The Phantom of AWESOME
This blog post was first published on meglynchwriter.wordpress.com on February 24, 2017.
I went to the Fox Theater for the first time ever this week! It was honest-to-goodness one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been inside.
The architecture was astounding, and there were stars in the ceiling, arches everywhere, original fixtures in the bathroom, and there was an orchestral organ that shook the building as it played and then vanished into the floor! I lovelovelove the gigantic beauty of it all.
The Phantom of the Opera was wonderful. It’s been one of my favorite musicals since middle school, so it was really nice to see it live. Of course, the musical play is different from the movie I grew up watching, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall, the cast did a really good job. To name a few actors: Derrick Davis (the Phantom), Katie Travis (Christine Daae), Anne Kanengeiser (Madame Giry), Phumzile Sojola (Piangi), and Victor Wallace (Joseph Buquet), I believe these characters were well cast, and the actors did a wonderful job recreating the characters I know and love from the movie.
The sets were my favorite part, by far; they are absolutely phenomenal. The chandelier literally made my jaw drop for a good five minutes, as did much of the rest of the stage design. I don’t want to give away the wonders of it, but if you have no other reason to go see this musical, you need to go just because of the sets. Holy cow. If I ever write a stageplay, I will have Paul Brown build the stage design for it. No joke.
A personal pet peeve I found recurring throughout the night: The actors over-enunciated the “R” sound while singing. “…YouR face, ChRistine…” “…BewaRe the Phantom of the OpeRa…” This might be a personal tick, but I found it distracting and annoying. I feel it made the play over-Americanized in a bad way.
If you are considering going to see this musical, I highly recommend you should go. It is playing in a gorgeous venue, and the story is pretty beautiful as well.
+ 60,000 smile points