The Phantom of the Opera Review

The Phantom of the Opera, written by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and performed on West End at Her Majesty’s Theatre, follows the story of a bitter Phantom living in the sewers of a Parisian Opera House, where he begins tutoring the naïve Christine Daaé, who he falls in love with and demands she is given lead roles whilst he terrorizes the rest of the Opera House.

After watching the 25th Anniversary film of The Phantom of the Opera, performed by Sierra Boggess as Christine, Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom and Hadley Fraser as Raoul, I was astounded by how incredible it was to see it all live. Of course, due to the 25th Anniversary being performed at the Royal Albert Hall, many things were different to the performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre. And believe me when I tell you that I was pleasantly surprised by the changes I saw live compared to the 25th Anniversary performance. Furthermore, my friends and I waited at the stage door to meet the cast and they were all the loveliest of people: Josh Piterman as the Phantom, understudy Corinne Cowling as Christine and Danny Whitehead as Raoul. Hats off to you for not only performing a show that brought me to tears five times, but for also being such kind, down-to-earth people; it really makes a difference!

We’ll start with staging. Everything left me in awe, from the bridge to the Phantom’s lair, to the chandelier, everything was perfectly how I imagined it… in fact it was milestones better! Despite being on the back row, I had a perfect view - probably a better view than some audience members on floor-seating as I could see the Phantom when he was stood on the central gold statue during ‘All I Ask of You’, for example. I was truly astounded by the set: three tiers of boxes and gold statuary surround the stage, the auction set with each item being covered by a grubby, old cloth, Christine’s dressing room was a small room they brought on stage, fully decorated and of course equipped with the mirror, the backstage set was shown through a curtain closing upstage and the cast all coming on in front of it excitedly as they finished their performance, and of course the Phantom’s lair, filled with candles and smoke as the boat makes its way through the gate behind the elegant organ and covered-up case, which later reveals a mannequin dressed in Christine’s wedding dress in ‘The Music of the Night’, along with so much more beautiful set for each unique scene.

The characterisation performed by Josh Piterman, Corinne Cowling and Danny Whitehead was astounding; I almost forgot I wasn’t watching the 25th Anniversary cast! Josh’s take on the Phantom was everything I could have asked for and more - not only were his vocals angelic, but the way he held himself and portrayed the character just screamed Phantom. Sometimes when you hear that an understudy is performing, you think they’re not going to be as good but I had no idea Corinne was the understudy until we met her; she played Christine beautifully and honestly, hats off to her for taking on the role. And Danny as Raoul; my friends and I have a few jokes about Raoul, how he “parkoured his way through Act 2” (because he jumped off the bridge and rolled under the gate) and “is a mood because he looks so fed up all of the time”, but all jokes aside, Danny was an incredible Raoul and his vocals were amazing. But a show isn’t all about the main cast; Carlotta, Piangi, André, Firmin, Meg and Madame Giry along with the chorus all portrayed a fabulous performance that I would definitely pay more to see again! The dancers were so elegant and light on their feet, as if they were made of feather, that I could not take my eyes off them.

The costumes were all stunning, especially in ‘Masquerade’; each character individually dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos with masks covered in intricate details. Christine’s costumes were magnificent and I loved the costume change in ‘Think of Me’, how easily they seemed to do it. Christine’s sparkling pink and purple ‘Masquerade’ costume was absolutely stunning. It’s like the fairy dress every little girl dreams of wearing on Halloween! I cannot describe how incredible it was to see such a beautiful mix of colours when the whole cast danced on that stage whilst they sang ‘Masquerade’, each and every one of them standing out. But who would the Phantom be without his iconic deformity makeup? Even though I was seated right at the back, the makeup was still visible and the first time his mask came off, I began to cry. You find yourself becoming so attached to the characters and despite the Phantom terrorizing everyone, he becomes your favourite and you can’t help but sympathise for him especially when we see his face for the first time.

I have no words to express my love for The Phantom of the Opera and how much I enjoyed it. It’s one of those things where you are so mesmerised by everything that you forget most of it because you’re so captured in the moment. I am definitely going to see it again sometime soon and I recommend that anybody who is a lover of theatre does the same.