Review: PotO at RAH

[ladycdaae]

Everyone else seems to be posting their reviews of the Royal Albert Hall concert, so why not jump on the bandwagon? Here are my disorganized thoughts, entitled:

Comments

[ensign_beedrill]

I feel like I'd seen that documentary before. Maybe as an extra feature on the movie DVD. Or maybe I'd just seen all the same people say all the same things before.

And okay, WTF was up with the faint? In the absence of the mirror bride, what prompted it?
I thought it was a bit odd too, but then thought about it and I figured if I had a mysteriously captivating man singing thus to me, I might have a hard time staying on my feet, too.

Buquet's death was pretty awesome. It was cool to see it coming, with dramatic looks at Buquet up in the flies and Poto sneaking up on him.

The chandelier, I’m told, was much more effective live
That's good to hear because I was feeling underwhelmed. I was hoping to have that thing just crashing down.

And was that a note of genuine pity in Carlotta’s “She’s mad!”?
I really liked the way that came across.

What do you call it when he keeps bringing out hints of the character then stops before you can be drawn in
I call it a tease. Or, as we say at Olsen, teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. I don't like how the three voices in that scene became a jumble and you couldn't understand them all. I was real excited to see that Raoul was going to be singing his part, because I'd never seen it but heard it on the recording and liked it. But... I was disappointed.

I liked Christine's parting and didn't think of it in the context of the sequel at all. I thought it was so sweet.

His "soar" on MotN was so toe-curlingly good it was worth the price of admission in and of itself.
Hell yes. I feel I could have melted.

But that guy with the fluffy hair made me cringe. Yikes. Not the Phantom at all to me.

[ladycdaae]

The actual last moment between Christine and the Phantom was very nicely done, but AIAOY was a bit too...sad for my taste, I guess. Not that this is a sunshine-and-puppies moment in any event, but Sierra just looked utterly defeated (part of this could be the camera angle--maybe if I could see her face more it would play differently) and I don't think that's the last impression we should have of Christine--more like the strong, mature woman she has become finally facing her life with confidence. One of my acting profs in college always warned us against leaving an audience too depressed, and I thought this particular interpretation didn't carry the element of hope and "rightness" that it should.

~LCD