Really Useful Theater Company
New York, City
1988 - present
Director: Harold Prince
Staging and Choreography: Gillian Lynne
Scenic & Design by Maria Bjornson
Lighting Design by Andrew Bridge
Sound Design by Martin Levan
"The Catacombs of Paris (the “municipal Ossuary”) have been created at the end of the 18th century. The cemetery of Innocent (close to Saint-Eustace, in the district of the "Halles") had been used during nearly ten centuries and had become the origin of infection for all the inhabitants of the district. After multiple complaints, the Council of State, by decision of November 9, 1785, pronounced the removal and the evacuation of the cemetery of the Innocent ones.
Old Quarries were selected to deposit Parisian bones; Paris indeed had just created the General Inspection of the Quarries charged of the consolidation of the public highways undermined by the Quarries. The Quarries “of Tombe-Issoire” were the object of work including masonry and consolidations of galleries, and by the digging of a flanked staircase.
The removal of the bones began after the blessing of the place on April 7, 1786 and was continued until 1788, always at night and according to a ceremonial made up of a procession of priests who sang the burial service along the way borrowed by the tipcarts charged with bones and covered with a black veil. Thereafter, this place was used, until 1814, to collect the bones of all the cemeteries of Paris."
http://www.catacombes-de-paris.fr/english.htm"Père Lachaise Cemetery French: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise; officially, cimetière de l'Est, "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France at (48 ha, 118.6 acres), though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.
Père Lachaise is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Located in the 20th arrondissement, it is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the graves of those who have enhanced French life over the past 200 years."Non-traditional casting would be really rather difficult for Phantom of the Opera. The casting is very specific and if not done correctly could actually cause any sort of unwanted political or racial statements. There are very few parts that you can be lenient with casting and not have many if any problems.
As far as casting is concerned, much of it includes having to move from place to place with little. It is unfortunate to say but it would not be best for very many people to be in the musical with any sort of disability. There are several ballet dancers and people would be moving around constantly onstage.
The parts of Raoul and the Phantom would have to be carefully cast. Both have to be male in gender. However when casting them, you have to watch how this is done. An example would be if you were to cast Raoul as white and the Phantom as non-white, it would be questioned as to if Christine chose Raoul because of color preference. Also if the casting was switched to where the Phantom was white and Raoul was non-white that would be a statement about interracial relationships.
In the same way, the way that Christine is cast must also be kept in mind. It is stated in the play that Christine is supposed to be the daughter of a Swedish violinist. Keeping this in mind, while she could possibly be non-white it would be best to consider performing research for this era for the country. In doing so, I have found that in the time of the late 1860's to early 1880's Sweden was mostly white in color.
The same must be said for the parts of Madame and Meg Giry – the aspects of age, ethnicity and race would have to be watched. Madame Giry is Meg's mother. Therefore, the appearance of Madame Giry must be older than that of Meg's. Also, if one is cast as someone who is non-white than the other would need to be cast the same. It would not really make sense if Madame Giry is non-white while her own daughter is.
In the instance of the parts of the pageboys, these two can be cast as either gender and any race. These two out of the entire cast are the most ambiguous as far as the gender role goes. In the original casting they were played by two women, however they can be cast as either men or women. However you do still have to somewhat watch with these two because you don't want to send the wrong message. If you were to cast both pageboys as black people – whether men or women – then it would seem as though you were typecasting them.
The parts of Piangi and Carlotta can also be fairly freely cast with the exception of gender. Carlotta must be female while Piangi must be male. This cannot be changed. This is actually fairly obvious when in the first act Piangi is portraying the character of Hannibal. Also, both characters of Andre and Firmin must be male – as stated by their titles of monsieur when speaking.