The Phan Lair

Some of you may recall the strange affair of The Phantom Of The Opera...

Performance Bloopers

 The following is a list of famous mis-haps and bloppers which have happened during a performance or around a theatre which The Phantom of The Opera has been playing in. You see a performance where something goes wrong, someone makes a mistake or you know of any bloopers not already listed here then please contact me via thephanlair@yahoo.co.uk with the title BLOOPER. It will  be added to the site with your name will be displayed after it in thanks for raising it to my attention.

Have fun!

 

·         Earl Carpenter’s mask began to slide down across his face during his third performance as The Phantom in London while singing The Music of the Night. By the time he reached the last verse it had fallen so much that it was hampering his speech but he daren’t touch it in case it fell off, revealing the disfigurement and spoiling the end of the show. Following the song, there is a blackout in which he quickly fixed the mask, allowing him to carry on with the performance un-hindered. 

·         During Point Of No Return, Colm Wilkinson once got carried away and grabbed Christine in a bit more of a private place than usual while she was sitting on the bench. When Christine’s verse came she decided to get him back and grabbed Colm’s bum suddenly, hidden from the audience, causing him to fall from the bench in shock.

·         When Raoul jumps into the underground lake, he actually is aiming for a small trap door in the floor under the dry ice. This is obviously very dangerous and takes a long time for the actors to perfect. However, mistakes do happen; Peter de Smet once broke his ankle after missing the trapdoor and was forced to sit out of the show for a long time.

·         The weeks leading up to JOJ’s last performances as The Phantom are famous not only for interesting jokes played by the cast. During Down Once More audiences may note that you never see Christine from the font as she is lying on the boat with her back to the audience. During one of the performances JOJ ran onto the boat after a quick change to go on singing “Down Once More” only to find that it was one of the actors playing André lying in Christine’s costume and wig pulling faces at him the whole time. Another time, during the dressing room scene while the ballet dancers are upstage in dark light, a few of the ballet “girls” were actually members of the male ensemble in full ballet gear.

·         If you have read the Production F.A.Q Page you will know that there is a double used at the climax of Why So Silent? JOJ disappeared through the trap door, and a member of the male ensemble (thought to be Luke Jackson) obviously missed his cue and didn’t have enough time to put on the full costume; he appeared in the place where The Red Death double is supposed to be, with nothing but black trousers and a red t-shirt on. He was also mask less but simply covered his face and ran off into the wings...smoooooooth.

 

·         Scott Davies, The Phantom in The UK Tour, accidentally hit Christine with a fireball during Wandering Child her wig caught fire but Raoul jumped to her aid and batted out the flames.

 

·         During the first national US Tour, the “body” of Joseph Buquet got stuck and as such Firmin and André had to tell the audience “it was an accident” and “do not panic!” about a backcloth which seemed to be vibrating strangely as the crew up in the flies frantically tried to free the dummy.

 

·         Once an understudy Christine got into a bit of a mess when the boat malfunctioned (imagine that!) She and her Phantom had to walk across The Lake as the boat had failed to work, she lay herself down on the floor, in the position she would have been had the boat been there, on the floor. The next scene began and she started singing “I remember...” as the boat comes wheeling onto stage and makes straight for her. She luckily realised what was going on and got out of the way. Had she carried on with the proper blocking she would have been run over by the boat!

·         The Angel sculpture presents a hazard to some Phantoms. There is no life belt or restraint as such, they simply attach a small hook to a belt if they wish, but a few Phantoms’ have opted to not use the hook to they can move and climb up onto The Angel Sculpture during “All I Ask of You (Reprise). One such hazard unfolded when Colm Wilkinson was playing the title role in Canada. It got caught up and tilted extremely far forward. Colm’s wife was also in the audience at this particular performance and jumped up screaming “Someone save my husband!”

·         Michael Crawford suffered from a hernia as a result of performing Phantom. He had an operation to cure the painful injury and discharged himself soon after, returning to the role around two weeks later, against his doctor’s judgement as there was no understudy arranged at the time. James Patterson later took over the role when side-effects from his recent operation started to take toll on Michael Crawford; he was so heavily drugged to mask the pain that he fell asleep in The Angel Sculpture before All I Ask of You (Reprise) and missed his cue. He later left the theatre coughing up blood. It was at this point that James Patterson stepped in and covered the role.

 

·         A few Phantoms’ have had trouble with fire on stage. Once such Phantom who fell victim of this is Thomas James O'Leary. During The Final Lair scene when raised the candle above his head to free Raoul the spark caused by the illusion, which normally amounts to nothing, fell onto Thomas’ head causing his hair to catch flame. He later said he was singing his heart out, noticed the rest of the cast gasping, but his hand up and felt flames. He quickly beat it out which apparently fitted in with the scene anyway and thinks he hid it from the view of most audience members. But he does note that a number of stage crew suddenly appeared in the wings grasping fire extinguishers.

·         Another example of this was when Michael Crawford's cloak caught on fire during the title song. The boat had failed to operate, so he and Christine (Sarah Brightman) had to walk across the stage. He happened to be standing over a candle trapdoor when it opened and the heat caused the cape to catch fire.

 ·         Peter Karrie is responsible for a few bloopers as well. He likes to lean forward on The Angel Sculpture during All I Ask of You (Reprise) and popped his knee out doing so due to the awkward angel he had to stand at to achieve the effect (There is only a small lip for The Phantom’s to stand on in The Angel Sculpture). He also managed to rip his trousers on the hook used to secure Phantom’s in the scene…and was wearing white underwear at the time. From that moment on he made sure he wore dark underwear at all times! He also randomly sang “I hate to cut the prisoner short” rather than “I hate to cut the fun short” during The Final Lair scene a few times. Another story, which isn’t directly involved with a performance but is still worth noting, is when Peter was taking a break between a matinee and evening performance. He usually stayed in the make-up and relaxed in his dressing room. One day, forgetting he had the make-up on as he was so used to it, he opened the window for fresh-air. Several on-lookers who did not know the show was in town screamed and scattered at the sight of his disfigurement.

·         Understudy Phantom’s also suffer bloopers during performances. One such Phantom managed to trip and fall flat on his face during the “Il Muto” ballet scene when he is above the stage laughing at Carlotta. Later in the same performance, as Meg lifted up the mask at the very end of the show, a piece of The Throne fell off revealing his hand. He realised and pulled it from view but by then it was too late and the illusion had been spoiled…poor guy

·         An understudy Madam Giry also suffered a blooper on stage; she banger her stick so hard during The Dressing Room Scene that it got stuck between the floorboards. She tried very hard to remove it without making it obvious to the audience, but eventually had to leave it there and continue without it…until it fell out again and she had to walk over and pick it up.

·         It should also be noted that a lot of Madame Girys suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because the stick is much too heavy. If they don't switch what hand they carry it in often, they develop CTS and can't perform

·         Ethan Freeman managed to fall down the stairs while dressed as The Red Death in Why So Silent.  To make matters worse, those lines are pre-recorded so it looked as if he managed to continue singing while he fell.  A few Phantoms’ have suffered the same fate as the visibility while wearing The Red Death’s mask is greatly reduced. As an added note, for most of the performance Phantom’s struggle to see. Backstage most are led to and from areas as the cataracts contact lenses and mask coupled with the poor lighting conditions make it nearly impossible for them to see. 

·         Steve Barton, whilst understudying The Phantom, managed to break open his knees on the trapdoor The Phantom falls through after Why So Silent? The Phantom he was covering for was then forced to come back from holiday as no other cover was available to step in at that date and Steve Barton was out for months while his knees healed.

·         Kimilee Bryant managed fall flat on her face, and took her Phantom (Brad Little) with her. During the title song of The Phantom of the Opera as Christine stepped out of the boat, he stepped on her dress causing her to trip, grab him and both fell in a heap on the floor. In another performance she sneezed on his hand during “Music of the Night” at the “floating, falling sweet intoxication…” section. She then had un-controllable giggles for the rest of the song.