Hunterblu, I see exactly one person who mentioned hating the movie. Who are the "you guys" you are referring to?

Why does having a different opinion from someone else make you feel like a backwoods idiot? Do you feel every one has to have the same opinion you do?

My apology, I see two who hated it, but quite a few who liked it.

good lord neopatrick, it was a joke.... you are a sensitive little thing aren't you?

Why duz you call me yur gud Lord? Cain't you recugneyes a joke eithur?

I much preferred the stage production to the movie, but my sweetie liked the movie so that was good enough for me.

Ok, here is my review

I saw Phantom in Vegas a few days ago. We were in Section E (5th row from Stage) Center. Having seen many productions of Phantom over the years I must say that the 'Vegas one was at least equal to or better then the others.

Yes, it was shortened somewhat, but for the life of me I could not readily tell what was cut out (neither could my friends who were with me). Whatever was cut was not important to the overall show.

The cast was excellent, the music devine. The theater is gorgeous and the chandelier effects wonderful. We did have to turn our heads to see the chandelier do it's thing but that was no problem. We did notice that some of the "people" on the staircase in the Masquerade number were actually mannikins (where as real people were in other productions) but that did not take anything away from the show.

All in all we thought it was a great show and one I'd recommend. I do not think there are any truly bad seats in the theater either.

We also saw "Love" ... it did not appeal to us at all. Personally I am not a Cirque de Soliel fan but I do like Beatles music. This show was too "in your face", too much everything going on at once, just too much "overload" for my taste. I have heard from employees at the Mirage that people either hate it or love it, hardly much inbetween.

Forgot to say, regarding Love .. we had seats in 4th Row from Stage. I think the show would be better from the second section, higher up is better in this case.

Lori, I wonder did you notice that the tempo was a bit too fast or had they slowed it down?

From what I understand, there are 2 people playing the Christine role and 2 people playing the Phantom role. I'd really like to see Phantom again in Vegas on a night when the Christine and Phantom roles are played by the two we haven't seen, but they will not say ahead of time who is playing what role. They say they can't disclose that info for "security reasons". That seems odd.

Honestly we did not notice that the tempo was speeded up, if it was it was just not that noticable.

Yes, there is a dual cast for some of the leads (Phantom, Christine, Carlotta) but they (theater personnel)told us they never know who is doing which show ... find that hard to believe We saw Anthonty Crivello as Phantom, Elizabeth Loyacano as Christine and Geena Jeffries Mattox as Carlotta. We went to the 7 p.m. show so perhaps the "other" cast did the 10 p.m. show that night. My friends and I thought Crivello had a great voice and did a good job but was not as tall as many of the Phantoms we've seen in other productions (less imposing figure I guess you could say). I also would like to see the show with the other cast.

Geena Jeffries was Carlotta in the SF production - very good.

Lori,
So glad you loved Phantom. Isn't it technically amazing. I loved the cage for Raul and the sound effects! And Phantom in the chandelier was a wonderful trick. And I like that you didn't feel it rushed as we did. I always hate to burst theatrical bubbles, but,,,,,,, every tour has had mannequins in Masquerade. And they are pretty much, if not exactly the same in the Vegas rendition. Love that you never noticed! Theatre magic! We too saw Love, up high. I loved it and agree that up high would be better. mrlou fell asleep and he likes Cirque. Go figure, it's just one of those shows, where you either love the chaos of the details and the music or you don't. We really enjoyed the session talk from the original 4.

hunterblu, is there a reason you want to see one cast over the other - other than the fact I really really didn't like our Madame Girie? Everyone elso was wonderful. I could try to find out the schedule for you, if there is one, and there always is one, although nothing is set in stone, as in life.

sista-

I have already seen it with one cast, and would like to see it with the other.

This desire has nothing to do with what you liked or disliked. Perhaps you thought I hadn't seen the show yet?

If you can get a schedule of who is supposed to be playing which role at any given time I'm sure everyone would like to see that posted.

hunter
apologies to you. Although I had read thru this thread, when I returned I read your question and scrolled down and completely forgot that in the midst of your query, you saw the show.

Of course you'd like to see a new cast!!!

My friend that would know is out of town. I'm working 7 days and nights a week, but if I get the time to find the scedule, I certainly will. Forgive my lapse as short term memory loss!!!

Thank you very much to everyone who contributed to this thread. It has helped me make a decision on where to get seats. I have decided to get Golden Circle tickets in the front, hoping to get seats in the middle of the row. Does anyone know which seat is in the center for each row? From the seating diagram on the website, I am guessing it is seat 30. It is hard to tell since the seats are overlapped when they are shown on the seating chart.

I saw Phantom Vegas a few weeks ago having seen it 8 times in London (where i live). I wasn't sure what to expect about the Vegas production (having hated the movie) But I have to say I really enjoyed it. I liked not knowing what was going to happen like the first time I ever saw the show in London. Knowing nothing about the LV production, I got really annoyed when Masquerade began and the Chandelier hadn't dropped...I thought maybe they had cut it! but when it did it was a real suprise. I am going back this April with a friend and want to see it again. Last time I sat in the 3rd row of the golden Circle and felt this was perfect, however I think it would be fun to sit directly under the chandelier for maximum impact when it falls! Does anyone know which seats I would need to get for this?