#POTO copenhagen

[ballerinadellamusica]

Finally got to see the Masquerade dummy at Det Ny Teater

[operafantomet]

Jacob Hughes bringing us the Hannibal Slavemaster diadem looks from West End (top left), Copenhagen (top right) and in his dreams (j/k)

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

PotO Gifsets Masterpost Vol. I

A masterlist of gifsets I've made from various performances I've watched.

Ian Jon Bourg & Olivia Safe w. Kyle Gonyea (Hamburg, 2001)

Michael Crawford & Sarah Brightman w. Steve Barton (Broadway, 1988)

Gary Mauer x Beth Southard (Dallas, 2006)

The First Lair

Point of no Return

Final Lair

Earl Carpenter & Rachel Barrell (West End, 2006)

The Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night

Stranger Than You Dreamt It

Point of no Return

Final Lair Kiss

John Owen Jones & Rachel Barrell (West End, 2005)

Music of the Night

Point of No Return

Final Lair Kiss

John Owen Jones & Gina Beck (West End)

Music of the Night

Anthony Crivello & Kristie Holden (Las Vegas, 2008)

Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night

Stranger Than You Dreamt It

Point of No Return: Part I

Point of No Return: Part II

The Final Lair: Part I

The Final Lair: Part II

Tomas Ambt Kofod & Sibylle Glosted (Copenhagen, March 2019)

Little Lotte (w. Christian Lund): Part I

Little Lotte: Part II

The Mirror: Part I

The Mirror: Part II

The Phantom of the Opera: Part I

The Phantom of the Opera: Part II

Music of the Night: Part I

Music of the Night: Part II

I Remember...: Part I

I Remember...: Part II

Stranger Than You Dreamt It: Part I

Stranger Than You Dreamt It: Part II

The Rooftop: Part I

The Rooftop: Part II

All I Ask of You: Part I

All I Ask of You: Part II

All I Ask of You: Part III

All I Ask of You: Part IV

Masquerade: Part I

Masquerade: Part II

Masquerade: Part III

Why So Silent?

Point of No Return: Part I

Point of No Return: Part II

Point of No Return: Part III

Point of No Return: Part IV

Point of No Return: Part V

Act II Unmasking

Final Lair: Part I

Final Lair: Part II

Final Lair: Part III

Final Lair: Part IV (The Kiss)

Final Lair: Part V

Final Lair: Part VI

Final Lair: Part VII

Michael Crawford & Dale Kristien (Broadway, 1988)

First Lair

Point of No Return

Michael Crawford & Dale Kristien (LA, 1988)

Music of the Night

Point of No Return

Thomas James O'Leary & Sandra Joseph (Broadway, 1996)

The Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night

Point of No Return

Final Lair Kiss

Hugh Panaro & Samantha Hill (Broadway, 2011)

The Mirror

Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night

Point of No Return

Final Lair Kiss

[worm-anon]

this just in: Copenhagen was aware of the ancient worms below the Majest Theatre and gave us a subtle hint towards their existence in 2019.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

Random things I've seen with various POTO casts, part 1 of hopefully an ungoing series

Meghan Picerno and John Riddle having a generally adorable rendition of Little Lotte, but a highlight is Meghan's Christine connecting the dots while reading Raoul's letter, pressing it to her heart and just looking very happy as she continues changing

Jennifer Hope Wills waking after MotN, trying to make sense of the previous evening, and instead of being dreamy/enchanted like other Christines can be, she's actually confused, a bit scared, and even kind of pissed, and unmasks the Phantom as a result (I mean honestly go off queen)

Hugh Panaro being the funniest person on stage even during the Final Lair and knowing it, while I'm really torn being low-key amused and actively rooting for Raoul and Christine to gtfo

Michael Crawford singing "Christine, I loveD you" at his last performance ever

Raquel Suarez Groen delivering the "she's mad" line in the exact same tone as someone saying "this bitch be crayyyyyyy"

Georgia Ware's face after Madame Giry's line "Meg Giry, are you a dancer", where she looks very proud as if she's saying "well, yes, I'm a dancer, yay!"

Rasmus Jupin (Piangi in the second Copenhagen revival) worshipping the ground Carlotta walks on, not being the least bit jealous when she flirts a bit with André while she sings Think of Me, and just beaming with pride instead

Eugeny Zaytsev's Raoul actively listening to Tamara Kotova's Christine in All I Ask of You, nodding, and when she sings "Promise me that all you say is true" he takes her hand and puts it to his heart

Rachel Barrell being literally all of us when she returns the ring to Earl Carpenter's Phantom, and by that I mean that she's crying her eyeballs out

Josh Piterman's Phantom cuddling Kelly Mathieson's Christine back during the Final Lair kiss, and he almost looks like a little boy while Christine pats him on the back gently

[marleneoftheopera]

Hi there! Been a follower of your blog ever since I got into POTO about a year ago. I watched a video on Youtube of Vera Borisova as Carlotta (my favorite character, controversial as it may be), and was wondering if you could gift the audio of her in Copenhagen 2001? If it's tracked or smth, just Prima Donna would be great :)

Hi, thanks so much!

The audios from this production are considered to be on the rarer side (one is very limited trades and the other is the only full audio) so I wouldn’t gift it publicly. That being said, if you message me I can send you Prima Donna and/or set up a trade for the full thing!

There are other audios and a video of Vera that I have as well, though they’re from her time in Hamburg.

[theres-music-in-you]

Could anyone direct me towards the rest of the blurry clips of Isabel Schwartzbach on YouTube? I have only managed to find the Think of Me & Angel of Music clip. I’m in love with her voice and would really love to see more of her. Much thanks!

[phantomchristinesuk]

Phanniversary posts: 2021 (16)

Isabel Schwartzbach

Sixteenth live Christine

Saw in March 2019

Pictures: Isabel Schwartzbach social media (John Olsen, Christina Krøytzer, Miklos Szabo)

[wheel-of-fish]

Here you go, anon! I have so many favorite Tomas moments, it was hard to choose!

[gracie-p8-officialblog]

I just discovered Sibylle Glosted and why did no one tell me she was AMAZING 🥺

[xphanlocked]

cutie

[ballerinadellamusica]

Corina Clark in two of her three Phantom productions.

1- Ballet Chorus - Copenhagen, Denmark

2- Meg Giry (understudy) - Copenhagen, Denmark

3- Ballet Chorus (swing) - London/West End

No pictures are available from her short time in the UK tour (Ballet Chorus - Swing).

Pictures: Imogen-Lily Ash, Jacob Hughes & Yukina Hasebe Instagrams

[operafantomet]

Just saw phantom live at west end and wow! The sets were big! Now I wonder if other replicas had bigger sets.

For a second I read that as "West End Live", AKA the annual concert thingie with led screens... And I was like HUH?

Then I understood what you meant. Heh.

First and foremost, I am so happy you had a good time at POTO. It is a beautiful show. I am a huge fan of Maria Bjørnson's set and costume design, and still today - some 30 years after I became a fan - I can be utterly floored by certain scenes.

As far as set size goes West End is actually one of the smaller. Not SMALL, but smaller. Some of the biggest to date include (in no particular order):

The Las Vegas production 2006-2012, with its especially-built theatre with gigantic stage, dome, and "chandelier in pieces". Huge production, larger-than-life details.

The original Hamburg production 1990-2001. Another theatre built to house Phantom (and today one of the top musical theatre buildings in Germany). Extremely wide stage, to the point where Maria Bjørnson was not entirely happy with the proscenium layout. It didn't blend as well as elsewhere. In some scenes it also felt like the cast literally had to run across stage to get into position in time. Oh Hamburg. Needless to say, they narrowed the stage for the revival 2013-2015.

The Stuttgart production 2002-2004 also featured a big stage. I can't tell if it was bigger than Neue Flora in Hamburg or not, but it was in the same vein.

Oh! But also the original Los Angeles production (1989-1993). Massive proscenium and stage. And yet I don't have a single good photo showing the proscenium or its scale. Hmpf.

I would also mention the World Tour, which has toured in at times huge arenas. It didn't necessarily make the proscenium bigger, but they sometimes did the extended side sculpture look, where there is a drape structure under the sculptures. This was the case when I saw the show in the fairly brand new Zorlu Theatre in Istanbul 2015:

This could even be considered one of the smaller World Tour stages. In other cases they've been in huge operas or also arenas. Again, it doesn't necessarily mean the set-up on stage is bigger, but it does something with the overall scale. Here's Hong Kong 2014:

Compared to these Her Majesty's Theatre is way more intimate, both in Maria Bjørnson's original proscenium design and chandelier:

And the new wider and angel-less design for the revival:

Just to continue showing the range of set-ups... I suspect one of the smallest stages they've performed the show has been in Copenhagen. The stage is tall, but narrow, and quite cramped backstage. They were originally told no when they wanted to do the show, due to the backstage and understage space. But they came up with lots of methods to make sets foldable, collapable or deconstructable, and hoisting furniture and set pieces up in the air. And they made it work. Very well! But this production didn't feature any side sculptures, just like the riginal Stockholm production where they got the sets from, to not obstruct side view of the already narrow stage.

Now compare those proportions (and especially the Golden Angel, which I don't think differ a lot in size between productions) to the Las Vegas stage... quite the difference, both with and without the side boxes in the auditorium.

...and that has been today's proscenium and stage nerding... Hah!

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Hi! I was just wondering who's your favorite phantom actor?

Can be from any Poto play, or movie, or anything really.

I'm really curious!

This and similar questions have been popping up so much for me in the last week lol

I like to be extremely specific so I will give you a few of my favourites

I have been meaning to re-examine my favourites for a while now

So my favourite overall, my number one, my blorbo, the phantom closest to my heart is always going to be Gerard Butler. Say what you want about his singing, but ain't no other phantom ever done Pleading Eyes (tm) like that man.

For stage Phantoms the one who has a hold on my mind that just will not let go is Tim Martin Gleason. I love a tall phantom. I love that in the title song he does not order Christine to sing for him, he asks her. He conveys, with his intonation, that he asks for the honour of having her sing for him. I love how expressive he is. This man made so many choices.

Vocally I think the best singer that has ever played the phantom is John Owen Jones. But I think my favourite phantom Vocally is Tomas Ambt Kofod, because he--more than ANY other Phantom I have heard, sounds like Erik. His voice is remarkable in its smoothness and delicacy, but also very powerful.

He's also so sensual and gentle. He loves to administer loving touches and caresses to his Christine.

His final lair is also devastating

The Phantom actor I think I respect most is Ethan Freeman. This man has such a dedication to this character and to the book specifically. He refused to read Phantom by Susan Kay because he didn't want an apocryphal version of the character to influence his interpretation, which he specified modeled off of Leroux's Erik, adding touches pulled directly from the novel such as kissing (or almost kissing) the hem of Christine's robe during "Stranger Than You Dreamt It", as Erik kisses the hem of her dress in the book.

Seen here in the West End in 1995 with Jill Washington:

And here, in Essen, 11 years later with Anne Görner:

It seems that over time he evolved this moment to the point that he appears to abandon the thought before he brings it close to his lips--probably thinking he's not even worthy of touching her vestments.

He's got an almost faerie-goblin quality to his interpretation. Like he's just scuttled out of the Black Forest. He also leans into the idea of Erik-as-Magician

He's not afraid to be sensual either, though.

I think the most emotional phantom is Earl Carpenter. One of the first full boots I ever watched was Earl Carpenter with Rachel Barrel. His Music of the Night changed my brain chemistry forever. The gentleness! The vulnerability! The vacillation between confidence and fragility!!

The way he would jostle Christine a little when he caught her, his face a picture of panicked concern!

Though I think his interpretation of Erik as (for want of a better word) asexual is a little wacky (considering the text), it strangely works in favour of Erik's particular brand of sensuality, and it paired particularly well with Rachel's timid and apprehensive interpretation of Christine (which I generally dislike--here, though). And his singing has only improved with maturity. The raw emotion of his All I Ask of You (Rooftop Reprise) in his 2023 run is shattering. Absolutely shattering.

My favourite feral Phantom is without a doubt Scott Davies. If you ever want to see the most unhinged "Let these freaks be together" e/c show you've ever seen you have GOT to watch Scott Davies with Meredith Braun. Ethan Freeman's got the Goblin King energy and Anthony Crivello has the Sewer Gremlin vibe, but if you ever want a Phantom with a real primal streak, you can do no better than long-standing West End understudy Scott Davies:

This guy tackled the role with a ferocity and an audacity that you don't generally find outside of Russian productions.

His Phantom hands? Oh Lordy!

And the best part is that Meredith's Christine was picking up EVERYTHING he was laying down. Her Christine is just as mad, just as feral, just as unhinged. And especially paired with such a hearty goodfellow Raoul as Matthew Cammelle--Raoul would have done well to gtfo of there. He was NOT prepared to handle this lmao.

And then there's Ted Keegan. Who for me will always be the Phantom that got away. If I had just done a little more research before--just three months into my poto obsession--booking my tickets to see phantom before it closed on Broadway, I might have had the transcendent experience of seeing Ted Keegan live. As it was, I had no idea he was even still playing the phantom, and wound up with Ben Crawford instead.

And I would be remiss if I finished this list without naming Thomas James O'Leary. Like Ethan Freeman, O'Leary leans into Erik's ghostly persona, with a magician's touch. I think he took a lot of inspiration from Lon Chaney's Phantom (note the position of his hands here).

His "Sing for me~" is one of my all time favourite line readings and got a very embarrassing reaction out of me when I first heard it.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, there was the moan.

[andrewlloydwebber]

skassman.official: Throwback to my first run through as Christine Daaé 💕 How time flies!

(Sandra Kassman, Copenhagen understudy)

[phanasmasmask]

The most memorable song from the 2018 revival of the Phantom of the Opera in Copenhagen.

Phantom: Tomas Ambt Kofod

Christine Daaé: Sibylle Glosted

Please do not share outside tumblr.