"Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?"In the past 25 years, those lyrics have been sung by hundreds of actresses on stage worldwide. Join us this Saturday as we hear from Kristen Hertzenberg what it’s like to wear those spectacular costumes and sing those heart-wrenching words to the Phantom on stage at the fabulous Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular.
The show is destined to be informative and exciting, as we ask Kristin about her role as Christine, how she came to be on stage for this production, and what the story means to her personally.
If you missed it live, it’s archived. Visit our show page by CLICKING HERE and listening to the great show.
If you missed it live, it’s archived. Visit our show page by CLICKING HERE and listening to the great show.
2 comments:
This was a fantastic show. I saw Kristen as Christine back in June and absolutely loved her in the role. It was fascinating to hear her perspective on the character; I definitely got lots of Leroux vibes when seeing her live.
About Phantoms who do or don't catch Christine after she faints in "Music of the Night"... I've heard that only the UK Phantoms tend to do it because when Michael Crawford was starting out in the Broadway production (after having done the London show for 2 years), he dislocated his shoulder while catching Christine. Someone -- not sure if it was someone overseeing the production or whether it was Actor's Equity -- panicked and made a rule that no Phantom in the US or subsequent productions would be allowed to perform the "catch" except under very special circumstances. These days, American Phantoms will sometimes do a "half-catch," catching her as she falls but letting her down gently rather than carrying her to the bed. Most of the time, this will only happen if the actress is pregnant or having other health issues, but when I saw John Cudia in the role, he did it and I'm pretty sure his Christine (Kelly Jeanne Grant) wasn't pregnant or having any other issues. I do wish they'd do at least the "half-catch" in all productions; it does seem a lot safer for the actress involved.
Once in a while, London Phantoms will also not catch their Christine if they recently had some sort of injury that would make that more difficult... for instance, when Ramin Karimloo was in the original London production, he once had a dislocated shoulder (not sure whether it had to do with catching Christine), and so he did the American-style choreography and just let her drop until he fully recovered. Ah, the wonders of live theatre...
I agree the half catch is better than no catch at all. When I saw Phantom on broadway I was so accustomed to seeing Gerard Butler catch Emmy Rossum(I know I'm a bad Phan, I loved the movie) as she fainted and thought it was so romantic, it was kind of a let down in the show
Phantom is by far my favorite show ever. I get chills from the first two notes of a song. My notebooks and binders and walls are covered with song lyrics. I am extremely partial to the character of Phantom. I'm thinking about writing alternate endings for Phantom and LND where Christine chooses Phantom and lives. It's not fair to Phantom, he deserves happiness in LND! He spent so much time righting himself to one day be worthy of Christine, just to have her die in his arms. I feel horrible for him, but at least in the end he still has Gustave.
It's my lifetime dream to be Christine in Phantom or Love Never Dies. I know I'm practically setting myself up for failure, I can't help but hope that one day I'll be up on a broadway stage singing the same hanuntingly romantic lyrocs Sarah and Sierra and Emmy sang. I hope one day I succeed, but for kow, he'll always be there singing songs in my head...
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