#sierra boggess ramin karimloo hadley fraser my BELOVEDS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

glassprism · 2 years

Note

Which POTO actors would you like to see in the restaged tour or LND who have not been in them?

Bold of you to assume I want to inflict the restaged tour or LND on any actors. (Let us take a moment to mourn for Josh Piterman's Phantom and what he will become in the restaging...)

But fine, I'll bite. I'd say...

RESTAGED TOUR

Hadley Fraser - Let's be real, his Raoul was kind of the prototype for what the restaged tour Raouls did. So just stick him in the actual production, there's practically no difference!

Jay Armstrong Johnson - His Raoul was the most boring, robotic Raoul I've ever seen. Surely the aggressive, entitled Raoul of the restaged tour will make him better! Or at least more entertaining!

Bronson Norris Murphy - This is probably because he was in the LND tour, which basically went around the US around the same time as the restaged US tour, so there's an association there, but I do think it'd be interesting to see how he interprets the original Phantom in light of LND, and how he does it in the restaged tour, which, of all productions, tried its best to make the original show connect to the sequel.

Uwe Kroger - I think he deserves another chance, so why not do it in my least favorite production.

LOVE NEVER DIES

Michael Crawford - I just think this would be so funny (and so full of drama given Crawford's intense dedication to the role).

Dale Kristien - She was one of the first E/C Christines and basically called Raoul an idiot, she'd be great here. She could even play opposite her beloved Michael Crawford.

Peter Karrie - Karrie has actually said that he wanted to do the sequel, so there's that. But also, imagine one of the craziest, most Leroux-accurate Phantoms, who also happens to be in his 70s, trying to play LND!Phantom. Imagine it.

Ramin Karimloo - Okay, I know what you're all saying: "Ramin Karimloo was already in LND!" And you would be correct... but not in the Australian staging! I am genuinely curious to see how he would play the role with Aussie's direction. He can bring along Sierra Boggess too.

Gina Beck - An actual serious answer. Gina Beck is a Christine who's super sympathetic to the Phantom, she's already covered the title song, she's still young enough to do it... just cast her.

Cooper Grodin - I mean, Cooper Grodin in everything, amirite. He's like the foil of Bronson Norris Murphy - Bronson Norris Murphy was in LND but not the restaging, Cooper Grodin was in the restaging but not the LND. I, for one, would be super excited to see his hyper-violent take on LND's Phantom.

Uwe Kroger - He should be in this too.

#GP gets asks #anonymous

19 notes · View notes

finallair · 7 years

Photo

Requested: Royal Albert Hall 2011 - Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Hadley Fraser

Differences between the RAH and the replica blocking:

#1 and #2: No portcullies, the phantom chokes Christine to keep Raoul away from them, after this Christine falls to the ground and Raoul runs to her.

#3 and #4: Raoul is strangled on the staircase, hence Christine doesn’t run around him. The phantom has to walk up to Christine before he can grab her, this happens much later than usual.

#5: Christine doesn’t walk up to Raoul after ‘shattered’, she just turns around to stop the phantom.

#6: The phantom never puts the veil down, so he still carries it during ‘I gave my mind....’

#7 und #8: The throne is on the other side of the stage, therefore the phantom just sits on the ground. He puts the veil down after ‘make your choice’.

#9: The phantom directly addresses Raoul after he frees him.

#10: Christine stops halfway up the stairs, Raoul comes back to lead her out.

I was asked some time ago to do a RAH gifset and didn’t know how to do it because there are too many differences in the blocking - I can’t ignore them, they are important for the atmosphere of this interpretation but I also wanted to point the subtle acting choices out. Therefore I decided to do two gifsets, in this one you can see the most relevant (imo) changes from the replica blocking. You can read my opinion under the cut. (The other gifset can be found here)

#1 and #2: I don’t like the choking at all. Mostly because it looks like a impulsive reaction and doesn’t go well together with the fact that Raoul’s arrival was part of the phantom’s plan. He thought the whole thing through and I just can’t believe that choking his beloved Christine was a part of his ingenious plan. Raoul running to Christine is the natural consequence of this - this could be a very nice parallel of Christine running to Raoul after he is freed in the end. But as you can see in #9 the blocking in the end is changed too.... (In fact this parallel Christine getting choked -> Raoul runs to her and Raoul getting choked -> Christine runs to him could have made the whole choking thing a little bit better...)

#3 and #4: I don’t like the fact that Christine and Raoul don’t really interact here. Of course Christine looks worried but I always like how Christine tries to reach the noose runs around him like crazy. Christine’s defending position and stumbling back in #4 is quite nice, it’s a good transition to the next lines. But I still have a problem with the whole tone of this blocking - it’s less about Christine trying to free Raoul. Often the whole point of ‘grabbing Christine’ is that the phantom wants to get her away from Raoul, some Christine’s even try to go back and put up a real fight (look at Daniela Braun here). You can see that Raoul’s position on the staircase leads to less interaction between Christine and Raoul in general...

#5: I have the same issue here - in the usual blocking it’s always fun to watch Christine running to Raoul - some Christines almost break down and need his comfort, some have gained new energy and try to free him and some run there as fast they can because they want to protect him from the phantom - either way, it’s a moment where you can see Christine’s emotional state and most of all that Christine cares for Raoul. Here Sierra just walks to Raoul and turns around when she notices the phantom behind her. Yes, maybe because she wants to stop him but it’s still not as powerful as the usual blocking. The same goes for whole sequence - the magic of this moment is watching the whole trio and how Christine can’t decide if she should stay with Raoul or try to cope with the phantom. Here you can see just a flicker of this conflict, it’s just not as powerful because there is too much space between Sierra/Ramin and Hadley...

#6, #7, #8: I don’t care if the phantom carries the veil around or drops it earlier - but I love how Ramin drops it right after ‘make your choice’. Christine can take it and stay with him or not, it’s a good symbol for his words. I’m also ok with him sitting on the ground - of course this takes away some of the superiority of the phantom but I like how close he can come to Sierra during ‘you try my patience’, for me this moment works quite well.

#9: I already mentioned my main complain here - I hate the choking in the beginning but it could have been a nice parallel to this scene. Especially because he first addresses Raoul directly with ‘forget me’ and so on before he lets him go. This would have been perfect for Christine to run to him - but because of the damn staircase Raoul can’t just fall to the ground and be exhausted, he has to move as well and run to Christine himself.

#10: Surprise - I don’t like it. Ok, they have no boat. My solution: Use the bridge that Christine and the phantom crossed during ‘Down once more’. In the replica you have to go by boat to the lair, here you have to cross the bridge. It’s not as aesthetic but it’s allright. But having Christine singing ‘All I ask of you’ while she’s still in the lair and LOOKING BACK to the phantom is totally wrong. This implies that Christine wants to stay with the phantom and needs Raoul to make the decision to leave for her. I have no problems with Christines that are very conflicted, show that they care for the phantom and don’t really want to leave the lair - but it is has to be her own decision in the end, that’s one of the most important things in the story.

Ok - you see that I am quite critical. The main reason is that I think this blocking is too phantom/Christine-centered. Yes, the whole scene is mostly about these two, when I watch it I often forget about Raoul and just notice him when he is very good or very bad. But here we don’t get to see the conflict which is the best part of the final lair and the main reason that I watch it over and over again. (Although I can understand that Sierra doesn’t care for Hadley - maybe she is afraid that he’ll start shouting again...)

#final lair #sierra boggess #ramin karimloo #hadley fraser #phantom #Phantom of the Opera #my opinions

208 notes · View notes