Yesterday, I listened to the original cast recording from the Austrian production from The Phantom of the Opera in full for the first time (which was also one of the first non-English productions of the show), and I feel like it ought to write about here so I can tell everyone how great I thought it was.
This cast recording starred Alexander Goebel as the Phantom, Luzia Nistler as Christine, and Alfred Pfeiffer as Raoul. These three were all fantastic, and are now definitely all on my favorites lists for the Phantom, Christine, and Raoul.
However, I think whoever was in charge of the casting tried to get lead actors who sounded similar to the original London cast. Though I think Alexander's Phantom sounded creepier than Michael Crawford's Phantom, I heard similarities between the two voices at some points. Luzia had a beautiful operatic soprano voice, not completely unlike Sarah Brightman's; Luzia even looked a little like Sarah. And though Alfred Pfeiffer didn't look much like Steve Barton, their voices were very similar.
But I don't want anyone to think that this is just some kind of rip-off of the original London cast, because these actors are all great in their own right. I only noticed a similarity. So, if you didn't like anyone from the original London cast, this one might not be for you.
It also featured Wolfgang Pampel and Jack Poppell as M. Firmin and M. Andre, Priti Coles as Carlotta, Sergio Lombana as Piangi, Diana Bennet as Madame Giry and Alexandra Young-Schmidt as Meg Giry. These people were all excellent, Priti and Sergio especially because listening to the parts with Hannibal and Il Muto felt like listening to an actual opera.
I also found a short documentary on YouTube about how this production was made. It's in German, and I don't speak German, but I still watched the whole thing because it showed a few professionally-shot clips from the show as well as a few rehearsals, and it was great to able to put faces to all the voices from the cast recording.
So, to recap, I really liked this recording, and I recommend looking it up to anyone who might be interested in it.
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Random Phantom of the Opera Stuff
AléatoireA book all about random things having to do what is probably the most popular musical to ever exist. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any photos or videos used in this book. All rights go to owners. For non-profit purposes only.
