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“The Phantom of the Opera ”

written by LucyPorter on 12/11/2010

The Phantom of the Opera



What did you do?

On 10th November I watched the Phantom of the Opera in Her Majesty's Theatre in London. This was the evening performance and I sat in the Royal Circle part of the audience, along with my sister and parents. We travelled by train and then the underground and we then walked to find the theatre which was very grand and ornate. The show consisted of two acts with an interval in between and it was approximately two and a half hours in total and this time was certainly exciting!



Background Information

Phantom of the Opera has been in the West end for now 24years and therefore is the longest ever running show by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was originally a book written by the French author Gaston Leroux, and since the musical production a film version has been made. The show is structured as a musical, however many of the songs reflect the operatic style and the music is played by the ensemble made up of many instruments and the set includes many props such as a boat for when the Phantom takes Christine to his lair as well as the huge chandelier which crashes to the stage from the ceiling in one place and is key in creating tension. As well as this, there is much lighting and effects. There have been many different cast members during the lifetime of the show, however I saw John Owen- Jones playing the Phantom and Sofia Escobar playing Christine.



The story of it surrounds an opera singer, Christine Daa , who has been brought up in the Paris opera house and when her father dies he tells her that he will send an 'angel of music' to look after her. Later, she starts to hear a voice singing to her and guiding her and so she thinks that this is her 'angel' however, it is in fact a disfigured (found out later) man who wears a mask to cover this and he is a musical genius. He wants Christine to sing his songs as soon as he hears her voice and he falls in love with her, although he threatens the people of the opera house in order to make Christine prosper in the Opera House. She is fascinated by him and is drawn to him, however she falls in love with Raoul instead and they become engaged. This makes the phantom very jealous and angry and so he makes threats which later turns into he kidnapping Christine and threatening to kill Raoul and so in order to save him Christine agrees to marrying the Phantom. Both Christine and Raoul go free together however, as the Phantom then realises what he has done and the show ends with the Phantom vanishing forever.



What was good?

I thought that this story was excellent as not only did the multiple dramatic and tense parts mean that the story was continually gripping, but also the fact that the genre of it was a tragic love story meant that it was interesting, thought provoking band it made you feel connected with the action as you sympathised with the characters, namely the Phantom.



Although, I thought that one of the best things about the show was the music. This is because it was extremely powerful and the fact that it was so complicated, made up of numerous instruments and parts, yet flawless made all of the music influence the atmosphere and it showed that it must have been rehearsed very well. The songs were each in their own way very effective as they told the story in an interesting way and I also liked how the same ones kept being repeated throughout the show as it meant that the action linked together well.



The show started with Raoul as an old man in the Paris Opera house which is in a state of disrepair, with an auction taking place selling the contents of it. It then flashed back to seventy years before when the Paris Opera House as at its height and I thought that this structure was very effective as it got me wanting to know what had happened even before the main action had started and it the contrast between this somber, dark beginning and the bright, loud scene afterwards meant that you had already been introduced into the action.



The set also made the show very good as it went with the action very well and flowed scenes together nicely, such as Christine's dressing room had a mirror in it and this opened to reveal the phantom and so Christine went inside it and the next scene was them together going to the Phantom's lair.



As well as this, the lighting and effects made ere good as they gave the show the right atmosphere for the part of the story it was at. This happened when the chandelier crashed to the stage- the rest of the stage was dark and so very tense, which also made the dim light of the chandelier appear more eerie.

The show was a musical so obviously had singing and the quality of this made the sure brilliant. All of the principle roles had fantastic singers who had a very wide range that they could use their voice in and the different pitches of voices made the harmonies excellent and very powerful such as when Christine, Raoul and the Phantom all sung at the same time the overall sound was very compelling.



What was not so good?

The show was brilliant and so the only thing that was not as good was that the story became quite confusing in many parts and as it was being told in song this meant that you had to listen to the lyrics very well and sometimes it was hard to pick out the story, especially as the lyrics could be quite fast. Therefore, they could have made it easier to follow.



Would I recommend it?

I would definitely recommend 'The Phantom of the Opera' to people though, because all aspects of it are not simply average but have been very well thought out and are very effective. Also, it is a very gripping show and even though the story is slightly somber, the music and singing make it uplifting and these have amazing musical range and are very powerfully composed. Also, it is very atmospheric and has something for everyone, making it a show that you would want to see time and time again!