Post by Talissa on Sept 12, 2007 12:38:48 GMT 11
Having now seen it twice, I really should get a review out, especially since I'm now in a position to be able to make comparative statements about the performers in four of the roles. The first time I saw it was 25th July, when Mme Giry was played by Deborah Caddy, and last night I was fortunate to see Julie Goodwin, the alternate Christine, as well as Sophie Viskich and Sean Andrews understudying the roles of Carlotta and Piangi.
The strongest of the three understudies I thought was Deborah Caddy, but I also think Mme Giry is the easiest of those three roles to understudy. Carlotta and Piangi both require operatic elements which would not be found in the rest of the Phantom cast. However, Sophie and Sean both did very well in their respective roles, Sophie developing her own style of diva, her histrionics warming up further into the piece, and Sean catching the comedy in the role very well. Deborah Caddy, however, played a beautifully mysterious Mme Giry with a massive amount of control and presence, which I thought was excellent.
Julie Goodwin can be essentially summed up with a line from the show. "No doubt she'll do her best. It's true her voice is good. She knows, though, should she wish to excel, she has much still to learn." She is very young, and that shows at times, both in terms of voice and acting, but shows great promise. She is strongest in the big numbers, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again being particularly moving, and her voice at those times is especially delightful.
Ana Marina, however, has the advantage of her stage experience, and it shows in the fact that she acts the role far better than most Christines I've heard about. It's too easy, I think, to fall into the 'Sarah Brightman trap' (emulated so well by Emmy Rossum) of just being the dazed, wide-eyed ingenue, and Ana escapes this excellently, her most interesting aspect being the difference in her acting of Christine 'on-stage' as opposed to 'off-stage', which I thought was also apparent in qualities she imposed on her voice to mark the difference. So I think I prefer to see Ana Marina as the more interesting Christine, but no one should be disappointed to see either of the two.
The rest of the cast is strong quite consistently, including people I'm not always fond of in other circumstances. John O'May and Derek Taylor are an excellent comedy duo as Firmin and Andre, David Rogers-Smith and Andrea Creighton are as big as could be desired as Piangi and Carlotta, Todd Goddard deserves definite mention for being delightfully eccentric as Monsieur Reyer, and of course Anthony Warlow is everything that would be expected, giving the role everything he has, including some wonderful acting especially in the Phantom's darker moments.
The strongest of the three understudies I thought was Deborah Caddy, but I also think Mme Giry is the easiest of those three roles to understudy. Carlotta and Piangi both require operatic elements which would not be found in the rest of the Phantom cast. However, Sophie and Sean both did very well in their respective roles, Sophie developing her own style of diva, her histrionics warming up further into the piece, and Sean catching the comedy in the role very well. Deborah Caddy, however, played a beautifully mysterious Mme Giry with a massive amount of control and presence, which I thought was excellent.
Julie Goodwin can be essentially summed up with a line from the show. "No doubt she'll do her best. It's true her voice is good. She knows, though, should she wish to excel, she has much still to learn." She is very young, and that shows at times, both in terms of voice and acting, but shows great promise. She is strongest in the big numbers, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again being particularly moving, and her voice at those times is especially delightful.
Ana Marina, however, has the advantage of her stage experience, and it shows in the fact that she acts the role far better than most Christines I've heard about. It's too easy, I think, to fall into the 'Sarah Brightman trap' (emulated so well by Emmy Rossum) of just being the dazed, wide-eyed ingenue, and Ana escapes this excellently, her most interesting aspect being the difference in her acting of Christine 'on-stage' as opposed to 'off-stage', which I thought was also apparent in qualities she imposed on her voice to mark the difference. So I think I prefer to see Ana Marina as the more interesting Christine, but no one should be disappointed to see either of the two.
The rest of the cast is strong quite consistently, including people I'm not always fond of in other circumstances. John O'May and Derek Taylor are an excellent comedy duo as Firmin and Andre, David Rogers-Smith and Andrea Creighton are as big as could be desired as Piangi and Carlotta, Todd Goddard deserves definite mention for being delightfully eccentric as Monsieur Reyer, and of course Anthony Warlow is everything that would be expected, giving the role everything he has, including some wonderful acting especially in the Phantom's darker moments.