#renata krassy

[operafantomet]

BLONDE CHRISTINES (2004 EDITION)

Susan Cuthbert, Toronto (1989-1992): She started out with brown wig and it's also what her official photos shows. But soon she was fitted with a blonde wig, and it can be seen in some very few curtain call / backstage photos.

Emmi Christensson, West End (2014-2016): Whereas her 2016-2017 Stockholm wig was exceptionally dark, her West End wig was all blonde. Quite the contrast.

Renata Krassy, Budapest (2003-2023): The Hungarian Christines originally wore their own hair, with the addition of large curly extensions hidden under a braid. This meant that many different haircolours was seen. Renata Krassy was definitely the blondest.

Linda Kiraly, Budapest (2003-2004): Another of the original Hungarian Christines. She also featured her own hair over the forehead/braid, but more highlighted and with darker areas and lighter extensions.

Hanna-Liina Võsa, Tallin and Tartu (2014, 2017-2018). The original Estonian production featured one blonde and one brunette Christine, who alternated equally in the role. Hanna-Liina was the blonde one. For her run in Finland she wore a red wig.

Hanna Ulvan, Kristianstad (2023). Whereas the original Christine in this production wore a red wig, Hanna Ulvan wore a fairly classic curly blonde one. This as a contrast to her Stockholm replica wig, which was fairly dark brown.

Irina Ioana Baiant, Bucharest (2015 / 2022-2023). She is possibly the only Christine to feature two different blonde hairdos in two different non-replica productions, but in the same city. For the original Romanian production she wore her own hair, curled and draped up at one side. It looks like she's still wearing her own hair in the new production, but longer, and with the hair pulled back over the forehead.

Mira Ormala, Oslo (2018): When the Romanian production was revamped for Norway, Christine got a wig. A quite curly one, with hair asymmetrically draped over the temples. She also wore an own bead-decorated updo wig for Masquerade.

Astrid Giske, Oslo (2018-2019): When Astrid Giske took over as principal from Mira Ormala, she wore a similar wig, but a hint darker, and with bigger, thicker locks. She also donned the updo wig for Masquerade. Her understudy Charlotte Brænna was seen with the same look for her one Christine performance.

Amy Manford, Thessaloniki and Athens (2020): Whereas Amy Manford wore a regular curly brown wig in West End and the Restaged Tour, her Greek look was a big blonde wig with styling not too unlike the replica wigs.

Celinde Schoenmaker, Thessaloniki and Athens (2020): She and Amy Manford shared the role, and they also wore fairly similar wigs. Celinde had previously worn an auburn/honey-coloured wig in West End.

Harriet Jones, Athens and Thessaloniki, Middle East and European Tour (2023-2024): She has worn so many different Christine wigs it's not even funny! For this production she first wore a long, sleek blonde wig with more waves than curls, and with a middle-parted hairdo - reminding of her original light auburn West End wig, except of course the colour. After Greece she was fitted with a shorter and much curlier wig with side drape. Her co-Christine (next) as well as u/s Bridget Costello, Jessica Hackett and Grace Chapman also donned this style.

Georgia Wilkinson, Athens and Thessaloniki, Middle East and European Tour (2023-2024). Sharing the role with Harriet Jones, they have worn similar wigs too. Georgia also started out with a long, sleek blonde wig, hers being more platinum blonde. After Greece she donned the same shorter, curlier wig with side drape. This as a contrast to her Sydney look, which was darker brown and styling wise somewhere in between.

Talía del Val, Madrid (2023-2024): So why do I list Talía del Val and not Amelia Milo, who originated this look? Good question. Even if both of them have an undefined brown/blonde honey shade, Talía just appears a nudge blonder to my eyes, while Amelia's wig is more ashy blonde/brown. But only cosmetically so. They could both be listed - but here's Talía.

Judith Torbella, Madrid (2023-2024): Like the wig of Talía, this wig is a borderline case. It can look honey blonde, it can look more brown. But I include this one too as an example. Also interesting to see how much lighter it is than the understudies, for example Laura Enrech's reddish brown wig.

NOTE: This is not a complete list. There is a long row of lovely understudies I could not depict due to photoset limitations. But I hope it shows some of the main styles and productions out there.

[marleneoftheopera]

Some good Phantom moments from 2022:

Phantom anniversaries! Broadway’s 34th anniversary also marked Emilie Kouatchou’s first official principal Christine show (which also made her the first black principal Christine on Broadway).

Sydney Harbour! The first outdoor production of Phantom, complete with a chariot, fire, and ‘Point of No Return’ in the rain.

Unofficial photos! Melanie Gowie (London Phantom dresser and former Carlotta) and Greg Mills (Broadway swing) continue to stun with their unofficial backstage/onstage photos.

Live performances! Probably the biggest one was at the Queen’s Jubilee.

Raoul’s, Raoul’s, and more Raoul’s! While John Riddle killed it in Titanique, Jordan Donica, Paul Schaefer, and Jason Forbach all took turns as principal Raoul. Jordan’s return also marked the first time more than one black actor was in the trio at the same time on Broadway.

Restaged Tour! After being put off for a year, the Australian Restaged Tour finally opened featuring former London cast members Josh Piterman, Amy Manford, and Bridget Costello.

Non-replicas! Several non-replicas had performances this year, including Hungary. Budapest also had (or eventually will have) their first big cast change since the production opened over 20 years ago. 

Korean production! Cast was officially announced for Phantom’s return to Korea.

Chinese production! The first production to actually be performed in Mandarin.

Diversity, Role Swaps, AND New Productions! Besides seeing some real progress in diverse casting across the board, there were also tons of former cast members that returned to various productions (mos tof the time due to Covid cases). Australia saw Josh Robson (Sydney Harbour Phantom) as Raoul and Claire Lyon (former World Tour Christine) show up in Melbourne. They both had to re-learn the show as it’s different staging and did so in less than two days.

[glassprism]

is there any footage of john owen jones with a young beautiful christine? I've heard he had chemistry with celia graham but she looked older than him and i don't like rachel barrell's christine

There is, but I'm going to be honest, the unwarranted disdain towards Rachel Barrell and Celia Graham (both excellent Christines in my opinion, and Barrell being one of my personal favorites) solely for not meeting some arbitrary standard of youth and beauty, in a story that's all about not judging people for their looks, actually makes me not want to tell you about it at all.

Anyway, here are some more incredible older Christines!

Patti Cohenour

Jill Washington

Lisa Vroman

Kimilee Bryant

Sandra Joseph

Elizabeth Southard

Barbara Fonyo

Renata Krassy

Andrea Maho

Valerie Link

Ali Ewoldt

Meghan Picerno

Elizabeth Welch

[andrewlloydwebber]

I didn't realize the Hungarian production had kept the same cast for that long. Thats a really long time to play any role but I guess they must have loved it!

Almost 20 years (minus a year off for covid) does make them some of the longest running Christine and Raoul actors in terms of years. However, it's not like they were doing 8 shows a week every week this whole time. The theatre that they perform at is a repertory company, so Phantom is performed for a couple weeks here and there, multiple times a year. So they actually celebrated their 900th performance recently, which adds up to about 50 performances of the show per year since they did not perform from March 2020-March 2021. So basically the Christines did "only" about 25 performances a year, so definitely not as much fatigue or burnout or boredom as an actor doing 8 shows a week. Still pretty cool!!! I believe Barbara Fonyo is the oldest Christine in any production at age 50, Renata Krassy is 47, Andrea Maho is 43, Zsolt Hommanay and Gabor Bot are 51.

[wheel-of-fish]

Blonde Christines!

Date ranges are approximate. Special thanks to @operafantomet, whose blog filled in the gaps in my knowledge.

[operfantome]

We or the hungarian non replica Phantom of the opera musical had a new Raoul, called Ádám Solti he is very handsome, and his acting is a love for the roll of Raoul. His partner is Renata Krassy

[eowynprince]

Think of me (Gondolj rám') by Renata Krassy (Hungarian Production 2004)

[operafantomet]

Do u have photos of nagy sandor as raoul?🇭🇺

I sometimes mix him up with Zsolt Hommonay, and if that is the case underneath I am sorry... But most should be of him, as they stem from this photoset by Petro Adri and are labeled. The blonde Christine is Renata Krassy, while the auburn is Barbara Fonyo.

[marleneoftheopera]

Renata Krassy as Chrisitne, Hungary.

[glassprism]

I know that norm & sierra played father and daughter in the little mermaid before they did phantom together and jon robyns and lily kerhoas were also father and daughter in les mis recently, are there any other phantom/christine pairings who also played father and daughter beforehand?

Quite a few, at least from Les Miserables (the main one that I know), starting with the original Valjean and Cosette themselves, Colm Wilkinson and Rebecca Caine, who starred in the London production of Les Miserables and then went on to the Toronto production The Phantom of the Opera. Others might include:

Rob Guest and Marina Prior

Mark McKerracher and Nicky Adams

Carlos Vittori and Claudia Cota

Sandor Sasvari and Renata Krassy

John Owen-Jones and Gina Beck

John Owen-Jones and Katie Hall

David Shannon and Tabitha Webb

Geronimo Rauch and Talia del Val

A reverse case with Damian Aleksander and Paulina Janczak

Killian Donnelly and Holly-Anne Hull

And many more, I was just going through my bootleg list and finding what I could (and hopefully not reversing any - the Les Mis to Phantom and back to Les Mis and back to Phantom pipeline is intense, many end up playing or understudying various roles in both). I'm not really into Les Mis anymore so I'm sure there will be plenty of additions (and corrections!) in the replies!

[marleneoftheopera]

Production photos from Hungary, Act 1 edition.

[marleneoftheopera]

Production photos for Hungary, Act 2 edition.

[marleneoftheopera]

Barbara Fonyó, Renata Krassy, and Andrea Maho in Hungary. 

All three Christine’s were set to leave earlier this month, but were asked to stay for the season.

[operafantomet]

I’m curious, what is the reason a production will give a Christine actress a blonde/different colored wig? I know smaller productions often have a blonde Christine (I think at least) but like- London for example, I thought they had a few Christine’s with a blonde wig, I assumed because the actress was a blonde but I swear there were some blonde Christine’s that also had a dark wig as well. Is there any reason for this? Or is it just random?

I the earliest days of POTO there was a will to adapt the 'Degas' wig to whoever played Christine and Meg. Whereas all three original Christines in West End followed the Sarah Brightmanesque look with big brown curls, they did feature Patti Cohenour on Broadway with a much lighter brown wig, to adapt to her colouring. It wasn't blonde, but it was a light auburn / reddish brown:

For the original Toronto production they also changed Susan Cuthberg's wig from brown to blonde during her run, making her the first blonde ALW Christine out there. This too was due to it being closer to her own colouring:

Equally, Janet Devenish started out with a very red Meg wig in West End. Later in her run it was changed to a blonder one. It's the blonde look that's stuck on Meg, but interestingly she was a redhead first!

A final example from early POTO days is that original Australian Meg, Sharon Millerchip, started out as a blonde, but it was decided that a brunette wig looked better on her. Once again to adapt to the actress' natural colourings.

But later in the 1990s the general formula stuck. Christine as a brunette, Meg as a blonde. A handful of Christines in West End was featured with auburn wig to match their own colouring, and one or two Megs got a brown wig, but they were definitely the exception rather than the rule. Especially in the US and the World Tour the Christines has worn a general dark brown wig completely unrelated to what hair colour they have in real life. This is what is generally done for the replica production, as the design indicates brown curls, but with some exceptions here and there.

With the first ever non-replica production, in Hungary 2003, their Christines partly wore their own hair, braided, with extensions in the back. This meant that a variety of colours has been seen there: Vanilla blonde, darker blonde, auburn, brunette. Here's barbara Fonyo (auburn), Renata Krassy (blonde) and Andrea Maho (brunette):

The non-replica productions that followed chose different strategies:

The 2008 Polish production emulated the 2004 movie, with curly brown wigs

The 2013 Restaged Tour did a less curly, general brown wig

The 2014 Estonian production featured their Christines with their actual hair colour (one brunette, one blonde)

The 2014 Czech production stuck fairly close to the original design, with long brown curly wigs,

The 2015 Finnish/Swedish production tried out different shades of red; first strawberry blonde, then flaming red.

The 2015 Romanian production and later Norwegian/Greek/Tour version went blonde. The Romanian production featured the actress' own hair, while the others has done wigs. But there's been different shades of blonde, different lengths and different curls. Gaston Leroux has been mentioned as inspiration.

The 2017 Serbian production also featured their Christine with their respective hair, which gave one blonde and one brunette.

Ditto for the 2019 Bulgarian production, ranging from light brown to black hair.

The 2020 Swedish production first went red for Christine. I have read they thought it was never done before and that's why they wanted to try it out (but as seen above, the Finnish/Swedish production beat them to it). When a new principal Christine was cast they gave her a blonde wig, to better match her colouring.

The 2022 Sydney Harbour production did fairly classic brown curly wigs.

The 2023 new Romanian production also feature Christine with her own hair - like the original Romanian production, and incidentally the same actress. But it looks like there's a bit of extensions going on as well.

Last, but not least, the 2023 Mediterranean production premiering in Italy did somewhere between honey blonde and auburn.

So in large, a non-brown Christine wig seems to be a way of adapting the hair to the actress - whether a wig is in use or not. In some cases it's also a way of actively differentiate the look from Maria Bjørnson's original design (as well as the iconic Mary Philbin look).

In replica production the 'wildest' things they did in the 1990s and early 2000s was auburn Christine wigs, and primarily in West End. But in the later 2000s more variations started to appear. The very light brown wigs of Janine Kitzen in Stuttgart and Robyn North in West End comes to mind, and Anne Görner's fairly redhead wig. Then Harriet Jones' first auburn red wig in West End, and them going all blonde on Emmi Christensson. Again the overall strategy seems to be to match the actress' own colours and the wig. Left: Anne Görner in Essen, and right: Emmi Christensson in West End.

In recent years there's also been a will to adapt the texture of the curls. From recent West End examples there is Lucy St Louis, Beatrice Penny-Touré, Paige Blankson and Chumisa Dornford-May with afro-textured hair. Ditto for Emilie Kouatchou on Broadway. Here's Lucy St Louis with Killian Donnelly:

And then the recent wig change for Eve Shanu-Wilson in West End, which is meant to closer reflect on her heritage. Though the Phantom historian in me also thinks it brilliantly reflects on the 1990s West End wigs, so I'm doubly happy...

So yeah. Usually the variations in wig colour and curls is due to a will to reflect on who the actress is and how she looks in real life. But the wig is of course also a tool to create a certain look for a certain role. Which means that every wig is an interpretation, and a negotiation between wanted look and the many possibilities for adaption.

[glassprism]

Which Christines and Phantoms do you think have had little to no chemistry with each other, but have done pretty well with other co stars? Sorry if this is a little too specific haha

I was a bit confused by the other co-stars bit (do you mean like the Christine had no chemistry with that specific Phantom but had more with other Phantoms (or vice-versa), or that she had more with the Raoul who was on at the time), so I decided to try and do both.

John Owen-Jones, Nicky Adams, Ramin Karimloo - This was from an audio, but even on audio I could tell that Nicky Adams was not putting anything into the role, so she and JOJ were utterly boring together. JOJ with virtually any other Christine is much better.

Sándor Sasvári, Renata Krassy, Zoltan Miller - I find Sasvari (and also Attila Csengeri) intensely cold and standoffish to his Christines, so he and Renata Krassy just never quite connected. On the other hand, Krassy was very cute with Zoltan Miller’s Raoul. Here’s him nose-booping her.

Matthew Cammelle, Rachel Barrell, David Shannon - Another where I thought the Phantom, Matthew Cammelle, just seemed totally uninterested in Christine, with Rachel Barrell responding by also being way too calm. But she’s much better with just about any of the other Phantoms she has played opposite against (JOJ or Earl Carpenter).

Uwe Kroger, Beatrix Reiterer, Lucius Wolter - Beatrix Reiterer and Lucius Wolter did not have good chemistry because they were just that great, they had it only because Uwe Kroger was off on some other realm of interpretation that never intersected with them.

Anthony Warlow or Simon Pryce, Ana Marina, Alexander Lewis - I found both Warlow and Pryce to be too overwrought and campy and it didn’t mesh too well with Ana Marina’s Christine, who was also a bit dramatic. But she worked great with Alexander Lewis, who was more serious and down-to-earth, and I think it also resulted in some good chemistry between the two.

David Shannon, Gina Beck, Will Barratt - This is not necessarily Shannon’s fault, but the fault of the directing, but the result was that his Phantom was too restrained around Christine, and that Gina Beck ended up having more cute moments with Will Barratt’s Raoul (not so much Simon Bailey’s IMO, because I found Bailey overly shouty).

Hugh Panaro, Sierra Boggess, Kyle Barisich - Panaro usually does well with most any actress, but I never quite warmed up to him when he was paired with Sierra Boggess; too aggressive, almost angry. He was better with pretty much any other Christine, as Boggess was better with pretty much any other Phantom (but especially Ramin Karimloo).

Paul A. Schaefer, Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays - Schaefer came off as cottony-sounding Panaro-clone who didn’t care as much, which was not great with Mary Michael Patterson’s more reserved, realistic Christine. She was much better with Jeremy Hays as Raoul, who was also a little quieter in his acting, or with other Phantoms who put some more thought into the role.

James Barbour, any Christine, any Raoul - James Barbour was the most vanilla, by-the-blocking Phantom I’d ever seen, and just about every Christine he played opposite had much better chemistry with their Raoul, or with any other Phantom they had played with.

Peter Joback, Emmi Christensson, Anton Zetterholm - I thought Joback’s more contrived Phantom did not work too well with Emmi Christensson’s more subtle Christine, nor did she seem to have much feeling for him beyond pity. Subsequently, she seemed to have much more chemistry with Anton Zetterholm as Raoul.

Thiago Arancam, Giulia Nadruz, Fred Silveira - Thiago Arancam did not care and I ended up pitying Giulia Nadruz, or really any Christine, opposite him, though especially Nadruz because all the energy she was putting into the role was being wasted on Arancam’s big nothing of a Phantom. She had more chemistry with her Raoul, or really any other Phantom she performed with.

[glassprism]

Hey Celina. I hope you’re well and safe. I know this is a really silly question, but do you know the stage production’s main trio cast across the world when the 2004 movie came out? The movie came out in December, so the Spain, Stuttgart, and South Africa productions might sadly not count as they were just closed by then. So that leaves us with London, NY, US tour, Japan, and Hungary, (and maybe the 1st World Tour?) I presume? I hope it’s not too burdening of a question. Thank you and stay safe!

Ooh, that’s a fun question. Though I believe there was no Japanese production at the time, at least according to Japanese Wikipedia, which says that the Fukuoka production closed March 28, 2004, and the next production in Tokyo did not open until January 12, 2005. But you are definitely correct that the Stuttgart and Madrid productions had closed by then (Stuttgart on May 23, 2004 and Madrid on June 30, 2004), while others, such as Essen and Sao Paulo, would not open until 2005. The Hungarian production seems a bit up in the air, as it is a repertoire production that has very short stints, with other shows performing in-between, but I’ll include it anyway, though keep in mind the cast is a bit of a guess.

And as always, pretty much all info is gathered from here.

London:

Phantom: John Owen-Jones

Christine: Rachel Barrell (alt. Katie Knight Adams)

Raoul: Oliver Thornton

Broadway:

Phantom: Hugh Panaro

Christine: Sandra Joseph (alt. Julie Hanson)

Raoul: John Cudia

National Tour:

Phantom: Gary Mauer

Christine: Rebecca Pitcher (alt. Elizabeth Southard)

Raoul: Tim Martin Gleason

World Tour:

Phantom: Brad Little

Christine: Marni Raab (alt. Ana Marina)

Raoul: Jarrod Carland

Hungary:

Phantom: Attila Csengeri, Zoltan Miller, Sandor Sasvari, Victor Posta

Christine: Eszter Biro, Barbara Fonyo, Linda Kiraly, Renata Krassy, Andrea Maho

Raoul: Zsolt Hommonay, Zoltan Miller, Gabor Bot