After dinner, I changed clothes and got on the bus to go see the Phantom of the Opera, my favorite musical. The production in Hungary was given permission by Andrew Lloyd Weber's organization to Hungarianize it. This meant keeping the music intact, but changing all the words into Hungarian. There were supertitles in English so I could follow the story line. In general I enjoyed the show, but there were a few things I found lacking. I really liked the voices of the Phantom (although I don't think anyone can compare to the original Phantom, Michael Crawford, whom I saw the first time I saw the play), Christine, and Carlotta. The voice of M. Giry was a bit disappointing since it wasn't strong enough compared to the others. The sets were very well done and they were quite effective. Of course nothing could ever top the chandelier that started in the back of the theatre and moved over the audience before it "crashed" on stage in the productions I saw in the US. But what they did accomplish in the Hungarian production was an interesting way of raising the chandelier in the beginning of the play and crashing it in the course of the play where the Phantom takes revenge. The things that I found lacking were the costumes; they could not compare at all with the elaborate costumes I saw in the US productions. And the orchestra's sound was extremely muffled because they were under the stage and there was only a small opening in the front of the stage where their sound could come out. I was really hoping to hear the orchestra belt out the music and I believe they could have had it not been for their location under the stage. So, on whole I enjoyed my evening at the theatre.
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| Madach Theatre |
On my walk back to the bus, I passed in front of the New York Coffee House and took some pictures of it at night -- almost as impressive as during the day.
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| New York Coffee House |
And so ends another evening of music. More later.
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