KSena's Journal

So I went to Gothenburg for some quality time with my best friend this weekend. And to see Phantom of the Opera with Fred Johanson playing the title role of the Phantom.

I saw Fred Johanson in the movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar years and years ago, and I feel head over heels over his deep dark voice and his incredible presence in every scene he was in. My best friend, who is a serious musical buff, has since kept track of him both for me and since she likes him to. In a word, we’ve turned into a bit of fangirls over him.

Had I not been a fresh new mom, we would have gone to Stockholm to see him in Jesus Christ Superstar there, but alas… :-) Now we got our chance though, and we jumped at it! Plus it played during February and we both HATE February, so there’s that to. :-) We all need something to put a smile on our face, right?

Anyhow, to make sure we wouldn’t have to stress after we’d been to the Gothenburg Opera House were the musical played, we decided to share a room at a hotel. We both have busy lives with work and such, so we needed a lazy little weekend with our best friend. :-)

We left for Gothenburg moderately early, it just takes 1 hour to go to Gothenburg by bus or train, so we were there around… 10:30am.

Went to the hotel we were luckily our room was already available, so we dumped our sleepover bags and then we just strolled around town taking our time. We both needed a stress free day, and we took our time with everything. Went to our favorite shops and stores. I ‘happened to’ buy the three latest Elfquest graphic novels. Oops? And we had a late lunch/dinner in a lovely british themed pub before we went back to the hotel to dress up for the night.

( Travel and shopping and views of Gothenburg and it's stores with my best friend... )

The Gothenburg Opera House is quite impressive. A modern building mostly made by glass and steel, but it still works quite well and is oddly beautiful. Right by the harbor to. Easy to get to.

( Entrance of the Opera House... )

We were there in plenty time, so there was no stress getting rid of coats, do a panicked bathroom break and finding our seats. Great seats, by the way! Close but not too close to the stage. Could see everything and hear everything perfectly. Whenever I need tickets to a musical, I trust Ylletyg to get tickets, she seriously rocks at it. :-D

( Interiour decoration and well... me... )

And so… On to the musical itself. :-) Apart from the knee jerk reaction “OMG! IT WAS AMAZING! I HAD GOOSEBUMPS!” Well, I did have goosebumps for most of it, but…

Unlike Ylletyg I have not seen that many musicals (she’s a proper musical-nerd), but I HAVE read the original book by Gaston Leroux. And it’s a very goth, very harsh gritty story. From what I knew of the musical going in, it’s not… quite as harsh and gritty as the original story. The original story is really dark, really goth. I do recommend it if you have the patience for the old fashioned language used. It’s really good.

So to actually see and hear it, and with Fred Johanson to boot, it was a true experience.

( Me and best friend and the stage before the musical started... )

Let’s see… How to do this…

The good

Well, the music, obviously. *LOL* This production was made together with the Finnish National Opera Company, so there were a couple of opera singers in it. And the orchestra was quite massive as well. Not sure how big an orchestra is at a musical, but since this was played at the Gothenburg Opera House, they used the full orchestra usually used there. And you could tell. The music just consumed you. Not even joking. The combination of the skilled musicians and the singers, all the different singers, was spellbinding.

Another downright amazing thing, that impressed both me and Ylletyg, is something the Gothenburg Opera House is known for… The ease and speed in wish the stage was changed and the scenography. I mean, the set up of the stage was changed SO FAST and SO SEAMLESSLY!!! Apparently the Gothenburg Opera House is built to be able to do that, so there was many scenes with different looks and a lot of props that quickly and seamlessly was changed around. The most impressive scene to me was when The Phantom lures Christine with him to his lair the first time (during the song Phantom of the Opera, the most famous of the songs) and all these stairwells and grey brick walls moved around on the stage as if they were part of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies… WITH the actors standing on them! THAT was impressive!

Another really good thing about this musical, which both me and Ylletyg both commented on at the same time, was that it was quite harsh and gritty, goth and dark. Well, the story IS dark and goth in and off itself, but the movie isn’t that harsh and gritty. And according to Ylletyg, previous productions hasn’t been this harsh and gritty either… If that makes sense? It sure worked really really well though, and I got the feeling that the actors/singers enjoyed that to. The costumes were INCREDIBLE and while I wanted to steal most of the male costumes, Ylletyg wanted to steal all the female ones. *LOL* She said the costumes had a bit of steampunk feel to it, and I have to agree! They even redesigned The Phantom’s mask, and I have to say I really liked it! The whole scenography and costumes was really good and added to the harsh, gritty, goth, dark feel of the whole production. A great great job!

Characters / Actors

When it comes to characters and their singers/actors, I have to say a character I found dull and boring in the book and in the movie (yes, I have seen the movie to), is Raoul. Christine's love interest. He is the posterboy for the time the novel was written, but would not be popular today, if get what I mean. But the actor/singer that did him the night we watched, did something more with the character within the frames he was given. A boyish charming guy, that very clearly showed his love for Christine. Not just competing with The Phantom, you know? He somehow managed to show that he cared. More than the Raoul in the novel, to be honest. So he sure impressed me!

Raoul works together with the two new owners of the Opera, Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur André. And these two were freaking HILARIOUS! Perfect comic relief without going to far with it. Have some of the best songs, to be honest. And the two actors clearly had fun with these actors. It was very obvious. The Phantom is my favorite, but these comes close to it, for sure. I think they did great!

Carlotta and Pangini were two other characters that were definitely comic reliefs. Carlotta and Pangini are the two stars of the opera in the story. And Carlotta? Is a proper diva! *LOL* The actress/singer is a trained opera-singer. And you can tell. I don’t think she had a microphone. She didn’t need one. Holy hell, what a voice! Combining that with an over the top diva character, and it was a joy to see! Also, she had the most awesome clothes off ALL the characters! High heeled victorian boots in leopard print? GIVE ME! Pangini was a bit more flat of a character, but he was funny to. Especially with Carlotta who kept bulling him around, while he just came back for more. Both of them played up an italian accent, which was very fitting both for the setting and the story.

Madame Giry and Meg are two pretty cool characters in the story to, that I really really like. We’re getting close to my favorite now. ;-) Madame Giry pretty much takes another characters role in the novel. The character that KNOWS… Knows about where the Phantom/Erik comes from. And that was a pleasant surprise. You actually found out quite a bit! That he’d built a room of mirrors for a Shah… that he’d been born with a disfigurement… that he’d been with a freakshow lead by gypsies… That he’d built trapdoors and sneaky passages all over the Opera House… So Madame Giry is quite the important character! And the actress/singer who played her did SUCH a good job! Just the right amount of creepy and know-it-all without making it annoying.

So is Meg! She’s best friend with Christine, and is a constant suporter to Christine. She’s the one that tells Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur André that Chrstine can be a standin for Carlotta, and in so makes sure they can discover Chrstines amazing voice. She to knows the stories about the Phantom quite well and also gives us clues to him, just like her mother. Her actress doesn’t have that much to work with, but I think she did a great job, I really did.

Christine… Ah, Christine. The token love intressent. She’s just as interesting as in the novel, that is not that interesting at all. But I have to give it to the actress/singer. She really milked the role for all it was worth! Not only a gorgeous young woman with a miraculous voice that is manipulated by a creepy voice in the walls… But a woman with dreams and wants her own, that wants to be independent and be the new star but is to shy to take the chance in the beginning (thank you Meg!). And also how confused and desperate she is the longer the story unfolds. I think it was very well played! And that woman's voice… WOW! She to has apparently trained to be a opera singer, and you can tell! Some of them notes… Just wow...

The Phantom / Erik… Ah, what to say, really? Played by the INCREDIBLE Fred Johanson, the sole reason we even went to see this production of The Phantom. It, of course, helps that I really like the story about Erik, the man who has grown up harshly and then isolated because of his face that is disfigured and horrible to see. Not even his mother managed to look at him kindly. One of my favorite books is Phantom by Susan Kay about Erik’s life from birth to death. I can not recommend it enough if you enjoy this character. It’s absolutely incredible. How did Fred Johanson do in the role then? Incredible, as was expected. He is a very tall man, somewhere between 6,4 and 6,5 feet tall (said himself in an interview), if somewhat leaner than he used to be. Still, having an incredible knee length coat on (that I wanted to steal…), he makes for an imposing figure. He definitely did the character justice, and not only when he needed to be scary, but also in more emotional moments. And then Fred’s voice… Holy fuck, that deep dark voice… It gives me freaking goosebumps, not even joking. Fred also has an incredible presence on stage! I’ve seen him three times live now, and then there’s the Jesus Christ Superstar movie, and Fred has this ability to just OWN the stage as soon as he sets foot on it. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s incredible to see. As the Phantom at times you just hear his voice, you don’t see him, and he still just OWNS the stage! An amazing talent in all ways! He really should get more attention for his talent.

Just to prove Fred’s talent, here he sings The Music Of The Night:

( Fred Johanson singing The Music of The Night! )

The bad

So the bad… Was there anything bad? Well, yeah. And it’s mostly nitpicking, but still.

One thing that kind disappointed me was… The infamous chandelier. The one that at one point during the musical “falls down”. The Phantom is pissed off, and makes a chandelier in the auditorium fall down and kill some of the audience, and to show this during the musical, they have a chandelier go on a cable over the audience from the ceiling. The whole musical starts with it going up the ceiling. You’d expect it to be an impressive piece then, right? Since it plays such a vital role? Right? Well. The auditorium at the Gothenburg Opera House is MASSIVE. And the chandelier kinda… disappeared. It looked REALLY TINY somehow. And the design wasn’t that impressive either, so that was a bit of a let down. :-P It was still cool though when it “fell down”.

At one point in the middle the story slowed down a bit, and I didn’t really know what was going on. It was a good thing I knew the story well, just saying, or I could have been a bit lost. Also, in the beginning especially, there was just way to many people on stage and you had to really focus to keep track of where the main characters was.

Nitpicky? Yes, a little maybe. :-) I’m allowed to. ;-)



Right, so…

After the musical was over, me and Ylletyg went to get our coats. We’d decided to try to go to the stage door to see if we could see Fred Johanson there and hopefully get an autograph. So we stood there calmly waiting in line… And suddenly, right behind us one of the many doors in the Opera House opened. And Fred Johanson in full Phantom makeup literary leaned his head out the door raising an eyebrow.

I nearly peed myself. One of those things you just can’t believe is happening.

Fred seemed to know some people, one in a wheelchair, and talked happily to them. No one bothered him, or took photos. Everyone was REALLY respectful and kept their distance, so he just stood there, talking happily with a couple of people. Opening and closing the door now and then since the alarm kept going off, and making a funny joke about it every time. Me and Ylletyg had a hard time containing our excitement, I won’t lie. We debated back and forth in hushed voices if we really would dare to go over to him or not and what we’d say etc…

Then a young women came over to me giving me a hug. It took me a second, but then I saw she was one of the many teens that had graduated from ‘my school’ two years ago. She was studying music now and was just as excited as we were about the musical experience, and very happy to see me (yay!). She’d spent hours in the library with me, so she knew what a nerd and fangirl I am. When I told her I didn’t know if I should go over to Fred or not or if I dared to ask for a photo, she sternly told me I HAD to when she understood what a fan I was. The student becomes the teacher? X-D

Said and done, when there were fewer people talking to him we walked over to him, hearts beating, and told him what an incredible singer he is. I think I even told him I got goosebumps from his voice. X-D

And we also made sure to say we were amazed by the presence he has on stage, and that we’d seen him in three different musicals live now, and that at least I kept rewatching the Jesus Christ Superstar he is in. He seemed really flattered that we’d followed his career and read up on him more than just about this role and was very happy to hear we’d enjoyed his performance that much. I remember he said he’d never reflected on about having a presence or stage or not, but we assured him he seriously has.

We respectfully asked him if we could take a photo, and he said sure! Fred then asked if we wanted a joint selfie with him. At that point my poor friend who is just 4.9 feet tall (short?) piped up “But I’m so short…” Well, I’m 5.9, almost 6 feet, and Fred is between 6.4 and 6.5 feet, so I totally understand her! X-D We ended up taking a photo each with him. When it was Ylletygs turn, he even bent his knees so he’d be level with her. IT WAS SO CUTE!!!! We again thanked him so very much for the incredible evening. He just smiled and bid his farewell before disappearing behind that door again.

( Picture evidence! I DID GET A SELFIE WITH THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! I GOT TO MEET FRED JOHANSON!!! )

As we were leaving after that, we were downright floating! X-D We could not stop grinning and felt as if we were drunk, even if we hadn’t had any alcohol that day! (Well, just a little with lunch/dinner...)

Ylletyg commented that things like this only happens when it’s us two to doing stuff together, and I think she’s right! The magic of being two long time best friends? *LOL* It might be what triggers these incredible things!

So before we went back to the hotel, we felt like we needed a sturdy drink! So we found a pub that wasn’t to crowded, had a drink and a snack, discussing our evening and our incredible meeting with Fred. Then we went back to the hotel.

Once in a bed each though, we couldn’t sleep! X-D Se we ended up laying in the darkness giggling and talking for quite the long time, just like little girls, before we feel asleep!

You’d never guess we’re both 40 years old… X-D

The next day Ylletyg had to get up early since she was going on a course in Gothenburg to learn how to make hats, so I joined her for the LOVELY hotel breakfast and then she left and I just lazed around a bit in the hotel room before leaving to. A bit of shopping later and I went home.

So thus endeth my AMAZING time in Gothenburg with my best friend!

This entry is cross posted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

So, Peting had his birthday party. It was actually a lot of fun!

Mom wasn't here, but she'll come over tomorrow. I can't wait. My little brother was here and I gave him a great big hug, because I've missed him. I've missed both my brother and mother lately, because life and especially work has been just a little bit crazy. And still is, to be fair, even if it does feel like I'm more in control now then I was before.

Anyway back to the birthday party!

Peting's relatives and mom came over, obviously, which was a lot of fun! I love my MIL, I really do. I do know she reads here at times though, and I found out later that she was worried I was mad at her about all the carb-talk, but I'm not MAD. I was IRRITATED about it, but you know. Big difference. And that comes and goes to. There was not much carb-talk today though, maybe a mention. And I did give her a grand big hug telling her I do really love and she is a great MIL. WHICH IS TRUE! And not just something I say. I've written that more than once during all the years I've written here. It's funny really how much like my mom she is, even though my mom is loud and boisterous and my MIL is more subdued. They're still very much alike in a very good way.

There was a lot of gifts for my dear Peting. He got a Yoda bobble head that Alexandra had picked out. Well, to be fair, she'd said that 'dad needs a Star Wars doll'. Said and done, we went to find one. We did, in a game-store. But she wanted to buy the big Yoda softie, which was... a bit big and also a bit more expensive... *LOL* So we went with he smaller bobble head one. :-) He got a gift card to buy something there to, and a thermometer that tells you the temperature both inside and outside at the same time. So he was very happy. Especially when he got a even bigger gift card from his aunt, so he'll be buying A LOT of games in the future, I'm sure. *LOL*

What with how stressed I'd been lately, I didn't bake that much. I made a classic swedish birthday cake with a marzipan cover and swedish farm cookies (on Peting's request), and my dear best friend made salmiak macrons as a surprise! Oh, and I'd bought chocolate chip cookies from a teen at the school I work, since his class collected money to go on a trip together. :-) So there was plenty to eat for FIKA!

Before FIKA we had lasagna that Peting had made. He's REALLY good at that, and it tasted DIVINE!

To say everyone was stuffed after that would be an understatement. *LOL* So the little birthday party was a HUGE success!

My best friend lingered though, and we had a loooong talk before she left. It felt really good. We've both felt a bit exhausted and down lately, so just to sit and talk for hours was JUST what we both needed, I think. We've known each other for so long now 25 or 26 years, I think. So we know each other inside and out by now. And we know that sometimes we have to push a little to get each other to talk. This time I needed a little pushing. And she knows just how to. She didn't leave until a bit after 8pm, way after Alexandras bedtime. But she got to stay up a little longer today since it was a special day and all.

Thank anything holy for my best friend. Seriously. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's so good at getting my head straight when I mess myself up. She claims I do the same to her, even though I don't know how. Maybe I don't have to? Safe to say we help each other out when we need to. :-)

Now it's defiantly bedtime, and I'll get to hang out with mom tomorrow. Awesomeness!

This entry is cross posted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.