#Фантомът на oперата

[elemelon-s]

Absolutely Everything You Will Ever Need to Know About the Bulgarian Production of Phantom of the Opera

Production Details: Phantom of the Opera (Фантомът на oперата) at the Musical Theater “Stefan Makedonski” in Sofia on November 17th, 2019. 

Cast: 

The Phantom of the Opera – Vladimir Grudkov Christine Daae – Hristiana Loizu (guest) Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny – Alexander Panayotov Richard Firmin – Todor Velkov Gilles Andre – Rumen Grigorov Madame Giry – Kalina Angelova Meg Giry – Ilona Ivanova Carlotta Guidicielli – Zornitsa Damyanova Ubaldo Piangi – Georgi Handzhiev Joseph Buquet – Luchezar Lazarov Don Atillo – Dimitar Pavlov Monsieur Reyes – Alexander Vasilev Monsieur Lefevre – Emil Mitropolitski Auctioneer – Maria Koroveshova Fop – Nikolai Dimov

Фантомът на Операта – Владимир Грудков Кристин Дае – Християна Лоизу (гоизт) Раул, Виконт дьо Шани – Александър Панайотов Ришар Ф��рмен – Тодор Велков Жил Андре – Румен Григоиров Мадам Жири – Калина Ангелова Мег Жири - Илона Иванова Карлота Джудичели – Зорница Дамянова Убалдо Пианджи – Георги Ханджиев Жозеф Буке – Лъчезар Лазаров Дон Атилио – Димитър Павлов Мосю Рейе – Александър Василев Мосю Льофевр – Емил Митрополитски Довереница – Мария Коровешова Аукционер - Мария Коровешова Контета – Николай Димов

All of this is written according to the best of my memory and the notes I took afterwards. The romanization of the actors’ names is done only to the best of my ability, which is why I’ve also put them in the original Bulgarian above as they appear in the program. The photos are a mixture of official production photos that show a variety of different actors, and my own photos from the production. I would also like to add that this review mostly concerns the differences between this production and the replica versions, with only a little bit of emphasis on specific actors and their performances.

(The stage before the performance - my photo)

The Auction

The auction runs pretty faithfully to the replica versions. There were a few small details different for those well-acquainted with the replica version:

Raoul (Alexander Panayotov) actually got out of the wheelchair to pick up the music box and sing to it

When the overture was cued, everyone froze onstage, and then very slowly during the overture the actors left slowly at measured intervals, carrying pieces of the set with them

One of the attendees at the auction wore a modern, knee-length black dress, which kind of broke with the costumes everyone else was wearing

The ceiling tile at the top of the theater had a hole cut into it for the purpose of hanging the chandelier

(Denko Prodanov in the auction scene - official photo)

Hannibal

Carlotta (Zornitsa Damyanova) and Piangi (Georgi Handzhiev) got a lot of laughs with their over-the-top antics, but the real standout for me was Monsieur Reyes (Alexander Vasiliev). He was brilliant as the opera’s musical director. Extremely fastidious and meticulous about the music, with a comedic flair that made him really fun to watch. Carlotta was in full diva mode, demanding the affection of Firmin (Todor Velkov) and Andre (Rumen Grigorov) and then basking in their praise. Piangi also went as far as to threaten Monsieur Reyes with his prop sword after the “Roma/Rome” pronunciation issue. 

When the action kicks into gear, there weren’t any props to indicate the set piece falling on Carlotta--just a lot of flashing light and then Carlotta and Piangi moved to the front of the stage and acted super dramatic. The rest of the cast also ran offstage during this portion, but at different intervals groups of performers would run behind the main action looking scared.

I was surprised to see that Madame Giry (Kalina Angelova) did not have her characteristic stick. When she was talking with the managers, the ballerinas ran behind them shrieking and she yelled at them and looked irritated when they didn’t listen. Carlotta and Piangi made a huge show of leaving, singing super crazy notes and dramatically storming out only to come back in and sing more crazy notes. Similarly, the managers got a lot of laughs by acting very comedically stressed out. They both did a lot of things in unison, like collapsing together on two chairs after Carlotta and Piangi leave.

(Katerina Tuparova and Georgios Philaldefes in Hannibal - official photo)

Think of Me

There were a lot of really cute moments between the ballerinas at the beginning of “Think of Me.” Firstly, when the managers asked who could replace Carlotta, Meg (Ilona Ivanova) pulled Christine (Hristiana Loizu) into the spotlight from completely offstage. All the other ballerinas came onstage after this and Meg got them all to cheer for Christine. In contrast to the replica productions, Christine was confident and self-assured while she was singing, and when the managers seem unimpressed she pressed on as if determined to sway them.

The actual blocking is quite similar to the replica versions, except that during his interlude, Raoul threw two bouquets of flowers onstage and Christine picked them up and smelled them, and then hugged them to her chest while she finishes singing.

(Vesela Delcheva in “Think of Me” - official photo)

Angel of Music

A few details stuck out to me in this scene: firstly, when Meg entered from offstage, Christine was being helped into her Music of the Night attire (pictured below) by what appeared to be an actual dresser from backstage. Secondly, Christine and Meg had a really nice moment where they end the song in an extended hug, only interrupted by the arrival of Madame Giry. I really enjoyed the portrayal of their relationship! It was so sweet and caring. 

Little Lotte

The scene started out a tad awkwardly, as Raoul just kind of came up behind Christine and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. Christine was apparently super confused as to why a random stranger was in her dressing room, so she had this really creeped out expression on her face and kept quickly backing away from him until the part of the song where she recognized him as her old friend. Once she figured out who he was, they shared a really sweet hug. Raoul and Christine had a lot of sweet moments together in the first act, and this was one of them.

(Vesela Delcheva and the dressing room set - official photo)

The Mirror

The transition into “The Mirror” was really interesting. After her “Raoul!” line, Christine immediately collapsed, ostensibly asleep, on the dressing table, and then woke up a few seconds later to begin singing “The Mirror.” It was an intriguing way to insinuate that she dreamt the entire “Phantom of the Opera/Music of the Night” sequence. It’s also in this scene that the production starts its kind of weird trend of having Raoul just sprint around the stage when the Phantom is near. Multiple times during the song, Raoul just sprinted across the length of the stage, not stopping to look confused or call out to Christine, but just running the entire length of the stage. Was he training for a track meet? There doesn’t seem to be any reason why he’s suddenly running, because AFTER this scene is when he goes up to Christine’s dressing room door to find it locked and he starts to think that something’s up.

(Hristiana Loizu and Vladimir Grudkov in the title song - official photo)

Title Song

The title song really revealed the flexibility of the stage backdrop--I was completely surprised to see that the hanging background (shown below) turned completely transparent once lit from below when the music for the title song was cued. Once Raoul entered the dressing room, the curtain fell in front of the entire dressing room set. The Phantom (Vladimir Grudkov) and Christine then came through the curtain and the backdrop was lit from below to reveal two sets of stairs going up and down on either side of the stage. (You should be able to tell from the photo--the circled areas are the sides where the stairs were). The Phantom and Christine climbed these stairs, went across the stage, and then came back down and get into the boat (following the arrows in the picture). Once they came down the last set of stairs, they disappeared behind the curtain and reappeared in the boat. The boat itself moved pretty slowly, so Christine sang the final notes on the boat instead of being led out by the Phantom. I highly doubt they used doubles for any part of the title song sequence, because you can basically track the actors’ movements throughout the entire song, although I suppose it’s possible they did. 

(The path taken by the actors during the title song - my photo)

Music of the Night

The design of the Phantom’s lair was very modern-looking. You can see a bit of it in the above photo. There were 1-2 large, spinning, rectangular blocks that have these Tetris L-shaped light designs on them. In the first act, I believe there was only one spinning Tetris block, and the organ was placed directly adjacent to it so that the Phantom’s back is to the audience while playing it. There were also three or four Tetris L-shaped lights hanging in the air above the spinning blocks. Those are the ones you can see in the photo above. 

Since the title song ended with them both in the boat, the Phantom sang the “I have brought you...” lines while he’s exiting the boat and putting his coat and hat on the organ. At the beginning of MOTN, the Phantom took some sheet music off the organ (I assume the Don Juan libretto) and handed them to Christine, who thumbed through them while he began singing. At some point, sheet music started falling from the top of the stage and floating to the ground, and Christine picked them up and kind of examined them for a bit. Despite doing all this, however, Christine fell asleep in the boat very early in the song and stayed that way for almost the entirely of MOTN. The Phantom then covered her with his cape and spent most of MOTN singing at the organ with his back kind of turned towards the audience.

(Hristiana Loizu in “Stranger Than You Dreamt It” - official photo)

Stranger Than You Dreamt it

The “Masquerade” theme played to wake Christine up, but the monkey didn’t move with it. Christine woke up in the boat and collected the papers from the ground, as if to marvel that they were real. The Phantom was playing at the organ, but his back was to the audience and Christine faced the audience when she went to remove his mask. 

(Temenuzhka Trifonova and Vladimir Grudkov in “Stranger Than You Dreamt It” - official photo)

After she took the mask and the Phantom flipped out, she ran to the other side of the stage. The Phantom ran after her and grabbed her arm, kind of dragging her around from what I remember. When he lets her go, she crumpled onto the ground and stayed there for the rest of the song, not looking at the Phantom at all (shown in the photo below). This is where the blocking was a lot different from the replica--eventually, they both stood up and turned so they are standing back to back (see above photo). Weirdly, the Phantom’s deformity was completely facing the audience, so it was revealed completely during this scene. Christine, who still had the mask, passed it to him while they were standing back to back. Then the Phantom donned his mask again and led her back to the boat. Standing back to back, I could definitely feel a sort of emotional connection between the two actors, especially since Christine kind of laid her head back onto his, but I missed the significance of Christine facing him and handing him the mask. 

(Vesela Delcheva and Vladi Mihajlov in “Stranger Than You Dreamt It” - official photo)

Magical Lasso

There’s not much to say about this scene. The blocking was pretty similar to the replica versions, except the ballerinas were positioned on the wings in front of the stage instead of under Buquet (Luchezar Lazarov).

Notes I

There’s also a lot of movement onstage in Notes I because the side characters--primarily Meg, Madame Giry, and Raoul--all exited the stage after they sang their lines and then came back on for the next line. For Meg and Madame Giry, who don’t have as many lines, it wasn’t as noticeable, but Raoul has a lot more lines and it kind of came off like he was really furiously pacing all over the place because he would sing and then immediately leave, only to come back again for his next line. Additionally, Meg was wearing what I thought was her Il Muto costume, but she doesn’t appear onstage during Il Muto. She also wore this costume at the end of the show--you can see it in the final photo I took during the bows. Lastly, when the notes appear, the Phantom physically appeared in Box 5 off to the side of the stage to sing the notes.

(Katerina Tuparova, Denko Prodanov and Georgios Philaldefes in Notes I - official photo)

Additionally, Carlotta started to show her true colors in Notes I. Obviously in replica productions, she’s already personified as the diva who expects to get what she deserves, but in this number, in addition to demanding Christine’s removal, she slapped at least one of the managers and Piangi during the course of the song. This really set the tone for how her character was going to interact with others--namely Christine--throughout the show.

Il Muto

This was the scene with some of the strangest blocking choices, specifically between Carlotta and Christine. The dynamic between these two characters was way more confrontational than in the replica versions. Specifically, during Il Muto, when Christine entered as the pageboy, she looked visibly upset and unwilling to be there. Carlotta as the Countess was basking in having gotten the part over Christine, and kept yanking her all over the stage as Christine actively tried to get away. Then things got even creepier as Carlotta physically ripped off Christine’s skirt and threw her on the bed, and then proceeded to make weird sexual hand gestures over her while Christine flinched away and looked horrified. I wasn’t alone in thinking this, either, as one of my friends after the show even commented on how strange and creepy it was. I don’t really understand this portrayal of Carlotta as being so vindictive.

(Il Muto - official photo)

The Phantom then physically appeared on the walkway above and delivered his line about frogs. He dropped an actual frog on Carlotta from above, and a mechanical mouse ran across the stage, both of which Carlotta freaked out about. Meanwhile, Christine off to the side looked visibly delighted that this was happening. The mouse (which was just a wooden cutout on wheels) went across the stage once more, and then Carlotta regained her composure. She made a big show of pulling out her throat spray and singing the notes she was performing before, looking very smugly at Christine. Then she continued singing and her voice croaked, and the Phantom dropped another frog on her before the managers closed the curtains and announced the ballet.

(Katerina Tuparova and Georgios Philaldefes in Il Muto - official photo)

As a final note, the costumes for Il Muto are pretty similar in design to the replica version, except for Christine’s, who was wearing a white blouse and some midnight blue velvet-looking pants with sparkles on them. Christine wore this costume throughout the majority of the second act.

(Il Muto ballet dancers - official photo)

Dance of the Woodland Nymphs

The ballet is largely played comedically, with the ballerinas looking really out of sorts, like they weren’t expecting to dance so soon. There were a lot of mistakes that happened for comedic effect, like dancers being out of place and having to move or doing the wrong moves and having to correct themselves. The shepherd came out with another ballerina, who was wearing glasses, and while he spun her the glasses fell off and she made a big show of not being able to see and flailing her arms around.

(The ballerina with glasses - official photo)

All I Ask of You

This was probably one of my favorite scenes in the first act. There were again some notable differences from the replica production, mainly in how visible the Phantom was to the audience for the duration of the scene. The set had a background featuring the Paris skyline, with the angel statue the only physical set piece onstage. Before Raoul and Christine entered, the Phantom ran onstage, as if looking for somewhere to hide, eventually hiding behind the angel statue. Immediately when they come onstage, Raoul ran around as if checking for the Phantom, and despite purposefully looking behind the angel statue, he doesn’t seem to see the Phantom. He did this twice, once when he first came onstage, and the second time after AIAOY. Although the photo below shows Christine in her “Music of the Night” dress, when I saw the production she was wearing her Il Muto shirt and pants (pictured below, above “Wandering Child”)

(Denko Prodanov and Vesela Delcheva in “All I Ask of You” - official photo)

I would say Raoul was a little harsh on Christine before the song when he tells her that the Phantom isn’t real, but during the actual song, he was very tender and caring, and the two were really cute together. They didn’t kiss during the interlude, but they shared a really nice hug, and then ended up kissing during the “Order your fine horses” part.

The Phantom gets major dramatic points for his “I gave you my music,” because once Raoul and Christine leave, he ran onstage and poured his heart out so much that he’s literally lying on the floor singing the end of the song.

(Vladi Mihajlov in the rooftop scene - official photo (?) )

The chandelier fall was a bit lackluster, but since this was only playing for about 10 or so performances in this theater, it makes sense that they didn’t go all in on the chandelier. Once the Phantom left the stage, the dramatic chandelier falling music played, but no one was onstage, and the chandelier fell extremely slowly and kind of sparks. As the chandelier was falling, a single piece of sheet music fell from the top of the stage onto the floor, just like in “Music of the Night.” Once the chandelier reached the ground, two people who looked like crew members ran out and covered it in a tarp, like they were putting out a fire. I kind of thought something was actually wrong, but it appeared to be part of the performance. I think one of them yelled something like, “End of Act I”, but I don’t speak Bulgarian, so it could have been anything. I will say, it was a kind of anticlimactic way to end the act, and the audience seemed confused as well by the sound of the confused clapping after the chandelier fell.

Masquerade

“Masquerade” was really quite a spectacle, and a great opener to the second act. Like in the replica productions, the managers entered first and backed into each other. The curtain stayed down while they backed into each other, and after they finished singing a dancer dressed all in gold came out through the curtain and started doing some wild breakdancing-like moves in front of the curtain, which then opened to begin “Masquerade.” The scene itself was really quite similar to the 2004 movie, with a backdrop that looked like it was taken right out of the movie scene. I really enjoyed the spectacle of the Masquerade staging! The cast (except for Raoul, I believe) carried golden fans and they would close and dramatically open them in time with the music, creating a really nice effect.

(Hristiana Loizu and Alexander Panayotov in “Masquerade” - official photo)

When the dancing started, you could really see the differences in attitude between Raoul and Christine. When Christine got whisked away from Raoul by dancers, she really just continued to have a great time dancing with everyone while Raoul looked visibly concerned and ran around fruitlessly trying to get her back. Finally, he got her attention from across the room, and she just kind of waved at him like “Oh, hey there!” as opposed to, “At last, there you are!” Christine continued having a great time dancing all the way up to the part where the Phantom physically enters and everyone screams.

(The Red Death - official photo)

When the Phantom enters, everyone fell to the ground and moved away. The Phantom was wearing a skeleton outfit with a silver skeleton mask (one mask on his face and one on the back of his head -- I believe it was different than the one in this photo), and his voice was altered to be really crackly, kind of like he was talking through a walkie-talkie. The Phantom was really physical in this scene: he shoved through the managers to make his entrance, and then grabbed them and shoved his libretto in their hands. Raoul tried to confront the Phantom, but the Phantom kind of pushed through him. 

Now, my memory does not serve me well in this instance, but I believe this is the first time of the Phantom kneeing Raoul in the crotch and Raoul crumpling to the ground (yes, this happens multiple times). Raoul attempted to confront him, but the Phantom has the upper hand and knees him in the crotch, causing Raoul to crumple to the floor. After the libretto was given to them, Firmin and Andre kind of twirled away slowly with their hands in the air. I can’t remember how the Phantom exited or how he took Christine’s ring, but Raoul was angry about it afterwards.

(Denko Prodanov and Vesela Delcheva in “Madam Giry’s Tale”)

Madame Giry’s Tale

Some more Christine shenanigans ensued during this number. Firstly, Raoul hunted down Madame Giry and seemed to interrogate her. While Raoul talked to Madame Giry, Christine stood on top of the stairs above both of them. The whole time, she made a huge show of how conflicted she was, walking in one direction as if to go offstage, and then changing her mind and walking back to Raoul, and then walking back almost to go offstage. When Raoul finished talking to Madame Giry, he motioned for Christine to come with him, and then there’s a long pause in which he looked at her expectantly and Christine looks really reluctant to follow him. Then Christine finally followed him, seemingly out of peer pressure.

Notes II

Raoul and the managers were all still in their Masquerade costumes, while Carlotta and Piangi had changed back into their Notes I costumes. When Christine entered, she was wearing her Serafimo/AIAOY costume. Again, we see how feisty Christine is in this staging. She was so angered by Carlotta’s accusations that both of them literally almost came to blows, but were separated by Raoul and the managers at the last minute. Like, a fistfight almost erupted onstage. After this happened, Christine stood at the top of the stairs again, looking super conflicted about which way she is going to exit, walking one way, only to change her mind and walk the other way, all the while looking very anguished--very similar to in “Madam Giry’s Tale.” Raoul eventually went up the stairs and had to lead her down, which she did not seem amenable to, in order to tell her about his plan. Finally, the curtain closed over the entire scene, and Christine emerged, followed by Raoul, singing his “Christine, Christine” part, to which Christine runs offstage.

Don Juan Rehearsal

Again, the bitter resentment between Christine and Carlotta is brought to the fore, and Christine doesn’t help matters by acting really smug about getting the part of Aminta. When the scene opened, you could see Christine being really quite happy about rehearsing her part while Carlotta sat off to the side. Meanwhile, Carlotta and Piangi were being quite obnoxious. Carlotta kept singing Christine’s part after Christine sang it, but louder and with more obnoxious vibrato, which really made Christine mad. Piangi even pretended to be asleep when Monsieur Reyes called him up to sing with Christine.

But speaking of Monsieur Reyes, we get to see him shine some more!!! He kept having to leave the stage to play the “piano” to show the singers what pitches to hit. The more Piangi sang the wrong notes, the more Monsieur Reyes would go offstage to play it correctly on the piano and then sing it back to him, all while giving him crazy cues. Also, the more Piangi sang something incorrectly, the faster Monsieur Reyes would cut him off. (I love this Monsieur Reyes) This also made it more effective when the “piano” started to go crazy. Even though the piano wasn’t onstage, we could accept that the crazy notes were coming from offstage, and he wasn’t the one playing them since we saw him leave the scene so many times to play it. When the ensemble sang in unison, Christine ran offstage, and when the curtain closed and she reentered the stage in front of it.

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

This was by far my favorite number of the show (along with Wandering Child). Christine sang the beginning of the number in front of the curtain, then exited the stage and was onstage when the curtain rose again. She was still wearing the Serafimo outfit, but with a black cape added. Her father’s grave wasn’t a mausoleum, like in the replica productions, but a statue in the silhouette of a man playing the violin. She mostly sang away from the statue on stage left, and she eventually gets on her knees in the middle of the stage with her hands together like she’s praying. Eventually she stood and walks close to the statue, and ends with her hands together in the air. Then (I believe) she collapsed on the ground (She seemed to do that a lot for some reason).

Wandering Child

The music began for Wandering Child and suddenly you can see the statue on Christine’s father’s grave actually playing the violin it’s holding--it’s the Phantom! (Side note--I was completely taken aback when the statue started moving and thought it was really cool, but my friends all said they saw it coming). He wears a really stiff, grey, marbled-looking coat that flares out at the bottom, and a hood that covered the back of his head (I believe it looked a lot different than the one in the above photo--more grey). He was turned facing the back of the stage, so as Christine looked at him it appeared as though she was watching him play. Additionally, the violin rested on the top of a long pole, so when the Phantom stepped away from it, it just stayed sitting there.

The Phantom stepped off the pedestal while singing, and Christine stood and followed him. Meanwhile, above the Phantom and Christine, Raoul entered, wearing a tan suit and a blue pastel vest and--you guessed it--was sprinting back and forth above Christine and the Phantom. But again, he’s just running back and forth. He didn’t appear to stop and look for either of them, or make any indication that he was there for any other reason than running around. In fact, he was looking in the complete opposite direction of where the Phantom and Christine were. It really just came off as him being completely useless. Raoul sang a few of his lines above Christine and the Phantom, and then eventually disappeared and entered on the lower stage. He then sang more of his lines--still searching for Christine, but still looking in the exact opposite direction of where she is, despite being about three feet away from her. Like, literally with his back to her. Finally, Raoul noticed her and wrenched her away from the Phantom.

The sequence of events is a bit fuzzy in my mind, but I believe it’s at this point that the Phantom AGAIN kneed Raoul in the crotch and Raoul collapsed to the ground (this definitely happens at some point during Wandering Child, but I’m just not exactly sure when). Christine broke out of her reverie and became terrified, and frantically tried to rouse Raoul on the ground. Eventually, Raoul stood up and tried to attack the Phantom, but Christine was curled in a ball on the ground, clutching Raoul’s hand, preventing Raoul from reaching the Phantom because he’s basically dragging her dead weight. At this point, the Phantom returned to the pedestal and played the violin again. Raoul let go of Christine’s hand to lunge at the Phantom, but just as he lunged at him, the violin turned red and fire shot out of it into Raoul’s face.

Bravo, Monsieur!

This scene was basically just Raoul trying to order around some comedic effect soldiers. The soldiers in the theater were about six guys wearing all gold, complete with what kind of looked like firefighter hats spray painted gold. They very comedically entered the room in a line by doing some sort of high-step bouncing where their knees reached 90 degrees every time they took a step. Their leader had an extremely accentuated beer belly and a whistle in his mouth that he exclusively tweeted--he had no speaking lines, just whistle tweeting.

Additionally, there was a guy who appeared in the orchestra pit operating an old-timey machine gun. Raoul gave the order for everyone to draw their attention to Box 5. When the Phantom did his “I’m here” spiel, he actually appeared in Box 5, but everyone was so scared by his sudden appearance that no one did anything. Literally, in the box where Raoul and the managers were standing, the actors crouched behind the ledge and all you can see is them shaking their (white) handkerchiefs over the ledge (subtlety, anyone?) The machine gun operator actually shot the gun at Box 5 and then comedically swiveled it around when Raoul yelled at him, causing everyone to duck, thinking he was going to fire again. Then, the scene ended with the Phantom’s disembodied voice.

(Hristiana Loizu and Vladimir Grudkov in “Point of No Return” - official photo)

Past the Point of No Return

Don Juan opened pretty much as it does in the replica versions. However, after Piangi left Passarino, he entered the PONR set, which was basically a bedroom, and laid down on the bed. The Phantom then entered the room and started scampering around, hiding behind different set pieces, until he eventually got to the bed and suffocated Piangi with a pillow (with Piangi’s own hands!), dumping his body over the side and taking his place under the sheet. In the photo above, Piangi’s body is literally lying on the ground right behind the Phantom and Christine. Christine entered wearing an extremely full skirt, which she pretty much immediately took off to reveal some white old-timey underwear (pictured above). Christine must have been super feeling herself because she immediately just went over and got into bed with the Phantom. It’s important to note that Piangi/the Phantom’s costume was just a loose-fitting white shirt and pants with a really ornate flower crown-looking headpiece, which does not hide his face at all. So the implication here is that Christine (and the entire audience) all know that he is the Phantom and NOT Piangi, although I will say that when I mentioned this to my friends, they all said some variation of “Oh, but his face was mostly covered by the flower crown!” So I assume that most people just assumed that his face was covered. But as  you can see in the photo, his face (and his mask!) is COMPLETELY VISIBLE.

The whole time the Phantom was singing the first part of the song, both he and Christine were in this bed and there was a lot of slow caressing going on. Christine got off the bed once she started singing, but this just ended in her and the Phantom standing super close to each other while standing up. When it came time for Christine to reveal that he’s the Phantom and not Piangi, it was actually the Phantom himself who took the flower crown off to “reveal” himself, so Christine ended up not doing anything. Furthermore, rather than looking scared and confused, Christine was super digging this turn of events and looked really pleased that the Phantom is “suddenly” with her onstage. The Phantom sang his AIAOY reprise and put his ring on her finger. Both of them moved to hug each other, but as this was happening, someone crouching behind a mysterious wardrobe divider sprinted across the stage.

Surprise--it’s Raoul! He ripped off the Phantom’s mask just as it looked like the Phantom and Christine were about to go any farther. Then chaos ensued--the Phantom looked really upset and crazily ran to the other side of the stage (without Christine!) Christine looked accusingly at Raoul, angry that he would do such a thing, and Raoul kind of looked back at her, holding the Phantom’s mask, with an expression of, “Don’t you see this?” Christine took the mask from Raoul, and then the Phantom took Christine’s hand and she ran with him offstage. Yes, instead of being dragged offstage, Christine left of her own volition with the Phantom. Finally, the comedic gold soldiers bounced onstage and carried Piangi away as Carlotta discovered his body.

(Hristiana Loizu and Vladimir Grudkov in “Point of No Return” - official photo)

Down Once More

The general chaos continued as Raoul was approached by Madame Giry and Meg, who was wearing her Notes I outfit. Once they disappeared, I believe the curtain closed again, with Christine curled up in a ball in front of it to the right of the stage, sobbing. Why was she sobbing? I have no idea, because she left the stage with the Phantom willingly earlier! The Phantom entered from behind the curtain and grabbed Christine while singing “Down Once More.” They climbed the stairs on the sides again like they did during the title song. However, this time the comedic gold soldiers followed them up and down the stairs.

(Vladi Mihajlov and Vesela Delcheva in “Down Once More” - official photo)

Final Lair

The lair scene opened with the two swirling Tetris cube blocks from before in “Music of the Night.” Christine was being forced to put a long, billowing white robe on over her Aminta underwear costume. It’s important to note that the Phantom had put his mask back on and was wearing it for the entirety of this scene. Raoul entered from above, and the Phantom opened the gate to let him through. Instead of using a noose like in the replica productions, the Phantom approached Raoul, kneed him in the crotch so that Raoul crumpled to the ground, and then attached some kind of hook device to him so that he’s hoisted in the air. There was a bit of fumbling with the hook while the Phantom was trying to attach it, so there was a bit of an extended part where Raoul was just hugging the Phantom around the waist and looking anguished. When the Phantom attacked Raoul, Christine crumpled to the ground at stage right in despair. She stayed on the ground for the entirety of the scene--she didn’t get up at all when the Phantom attacked Raoul, or at any point afterwards until...

(Vladimir Grudkov and Alexander Panayotov in the final lair scene - official photo)

When Christine sang her “God give me courage...” line, she then stood up with her back to the audience and kissed the Phantom, although only once as compared to it usually happening twice in the replica. Afterwards, the Phantom went and cut Raoul down and commanded them to take the boat. Christine looked very hesitant to get in the boat, but eventually does. Raoul grabbed the pole for the boat and started piloting the boat away. However, the boat was facing the wrong direction, and turning it took a long time, so as Raoul was trying to turn the boat around, the Phantom sang his “Christine, I love you” line. Christine motioned for Raoul to stop and exited the boat to give the Phantom back his ring, although she did it by facing away from him and lifting her hand backwards. She got in the boat again and they began singing the AIAOY reprise, but then Christine had Raoul again stop the boat and turned to face the Phantom while she was singing. I seriously thought it was the Phantom and Christine singing together because of they way they were positioned. Raoul, for his part, stared forward the entire time, and he looked so tired. Christine and Raoul left the stage, and the Phantom began to sing Masquerade, although without the music box present.

(Vladimir Grudkov and Hristiana Loizu in the final lair scene - official photo)

While he’s singing, the Phantom himself finally took off his mask to reveal his deformity, which looked basically like a large red burn on his face. Again, he had his mask on during the entirety of the scene. The comedic gold soldiers bounced across the very front of the stage, and the Phantom seemed to sense a bit of urgency. He sang the final line with lots of emotion and then fled, leaving his mask on the ground. Meg did not appear at the end to lift up the mask; the spotlight shone on the Phantom’s mask on the floor.

(Final bows - my photo)

General Overview

Overall, although I really enjoyed seeing the performance live for the first time, I was disappointed by the way Christine and Raoul come off in this production. While I liked the little touches between her and Meg, and her and Raoul at the beginning up to the end of the first act, ultimately this production took a lot of agency away from Christine with certain blocking choices, like not having her remove the Phantom’s mask in “Point of No Return” and having her just lie on the floor for a majority of her big scenes instead of reacting to the action around her, especially during “Wandering Child,” “Final Lair,” and “Stranger Than You Dreamt it.” Not to mention that she was actively pursuing the Phantom during the entirety of the second act, going so far as to leave the stage with him after “Point of No Return.” In my opinion, it took a lot of the clout out of the story by making Christine so Phantom-sympathetic and passive. Similarly, the way she treats Raoul further decreases my opinion of her character. No matter how hard Raoul tries to rescue Christine from the Phantom, who she is clearly at points scared by, she keeps making his efforts worthless by constantly going back to the Phantom. It makes Christine come off as selfish and self-absorbed, while Raoul seems like an idiot who can’t even begin to touch the Phantom. I think the performers did a great job, and for the most part I liked the costumes and sets (except for Christine’s sparkly pants--sorry for the pants fans out there), but I couldn’t get around how dirty they did Christine by taking away a large part of her agency within the show, particularly towards the end.

Individual Performer Reviews

The Phantom (Vladimir Grudkov)

Let it be known that Vladimir Grudkov is another entry in the list of Phantoms with facial hair. You can see his beard above in the “Point of No Return” photo. I don’t have too many specific things to say about his actual performance. He had quite a powerful voice and was really entertaining to watch, especially during the more dramatic moments (see: end of Act I and Act II). Since I am not familiar with the blocking as a whole, I can’t really comment as to whether or not he added anything to the performance. Overall though, there weren’t too many details I can mention other than his voice and the standout moments in the show. His strongest points, as mentioned above, were the ends of Act I and II.

Christine (Hristiana Loizu)

Overall, Hristiana Loizu had a very confident and self-assured portrayal of Christine. Again, I am not sure how much of this was the actual blocking of the show and how much were additional touches specific to her performance, but I enjoyed her voice and she had a good acting range. The moments that really stood out to me from her were mostly changes that the production itself made, and not details of her portrayal of Christine. From what I understand, she was a guest performer added to the cast, having made a name for herself on The Voice of Bulgaria, so that’s cool that they were able to add a celebrity performer to the cast.

Raoul (Alexander Panayotov)

I have to give mad props to any actor who plays Raoul in this production, because it is honestly quite a thankless role to play. Despite his constant efforts to protect Christine, he keeps getting beat down by either a) Christine showing more interest in the Phantom or b) the Phantom literally kneeing him in the crotch to get the upper hand. He really acted his heart out and came off as a nuanced character despite all the nonsense that goes on onstage. I found his portrayal to be a bit too brusque at times toward Christine, especially during the “Notes” scenes and at the beginning of “All I Ask of You,” but there were places in the show where he was angry at her and I totally agreed with him for being angry. The many times (during “Madam Giry’s Tale” and “Notes II”) after the Phantom has terrorized Christine in some way, but she is still seriously trying to run after him, and definitely at the end of “Past the Point of No Return” when she chooses to leave with the Phantom, I felt that him being angry towards her was completely justified. In fact, after she left with the Phantom in “Point of No Return,” I was kind of rooting for Raoul to just leave her to be with the Phantom and go off by himself. This would definitely have been the better mental health choice for him after everything she puts him through in the second act. And it really seems like she wanted to be with the Phantom after all, not that she was forcibly abducted and needs Raoul to save her! All of this to say that I really appreciated Alexander Panayotov’s portrayal despite everything that was happening. He still managed to have a really sweet “All I Ask of You” and had nuanced character moments throughout the show.