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Part 3

I saw Phantom of the Opera today! Which explains all the POTO posts. :)

How long has it been since POTO premiered at Kallang Theatre? Ten years?
It was my first musical and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I still have all the memorabilia: score, programme, 2 tshirts, cassette tapes (yes, it was that long ago) and binoculars. The t-shirts sold now have new designs but the binoculars still remain the same. I felt tempted to buy it just for fun but Peiee persuaded me otherwise.

Previously I was rooting for Phantom to get the girl but today I wanted Raoul live happily ever after with Christine. And when I was a teenager, I was swept away by the ROMANCE (in caps). Today I was thinking stalker, S&M, etc. Gee, has the romantic in me been replaced by a cynic? However at the end, I was this close to crying for the Phantom. Maybe there's hope for me afterall.

The visuals were stunning! They dressed up the proscenium arch of the esplanade theatre with golden Gothic motifs. I was particularly impressed by the "sculptures" of the nude maiden fighting off the satyr/demon/ogre.

The set was truly breath-taking, especially the Phantom's lair with the mechanical boat. It was amazing how they transformed the stage to, among many thing, a lake, a cavern, tunnels, rooftops... And those brilliant dozen or so curtains. OMG - I think I may have developed curtain-fetish.



POTO has a several "opera within an opera" moments. And they made a conscious effort to differentiate between "realistic" and "non-realistic" backdrops. So when it was (e.g) the Don Juan musical, one can see the (obviously) painted, fake backdrops and props. Making things even more theatrical than they are. I can't express this properly but I hope you get the gist.

I love the irony of performers pretending to be performers. And how during certain scenes, we the audience gets to pretend to be The Audience. Len would be able to explain the "Breaking the 4th Wall" concept, but I can't, so let's leave this thought half-formed.

OMG. How cute is the guy playing Raoul? Total, utter eye candy. Had a crush on him until I read his bio and learnt he's a cruise ship performer. *Cue flashbacks of Simon on AI* I felt that performance was terrible, very caberet... very cruise ship. I couldn't help but laugh madly and Peiee thought I was weird. :P

So, POTO was a visual spectacular and the music (lyrics and score) are as powerful as ever. Would have been a terrific production except for one thing - the humans. I felt that the singing, acting, dancing and direction were all below par. Is it just a matinee phenomenon? Were they saving their voices (and energy) for the evening's show? Did I unknowingly watch a show of understudies?

And why did everyone else think it was worthy of a standing ovation?

If I wasn't swamped with work and broke, I would like to watch it again. Just to see if it gets better. I know, it's a crazy thought.

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