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theancientwayoflife · 2 years

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~ The Snettisham Great Torc.

Period: Iron Age

Date: 150 B.C.-50 B.C.

Place of origin: England, Norfolk; Snettisham, Ken Hill

Medium: Gold alloy

#ancient #ancient art #history #museum #archeology #ancient history #archaeology #torc #ancient jewelry #iron age #ken hill #gold #150 b.c.#50 b.c.

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phantom-retrospective · 1 year

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I am very proud to announce that I have been in touch with two people involved with the original 1976 production of Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera: John Hartoch (Raoul) and Claire Lyth (Design) who have provided me with these photos! For those unaware, this production is not the same as the later Ken Hill adaptation that would play from 1985 onward: It even had a different score, which has been described as "more contemporary" as opposed to the opera music the reworked version used. Photos of this production have never been available publicly online before, atleast not in any circles I've seen. Some of these are freshly scanned. I am releasing these photos ahead of a documentary on the Ken Hill Phantom I eventually plan on releasing. I hope you look forward to it and enjoy these photos.

A chorus girl, portrayed by Lindy Janiec, along with Mephistopheles, portrayed by Charles Haggith (who also portrayed Erik):

John Hartoch (Raoul) and Fidelma O' Dowda (Christine), with Will Tacey (The Sultan) in the background

Left: John Hartoch (Raoul) Center: David Boyce (Richard) and Lill Roughley (Madame Giry) Right: John Hartoch (Raoul), David Boyce (Richard) and Will Tacey (The Sultan)

David Boyce (Richard) and John Hartoch (Raoul)

Raoul (John Hartoch) and Charles Haggith (Erik)

Christine (Fidelma O' Dowda) and Charles Haggith (Erik)

Lill Roughley (Madame Giry)

Sets:

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estellamiraiauthor · 3 months

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Some thoughts on the Ken Hill Phantom in Tokyo—both the show itself, since I’d never seen it before (only partial recordings, never even a full video) and this particular production.

Apologies in advance that I do not know the names of much of the cast… only three cast members are named on the website. I guess you had to buy a program to get some credit for the others, which seems a little shitty… they all did a great job and I’d like to be able to give credit where it’s due… if anyone happens to have a full list, let me know and I’ll add that information.

So, overall thoughts… it was a lot funnier and more fourth-wall-breaking than I expected. Not all of the jokes quite landed (either with me or with the audience in general), but it wasn’t because they were especially dated either, which is always nice in an older show. Just some moments that were like “I know I’m supposed to laugh here, but the joke’s just not that good.”

The banter between Richard (the only new manager in this version) and the old manager, and between Richard and Remy (his assistant or manservant, who kind of fills the role that a second manager sometimes does) usually worked, and all three of them were talented actors. Richard is the former manager of a railway company in this version, which he brags about quite a bit, and I think it was an interesting attempt to showcase the difference between a businessman who really doesn’t appreciate or even attempt to understand opera at all, vs. the Phantom, to whom art should be everything… unfortunately I feel like overall, the Phantom’s characterization was a little weak, which really hurt the emotional impact of the second act. More on that later.

Jammes sort of fulfills the ALW-Meg role here, and this was an interesting character for me because she wasn’t really very good of a dancer? What she did, she did competently, but definitely came off as “actress who has taken ballet lessons” rather than professional ballerina. It also didn’t seem to be much of a singing role, so not a case of choosing a singer over a dancer… I suppose she was maybe supposed to be comic relief, but the actress played her pretty straight?

Paul Potts as Faust is one of the three credited actors, alongside the Phantom and Christine. I LOVED him on Britain’s Got Talent, and watched a few videos of more recent performances when I learned he would be in this, but I wouldn’t say I’ve seriously followed his career. I was surprised in general that the role was such a funny one, and that he was extremely funny in it, because the image I had of him was definitely “Super Serious Tenor”. He was extremely enjoyable, both as a singer and as an actor here. For those who are wondering, because I Googled the role and didn’t find much, “Faust” is essentially the “Piangi” character here, except we never learn his actual name (although we do learn Mme. Giry’s!). He actually had a bigger role than I expected based on his first couple of scenes, unlike poor Mephistopheles, who got killed off fairs soon, for the actor to return as the Persian!

The other major character we meet in that first scene is Raoul, who is Richard’s son in this version. The whole “Little Lotte lost her scarf in the sea” backstory never seems to have happened. Christine and Raoul are already in love from the first scene, but we never learn where or when they met. Interestingly, while the whole “Raoul as aristocracy would never be with an opera singer” issue is not addressed here, since he’s not aristocracy, he does bring up how inappropriate it would be for Christine to be alone with a man in her dressing room. (Not that that stops HIM from barging in!) This Raoul was Sweet and noble, and I really wish I knew the actor’s name because he was a beautiful singer as well.

Christine actually didn’t get a chance to sing until fairly late in the show, and I’m pretty sure the first time she really sings is at her father’s grave, not during a performance or rehearsal! Tayla Alexander as Christine was AMAZING. It’s nice in general to see a Christine who actually is an operatic soprano (although I know that’s not really the POINT of a lot of versions, and don’t mind at all when they don’t, it’s refreshing to see a Christine close to the Leroux character?) She was a great actor too, and this is definitely a Christine with agency. I thought it was an interesting choice to have her come straight out and say “I PITY you!” at the end… that IS possibly a bit of “datedness”? Leroux, or at least the translation I have, also says “pity,” but pity isn’t necessarily seen as an emotion people WANT others to feel about them these days… not sure if that’s an evolution of language/evolution of disability culture thing, or just that this Christine is brutally honest?

So I guess this brings me to the Phantom… he also doesn’t show up until almost the end of Act 1, which is a choice I respect… mystery is good for this character! But I also feel like less interaction with Christine ultimately just made him come off as a creepy incel? I have to say, I did not love Ben Forster in the role. I just went and Googled him because other than playing the ALW Phantom, I wasn’t familiar with him at all, and it’s not at all surprising to me that he got his start in JCS and Rocky Horror etc… I’m much more interested in seeing him in those roles, because he has this like… rock-n-roll twang? To his voice that just did not fit a mostly-Leroux-faithful, generally-period-appropriate Phantom. He was overshadowed vocally not only by Potts but by the woefully uncredited Raoul and the Persian, and if the Phantom doesn’t have the most angelic voice on that stage, it just doesn’t work. I’m curious to see him as the ALW Phantom now, because I surprisingly don’t hate SOME more rock-ish voices there (Paul Stanley isn’t my favorite, but he’s far from my least favorite)… Looking those videos up once I get home!

Since I’m going through all the characters, this version actually has Mme Giry AND the Persian, although Mme Giry is in her original role as box manager! Mme Giry was another great actor and singer, she had a few nice funny moments to break up the overall gravitas of the character.

The Persian… well, this gets into the whole weakness of the second act and of the Phantom character in general. The actor who played the Persian (as well as Mephistopheles) was great, and I didn’t really have a problem with HIS character so much as the needlessly convoluted backstory they gave him and the Phantom. Just about the ONLY sympathetic backstory we get from the Phantom comes from the Persian, and he’s actually pretty brunt about it, just outright calling him “disfigured” rather than a monster or a devil’s child or whatever… which yes, is correct, but it just feels like it’s never really communicated to the audience with any degree of emotion how the Phantom (who never gets a name here) has really been robbed by society’s fear of any chance to have a normal life.

Christine doesn’t have that moment where she sees his face and is initially horrified. She doesn’t see his face at all until the end, so never gets to speak sympathetically about him to others. The Phantom never talks about his OWN past. And what we get from the Persian is mostly about how good at torture he is, oh and that he killed their parents. Because the Persian is his brother.

And I just… that feels so unnecessary? And I think, throws something in there that doesn’t need to be, because is this story set in France, written in English, now commenting on the treatment of children with facial differences in Persia? I don’t really think so, I think it was just supposed to be a big reveal, but it really fell flat. And honestly, if the dude’s parents neglected and abused him… we’ve all been following the Gypsy Rose Blanchard thing for long enough to say, maybe not that it’s OKAY to murder an abusive parent, but it’s certainly a lot more sympathetic than the Persian makes it out to be.

So, in the end, the Phantom is trying to force Christine to marry him by… yelling at her and telling her Raoul is dead. There’s no scorpion and the grasshopper, no Raoul held hostage. If she says no, he’s probably going to kill her, but he’s planning to do that anyway, so it’s a little hard to say what either of them hope to get out of the situation.

And in the end I guess he repents and kills himself, and then all of a sudden all of these people who have been physically and psychologically tormented by him gather ‘round to sing about how he won’t die without a friend? And Christine says he was once her angel of music, but because we’ve never really seen them in the same scene before this, it’s hard to really feel anything about that.

The second act just felt like a huge disappointment after the first… and a lot of that just hung on the Phantom, both the way he was written and the way he was played and sung. I’m glad I saw it, and it’s really interesting to see the parallels either way certain scenes that probably inspired ALW. I was particularly glad to be introduced to Tayla Alexander. But I’m also not going to be going back, at least not during this run.

#ken hill phantom #phantom of the opera #Ken hill #ben forster #Paul Potts #Tayla Alexander #musicals #musical review #live theatre #live theatre review

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ladymisteria · 1 year

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THE PHANTOM & THE PERSIAN IN EVERY ADAPTATION:

- Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera:

- The Phantom of the Opera (cartoon):

- Rosen & Schierhorn’s The Phantom of the Opera:

- The Phantom of the Opera (1925):

- Susan Kay’s Phantom:

#erik poto #erik phantom #the persian #phantom of the opera #poto #phantom #ken hill #Rosen & Schierhorn #susan kay #gaston leroux #pharoga #kerik #kay!erik #the Phantom #the Phantom animated #the phantom 1925

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melodiesofmidnight · 1 year

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The Phantom-only version of "While Floating High Above" from Ken Hill's musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera."

#this is precisely how i've always imagined lerik to sound - beautiful; haunting; unusual #while floating high above #phantom of the opera #ken hill #peter striker #erik carriere #poto

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poirott · 8 months

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A HAUNTING IN VENICE (In theaters September 25 2023)

"Murder on the Orient Express dealt with revenge. Death on the Nile dealt with greed. This film is about whether there is anything beyond us - a ghost, a God - and whether Poirot believes in it. It involves him and us being scared." - Kenneth Branagh, Haunting Mystery clip (Aug 15 2023)

"If Ken [Branagh] wants to do more, and Michael [Green, screenwriter] wants to write more, we'll certainly do another. There's a lot of material still to go, so we're not going to run out of inspiration." - James Prichard, Agatha Christie's great-grandson and A Haunting in Venice's executive producer on a possible 4th Poirot film (TOTAL FILM Sept 2023 issue)

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thebowerypresents · 9 months

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Louis Tomlinson – Forest Hills Stadium – July 29, 2023

He burst onto the scene more than a decade ago as a member of One Direction, but Louis Tomlinson has been doing his own thing as a solo artist for seven years now. His second studio album, Faith in the Future, dropped last summer, and for the past two months, he’s been crisscrossing North America, bringing the new music to screaming fans. On Saturday night, the English singer-songwriter was in Queens to cap off his tour in style at Forest Hills Stadium.

Photos courtesy of Ken Grand-Pierre | www.kenamiphoto.com

#Faith in the Future #Forest Hills Stadium #Ken Grand-Pierre #Louis Tomlinson #One Direction #Photos

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ladyantiheroine · 9 months

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Male Characters with Sub/Bottom Energy:

Luke Crain (The Haunting of Hill House)

Bruce Wayne/Battinson (The Batman 2022)

Alan Zaveri (Russian Doll)

Robert Montague Renfield (Renfield)

Ken (Barbie 2023)

#will probably update in the future #This came to me in a vision last night #the haunting of hill house #the batman 2022 #renfield #russian doll #barbie #luke crain #bruce wayne #battinson #ken #alan zaveri

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estellamiraiauthor · 9 months

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I’m still on vacation but SUPER exciting news… the Ken Hill Phantom (one of the versions I haven’t had a chance to see yet) is coming to Tokyo in January with Ben Forster and Paul Potts… and I snagged a pretty good ticket for a Sunday matinee! Yay for finally being able to check this version off my list! 🎉

#phantom of the opera #Ken hill #Ken hill phantom #Ben Forster #Paul Potts #musicals

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