Monday, October 31, 2011

Hallow's Eve

Greetings, everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic Halloween, and that you have something fun planned for tonight. I'll once again be at the annual Halloween parade downtown... Looking forward to seeing what kinds of characters will be prowling the streets this year.

Last weekend, I got to see POTO at Palikū Theatre again. That turned out to be their penultimate performance; their final one was the next day. And as it turns out, there were quite a few surprises in store. I found out that some cast members had discovered my review from last time I saw it (you can see comments from Johnny Reed and Tom Holowach, who played Ubaldo Piangi and Monsieur Lefevre, respectively), and were apparently impressed by it. I got a tour of the backstage area and a chance to meet several of the actors to congratulate them in person. I'll post a review of that experience shortly... Promise!


I remain your obedient servant,
I.A.E.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

London's POTO at 25

As of today, the original London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has been playing for 25 years at Her Majesty's Theatre. 25 years is a remarkable milestone for any work of art, and so last week, the classic about a mysterious masked man had a celebration befitting its status as the second-longest-running musical in the history of British theatre. The celebration consisted of three epic performances at the Royal Albert Hall, and though all were filmed, the third was streamed live to movie theaters around the world so that Phantom Phans everywhere could share in that magnificent moment.

I didn't get to see the live broadcast on Sunday, sadly... but lucky for me, my local movie theater was one of those that would be re-screening the event. I went to see it on Wednesday night, and although the ticket price was double that of a regular film, it was worth every penny. I won't be posting a scene-by-scene review like I have for other performances, but here are my thoughts on the cast members and the overall performance.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

POTO at Palikū Theatre

Greetings, everyone!

As promised, here's my review of the community theatre production of POTO I saw a couple weeks ago. Let's just say it was quite an experience, and one I'm glad to have had, especially so soon after seeing the Las Vegas production, which I think could be the definitive "official" production of the show. As we'll see, this could be the definitive "unofficial" production for quite a while, for many reasons.

The Phantom of the Opera - Community Theatre Edition
Palikū Community Theatre, Hawaii
Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 7:30 PM
Directed by Ron Bright

The Phantom: Miles Wesley
Christine Daaé: Lydia Pusateri
Raoul de Chagny: Kyle Malis
Richard Firmin: Doug Scheer
Gilles Andre: Leonard Villanueva
Carlotta Giudicelli: Jaime Craycroft
Ubaldo Piangi: Johnny Reed
Madame Giry: Marlise Ahuna
Meg Giry: Madison Eror