Phantom of the Opera

Johanna & I watched our second musical last night - Phantom of the Opera. We were a bit disappointed that lastminute.com only informed us last minute (pardon the pun) that they could not offer us the best seats as we have originally purchased. Instead they offered us the next best seats at the Royal Circle which are £5 cheaper each.

Johanna & I made it just on time to Her Majesty's Theatre as she was only allowed to leave work at 6.45pm. We were disappointed that our seats are at the extreme left of the Royal Circle, which restricted our view from one part of the stage.

Having watched the musical once in the same theatre nearly 5 years ago, another time on silver screen and listened to the soundtrack for gazillion times, I am all too familiar with the musical, especially the soundtrack. What impressed me most in my first theatre visit to Phantom was the scene where the Phantom brought Christine to his underground lair on a boat. It looked so real.

Tonight I was a bit disappointed with the vocals, especially of the Phantom and Raoul, especially in the first half. The singing was nowhere near Jean Valjean (John Owen-Jones) of Les Misérables. But the fantastic prop sort of made up for this. For me, Phantom's prop is its greatest strength relative to other big musicals - the Phantom's underground lair, the falling chandelier, the 'transparent' mirror, etc.

Nevertheless, it was still a great night out. Johanna intended to come back again to watch everything in the best seats.

Finally cleared two of my three favourite musicals. Too bad Miss Saigon is not in London at the moment. Perhaps Madam Butterfly could be a good substitute.