Phantom of the Opera # 48 - Pre- Anniversary Celebration Review

I miss the Masquerade poster but this is pretty

Last night I went to Phantom of the Opera for performance number 48 under my belt! Today I am suffering from phanxhaustion but it's very worth it! Shawn and I got tickets to last night's show because we thought it was going to be impossible to see the 25th anniversary celebration...and then they put tickets up for sale for the 25th anniversary celebration, so I am going tonight sans Shawn because if he goes again he's going to suffer from phantom burn out, not to be confused with phanxhaustion! After tonight I will probably be dead because today I also had to show up to work 9 to 3, my boss luckily agreed to support my obsession and gave the okay to get out of here at 3 PM today (sometimes being a loyal employee is worth it when your boss can do little PHavors back for you!) Enough of this hopefully PHunny paragraph onto my review/thoughts on last night's show.

Phanxhaustion survival kit

Hugh was amazing as always! I love to see him, I'm really not a great judge of singing or tone, probably because you wouldn't want to hear me sing in real life (most likely I'm tone deaf) but Hugh has a distinctive voice which gives his version of the Phantom a unique twist that I happen to dig very much. Shawn actually thinks even though Hugh was billed it's possible that Jeremy Stolle went on for the first act and Hugh was on for the second. He might be right because I heard Hugh had a cold but I also heard that he wasn't doing performances for the previous shows as well so he might have been able to handle the whole show. I thought it was Hugh from the beginning. Eh one of us is right, this is what happens when you get married!

This was the first time I got to see Sierra perform. I thought she was much better last night then from what I saw of her during the 25th anniversary concert that was broadcasted live and later available on DVD performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. IMO she had more facial expression live then she did during the London performance. It was interesting to see how she handled this role. She's played three different versions of Christine. Originally she was playing in Las Vegas as Christine, then she went to London to be Christine in LND, then she played Christine in London during the 25th anniversary in London, now she's here in NY as Christine for the NY 25th anniversary. Another phan said she was a fiesty Christine, which is true. I saw her shove Kyle Barisich (he was playing Raoul) during AIAOY. I felt like she was pretty much implying All I ask of you is to leave me alone.

I really don't have any thoughts about Kyle Barisich as Raoul. I was pretty damn tired last night and I'm going to be tired later too so these reviews might not be the very best to go by. All I'm saying is that didn't make me sick enough. A really good Raoul makes me sick to my stomach.

The managers were pretty cool, I like Jim Weitzer as Monsieur Andre he's pretty animated.

Ellen Harvey portrays Mme. Giry very well. She's pretty dramatic, which does well for the character, Mme. Giry is a pretty dramatic lady.

I really love Michele McConnell I mentioned her a few times before but she's a great Carlotta.

Those are pretty much all the thoughts that stand out from last night. The performance went too fast, it always seems the two and a half hours at phantom fly by for me and I spend so much time looking forward to it when I get to see the show. I can't wait until tonight if I am not dying of exhaustion hopefully I can formulate some decent thoughts for a 25th anni blog entry and performance review!

25 PHacts about Phantom of the Opera!

This is it! It's the 25th Anniversary week of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!

Luckily to the relief of many phans, The Majestic Theatre released some tickets for sale for the legendary performance yesterday afternoon sometime. I was among one of the lucky Phans to find out the news and buy a ticket in record time! So I'm going to the anniversary performance I'll be able to blog about it first hand! Let me calm down before I start writing an excitement rant!!!

In honor of the 25th anniversary here are 25 facts about the show (and many pretty pictures too)!

PHact # 1 - The Phantom of the Opera began previews on January 9, 1988 and officially opened on Broadway on January 26, 1988. 

PHact # 2 - Michael Crawford was the original phantom of the opera on Broadway and in London. He told a story on his DVD Michael Crawford in concert where he explained that he thought he was going to play Raoul and learned that he was asked to play the phantom! 

PHact # 3 - Sarah Brightman was the original Christine on Broadway and in London. She was Andrew Lloyd Webber's second wife at the time and even though I think he might have auditioned other Christines he wrote the part for her. 

PHact # 4 - Just last year during the winter on February 11, 2012 The Phantom of the Opera celebrated 10,000 performances after the 2 PM matinee. 

PHact # 5 - Phantom of the Opera officially became the longest running show on Broadway on January 6, 2006. 

PHact # 6 - The chandelier has traveled 757 miles while going up and down for each performance. 

PHact # 7 Sandra Joseph is Broadway's longest running Christine with 1260 performances.

PHact #8 Howard McGillin is Broadway's longest running phantom with 2,544 performances. 

PHact #9 - The Phantom's mask is custom created for each actor, molding specifically to their face. 

PHact # 10 - It takes 2 hours and 30 minutes to put on the phantom's make up. 

PHact # 11 - Sylvia Bailey is the longest usher working at the Majestic, she's worked as an usher since the show opened. 

PHact # 12 - Enough playbills have been read by audiences to span the length of 54,600 miles, apparently enough to circle the globe twice. 

PHact # 13 - George Lee Andrews made it into the Guiness book of world records for an actor performing longest in a Broadway show he played one of the managers for 9,382 performances. 

PHact # 14 - 230 costumes are worn in each show, along with 111 wigs. 

PHact # 15 - The Phantom of the Opera won 7 tony awards when it opened, including best musical! 

PHact # 16 - The Broadway show has grossed over $887 million dollars. 

PHact # 17 - The Phantom of the Opera has had over 15 million audience members at the Majestic

PHact # 18 - Pre-recorded tracks are used for the Phantom's off stage voice overs and occasionally for Christine's high notes. 

PHact # 19 - On January 26, 1988 The phantom performed for 10 years on Broadway! (Phantom's PHirst milestone anniversary)

PHact # 20 - Christine sings 1 high E note during the show. 

PHact # 21 - Jennifer Hope Willis saw the show for the first time and then 17 years later she got to be Christine. 

PHact # 22 - The bread in the back of the elephant that the actors have is actually real bread and not a prop. 

PHact # 23 - The tallest candelabra on the stage is 14 ft. 

PHact # 24 - There are 281 candles in the whole show.

PHact # 25 - 550 lbs of dry ice is used for every show. 

Sexy Phantom January 2013

There's our man! 

It's a New Year! This month an exciting phantom occurrence happens on Broadway when Phantom of the Opera celebrates 25 years on January 26, 2013. Hopefully this is another year full of 12 sexy phantoms! This month's Phantom is David Shannon, one of the Phantoms in London, England.

I think he's cuter with the mask he looks too bad ass without it

With Gina Beck as Christine

Phantom of the Opera brief 25th anniversary Broadway update!

In about a month and a half on January 26, 2013 Phantom of the Opera will celebrate 25 years on Broadway! For awhile we phans thought we had no chance to get tickets at all, but just today a contest was released! It's a very simple contest you just have to enter your e-mail address through facebook. You get a personal contest link and you receive an extra entry every time someone else enters their e-mail under your link.

http://woobox.com/qddx6f/2h3bw5

This is my link! Please click on it if you are reading and haven't entered the contest yet!

For an alternative in case you don't win the contest (as many of us will probably lose) the phans are getting tickets for the Friday night show before the anniversary performance. I am going to attempt to buy tickets from the box office tomorrow I hope there's some left.

If I find out any other updates I'll write them up.  

Sexy Phantom December 2012

It's December! It's that magical time of the year, the holidays and the end of the year are upon us....maybe even the end of the world (although I really hope not because phantom has to officially have 25 years on Broadway). As a holiday present to phans every year I picked Anthony Warlow as the sexy phantom. This was yet another suggestion from Jen Lau :)

The thing I love most about Mr. Warlow is his baldness. I'm being serious. I'm a weird chick and I actually find bald men to be very attractive. A small part of the reason as to why I married Shawn. So he's a sexy phantom that reminds me of my husband because they are both bald to me it's a double win!

One last virtual gift as I close this entry. A photo of MC decked up for Christmas courtesy of Sally Scheef!

Sexy Phantom November 2012 JAMES ROMICK

Mr. Romick in sad action

This month's Sexy Phantom is James Romick! He's an understudy for the role of the phantom. When I first saw him I wasn't too impressed, but then I saw him again and liked his performance. This month's sexy phantom pick is credited to Jen Lau!

James Romick unmasked (personally I find him sexier in phantom gear)

Awesome photo, I think he may have been above the staircase at the back entrance of the majestic not sure if I'm right though. 

31 Days of Costume - October 31, 2012 - Phantom's Red Death the Webber Musical

Happy Halloween dear PHellow PHans. I end the 31 Days of Costume adventure with the phantom's red death Masquerade costume from the Webber musical. I love the detail, the red color, the skeleton head, the cape, the feathery mask, Maria Bjornson managed to make the phantom fit into the Masquerade scene very well.