The Phantom of the Opera - His Majesty's Theatre

My experience is thus:

Cameron: I'm chucking out the old production and replacing it with a tour.
Some of us here: Um, this is not good news, we saw that tour, it was a downgrade.
Others here: No it'll be fine, you're wrong, Cameron says it will be "bigger and better" and "enhanced and polished".
Some of us: That is not what we have heard through our connections with the show and that makes no sense as his business model is to replace the bigger West End originals with his smaller touring productions.
Others here: No you can't say that because you don't know yet. Let's wait and see.
ALW: Nothing is changing. Everything is coming back exactly as it was.
Others here: See, you were wrong. ALW has confirmed.
Some of us here: Um, ALW doesn't have a great track record on telling the truth on these things, so we are very doubtful.
Others here: Ah so you know better than the good Lord. Whatever. It's coming back bigger and better.
*show opens*
Some of us here: So this is what we said would happen.
Others here: Move on!
Some of us: Wait, what? You were the ones saying it was coming back bigger, then when we said no, you said 'wait and see'. So we did and now it's 'move on'? 
Others here: Well we liked the show.
Some of us: OK, but this is what changed. Here is a list of specific examples. They are downgrades.
Others: OMG, don't you get it's a BUSINESS. They needed to do that for it to survive.
Some of us: No...they really didn't. We know enough about the show, with most of us having contributed to or worked on it in some way or another over the last 35 years, that it could have continued and the downgrades are simply to increase the profits going to Cameron et al.
Others: Well the original production was tired, the sets sounded squeaky.
Some of us: Well of course they did, they stopped the upkeep deliberately. You don't fix squeaky sets by chucking out the original production, downgrading everything, and losing all the know-how that was accumulated amongst the production's staff by firing them all.
Others: Well we liked it.
Some of us: That's fine! We're sure you did. What we're saying is that it's not what they claimed it would be and when we said that in 2020 we got a fair amount of condescension from you pointing that out.
Others: Yawn, move on. No one will notice or care.
Some of us: Well, repeat attenders might... And word of mouth?
Others: LOL no one is going to listen to you. They will love it anyway. Just like we did, we thought it was better.
Some of us: Better in what way? 
Others: Lighting...
Some of us: Here is before and after. You think this is better?
Others: Costumes...
Some of us: Here is before and after. You think this is better?
Others: Sound...
Some of us: With half the orchestra?
Others: Set...
Some of us: But there have been no scenic UPGRADES! Except these three examples which admittedly are nice. But at the expense of XYZ. So overall...really?
Others: No it was better. 
Some of us: OK, can you give us examples?
Others: The original was stale.
Some of us: That was not an example. We gave you specifics. Can you do the same?
Others: It's free speech. You should move on.
Some of us: Um...if it's free speech then should you be dictating what we say?
Others: Shut up. You will make the show close by putting people off buying tickets.
Some of us: But you said a few posts back that no one was going to listen to us, so which is it?
Mods in a complete different thread: Oh you're going to this revival are you? Are you sure? You are such stuck-in-the-muds that I thought you would only go to the original.
Some of us: Um...this revival isn't promising to BE the original. What is with you?
Others: God forbid we like the show!
Some of us: We're not saying you can't. We're simply saying that it's a downgrade, and here are some specific examples as to why. We think this is a sad way to treat the West End's most successful homegrown show, particularly since the genuinely bigger and better original is still on Broadway, and since it was not struggling financially. We know the reasons for this and they are not pretty ones. It is fine to like it but for the producers to claim that nothing was changing, then to say it would be better, and then to serve this, is pretty piss poor.
Others: Move on. It's great. We still won't furnish examples as to why but it's amazing and yes it is better.

And round and round we go.

Ok, great, whatever. Debate and discussion normally evolve over time. This has not. It has just been repeated ad infinitum.

Your assumptions about opposition and peoples motivations do you a disservice. You are assuming that everyone that visits the thread is interested in the downgrading of Phantom, when they might just be looking for actual information. But ‘don’t read it then’ really is a low point. Don’t come here if you don’t like this opinion? Sheesh!

Anyway let’s move along shall we? 

The IG post about the monkey was interesting I thought! 

I think your experience of this thread above, proves the point of it going round and round!



And yet any positive posts about the newly reopened show get taken apart, piece by piece, trying to prove their opinion wrong. Why can't someone say they like it and leave it at that? No one's opinion is right or wrong and yet it seems you can have a wrong opinion about Phantom. It doesnt encourage others to post.

Absolutely this…and furthermore, without knowing the exact investment model, amount of net points being shared around and on the ground running costs of the show it is impossible to make claims about its profitability. Investments will have been made based on it’s profitability pre-Covid which never came to fruition. Were the changes in motion for the West End pre-pandemic or did they happen as a result of?

Absolutely phenomenal post and eerily accurate.

It was a phenomenal post, because it couldn't have been said more clearly, why it keeps going round and round.

And with all the requests for examples and evidence, you'd have thought a certain Cinderella fan wrote it.

There are posters within this very thread who started off the usual “oh you negative fanboys”… then they realised… I think Scarpia’s (admittedly rather long) post above is absolutely sensational because it is absolutely true. Every word.

Will the theatre be renamed now? I know it was in 1952 and didn’t know if would be changed back, now.