Monday, April 14, 2014

Phantom News - April 2014 Edition

Greetings, all!

As I mentioned in my last post, there's been quite a bit of exciting news related to POTO in recent months. One big one is that there's a Kickstarter page by a small studio working on an animated POTO film based mainly on Gaston Leroux's novel. I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out. They're trying to raise funds and make some changes and adjustments to make it even more faithful – they've even taken some advice from Phans to make their depictions of certain characters and settings more accurate. If you'd like to see what this project's all about, check out the website and view the trailer! I highly encourage you to try to contribute if you're able, as well.

There's also been some very exciting news from the Broadway production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Last month, it was announced that Norm Lewis, who recently starred in Porgy and Bess and played Inspector Javert in the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables, will be taking over as the principal Phantom on Broadway starting on May 12th. Norm will be the first African-American actor to play the Phantom on Broadway. There had been two other black Phantoms previously -- Robert Guillaume played the role in Los Angeles in 1990 (immediately following Michael Crawford), and Nicholas Nkuna understudied the part in the World Tour when it played in South Africa in 2012. In any case, though, Norm will be making history in New York, and I couldn't be happier; I know he's been wanting to play the Phantom for quite a while now, and I think he's a fantastic performer. Also on May 12th, Sierra Boggess will be returning as principal Christine; she famously played Christine in the filmed 25th anniversary concert in London, and also played the role in Las Vegas in 2006 and on Broadway for the 25th anniversary performance there last year. Amusingly, Norm and Sierra had starred in The Little Mermaid (as King Triton and Ariel, respectively). Check out a video interview with Norm done on ABC's World News, as well as a clip where he practices "Music of the Night" with the composer at the piano, and an article with the Daily Beast where he talks about issues of race in musical theatre. I'll be posting my own thoughts on those kinds of issues in the near future.

Finally, the new US Tour is going around the country now and has gotten a wide range of reactions. As I mentioned this tour is quite different from the older tours that some of you may have seen; the sets and costumes were changed, as was the stage direction. After reading reviews from several professional critics and Phans, I'm personally not as keen on the tour as I had been previously, but I'd still be interested in seeing at least a full video to see how the production works as a whole.

In any case, those are some of the big things going on in the world of Phantom right now. Hopefully, good news will keep coming!


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

Saturday, April 5, 2014

A Decade of Phandom

Greetings, everyone!

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post here -- almost a year, in fact. The reasons for that are mainly due to being rather busy with school and life in general, but there was also a period last summer/fall where I just wasn't feeling it anymore; I couldn't get enthusiastic about POTO the way I had before. I'm not sure exactly what caused it or what brought me back into the Phandom around late November (though I have some ideas on both that I'll get into in a future blog post), but the main thing is that I'm back now!

It occurred to me that this past March marks ten years since I first got into POTO. (The thrilling tale of when and how can be found in my introductory post from way back in the day.) A lot has changed in the world of the Phantom in the last decade, but some things have remained more or less the same. And POTO has led to quite a few changes in my life and how I see myself, as well.