I saw SF POTO on 1/22 in the full house (at least on the orchestra level) in the 7th row, and it was GREAT!! I saw Lisa as Christine and she convinced me that she is the best Christine currently performing in the world in the overall rating (singing, acting, physique etc). Chris as Raoul was strong, as ever, he is the only Raoul that makes Christine torn between Raoul and Phantom. And I can tell Raoul loves Christine so much by the number of times he kisses Christine. He kissed Christine at least three times or more during Masquerade! (I saw national tour POTO in L.A. last weekend and there, Raoul did NOT kiss Christine at all during Masquerade)

But what I want to talk about is Franc. Oh, he took Erik to another level on Thursday night. He was beyond excellent. I noticed he was portraying Erik a bit different on that night from the beginning. His singing was a bit heavy, shall I say? Each note was pronounced slightly longer but clearer and stronger. There are many points he performed slightly different from previous ones but the most noticeable one was the Angel scene. He usually mummers "Christine.... Christine...." after "he was bound to love you...." but on Thursday, he almost shouted like "Christieeeeeeeeeeene!" which shook my soul like nobody else did, I almost groaned. Then when he heard Christine and Raoul's love song in the back ground, he turned back a bit and tried to hide in his cape, and even said "pul-eeeeeeeeeeease" in moaning way. Since his movement was much larger than usual, so the Angel swung a bit but he did not care, and neither did I. I thought that performance itself was worth the price of admission. I was so moved I felt like I want to give him a standing ovation right there (at the end of the first act).

I wanted to stay after the show to tell Franc how much I enjoyed and appreciated his performance that night but it was really late, so I didn't. I'm going to see the show again on 1/31 so hopefully I will tell him about it on that day.

This was the first time I saw in the box seat. I could not see the rear stage of the left side (like Manager's desk) but other than that, I could see everything so close!! When Franc came towards Christine to get his mask back after "Damn you!" I could almost see his eye color. I love this seating! Franc got better and better as the story progressed. And the very end, when he sang "You alone can take my song take flight... it's over now the Music of the Night!" I got goosebumps, so did the rest of the audience because before the song was ended, everybody started applausing! Of course, there was a standing ovation for Franc too. Great performance as usual.

POTO backstage tour

I am pretty lucky that I became acquainted with a sweet girl through a Phantom Board. She is a friend with Franc D'Ambrisio and knows many actors in the Christine Company. So I dared and asked her if it's possible for her to arrange a backstage tour for me, and she was such a sweet person, and said YES. SO after the matinee, which was another superb production, we met at the stagedoor, and her friend, Mike took us on the stage.

Most of the sets are hang in the air, and I was surprised that the stairs that they use in Masquerade are collapsed and shot up in the air. There was the table they use in Point of No Return in the wing with lots of plops on it. I took one of the goblets in my hand and.... no, I put it back. As much as I wanted to have it as a memento, I don't want to be banned from SF POTO. (BTW, if it was Javert's ribbon, I don't think I can guarantee keeping my hands away from it!)

The stage itself was not that big, and when you look at the orchestra section from the stage, it did not look huge either. The chandelier was in the mid air, and a guy was working on the cleaning up the hole where these fires shoot up. He said after every performance he has to clean it and refill the gun powder. Mike showed me the death trap that Phantom disappears into after Masquerade, the hole Raoul jumps into to find Christine (the actor jumps in from 15 ft high!) There was the Phantom chair where he disappears into at the end. We were told not to touch anything so I stuck my head in the chair to see how it works. I think I know how now but of course it's a secret. ;)

Then we went down under the stage to see all the ensemble's costumes (they don't dry clean often, they clean the liners, oh, stinky!). Every time Mike explained in which scene they used the costume or wig etc, I sang a phrase a bit and he said "This woman really knows Phantom." Well of course, I should be the understudy of understudy. I can immediately become Christine if they need one!

I really appreciate Ms. S.L. and Mike for their kindness, I had such a wonderful theatre experience I will treasure for a long time.

I went to SF POTO last night through the storm and hails, anything for Franc, of course --- only to find out that Phantom was understudy!! Aaaaaaaggggggrrrrr! I knew that Lisa was on vacation in advance, so it would be Karen last night, but when I opened the playbill, there were another white paper saying "in today's performance, Phantom will be played by Norman Lange" !! Okay, so what happened to Franc? Did he get sick or his place was flooded out?? I had a mixed feeling because I was so looking forward to see both Lisa and Franc again, and when I found out that Lisa would be on vacation, I thought "well, at least I can see Franc's performance which is worth price of the admission," then that hope was shattered when I sat in the seat. However, I have never seen Norman's Phantom so I thought, "okay, he may surprise me." Still, had I known that I'd be seeing an understudy Phantom like when I saw Chris in December, I didn't have a panic attack right before the performance. (Of course, Franc wasn't planning to be sick so I'm NOT blaming anybody here)

The theatre was packed (at least the orchestra section) and the audience was very warm and responsive. Norman performed quite well for being an understudy at the last minutes, but his first note "Insolent Fool! The slave of fashion, basking your glory!" was not as angry as Franc's. I love Franc's the entrance scene so much. I should not compare with Norman and Franc since Franc has been performing Erik for four years. I only wished Norman's body movements were a bit more smooth and relaxed. He looked so stiff at "I have brought you..." and movement was somewhat choppy and sudden.

Still, I liked his "Point of No Return," it was sincere and at the same time very sexy too. (I told him after the show and he was a bit embarrassed) Also when he was kissed by Christine, he made a sound like "aahhh" showing how surprised and moved he was, I thought that was original. Also when Christine returned to return the ring, he acted like she came back to him, and he again expressed an audible joy, which quickly turned to realization of the disappointment. Very nice touch.

Norman seemed very friendly after the show (must be very happy with his performance) and signed his autographed on my ticket tab (I have Chris' autograph on my ticket when he was Phantom). BTW, Martin Lewis was the understudy Andre and he was quite funny. He portray Andre as a gay-ish manager, in my opinion, and it worked well. I wanted to ask him and confirm if my observation was correct, but alas, he walked away ever so quickly.