#poto essen

[operafantomet]

What do you think of Uwe Kroger's musical abilities?

Listen... I liked him a lot in Elisabeth. His Der Tod was a nice mix of creepy, campy and cool. He sung well. I just can't stand his Phantom. No hate. Just genuine surprise over some of his acting and singing choices. But it won't take away that he was a good Der Tod.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Ethan Freeman being the Absolute Most Goblin Little Man

[flagbridge]

TYSM for this wonderful gift, it shall live rent-free in my head forever.

[Image ID: Digital painting of Ethan Freeman's phantom sprawling against the portcullis during Music of the Night. /End ID]

Commission for @flagbridge: Ethan Freeman's portcullis sprawl.

[meilas]

happy to report that Uwe essen-ed and left no crumbs

[flagbridge]

Ethan Freeman (The Phantom) bowing to the monkey at the end of his last performance of Phantom of the Opera, Essen, 2006.

PoTOmer Day 14: GIFSET-Ethan Freeman bows to the monkey.

I love this moment so much. Ethan just loves this character and put so much care into being Leroux accurate--and he is as Lerik as Merik gets. He was one of the earliest Phantoms, starting in the Vienna production and then playing in Toronto, London, and Essen. What a beautiful farewell to the show for him. I wish we had more of him (we only have two boots of him, this one and one from London in 1995)

Between April 23 and June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat. Previous days below the cut line.

DAY 13: LEROUX: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GASTON LEROUX (Ethan Freeman Reads Leroux)

Day 12: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 38: my longfic that will be concluding at the end of May.

Day 11: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 10: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 10 (Catch Up)

Day 9: ADAPTATION: Ghost of Zariya Hollow

Day 8: HEADCANON: Christine's Swedish Accent

Day 7: COSPLAY Hannibal Slave Girl Bodice Construction

Day 6: GIFSET: Raouls who make choices appreciation post

Day 5: PHIC UPDATE: All Vows Chapter 37! (And a bonus gif of Lily and Jon)

Day 4: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 3: GIFSET: Cape Twirl Comparison, Current West End Phantoms ('23-'24)

Day 2: BRAINWORM: "Ne Me Touchez Pas"

Day 1: GIFSET Robyns/Kerhoas: The Kiss

[alvadee]

the prices for musicals are insane nowadays. just looked up what a ticket in the middle costs for moulin rouge in cologne on a wednesday....160€!!!!!!!!!!

the cheapest seats all the way in the back are 100€!!!!!!!

i remember the prices back in 2005 when i saw poto in essen, i think it was like 55/60€ for great middle seats. back then you only payed 85-120€ for first row tickets and you could still get shitty seats in the back for 25-35€. which was great for students and musical lovers on a tight budget.

like sorry, i love musicals, but i'm not paying more than 100€ for a three hour show. and then the seat needs to be good, it needs to be a musical i REALLY want to watch and i need to know the performers are good. jfc

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Aghhh this is one of my favourite Ethan gifs! He's such an icon.

OMG😭

(From the recent Ethan Phantom gif set series by @night-unfurls-its-splendour )

[marleneoftheopera]

Christine, certified girl boss.

A direction I wish was used more. After everything that happens, seeing Christine almost intimidate the Phantom is so satisfying.

Felicidad Farag, Madrid

Julia Moller, Madrid

Anne Gorner, Essen

Ana Marina, World Tour

Valerie Link, Hamburg

Lauri Brons, Hamburg

Harriet Jones, London

Meghan Picerno, World Tour

Lina Mendes, Brazil

Also, this is by no means a complete list. 

[ange-de-la-musique]

[gracie-p8-officialblog]

I'm finally watching Uwe Kroger in POTO... um... Uwe is... not good

[br0adwaybaby]

100 days of poto // (53/100)

Anne Görner, Essen

[jennyfair7]

This is amazing.

Thomas Borchert and Anne Görner rehearsing the Final Lair, Essen 2005

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Ethan Freeman and Anne Görner, "Point of No Return": Part IV

Masterpost

[dimasbeans]

Can Ben Lewis just play Gleb in Anastasia already?

[glassprism]

Hi GP! Hope you are well? Non poto question for you if you have time to answer. What are your favourite cast albums of non-english shows like Elisabeth (or any other non-english shows you are into) There are so many different versions and I don't know where to start. PS merry christmas if you celebrate/happy holidays

I think Elisabeth is the only non-English show I'm into, ha - though if I'm into others and I've just completely forgotten, someone let me know. I'm not sure I remember enough of Elisabeth at this point...

Anyway, although I have a bunch of Elisabeth cast recordings, the funny thing is I've listened to almost none of them. Elisabeth is that blessed show that has a ton of videos recordings, many of them proshot, so I've never seen a need to listen to a cast recording (which is just audio and often a limited selection of songs) when I can just pop in a professionally filmed video, often of the same cast.

So I'm just going to focus on recommended proshot videos. Many of these are pretty easily available, but if you absolutely want to listen to a cast recording instead or just can't find these, then you can take this as a recommendation of a cast recording too.

August 29, 1992; original Vienna - A proshot of a dress rehearsal of the original cast and production. Definitely the show in a raw, unfinished form, but the quality of the cast and the overall darkness and moodiness of the show (later iterations make it a little more light-hearted and romantic) make this highly recommended. Equates to the 1992 original cast recording.

January 13, 2002; Essen - An audience recording of Pia Douwes's last show in Essen, albeit one shot on a tripod, so it's pretty steady. Essen is worth watching because this is where many of new scenes and songs (many introduced in the previous Dutch production) become firmly established, though the show would continue to be changed and altered after this, so it's very interesting to track the differences between this, the original Vienna, and the Vienna revival to come. Douwes's last means this is a very high-energy performance. Equates to the 2001 Essen cast recording, though not all the cast is the same.

2005; Vienna revival - This is a professionally shot video of the Vienna revival cast released on DVD, and for a while, a favorite for fans to make English subtitles for. For a lot of people this was also one of the first introductions to the show and remains something of a touchstone for them. The cast can be a little polarizing (apart from Serkan Kaya as Lucheni), but the filming quality is top-notch, and as far as the show's evolution, it's interesting to view this as a mix between the original Vienna and the Essen production. Equates to... I think the 2006 Vienna revival cast recording.

2012; Seoul - There's several proshots of the Korean production, this is the one that should be of the full show and a single camera on a tripod, not a monitor video. I'm not sure how easy it is to get, but I recommend it because I like the Korean production, it has a great cast, and it's an interesting mix of the Vienna, Essen, and Japanese productions with some of its own ideas thrown into the mix. Equates to the 2012 Korean cast recording, of which there are apparently three versions, but I think any of them will do.

2014; Takarazuka production - I can't say that I really like the Takarazuka productions (too romanticized and sanitized), but they have a buttload of beautifully filmed DVDs of their show and lots of pretty actors, so... yeah. Worth it to see how differently this show can be staged, I guess? I have no big reason for recommending the 2014 version over the others, other than by this time, the production had incorporated many of the later additions to the show, my version had fan-subs in English, and, uh, I guess I find Ranno Hana very pretty? This one equates to the 2014 Flower Troupe cast recording.

2016; Toho production - I think this was the first production of the Toho staging released on DVD? It comes in two versions, Black and White, and I think both are good, though I've watched the one with Yu Shirota a bit more. Toho is cool, with a lot of aesthetic similarities to the Takarazuka version but hewing much closer to the mood and plot of the German versions. Equates to the 2015 Japanese 15th anniversary cast recording, I believe.

And if I left any off, it's because I haven't watched it enough to have an opinion (Dutch, Hungary), I just don't like (any Stage Entertainment versions), or I found it... weird (Thun).

[musicalhell]

I only saw PoTO live once in Essen, Germany, then watched the movie (which isn't great but more bearable in the German dub) and now I saw the 25th Anniversary recording and wondered: Is Carlotta supposed to be this likeable? I remember her being really irritating and mean in the movie, but in the recording I felt she was just rightfully pissed at everything that's happening to her and I actually sympathised with the character. Is that intentional or did the actress just play her "too nice"?

I think a properly played Carlotta in ALW will be haughty and bitchy, but endearing and ultimately sympathetic. Yes, we roll our eyes when she storms out of rehearsal and may even giggle a bit when she croaks--but our last impression of her in the musical is weeping over the body of (at the very least) a cherished colleague, and we should be able to feel for her in that moment.

On a matter of personal preference, I like it when Carlotta says “She’s mad!” with a bit of sympathy--less “Oh God, they want to replace me with a crazy person” and more “damn, this kid has some real problems.”