Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's phenomenal musical The Phantom of the Opera. Read more …
With a brilliant new design by Paul Brown, costumes by the much missed Maria Björnson, a new staging by Laurance Connor, director of the recent acclaimed 25th anniversary celebration at The Royal Albert Hall and with new choreography by Scott Ambler. Lighting design is by Paule Constable and sound design by Mick Potter. The production is overseen by Cameron Mackintosh and Matthew Bourne.
Far beneath the majesty and splendour of the Paris Opera House, hides the Phantom in a shadowy existence. Shamed by his physical appearance and feared by all, the love he holds for his beautiful protégée Christine Daaé is so strong that even her heart cannot resist.
This new production of Phantom may not be as scary or thrilling as the recent Vegas version but many problems and niggles have been ironed out and replaced with a heartbeat. So the emotional payoff is far greater.
This particular musical about a lost man finding his soul at last won’t be over anytime soon, as long as it is given a new creative lease of life like this and maintained to these high standards.
The show failed to bowl me over. That said, it’s easy to see the appeal that has kept it running for a quarter of a century.
The Phantom, played by John Owen Jones, is a more compulsive, brutal character than in previous incarnations. His love for Christine, depicted with grace and enormous vocal strength by Katie Hall, is rather domineering, bordering on abusive in tone rather than some of the softer interpretations that have preceded Jones’s version of the tortured soul. And the production is none the worse for it.
The new production as directed by Laurence Connor and designed by Paul Brown does not match the granduer of the Hal Prince original and possibly exposes more of the weaknesses of the piece. Though judging by the audience reception at the Playhouse, I am still in that minority.
If it all, in the end, means less than nothing – well, perhaps, in tough times, that kind of gorgeous escapism is exactly what audiences need.
Twenty six years on, The Phantom of the Opera has been given a magnificent, magical revival, a truly theatrical new production, richly atmospheric in mood, music and dramatic story telling.
The Phantom of the Opera unmasked
Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh from Wednesday September 19, 2012, until Saturday October 20, 2012. More info: www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk
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