I had the unfortunate pleasure to see the Phantom tour last night. I won’t go into how horrible of a show this is, since I think that has been well covered by this board.
What pissed me off the most is when I entered the theater, I noticed they added speakers throughout the inside of the theater. While I am sure it helped with special effects, during parts of the show that you would normally expect applause, they added their own prerecorded audience applause. So the applause in between scenes was much louder than it normally would.
They even did this at the end of the show as the actors took their bows.
Also, it is very well documented, but it was clearly obvious parts of the show were prerecorded and were not live. There were scenes that the Phantom’s voice was heard, but his lips were not moving.
I also believe I heard the actors voices being digitally enhanced. For the love of god, I never thought I would see that in Broadway or on Tour. I believe it occurs at a local theater as the talent level isn’t the same as you find on Broadway, but never in a Equity tour.
People attend live theater to see a live performance!!!
Please tell me this isn’t the future of live theater shows!!!
Theatre (and film) are also about illusion so I don't really mind it.
If they could have done this with Eva Noblezada in Miss Saigon, I would have loved to hear all the angelic, long high notes that she just avoided, that are so essential for the role of Kim.
She just refused to sing them. She never did them live and they are also not in the filmed version. I longed for enhancement here.
Tag said: "Jersey Boys used/uses prerecorded applause at certain moments."
I never actually say Jersey Boys, but did they use it for a theatrical purpose (e.g., I could imagine it being part of showing the success of the act) or did they use it to artificially manipulate the audience into thinking they are having a really good time?
I must admit I’m surprised no one has thought of this before.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
In the Broadway production of Phantom, don’t they play some canned applause after Think of Me? It’s when Christine is bowing toward upstage so it looks like we have the backstage view of her bowing to the Opera House patrons. That happens once the real applause from the song is over. I also believe they play some at the end of act 1 when the cast of the opera within the show are taking their “bows.” This is tight before/as the Phantom drops the chandelier.
In both of those instances, the effect is meant to portray the reception in the opera house, not to trick the actual audience into thinking they’re enjoying the show more than they are. I don’t know of any other moments where it’s used and can’t speak of the tour.
NOWaWarning said: "In the Broadway production of Phantom, don’t they play some canned applause after Think of Me? It’s when Christine is bowing toward upstage so it looks like we have the backstage view of her bowing to the Opera House patrons. That happens once the real applause from the song is over. I also believe they play some at the end of act 1 when the cast of the opera within the show are taking their “bows.” This is tight before/as the Phantom drops the chandelier.
In both of those instances, the effect is meant to portray the reception in the opera house, not to trick the actual audience into thinking they’re enjoying the show more than they are. I don’t know of any other moments where it’s used and can’t speak of the tour. "
Correct. I do believe it was done when they are portraying a performance at the Opera house. Similar as mentioned to Jersey Boys when the audience and scene is backstage. But what I experienced with Phantom was much different. I first noticed it after a scene at the Opera house. After that I continued to hear it.
One of the biggest reasons why I noticed it is I have season tickets at this theater. I know what the theater sounds like during an applause. The canned audience recording made it much louder and it certainly sounded much different than you would expect it the theater. I wish I had a chance to ask others if they noticed.
Does anyone know if there is canned applause in Summer? When I saw it, there were maybe two or three moments where the applause/cheering just sounded off to me somehow, and I couldn’t tell if it was a particularly vocal group somewhere in the mezzanine or if portions were pre-recorded. It left me legitimately curious.
There was definitely some pre-recorded applause during Summer, but I guess you could say it served a similar purpose as to what has been mentioned for Phantom and Jersey Boys, as the audience is meant to be attending a Donna Summer concert. I specifically remember a pre-recorded chanting of “DONNA! DONNA! DONNA!” at one point towards the finale.
What I've noticed before is ushers standing on the sides of the mezzanine or orchestra who begin the applause after certain songs. I saw this at Les Miz at the Imperial and at Phantom at the Majestic. But I only saw it occasionally, and it has been a while. The usher would wait for a particular song to end, and then he would clap like mad until the entire house was clapping then he would scurry away. A few times I saw them do it at Phantom to initiate applause for the Masquerade staircase reveal.
I experienced this at Carousel on thursday night. After songs I would hear applause come in that didn't sound like it came from anywhere. It felt like it was coming from the speakers. It was used as a cue for people to clap.
I know there has always been recorded applause at the end of the first act for the Il Muto curtain call, as it makes sense there; but to have it for the real curtain call would seem a bit ridiculous.