The Phantom Of The Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is playing at the Majestic Theatre located at 247 West 44th Street. It runs two hours thirty minutes with one intermission. The musical is open ended run.

The musical was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart, with additions from Richard Stilgoe. It is based on the French novel “Le Fantome de l’Operaby Gaston Leroux".

The musical opened in London’s West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award. The show won seven Tony Awards in 1988 for Best Musical, Best Actor (Michael Crawford), Best Feature Actress (Judy Kaye), Best Director (Harold Price), Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design (Maria Bjornson) and Best Lighting (Andrew Bridge).It was also nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Chorography.

The Broadway premiere was at the Majestic Theatre on January 9. 1988. In 2013 it was 3,000 performances the longest running show on Broadway.

Phantom of the Opera just celebrated its 27th anniversary.

It has had over thirty productions done all over the world.

Norm Lewis is the first African American to do the role on Broadway. He was nominated for a Tony Award for “Dessa Rose” in 2005.

The show opens with an auction on the stage of the Paris Opera House, it is 1911. Artifacts are being sold off one by one, the last being the chandelier.

Act one is the opera house in 1881. The cast is rehearsing the show Hannibal. Christine Daae (Julia Udine) makes her debut. She is a success catching the Phantoms (Norm Lewis) attention.

There are rumors of the Phantom. People connected to the opera get notes from him.

After Christine performance her childhood friend Raoul Vicomte de Cagny (Jeremy Hays) visits her in her dressing room. When he leaves she hears the Phantom and tells him to reveal himself. He does and takes her underground where he lives. She see a mannequin resembling herself in a wedding dress, she faints. When she come to she pulls off his mask and is repulsed by his disfigured face. He is in love with her and wants to marry her, but she is afraid of him. The Phantom brings her back to the opera where she meets Raoul on the roof. She tells him what happened. Raoul promises to love and protect her. The Phantom hears this and vows revenge on Raoul.

Second act is six months later. The Phantom has written a musical for Christine and demands they put it on or there will be consequences. They decide to do it because the Phantom will show up for sure and they will catch him. He captures Christine and Raoul .

What happens, well you will have see the show. There are too many twist and turns to the story to tell you all of them.

If you have seen the musical before, it is still worth seeing again.

Norm Lewis has the most beautiful voice. It is rich and deep. Given the fact that his face is partically covered up, he has to convey his emotions thru his voice and body. He does a great job.

This is Norm Lewis last week in the show.(2/8/2015).

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on recent photos for this and other shows.