Date of Visit – January 2025
WOW, this production is absolutely stunning. This is without a shadow of doubt one of, if not the best piece of live entertainment I have ever seen, I was completely blown away by this classic, and here’s why…
BEFORE THE SHOW:
Now, before we get into the review of Phantom, I thought, why not change things up slightly with this blog post, and show you what I got up to before heading over to take my seat at His Majesty’s Theatre.
As I stayed the previous night in London after seeing The Play That Goes Wrong, I had plenty of time to kill before the matinee at 2:30 pm, so I took the Northern Line from Kings Cross, over to Camden Market for a little bit of shopping and to try out a couple of street food vendors.
Whilst exploring Camden Market, I treated myself to a couple of things from Funky Chips and Meat Head Tacos.
How was it? I hear you ask. If I’m honest, it was okay, but nothing special.
The Nacho Cheese Funky Chips were good. However, once you ate the chips at the top of the box, the rest had no flavour as the sauces were only loaded on the top. These set me back £9 and although I ordered a small, they could have easily fed two or more people. I definitely couldn’t finish them.
I also headed over to Meat Head Tacos for my second visit here, I got the £9.50 Beef Birra Tacos, and if I’m honest, they were better the previous time I had them. They did look nicer than they tasted, not to say they were bad or anything, but I would have preferred a little more spice as it did taste slightly on the bland side.
Although I felt a little underwhelmed on this visit to Camden Market, I’d definitely recommend visiting one of London’s famous markets before a trip to the theatre as it is a great option for a quick lunch before a matinee show.
SYNOPSIS:
Now, let’s get back to reviewing my experience at His Majesty’s Theatre.
Andrew Loyd Webber’s ‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ has been playing at the recently renamed His Majesty’s Theatre since 1986 and is a musical adaptation of the 1909 novel by French author, Gaston Leroux.
The production has mostly remained unchanged throughout its 39-year run, except for a few alterations when the show reopened its doors after the pandemic.
The production was slightly downsized, with the orchestra being halved and some minor changes in set design.
‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ follows the story of a talented young singer ‘Christine Daaé at the Paris Opera who is being haunted and mentored by a secretive music teacher, which she names the ‘Angel of Music’. Whilst in actuality, Christine’s teacher is the dangerous and murderous Phantom of the Opera.
The show features the classic ‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ musical score as well as some elements of Opera singing. However, this musical isn’t an opera but merely set within a Paris opera house.
THEATRE EXPERIENCE:
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ is located at His Majesty’s Theatre, which is close to Covent Garden tube station and Trafalgar Square.
I arrived at this theatre around forty minutes before the performance and was greeted to a rather long queue. However, within ten minutes, I was in and headed up to the bar in the Royal Circle.
The theatre has three bars located in the Stalls, Royal Circle, and Grand Circle with a merchandise stand in the foyer. Ushers are also dotted around the theatre selling programmes.
As I was in the theatre around thirty minutes before the performance, I treated myself to a bottle of Kopperberg Fruit Cider and a programme, which set me back £14.50. I didn’t think this was too expensive for a West End theatre.
Be aware there is limited seating within this bar, with a large photo wall and piano taking up a lot of the space. Not to worry though, as this theatre had a nice outside terrace with a few standing tables.
During the interval I of course, went to get an ice cream and a water for the grand total of £9.50 which I did think was slightly overpriced. Nonetheless, the mint ice cream was good quality and quite a large tub at 180ml.
Overall the staff were friendly, warm and welcoming and there weren’t many faults. A good nine out of ten for theatre experience.
SHOW REVIEW:
‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ is one of those shows that sticks with you. It’s absolutely stunning, and the level of production is outstanding.
I know Andrew Lloyd Webber gets a lot of stick from theatre fans for various decisions he’s made in the past or things that hes said, but you can’t disagree that Phantom is one of his stand-out shows.
The use of special effects, pyrotechnics, lighting, and set design is absolutely beautiful. A standout moment where the combined use of these effects is done successfully is during the song of Phantom of the Opera, where through the use of smoke, we get the illusion of a boat floating through what seems like a never ending lake. This was absolutely beautiful.
Another stand-out moment of this production is when Raoul (Joe Griffiths-Brown) jumps from a bridge that seems to have been suspended around twenty feet in the air and falls into the lake below. I won’t give away too many spoilers, but this left me gobsmacked.
Now, to the acting, Dean Chisnall was absolutely outstanding in his role as the Phantom. His singing and characterisation were probably some of the best from a male actor that I had ever seen in live theatre.
Lily Kerhoas was equally as good as Christine Daaè, Lily had an absolutely amazing voice and vocal range. It was honestly something to behold. In my opinion, she was the stand-out performer in this production. Everything she did was impressive, and she has the best voice I’ve heard on the West End.
This musical is so good I feel like my review hasn’t really done it justice. I’ve never struggled so much to describe in words how absolutely breathtaking a production is. If you’re contemplating going to see Phantom, I’d say go!
I’m really unsure why it took me so long to go and see this, but after seeing it. I will definitely be going again in the future. Be aware though tickets for this production are on the expensive side.
I paid £110 for my seat in the Royal Circle, and the corner of the stage was still cut off from view unless you leaned forward. Tickets for this production usually range from between £27.50 in the Balcony with a restricted view to £200 for seats at the front of the Stalls.
‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA‘ gets the highest rating of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five!
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