by Heather Sullivan

Prologue
The Auctioneer's voice was so nasal, and everyone I've ever heard play that part does it the same.
Raoul's voice cracked on "co-LLEC-tor's piece."

Overture
The Rear Orchestra section of the Majestic Theatre has an obstructed view, since the balcony hangs down over the seats. If seated there, you can't see the chandelier rise, or the Phantom on the catwalk during "Il Muto."

Hannibal
I always feel sympathy for Carlotta. You can tell from her first entrance whether she's in good voice or not. But Liz McCartney is a very solid Carlotta, and she certainly was in good voice tonight. So was Piangi; his high note in his entrance was glorious!
Carlotta's preface to "Think of Me" was very melodramatic and great. After the first verse, Firmin began to clap very loudly; Andre had to reach over and shush him. Very funny touch.
Whoever shouts to Buquet after the scenery falls needs to work on hiding his American accent. It sounded like "Boo-KAAAAAAAAAY!"
Meg was very sweet to Christine as she was encouraging her to sing; you can feel the friendship-vibes between them. Meg lovingly draped Christine in Carlotta's scarf, and patted her several times before pulling back to let her show off to the managers.
Christine was in very good voice too. Adrienne McEwan's voice is very like what I imagine for Christine: high, delicate and trembly, very childish.

Gala scene
Raoul is one of those characters I love to hate, and Gary Mauer is one of those actors I hate to love. He really is an excellent Raoul.
After the gala when Mme. Giry praises Christine ("Yes! You did well. He will be pleased ...") and then turns to the ballet rats, the rest of the line ("... and YOU, you were a disgrace!!!") was delivered so well. She didn't change her tone at all, so the poor rats thought she was going to praise them and all they ended up with was sarcasm. It got a good chuckle from the audience.
Erik's "Bravi's" were tremulous and exquisite. They sounded like they were coming through a mirror, or maybe through water!

Angel of Music
Adrienne's timing on this song was off. She was dragging! I could hear Meg trying to speed her up, but failing. The effect was unpleasant.
Meg gave this cute little interjection after Mme. Giry shoos her away ... "Oh, more practicing!" she murmured to herself as she left Christine's dressing room
Howard had impressed me on the "bravi's" but then turned my stomach on "Insolent boy!" He spat out every word, and the whole thing sounded very wet. In fact I felt this way through the whole show- his consonants were just too hard.

The Phantom of the Opera
I have to hand it to Erik's body double; he executed this wonderful cloak swirl after "And though you turn from me to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind ..." It was very reminiscent of Michael Crawford. The whole song was very good. Adrienne's and Howard's voices mesh very well.
In the boat, Adrienne turned back to look at Howard as she sang "...were both in you." This added a great sensual touch.
Howard was very gentle with Adrienne when he turned her toward the audience on "Sing!" I've seen some Phantoms (like Ted Keegan) really grab and twist Christine roughly, which is not a very Erik-like thing to do in my opinion. But Howard did it well. In fact he was really very gentle with her the whole time - until the Final Lair, of course.

Music of the Night
Again, Howard's consonants were very hard. but he managed to carry off MOTN very beautifully. His note on "soar" was gorgeous but "BE!" was a little too loud, I thought.
There was a lot of tenderness and attraction betwee Howard and Adrienne in this scene. She followed him around the stage a lot. When he went upstage and stretched out on the portcullis, I thought she would embrace him. She came right up to him as though offering her body to his arms, then realized what she was doing and stepped quickly downstage, only to look longingly over her shoulder at him again.
"Touch me, trust me" was not given correctly in my opinion. I like it sung ... Howard whispered it with a sort of ill-concealed aching. This was too blatantly sexual for my taste. But that was the only moment where he gave it away. There are some Phantoms I've seen who will run their hands all over themselves or gesture towards Christine in a really suggestive way at "Hear it, feel it secretly possess you." Howard didn't do that, though, so I was relieved.
After he pulled the cover off the mirror, Howard nearly sank to his knees in a supplicating gesture. It was very touching. And after Adrienne fainted, he seemed so concerned; he even reached out and fanned his fingers over her hair as he sang "Help me make the music of the night." Unfortunately, "night" was flat! He resolved it as the orchestra reached their final chord, but it sounded a little too discordant up until that point and it left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

Stranger Than You Dreamt It
Howard did not slink along the floor as he sang, which I thought was a definite improvement.
There was such tenderness between him and Adrienne as she hands back his mask ... and after he put it back on, he reached as though he would cup her cheek in his hand ... she inclined her head as though she would let him! But then, "Come, we must return ... " brought an abrupt and heartbreaking ending to the sweetness.

Magical Lasso
Mme. Giry lingered over "He will burn you with the heat of his eyes." It was splendid, and showed the audience exactly why Leila Martin has remained with the cast for so long.

Notes
I love the current managers in the New York cast. This was the second time I've seen them and I would go again just for them. Firmin is so miserly as he sings the opening phrases of "Notes" - he even kissed the newspaper before "Gossip's worth its weight in gold!" The duet between these two was just perfect; their interpersonal dynamic was exactly right. At "someone with a puerile brain", I nearly lept to my feet to applaud - it was so well delivered.
A great reaction from Carlotta at "You will therefore cast Carlotta as the pageboy" ... she looked so utterly offended it was priceless. All of Liz McCartney's mannerisms are spot-on Carlotta.

Prima Donna
Mme. Giry stood downstage left and rolled her eyes as the managers serenaded Carlotta ... perfect touch. The entire number was great, as usual.

Il Muto
I love "Il Muto." It's an absolutely hilarious, ingenious interlude in the show's drama. Don Atilo's low note was so long and wonderful that the audience broke into applause. He demurred twice, then took a little curtsey - very cute. This was one of the very few moments all night when the audience reacted properly to an antic. I would have hated to be on stage - it wasn't a responsive crowd at all. Then, after Carlotta ripped away Christine's skirt, Don Atilo assumed such a look of shock, turned to the audience and pointed with his walking-stick. At this point I started bouncing up and down in, I was so pleased by the whole thing.
Andre was wonderfully nervous as he took to the stage to announce the ballet. He was so petrified that he couldn't remember what he was supposed to be saying. He stammered, "We will be giving you the ballet from act ... " then started rustling through his own program, then announced, "THREE!" And as if that weren't funny enough, his voice cracks (on purpose) as he's saying, "Maestro, the ballet," so it sounds like "BA!-let!" :)
The ballerinas didn't respond enough to Erik's shadows across the traveller. They never do, in my opinion, and it bothers me. You'd think they'd be cowering and screaming, not still dancing around.

All I Ask of You
Christine took a sharp tone with Raoul on "I've BEEN there." It was defiant and great.
Howard's "no's" from the angel almost broke my heart. But at the same time, I hated the "Go" line. It was too short and delivered before his laughter, not after. This order felt somehow wrong, and it left a big hole of silence as the chandelier fell. The audience seemed confused as the house lights went up.

Act II

Masquerade
Nothing to note about this number; it was the same as always.

Notes part II
Piangi had this great reaction to "Our Don Juan must lose some weight." He and Carlotta were in rare form tonight. They are minor characters, but I think this pair (Larry Wayne Morbitt and Liz McCartney) work very well together; they stole the show tonight.

Rehearsal
Nothing to note here either.

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
The whole number was very powerful; Adrienne's voice was nicely showcased.

Wandering Child
Howard's voice was enticing and sweet, the perfect Angel of Music. Raoul, on the other hand, is a buffoon. I love how he's saying "Leave her - can't you see she'll never be yours?!" to Erik while Christine is not only walking right towards Erik, but also completely insensible to Raoul's presence.

Point of No Return
Adrienne's Christine was super "into" this song. I'd never seen a Christine behave so sexy before! She touched Erik all over and threw her whole body into the part. I loved his reaction to "bodies entwining." She played up on the idea that Christine doesn't know it's really Erik in the cloak.
Just before their duet, however, she seemed to suddenly realize it - exactly how wasn't clear to me, though. She cut off the line "When will the flames at last …" with a gasp and a shrieked, "No!", then moved as if to spring offstage. Howard was on his feet in a moment and grabbed her wrists roughly, pulling her back and forcing her to continue with the song. As he sang his reprise of "All I Ask," his voice was hard and bitter. He grabbed her and forced his ring onto her finger, which I hated, and everything just got worse and worse from there. Howard's Erik was suddenly the violent criminal that Raoul and the Managers have been imagining, and not the loving, tender man the audience saw in "Music of the Night." The transformation had a disastrous effect on how Erik's character looked.

Down Once More
From this point on I really disliked Howard's protrayal of Erik; he was too crazy, violent and snappish. I could see the sympathy on Adrienne's face and she actually reached out towards him on his "mother" lines, but he knocked her hand roughly aside.
Howard had this almost cute pouty tone to his voice on "You have truly made my night." On the other hand, Adrienne's voice was ugly and ragged on "Raoul, it's useless." And speaking of Raoul, Gary Mauer's excellent performance from earlier in the evening was overshadowed by his apathetic mien in this final scene. I felt like he just wasn't giving it all he had.
The "Make your choice" line was shouted, and I didn't like that.
The kisses were mediocre. Adrienne pulled Howard close for an embrace before she kissed him a second time, but he never touched her at all, so it left me strangely empty. He was too busy waving his hands in the air like a crazed skeleton to react in any kind of human way to the kiss. I don't like Phantoms who do this. It adds to the "pitiful creature of darkness" stereotype.
The mob was nowhere near loud enough. They were barely audible, and the person I was with (who had never seen the show before) didn't even realize there was a mob until I told him so later.
There was too much screaming on "Go now." I'm also not sure how I like the new line "Promise me never to tell the secret you know of the Angel in Hell" which takes the place of "Leave me here, go now, don't wait; just take her and go before it's too late." Howard also shouted "I love you!" instead of sobbing it. But he did cry into Christine's veil, which was very touching, as was the exchange of the ring: he took Christine's hand (not just the ring), and she let him hold it for just a moment before sobbing into her hand and running offstage.
I just didn't like Howard's "It's over now." It was strangely inert and didn't even make my eyes well. This, in my opinion, should be the line that leaves not a single dry eye in the house.

In conclusion: The actors performing Erik and Christine tonight did not particularly impress me. The managers, Carlotta, Piangi and Mme. Giry were good, but not enough to balance out the distaste I felt for the two top billed actors. I would not recommend Howard McGillin's performance to any Erik-lover, as his interpretation of the character does not seem exactly sympathetic. Nor do I particularly care for Adrienne McEwan's Christine; I like a Christine who makes you feel like it's a distinct possibility that she does love Erik. This does not describe Adrienne's interpretation of the character, which is a bit more impressionable and, later, fearful, than my taste.