Simply amazing! Best cast I've ever seen for this play. Hadn't been to London in the past 12 years. Went there last week and had to rewatch this play. Had tears in my eyes through most of it. Wasn't expecting such excellence. Well done!!
The cast sounds really good, very powerful and in wonderful harmony. But the orchestra? Jesus, so weak, artificial and thin, especially the strings and brass you can hear more than clearly that there are fewer instruments in the pit and more comes from the synthesizer and computer, very unfortunate for the great music.
I saw this cast a few weeks ago and they were truly the BEST! Lily is far and away the greatest Christine I’ve ever seen. Her acting and singing are superb! Her voice was youthful but powerful, and she made interesting and thought provoking acting choices. Just stellar. Her chemistry with both Jon and Joe was wonderful too.
Along with Michael Ball as the Phantom, which would be an excellent choice (he appeared as the second person to play Raoul in the early years of the musical's London run, after Michael Crawford and Steve Barton, who originated the roles of the Phantom and Raoul, respectively, departed to open the musical on Broadway along with Sarah Brightman, the original Christine; most Raouls have gone on to return to the musical as the Phantom), Christine Allado would shine as Christine Daaé, Dean John-Wilson would do likewise as Raoul, and Claire Richards from pop group Steps would be a stellar Carlotta. Alfie Boe would alternate as the Phantom during Ball's days off, especially because Ball has a radio programme on Radio 2 on Sundays between 9am and 11am entitled "Love Songs with Michael Ball", which he can prep during his off-days. Hadley Fraser would be perfect as Monsieur André (understudying for the Phantom) and Jay Laga'aia would make a brilliant Monsieur Firmin (with his daughter Georgia Rose appearing as Princess/Confidante/Innkeeper's Wife), while Neve Campbell (who was a member of the Ballet Chorus of the Opéra Populaire and an understudy for the role of Meg Giry in the original Canadian production of the musical in Toronto) would be suitable as Madame Giry, given that she's a Brit through her father Gerry. Adrian Hansel would feature as the Auctioneer (understudying for the Phantom).
Initial thoughts on Act 1 of this new cast: The performers sound great. Jon sounds a lot like Hugh to me, especially in his upper register. It's a very smooth sound. I enjoyed Lily and Joe. They'll do well in these roles. Congrats to all of the performers who are in the cast. Tempo: I don't get it. It's bad, and it's good. The Mirror sounds too rushed to me. That's a moment to make the audience be like, "whoah...what is this?" That's all lost to me. A little pause here and there can make that very effective. MOTN at "let your mind" speeds up too much. That's another very powerful moment. Let the words work for you, and let the music/vocals stand out. He's got a great voice. Let it shine. Fast forward to Prima Donna, and the tempo works, especially at "Who'd believe a diva..." The audience can now hear the managers. It's a very cleverly written song, and one of my favorites of ALW. I like what they've done there, except the Phantom's last warning. Way too fast. For a long time I've had an issue with how AIAOY ends. It's still too up tempo for me. Take a listen to how Steve/Rebecca did it, or Steve/Patti on Bway. It's such a moving song, and can elicit emotion. No need to rush though that. The Sound: It sounds like there are some updates to the title song recording. I like it. Maybe it's the sound system at HMT, which, btw, is incredible. I was blown away with it when I last saw it in May 2019. That leads me to the issue of which I still can't quite get past, which is the gutted orchestra. It really shows on Hannibal, Think of Me, MOTN, Prima Donna, and AIAOY. Those who never saw it prior to 2020 may not notice it. Those who did will. The songs sound naked now. I know those days are over, but it was a great 30+ years of incredible sounds coming from that pit. That score deserves it. Off to Act II. Thanks for posting this.
I really wish they’d slow down the PONR reprise in the final lair. It just sounds a little bit too rushed and with all 3 singing at once, a bit messy. Apart from that, I absolutely love this new cast. I didn’t think anyone would beat Amy and Ben pre-Covid but this new cast will be hard to beat.
39:56 I love her “Tears of Hate” so much, I think it would have been even more amazing if she had held that note longer to let the emotion linger but still it’s a phenomenal performance ❤
Thank you so much for this !! The cast is awesome. Also, shoutout to the Katie Hall's belt in "Tears of hate" during the Final Lair 😍 Happy to hear that again 🥰
WOW!!! I absolutely LOVE Lilly Kerhoa's!! She is by far my favorite Christine. And Jon Robyns' things like COME to me angel of music. I can hear so much emotion from him and I love it. This whole cast is phenomenal!!
PONR 28:29 I esp love her style in this part😭, it's phenomenal. And come to SEE if you can! The strength of Christine she infused in her play will STUNN you
Hi to anyone seeing this video, plz check my channel to find the new uploaded act 2. This link is a incorrect version where the sound from act 1 and act 2 overlap😂 due to the error when I compressing it and my reckless of forgetting to check before put it online Thanks for everyone who leave a comment ❤, so sorry that I've been busy in this month so I do the reupload quite late🙈 and actually I'm surprised by the number of people listen to this when I check the account today (first time after two weeks of uploading this video), if I know that I def will fix this quicker🙈 I decide to keep this link for a while so the ppl who see this before can find the way to the reuploaded act 2 (as a newbie just learn that RU-vid doesn't allow to reupload video to the original link, sad)
Lily Kerhoas exceeded all my expectations. Fantastic is an understatement. I might have broken the replay button with 1:01:24 That "soar" was EVERYTHING.
Thank god they returned to the old transition style between the Mirror and POTO. Hated the extension, this makes way more sense to me! Also I've been following Lily for years so her perfection here isn't a surprise. So so so exciting! Congrats all ☺️♥️
While I do prefer the Phantom to have a very deep, masculine, and haunting voice like Ramin's, Ashley's Phantom is just refreshing! Young, brooding, and playful, in a way. Kudos to both!!
Come! But Lily is off every Tuesday and Friday as usual (fixed date for alternative Christine, for now it's Paige) so mind that when you plan the trip if u come here just for Lily
The auctioneer sounds like the original.. and dose not have thr dark mystery to him I like it but I don't like it it's half half lol sill amazing. Also sooo fast
Yes, they made a new set of recording in May or June or July (anyway before the new casts came), including Notes (I think the current Notes is a lot better than the debut one)
