Top 5 Best & Worst Raouls in Phantom (including LND Raouls!)

Top 5 Best Raouls

1) 25th Anniversary Raoul Hadley Fraser! He was amazing portraying Raoul, not making him as drippy as some other actors who have played him! He brought so much emotion during the Final Lair scene & actually sounded like he wanted to save his love, even if he showed a forceful & vengeful side to Raoul during the second Notes scene & before Don Juan Triumphant, as well as making Christine seem crazy just before All I Ask Of You. However, this doesn't stop me from being in Team Phantom!

2) Current London Raoul Killian Donnelly! To me, he's one of the more handsome Raouls & would probably be the only one, other than Hadley, who I'd leave the Phantom for (which I really wouldn't because of the Phantom's charms!) One other reason is cos I saw him as Enjolras in Les Mis, which I absolutely loved him in & I loved the John vs. Killian videos!

3) Original London & Broadway Raoul & eventually Phantom, Steve Barton! His original portrayal is much better than actors who've made Raoul foppish & drippy, since he makes him a caring man who loves Christine. R.I.P forever Steve! <3

4) UK tour & previous London Raoul, Simon Bailey! I saw him a couple of years ago as Raoul in London & he brought so much passion & emotion to the character, as well as showing his love for Christine during All I Ask Of You, also showing Raoul's protective side!

5) Australian Love Never Dies Raoul, Simon Gleeson! His portrayal was much better than David Thaxton's poratrayal in the London production & showed much more emotion & love towards Christine, instead of making him a drunken bastard, especially after Devil Take The Hindmost when he shows fear of losing Christine!



I would've added Ramin Karimloo onto the list, but to me he'll always be my Phantom & I didn't want to think of him as a character who I hate for ruining the Phantom & Christine's love! I also would've added Michael Ball, but to me he's my Marius!
Top 5 Worst Raouls! (with 1 for who I hate the least & 5 for who I hate the most!)

1) John Cudia, mainly because he bores me to the core & makes Raoul drippy & a poshy!

2) Sean MacLaughlin, mainly because he makes Raoul sound narcissistic during his reunion with Christine & careless towards Christine & is just boring & portrays Raoul as selfish & possessive of Christine & creates a rival out of the Phantom for Christine's love.

3) Adam Monley, mainly because he was generally boring & annoying as Raoul, making seem like a plank of wood & didn't show any urgency during the Final Lair scene & didn't show a lot of love towards Christine.

4) Love Never Dies Raoul, Joseph Millson, mainly because he portrayed Raoul as a drunken, careless man who shows no love for his wife & 'son' & doesn't even think about losing Christine during Devil Take The Hindmost, since he only wanted Christine for his own personal gain, instead of love & to prove to the Phantom he will always win!

5) 2004 film Raoul, Patrick Wilson. His portrayal was as if it was from a high school play & made Raoul so soppy & annoying & very girly, with his stupidly long hair. Also, I thought he made Raoul such a weakling (just like his singing voice) in certain parts, especially during the Final Lair scene (despite the fact he saved himself from drowning easily) & made him such a 'pretty-boy' (to me he looked like the Prince from Beauty & the Beast at the end) & rather foppish during the first Notes scene & tried too hard to be a knight in shining armour during the sword fight in the graveyard scene.

Top 5 favourite Johannas from Sweeney Todd!

1) 2005 tour Johanna Lauren Molina! Her voice sounds so pretty during Green Finch & Linnet Bird & shows Johanna's innocently paranoid side during Kiss Me. Also, one added bonus is that she had to learn how to play the cello for the role!

2) Original Broadway Johanna, Sarah Rice! Her voice sounds so pretty & more operatic compared to some other Johannas from the past & present & shows her cry for help & freedom from Judge Turpin during Green Finch & Linnet Bird.

3) 2012 London revival Johanna, Lucy May Barker! Her voice sounds pretty & innocently childish & naive, during Green Finch & Linnet Bird, yet erratic & frightened during Kiss Me.

4) 2004 Kennedy Center produvction Johanna, Celia Keenan-Bolger. I know I said I hated her as Eponine in one of my previous posts, but I also said she's better off as Johanna & this is why she's on this list for my favourite ones. Her voice is more suiting for a young soprano like Johanna & is talented at singing like that, especially during Green Finch & Linnet Bird.

5) 2007 film Johanna & one-off Inbetweeners actress, Jayne Wisener! Despite Johanna's reduced role in the film compared to the show, her voice sounds so sweet and innocent, unlike some actresses who have played her on-stage, especially how minimal she sings Green Finch & Linnet Bird, almost as if she's a songbird herself!

Top 10 Favourite Elphabas from Wicked!

Since I posted the one about Glinda, I decided to do one about my favourite character from the show!

1) Current & London's longest running Elphaba, Rachel Tucker! I saw her a couple of years ago & she was amazing, especially during Defying Gravity & No Good Deed. Her acting skills are also so believable, portraying her as a very misunderstood & a rather sympathetic young, green woman, especially during Act 2, but is also perfect with her comedy timing, like in Popular! Her vocals are also very powerful & was perfect in pitch during her solos, even in For Good.

2) Original Broadway & London Elphaba & Rent & Glee star, Idina Menzel. Her voice is so powerful & amazing, especially during Defying Gravity, but also shows a softer side to her voice during I'm Not That Girl, as well as with her acting skills, showing a consistently determined & likeable character throughout.

3) Broadway & US tour Elphaba & final Broadway Maureen in Rent, Eden Espinosa. Also appearing as Elphaba in an Ugly Betty episode, she sounded amazing opposite Megan Hilty, with her voice being fantastic during Defying Gravity & I'm Not That Girl.

4) London Elphaba & first ever black principal to play Elphaba, Alexia Khadime! She definitely is one of the best Elphabas vocally, especially during The Wizard and I & Defying Gravity! She was also really funny during some scenes of Act 2 & showed emotion during I'm Not That Girl.

5) Australian & Universal Studios Elphaba Jemma Rix! Her voice sounds so good, especially during The Wizard and I & No Good Deed.

6) Broadway Elphaba Teal Wicks! Her voice is so phenomenal & powerful (added to the fact her name is a shade of green which makes her born for the role), & is an amazing actress, especially while singing I'm Not That Girl & No Good Deed, & is has a perfect pitch during Defying Gravity.

7) London & Broadway Elphaba Kerry Ellis, mainly because of her powerful voice during Defying Gravity & No Good Deed.

8) London standby Ashleigh Gray. I saw her final performance as a standby a couple of years ago & she was amzing & worth so much more than a standby, because her voice was so amazing & powerful during No Good Deed, with that massively long note at the beginning while yelling 'FIYERO!' & Defying Gravity during the bit when she sings 'IT'S MEEEEE!'. She also actually made Elphaba funny during the cat-fight sequence when she did her little cackle after Dianne slapped her, & her acting was amazing & emotional throughout.

9) L.A tour Elphaba Marcie Dodd, with her voice being so powerful during No Good Deed & her acting skills being really good throughout & especially during the cat-fight scene.

10) Broadway Elphaba Shoshana Bean (who covered Idina Menzel's final performance), who's just phenomenal throughout, especially when she sings Defying Gravity & her acting skills are amazing, making Elphaba sympathetic & independent yet likeable.

Moulin Rouge Review!

I know this film's over a decade old, but I consider it a modern musical classic for our generation.

Stars: Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, John Leguizamo


Set in 1899, penniless English writer, Christian moves to Montmartre amidst the Bohemian revolution & befriends a group of Bohemians, including the eccentric Toulouse-Lautrec, who's writing a musical called Spectacular Spectacular for Harold Zidler, the owner of the Moulin Rouge nightclub & brothel. The star courtesan of the Moulin Rouge, Satine meanwhile, is the object of the Duke's affections & is also a potential investor for the Moulin Rouge, but accidentally starts to fall in love with Christian, whom she mistakes for the Duke at their first meeting. To cover it up, the group of Bohemians brief Spectacular Spectacular to the Duke to convince him to invest for the Moulin Rouge, with the plot being akin to that of Satine & Christian's foreshadowing forbidden love, under the pretence of the two rehearsing. However, as betrayal & secrecy start to kick into both the play & Satine & Christian's affair, they must find a way to hide & fight for their love for each other.

Based on the operas la triviata & la boheme. this juke-box musical has all the ingredients for a good film & musical: amazing & memorable cover versions of songs (i.e. Your Song, Lady Marmalade, Diamond Medley, Like a Virgin & Tango de Roxanne!), a moving, gripping & amazing plot, with my personal favourite part being the Elephant Love Medley, with some great comedy touches (especially the brief & Kylie Minogue's cameo as a green fairy from an absinthe bottle!), beautiful acting by Ewan McGregor Nicole Kidman (which should've won the Oscar for Best Actress!), fantastic design & style to the film, which comes with exquisite costume designs (especially Satine's red dress & diamond dress!) & actors who can actually sing (with the exception of the dubbing used on Zidler during Like a Virgin). One other part I love is how the play Spectacular Spectacular is both a play within a play situation & a metaphor for Satine & Christian's love for each other, especially used with the song Come What May (the only original song in the film), which is one of my favourite love songs ever! Overall, this film is just amazing & one of my favourite musicals & love stories ever!

Top 5 Favourite Glindas from Wicked!

1) Smash star & Broadway & L.A Glinda, Megan Hilty. To me, she's the funniest Glinda ever, especially during Popular (who couldn't forget her final Broadway performance of Popular!), with all the crazy things she does, but shows a hidden side to Glinda with her friendship with Elphaba, as well as making her funnily selfish & vain, when she's Galinda. She's definitely made her the archetypal dumb blonde daddy's girl!

2) Original Glinda Kristin Chenoweth, mainly because of her sweet voice, which sort of reminds me of a mouse, and I loved her in Pushing Daisies & Glee, which is an added bonus! I also love how the show gave her the opportunity to show off her soprano range, which is very powerful indeed!

3) London Glinda & West End veteran, Dianne Pilkington. I saw her in London a few years ago (Ashleigh Gray's final performance as a standby) & I thought she was hilarious, and made me laugh my head off in Popular & the cat-fight scene, & I was surprised with how deep her normal voice is to have such a pretty soprano one, even if she sounds like a child, which is what Glinda acts like for virtually all of Act One!

4) US tour Glinda, Annaleigh Ashford, because she also makes me laugh, like Megan Hilty (especially the 'I'm OK' bit in Popular!), making her officially a dumb blonde & I also liked her Sex & The City cameo & as Margot in Legally Blonde on Broadway!

5) Current London Glinda & previous Christine in Phantom, Gina Beck. She definitely bring operatic qualities to the character, while making you laugh with her personality, as well as her prettiness showing she isn't as dumb of a blonde as you think .

Anastasia Review!

I've just heard about the 29 hour reading for a stage version of the film coming up with Angela Lansbury & Aaron Tveit, so I decided to review the film because it's always been apart of my childhood.
Star rating: ****
Cast: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Angela Lansbury, Christopher Lloyd & Hank Azaria

Taking place in 1920s Russia, an orphan named Anya doesn't know anything about her family from when she was eight years-old, with her only clue being a necklace, given to the Grand Duchess Anastasia by her grandmother, who disappeared after Rasputin, curses the Romanov family & causes a siege who kill all the family, except for the dowager empress & the missing Anastasia. After Anya decides to go to Paris to find her family, con-man Dimitri & his friend Vladimir decide to con the dowager empress to get the 10 million rouble reward for the return of Anastasia. After the two men meet Anya, they convince her that she may be Anastasia & she should pose as her so she can go to Paris to find her family & so they can get the reward, despite the fact she's the actual Anastasia, who Rasputin is now trying to kill.


The songs in this are amazing, especially Journey To The Past & Once Upon A December, Anastasia's ground-breaking solos sung by Broadway star Liz Callaway, featuring Angela Lansbury herself & Jim Cummings as Rasputin's singing voice was good during In The Dark Of The Night which made me laugh because of all of the dancing and singing bugs with Bartok, who Hank Azaria makes me laugh as. Throughout I kept on thinking 'WOW! THIS WOULD MAKE AN AMAZING MUSICAL/STAGE SHOW!' (I especially thought this during Once Upon A December & Paris Holds The Key To Your Heart, which Broadway legend Bernadette Peters sings!)

Despite this, the historical inaccuracy has diminished the original true tale of this mysterious duchess & her royal family, reducing it to a modern fairy tale for young children. Because of this though, it's what makes the story of this film so entrancing & magical for people of all ages, especially women with the spunky & independent Anastasia, who Meg Ryan portrays well in. John Cusack was also good as the cocky & handsome con-man Dimitri, especially when  it came to the romantic comedy between him & Anya, who at first despise each other, to the point where there's already an attraction between them.

This would be my dream cast for the musical:
Anastasia: Sierra Boggess or Samantha Barks
Dimitri: Aaron Tveit or Hadley Fraser
Dowager Empress: Angela Lansbury
Vladimir: Earl Carpenter
Sophie: Wendy Ferguson
Rasputin: Tim Curry

Mamma Mia Film Review!

Cast: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Dominic Cooper

Star rating: ****
Based on the juke-box musical bombarded with classic songs by ABBA, set in a fictional Greek island, 20 year-old Sophie is engaged & soon to be married to fiancée Sky, but doesn't know who her father is, who she wants to walk down the aisle with. She soon discovers she has 3 potential fathers, Sam, Bill & Harry, after finding her mother's diary while she was pregnant with her. When she finally meets her potential fathers, after secretly inviting them to her wedding, Sophie & her mother, Donna's worlds are turned upside-down, since Donna's been a single mother for 20 years while owning a hotel with little money & being a former member of group Donna & the Dynamos with friends Tanya & Rosie, who arrive in Kalokairi for the wedding.

The film is just amazing, with classic ABBA songs which will make you & your family sing along, with songs including Dancing Queen, Lay All Your Love On Me (which is a personal favourite of mine), Waterloo & Money, Money, Money. The actors were also just as exquisite, with Meryl Streep definitely being a knock-our in The Winner Takes It All & Amanda Seyfried sounds so pretty during I Have A Dream. However, I personally think to myself why the hell Pierce Brosnan was cast because he cannot sing at all & his voice was just awful, especially during I Do I Do I Do. Julie Walters & Christine Baanski are hilarious as Rosie & Tanya, especially during their first scene on the boat to the island & singing Super Trouper at Sophie's hen do, as well as Rosie singing a hilarious rendition of Take A Chance On Me to Bill.

Overall, this musical film will make you laugh & smile throughout, as well as singing along to ABBA classics & is definitely one for all the family.