Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera was published in 1910, and it is fitting that the first English version came, a year later, from the Mills and Boon stable. The story is the purest hokum; but it is period, costumed hokum, furnished with a baroque splendour that suspends disbelief by its heels. This is for the eye and ear, not for the searching mind.
Given the right insouciant attitude, one may happily follow the devilries of the masked man, with hideously distorted face, who lives in the labyrinths beneath the Paris Opera and scares the biological waste out of its producers and performers. When he sights young Christine and determines to make her a star, who can stop him? Plus, he has a hypnotic way with a diva, and may even supplant dashing Raoul in her affections.
One can't elaborate on the highlights of the Phantom's campaign for his protegee without giving away the special effects. Suffice it to say that they are numerous and colourful, marvels of theatre technology and worthy of the communal gasps they wring from the audience. Set designs are altogether sumptuous and instantly mobile, the ultimate in the upstairs-downstairs genre.
And, of course, there is the music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. with lyrics by Charles Hart and book/additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. These are generally an excellent fit for the action, the first requirement of a modern musical; they carry the story. As individual numbers, they include one great song - All I Ask of You - and a few easy-on-the-ear warblings including the title song, The Music of the Night and Prima Donna. A full orchestra plays them con brio.
Direction is by Hal Prince, and the excellent cast, with Scott Davies's Phantom, Zoe Curlett's Christine and Matthew Cammelle's Raoul, act, sing and dance impressively. There is a mind-set which disdains this kind of metropolitan show because it is too big, expensive and - yacky! - profitable. To each his own, but the diverse world of theatre can accommodate some transient folie de grandeur, and we do live in a capitalist society. In sum, excellent of its kind.
Runs until December 19th. To book phone 01-8363633
