*waves at flist*
How are things in your pinpoint of the world?
Yesterday, I had the chance to meet up with alliecat8 and holycitygirl for lunch, and it was so lovely! Not as much time to catch up with Lee as I would've liked (*pouts*), but I had a little more time with Allie, since I rode up to the big city (*snorts*) with her so we could see The Phantom of the Opera!
I'd seen Phantom 8-10 years ago, and time around, the show was definitely better, IMHO. I don't know if it's the influence of the film version, or that the production I saw 10 years ago was kind of anemic, but I felt like this one packed in a lot of tension between the Phantom and Christine, sexual and otherwise, that I wasn't expecting. You really did feel that even if she went with Raoul at the end, it was the right choice but yet there was something he couldn't give her that only the Phantom could, although it was nothing that could neatly be summed up as sexual, spiritual, or emotional.
Not that Raoul was a slouch. I mean, he's got to be the most colorless character in the history of fictional characters. His only job is to be rich and pretty and have a clear voice that blends well with Christine's. But (because of the overall direction of the production, I think) the actor playing Raoul at least put some energy into what he was doing. You believed that he was at least attempting, in a tie-and-tails kind of way, to be badass. It didn't hurt that he was tall and not half bad to look at or that he ran around with his sleeves rolled up during the last scene. :)
(Of course, a lot of the energy in the triangle might've been conveyed through things like, oh, I don't know, the long, drawn-out spit swapping Christine did with BOTH of them. I don't recall that much clutching and kissing when I saw it before.)
The only disappointment Allie and I could pick out was the chandelier. It did okay at the beginning: lots of pyrotechnics, everyone squealed, the music came up, the thing ascended, and it was exciting. But they just sort of pulled it up to this nice, safe, rather neutral spot above the orchestra pit. (When I saw Phantom way back when, the damn thing was swung out over the audience.) But, really, it's not so much the placement of the thing that was lame. It was kind of anticlimactic when the Phantom brought it down in what was supposed to be the big move to end Act One. It just floated soundlessly down on its little thin lines and swooped prettily onto the stage, as if it were just an accident that wouldn't cause anyone any more trouble than wearily hoisting it back up. Not much sense of doom there. I can't imagine that people who hadn't seen the show before weren't also a little disappointed.
But, really, overall the production was well done. All the secondary characters were well-performed. (I was actually amused and entertained by the Opera scenes, which are the ones easiest to zone out on.) At times, I found it hard to make out words (which might've been an acoutical problem), but their tone, especially in the big group numbers, was wonderful. I was skeptical of the Phantom at first; it's always hard for me to tell how he's going to do from his early sturm-und-drang numbers, but by "Music of the Night," I was totally sold. He had a lovely voice, with just enough gravitas to handle the angry stuff. (The actor apparently played Raoul for years, actually, if you can imagine that.) And they made him look pretty damn hideous, too.
I'm always a lot less enthralled with Christine than I am the guys (shocking, I know *snorts*), but this one had a great voice. I preferred the quality of it when she was "off-stage" singing than when she was singing as Christine in her Opera roles, but at least it makes perfect sense that they would be slightly different voices. And though I kept thinking she seemed old (mature?) to me (hello, Emmy Rossum!), I had to remind myself she wasn't. There's no reason she should seem as tiny and blonde and young as the last Christine I saw. But she sold me on Christine being genuinely enamored with and simultaneously horrified by the Phantom.
Obviously, I could ramble all day. I'm gonna have to buy the soundtrack again (it was in a batch of CDs that got stolen a couple of years ago). But the nicest part of the day was getting to talk shop with the girls again and catch up on their lives. I don't think I tasted my food, I was chattering so much. I wish you all could meet them. :)
Yesterday, I had the chance to meet up with alliecat8 and holycitygirl for lunch, and it was so lovely! Not as much time to catch up with Lee as I would've liked (*pouts*), but I had a little more time with Allie, since I rode up to the big city (*snorts*) with her so we could see The Phantom of the Opera!
I'd seen Phantom 8-10 years ago, and time around, the show was definitely better, IMHO. I don't know if it's the influence of the film version, or that the production I saw 10 years ago was kind of anemic, but I felt like this one packed in a lot of tension between the Phantom and Christine, sexual and otherwise, that I wasn't expecting. You really did feel that even if she went with Raoul at the end, it was the right choice but yet there was something he couldn't give her that only the Phantom could, although it was nothing that could neatly be summed up as sexual, spiritual, or emotional.
Not that Raoul was a slouch. I mean, he's got to be the most colorless character in the history of fictional characters. His only job is to be rich and pretty and have a clear voice that blends well with Christine's. But (because of the overall direction of the production, I think) the actor playing Raoul at least put some energy into what he was doing. You believed that he was at least attempting, in a tie-and-tails kind of way, to be badass. It didn't hurt that he was tall and not half bad to look at or that he ran around with his sleeves rolled up during the last scene. :)
(Of course, a lot of the energy in the triangle might've been conveyed through things like, oh, I don't know, the long, drawn-out spit swapping Christine did with BOTH of them. I don't recall that much clutching and kissing when I saw it before.)
The only disappointment Allie and I could pick out was the chandelier. It did okay at the beginning: lots of pyrotechnics, everyone squealed, the music came up, the thing ascended, and it was exciting. But they just sort of pulled it up to this nice, safe, rather neutral spot above the orchestra pit. (When I saw Phantom way back when, the damn thing was swung out over the audience.) But, really, it's not so much the placement of the thing that was lame. It was kind of anticlimactic when the Phantom brought it down in what was supposed to be the big move to end Act One. It just floated soundlessly down on its little thin lines and swooped prettily onto the stage, as if it were just an accident that wouldn't cause anyone any more trouble than wearily hoisting it back up. Not much sense of doom there. I can't imagine that people who hadn't seen the show before weren't also a little disappointed.
But, really, overall the production was well done. All the secondary characters were well-performed. (I was actually amused and entertained by the Opera scenes, which are the ones easiest to zone out on.) At times, I found it hard to make out words (which might've been an acoutical problem), but their tone, especially in the big group numbers, was wonderful. I was skeptical of the Phantom at first; it's always hard for me to tell how he's going to do from his early sturm-und-drang numbers, but by "Music of the Night," I was totally sold. He had a lovely voice, with just enough gravitas to handle the angry stuff. (The actor apparently played Raoul for years, actually, if you can imagine that.) And they made him look pretty damn hideous, too.
I'm always a lot less enthralled with Christine than I am the guys (shocking, I know *snorts*), but this one had a great voice. I preferred the quality of it when she was "off-stage" singing than when she was singing as Christine in her Opera roles, but at least it makes perfect sense that they would be slightly different voices. And though I kept thinking she seemed old (mature?) to me (hello, Emmy Rossum!), I had to remind myself she wasn't. There's no reason she should seem as tiny and blonde and young as the last Christine I saw. But she sold me on Christine being genuinely enamored with and simultaneously horrified by the Phantom.
Obviously, I could ramble all day. I'm gonna have to buy the soundtrack again (it was in a batch of CDs that got stolen a couple of years ago). But the nicest part of the day was getting to talk shop with the girls again and catch up on their lives. I don't think I tasted my food, I was chattering so much. I wish you all could meet them. :)