one white eye, I only noticed after checking my curtain call photos. Ramin said he was practically blind from that eye due to the contact lens. Considering that most people didn’t notice it, I wish they would just disregard this detail.

#phantom of the opera #the phantom of the opera #ramin karimloo #erik x christine

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