Phantom of the Opera - A Review

If you haven't watched Phantom of the Opera @ Esplanade yet, my advice is this: buy a medium-priced ticket (around $100-150) and watch it before the season ends! Unfortunately, the student-priced tickets were sold out since January. Luckily, we bought ours last November!

Reminiscent of the 2005 movie, this show is much better as the cast has a better vocal quality - you can practically feel the goosebumps when Christine Daae and the Phantom sing. The synchronising of the different singers, when they blend into each others' scenes seamlessly, when they sing together, is almost perfect, taking into account the large number of singers in certain scenes.

I guess you need a really tight and cohesive cast who know each others' roles and notes inside out, helmed by a conductor who faces the challenge of not making the musical sound too rigid and repetitive.

Considering that the musical is played almost every night (and twice on weekends), I was quite impressed to find that the cast was able to pull it off as if this is the final performance of the last run of the musical.

The acting is also less dramatic and more personal. In this version, the Phantom demonstrates more aptitude in his acting and allows the audience to feel his anger and pain. From my seat, I couldn't really see Christine's and Raoul's facial emotions to comment on them though.

But what made this play even more spectacular was the logistics behind it all: the props, clothing, special effects, and every little stage detail that mesmerised the audience and contributed to the ambience and experience. Scenes progressed into other scenes without any hiccups. The cast themselves had to change into new attires within seconds. The stage itself was utilised in every strategic way possible to channel the attention of the audience. A lot of work and effort was certainly put into this musical.

Not to say the least, it was a really memorable experience watching this musical and I must say it was worth every penny.

That's Lun Kai, Joe, Jeslin, and me in the photos