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So I attended the 7pm performance on Friday July 7th. It was my 13th
time seeing the show (1st in Vegas). While I won?t go into a lot of technical
detail about the production since so many other reviews have covered it all with
such depth, I will say that upon walking into the theater, I was truly
immersed in the world of the Opera Populaire much more than any other production. The
theater is everything you?ve read and sets the stage so well for an amazing
evening. My seat was 4th row center which for me is perfect. I know others
prefer to sit further back and take in the whole picture, but for me, I want to
see the actors the best I can. I?m a big fan of keeping things positive and I
wish this mini-review were an absolute rave, but unfortunately, it isn?t. I?
ll make sure to mark any spoilers very clearly.
First, the truly great things about the production:
Brent Barrett is a great Phantom. Not the absolute best I?ve seen, but he
sings the role very well and I was extremely impressed with his acting. I?ve
heard that Barrett has the better voice and Crivello plays a more haunting
Phantom, but everything I saw last night felt tortured and lonely and hopeful and
angry. Some Phantoms do all kinds of weird vowel modifications when they sing the
role and there was very little of that here. His MOTN was both sexy and
tender. What more could a girl ask for. Wink He also did such a great job in the
rooftop scene. He goes from this whimpering sadness at Christine?s "betrayal"
and then you see him snap and it all turns to anger. Also, I don?t care how
many times you have seen this show...his Final Lair scene is absolutely
heartbreaking. If you don?t cry, you have a very guarded heart. Soooo good.
The absolute surprise of the night for me was Sierra Boggess. She is without
a doubt, the best Christine I have ever seen. Up until last night, my favorite
Christine vocally was Lisa Vroman. Lisa was never age appropriate for the
role (not her fault, and a lot of people don?t really care about it, but to me,
the dynamic of the father figure/lover to a relative child is a powerful aspect
of the story) Still, Lisa?s singing was impeccable. Julie Hanson to me is
exactly what Christine should look like, but even she has stated that she wished
her voice had more time to develop (I?m actually excited to see her again in
NY as I hear she has been working on her technique while away from the show).
Christine is so hard to sing because not only do you have all the high stuff,
but a lot of the material sits in a soprano's mix and certain parts can go very
low. Sierra not only has a soprano that sat on the high notes effortlessly
until she felt like coming back down, but her mix is actually seamless and she
even belts significant portions. What this allows for is so much more color in
the role. When she finally stands up to the Phantom or loses it in "Wishing,"
it?s not sung with the traditional soprano mix, but with a full and powerful
belt. But her singing isn?t even the best part. In a show filled with "
musical theater acting" (more on that later), she continually feels genuine. Not
only in her big numbers, but even in moments like "Twisted," it?s never a case
of a pretty girl singing a pretty song as is so often the case during AIAOY,
but rather solid acting technique matched with an amazing voice to create what I
thought was the best thing about the production (Variety agrees with me by
the way). Smile And she looks the part perfectly as the press photos prove.
One last thing about the two leads... the chemistry between Brent and Sierra
was so consistently good that when other aspect of the show start to derail the
production (see below), these two continually get things back on track.
Both Carlotta and Piangi are a lot of fun. They look perfect (she?s about a
foot taller than him) and nail the characters. I could actually see them having
a "Jack and Karen" style show to play off each other.
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Some really great tech stuff (BEGIN SPOILERS):
The chandelier really is amazing. I knew what was going to happen, but it
still looks fantastic and makes the theater transformation feel magical.
Likewise, the fireworks that lead into Masquerade had my jaw hanging open. For the
first time, I was affected by the violence of Buquet?s death rather than noticing
a dummy on a rope like in the other productions. I actually prefer the lasso,
but the cage fits the Vegas style. All of the transitions are really smooth
making an already slick production look even better.
The orchestra also sounds really amazing. I think they are using
supplementary tracks because it sounds really full, but whatever the case, the music is
lush and sweeping and just beautiful.
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Ok, now for things that I didn?t care for (please don?t get mad at me as it?
s just my opinion):
I was amazed and disappointed by the level of "musical theater acting" and
stock gesturing that runs almost across the board in the secondary and chorus
roles. While this can obviously be forgiven for Carlotta and Piangi (where
overacting is actually appropriate) and is expected for the show within a show
moments of the Operas, it is certainly out of place to have stock gesturing in
moments that should be truly terrifying. The managers jokes are missed (he?s
actually looking on-stage when he delivers the "same old audience" line and
wrote/written was just awkward) and they never exhibit any chemistry, but the
biggest offender is Madam Giry. She seems to be acting like both Beth Leavel (from
Drowsy Chaparone) and Norma Desmond. Imagine her pointing her nose straight
to the sky while staring at you with super-wide eyes while delivering her lines
to you in an inflection laden staccato and swinging her arm in a 180 degree
arc to hand you a note (if you are standing in front of her, she starts by
swinging her arm directly behind her only to slowly reach around to have her hand
arrive where you were standing all along). Everything about it rings false.
And I?m not even upset with the actress since she obviously had the creative team
?s consent to keep these choices. Like I said, it?s pretty consistent in the
secondary roles and this has not been the case when I?ve seen the show in New
York or on tour.
Some clumsy blocking. I can?t believe I?m saying this about a Hal Prince
piece, but there was some very strange blocking choices. When Christine is
singing the title song and the Phantom starts in with "sing, my angel of music,"
Christine is so far stage right that she is standing in front of the Proscenium.
Can you imagine looking at Christine standing, not with the darkness of the
lair behind her, but instead with a light colored proscenium arch? It really
took me out of the moment. He also uses a couple of cheap, "actors running down
the aisles" moments and even has "twisted" sung on the stage left steps
leading into the audience. It?s very unnecessary and very distracting.
(END SPOILERS)
To sum up:
The production values are outstanding and the performances and chemistry of
both Brent and Sierra are so good that the show overcomes some of the things
mentioned above and really does work. The sexual chemistry in the opening Lair
scene is both forbidden and sexy. I really believed that she would be seduced
by him (since I was as well). When Christine comes back in the final scene to
return his ring, he was crying and so was I. I?m really glad I saw this
production and was impressed with how well the story survived the cuts.
