rjdaae:
That was probably the best PoNR I’ve ever seen
Okay, I’m ready to talk about this now
Previously, my favourite PoNR was when I saw Kaitlyn Davis in the revised tour. I’m usually a fan of interpretations where Christine isn’t entirely naive, and figures out that That’s Not Piangi. I just think it makes more sense, and makes the scene more interesting, because the two characters are able to actually interact in a way that just isn’t possible if Christine spends 90% of the song thinking she’s just acting with Piangi—or recognizes him, and then simply snaps back into her blocking as if nothing had happened. Kaitlyn played this realization as coming fair early in the song, and, after a few moments of confusion and consideration, spent the rest of the scene sort of playfully taunting him—like, “okay, dude, you can put me in this terrible position, but I can give just as good as I get.”
Last night, though. Man.
It started when the Phantom came out. Actually, it started before he came out. On the line “the trap is set and waits for its prey”, his voice just got progressively more strained and almost vicious until he straight up growled the word “prey”. Of all the times I’ve seen PotO, the Phantom’s performance ‘as Don Juan’ is one of the parts that just never really jumps out at me—it usually just falls into one of the boxes of “just trying to be suave”, “just being creepy”, or, if I’m lucky, “trying to be suave, but then can’t hold it together when Christine starts touching him”. (I have no distinct memory of the performance of the PoNR performance of the Phantom who played opposite Kaitlin Davis). This time, though? For the first time, I could FEEL the Phantom’s months of planning and anticipation of that moment—the surety that his scheme was going to work, and his feral anxiousness to finally act on it. But also with the sensibility that this is a man who has spent his life HIDING, who has probably had to psych himself up to this moment, who is only able to summon up the strength to pull that curtain back and stride out on stage because he is fueled by utter rage and desperation.
And then. Then, Christine is there.
So, if I have to give one adjective to describe Meghan Picerno’s Christine, it would be “intelligent”. The first stand out moment for me was the way she said, “father is dead, and I have been visited by the angel of music.” There was just something about her lineread that made me sit back and say, “oh. you are Present and Aware.” A lot of times Christine’s “spoken” lines are delivered very rote, with little subtlety or thought behind them. That was not the case for this Christine. She had a lot going on in her head, and it showed. Which brings me back to PoNR.
As I implied, Meghan was one who immediately recognized the Phantom for what he was. She ran over to the side of the stage, as per usual, to have her moment of “what do I do??”. But then, instead of just going back into the Aminta blocking, she did something I’ve never seen that entirely turned the scene on it’s head. She took control. You could see the transformation happen, as she formulated her own plan to meet the Phantom’s. And then she proceeded to deliver a PoNR that I can not hesitate to describe as sarcastic. It was an interpretation that I’ve never seen before, and ohhhhhhh it worked.
When I saw Meghan in LND, she impressed me with her righteous anger; ever since then, I had been looking forward to the hope of seeing her in the original. Last night was the moment I’d been waiting for, and I was not disappointed.
The Phantom’s bravado was revealed as a facade as Christine squared up against him, as if she was saying, “oh? You want to play? I’m game.” The hunter became the hunted, until he was practically cornered on the bench. In the moment where most Christine’s finally realize the Phantom is on stage with them, this one didn’t flinch: she dragged her hand boldly down his veiled mask, like, “yeah. I know you’re in there.” By the end of the song, they were equals. For once, he seemed to be the one who was alarmed and had to flee—and when he did, Christine was the one who wrapped her arms around him and pulled him back to center stage to finish the song. Even the move to lift the hood and the final unmasking felt much more calculated, without the sense of panic that most Christine’s seem driven by in that moment.
Following on from a WYWSHA in which Christine seemed determined to find a way to stand on her own feet, the effect was just absolutely breathtaking, and, unlike most PoNR’s I’ve seen, I’ll probably remember it forever.
