Operafantomet: phantoming

FROM DESIGN TO COSTUME: The pipe smoker

Meg Giry in the Manager’s office (cause adorable!)

Madame Giry and the ballerinas in the Degas rehearsal scene

(Original West End, Copenhagen, Broadway, Broadway, Sao Paulo, Essen, Sao Paulo, Hamburg, Hamburg)

Degas rehearsal scene photos. One of my favourite things.

(Shanghai, Cape Town, Broadway, Broadway, Shanghai, Broadway, Broadway, Las Vegas, Madrid)

The Phantom’s Lair in The Czech Republich (AKA Czechia)

Depicted: Marián Vojtko and Radim Schwab (Phantoms), plus Michaela Gemrotová, Monika Sommerová and Tereza Marshall (Christines)

Design by Daniel Dvořák (sets) and Roman Šolc (costumes)

The Phantom’s Lair in Finland/Sweden

Depicted: Fred Johanson, Ilkka Hamalainen and Ville Rusanen (Phantoms), and Frida Engström, Iida Antola and Sofie Asplund (Christines)

Design: Teppo Järvinen (sets), Marjaana Mutanen (costumes)

If it's Broadway September 1999 the principal Meg Giry was Joelle Gates. She took over from Geralyn del Corso sometime in July/August that year. Might it be her? Here's a photo from c. 2000 showing how she looked in the role at that point:

(and forgive me, I have not checked the video so if the Meg in the video looks nothing like her I am blank)

Adrienne McEwan switched back and forth between being principal and alternate Christine on Broadway at this point. She was alternate in early 1998, then out for a bit, then principal in the second half of 1999, then alternate in 2000, then out for a bit, then alternate in 2001-2003. Prior to that she had been principal in the US Tour 1993-1996, under the name Adrienne McKeown. Not that you asked, but since this was the other performer you mentioned I'm just throwing it in there :)

The Phantom’s Lair in Hungary

Design by Kentaur (sets) and Nelly Vagó (costumes)

The Phantom’s Lair in Estonia

Phantoms: Stephen Brandt Hansen and probably Koit Toome, while the Christines is Maria Listra (brunette) and Hanna-Lina Võsa (blonde)

Design by Iir Hermeliin (sets) and Ellen Cairns (costumes)

Christines appearing in two different non-replica productions

In this it appears Irina Ioana Baiant sported her own hair in both production, and is possibly the only one to have done that. Meanwhile all the others swapped hair colour; Georgia Wilkinson went from brunette to blonde, Hanna-Liina Võsa went from blonde to redhead, and Amy Manford from blonde to brunette.

The 2022-2023 Romanian non-replica production at the Opera Nationala in Bucharest, designed by Gary McCann

I have been pondering back and forth. It’s one of those designs I like on an intellectual level, and whose opulence is absolutely fascinating. Yet... yet I don’t really love it. First time I saw photos of it was in the flood of every friend ever trying out AI technology, generating all kinds of photos and scenarios. This felt much in the same vein. Fantastical, crowded, grand, slightly acid-trip. I scrolled past it all, and never really posted anything about it on Tumblr. But it keeps re-appearing now and then and eventually I had to analyze what I saw.

To my surprise AI is exactly what the designer has used. He explains in his Instagram that:

“All the various components have been individually generated using Midjourneyai (V3) and then combined by myself in Photoshop and Cinema4d . V3 has a rather weird and expressionist feel to it which I felt was appropriate.”

“The right-hand side (of the proscenium, my note) is deliberately designed to look damaged - angels are missing heads, arms, bits of wings, and the heavy floral swags are broken. The prosc therefore symbolises the Phantoms face.”

And I like this on an intellectual level. It’s clever, and a modern approach to a classic tale. There’s something deeply fascinating about the world of the Phantom, that impossible fantasy world, recreated in a purely digital medium translated onto stage.

But again... I’m not loving it. Apart from being slightly exhausted by AI generated content, I also think the rounded shapes, bold colours and uhm... lack of blank spaces makes it overwhelming. Seeing photos of the sets without the cast and with the cast made me realize there’s not really room for people in this design. Everything is just a tad crowded and overblown. Which I realize is on purpose, to keep the AI fantay world look, so mission completed in that aspect.

There is no denying that this is an original and so very rich-looking take on designing the Phantom. I do appreciate a lot of aspects of it, and would have loved to see how it works live. Which is what it was designed for, after all. But from the photos alone I do appreciate the dark shadows and blank spaces of Maria Bjørnson even more.

(bonus for Adrian Nour and Irina Ioana Baiant from the original Romanian production repeating their roles, in a totally different staging, and extra bonus for one of the biggest orchestra in Phantom history... 72 musicians!)

10 hauntingly beautiful, mysterious, clever or in other ways awesome backstage/offstage wedding dress photos

Elissa in Finland/Sweden

Some redhead and auburn Christines

(not a conclusive list, by any means. Some of these Christines also wore multiple wigs, or had a slightly more ambiguous shade than these photos might indicate... but they still fit the category)

The original West End production closed for good in March 2020. Covid was the only stopping it...

A revival was however launched in August 2021. This production feature half the size of the orchestra (from 27 to 14 or thereabout), it does no longer have the Golden Angel in the proscenium, the candelabras and travelator has been simplified, and there's some tweaks in both design, staging and lyrics. I consider it a revival due to these quite visible and audible changes, but others consider it the same. Up to your own interpretation. The producers shift between celebrating its 30-something history and calling it brand new, so they seem just as confused heh! The biggest visual changes is, apart from the candelabras and candles in the First Lair scene:

Circular chandelier without fringed bulbs, and a proscenium without the Golden Angel:

Pegasus sculpture in the Rooftop/Phantom's curse, replacing the Golden Angel curse:

Silvery Mirror Bride:

Also many wig and costume changes, but not something I think the general audience would ever notice.

The original travelators could move up and down as well as back and forth. There were four entrances, curved "doorways", where the cast stood waiting, either to enter the bridge, or to sing. They stepped out on the bridge when it was their turn, so to speap. These "doorways" were USUALLY accessed by stairways/ladders. But I'm sure there is an exception somewhere...

Bless Germany for their amazing content, both an instructive drawing printed in the press:

...and a backstage photo from Corinne Schaefer:

They still partly do the travelator in the West End revival, but it does no longer move in all directions. As far as I know the original design is however used in South Korea and Japan? Not sure about China.

THE NEW SILVER MIRROR BRIDE

…and then I ask you…

WHO is the dancer posing for the Masquerade staircase dummies? And is he what Maria Bjørnson based her design on, or did he do later poses for the sculptors so they would get a more realistic human shape for the respective dummies? Curious mind needs to know!

( from this seller )

Two years ago I found the pinkest of all pink 1980s jackets in a second hand store: hot pink satin with black velvet pattern in rays, spirals and dots. I always toyed with the idea of converting into a Meg Masquerade jacket. Whereas many are made of gentler velvet or darker silks, there's also a handful of VERY PINK patterned jackets out there. That especially goes for 1990 creations. Just as a reference to myself, here's some candidates...

(original design by Maria Bjørnson)