背包走天涯之纽约

Phantom of the Opera

It started with a auction. There were people dressed in clothes from the last century and they were bidding for an toy monkey which would dance and make music with its cymbals. The monkey's significance I would realise later in the show. An old man in a wheelchair won the bid, and next on the auction list was a enormous chandelier from the opera house. As soon as they unveiled the chandelier it swung out with full force from the stage to the audience in the orchestra seats. For a moment I thought it would almost hit the crowd, but it went up all the way to the ceiling of the theater. If Phantom wanted an start with an impact then it had certainly achieved its aim.

What a way to start a musical. The rest of it didn't let me down either. Most notable were the fantastic props and songs. There was such a large variety of props I could never get tired of marveling at them. It was almost like a magic show because you could see a scene and you wouldn't have the least idea how they did it. Of course I understand the chandelier was raised by cables, but how do you explain the underground waterway scene where there were hundreds of candles raising from below the stage? or the boat that seemed to sail without any water on the stage? or the manner the Phantom's eyes could spit fire like he was an X-men? or the fact that he could disappear in a flash and appear immediately in another part of the stage? And then there was the music by this genius called Andrew Lloyd Webber. There wasn't just one song that was nice. There were "Think of Me", "Music of the Night", "All I ask of You", "Phantom of the Opera", "Wish You were Here" and many, many more that I would like to name them here if I could remember their names.

I particularly like the way it ended, where the Phantom, despite unrequited love, gave his blessings to Christine and Raoul and overcame by grief, disappeared in his cavern and left behind his mask, and his toy monkey. Cool.

(I captured the Broadway advertisements in the pictures=), and there is haha, finally more photos of the interior of the house )

posted by wayne @ 6:25 PM