| Theatre and Gig Reviews THEATRE
REVIEW
Phantom of the Opera
By Tara McWeeney
Within the opening five minutes it immediately strikes you why the Phantom
of the Opera has been playing to audiences for over 20 years. Huge chandeliers
fly out over the audience bringing them into the action and creating an
intense kind of intimacy.
This gothic love story immediately draws the audience in, with a spooky
atmosphere throughout.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera has set the standard for West
End musicals.
With the strength of this musical’s infamous score and strong storyline
it would seem to be impossible to disappoint the audience.
This present cast are fantastic and continually delight the audience.
Christine is powerfully played by Sarah Brightman, with her voice awe-inspiring
and moving.
Similarly when she is on stage with Raoul, played by the understudy,
they leave us in no doubt of their devotion for each other.
But it is the phantom played by Michael Crawford who steals the show,
magnificently taking over the stage.
He brings in a complex performance of the phantom driven by love and
despair to haunt the opera house.
Like a good fairytale, this acts like a traditional ghost story, drawing
the audience in with its magic and woe yet teaching valuable lessons.
In a sympathetic portrayal the audience are taught to fear yet pity the
Phantom, and at the end we are left wondering if the man — if he is in fact
human — may have been respected for his talent and music if he hadn’t been
so disfigured.
The music, however, is the main pull in this magnificent, classic musical.
Making opera accessible without alienating the audience, brilliantly using
the power and vocal talent of songs to stun and entertain the audience.
In fact the music combined with the performance is so tightly and beautifully
woven that at times it is clear that these components alone would suffice
without either costumes or scenery.
The Phantom of the Opera is musical theatre at its best, one that would
be hard, if not impossible, to beat. Putting the original score and scenery
together with this unbeatable cast and the director’s total attention to
detail means this production is one not to miss.
For further information contact Her Majesty’s Theatre, London on 08708901106.
THEATRE PREVIEW
The Freedom of the City
By Grainne McLoughlin
The Finsborough Theatre’s revival of Brian Friel’s modern classic The
Freedom of the City is set to bring the events of Bloody Sunday into the
present.
Directed by Vicky Jones and produced by Sean Duffy, the production was
inspired by the events of that day in Derry in 1970.
Audiences will see the Civil Rights movement at its pinnacle.
As the unauthorised march from the Bogside explodes into violence, three
unarmed marchers fleeing the tanks and tear gas find themselves in the Mayor’s
Parlour in the Guildhall. Lily, a cleaning lady and mother to 11 children,
thinks it’s all a hoot. Skinner wants to wreck the place. Michael takes
the time to contemplate. As the police and army exaggerate their ‘occupation’
into a full-scale armed invasion, the three pay with their lives for being
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Written as a direct response to the events of Bloody Sunday, the play
documents the final hours of Lily, Skinner and Michael — and the subsequent
inquest into their deaths. With a bitter attack on the establishment, and
with Friel’s unique mordant humour, The Freedom of the City conjures an
imaginary moment in which three innocent civilians find themselves the victims
of a shameless killing and a horrifically unjust legal system.
Starring Graham Bowe, Claire Cogan and Tim Hardy, Freedom of the City
— which is being played in London for the first time in over 30 years —
is not only a play for entertainment, it’s an education.
Friel’s other plays include the hugely acclaimed Philadelphia Here I
Come, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Home Place.
The play runs from Tuesday November 29 to December 23.
For further information and tickets contact the box office on 0870 4000
838 or www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.
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