Playbill.com: The 25th anniversary of the first performance of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera quietly came and went Sept. 27 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Since its unmasking in London in 1986, the romantic Victorian-set show about a deformed musical genius and his soprano obsession has been seen across the globe and will, in January 2012, enjoy its 24th anniversary at Broadway's Majestic Theatre.
Friday, September 30, 2011
The Phantom at 25: Director Harold Prince Reflects on Creating the World of "The Music of the Night"
Playbill.com: The 25th anniversary of the first performance of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera quietly came and went Sept. 27 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Since its unmasking in London in 1986, the romantic Victorian-set show about a deformed musical genius and his soprano obsession has been seen across the globe and will, in January 2012, enjoy its 24th anniversary at Broadway's Majestic Theatre.
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3 comments:
The Phantom of the Opera is truly a special show. I honestly believe that there will never be a show of its magnitude again. Something that struck me while reading this article was the comment Prince's wife made about how it became so successful, "One day he went into work with a lot of really talented people." This kind of perfect collaboration is so critical in the final outcome of a show and is absolutely a major step in the formula for success. BRAVO Phantom! Happy 25th!!!
I am of two minds when it comes to long running shows like Phantom, CATS, and Les Mis. First, it is great that these shows run so long. It is fantastic that they give the opportunity for many generations of theater-goers to share a similar experience. When people get tickets to these shows, they know what they are getting. They are the bedrock of the Broadway season. On the flip side, when running for so long, these shows take theater space from newer, possibly more relevant shows. They also potentially take theater-goers from these newer shows, in some cases preventing the industry from moving forward. I think that these shows are past their prime and are ready to be replaced.
If I can say this without sounding cheesy or weird, I am so proud of Phantom. The show is spectacular in every way, is infinitely appealing to the audience, an audience that keeps coming back (and paying a lot of money) to see the show again. I'm glad that this show exists, and that I got to see it once, and that I got to go backstage. I can't say this with any authority, but it seems like Phantom had better engineers and a creative team when it was designed than a lot of popular shows do now. The boat is a genius remote control, and cost something like 80,000 dollars to make. Of course, that could have been added later, after the original design, but I'm still incredibly impressed. The scene changes in particular are wonderful--they fit the show perfectly and are amazing, but also somewhat subtle, letting you focus on the show and story.
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