The first thing I always notice in a show is the curtain the director chooses to put up while everyone takes their seats at the show. At Phantom of the Opera director Cameron Mackintosh chose to instead of using an actual curtain he put a spiderweb spread out across the staging for the first action scene. Right away this put an eerie tone to the way this show was going to go. In accordance to that original feeling the music, character choices, and the set design went right along with that feeling.

This was the first time I have ever seen any variation of the show, but, I have wanted to see the performance live since I was a little girl so my expectations were pretty high. The music of the show is what made me really want to see the show in the first place. The beautiful iconic organ sound was just like I had imagined it except better. My only complaint with the orchestra  (Directed by Jamie Johns) was that at some points they were so loud and intense I was not able to hear the actors singing their songs. I could tell that the actors were belting out beautiful notes but all I could hear was that orchestra. Nevertheless the music they played was outstanding, it really brought me into the scene and straight into the song.

The characters in the show bring out the dramatic nature embedded into the base of this production. Everything Derrick Davis (actor who plays the Phantom) does is dramatic to the way he talks, to the way he sings. When him and Christine (Eve lavares) are together they flow seamlessly with each other in their choreography. Their clear connection and history comes out strongly in their intimate dance in the song “Phantom of the Opera”. But then again, his obsessive behavior over Christine get so dramatic that it turns frightening. Christine Daae is shown to be a naive girl who just wants to learn to sing beautifully, which she does, no worry about that.

I was first drawn in by the and attention grabbing surround sound speakers that were put in the audience every 8 feet so that the Phantom is always there inside your mind…. The egg shaped set was a unique way to smoothly move the sets from scene to scene being able to just spin the entire half of this set piece around in a circle to showcase different scenes in the show. It does seem to compromise some of the scene work making them smaller and not as easily visible. Other then that the egg shape allows beautiful scene work including magic stairs, pop out red rooms, and it can even split up and create the Phantoms mysterious Lair. Along with that the set of balconies in the opera house are interesting because somehow people are able to sit up there.

This show was really everything I had hoped for, it met all my expectations. A few things caught my attention but they were pretty minor and did not affect the experience for me in a bad way at all. I would definitely recommend anyone come see the show it really is a spectacular production.