Phantom celebrates its 25th year with an update of the Andrew Lloyd Webber staple.
What could they do differently? And does new ever mean better?
There are two major improvements. The input of Matthew Bourne to Scott Ambler's choreography adds another artistic dimension; there are some beautiful Degas-esque tableaux with the ballet chorus. The highly sexed tango of The Point of No Return is another vampish development, one to keep the Twilight generation tense with anticipation.
The other superb factor is the staging: by focusing more on the behind-the-scenes action and utilising a spectacular amorphous tower on a turntable, the descent by Christine Daae and the Phantom into the brooding bowels of the opera house is another seminal moment of theatre design. Almost a homage to original designer Maria Bjornson, the attention to meticulous, macabre detail is perfect.
Vocally, the Phantom is initially played soothingly by an impressive John Owen-Jones, but his mad, bad and dangerous facets come to the fore in the second act. Christine, the object of his lust and violent delights, is superbly captured by Katie Hall and her rendition of lesser-known show tune Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (delivered in the aptly eerie graveyard setting) is shiveringly good.
Other mentions must go to Elizabeth Marsh as Madame Giry, and to Andy Hockley and Simon Green for their calculating impresarios, delivered for an audience that included Sir Cameron Mackintosh himself.
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