I need some help figuring out the lyrics at :57. One transcription says that it’s

Vår kärlek var en gång av evig vår, som var vår förnyar sig

And another says that it’s:

Vår kärlek var ej någon evig vår som varje år förnyar sig,

Personally, I think that it *sounds* more like the latter version (I hear ‘ej någon’ in there more than ‘en gång av’; the amount of syllables in the second line fits better; and it seems to make more sense overall). But I’m not confident enough in my hearing/understanding of Swedish to be certain. 

It depends on your voice, I’d say. If you’re a good belter most comfortable in the mezzo range, the role of Christine will most likely be a challenge. But many modern song techniques will let your explore your whole range, head and chest voice, belting and sotto voce, classical style and modern style. As an example, the POTO World Tour’s Emilie Lynn has a beautiful and classically trained soprano. But yesterday she posted this “Defying Gravity” clip. And… WOW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2dbgwSkZk

Remember too that the role of Christine has a lot of singing in the middle register, and at times it goes fairly low (like in the title song). It’s not just about the high notes. If you can’t handle the middle register, you can’t handle the role of Christine. You need the whole range. Which, I assume, is why many who’s played Fantine also has played Christine (yeah, and that little detail about the producer being the same guy too…).

I found the location of the “Box of the Blind” that Leroux described in The Magic Envelope!

In the Gaulois, Leroux explained that the Box of the Blind was “an amply spacious box that was situated in the top tier of the auditorium, and from which one could not see a thing.”

We know from the Gaulois text that during the masked ball, the Managers agreed to “meet” Erik in the box directly below the Box of the Blind (Erik meanwhile was hiding in the Box of the Blind and threw his voice into the box below), and that Christine and Raoul hid in the box next door to the Managers.

The only box that meets Leroux’s description for the Box of the Blind is the one pictured in the top right of the photos above, beneath the angel sculptures. There is a parallel box on the other side of the auditorium, but I was able to figure out from the Gaulois text that Christine and Raoul hid in a box on the left side of the house. So the Box of the Blind must have been on the left side, as well.

Hi there. The German productions of the ALW musical has all been replica productions, and they’ve all been produced by Stage Entertainment. There’s been four so far, and a fifth is opening this autumn:

1990-2001: Hamburg

2002-2004: Stuttgart

2005-2007: Essen

2013-2015: Hamburg revival

2015-201?: Oberhausen

These are not really a tour, more like individual sit-down productions, though much of the same sets and costumes are used. :)

The understudy for all of 2013 was Ashleigh Fleming; she was there from September 2012 until August 2014.

2013 was an adventureous year for POTO West End in terms of Christines. Sofia Escobar was principal Christine for most of the year. She left in October/November sometime, a bit earlier than announced, due to her pregancy.

As for the alternates… Anna O’Byrne was the alternate until the summer, and when she left TWO new alternates replaced her - Harriet Jones and Olivia Brereton. It’s one of the few times West End has had four Christines instead of three.

Alexander Goebel and Luzia Nistler with the Mirror Bride, Vienna 1988.