International "Phantom of the Opera" Quiz

Answer: True

However, the Toronto production did in order to save money and keep the cost of tickets down. Some instruments whose parts were doubled were cut, others were put on a keyboard instead and yet more were cut completely. The result was a 'thin' sounding orchestra, much like is used on the tours where it isn't cost effective to run around an entire country (or world!) with an orchestra and many large instruments.

The Hamburg production, on the other hand, used much of the same orchestration that it started with. It was wonderful to go from having heard the smaller orchestras to hearing Hamburg during its closing days and being able to hear the full orchestra again.

Answer: Budapest

The Hungarian production was sanctioned by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and the Really Useful Group, but they were allowed to do their own sets and costumes. For the most part, the sets stayed true to the original (London) production, but many of the costumes - especially Christine's - were changed. For instance, Christine wore the pageboy costume (with a cloak over it) during "All I Ask of You" and never changed into a wedding dress during the final scene - she stayed in the "Point of No Return" costume.

Hungary also did a non-replica production of "Les Miserables."

Answer: Netherlands

Considered by many fans to be the best of the international Phantoms, Henk Poort can be heard on the Dutch cast recording. Unfortunately, it's a highlights CD (meaning only about half of the show was recorded as opposed to most of the show). Poort was also in "Les Miserables."

Answer: Essen

The city of Essen had formerly been home to a production of "Elisabeth" (starring the famous Pia Douwes). The Essen production of "Phantom" would be equally famous for having several men share the role. Ethan Freeman, Uwe Kröger, Thomas Borchert and Ian Jon Bourg would each perform a few months and then rotate the role amongst themselves.

Answer: Mexico City

The production also produced the first CD of the show in Spanish with Juan Navarro as the Phantom and Irasema Terrazas as Christine.

For those who said Madrid, it opened in December 1999 in Mexico City and six years later in Madrid.

Answer: Basel

Basel, being in Switzerland, was performed in English and German. When it was announced that there was going to be a production in Switzerland, fans were excited and thought that perhaps there was a chance to hear the show in French. No such luck - when not being performed in German, English was performed. Perhaps this was because Switzerland was so close to other countries and the production company wanted to make it accessible to as many people as possible (many Europeans know English as their second language).

Answer: True

It was actually an 'extension' of the Canadian tour that began around the time that the show premiered in Toronto. The Far East Tour starred Peter Karrie as the Phantom and Leigh Munro as Carlotta. Both actors would go on to play their respective roles in the Toronto production, to much acclaim.

Answer: False

Although the stage show was very successful throughout Europe (by 2005, it had premiered in at least three cities in neighboring Germany alone!), by that same time, the show had never set foot in the country in which Gaston Leroux wrote his book. In fact, it hadn't even been performed in French, the only 'French recording' of the show being the CD of the French dub of the 2004 movie.

Answer: Japan

Japan used a silver colored mask instead of the typical white. It was explained that the silver looked better against the Japanese actors' skin than the stark white color.

Answer: False

It hadn't been performed on Antarctica. London saw its premiere in Europe, Broadway brought the show to North America, the Far East Tour showed Asians that the "Phantom" was a wonderful show, Sydney, Australia housed a production (in addition, the continent also had a tour), Mexico City brought it (albeit a bit late) to South America and the Pretoria/Tshwane production introduced "Phantom" to Africa.