Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'm an opinionated student who needs money. I've been a...
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'm an opinionated student who needs money. I've been a bit annoyed about two things recently:
1) People taking my opinions way too seriously and leaving long-winded irate comments in response.
2) People...
Member since:11.11.2000
Reviews:110
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'The Phantom Of The Opera’ is a musical which everyone should find time to see. With a compelling plot, phenomenal musical score and powerful, engaging setting the whole performance is extremely enjoyable and entertaining from start to finish.
The story is told in flashback style, opening on the sale of various pieces of a Parisian Opera House in 1911. The scene culminates in a dramatic moment, which turns the clock back to 1881 and tells the story of an Opera house plagued by a phantom figure. He holds the owners to ransom and exerts a mysterious influence over Christine Daae, their junior soprano. The opera company first try to defy then capture the phantom as he murders cast members and interferes with productions.
It is an eerie and occasionally frightening story, but not without it’s lighter moments of entertainment. The banter between the two opera managers and the established cast members Carlotta and Ubaldo is usually laced with humour. There are a few nice touches of visual humour thrown in too, such as the two men sitting inside the fake elephant for ‘Hannibal’ (not Lecter), sipping beer.
Of course, this humour often serves to lull the audience into a false sense of security in time for the next startling shock.
It is the music and songs of Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe OBE that makes the whole performance gel so well. Dramatic moments are brought to a rousing climax with the powerful music; solemn scenes feature the mournful music-box chime of ‘Masquerade’. Among the most impressive songs include the famous ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Music of the Night’, which mark the dramatic high of the first act as Christine descends into the Phantom’s world. The full performance of ‘Masquerade’ at the New Year’s Party at the start of the second act is particularly memorable, and is analogous to the storyline.
There are, indeed, few songs not worthy of mention. Carlotta (the soprano usurped by Christine) has two particularly humorous songs; Prima Donna and ‘Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh’ which descends into one of many chilling confrontations with the Phantom. Finally, the two ‘Notes’ songs performed by a large number of the company develop the story in conversational form and although not as musically astounding are technically brilliant and quite humorous too.
The drama and action of the performance are heightened by the extremely effective use of setting and scenery. The chandelier, as those who have seen the performance will know, is a particularly good example of this. A huge variety of imaginative and ingenious setting devices are used. Early in act one Christine performs a role in ‘Hannibal’ facing the audience, which then transforms to a backstage view before she ventures through the curtains facing away from the stage supposedly turning to the audience again.
It is such slick, almost effortlessly smooth production as this which makes ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ so compelling. The extensive experience of director Harold Prince is telling in excellent production of this musical. The scene transformation into the Phantom’s dungeon is similarly well constructed, with candles appearing from the ground, huge iron bars descending from above and an eerie gondola carrying Christine and the Phantom emerging from the mist.
I have seen ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ on two occasions – once at the Playhouse in Edinburgh several years ago, and again at Her Majesty’s Theatre at London in February 2001. Both were staged and performed very similarly – basically the performance of it is so good that any major change to it would be unnecessary and probably to its detriment.
Of the more recent performance a number of actors stand out as being particularly good. Scott Davies was a phenomenal phantom, menacing threatening in the confrontational scenes, yet he performed the character’s despairing moments with great conviction and humanity. This perhaps goes without saying – he has previously played the role in the 1998-9 UK tour of the show and again earlier at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Deborah Dutcher has a similar pedigree of playing the role of Christine, having done so previously in both German and Flemish. She has an exceptionally good voice which shines especially strong in the scene where the Phantom commands her to sing – here her acting ability is similarly strong as she captures Christine’s plight trapped between her love for Raoul and the control the Phantom exercises over her.
Other less central characters are also worthy of mention. Michael Bauer and Alan Vicary carried the roles of Opera owners Monsieurs Firgin and Andre (respectively) extremely well. The pompous Carlotta, played by Shan Cothi, was similarly memorable and had a powerful stage presence.
The seat prices at Her Majesty’s Theatre are not cheap, but are more than worthy of the cost for such a fine production. £32.50 bought a supposed ‘restricted vision’ seat in the stalls but realistically the vision was near faultless. The entire stage could be seen easily, and the only vision problem was at one point when the Phantom descended from a point on the ceiling just out of view. I managed to secure a pair of tickets at a discounted price and used my Dooyoo cheque to treat my girlfriend and I to a thoroughly enjoyable evening out. Once inside the theatre itself additional costs are not too steep. Programmes were a reasonable £3 and two ice creams and a box of chocolates came to only £6.20. Interval drinks are a little on the steep side, however, usually over £4 a glass for an alcoholic drink.
Going to see a show like ‘Phantom of the Opera’ may not be too cheap but it is wholly worth saving up for the experience. It is a tremendous show, hugely enjoyable and very entertaining with excellent music and visual effects. Save up your money and treat yourself.
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Great review - Ive not seen this show before - i definitely will now
KarenUK 08.10.2004 11:05
Would love to go!
elspeth334 23.03.2001 13:43
Great opinion I wanted to see this a few years ago when we were in Toronto but my children were too young to appreciate it and I was out voted Cheers Elspeth
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Advantages: A night of theatrical magic - immerse yourself. Disadvantages: None I can think of - the experience is worth the face value of the top priced seats.
Mar 23rd, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
