The sequel to Phantom of the Opera.
Starts brilliantly with ‘Til I hear you sing‘ sung by the extremely talented Ben Ellis (far too young & tall to play the phantom btw) who has the most amazing voice.
The story is set 10 years after the end of Phantom of the opera - the phantom is now an impresario on Coney Island. He lures Christine & Raoul (and their young son) to Coney Island.
Anna O’Byrne is fantastic as Christine and Simon Gleeson is a convincing Raoul. We saw Trent Heath as the couple’s son Gustave.
Possibly my favourite song of the show The beauty underneath, sung by the Phantom & Gustave, closes out Act 1.
The big number is Act 2 is the title song – sung by Christine, I’m still humming it today.
The choreography is pure Graeme Murphy (think Tivoli) very colourful and complex.
Sharon Millerchip as Meg Ghiry & Maria Mercedes as Madame Ghiry were both excellent acting but (both) seemed to be suffering from croaky voice when it came to singing.
Millerchip’s big number ‘bathing beauties‘ is pure vaudeville style entertainment.
So what about the show overall?
As a sequel to Phantom – maybe not.
As pure theatrical entertainment it’s an overwhelming spectacle.
I enjoyed it.
