Rebecca Pitchy and Her Disappointing Christine
Phantom’s in Singapore again and I caught it on Friday evening. Now, there’s no way this could go badly for me, because if it’s Broadway, there’s almost zero chance I’ll hate it; if anything, my inner gay man will be squealing in joy from all my overboiling fandom and the years I’ve spent overanalysing the magical stage, with its big voices and overlapping round-robin song parts.
However, some of the magic was lost this time. I’m not sure if it’s because I had inflated expectations or if it just plain didn’t make the grade. I remember it being so much better some ten years ago when the show came to Singapore, but you know how it is when you’re a child, everything seems bigger, brighter, bolder, better?
Well, the biggest disappointment was Christine. Her performance seemed so halfhearted, and worse, she overworked her vibrato to the point where her words got gobbled up and tone went off pitch.
Imagine that, a Broadway singer going off pitch!
But she did. I’m not above pointing out that her name, Rebecca Pitcher, makes for a rather ironic statement, either. *Guffaw*
I thought it pretty funny when, during a particularly pained (and painful) plot section, she sang “Point of No Return”. Ha ha ha.
And Raoul. Such a wimpy Raoul. His voice was naked and bare, and barely made a dent. When the dramatic song between him, Christine and the Phantom arrives towards the end, his lack of presence made it a duet between the latter, while he faded into the background.
To compound things, he could barely shake off his Aussie accent. I know this was an Aussie production, but ideally, you should only realise that when you check the programme. (Or find the production somewhat lacklustre. Ahem.) This revelation shouldn’t hit you when he makes his move as the Vicomte de Chagny sounding like crocodile dundee.
I remember as a child (and even when I caught the movie adaptation) willing Christine to go with the Phantom. Thinking she made the wrong choice. Because someone as wonderful as her would need someone who truly loved her, rather than Mr Suave Smoothy who came by and swept her off her feet quite as effortlessly.
This time though, when they ran off, I thought, oh. Chhhhuh. They deserve each other. Annoying shrieky girl and wimpy flat man. Go. Begone.
And the chandelier did not crash down on the audience so much as it gently lowered, paused for a thought and abruptly swung to a crash on stage, instead. What? I feel cheated. Give me back my chandelier crash! Nobody in the audience even flinched.
But at least the production was of good quality. And the Phantom, Brad Little, saved the day by being quite, quite impressive. I was particularly taken by Carlotta (Pauline du Plessis) and Pianggi, but since they’re technically the ‘bad guys’, my liking them over Christine and Raoul chalks up yet another failure for those two.
Video: Interview with the Phantom, Christine and Raoul. (The Christine here isn’t Rebecca Pitcher.)
Video: Brad Little doing “I Gave You My Music”. A handheld and probably illegal phonecam video, by the looks of it. But you get to hear his voice and a rather magnificent scream he does in the middle in anger at Christine and Raoul. He’s probably pissed they couldn’t sing.
1. The chandelier “crash” was totally an “AND THEN?” moment for me.
2. Brad Little was really really good. I’m still really impressed with him. And Carlotta too! Which happened rather begrudgingly since I don’t like the character. She wasn’t really as irritating though.
3. During the song between Raoul, Christine, and Phantom, I could barely make out a THING. Stupid Christine’s gurgling (I refuse to call it vibrato) make everything unintelligible and the white noise masquerading as Raoul’s singing didn’t really help. *fooocuuussss onnnn Phaaantoommm.
4. The sets were really cool though, right!!
5. Chorus in general was rather bleh too. All screaming on their own. None of the one-voice thing I love about well-put-together choruses.
6. Did you notice than Christine couldn’t seem to keep to the time of the music too?
Okay next time I promise I’ll just complain on my own blog.
Where were you seated?
w> Haha, it’s okay, I think the only difference between you complaining here and there is that here it’s in point form.
Loon> I was in the centre towards the front in the stall seats.
Yes I wasn’t too impressed by the singing overall. The poor conductor was trying to chase Christine throughout the performance, it was quite painful.
But I was still *very excited* about seeing Phantom - liked the sets and the storyline was interesting (Note: this is meant for w).
bunny: PFFFFT.
vick: No, probably would have done it in point form on my blog too. Hahaha.
Hahahah.. You were unlucky! The other Christine (Ana Marina) was the better singer. My dresser friend said she was the better singer..
I guess its luck when it comes to broadway, since they have understudies and all. Its a 50-50 that you can get the worse singer.
Reene> Isn’t Ana Marina the understudy? GEEZ. The understudy was better than the star? Sigh. What more needs to be said?
bunny> ME TOO. I was still very excited. And will still remain excited for the next time I watch the show…Haha.
did rebecca pitcher have nice jugs?
vicki: She’s not the understudy but the ALTERNATE Christine. Understudies don’t have fixed going-on-show times I believe, and is only there to serve as replacement when necessary.
cakeboy: She could be a spokeperson for “Body Airport”… Ana is hotter. Relatively speaking.
ANA: http://www.anamarina.com/images/P.jpg
REBECCA: http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/phant/images/rn.jpg
For those who want to avoid Rebecca Pitcher, Ana Marina plays Christine on Tues & Sun night. ;p
cakes> ROTFL hahahahahah. Thank you for that.
Reene> Ohhh. Okay, now I get it. Bah.
Agreed with your comments. The Sets ( except the chandelier), costumes and Brad Little Saved the Day honestly. Out of the 3 main characters, only Phantom’s singing was passionate and protrayed the emotion of the character.
I dare not say that the Phantom 10 years ago was better, since i was just a kid then, but THAT one had
1) Better singing( i remember).
2) FANTASTIC CHANDELIER CRASH. It flew PAST me. My heart pounded in a combination of fear, excitement and amazement. And that was almost the only thing that i can remember vividly.
At the end of the 2007 play, I got my hands on a copy of the 1986 original Cast cd and listened to Sarah Brightman sing, just to remind me that Christine IS suppposed to be that good.
Thank goodness! I thought my sis and I were the only ones who disliked her performance. When she first started on “Think of Me”, I thought… why does it sound like the way Carlotta is supposed to sing it? And it just went downhill from there.
That’s exactly how I felt! Yup, I thought…Waitaminute…But that’s wrong…Or is it? Hahaha. Well put.
Your post mirrored my thoughts exactly. I posted a short entry in my blog about Rebecca Pitcher too. Although the bigger problem is her singing, I have something against the way she looked too. Being cast as the innocent yet beautiful Christine, I felt I couldn’t relate… and felt nothing for her. She has successfully made the Phantom look like he was going after an older woman….
Christine and Raoul are the weakest link in the Phantom of The Opera in Singapore. Lacklustre performance from both, with the performing pedigree of a novice.