The gal’s most likely harboring a dirty secret. I also like how, in this concert, they had Carlotta change into her Il Muto getup during the number.ģ) It’s no wonder Christine’s all quivery and nervous to wear Raoul’s engagement ring. Two out-of-their-league opera managers struggle to keep the Paris Opéra from collapsing while a diva-happy-to-relieve-a-chorus-girl-whose-gone-and-slept-with-the-patron bellows her insecurities, all while threatening demands in artfully scripted letters keep materializing by way of the mysterious Madame Giry? There’s a lot going on in this scene, and it’s funny, witty and gorgeously composed.

I mean, I’ve always loved this segment, but 18 years later, wherein I discovered the genius of Sondheim, this opinion still holds. Got it!Ģ) “Notes/Prima Donna” is an excellent piece of musical theatre writing. It’s no wonder she goes throwing herself into random men’s arms - bemasked homicidal musical prodigies or otherwise. Somehow, through all the flash, fury and falling chandeliers, I completely overlooked this minor detail. Here are some discoveries after having nearly two decades between viewings of this megamusical.ġ) Christine’s an orphan. Yup.Īnyway, the lavishly produced 25th anniversary concert staging at Royal Albert Hall recently aired on PBS, and I forced my partner to watch the thing with me. But I felt like doing so would somehow be lame, so I opted for Ghost: The Musical. It’s been 18 years since I’ve seen the show, and I was thisclose to catching it when I was in London in January. For their Phantoms, we had Colm Wilkinson (the *original* Jean ValJean) and Peter Karrie (who’s essentially Colm Wilkinson) twice. For Christine, I had Rebecca Caine, Melissa Dye and some other woman. I saw it three times in Toronto during my formative theatre queen years. Yes, the music is repetitive and the characters are pretty one-dimensional, but the whole package is delivered so well (thanks to director Hal Prince and designer Maria Bjornson), who cares. It’s the longest running show on Broadway, has generated roughly 4,678,980 katillion dollars, and your beer guzzling brother-in-law can probably hum out a few bars of “Music of the Night.” Or not. Can you believe it? Phantom is a quarter of a century old.

25th phantom of the opera cast