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operafantomet · 2 months

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SO TOTALLY NOT A REVIEW

POTO MADRID, Friday 16 February 2024

PHANTOM: Gerónimo Rauch / Manu Pilas (alt.)

CHRISTINE: Talía del Val / Judith Tobella (alt.)

RAOUL: Guido Balzaretti

CARLOTTA: Marta Pineda

FIRMIN: Omar Calicchio

ANDRÉ: Enrique R. del Portal

MADAME GIRY: Silvia Luchetti

MEG GIRY: Laura Martin / Marina Brisa (u/s)

PIANGI: Francisco Ortiz

This production is basically a love-letter to Phantom history. There are many clever moments, small hints of Phantom history, and in general just a very Phantom-y atmosphere and look. It’s just that sometimes it goes a bit overboard with effects, references and/or tempo, to the point where I feel it takes focus away from the leads and the main story. I get the vibe, I get the love, nut just take it down a notch?

Lots of spoilers ahead, stop reading If you don’t want details.

Examples, you ask? It’s really just the total, the sum of it all, rather than singular moments. Take the Phantom and all effects surrounding him. In “Little Lotte” there’s blinking lamps and ambience sound and gruntle, it almost feels like I’m watching the basement furnace in “Home Alone”. In the Il Muto ballet he swings across stage twice, while the third time it happens it’s the body of dead Buquet. But swinging in ropes has a high level of Tarzan and is hard to take seriously. For the chandelier crash the Phantom jumps on the chandelier, cuts its rope (?) with what looks like a butter knife (?) and it crashes with “flames” and smoke and a loud bang with fake screams on tape. In the Mausoleum scene he is equipped with large black wings and flies up into the air, creating a massive thunderstorm. In the end it gets hard for the audience to trust that the actor himself is enough, as all these tricks and effects and mumbo jumbo gets in the way.

The only new trick I feel adds to the role instead of distracting from it is Red Death’s disappearance. He appears in a red hooded cloak, sings his lines, turns his back to the audience and when the others on stage approach to rip off his cloak there is no-one there. THIS. This adds to the mystique. This is the Phantom in charge, without explosions and sounds and light and props.

Anyhow… I enjoyed so many sides of this production. Let me try and mention some of the things I noticed along the way. (Note: Photos is a mix of Trieste, Monte Carlo and Madrid, but if the performers are in focus I have tried to choose Madrid photos)

AUCTION/OVERTURE Before the show there is some 15 minutes of “spooky” ambience sound and dripping water, dungeon style. The show starts with a huge shatter/bang, to tell the audience it’s starting. Message received.

The auction set-up is fairy traditional, with auctioneer to the left, chandelier in the middle, and bidders sitting with their backs to the audience. Raoul is not in a wheelchair, instead he is sitting in the back, to the right (I. E. nearest the audience), with a nurse (?) by his side. The auctioneer is super rushed, while the bidders clap very slowly, original Phantom style. For the monkey musical box, Raoul calls over the porter who is dressed in a red 18th century livre, and who kneels in front of him. Raoul turns to him and thus the audience. First glimpse of Guido Balzaretti in the role. He is good.

Lot 666 etc… All exactly as assumed up until they pull off the drapes and the Overture starts.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is something else indeed. The cast starts to… uhm, how to explain this… re-enact the first act in slow motion, backwards? The Il Muto fop trio “runs” in, backwards, in slow motion, they bend to not get hit by the chandelier, still slow motion, then taking a bow, still slow motion. And so forth. What is shown here is history as it happened but reversed. It continues with other glimpses of the first act, other characters, leading up to Carlotta as Elissa. Cue: Hannibal.

Now… The idea? Cool. Interesting. Well executed. Time is literally rewinded before our eyes. Yet:

I feel you have to know the musical and the first act to get what’s happening. A moment of “this production is a love-letter to POTO”, a bit wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

It doesn’t really make sense. What they show us is the fops almost being hit by the chandelier as It comes crashing downwards. What we see in the actual crash is the Phantom riding the chandelier as it is pulled backwards and flung towards the audience. Plus, there is a knife, there is “flames” and smoke, and no other people in sight. Sorry, but you have to settle for one of the crashes…

However: original? I will certainly give them that.

Also, props for introducing what is usually my pet peeve and hate object number one: The Eiffel Tower. Thing is, this opera appears to have burned down (2004 movie style, more about that later) and through the ruined ceiling the Eiffel Tower can be seen. I don’t oppose this as the auction scene is set long after then main story and the tower would have been built by then. My annoyance with productions automatically adding it to underline that THIS IS PARIS is because the tower would (depending on when they set the main story) not have been built. But in the auction scene? Yes.

(Auction photo from Trieste)

HANNIBAL Whereas Marta Pineda as Carlotta possesses a grand voice, I am no fan of how she portrays Carlotta as a performer. I assume it is in the directing. In the mock operas she goes for massive overacting, mainly one specific hand pose and a hammering voice. In scenes like Prima Donna you can tell she is able to sing gorgeously and act well, hence why I assume it is in the directing. Carlotta as a performer in this production is one where I understand the Phantom’s dislike… Just way too much, too annoying, it really makes you wonder how this specific soprano came to be the wonder of Paris.

(Francisco Ortez and Marta Pineda in Hannibal)

They make a point of not showing Reyer. I will come back to why later. In Hannibal he is in the prompter’s box, with a slightly distorted sound to his voice and which Firmin at one point imitates. Heh.

The ballerinas did a sort of shawl dance in Hannibal which suite the music well, and Christine and Meg were also nicely singled out.

Instead of an elephant there is a portechaise, a litter, a sedan chair, whatever it’s called. Now... the people carrying this on stage wears the same uniform as the porters in the auction scene. If the opera burned down and the auction is many years later, why would they…?

(Hannibal photo from Trieste)

Also, the sedan chair gets a bit too much attention, with them struggling to get it out on stage, Piangi struggling to get on it, and when he finally does for the end pose the bottom breaks. This, combined with a constant rush in pace means there was never any applause after Hannibal. Unusual.

The turning set had me wondering. It looks wonderful within the structure (see photo above), and it's also always how it is photographed. But in use it means a large part of the stage is not used. Admittedly it was more noticeable sitting in the upper balconies than in the stalls, but especially the first 7 or so meters on stage was all bare. This is rarely shown in official photos, so it took me some time to understand what I was looking at. At first I wondered why the set was not placed further out, but I quickly realized that it needs that position to be able to turn. I wonder if a slightly shorter and/or more square set would fill the stage in a smarter manner? Not sure. Here's the view from the balconies:

The falling backdrop in Hannibal was so well done. It almost came a surprise to me, who knows the show by heart. A mixture of well timed sight and sound and a lot of ropes.

And now for Christine Daaé… For the first performance I saw principal Talía del Val, and for the second performance I saw alternate Judith Tobella. Their overall appearance on stage felt fairly similar in terms of height, build, and wig. Voice wise they are both also bell-voiced sopranos with an operatic touch. But I felt Talía maybe added more nuances to her singing, varying volume and intensity whereas Judith was more consistently bell-voiced? This came to view in TOM, where Talía did one of the biggest transitions I have seen, from whispering the notes and just going mute to full-volume operatic diva. Fantastic. Judith showed less of a transformation but possesses a gorgeous and light voice and is just as radiant. Both of them are so good in the role.

(Guido Balzaretti, Omar Calicchio, Enrique R. del Portal and Talía del Val in Think of Me)

Elements of TOM was also a bit rushed. For the quick-change, a bar of the instrumentals was cut, and the cadenza at the end was short and effective. Why the rush? I don’t know. But the Elissa costume was nice, a turquoise and golden confectionary with nice amount of drapes and sparke, and a nice match to Christine’s honey coloured wig. It was also very visible when the set took a full turn during Raoul’s lines in TOM.

ANGEL OF MUSIC / LITTLE LOTTE As a tiny surprise I got two different Megs – principal Laura Martín for the first show, and u/s Marina Brisa for the second. Their portrayal differed slightly. Laura’s Meg was super affectionate towards Christine, hugging, touching, caring, supporting. Martina was maybe more inquisitive and more of a narrator of the show in a way. She told the audience a lot of the action and mood in the Managers scene just with her facial expressions. But both had fantastic voices.

In Angel of Music the turnable set was placed diagonally, with the end towards the right side of the stage and featuring a large mirror and dressing room table. Now… the diagonally placed set leaves little room for the cast. For this specific scene it did however work, and it was moody with a dark stage and chandelier visible in the shadows.

Nothing radically new in Little Lotte, apart from the already described blinking lamps, ambience sound and gruntle when the Phantom reacts to Raoul’s presence. So moving on to…

MIRROR SCENE First sound of the two Phantoms. Principal Gerónimo Rauch went for a slightly twangy sound rather than booming, I am not quite sure why. Alternate Manu Pilas was all boom. I do prefer the latter, just because it sets a standard and mood for the rest of the show. Christine interestingly entered the mirror by stepping on her dressing room chair and then the table. Heh. Also cool from some angles in the auditorium to see the Phantom lean out of the mirror opening, fully cloaked. Moody sight!

(Ramin Karimloo and Amelia Milo in Trieste)

I could not quite make out Christine’s emotions here. It’s like she thought “gotta get out of here before Raoul returns”…, rapidly wrapped up her dressing gown and ran through the mirror.

TITLE SONG Is it allowed to say it felt too similar to the original staging? Because… them crossing the stage, them going down under stage, them appearing higher up, them crossing the misty stage by boat… It’s not that it wasn’t done well, I had just hoped for a totally different take. Biggest surprise was probably the Phantom’s massive (ahem) organ rising from what looked like the pit, with masses of lit candles, and then slowly moving towards the back of the stage – all while the Piranesi “imaginary prisons” like set backdrop came to view. A stunning lair set, and finally a scene where the front stage was used!

(Amelia Milo and Ramin Karimloo in Monte Carlo)

MOTN This too felt very close to the original staging. With one exception. The Phantom put a lit candle in front of Christine, on the floor, sung about the music of the night, and blew out the candle. I mean… I appreciate this more than the Restaged Tour’s blindfolding, but I am not sure I fully understand what Christine was to learn from it SEEING THERE IS A HUGE ORGAN WITH LOTS OF CANDLES only two meters away…?

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

The MOTN pose totally felt like a homage to the original. Biggest difference in blocking was probably that Christine fainted in the Phantom’s arms and was put to bed in a four-poster bed to the right on the stage.

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

Singing wise both Phantoms brought down the house, Rauch especially hammering in those money notes. Dude got a grand voice. In this scene I (interestingly enough) felt Gerónimo Rauch was more experimental, while Manu Pilas felt old-school and classical. I would have thought it opposite, seeing Rauch’s history in West End. But cool! Got Tomas Ambt Kofod vibes from Pilas.

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

(Judith Tobella in the bed in the First Lair)

STYDI Christine waking up did not go unnoticed by the Phantom; he invites her to come over and sit at his piano bench. As she comes over, she caresses his face, they have a fairly tender moment and then she rapidly takes off the mask. Felt like a natural move, out of curiosity and closeness, which created an interesting contrast to the Phantom’s rage and despair.

Here Rauch seemed to go for emotions running deep, doing a quite heartbreaking rendition of the scene. Pilas showed more rage, even tipping over the piano bench along the way. The blocking calls for the Phantom to react on Christine’s touch before handing him the mask – for Rauch it was when Christine touched his hand, and for Pilas it was Christine touching his shoulder. Rauch seemed more terrified, Pilas more surprised. Both returned to their very-much-in-control mood when they put the mask back on. NOTES / PRIMADONNA Now the revolving set was turned the other way, with the short end facing left side of the stage. Instead of a mirror it featured a window with trees and daylight. For this scene it meant the cast had only a tiny little triangle at the very end of the stage to act out the scene. Whereas it worked well with only two or three present in Christine’s dressing room, Primadonna is fairly crowded. We’re talking seven people on stage, and it showed that they didn’t have a whole lot of space to go. I’m still not on board with the distribution of set and cast in this production.

Acting wise little new to add, just very very very solid. Extra plus for Silvia Luchetti as Madame Giry. She was u/s Christine in the original Madrid production, and thus feature a strong soprano. But she is also a strong belter, and good actress. Her Madame Giry seemed to read every situation well, and act accordingly.

(Laura Martín, Silvia Luchetti and Guido Balzaretti in Primadonna)

As for the two Megs, they both had good chemistry with Luchetti. Whereas Martin had an air of “I trust my maman to sort things out”, Brisa felt more inquisitive.

The turning set was used to full effect at the end of Prima Donna. With the set revolving, the cast entering the stage, with a Garnier curtain like backdrop it looked majestic, beautiful and very Phantom-y. It is also one of the instances it worked well to always have a glimpse of the chandelier and boxes in sight, to remind us of them being in the opera all the time.

(Prima Donna photo from Madrid)

IL MUTO The intro with “old scenery… old audience”… was cut, I think? Another instance of the show being rushed. When I keep repeating this it is because the matinée clocked in on 2 hours and 14 minutes, WITH interval. That might be the quickest one I’ve seen, except the intentionally shortened one-act edition in Las Vegas.

I liked this Il Muto a LOT. The set, with two doors where people entered and exited, gave a mild hint of a farce without going overboard. The middle window could be lit to show Don Attilio spying and the fops whisper gossip into his ear. All in all a nice flow and a nice Mozartesque feel.

(Il Muto photo from Madrid)

The interrupted performance and André entering to present the ballet was also amusing, as he comes out with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a glass in the other hand. Not drunk!style like Barry James, but rather a sense of him being in the middle of something completely different. When not managing to exist the stage during the ballet, the male ballet dancer literally grabbed him by the waist and lifted him off stage. Heh. Nice one. Giggle snort.

Then the funky part. Instead of the dancers being interrupted by scary shadows, blinking light or other “minor” incidents, this production features the Phantom crossing the back of the stage in a rope, not once but twice. As mentioned previously I do get how the third time with dead Buquet then comes as an extra surprise. But it is too much of a Tarzan factor. To me, anyway.

(Il Muto ballet screencap from Trieste)

ROOFTOP Possibly the most original scene in this production, and in a good way. It is set towards a slightly abstract backdrop with a hint of – no, not the Eiffel Tower, bless them, but the Notre Dame, and to the left a rooftop sculpture. Main set is a ledge. Christine crawls out on there and does not look like she wants Raoul to follow, but he does, reluctantly, afraid. She will clearly jump, he is doing anything in his power to stop her. He realizes she is terrified and struggles to find the right words, but offers what he can – a hand to hold and a promise of a better future. Slowly, slowly Christine gets closer to him, trusts him.

(Bradley Jaden and Amelia Milo in Trieste)

A very nice take on AIAOY, because it is all done subdued, not in an overly dramatic manner. Only negative I might add is that AIAOY may not be the best song to sing sitting, or even hunched. But that was only something I pondered about at the end of the song, with the high notes. And also, this showed Raoul at his best. More of content like this, please! CURSE / CRASH The Phantom was of course underneath the two lovers all the time, and he comes to view twirling his cloak. Not a huge fan of the red lining of the cloak, a too high vampire factor. But anyway… Here Rauch’s twangy singing style (which he only did here and in the mirror scene) was used to good effect. Now, the actual staging… With the Phantom singing the end of his curse the set turns and the chandelier comes to view, lowered. The Phantom jumps on it, works hard on cutting its cord with a knife, the chandelier is pulled backwards, and it is then “flung” towards the audience, with “fire”, smoke and the sound effects of shattering glass and screams. It is an original and fancy take on the chandelier crash.

(Chandelier crash photo from Monte Carlo)

INTERMISSION Everyone and their mother taking photos by the rose wall. I bought merch (read: socks).

MASQUERADE The opening was like out of a Doctor Who scene, with the managers being flashed up by light, shifting pose and moving closer for each flash – don’t blink! They wear large cloaks, and of course Firmin’s large frilly pink confectionery of a dress gets lot of attention when revealed. Omar Calicchio looked adorable.

(Firmin dressed up, André and Madame Giry in fairly regular clothes, and Meg Giry doubling as the monkey musical box)

Cool main set – the opera stage with its boxes, a lowered chandelier, and a backdrop showing the Garnier auditorium. Reminded me of the Hungarian design. The opening features a giant monkey musical box which soon enough turns out to be Meg in identical costume to the music box figurine. Nice lil’ detail.

The cast floods in, with rows of people dressed in cloaks and masks dancing in a rather stiff style. I could not quite put my finger on why it looked a bit off until I remember each of the pairs featured one cast member and one dummy on wheels. Aha. But the oddness aside, it was cool to see the stage filled with people like that. It looked like a true Venetian carnival.

(The Masquerade scene in Trieste)

Once again Christine missed out on the dress code, wearing a pale Victorian bustle dress. She must start reading the invitation…! Nothing wrong with the dress per se, but I wish they’d dressed her in something more innovative, or at least make her wear a cloak for parts of the scene to later on reveal the bustle dress.

(Talía del Val and Guido Balzaretti in Masquerade)

And now for what always feels like a regional theatre stunt: At the height of the show a lot of the cast came into the auditorium to sing. I feel you need to have a better reason to break the fourth wall than just surprising the audience. Why were they there? It appears mainly to empty the stage for Red Death.

Did I mention the confetti? Oh the confetti. A sea of confetti. Gold and silver, pouring down. So much that the front aisles were filled, and people so covered it stuck on them when they went out after the show. The pavement of the theatre was glittering. I always wonder if it is really worth it, seeing that the confetti will also glitter up stage in the Mausoleum scene and Final Lair. Places were there technically should be no glitter… Well. Fun to watch regardless.

Red Death: They’ve picked up original magic consultant Paul Brown’s idea of the Phantom just disappearing from his costume, making it fall to the floor. Here the Phantom turns his back to the audience, and when the (few) people on stage runs forward to pull off his red cloak he is no longer there. Beautifully executed!

(Red Death from Monte Carlo)

I wish they did not follow up with the next scene, with Christine in the audience and a cloaked figure behind her pulling off his hood – surprise, it’s the Phantom – grabbing her necklace/ring and running off. Felt like a bit of a cheap trick after the quite magical Red Death disappearance. Would be so much cooler if her grabbed that necklace on stage and then disappeared mid-air. Would also give Christine doubly a reason to fear him, if he can just vanish like that instead of having to run out the door.

BACKSTAGE The backstage tale started all dark, but soon featured a hint of a Coney Island like faire to hint of Madame Giry’s first encounter with the Phantom. IF you want to draw some lines to “Love Never Dies” this is a discrete and non-intrusive way of doing it. Kudos for that. The chandelier is also still lowered, and first when its light goes off is Madame Giry startled enough to flee Raoul. Maybe the most effects I’ve seen in this scene and also working very well.

NOTES / TWISTED We are back to the crammed office set-up and too many people. At times Christine’s dress train swept into the bit due to the lack of space. Well… Both here and in the first managers scene each lead is lit up with purplish light when mentioned in the notes, which is a visual for the audience – especially when they are so crammed together as well.

On stage there are a lot of stacked chairs under the darkened looming chandelier. Nice reminder of still being in the opera.

In this scene I felt both Christines lacked a real anger or temper, even if Judith Tobella displayed it more than Talía del Val. But one thing I did like is that she went from person to person during her solo, almost pleading them to understand the dangers of performing the opera, and they all kinda turns away. Two of the footmen enters (as if the scene was not crammed enough already) to remove the furniture and prepare for the sitzprobe on stage, putting out the chairs in line. Meanwhile Christine does not refuse to sing and does not flee stage, as per usual. At first I thought it was another rushed detail to save some time, but no: Raoul sings “Christine, Christine don’t think that I don’t care…” (loooong pause) and then more or less take her by the arm and force her into the sitzprobe. It does solve the problem of why Christine refuse to sing and then appear at the sitzprobe, but doesn’t quite do Raoul any credit…

SITZPROBE Also an in-between scene with an abundance of ideas. Most of which I liked. The setting is very familiar, piano to the right, cast lined out on chairs. But the piano is not facing the audience, it is turned. We can hear Reyer but not see him. Remember Hannibal? Ar’right. When quarrel breaks out the piano starts to rotate at a massive speed while playing by itself, and Reyer is nowhere to be found. Maybe he never was. Was he the Phantom all the time? We will never know…!

Then for the odd moment… As the set itself rotates, a slow-motion quarrel breaks out, people throwing chairs at eachother, fighting, fleeing (didn’t they just behave when singing? I have questions). Christine puts on her mint cloak, she carries a red rose in her hands and she walks off, towards the audience and a presumed grave which we can’t see but she addresses over the orchestra pit.

(Amelia Milo in Monte Carlo)

MAUSOLEUM Both Christines did a heartfelt “Her father promised her”, not being able to finish the line. The red rose is put on the grave and she starts on the main song. The rest of the scene pretty much as usual.

Help me say goodbye… Oh no thought the Phantom. Towards a discrete mausoleum backdrop he appears, with his giant black wings. Raoul enters around the same time, they sing the trio version. Raoul goes in between the Phantom and Christine. The Phantom creates thunder and lightning, and for each time he flies higher up. Christine is quite passive during the whole ordeal. Eventually a massive thunderstorm is created, and the scene ends. And I’m like… mkay.

If you gonna camp it up that much you have to at least feature the black wings better, they were hardly visible towards the dark mausoleum backdrop. From the upper balcony it looked like he was… bungee jumping? From the front rows in the stalls you could see contours of the wings, but nothing more. As a contrast the silhouette of the chandelier was visible, which didn't quite make sense. Aren't they in a graveyard?

("Angel of Death" in the Mausoleum scene in Trieste)

This scene felt like the prime example of a place where the effects works against the story rather than underlining it. It felt like a lot of noise and little emotions, mostly. And Christine’s role in it all was non-existent.

DON JUAN / PONR Once again a cast member appeared in the auditorium. But here with a purpose – the marksman was placed in the upper stalls. Worked well.

The opening of Don Juan was cool, with the cast as black silhouettes towards a red, smoky backdrop, before coming to life. Featuring Meg as a prominent pageboy was a nice touch.

(Don Juan in Monte Carlo)

The costumes did in large resemble the Bjørnson ones, with breeches and doublets and corseted bodices and tabs, in large held in red, black and gold. Exception being Don Juan’s costume, a large tan cloak and an even larger HAT OF DOOM which would eventually help hiding the Phantom’s mask and face. Christine's costume has also gotten more of a Mary Philbin spin.

(Point of No Return photo from Monte Carlo)

The set too reminds me of Bjørnson's design, especially the timber frame with torn drapes behind a centrally placed table.

It is clear from the start Christine recognize the Phantom’s voice. She pleads to Raoul in the box, but decides to go on. She appears to decide to give the Phantom a hard run for his money, turning up the heat and almost challenging him with the blocking. The overall staging is quite close to the original blocking, and also: no table dancing in sight. Bliss.

(Ramin Karimloo, Amelia Milo and ensemble in Trieste)

I wanna say that Talía del Val removed the Phantom’s hat while Judith Tobella waited for him to remove it? But memory is a bit blurry there. Either how, the Phantom put his ring on Christine’s finger himself.

DOWN ONCE MORE Down once more also felt fairly traditional in terms of the Phantom and Christine in the boat. Both Phantom displayed amazing vocals here, they both have grand voices.

A bigger surprise was the managers, despairing over being ruined. André looks around, throws his lantern into the “pit” which is causing a large fire – I assume this is why we see a ruin of an opera in the Auction scene - and they run off. It’s yet another instance of “Yes, I like the creativity, but does it make sense?”. Since the opera and chandelier seems fairly closely based on the Palais Garnier, and that opera NEVER BURNED it feels like different Phantom universes colliding (I.E. a dash of the 2004 movie with its Opera Populaire meets the Prince/Bjørnson version and the Palais Garnier).

FINAL LAIR And now for the grand finale. A nice twist in this version is that yes – Christine wears her Aminta costume during the Final Lair, like many other non-replica versions – but the Phantom do offer her a wedding dress, veil and bouquet. He also puts the veil on her.

Raoul comes crawling in from the right side – I am not sure if it’s meant to indicate swimming or him sneaking up on them. But he is quickly noticed by the Phantom. He takes a chokehold on Christine to keep Raoul away. A slight inheritance from Ramin, I assume, as he was the king of choking in the UK. With Gerónimo Rauch I didn’t care all too much for it (never did with Ramin either). With Manu Pilas he acted as he suddenly got aware of what he was doing and quickly let her go, almost apologizing, looking embarrassed, even devastated. This made more sense to me, that it was not a cautious choice.

(Final Lair photo from Trieste. Note that some changes was done for Madrid. Most noticeable that Raoul is no longer shirtless, but he's barefoot. He's also hanging way above ground)

So to the part I did not overly care for – the magical lasso. In this version the magical lasso is somehow… connected to the Phantom’s bed and Raoul is raised into the air by one of the poles of the bed. I understand how this is a practical solution, as it makes it possible to lift the actor from the floor. Whereas it did look realistic it also felt a bit strange he would hang from the bed. Guido Balzaretti did however act it well, and it looked frightfully real when his naked feet slowly stopped moving.

And dudes and dudettes – I am happy to say Raoul is no longer shirtless in the Final Lair. Thank you, good actor or director or head of costumes. A bare-chested guy being strangled by/with a bed was too much for me, at least when he is technically not the one in focus.

This is the second place I would have liked more temper, more rage from Talía del Val (first being 2nd Managers). She seemed too mild and too accepting on what’s going on. Judith Tobella was more feisty, even if she too could have turned it up a notch. This especially went for when Raoul got strangled up, it didn’t feel like much of a fight at all. Christine steps on to the bed and tries to loosen the noose once, without success, but that’s it. Fight for your man, Christine!

Another aspect which made me wonder is that it almost looks like Raoul has died long before Christine decides to kiss the Phantom. I would have liked to see her enraged, or even more scared, or… something. But the kiss itself – another scene sticking very close to the original – was beautifully done. With the Phantom letting Raoul go he was just lowered to the floor. Props to Balzaretti for A+ acting here, having to been helped into the Phantom’s boat. Christine and Raoul then sails away, the Phantom sings to the monkey musical box, and Christine returns, being viewable behind the bed.

With Rauch he seems to notice it quite late, and looks very happy about her return, almost crying “I love you”. With Pilas he did a detail that totally made me think Tomas Kofod: he straightened his hair, started buttoning his waistcoat, making himself presentable… only to find Christine has left the ring on the table next to the bed and is nowhere to be seen. So sad a sight.

Speaking of which, the Phantom’s deformity looked great in the auditorium, with balding grey hair and a visible deformed side. He looked much older and much more worn down by life than several other non-replica productions I’ve seen, and I’m here for it. This is a man letting go in all possible ways.

And now for the grand grand grand finale… While the opera is presumably burning a whole bunch of people is entering the Phantom’s lair. First one is Madame Giry. She sees the Phantom as he is about to lie down on his bed, and she rapidly signs for him to hide. He hides under the bedsheet, the contours of his body highly visible. It looks like a curled up corpse, quite eerie. Then Meg enters, and the mob with torches. Meg notice the figure on the bed, screams, and as the mob rips of the bedsheet the Phantom is gone – only his mask is left. The Girys holds up the mask together, with an inquisitive look on their faces. Cue: applause.

A SORT OF CONCLUSION This is a playful, intelligent and a bit overpowering version of POTO. I enjoyed it a lot for its clear Phantom look and feel, for its at times super beautiful sets, for a stellar cast, and for many clever and original ideas. It’s a production which is thoroughly original at times, more traditional in other moments. But I think it would benefit from trusting the source material more. Not everything needs to be a trick, an effect, a surprise. Sometimes the leads can carry the scene by mere acting and that is more than enough. The rooftop scene is a nice example of that, while the Mausoleum scene feels like an example of the opposite. But that said: Overall this is a welcome addition to the Phantom universe!

(Curtain call photo showing Martina Brisa as Meg, Judith Tobella as Christine and Manu Pilas as the Phantom)

Highlights: The overall set design, Think of Me (both vocals and visuals), the Meg and Christine love, three equally strong and enjoyable leads, the Phantom’s lair (again both vocals and visuals), the rooftop scene, Red Death’s disappearance, the backstage tale of Mme Giry, the mystery that was Reyer, the cast, the mood.

Meeeeh: The Overture slow-motion sequence, Carlotta as she appears as an opera singer, the rushed feeling throughout, the cramped Manager’s office, the red lining of the Phantom’s cloak, the chandelier crash, sending the cast into the auditorium during Masquerade, the confetti, the Sitzproble slow-motion sequence, Christine’s lack of proper anger.

Hard no: Tarzan-Phantom in Il Muto, winged and flying Phantom in the Mausoleum scene, the Phantom’s sombrero in Don Juan.

#phantom of the opera #fantasma de la opera #poto spain #poto italy #poto monte carlo #geronimo rauch #manu pilas #talia del val #judith tobella #guido balzaretti #marta pineda #omar calicchio #enrique r del portal #silvia luchetti #laura martin #marina brisa #francisco ortiz

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