Phantom West End!

Phantom West End!

Hello everyone! This post is extremely late, so if anyone happened to be waiting with baited breath for me to post about my thoughts (unlikely) on London’s version of the Phantom of the Opera, I am profoundly sorry. Aaaaanyways, I saw the show a little over a week ago now, so here is my take on it.  

Okay, first of all, the theatre is freaking gorgeous. Like, look at it. Please enjoy the above picture because frankly, I am a failure to the Phandom due to my woeful lack of pictures. Seriously, I did not take many, which was 100% due to the fact that our train was running late. I digress. 

We had second row seats! We were so close, it was truly unreal. After sitting down, I was pretty much squirming and fidgeting from excitement until the show started. When the lights dimmed and the actors came onstage I was internally screaming. 

About the production, the first thing I need to say is that I adored Paul Tabone’s portrayal of Piangi. He was so sassy and fiery and wholesome and I wanted to be best friends with him. Anyways. During the Hannibal scene, I was keeping my eyes peeled for Christine to appear, and when she finally does I see that Amy Manford is performing instead of Kelly Mathieson. Seeing Amy Manford live was honestly an ethereal experience because she is so damn beautiful. As she sang Think of Me, I am pretty sure I fell in love with her right alongside Raoul. Her cadenza. Guys. I know that I am not an expert, I’ll admit it. But she sounded like an actual angel. I think I gasped. I had never been a huge fan of the West End cadenzas, but she truly changed my mind. Unreal. 

I also really enjoyed Jeremy Taylor’s Raoul. He played him in a way that I really liked, as it is how I imagine the character: a charming boy whose circumstances force him to grow up and truly become a man. Guys, I am E/C until I die, as much as I love Raoul, but in this particular version… I was rooting for Raoul. I will get to why later. 

I could hardly believe that I was actually going to get to see freaking Ben Lewis on stage right in front of me, yet there he was. When his face appeared in the mirror I think my heart stopped. Lewis’s Phantom… where to begin. I don’t know if you guys will really like my opinions, but it is what it is. His Phantom is way more Leroux than I expected. He certainly uplays the madness in the character to the maximum degree. When Erik is composing after the title song while Christine sleeps, I truly felt uncomfortable and unsettled. Erik was not just lost in the music, he was devoured by it and had lost any sense of humanity. He was growling, drooling, and had the craziest look in his eye (it sounds kinda hot typed out but I swear it was disconcerting). But hey, Leroux is my favorite version. I’m excited about this unexpected portrayal. I’m down for it. But then something weird happens. When Christine rips off the mask, the Phantom does not just push her off of him. He violently twists her hair and absolutely slams her down. I think everyone watching probably winced, because it was so aggressively violent. I was shocked. But hey, I was fine. It’s Erik, and a more Leroux Erik. He’s upping the madness. It’s fine. And like, it was. It was more than fine. Ben’s voice is so powerful and enchanting, and he was great. But then Final Lair happened. Guys. I have never, ever seen such a violent, abusive portrayal of the Phantom to Christine. Every chance he could, he would rip her hair and slam her to the ground. There was no tenderness or reverence in his touch, only aggression. I wanted him nowhere near Christine, and it was jarring for me. I think in making the Phantom treat Christine so horribly it took away much of the sympathy for the character that is crucial to the show’s climax. Anyone who knows me knows that I want Erik to have a chance for happiness with Christine, but in this show I just wanted Raoul to save Christine and for both of them to get the hell out of there. 

So, final thoughts… I enjoyed it immensely. It was gorgeous to look at, gorgeous to hear. The cast was stellar, and I am now in love with Amy Manford. Truly, I am a big fan of Ben Lewis, and I believe he brought lots of great things to the role. I love seeing more of the crazy Leroux side in ALW Phantom, but I just felt uncomfortable at what appeared to be plain physical abuse. That took it too far for me, and that is the only criticism I have. Perhaps he is not like that in every performance, I don’t know. I will probably think of other stuff to say later, so feel free to message me if you’re curious about anything else :) Sorry for how long this is. I was hoping to post a few more miscellaneous pictures, but tumblr is being mean and will not let me. If you’ve read this far, thank you so much! 

the truth tho, do u want an alcoholic father

ooof nice

The Phantom + no jacket

guide to singing along to musicals alone

Be More Chill: sing along to ALL the instrumentals.

The Book of Mormon: passionately yell the lines. Then glance out the window awkwardly to make sure no one’s listening. Then resume passionately yelling. Awkwardly go quiet when you hear people passing your door. Repeat.

Dear Evan Hansen: two modes: either humming the songs peacefully to yourself or jumping to your feet, perfectly executing the “Sincerely, Me” dance and also doing all of Ben Platt’s physical tics and waiting for your Tony.

Falsettos: *singing along happily for hundredth time* *abruptly stops* What does that line even mean

Hamilton: there is literally only one way to do it: singing along to all the parts at once and incorporating all the furniture in the room for maximum effect.

The Last Five Years: have a hundred tabs open with the lyrics. It would be one of the easiest musicals to sing along to alone if there weren’t so many goddamn words.

Les Misérables: reconcile yourself to the fact that it’s physically impossible to sing along to all the parts. You gotta just pick a character to sing with. Which is actually fine, because most Les Mis fans have this one character that’s “their” character. And there’s probably only one character who’s in your range, anyway. I mean, you can try to sing along to all the parts, but prepare to get absolutely slaughtered in “One Day More.”

Newsies: whatever you do, just don’t try to dance along. Please.

Next to Normal: *singing along happily for hundredth time* *abruptly stops* Whoa. That line is really clever/weird/sad/beautiful.

The Phantom of the Opera: AHHHHH aaahhhh ahhhh ahhhHHHH SING MY ANGEL OF MUSIC AHHHH ahhhh ahhh hahhhHHHHH sing mY ANGEL ahhh hahhhhhhh ahhhhHHHHH SING FOR MEEEE AHHHHH HHHHHHHH HAHHHHH HHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SING MY ANGEL HHHHHHHH Ś̹̗̝̠̫I͓̻̰̲N̢̠͕G̦̬͟ ̲F̳̫̦̜̭̰O͙̹̪͕̞͉͟R̩̭̦ ̛̠͚̰M̫͍̬͇͈̖EE̖̙̬̳̞̞̹È̖E͈EE͏E̗̞̲͍̰̕E̗̙̬̻̭Ḛ̫͉̗̜ aaʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰʰ

Rent: ALL the air guitar.

Spring Awakening: *forgets lyric* 🎶 lonely grass purple horses hay bale 🎶

Waitress: wait until “I Didn’t Plan It” and “She Used to Be Mine,” and then let out YEARS of pain and sadness

Wicked: *searches on YouTube* how to belt

oof burn

Erik, can we pleeeaaaseee have another child? I don't care if it's deformed, I will still love them as I love you. -Your loving wife Christine Daaé

Christine, I am sure you’ll love them but I cannot say the same for the rest of the world. The world is a cruel place, Christine, and I don’t want to put them through what I’ve been through.

Apparently my director went to see a production of West Side Story a few years ago, and the guy playing Chino forgot his gun before coming out for his final scene. Once it got to the big scene where he is supposed to shoot Tony, he screeched “Poison Boots” and kicked the actor playing Tony until he went down. The girl playing Maria then had to jerk the shoe off of Chino’s foot, and had to do the gunshot scene asking “How many kicks Chino? How many kicks, and one kick left for me”.