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.

There was much chatter in Phan communities about whether it was appropriate to have Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, most well-known for playing the main roles in POTO's controversial sequel Love Never Dies, to headline the concert celebrating the original show. I had my own misgivings, mainly because I hadn't really been fond of what I'd seen and heard of them in the original show (Ramin in the London cast and Sierra in Las Vegas), but I gave them a chance in the hopes that they had improved since the last time they had been in the original show. Boy, was I glad I did.

When I first heard clips of Ramin Karimloo understudying the Phantom, I thought that although he sounded a bit young and inexperienced, he had a lot of potential. When he took on the role full-time, though, his Phantom went through some changes that rubbed me the wrong way -- Ramin began playing him as an autistic man, but his performance came across more as a bad stereotype of autism (causing his performance to vary between being uncomfortable and downright hilarious to watch). He also tended to hit more wrong notes than right ones when singing the score and had more of a "rock star" persona than a "Phantom" one onstage. Those things combined with fears that he might bring in some of the sequel's character derailment made me more than a little apprehensive about his performance being the one that people around the world would see in movie theaters, not to mention on DVD and Blu-Ray for years to come.

His performance at the anniversary concert, though... wow. He thankfully nixed the "autism" angle and instead went for a more subtle and nuanced performance. The advantage to seeing the performance in the movie theater (or eventually on your own DVD/Blu-Ray player) is that he tended to make more use of facial expressions than a conventional theatre actor. Unlike some of my other favorite stage Phantoms, he didn't make me think of Leroux's depiction of the Opera Ghost. However, his new interpretation struck me as excellent in its own right. He did still slide off-key a bit on some sections, but was overall far better about staying in tune than he had been before. And thankfully, he didn't try to downplay the Phantom's violent tendencies; this was a man you could truly believe Christine would fear and pity, but eventually learn to love in her own way. Because of that, I think his best scenes were "Stranger Than You Dreamt It," the "All I Ask" reprise, and the final lair scene -- pivotal scenes that the Phantom absolutely has to get right for the performance to work. So yes, bravo to Mr. Karimloo for delivering a performance that truly impressed me (and several other Phans I'm friends with who are also very picky about their Phantoms).

As for Christine, Sierra Boggess was sublime. Vocally, she was superb and made those high notes soar like they should. (Her only issue there was her tendency to seemingly add an 'R' sound to many of her vowels.) Like Ramin, though, acting was where she really got to shine; she was great all around, but at her best when she got to show how emotionally damaged Christine was. Scenes like "Twisted Every Way," the graveyard, and the final lair scene were her best, I thought. One of the only issues I had was that in the final lair scene, she seemed to be singing the final "All I Ask" reprise to the Phantom rather than Raoul. That was probably more the decision of director Laurence Connor than Sierra, though, and I don't think many of us can blame her given how Raoul was portrayed in this performance... oh, but I should leave that for the next paragraph.

Hadley Fraser had never played Raoul (or been in a cast of POTO at all) before this performance; he apparently got in due to being a close friend of Ramin Karimloo. I liked what I'd seen/heard of him in Les Misérables a lot (he had played Marius and then Javert in the London production and Grantaire in last year's 25th anniversary concert for that show), so despite his lack of experience with POTO, I thought he'd give a good performance -- surely it was better than getting yet another LND actor, right? Unfortunately, LND seems to be the angle from which the director was looking at how Raoul ought to be portrayed, and Fraser seemed to bring more of Javert than Marius into his performance. To call this version of Raoul a selfish, arrogant asshole wouldn't be too far off the mark, sadly, and it was especially disappointing to me after seeing how sympathetically Raoul was portrayed in the community theatre production I saw recently.

In Fraser's hands (though I'd lay far more blame at the feet of the director), the young Vicomte was clearly not in love with Christine (though he might have thought he was); thus, in the scenes in Christine's dressing room and on the rooftop, he looked as if he clearly didn't mean a word he was saying. Something's wrong if in "All I Ask of You," Raoul just looks annoyed with Christine most of the time. There were a couple of people at my screening who I could hear applauding when the Phantom caught Raoul with the Punjab Lasso, and although I'm generally against Raoul-bashing, this time, I couldn't blame them. It's not hard at all to imagine this version of the Vicomte descending into the drunk, abusive gambling addict of LND, so if that's what director Laurence Connor was aiming for, I extend my congratulations to him, along with a sincere wish that he never attempts something like that again. The two redeeming factors as far as Fraser's Raoul is concerned are that his singing is decent and they did emphasize the bit where he tackles the marksman to keep him from potentially shooting Christine by accident near the end.

The rest of the cast was excellent. Wendy Ferguson played Carlotta since the original pick, Keira Duffy, was ill. Wendy was brilliantly funny and also gave Carlotta a good amount of emotional depth, and she sometimes hit notes far above what was required of the character. Barry James, one of my favorite theatre actors, played Firmin as a sleazy drunk -- an interesting take, I thought. Gareth Snook played Andre and looked quite a bit like a young Frank Langella... I was glad to see that the managers were given distinct personalities. I also liked Wynne Evans as Piangi; though some Phans found his comedic additions to be more annoying than funny, I thought they were great. Liz Robertson, sadly, gave a very one-note performance as Madame Giry -- she played the character decently but was nothing special, and I found her singing to be a bit annoying. Daisy Maywood made a likable Meg despite looking older than Sierra Boggess. I was glad to see that the director didn't bring obvious touches of LND to the Girys the way he did with Raoul. I was also pleased to see some POTO alumni I knew playing minor roles -- former (superb) London Phantom Earl Carpenter was the Auctioneer, original Carlotta Rosemary Ashe was the Confidante in the "Il Muto" scene, and more! Check out the full cast list here.

In addition to the cast, the production design was spectacular. The chandelier was the one from the 2004 movie. Despite that it looks nothing like the one in the real Paris Opera House, it made a certain amount of sense; the standard London/Broadway chandelier would have been too small, and I doubt they'd have been able to transport and set up the one from Las Vegas for that short a time. It also didn't rise and fall, but instead shot off fireworks at certain points. The sets were just phenomenal, particularly for the Opera House roof and the "Masquerade" scene. It made heavy use of projection screens, but I didn't mind that too much (though they did get noticeably pixellated on closeup shots). Also, after the show, one screen briefly cut out and was showing static for about 30 seconds during Andrew Lloyd Webber's closing speech. Which brings me to the special, extra things they did at the event...

The movie theater showing began with a documentary about the making of the musical (actually stitched together from 2 or 3 documentaries that had been made in the past). After the main part of the concert, Andrew Lloyd Webber gave a speech about how phenomenal it was to see his work performed at the Royal Albert Hall. (To those of you who've been avoiding seeing the concert out of fear that ALW would bring up LND, not to worry -- the sequel gets no mention except for a commercial before the concert, promoting the upcoming movie theater/DVD/Blu-Ray release of the Australian production.) ALW also welcomed all the members of the original London cast of POTO who were still with us, and he gave a nice tribute to those who had passed on (including original Raoul Steve Barton and original Mme. Giry Mary Millar).

After most of the original London cast took the stage, Lord Lloyd Webber brought up just one more member who had arrived late to the show because he had been performing in The Wizard of Oz earlier that night -- the original London Phantom, Michael Crawford, who stood next to original Christine Sarah Brightman. Then Sarah sang the title song from POTO together with Colm Wilkinson (original Phantom in the Sydmonton and Toronto productions), Anthony Warlow (original Australian Phantom), John Owen-Jones (current London Phantom), and Peter Jöback (who will take over the role in London starting next March). Wilkinson, Warlow, Owen-Jones, and Jöback then sang "Music of the Night" together with Ramin Karimloo and the full chorus. (Everyone except Jöback was superb; I certainly hope the next London Phantom will improve greatly before he starts playing the role for real.) The cast clearly intended the song as a tribute to ALW, Michael Crawford, and Sarah Brightman -- there was a really sweet "passing of the torch" moment between the originals (Michael and Sarah) and the newcomers (Ramin and Sierra).

Anyway, the concert was a fantastic event. While by no means perfect, it did impress this jaded Phantom Phan, and I will be buying the Blu-Ray (and probably the CD as well) when they're released next February in the US. (Phans in the UK get to have them next month -- not fair!) Once I have it to own, you can bet I'll be rewatching it whenever I need a Phantom fix, I can't make it to a live show, and YouTube videos just aren't cutting it. In any case, if you haven't seen the concert yet and can't wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray release, you have one more chance to catch it in movie theaters -- it will be showing one last time this Tuesday, October 11th, at many locations. (Though sharp-eyed Phans may be able to find this concert on YouTube already, or so a little birdie told me.)


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