Phantom of the Opera II

I thought I'd review our Phantom outing properly seeing as we don't get to go to musicals very often and we only get visitors from halfway across the world every so often, the last one being Cassie, who we also took to a musical.

We were ushered into our seats after five or six ticket checks (the theatre has over employment issues) and after the nauseating sense of vertigo passed, there I was squinting down at the stage hoping to high hell that the scenery wasn't going to stay like that because there was an incredibly huge grubby curtain obscuring everything but 2 square meters of stage. Thankfully I, in all my musical-going naivete, was very relieved to find out that the curtain was merely a prop in the first scene, and soon disappeared in a flash of lights at the chandelier was hauled up to the ceiling (i.e. level with us), to be replaced by several obstinate heads and the backsides of several more late arrivals.

After the first half of spectacular stage effects and so-so singing, we jumped out of our seats at intermission and lurked at the back until the ushers got lost in the confusion of toilet-desperate people before making a run for the empty seats three rows from the front of the tier. About six rows closer, slightly fewer heads, and from the opposite side of the stage, the supporting actor, Raoul suddenly went from looking young and gorgeous to tubby and old. The singing continued in the same vein but the effects just got better as the Phantom got hoisted up and down in a peculiar cherubic swing that descended from the ceiling. For someone who had the potential to generate Batman-like mystery and magnetism, it was a strange choice of vehicle.

The best scene in the whole show was the masquerade. The worst was probably the pivotal moment in which the Phantom appears behind the mirror in Christine's dressing room. From where we were sitting, he was just a hand. What an anticlimax.

Then when he ripped off his mask, I just didn't get it. How come the hair on his entire head goes all tufty and patchy? He just had a full head of well-greased hair that definitely wasn't waving around with his half mask - where did it go? And it's also really cool that he gets to play with a funky cane that spits fire, but he should just stop faffing about and zap Raoul's ageing ass.

I fully recommend it though. It's a must see, if just for the effects.