Me Watching Poto 2004

me watching poto 2004

ya i love this

*sees actual deformity*

(sunburn)

*imagines it as ALW stage deformity*

ya it’s great :)

my friend just text me at 3 am “what if Phantom sung country and the entire musical was country” GO TO BED

if it was country this blog wouldn’t exist

phantom: the role of the pageboy is silent, which makes my Casting in a word...

phantom: ideal >;)

my mom: ooh haha he’s so bad

Firman: these are both signed OG

André: who the hell is he?

Firman: Original Gangsta?

André (shaking head): Opera Ghost you buffoon

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!