Phantom of the Opera

This, the longest running show in the history of Her Majesty's Theatre, London - Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom Of The Opera" continues to wow audiences around the globe and is now casting its magical spell in the amateur world of musical theatre (youth productions only - WHY!?).

Youths never cease to amaze me - these performers inject a freshness and vitality into their productions, we are very fortunate and I am immensely proud to have this thriving youth company in our midst.

Chris Wagstaff took the title role of ‘Phantom’  presenting a very mature performance aided by his powerful and beautifully characterised voice, seductive nuances and unnerving actions to seduce the innocent Christine which all made his role wonderfully melodramatic and compelling.
The angel of music, Christine Daae, was taken by Sophie Rush who not only looked a picture, she presented an exquisite rendition of this iconic and notoriously demanding role. Sophie handled the challenging numbers with impressive skill and, with Chris as the phantom, both delivered performances beyond their years, the pair was an unsurpassable duo who rightfully owned the show.

Rebecca Gill excellently conveyed the operatic and temperamental Diva, Carlotta. There was no nonsense from Madam Giry played by Erin Jagger who looked perfectly stern and put in an inspiring act. Jack Forrest and Chris Daubney were an amusing and highly energised double act as the troubled, learning-on-the-job new opera house owners Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Andre.

The entire set and props were constructed by the in-house team led by Santi Paradeda, nothing was left out from the opening chandelier, the magic mirror and the fully functioning monkey music box.

The haunting title number was recreated as a humble salute to the original production complete with the ‘gondolier boat’ seamlessly floating along a river of dry ice. Santi and his team were indeed a superb contribution to this production.

The ensemble enhanced the production with well-focused and tuneful voices, managing faultlessly some very tricky passages. The choreography was delivered with drilled procession too. Much of the atmosphere was created by the superb musicians lead by Musical Director Steven Sandiford who tackled this mammoth score.  Director, Timothy Platt is to be congratulated for a wonderful production. This, surely, will be a tough act to top.

It would be wrong of me to ignore the technical difficulties the production faced on the night I attended, however, what impressed me the most was how professionally the hiccups were handled by the cast. These things happen, I'm sure I'm not the only one to have witnessed such glitches in professional productions - so it’s inevitable to happen at some point or another – it’s how they are dealt with that counts and the energy amongst the performances were kept consistent, no one let the complications overcome them which, for such inexperienced performers, is highly commendable.

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