The Phantom of the Opera: April 27th 2013 evening performance review
The Phantom : Hugh Panaro (last performance before his summer break)
Christine: Samantha Hill
Raoul: Kyle Barisich
Meg: Kara Klein
Madame Giry: Ellen Harvey
Carlotta: Michelle McConnell
Piangi: Christian Sebek
André: Richard Poole (u/s)
Firmin: Tim Jerome
With Greg Mills as Joseph Buquet understudy, Jeremy Stolle as Passarino and Elizabeth Welch as the Hannibal Princess.
I started trading. I’m seeing tons of bootlegs. So yeah, I’m gracing you with reviews.
[More under the cut... (and lots of Samantha Hill fangirl crush)]Until the time I saw this bootleg, I had only got snippets from Samantha Hill’s Christine and really liked what I saw. Of course, I waited to see a full show of her before really giving my opinion on her.
And I’m happy to say she’s now among my favorite Christines.
Her face is just so wonderfully expressive - when she smiles, for instance, she just does it in such a genuine way. There’s always something going on with her, which reminds me of Gina Beck, but while the fan nicknamed Queen of West End Christines has a certain tendency to overact, it’s never the case with Sam. Her interpretation joins the ranks of the childlike Christines; I mean, seriously, she was so cute I really felt like cuddling her at times, especially when she would get Raoul’s letter and be all worry about it, as if she knew her “Angel” wouldn’t be too happy about it but not being able to resist afterwards, and when she had that huge billion dollar smile while opening her arms to Raoul during All I Ask of You!
I also liked her relationship with Hugh Panaro’s Phantom. I have to say she seemed frightened of him more than anything else. She would follow him like an obedient, too confident child to his lair for the first time, and, later, when she would fall under the Phantom’s spell during Music of the Night, her acting in it was really interesting. She had some sort of “push-pull” reaction: she had moments where she would fade away, and in the most intense of it would go in the moments where she would have the infamous “almost-kisses”, and what would retain her from doing them would be her slowly snapping out of it and going all like “Crap, what’s going on? Where am I? I have to get out of here!” before the Phantom would come back and make her drift away again.
The unmasking, afterwards, really established what would be her reaction to the Phantom for the rest of the show until the Final Lair (as I said above, fright, and some sort of will to stay physically away from him as much as she could). She was an adorable yet sassy Serafimo, without being too feminine like other Christines can be, so emotional and full grief during Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, though you could feel her will of getting over all this and becoming an adult, and not being too much over the top about it. She was a very, very feisty Aminta, to the point I actually wondered if it was appropriate for Christine to be like this: I mean, isn’t she supposed to have some sort of virginal innocence about her? But then again, Christine is evolving in the world of opera, and she must have seen many roles and many interpretations…
To come to the Final Lair, she was standing up to the Phantom, but she wasn’t too aggressive either and all of the sudden super-duper-badass. She was clearly frightened, and she would roll in a ball when the Phantom would start shouting, but she was still brave enough to shield Raoul against him.
Overall, a very promising performer, especially when you know that the role of Christine was her Broadway debut. Beautiful singing voice, operatic but juvenile at the same time, and perfect for the role. Well, actually, I think she’s one of my favorite Broadway performers right now. I’ve loved what I’ve seen of her Cosette (again, I need to see the full show I have of her), and I have to say I’d be curious to see her as Sarah Chagal in Tanz der Vampire or even as Anna in Frozen, if ever the rumors are true and that it does get adapted in a musical on Broadway.
(And as a sidenote… have I said how cute she is with the Christine wig? I don’t know why, but… she looks like Minnie Mouse. Don’t ask me why. God, I think I have a girl crush.)
And let’s talk a bit of Hugh Panaro, who’s the Reigning King of Broadway Phantoms… Gosh, where do I even start? Like Samantha Hill, so many little details that it would be impossible to talk about all of them. So… must I mention that he has read Susan Kay’s Phantom and that he calls it his Bible? Okay, okay, I think every single fan knows how much he’s devoted to the role, and I don’t think I need to start ranting about it.
His Phantom is clearly insane - okay, not batshit insane like some Leroux-esque Phantoms such as Ethan Freeman or Marcus Lovett. But you know, crazyball in a childlike way when he’s in his more vulnerable moments, when the Phantom persona isn’t there to cover up and protect him in some way, and really smooth, sensual, and even sarcastic when he’s “in control”, if I can phrase it like this.
The only “low” for me (and believe me, it’s really something silly and personal) was really his voice. Now, before having a heart attack and call me an awful phan and human being, please listen to me to the end. As I said, it’s really a question of personal choice. When it comes to the voice, I prefer having a lyric baritone/baritenor (like Michael Ball. GIMME SOME MICHAEL BALL AS THE PHANTOM) or a singer with a bit of a rock sensibility to his voice (like Geronimo Rauch. Or Ramin when he sings naturally and without forcing it in an attempt to sing operatically. You know, naturally, like he did in the Love Never Dies recording. Seriously, he should always sing his part as the Phantom like that. But I’m getting out of the subject.). I’m not a huge fan of the Phantom being an eerie tenor. I mean, yeah, it does give him an angelic vibe or whatever, and you could easily see why Christine truly believes that he is an Angel of Music, but… as I said, it’s really a question of personal choice. I think the Phantom being a lyric baritone fits the character better, for some weird reason I’m not quite able to explain.
So Hugh Panaro is an amazing tenor, no doubt of it. He does have a bit of a weird accent, but it isn’t too annoying (unlike SOMEBODY THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED) His voice isn’t my ideal for the role, but I have to say it reminded me a lot of Michael Crawford’s. The plus is that Hugh doesn’t have that nasal quality MC has, and I have to say that whenever I listen to the OLC recording, I’m never able to get over that aspect without wincing a bit, no matter how hard I try. I mean, yeah, Michael Crawford’s voice definitely has a nightmare fuel to it, but I do sometimes wonder if I’ll ever be able to get used to his very, very special tenor. And believe me, I’m saying this with all due respect to him.
So yeah, even if it’s not my ideal, Hugh was wonderful to listen to. (And as a sidenote: seriously, take off the rubber lip thingy, and he actually looks a lot like my headcanon Erik. Him and Jeremy Stolle.)
And yes, he definitely made it among my favorite Phantoms, because I loved his interpretation so much I can get over the slight and really stupid inconvenient I found with his voice.
Trio member no. 3: Kyle Barisich. Damn, he’s the reason why I’m not giving this performance five stars out of five and why I’m not recommending this to phans who want to show this to other people as an introduction to POTO. Because, hey, the video’s quality and color is great, you have a great Phantom, a great Christine, and… a mediocre Raoul.
Now, what I mean here is that contrarily to Hadley Fraser (who was probably directed to act that way anyway), Kyle did absolutely nothing wrong. Okay, maybe that part during Notes II where he is so indifferent to Christine’s pleas it becomes actually shocking, but anyway.
The thing is, he was as dull as a brick and totally personality-less. He had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever with Sam’s Christine. I mean, she was obviously very much in love with him, but he just seemed indifferent to everything. Okay, he wasn’t bad from beginning to the end: there were some snippets where he would show some emotion and be more genuine, like during the kiss plus twirl on the rooftop: Christine actually goes for a kiss after that, and when she heads out saying that she must go, Raoul has this sad puppy face and is all like: “Already? No!” And props for him actually sounding old and acting like a man who hasn’t much time left to live in the Prologue.
But besides that, he just looked bored out of his mind all along. I mean, he is handsome enough for the role, for sure, he has a solid singing voice, but his acting… meh. It just ruined everything to me, mainly because, well, Raoul needs to be a solid romantic lead, especially when confronted to the Phantom, and it takes a fairly talented actor to understand and interpret the role well, in order to make the show work as a whole.
I do remember reading somewhere that when he was in the US tour back in 2006, he was a lot better… must we believe that he’s tired of playing the role, seven years later? Maybe. But I can’t believe Hal Prince kept him in the company that long, to the point he even did the 25th anniversary performance on Broadway AND ALL THAT WHILE THEY COULD HAVE HAD ANDREW RAGONE.
Ahem. Sorry.
And by the way, the next one who tells me Patrick Wilson’s Raoul is personality-less is going to get a big rant from me.
I would actually love to see Sam’s Christine alongside Jeremy Hays’ Raoul… because, well, let’s face it, his Raoul is all serious and I-take-none-of-your-shit-Phantom and all, and at the same time, he’s just so caring and gentle with his Christine, and really all about body gesture. Mah. I would probably die of Raoul/Christine cuteness if it happened.
I was also rather eager to see Michelle McConnell as Carlotta, since she seems to be appreciated in general, but I have to say I was rather disappointed. I have to admit she was a rather realistic Carlotta, with a certain dignity about her, not being at all mocking and actually being dead serious when she says Piangi makes the Don Juan score better. So a lot more dignified, instead of being caricatured and/or angry and shrieking all the time. Okay, she did sound quite a bit like Gollum during her angry rant at the managers during the Hannibal rehearsal, and she did start cackling like a panicked hen after her croaking in Il Muto, but anyway. She definitely gave us that portrayal of Carlotta being a technician more than a performer, and she sometimes had a few nice little touches. But besides that… meh, I found her to be an average Carlotta. Not bad, but I can’t really say she’s among my favorites, though with her having more of a human approach to the role, compared to other Carlottas I have seen, I can easily see why she is liked. Great voice as well.
Ellen Harvey was a pretty good Madame. Good mezzo-soprano voice, sounded old without being grating on the ears, stoic, emotionless, stern, snarkastic, sometimes even hilarious around the managers without meaning it, of course, and without being wooden and stiff like Liz Robertson was in the 25th anniversary concert. Seriously, Madame Giry could give a run to Vin Diesel with her death glares and as she tells the managers “Hoe don’t do it…”… except she doesn’t go all like “Oh my god” when they do it. She just keeps on staring. Because she’s Madame Fucking Giry.
However, I’m not too impressed of what Ellen Harvey did in Madame Giry’s Tale… there was no melancholy, no… well, it just seemed like she was eager to just tell her story quickly and leave, and she said it like some pointless anecdote, while that part is there to show that beneath the black, stern cover, Mme Giry is a human being…
I rather liked Kara Klein as Meg. Okay, she didn’t reinvent sliced bread for sure, but overall, she was good. There were some moments where her acting irritated me since it wasn’t very natural, but otherwise, she did have some nice little touches, such as smiling cheekily at the managers while Christine was starting to get good during Think of Me, and even swiftly going through the Phantom’s letters during Notes. I can’t say she was just standing there being a wallflower. And she had a lovely, soft yet solid voice. Besides that, nuff said.
Christian Sebek was a pretty good Piangi. I will always and forever remember his “RomMMmMMmmm’s far reaching grasp!” (along with Carlotta’s approval) and his very sassy “Amateurs!” while Carlotta’s storming out. And… okay, that really wasn’t his fault, but damn, the black pompoms on his Don Juan costume just weren’t necessary AT ALL. It made him like look like a clown more than anything else, especially with the makeup he had.
Richard Poole and Tim Jerome did a pretty good job as the managers and as appropriate comic relief. In my generosity, here’s a little screencap of them for you:
Seriously, they look like they’re in a math test or something.
‘Cause I’ve got a blank face babe… and I’ll write Kyle’s name.
I apologize, Taylor Swift.
Besides that… I was grinning like a huge idiot when I saw Jeremy Stolle as Passarino (it’s all his vines’ fault), Greg Mills was a pretty good Buquet though he was in my opinion too good looking for the role, I wish the orchestra for the ballet in Il Muto was louder since I could totally hear the flower hoops getting dropped on the ground, and pretty loudly; I could totally see that Buquet’s corpse was a dummy, and I hate to say this, but Carlotta’s black and white dress looked really messy. Sorry, but yeah.
Details, details. But anyway. A great experience overall, if I can call seeing a bootleg an experience without being pompous.
Rating: 80%