 Her Majesty's Theatre in London | I can't believe it had been so long since I'd seen the show - not that I'd forgotten anything about it, of course! Even so, it was so exciting to finally see the show in the theatre where it all started! I'm just going to share some random thoughts that I had on this particular performance:
I had an interesting view of the scenery changes, as the balcony at Her Majesty's is quite high up! |
In Hannibal, I wasn't all that impressed with Piangi's "Roma" bit, but everything he did after that was very funny! The bit where Madame Giry comes to M. Lefebvre's rescue by getting everyone's attention was *very* well done - I find that often that doesn't make any sense, but here he tried several times to get people to pay attention to him before turning to Mme. Giry. Speaking of Madame Giry, I found she had an accent that made it quite difficult to understand her. M. Firmin was also rather difficult to understand, but he had some very funny moments. I thought it was strange that he seemed to be interested in Carlotta as well in the Hannibal scene - I've never seen that approach before, and it doesn't really go with the rest of his character.
Madame Giry seemed quite disapproving as she gave Christine the note from Raoul, and seemed to linger in the doorway to watch her reaction - I liked that.
Deborah Dutcher was a decent Christine, though there was a predominant facial expression for most of the show. It was alright for most of it, but seemed quite out of place in scenes like "Stranger than you dreamt it".
| Matt Cammelle was pretty good - as always, there's not a lot to work with. HOWEVER. He did do one thing that I am so happy about! During the scene with him and Madame Giry, after Masquerade, when they got to my least favourite line in the entire show, he changed it! Let me explain what I mean: the dialogue
is like this: M.G.: A freak of nature, more monster than man R: Deformed? M.G.: From birth, it seemed. R: My God, Christine. I have *always* hated this line, because it seemed to me Raoul was worried for Christine's safety simply because Erik was deformed. But when we came to that point, Matt simply said, "My God". That was all. It completely changed the meaning of it, and almost sounded as if he were sorry for Erik rather than for Christine. It made me indescribably happy. :-) |  Another picture of the theatre |
John Owen-Jones was definitely a tenor, and he had almost a completely different vocal sound on the lower notes. I can't think of anything in his acting that particularly stood out for me, but his voice was lovely, and he had a glorious "be" in Music of the Night.
There were several differences from other productions I've seen - most notably, the mannequin in Music of the Night, the dialogue before Christine and Raoul reach the roof, one of the verses of Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and, of course, the trio in the graveyard scene.
Overall, I really enjoyed it, and am so happy that I can finally say that I've seen the show in London! :-)
The quotes:
"It was scary!"
"Yes, it is kind of scary. Even Daddy jumped once."
"Why did Daddy jump?"
"Because he's a big chicken"
- A conversation overhead on the way out of the theatre
The cast:
| The Phantom of the Opera | JOHN OWEN-JONES |
| Christine Daaé | DEBORAH DUTCHER |
| Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny | MATTHEW CAMMELLE |
| Carlotta Giudicelli | AN LAUWEREINS |
| Monsieur André | CHARLES SHIRVELL |
| Monsieur Firmin | BRUCE MONTAGUE |
| Madame Giry | JANET MURPHY |
| Ubaldo Piangi | JEREMY SECOMB |
| Meg Giry | LUCY MIDDLETON |
| Monsieur Reyer/Auctioneer | PHILIP GRIFFITHS |
| Passarino | PAUL WESTHEAD |
| Hairdresser | JAMES SPILLING |
| Monsieur Lefèvre/Don Attilio | TIM MORGAN |
| Joseph Buquet | DONALD FRANCKE |
| Monk | ROBERT FINLAYSON |
| Slave Master ("Hannibal") | BEN TYRRELL |
| Porter/Policeman | BLAKE CLAYFIELD |
| Wild Woman | MARGARET MARY KANE |
| Firechief | CHRISTIAN JON BILLETT |
| Princess ("Hannibal") | AMANDA-JANE CALLAGHAN |
| Madame Firmin | DAVINA ADSHEAD |
| Page ("Don Juan Triumphant") | GAENOR ELLIS |
| Fireman | DAVID FORTUNE |
| Wardrobe Mistress/Confidante ("Il Muto") | ALY McINNES |
| Inkeeper's Wife ("Don Juan Triumphant") | ELEN MON WAYNE |
| The Ballet Chorus of the Opera Populaire |
ALISON CROFT TESS CUNNINGHAM LIESL DOWSETT FIONA MORLEY KATRINA HAWKINS HEIDI ANN O'BRIEN |