Feedback on Wicked & Phantom

At the rate things are going, since the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) announced the impending showing of the musical Wicked, there have been numerous feedback from readers, some asking questions, others offering new information. Since we wrote of our discoveries in watching the Wicked, the West End version, and how it has evolved into a cult, we are now sharing with you some other interesting information on the Broadway version as gathered by Wivina Ferrer.

The 1995 novel Wicked by Gregory Maguire had award-winning Winnie Holzman work on the plot and libretto with Stephen Schwartz composing the music-lyrics. Purportedly based on the Wizard of Oz, “it takes place in Oz before Dorothy puts on her red shoes to fly over the rainbow. It is the story of two witches, one good and the other bad.”

With original cast members Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith, Wicked opened on Broadway in October 2003. Deemed the musical success story of the 21st century, seen by over two million people around the globe, it has demolished all previous box-office records.

It got back its $14M investment in 14 months. In 2004, Wicked won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical, Best Costume Design and Best Scene Design. It has had 10 Tony Award nominations and six Drama Desk Awards for its Broadway incarnation. After the Tony Awards, the producer sold more than $1M by noon.      

Other interesting details: “The show has 90 wigs, using 70 wigs in any given show, all made of human hair. Each actor is able to use his/her own hairline in front. The Dragon’s eyes are red LED bulbs that don’t burn out. The Dragon’s wingspan is the same as a Cessna 172. There are 179 different types and finishes of leather used in shoes, gloves, hats and costume trims. The electrics department uses enough power to supply 18 houses, 250 lbs. of dry ice on Broadway shows and 200 lbs. per show on the road. The carpentry department has about 175,000 lbs. of scenery using about five miles of cable to automate it. It is the Broadway production that is coming to Manila.”

Amazingly, our short piece on the US silent film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera similarly brought us even more feedback, mostly about Lon Chaney in the title role. From Beverly Chambers: 

“The 1925 silent horror film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera is most remembered for lead star Lon Chaney’s intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up. The only surviving cast member is Carla Laemmle (born 1909), as a prima ballerina in the film when she was 15.

Although his parents were deaf-mutes, Leonidas “Lon” Chaney became an actor and owner of a theater company. Lon was especially famous for his horror parts in movies like Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Due to his special make-up effects, he became known as “the man with the thousand faces,” essaying macabre menacing characters with an undercurrent of pathos and melancholy. He only filmed one movie with sounds — a remake of his earlier film The Unholy Three in 1930.

Pictured on one of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in 1997 celebrating “Famous Movie Monsters,” he is shown as Phantom, together with Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Boris Karloff in Frankenstein. Friendly to co-actors, he helped both Noble Johnson and Boris Karloff gain a foothold in Hollywood. However, Lon valued his privacy highly, which led him to be labeled as strange and unfriendly. However, co-stars Loretta Young and Joan Crawford recall him helpful to those without much experience.

MGM produced a publicity reel in the 1920s that featured all their contract players as the camera panned to film them. We are shown a man speaking and gesturing to those around him with his back to the camera. This was Lon. Even in a publicity film, he avoided the public.

Before turning to films, he was mainly known for his stage work, and except for Charlie Chaplin, Lon was the last major silent film star to make a talkie.

Although known for his horror roles, Lon was an amazing dancer, singer and comedian. The only film that contains footage of him dancing is the incomplete The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915). Sadly, no audio recordings exist of him singing with a rich baritone voice.

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