#poto Finland

[marleneoftheopera]

Marika Hölttä in rehearsals for POTO Finland.

[cantikdaae]

A Finland revival is happening again from this August, including some familiar and new faces.

[operafantomet]

How would you rank each non-replica on a scale of creativity/original ideas?

That is a good question with many possible answers! Mostly because there are "good" creative/original ideas and "bad" creative/original ideas out there, and some of the most creative ones may also be the one I dislike the most... For example, if going by creativity and originality alone, Estonia would be very high on the list. But I'm not really loving the production overall, so I wouldn't say it's the best original take on POTO. If that makes sense. But if ranking the productions purely by how different they are and how hard they have worked on not looking like the original, I would say:

ESTONIA: Inter-war setting, rather bleak in its colour scheme and overall design, with one helluva mirror-discoball lair design, leather-coat Phantom, Vivienne Westwood-esque Il Muto, Moulin Rouge-ish Masquerade, 1990s Haute Couture Don Juan... There's so much to say. Definitely original, and not just giving "we had a low budget" vibe.

FINLAND / SWEDEN: 1980s costume vibes, gold mask, rock'n'roll, huge sets, tiny chandelier, gigantic orchestra, for the most actual opera singers in the leads. This one felt odd more than anything. But original? Very much so.

KRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN: Definitely a production on a budget, but yet checking off all the boxes of what you'd expect of a POTO production. And with some super original ideas for some key scenes - Raoul stumbling around in the falling sets during the Overture, the elegant double staging in the boat scene, the rarities in the Phantom's lair, Red Death crashing through a mirror and later disappearing in mid-air... They had so many cool lil' details going on. In style fairly 1880s, and with a cool horizontal half-mask for the Phantom. I really appreciated this one.

SERBIA: One could maybe argue this was more low-budget than original...? At least the basic black set with few changes and the many low-key costumes didn't feel like the biggest effort out there. But different? Oh definitely.

BULGARIA: Pretty much the same comments as Serbia. However, the Phantom's fruit crown in PONR can never be unseen. Neither can the monkey musical box which seemed to have lost its will to live. Memorable for sure.

ROMANIA / NORWAY / GREECE / TOUR: Whereas the basic drum set was fairly similar to the Restaged Tour, it felt like an original production still. Some independent interpretations of the Palais Garnier (including featuring a huge window as a mirror substitute for Christine), more Edwardian flair of the costume design, and a kick-ass chandelier - grand, fun, and with some cool and independent directing ideas throughout. The idea of never leaving the opera house, for example, was interesting. Very enjoyable overall.

MEDITERRANEAN: Basing nearly the whole set design within a rectangular, turnable box on stage was a neat and cool idea. This, combined with oh-so-Victorian costumes and so many nods to Phantom history, felt original and clever. Also some stunning original visuals, like the Phantom's lair with the Piraniesi-esque labyrinth backdrop. Speaking of original, it probably looked very as expected with its heavy victoriana flair - but to me that's not a negative thing.

POLAND: One could argue this in large was a carbon copy of the 2004 movie. The costumes in particular, but also directing elements like including a sword fight in the Mausoleum scene. But the sets - oh, those beautiful sets! Also a wild chandelier crash.

SYDNEY HARBOUR: A really hard one to rank. The world's first outdoor production (ORIGINAL!), with sets looking like Bjørnson's design on steroids (not as original), with 1860s flair costumes (hello 2004 movie) with a dash of LND Australia (not as original), but then a flying gondola over burning water (ORIGINAL!), a huge cast (very RAH), and performing come rain or sunshine (ORIGINAL!). Something old, something new... But definitely a cool one for the Phantom portfolio!

RESTAGED TOUR: I was a bit in doubt on how to rank this one. I mean, the costume design is in large not new, it's Maria Bjørnson's costumes. But then new set design, new directing and new choreography. With various degrees of success. To me the most original idea is the drum set structure, and also some new magic tricks and added moments. I'm not loving the directing choices, as it makes both the Phantom and Raoul rather unloving candidates for Christine - why would she pick either of them? Also felt too much like a nod to Love Never Dies to appear truly original. So yeah, mostly for the sets.

HUNGARY and CZECH REPUBLIC: Whereas the productions themselves may not look the same, they both feel like two similar takes, to loving interpretations of the original, sticking to the same colour schemes and with a heavy Victorian flair. Directing wise they also feel like the same landscape. I appreciate both a lot, and especially Hungary has some clever ideas going on. I also loved how they picked Palais Garnier as a base - but totally different areas or angles of the Palais Garnier than what Bjørnson did. But if going purely by originality they don't move too far outside the box.

NEW ROMANIAN PRODUCTION: Nearly impossible to rank. AI design with some tweaks, which has resulted in a sort of amalgamated combo of all the non-replica production set design, with a sprinkle of Maria Bjørnson design on top. With some playing-card-odd costumes. Some visuals are stunning, some are very traditional, some are way out there. Yeah, I have no idea how to rank this one.

(and of course this is just my impression of them - have in mind that I've only seen three of them live, and if I see more of them in the future I may feel different about this ranking)

[lokislynx]

The Phantom of the Opera. It's been in my life for... over 30 years now more or less. ALW's was the first I knew. I love the original book by Gaston Leroux. I even like Susan Kay's version to a point... Would have been so much better without the ending.

The musical has become somewhat of a trigger to me but not related to the story.

The first time I was "shocked" somewhat by the story was when I saw the musical years ago in Finland, my hometown Helsinki. It was glorious and different but there was a second after Christine fainted in the end of Music of the night that implied... that's too strong a word really but... rape.

I was bothered by it. Like I was bothered by the missing stockings of POTO 2004 movie. (Over all I do not like the movie at all).

I realised I've always thought Erik's love as extremely passionate but... "knightly". He loves from afar. I feel he never imagines anything as physical as sex between him and Christine. He wanted to live with her, have walks with her and sing with her but physical contact... He broke down from a kiss on his forehead!

I've extremely hard time imagining him even spying at her from behind the mirror while she was changing her clothes. Leroux's Erik frankly doesn't seem mature enough. The rest... or the over all image of him is... sure he blackmails, murders and tortures people but he is a gentleman when it comes to ladies... like Nadir said in Kay's Phantom. This is why he suffers so in the book. Raoul is the very real physical love, Erik represents the love from the old knight's virtues. Like Don Quixote. This doesn't make his love any less passionate, but Raoul's existence makes it ever the more desperate. Erik loves Christine, he wants and yearns for her, but... never expects to "satisfy" her physically. The beauty of it is that he can do so to her mentally and she is extremely pulled by him that way... torn between the mental and physical aspects of love.

And Past the point of no return... I adored the song when I was a child. Now however... it's so far from what Erik would do. He would not parade his (nor hers!) sexuality or sexual passion in front of an audience! He's been paraded almost all his life until he found refuge from beneath the "tomb" he built for himself like the ancient pharaohs! He would rather guide rats down his pants than do that...

[fitzrove]

Musical questions! 28, 29, 30?

[To celebrate 400 followers I'm finally answering all these from my drafts :D]

28. What's a musical that you saw ages ago that you're still not over? What about it made you love it so much?

If watching a video counts as "seeing": Tanz der Vampire. I saw posters and ads on the street for the Helsinki 2016 production... but that was after it was already over, in April/May!!!!! I was so curious about it but forgot after the initial wondering. Then that summer I went to a two-week language camp/course in the UK (my first time abroad without parents!) where we were singing Total Eclipse in the music room and an older "camp counsellor" girl from Germany told us it's actually from a musical, and that night I took it as my sign to look it up and ended up watching sooo many clips on YouTube over and over for the rest of my time at that course, and eventually the whole 2005 proshot with English subs.

Something about it spoke to me in a way no other musical had before - I mean, I had liked POTO for years, that summer I also started listening to Hamilton, but neither of those rattled in my head to the same obsessive degree as TdV did <3

It came into my life at a special time, has come and gone since, and whenever I get back to it, it still hits the hardest out of any show I've ever watched. Whether it be the epic orchestral rock score (I'm not like an über Steinman fan but I like his stuff), the level of emotion (some would say melodrama <3) and the way the show itself has come to symbolise a lot of things to me over the years (freedom to leave an environment you're not happy in and remaking your life elsewhere; freedom to be yourself and go after what you want even if it goes against what's conventional or societally acceptable; the world belonging "to the shameless and the wicked" and the rest of us just having to roll with it). So yeah >:)

I've now seen TdV live three times: once in Stuttgart in autumn 2021, and twice in Hamburg this summer (2024). It wasn't perfect but it meant a lot :') I've also met Aris Sas and he liked my headcanons and hot takes, and wished me the best in my life and my studies 😭🙏

29. What's a musical that you used to really like but don't anymore? What made you fall out of love with it?

I think I'm falling out of love with Wicked!! It was one of the first shows I saw live (back in Finland) and that production left a lasting impression on me, but after seeing it in London twice (heheh) I think I'm satiated :') I will still want to see the movie though! I probably just won't have the energy to engage that much with the hot takes it will probably spawn kslsls. Plus I hate the discourse that the movie is stirring up about how the book is better and that should've been a movie instead dkkdldls. I think the book is kind of terrible and takes itself too seriously. Plus the sex scenes are bad bad bad bad....

Anyway - still like the musical, I think I have just overlistened to it and I don't usually find too much to "chew on" in the fandom space :D Especially since I don't know/care about Wizard of Oz lore 😭

30. What's a musical that's grown on you since you first saw it or listened to it? What made you appreciate it more?

Rudolf: Affaire Mayerling.......... I still think it's terrible but I keep making friends with people who know that it's inaccurate (and don't really care about defending its honor skkskd) and still love it for being camp 😭 I used to have a very negative view of it but now I can just listen to Du bleibst bei mir on repeat, enjoy wholeheartedly and pretend it's the whole show 😌 obligatory mention that I met and took a pic with Wietske at the Les Mis München stagedoor this year 😭😭😭😭🙏🙏

[glassprism]

What goes into the decision behind running a replica vs. non-replica POTO? Does it boil down to costs or contracts or is it related to artistic license? And even when they run non-replica, it still says ALW's Phantom, so how much still has to run true to his original?

For the decision-making, it just depends on the production! There are some versions that could probably afford to do the replica production, but choose not to because they want to explore other interpretations or because they have always done non-replicas. For example, musicals in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Finland have traditionally always done non-replicas, so when they put Phantom on, it's no different. Within this category too are other reasons - for example, several of these productions are also in repertoire theaters, meaning they have multiple different shows cycling in the same theater across the year, so it's also about using the space wisely.

For other productions, yes, cost is a big reason. This is more the case in countries where musical theater is not as established, such as Italy, Norway, or Greece; here, it's easier to not have to pay the licensing costs or production to put on the replica and just make a version that is cheaper and likely to recoup the money back. But that doesn't mean artistry or creative license is not a factor, and creators of productions on a lower budget have still talked about how they wanted the opportunity to reinterpret the material.

As for the second question, the show has to use the same music, story, and lyrics (with some leeway for translations) as the replica, but the sets, costumes, choreography, and blocking can change. If you look at any non-replica of ALW's, they are still playing the same music, singing the same songs, and following the same general story; it's just the visuals and the blocking that changes, and even the latter has to stay within the boundaries of the story (no Christine going back to the Phantom at the end, for example). If everything changes, then you're not a non-replica, you're just a totally different version, e.g. the Ken Hill version, the Yeston/Kopit version.

Not that that's stopped some high school productions from trying to insert their new and improved lines.

[phantomchristinesuk]

Christines around the World: 2021

Japan

山本紗衣 (Sae Yamamoto), 海沼千明 (Chiaki Kainuma), 久保佳那子 (Kanako Kubo) & 岩城あさみ (Asami Iwashiro)

West End

Lucy St. Louis, Holly-Anne Hull, Anouk van Laake & Beatrice Penny-Touré*

Broadway

Meghan Picerno, Emilie Kouatchou, Julia Udine & Elizabeth Welch*

Estonia

Maria Listra

Finland

Marjukka Tepponen

Sanna Iljin, Hanna-Liina Võsa & Iida Antola

Hungary

Mahó Andrea, Fonyó Barbara & Krassy Renáta

Czechia

Monika Sommerová, Michaela Štiková Gemrotová, Natálie Grossová* & Kristina Růžičková^

Србија (Serbia)

Мина Глигорић (Mina Gligorić), Мирјана Матић-Недељковић (Mirjana Matić-Nedeljković)* & Марта Хаџиманов (Marta Hadžimanov)*

България (Bulgaria)

Християна Лоизу (Christiana Loizu) & Теменужка Трифонова (Temenuzhka Trifonova)

*did not perform the role during this year

^possibly not in the cast

Pictures: Phantomopera, Ooppera Baletti, Madách Színház & fantom Opery social media. Teater Vanemuine (Gabriela Liivamägi). Musical.cz & Music Bulgaria Facebook. Shiki Theater Company (Akihito Abe). Performers instagrams (Manon Taris).

[ballerinadellamusica]

All upcoming/current production according to the New York Times!

Tokyo, Japan currently running until 10th January 2022

London, UK from 27th July 2021

Sydney, Australia from 3rd September - 29th October 2021

Helsinki, Finland from 22nd October to 31st December 2021

New York, USA from 22nd October 2021

Shanghai, China in 2021 (part of the World Tour)

BERLIN, Germany Autumn 2022!

Others not included:

Sofia, Bulgaria 4th - 6th June 2021

Budapest, Hungary 27th October - 8th November 2021

Osaka, Japan Spring 2022

Picture: phantomopera Instagram story

[thebrideinthemirror]

Sometimes I hink about how it’s the 21st century so it’s a lot easier for costume designers to design historically accurate costumes now that there’s so much information on the Internet and then I look at Phantom non-replicas and cry

[glassprism]

Colm Wilkinson did NOT have a beard when he was playing the Phantom in the actual production. This is what he looked like in the actual production:

The video in the reply above me is from the Hey, Mr. Producer! concert, which featured a medley of songs from different musicals, and since there was no deformity involved (and Colm Wilkinson was also performing some songs from Les Miserables as Valjean), he did not have to shave his beard. But in the actual production, he did not have a beard.

As for Phantoms with facial hair, yes, there has been a few from non-replica productions. Here’s one from Poland:

One from Finland:

One from the Bulgarian non-replica (I think another of their Phantoms may also have had facial hair):

And there’s the famous (or infamous) case of Cooper Grodin from the restaged US tour, who had a fair amount of stubble for a period of time when he was playing the Phantom:

Something I just now noticed

I have NEVER seen a version of the Phantom who has facial hair

[musicofthejaninaga]

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää kaikille suomalaisille! Happy 100th independence day for all fellow Finns! To celebrate I made this Finnish flag collage from pictures of different Christines in wishing and wedding dresses 🇫🇮

[marleneoftheopera]

Emma Kajander in rehearsal for POTO Finland.

[ange-de-la-musique]

Christine dressing gowns in non-replica productions.

(Oslo/Greece, Estonia, Czech, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Finland/Sweden, Hungary)

Bonus! 2004 Movie, “real” dressing gown, “dream”’ dressing gown, and POTO Kristianstad:

[morosemariposa]

2019 Finlandia Trophy

Were going back to Espoo, Finland for the Finlandia Trophy. The last Challenger Series competition before the Grand Prix Series starts next week. Finlandia Trophy is a challenger that you have to pay to watch the stream but luckily for me I found a free stream so I was able to watch the entire competition.

MEN’S SP There were rough skates, music not being skated to and lazy costumes. Overall a not great short program for most of the men but there were little highlights.

Shoma Uno - SHOOOMAAA! It was okay not great but passable. It’s not a clean skate and Shoma hasn’t had a clean short program since 2018 Japan Nationals, so I’m hoping for a clean one during the Grand Prix Series. The costume is pretty, definitely much better than the one he wore at Friends On Ice over the summer. I can always count on Shoma to bring the sparkles even if it is minimal it works for the costume and the program. He was catching up to the music during the stsq, so he needs to work on his speed and stamina more then it’ll be a great performing program. Ironically, I was nervous for the planned 4F3T combo when it was the 3A that almost got him on the landing. I believe he’ll be able to land that combo, he’s done it before. I know people have problems with this short program and I do too. I won’t get into the appropriation argument because that’s a discussion for a lot of programs this season. I will however focus on the performance of the program as I have with the other appropriation programs from various skaters.

Sota Yamamoto - It was a great short program for Sota. He really performed the music to “East of Eden” with such ease. He definitely had the best short program performance of the competition. I didn’t get to see his short performance from U.S. International Classic so I’m glad that this is my first time seeing it and I like it. I think it’s great program for him. He’s strikes me as a classical skater and beautiful classical music suits him.

MEN’S FP Wow what an underwhelming free program. It was not good, simple as that. There were skaters who gave up on their performances midway through and some had music that reminded me of other much better programs using the same music. Nobody on the podium had two clean skates, all three of them had falls. Overall, not a good event to watch. Special shout out to Christopher Caluza, he was a such a cutie being excited over his score.

Shoma Uno - This was an okay performance. Most of the jumps weren’t successful but that’s okay for the beginning of the season. I don’t know if I should be worried that this was the same lowered tech content that he performed at JapanOpen and similarly wasn’t successful at both outings. There were reports of boot issues at the JapanOpen and maybe they’re still there. There hasn’t been a clean version of this program yet and I hope he has a clean skate during the Grand Prix Series. I really wished he did the combo on the 4F and I’m wondering if there’s something going on with the 4T’s and 3A’s. Those two jumps have been a struggle so far. I’m not expecting him to be 100% at his first real competition of the season but I hope he’s in a better condition in the upcoming weeks.

Sota Yamamoto - This was hard to watch. I was worried most of the time that he would re-injure himself. Six deductions is a lot and it’s unfortunate that he had a performance like this because he really could’ve won this competition. Another silver medal is great though and I’m looking forward to seeing him at NHK and Japan Nationals. Hopefully he’ll have better performances there, I really want that for him.

LADIES’ SP Much like the men’s short program the ladies’ event was lackluster save for a few great performances. There was music that I wish would retire from skating and music I’m hearing for the first time in skating. There were skaters who were crowd favorites and new upcoming talents. I’m excited for what the season brings.

Alena Kostornaia - What a beautiful performance. Reusing programs is a double-edge sword because of this. It’s good because you know the choreography and the layout of the program but it’s bad because now it becomes your job to elevate the program. I believe she did elevate the program. The music is beautiful and light and her performance of it was just as beautiful. Alena is one of those skates that skates so beautifully that I don‘t need her to do jumps. She can skate around the rink and it would be beautiful.

Yuhana Yokoi - I like this music. The program is fun and energetic. She performed it well and her fist bump at the end was great. My favorite part was the 2A on the music change. It was an effective way to transition the the change of pace in the program.

Gabrielle Daleman - I’m happy to see her back in competition, I hope it’s a good time for her and that she achieves what she hopes to achieve this season. I like the program and it fits her well. The stsq was fun and energetic, it’s a shame about her spin. I like that the mistake didn’t impact the whole program. It wasn’t a perfect skate it wasn’t even a great skate it was just fine but it wasn’t a complete disaster. For Gabrielle I want a season that doesn’t end in injury or tears, I want her to be proud of how far she’s come.

LADIES’ FP The last group performed so well. This was a good segment and I’m even more excited for the Grand Prix Series next week. All the medalists deserved their medals. The three of them had great clean programs across both segments. 

Gabrielle Daleman - I like that she remains positive despite not a great skate. There were no combos and there were at least two jumps were she could’ve place a combo on. I think the music could be good for her and you could tell she really gets into the StSq. There was a little stumble during it but it was good, it’s great that she didn’t let go of the performance. We’ll see how she does at Skate Canada and Cup of China, hopefully a little better than here.

Yuhana Yokoi - From her dress I would've guessed she was doing a POTO program. She’s reusing her program from last season and I think it’s a good vehicle for her. I would rather a new program but I understand how a skaters making their senior debut would want that transition to go smoothly. So reusing an old program that their familiar with would make that first senior season much bearable. It was a good performance and a good competition for her overall.

Alena Kostornaia - I’m not a fan of the music and the various cuts but Alena sells it and that’s all I can ask for. Her skating is beautiful and easy. She never looks nervous and all her elements were done well. It was a commanding and confident performance. What a wonderful senior debut for her.

An overall good weekend for skating. This was the first competition I was able to watch live this season. I forgot how much fun it is watching skating live.

[fitzrove]

for musical asks: 15, 31, 38

15. favourite musical that needs to be revived

Elisabeth Turku (Finland) 2005, purely because it's so Weird, predates most of the bad changes to the show on VBW's part, and I would straight up love to see that hehe. With a new translation lol

31. favourite instrumental song from a musical

TARGETED QUESTION xD Actually, I think it's a tie between Mayerling Walzer and POTO Overture. Hearing the latter played on a big full orchestra is sooooo fun <33

38. favourite musical fandom

It's the Elisabeth tumblr fandom >:)) truly the Place To Be..... There's so many lovely people with similar interests (even outside the show) which makes it a lot of fun to participate in. Also, it's just big enough that if you make fan creations they will be appreciated, but small enough that they won't get drowned out (I'm a bit scared of very large fandoms haha).

(Ahshh genuinely - I really think the show is a perfect storm of everything I'm into, which is what has kept me pulled in and enjoying it for years... You have goth themes and aesthetics, late 19th century history, musical theatre, homosexuality, poetry/literature references, political commentary... it's like most of my main interests wrapped up into one hehe. Yes I called homosexuality an interest, it's my hobby,,,)