The Phantom of the Opera

This review is my third review for Old-Fashioned Charm's Period Drama Challenge! Straight away before reviewing, I'll mention this film's rating: PG-13 for brief violent images. The reason I've shown this first for once is because as a child I did find this film very scary, and I'd imagine others would too. There are also some questionable scenes, but only suggestive, nothing further.

This film was released in 2004 and is, of course, a film of the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. It is set in 1870s Paris at the fictional 'Opera Populaire'. A lot of what the story is about is almost obvious from the title, although if you have no idea what it's about, don't worry, this isn't a ghost story. This film stars Gerard Butler as Erik (the Phantom), Emily Rossum as Christine Daaé, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul. It was directed by Joel Schumacher.

The Opera house, to me, had a very 'set'ish feel - some films use sets and you don't notice; this one didn't do that for me. However, this still helped me get the feeling of the Opera house, as it's about performance - which includes a set along with other things! The underground caverns and subterranean lake had good atmosphere.

The costumes in this film were designed by Alexandra Byrne. I can't really talk much about the costumes as it isn't a time period I'm particularly familiar with. It has made me want to look more at 1870s fashion, as I thought the costumes were lovely to look at, although some things didn't look quite right compared to others (not including the 'Masquerade' scene, I know that's meant to have a variety of styles). The Opera costumes were wonderful - Christine's white gown for the song 'Think of Me' was very pretty and simple, and was a huge contrast from the previous scene where La Carlotta was wearing a fairly extravagant gown, and Christine was among the ballet girls, wearing a costume which showed a lot of skin. A lot of costumes conveyed emotions well: when she is on the roof with Raoul during 'All I Ask Of You' she wears a red cape that matches the colour of the rose she is holding and then drops; when she visits her father's grave she wears black; and when she is in the opera 'Don Juan Triumphant' her costume is still simple but she wears a dark corset, and a red flower in her hair. Erik (the Phantom) wears his signature mask throughout (except when Christine takes the mask off of his face) and his clothes are quite dark, which I think matches his mysterious character. His 'Masquerade' costume is quite different from the musical.
The ballet dancer's clothes reminded me strongly of Degas' paintings of dancers. As someone who studies ballet, this was very interesting for me! The rest of the Opera costumes were beautiful, although some didn't have a very 1870s feel - like I said, I don't know much about the time period, but I'm certain they didn't wear clothes that revealed the midriff to such an extent, such as in the 'Hannibal' scene near the beginning of the film.

I did enjoy this film, however, if you know the musical you will probably find that this is not up to standard - Emily Rossum is not a popular Christine. Also as I mentioned, some of the content seems questionable, although it matches its rating perfectly well.

One final note - if anyone could recommend to me good blogs, websites or books about 1870s fashion, that would be extremely helpful - I've realised a lot of period dramas I've watched recently are set around then, and I have been told that some have inaccurate costume... however I can't tell for myself!

I hope you enjoyed this review, and I promise not to review another film adaptation of a musical with period costume!

Other Reviews: Les Misérables (2012); The Young Victoria (2009); Marie Antoinette (2006)

Les Misérables in the West End

After buying tickets months ago, Wednesday night was the night when I got to see Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London! For anyone unknowing (which cannot be a large number anymore), the London production of Les Misérables follows the original designs for costume, staging, orchestrations and set.
Queen's Theatre is a much smaller than I expected. Even though it has a lot of seats, in width and length the auditorium feels smaller than in my local theatre. However, the size of the stage and the grandeur of the theatre was overwhelming after such a long time of only ever seeing shows at the O2 Arena and my local theatre. The show was wonderful, as expected, yet all my specific expectations were well exceeded.

Seeing the costumes live was so exciting for me as someone interested in costume! This is of course the bit that is most relevant to my blog - I felt the need to add the rest to make the review feel more complete and to tell more of my experience! The designs and colour schemes worked together perfectly, as all costumers aim to achieve in their designs. Andreane Neofitou's original designs, obviously still being used, are complemented well by the lighting and match the scenery as needed. I don't know what comments to give on most costumes other than: they work! Fantine's first costume, an empire line dress, matched the blue factory apron and cap. Cosette's black dress does not match her book clothing, but works well in the musical, and I always think how well the line 'So dark, so dark and deep, the secrets that you keep' in 'In My Life' goes with the dress, almost making me think the costume may represent her life sheltered from her and Valjean's pasts. Valjean's costumes show his change from convict to respectable man. Javert's costumes may show the change in his status as a police officer.

Jean Valjean was played by Gerónimo Rauch. His voice reflected the acting, and like many members of the cast, he had such a stage presence that is one of the things I knew I would see in the West End, and makes the performance so much more enjoyable to watch.
Tam Mutu was in the role of Javert, and like Gerónimo Rauch, he had a fantastic singing voice and his acting was wonderful.
Celinde Schoenmaker has had the part of Fantine for a little over a month, and if her performance last night was anything like her other performances then I hope people will think of her as one of the best Fantines! Her singing was filled with emotion whilst still sounding great technically, and her acting did bring me to tears - she performed her death scene very well, showing Fantine's declined health perfectly.
Thénardier played by Cameron Blakely along with Vicky Entwistle as Madame Thénardier gave the comical touch we expect to see in the Thénardiers, keeping in character even when Madame Thénardier's dress at the wedding accidentally swished a fork into the orchestra pit. Cameron Blakely sung well, and Vicky Entwistle seemed to embrace the character of Madame Thénardier very well, and although at times it felt a little too much as her voice was slightly raspy and it she didn't quite reach a few notes, the performance was still hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable.
Samantha Dorsey played Cosette beautifully: her voice was sweet and she gave the character an energy I didn't expect to see, and she made Cosette sparkle.
Marius was played by Jamie Ward who played the character very well - like Celine Schoenmaker's Fantine, I hope fans notice Jamie Ward's Marius and add it to their list of favourites. In my opinion, somehow during 'A Heart Full of Love', he showed the nervousness I think Marius feels at the beginning of that point whilst maintaining a stage presence (I'm sure many actors and actresses can do this perfectly well but I will always wonder how someone can act nervous and still have their acting carry so largely).
Danielle Hope's Éponine was a nice surprise for me. I remember seeing her on the BBC show 'Over the Rainbow' and disliking her. However she removed the Disney-princess feel I think some people expect of Éponine, and added in the slightly crazy and obsessive side of Éponine usually only seen when reading the book. Her singing was fantastic and I obviously enjoyed her acting very much!
Christopher Jacobsen sung and acted well as Enjolras, giving the charisma needed in the role. The students all showed an admiration for his Enjolras, and they also performed wonderfully. The rest of the ensemble worked well, and all looked and sounded perfect. I got to see Isabelle Allen, the recent film's Young Cosette, as Young Cosette live! It was amazing to see how well she has adapted from stage, to screen, to stage. My 9 year old self was massively jealous of how talented she is. I regret to say I did not catch who was playing Gavroche in the performance I saw, however whoever it was, they were brilliant!

After the show finished, my friends and I decided we'd like to go to the stage door to get photos with our favourites from the cast - some must have slipped away before we managed to get there, but we did get photos with Gerónimo Rauch and Jamie Ward, however, which I was really pleased about! They were so pleasant about it - they seemed quite flattered! I was worried they'd think it a bit odd as not as many people go to the stage door afterwards as I previously thought (bleurgh, misconceptions!). I was thrilled that I got to do that and it certainly added to the theatre experience!

I feel very lucky in the next part of my Les Misérables obsession. Many of the current cast have their final performances on Saturday 15th June - two days after my birthday! So my mother and sister have agreed that we can make that my birthday 'celebration' this year (other than me meeting up with a few friends) and we booked tickets for it! Ah, now I'll get overexcited about that, bother.

Hopefully in my next blog post I'll be doing a continuation of Old-Fashioned Charm's Period Drama Challenge, which I have been unable to do any more reviews for due to GCSE Textiles coursework. My first deadline is in one week....

Some things to briefly say!

I've got quite a few things I want to say/cover very briefly!
First of all - in the past couple of weeks I got my first ever comments (I know, I know - they're just comments). But it was so nice for me to see what people thought of my blog and it made me feel quite a lot more confident that I'm improving my blogging skills.

Next I want to explain some costume projects that are in progress or being planned. At the moment I'm working on my garment for my GCSE Textiles, and there's three weeks until the deadline. In school terms that isn't long at all, especially as one of them is half term holidays so all I'm allowed to do in that week is decoration! So I may not post as much as I'd like (once or twice a week) but I'll certainly try to show my photoshoot of what I'm making - a costume for Miranda from "The Tempest".

This summer I have a 3 month long holiday starting a week after my birthday, so I've planned on doing a costume project. Two of my best friends have very kindly volunteered to be my models so I can practice making costumes for others, however as part of the learning process the costumes will mostly be made using patterns. I need to start the undergarments in the Easter holidays so I may do pattern reviews starting around that time. 

In September my big sister turns 18 and has decided to have a masquerade party, with a colour scheme of red and black. I want to make my outfit entirely from scratch, and the 'red' is too perfect an opportunity to make a stylised version of the iconic stage Enjolras waistcoat (what? I'm a Les Mis fan, what else would be expected with a colour scheme of red and black?). The masquerade bit will be fun because half of my sister's friends don't know me so the mask will just make them even more confused (although if she'll let me I may have to go slightly Marie Antoinette style with the mask!).

I have so many projects I can update my blog with over the next year, and hopefully those along with my taking part in Old-Fashioned Charm's Period Drama Challenge will make my blog full of interesting posts to read, helping me develop as a writer as well! 

Old-Fashion Charm's Period Drama Challenge: January tag questions

1. What period dramas have you watched in January?
The first period drama I watched in January was when I went to see "Les Misérables" in the cinema on its UK release date of 11th January. It felt like a huge deal because I've had such a love of the musical since I was 9 - that's a story for another day. Then I watched "The Young Victoria" on BBC iPlayer one day just for something to do as I'd never seen the film before! then I watched (but decided not to review - for now) the 1995 BBC "Pride and Prejudice" on 28th January for the book anniversary!

2. Do you prefer period dramas peppered with humor or laced with dark emotions?
That's a difficult one. I think normally I'd say humor - but recently I've become attached to those with darker storylines. Not too dark, though, as that can get to me and haunt me for a long time afterwards.


3. What was the first period drama miniseries (two episodes or longer) that you ever watched?

The first I ever watched was the 1995 BBC "Pride and Prejudice"! As a young child we had it on videotape, and then when I was around 9 or 10 I fell in love with all things Jane Austen and was bought the DVD as a present!



4. How many Jane Austen adaptations have you seen?
Pride and Prejudice: 1981, 1995 and 2005
Sense and Sensibility: 1995 and 2008
Emma: 1972, 1996, 1997 and 2009
Mansfield Park: 1983, 1999 and 2007
Northanger Abbey: 1986 and 2007
Persuasion: 1995 and 2007
So I have seen 16 Jane Austen adaptations in total!


5. What period drama, that you haven't seen before, are you most looking forward to seeing in the future?
Probably the 2012 film of "Great Expectations" - as a film rather than a series I doubt it'll be close to the book (and I've heard they've made the ending different?) but the costumes look absolutely beautiful - and as a costume-orientated person I feel that's reason enough!