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POTO STOCKHOLM - CAST

PETER JÖBACK: So… I expected to maybe like him better than I did? Cause I like what he brings to the role, how he talks about it, I like so much *around* the actual interpretation and performance. But was kinda underwhelmed. Or, I liked his Phantom. Quite a bit, in fact. But I didn’t *love* his Phantom.

So, OK, his Swedish Phantom was definitely the most solid of the lot. He sounded more comfortable singing in his mother tongue, not forcing an accent, which made him less twangy. A very good thing. Also, he seemed to maybe have more leeway with the acting specifics, which made him add some discrete ad-lib-ing moments. And yet…

Though his Phantom was solid in so many ways, I still had the feeling of seeing more of a caricature? Like, more Phantom Manor than Phantom of the Opera. More how he thought the role should look than what the character is. Everything seemed just a *bit* exaggerated. And frankly, though he probably sung his heart out, I didn’t quite feel he had the voice to nail it. Like, he has the range, but not the booming quality. You can do elements of kitsch if you have the voice to justify it (Ian Jon Bourg, Scott Davies). But with a good voice with pop phrasing, you better keep the acting on the classy or classical side, so there is a balance. But he went for exaggerated hand gestures, lots of bent knees, and not fully justified moments, paired with a good voice with a pop approach.

All that said, I saw two slightly different performances from him. One Friday evening, where he clearly struggled voice wise, shifted way too much between chest voice and falsetto, and rather devastatingly missed the high note in «Down Once More». Also finished MOTN long before the orchestra. I was like «???». I remembered him as vocally much better. Turns out he is. That performance was either an off-night or just low energy. On the Saturday matinée he seemed more secure, with steadier voice, longer notes and also not missing any key notes. Was very happy to see him a second time and see that he handled the score fine.

I quite liked him in the Mirror Scene, the Phantom’s curse, as Red Death and in the Final Lair. Those were stand-out scenes for me. Those are also scenes where you expect the larger-than-life acting. His MOTN in the Saturday matinée was also quite nice, and he did a gorgeous «soooaaaar».

His Final Lair was definitely the most interesting one. He stumbled around stage with bent knees, was quite unpredictable, and displayed some fine acting. I also loved his added «NEEEEJ!!!», pronounced like a small, spoiled child experiencing someone taking his toys away. He did it three times; one after Christine throws the wedding veil at him, once right before letting Raoul loose of the magical lasso, and I can’t remember the third one. It was a good detail.

Yet, I stand by what I wrote above, about his Phantom feeling like a caricature at places, and that he has too much of a pop sound in his voice. Things I thought could be done differently. But all in all a solid Phantom, a good voice, and the sole reason this production came to be, probably. I was very happy to see him twice, to see how he might do stuff differently the second time, and to get a feeling of what his Phantom was all about. And it should be added that he had good chemistry with Emmi Christensson.

EMMI CHRISTENSSON: WHAT. A. GEM!!!!!!! Gorgeous, soaring, clear, bell-like, strong voice. A nuanced and detailed portrayal. So beautiful on stage.

I saw her as Cosette in the Norwegian tour in 2014, and adored her voice. I’ve heard clips from her London run as Christine, and loved it. So obviously I was hyped to see her live in Stockholm. But she was WAY better than I imagined. She had moments of very nervous, distressed emotions - not quite on the level of Anna O’Byrne, but still distressed. Kinda hammering the palm of her hands over her ears in the WYWSHA intro is one example, desperately trying to kill the voices. She also looked so perfectly innocent on stage.

Standout scene for me was WYWSHA - the whole thing seemed so genuine and so in despair. Instead of going for «listen to the grandeur that is my voice», she took it down a notch, displaying Christine’s grief and solitude. It was really nice. A bit similar to Mia Karlsson in Copenhagen. TOM was also a thing of beauty. Such a gorgeous voice, so feather light and pleasant and yet with a strength, especially the upper notes. TOM was a scene I never wanted to end, in large because of her voice, but also because of Anton Zetterholm’s acting, and because of the GORGEOUS World Tour Elissa skirt. Baaah.

Also, the Swedish translation of «The tears I might have shed for your dark fate…» is one of my favourites out there, and was extremely well delivered by Emmi C: «Du kunde fått förståelse och stöd. Men nej - jag kunde se dig DÖD!» (you could have gotten understanding and support (from me). But no (now) I could (happily) see you DEAD). That’s strong words.

All in all, Emmi Christensson really is one of those ultimate Christines. I loved her portrayal, I adored her voice, I loved many of the details, and she totally looked the part. And she’s Swedish too. Can’t beat that combo.

ANTON ZETTERHOLM: Due to a very Copenhagen-esque directing in the Swedish revival, Anton Zetterholm did have moments where he reminded a bit of Tomas Ambt Kofod. And y’all know that will never be a bad thing, as Kofod is probably my all-time fave Raoul.

That’s however not to say that Anton Zetterholm was a blueprint. He had moments where I got the feeling he tried to imagine why Raoul reacted as he did. For example, a more unique detail was exactly HOW bored Anton’s Raoul seemed to be during TOM, tapping his fingers, looking around, mostly looking like he wanted to leave. When Mme Firmin looked through her binaculars, he seemed to get curious and borrow them from her, only to discover it’s CHRISTINE, and then he is on fire, leading up to his sung lines. The change from utterly bored to super exited was more pronunced than I’ve ever seen it before. Really, REALLY good acting. And also kinda justifying the Phantom’s raging «slave of fashion» - this Raoul isn’t really into music, he’s only into Christine. Though not because the rest of Paris is. Rather due to their childhood friendship.

He also had fine moments in «Little Lotte», where he perceived what Christine told him so innocently and so different from what she intended. He wasn’t brushing her off, but appearing to think she was talking allegorically, but then getting down to business - food, catching up over dinner, the joy of meeting his childhood friend again, the joy over her triumph and her success.

Last, but not least, he really REALLY fought that magical lasso in the Final Lair. I was about to write “like his life depended on it”, which I guess is quite suitable for the role of Raoul in that moment...

And on the shallow side: so cool to see a blonde Raoul. Costume design (and slightly Barton) coming alive!

KAROLINA ANDERSSON: What a gorgeous a voice! In so many ways maybe too gentle and light for a Carlotta, especially with that coloratura ability and lyric touch. But her «Think of Me», Carlotta edition, is one of the most pleasing I’ve heard, and the Il Muto scene has never sounded more Mozart-esque.

Acting wise a bit anonymous, not super bitchy, not super funny, not the very gentle approach. I would have wanted her Carlotta to offer a more defined mood, or approach, cause the combo of anonymous portrayal and gentle and beautiful voice made her easily outshined by Christine. But as mentioned, she sounded gorgeous, and for the first time in many years I simply wanted to listen more to whatever Carlotta sang.

ROLF LYDAHL: One I was perfectly indifferent to. He was so… standard, with few or no standout moments. I liked the detail about counting musicians in the pit and seats in the auditorium, but that’s my favourite Firmin detail from Copenhagen and not really unique to Lydahl. So all in all… yeah… But he seemed to have fun on stage with Sindre Postholm.

SINDRE POSTHOLM: A big contrast to Firmin, cause this manager oozed personality and quirky details. So enthusiastic, so eager to please, such an opera buff. He looked like Carlotta’s no. 1 fan in Hannibal. In the Managers scenes he was the more gentle, slightly absent-minded part, as André usually is, but with those little extra details that makes the role stand out: bigger gestures, more facial expressions, just the right amount of clumsiness and charm. Also, THOSE BLUE EYES.

My only complaint is probably that it was visually hard to tell André (Postholm) and Raoul (Zetterholm) apart at times. They were about the same height and stature, and both with fluffy blonde hair. I genuinely struggled in Prima Donna...

SANNA MARTIN: Didn’t quite know what to expect of her, but ended up liking her a lot. Just a very solid stage presence, good voice, underlining her movements and lines to make Mme Giry’s actions clear. And holy wow, did she master that cane. At first glance she appeared to be one of those super strict Girys, but she also had a gentler side when needed. I liked her a lot.

TEHILLA BLAD: Amazing to hear a Meg with such a strong upper range - she nailed the higher notes, and went for really, really clear diction. One of the finer “Angel of Music” I’ve heard from a Meg. Also a solid ballet dancer, and she had an intense, insiting presence on stage. In many ways she reminded me of Brianne Kelly Morgan in Las Vegas. She also very clearly acted as a sort of narrator to the audience, underlining important details. Last, but not least, she reminded a bit of Sanna Martin’s Madame Giry. Not her actual face, but in body type, gestures and acting. And she looked so beautiful in her darker blonde wig.

My only complaint on her would be the rather exaggerated ballet body language. She was not able to walk normally, it seemed, everything was long circular ballet “walking”, with pointed feet. And all her poses was grand ballet poses. In some scenes it’s quite OK, but for example in Notes/Prima Donna it felt out of place and too much. But as long as Meg is supposed to be a future ballet star and all, I can live with it. I just prefer it a bit more toned down.

GLENN KJELLBERG: Another I was fairly indifferent to. He had a very high-pitched tenor, which as such suited the role and made him the «annoying» tenor Piangi has often been presented as in recent years. But his acting was kinda camp, milking every moment, to the point where he wasn’t genuinely funny. On the shallow side he also felt too slender for the role, so with the lighter voice and slim figure he didn’t particularly strike me as a Piangi type. But again - I didn’t DISlike him. But I was pretty indifferent to him.

OTHERS:

*Had a ballerina (Cat Leppingwell) as the tin soldier for the Saturday matinée. Didn’t notice at all, so job well done!

*The Auctioneer was waaaaaaaaay toooooooo sloooooooooow.

*John Martin Bengtsson as Passarino was very nice. He has such a big, deep voice, and did fine acting. It will be quite a transition hearing him as Raoul again, after having heard him use his voice to the full as the Phantom and Passarino.

*Overall very unison ensemble and well-syncronized ballet dancers.

*Lefevre was off to Frankfurt. I had a faint hope of them maybe keeping up with the World Tour tradition of having Lefevre leave for funny places, like Pattaya, or Alanya. But no. No amusing destinations, no Ayia Napa, no Riviera, no Mallorca. Just Frankfurt.

*I’ve referred to the “Copenhagen directing” above. That’s not to say it’s Copenhagen’s directing they did in Stockholm. Rather Arthur Masella’s international directing, and one I’ve also seen elements of in Hamburg and the World Tour. I like it a lot, and was happy to see all the details I loved so much in Copenhagen also being present in the Stockholm revival.

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