Phantom From the East

Greetings once again, Phans!

Alas, a new year is upon us, and with it comes another anniversary or several -- this time, my 4th anniversary of seeing the ALW musical live for the first time (on January 3rd) and the 25th anniversary of the Broadway production (which will be celebrated with a special performance starring Hugh Panaro as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine). In my case, it's also been a time for me to play catch-up with some POTO versions that I hadn't seen before.

POTO at Palikū Theatre -- Take Two!

Greetings, everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season!

About two months ago, I got to see the Palikū Theatre production of the musical once again. That turned out to be the penultimate performance; their final one was the next day. As we'll see, the experience turned out to be an extremely special one for me.

The Phantom of the Opera - Community Theatre Edition
Palikū Community Theatre, Hawaii
Saturday, October 22, 2011 - 7:30 PM
Directed by Ron Bright

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

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.

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

POTO Las Vegas -- The Epic Review, Part 3

The final chapter... And rest assured, unlike so many third entries in a series, this one definitely doesn't suck by comparison!

Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular
Phantom Theatre at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - 7:00 PM

The Phantom: Anthony Crivello
Christine Daaé: Kristen Hertzenberg (alternate)
Raoul de Chagny: Andrew Ragone
Carlotta Giudicelli: Joan Sobel
Monsieur André: John Leslie Wolfe
Monsieur Firmin: Lawson Skala
Madame Giry: Tina Walsh
Ubaldo Piangi: Larry Wayne Morbitt
Meg Giry: Brianne Kelly Morgan
Auctioneer: Michael Lackey

POTO Las Vegas -- The Epic Review, Part 2

Here it is, after much delay: the review of the first show we saw in Vegas!

Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular
Phantom Theatre at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
Monday, June 27, 2011 - 9:30 PM

The Phantom: Anthony Crivello
Christine Daaé: Sarah Elizabeth Combs (understudy)
Raoul de Chagny: Andrew Ragone
Carlotta Giudicelli: Joan Sobel ("Hannibal") / Arsenia Soto ("Notes" to end)
Monsieur André: John Leslie Wolfe
Monsieur Firmin: Lawson Skala
Madame Giry: Tina Walsh
Ubaldo Piangi: Larry Wayne Morbitt
Meg Giry: Brianne Kelly Morgan
Auctioneer: Michael Lackey

Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular -- The Epic Review, Part 1

Hey, everyone!

As promised, I will begin posting my reviews of Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular over the next few days. I went with two fellow Phantom Phans who had seen the show there the previous year: Alex (aka Count-Alexiel-Ravenswood) and Jo (aka Sylent Phantom). After an epic road trip from the San Francisco Bay Area down to Costa Mesa and then to Las Vegas, we saw the show twice -- I attended the late (9:30 PM) show on Monday, June 27th; and then I went to the 7:00 PM show the next day. In addition, as I found out when we got there, they play the audio from the show in progress; thus, we were able to hear the earlier show on Monday (featuring Michael Lackey and Sarah Elizabeth Combs, the understudy Phantom and Christine) and the Wednesday evening show (with Anthony Crivello and Kristi Holden, the principals). In other words, we were able to at least hear if not see all 3 Christines and 2 of the Phantoms in the Vegas production. Not bad, especially since we didn't plan it that way!

Because I saw the show twice, I'll be making a separate post to review each performance. First, though, I'll post the CliffsNotes version here: Anthony Crivello was sublime; very close to Leroux's Erik, so it really surprised me to find out that he had only read bits and pieces of the novel. Sarah Combs (Christine understudy) and Kristen Hertzenberg (alternate) were both excellent, but I have to give the edge to La Hertzenberg for being pretty much exactly as I imagined Christine in the novel. Andrew Ragone made a great Raoul, the Carlottas were both a bit underwhelming, the Managers and Piangi were superb, and the Girys were awesome. From what we could hear in the lobby, Michael Lackey was also excellent and performed really well opposite Sarah Combs. Kristi Holden didn't seem like my cup of tea, but maybe if I were to see her live, I'd feel differently.

So yeah, that's the short version. Stay tuned for the longer reviews where I'll get into all the nitty gritty details. ^_^


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

The 2004 Movie... in Japanese!

Greetings once again! I hope you all had a great holiday, and I wish all my fans and followers a happy 2011! Last night, I got an interesting treat in the mail. On December 17th in Japan, the 2004 film version of POTO was shown, dubbed in Japanese for the first time. I have a friend in Japan who graciously agreed to videotape it for me and send me a copy. For some odd reason, even though I despise English-language dubs of foreign films (give me subtitles any day), I love watching foreign dubs of films that were originally in English, especially musicals. This was actually my first time watching (almost) the entire movie dubbed in another language – I enjoy listening to the Spanish and Italian soundtracks, and I've watched bits of the movie with the French audio track, but in that case, the Phantom's voice appealed to me even less than Gerard Butler's (even though he clearly had more training).

One thing to remember about shows videotaped in Japan: often, if the films were made in the US or other countries, they'll have 2 different audio tracks. Japanese TVs can switch between them, but on most American sets, you'll need to unplug either the right or left audio channel; otherwise, you'll have the English/other language and Japanese tracks talking over each other for the whole thing. In this case, the English track was on the left (red) audio channel, while the Japanese was on the right (white). Anywho, here's my review of the Japanese-language dub of the 2004 movie.

POTO: The High School Version

A little over a month ago, I had my first experience seeing a high school production of our beloved POTO. The performance was at Punahou School in Hawaii (which happens to be my sister's alma mater). I tried not to come in with too many preconceived notions of what would and wouldn't work in such a production, but let's be honest. I think everyone reading this page has seen the stage show live, or at least watched YouTube clips of one or more productions. Plus, we've had the novel, the movie version, countless cast recordings and cover versions, and all sorts of other media telling us what to expect when we see "Phantom" somewhere.

I wasn't all that worried about a high school version "ruining" POTO for me -- I had seen many school versions, some good and others bad, for many other shows, and none of those shows had been "ruined" for me, nor have any that I consider to be poor shows been "saved" in my eyes by a high-quality production, whether done professionally or by students. Plus, there have been a few POTO adaptations I disliked, but clearly, none of them "ruined" the whole thing for me. But anyway, thus ends my rant over whether a high school or other amateur production has the potential to "ruin" Phantom. I now present my review of Punahou School's production, the first amateur one done in Hawaii.

Ode to a Film Phantom

Robert Englund is one of my favorite horror film actors of all time. His movies, regardless of their quality compared to each other and to others in the genre, have always entertained me. Of course, he's most famous for playing Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series (the most recent remake notwithstanding). It's his 1989 version of The Phantom of the Opera, however, that holds a special place in my heart.

This version of Phantom was directed by Dwight H. Little and starred Englund as Erik Destler, Jill Schoelen as Christine Day, Stephanie Lawrence as Carlotta, Alex Hyde-White as Richard, and Bill Nighy as Carlotta's lover. As the names suggest, this is not a straight-up adaptation of Leroux's novel. Rather than the Paris Opera House, this story takes place in Victorian-era London. Well, the bulk of it, anyway -- there's also a bit set in modern times with a sort of reincarnation/time-travel plot device to connect the two eras. In some ways, that aspect is similar to Bram Stoker's Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, but in my view, the film overall seems to have more in common with John Badham's criminally underrated version of the classic vampire's story (which starred Frank Langella as the Count). Both are very different from the original novel in terms of plot, yet they evoke the mood and atmosphere of their respective books in a way that's perhaps more faithful than the vast majority of other adaptations.

Happy Phanniversary to Me!

Sorry 'bout the lack of post-age lately . . . I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year's celebration, and I wish health, happiness, and prosperity to you all for 2010.

Today, January 3rd, is my one-year anniversary of seeing the ALW musical live at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco! To celebrate, here's the review I wrote up of the performance shortly after coming home from my trip.