Phantom of the Opera Sydney

2022 - 3 - 25

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Phantom of the Opera review – an inventive and supersized Sydney ... (The Guardian)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's drama of gloomy interiors shouldn't work so well outdoors – but with standout performances and innovative design, this show is larger ...

Lloyd Webber was present on this opening night, on stage for the curtain call and delivered a short DJ set at the after party. Phantom is a simple story, and often in the hands of actors in pairs or threes. There’s no lake of dry ice here but a ring of fire looks fantastic, even if it momentarily places the Phantom into Johnny Cash territory. Robson brings bounding energy and a booming voice to the title role. Her set (a tower of baroque theatre boxes topped with a sharp beak of broken proscenium; a staircase sweeping across the backstage and down) makes this outsized experience feel surprisingly intimate. It’s a drama of interiors – physical and psychological – and gloomy ones at that.

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Image courtesy of "Canberra CityNews"

Harbour production takes the 'Phantom' to a new level | Canberra ... (Canberra CityNews)

“The Phantom of the Opera,” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, directed by Simon Phillips for Opera Australia's Handa Opera on the ...

And where did the Phantom go when he vanished? Hopson’s voice has extraordinary range, reaching far down then soaring to the sky to great audience applause and Joshua Robson as the tormented Phantom is a fitting vocal match for her. Would Christine and Raoul live happily ever after? Live outdoor performance is notoriously unforgiving and at times one could quite literally hear the machinery creak. Dramaturgically weak, for much of “The Phantom” is arrant nonsense, so there were times when one struggled to follow what was going — it is at heart a story of passion and obsession, with only a handful of characters having real significance. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

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Image courtesy of "Limelight Magazine"

The Phantom of the Opera (Opera Australia's Handa Opera on ... (Limelight Magazine)

This spectacular new production is inventively staged, with some stellar performances that will take your breath away.

The audience gasped on opening night as flames suddenly flared across the footlights and the gondola in which the Phantom takes Christine across the subterranean lake appeared and moved along a moat at the front of the stage. Naomi Johns is very funny as the prima donna Carlotta, singing superbly and nailing her diva-like temperament in delicious fashion. The mysterious power the Phantom seems to have over Christine, reaching out to her but not actually touching her as he draws her into a hypnotic trance, is beautifully choreographed by Phillips and Sault, and is tantalisingly played. But overall, the set is striking and highly effective, while the scene changes are relatively seamless thanks to smart design decisions, aided by the impressive work of choreographer and assistant director Simone Sault, who has a much larger ensemble to work with than in the theatre production. A grand, curving staircase sweeps down one side of the stage, while Baroque theatre boxes and a section of an ornate proscenium arch with red drapes depict the Paris Opera House on the other side. Despite the spectacular setting on Sydney’s glinting Harbour, with the Sydney Opera House gleaming in the background and ferries and tugboats chugging past, Phillips and Tylesova, together with lighting designer Nick Schlieper, successfully evoke the dark, gothic world in which the musical takes place.

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