Profile for Phantom4ever

Tag, the new 2020 UK tour got rid of the Angel entirely and had the Phantom hide behind an onstage horse. Seems that Cameron has been trying to get rid of the Angel for years and he is finally getting his chance.

The horse that Christine was supposed to take on the travelator still is not happening either. 

 

https://theatreboard.co.uk/thread/150/phantom-opera?page=70

 

So Cameron confirms the horse statue is being brought in to replace the lowering of the Angel. And he had the nerve to say that that was what Maria envisioned.  Wow.  It's been well-established that the Angel was her favorite set piece. 

Still curious if the beautiful, heavy curtains will be replaced with cheaper versions. And the chandelier.....who knows what that will look like or if it will rise and fall to/from the stage. 

Thank you drybandit.  That was very comforting to read. 

Ok so Cameron finally confirms what we all knew for months, that the West End Phantom would be the newest tour, with some of the original staging but a new chandelier, no angels/statuary on the proscenium, and no lowering angel. Just enough to renegotiate a lean new contract with the original creatives' estates. 

The real question is what this means for New York. Has anybody seen a loadout at the Majestic? There is still more than enough time to do the same changes in New York

When I look through my book of Broadway tickets, I always get annoyed with myself in the mid-2000's, when I saw either Avenue Q, Spring Awakening, Rent, or Phantom at least once a month, every month for years.  Why I never just spent a Saturday or Sunday afternoon seeing another show, I'll never know. That was in an era when I would have never gone to see a show by myself, so I must have figured it would be too hard to find someone to see shows like all of the great ones you guys

The original post of this thread seriously almost made me cry. There are so many things about New York City, Broadway, New York City nightlife, culture that I dearly miss..........ugh man I can't believe it's been seven long months and we are still nowhere near being done with this insanity. 

HOWEVER 

Any attempt to suggest that you can sit on your couch and have a night out in New York City and experience theater is just plain wrong. Despite what's

As a certified Phantom Phantom Phlunatic phan, I've seen quite a Phfew Phantoms.  (ok ok I'll Ph-stop)

I loved the most recent one, Ben Crawford, for his strong voice. I love the Howard McGillin Hugh Panaro years where it seemed like they just kept replacing each other. Am I making that up or did it really happen that way throughout the 2000's? 

But actually I LOVED showing up at the Majestic and seeing an understudy on for the Phantom--especially Laird Mac

Even though that wasn't shot at the Ambassador, that clip definitely warmed my heart. One of my most treasured current Broadway shows and the last one i saw before this awful pandemic. That felt very nice to see the final number again. 

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from The Phantom of the Opera.  The line "no more gazing across the wasted years" always hits me different when I see/hear it and it has made me reflect on so many different things and people and events in my past. 

I was very touched by the video, especially toward the end when he talked about the uniqueness of live theater and how special it is. 

This video did nothing to make me less worried about the original Prince/Bjornson Phantom, however. We all know that the new UK tour was billed as the Prince/Bjornson "brilliant original" even though the chandelier was changed, the chandelier rigging was changed, the angel was  gone, and the proscenium's statues were all removed,

Wow Lizzie thank you for that picture. I wonder if someone at BWW or Playbill could arrange to get into all currently-used Broadway theaters and get a picture of the set with the ghostlight as it looks 6 months into the pandemic?  It would be devastating and haunting to see.

Yeah I agree with the last post and the fact that there is not one central authority over touring sets is irrelevant and unnecessary to bring up. And yes, it does make it more interesting. A touring house in Florida was stuck with a Hamilton set and the local kids have been playing on it?  That would be fascinating. A touring house in Arizona wants the last show's set out but there are now stagehands around to get it out, and it's basically abandoned?  Those are the kin

I second (or third?) the FANTINE suggestion. Imagining her voice singing that sad, emotional number. Wow.  And she could relax and take it easy after half an hour of showtime. 

I also second the ROXIE suggestion. How great would it have been it she had recovered from her addictions, lived another few years and been around for the original CHICAGO and said lines like "I'm older than I ever intended to be"   It would be hilarious to hear Dorothy from Kan

When I directed a high school production of WSS, as my Tony was finishing the song "Maria", a woman in the audience loudly yelled "I'm gonna change my name to MARIA!" and the audience roared with laughter. I, of course, sat there with my arms folded in anger because the audience kept doing things like that.  

Edit!  I forgot to mention my favorite WSS song.  It is the Tonight Quintet. As a child seeing the movie, I thought it was so exciting

I adore this show and I am always kind of surprised that I like it. The Donny Osmond tour came through Chicago when I was a teenager in the 90's and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, especially the remix at the end. To me, the show epitomized the fun, zany side of performing arts. 

When the OP says that it feels random and that nothing make sense in the show, are you aware that every song intentionally has a different style to it, and each of those styles is intentional

I enjoy the very dark shock humor in those posts. However, there is a definite time and place for humor like that. In the sober light of day, as this thread has demonstrated, the humor in these posts is not acceptable by today's society, which is a good thing. However, a drunken group of friends being silly at 2am when all/most of society's norms don't have to be enforced, these posts could work. 

That said, seeing people in this thread getting worked up about these po

It will come back, in the modified version without the angel, the original proscenium, and most of the curtains. Cameron Mackintosh will be seen as the benevolent force that brought Phantom back from the brink, as the the original show was in such a decrepit state that it could no longer perform, pandemic or no pandemic. 

Will the New York show change?  That's what I'm waiting to hear. I'm hoping there are some eagle eyes on the Majestic Theater to watch out for a

I think we can all agree that CM is taking advantage of the pandemic to update Phantom with a cheaper (for him) version. All signs point to the new international/UK tour, pictures of which have been linked multiple times in this thread so I won't link them again. But to the typical audience member who saw Phantom on tour 20 years ago, this new production probably won't look that different to them. To devoted phans like myself and many others on this thread, it will be downright devast