Phantom of the Opera UK Tour Review

Phantom is arguably Andrew Lloyd Webber's most famous masterpiece. 25 years since it first was performed it still captures the hearts and minds of audiences, young and old. As a 21st birthday treat my mum offered my the choice of a family meal out or a trip to Phantom of the Opera in Bristol Hippodrome. I got both. Thank you Jamie Oliver in Bath. It wasn't my first experience of Phantom, but there is something magical about being in Bristol Hippodrome and a live performance is always going to be better than a film, even without the gorgeous Gerard Butler. I refused to sit in the "peasantry" stalls as when I went to see Might Boosh in the hippodrome a few years earlier, I was sat in row M, and being vertically challenged I was barely able to see Noel Fielding in his mini metallic dress. So we had front for Grand Circle seats, which gave us a beautiful panoramic where we could see the whole stage uninterrupted. It has been suggested to me that Phantom is outdated but I loved it so much, I returned within the next 6 days, desperate for my boyfriend to experience Phantom for the first time and to be blown away by the outstanding cast, scenery and orchestra. 

Bristol Hippodrome, I was sat front row of the grand circle both times. Excellent viewing,

Based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel Le Fantome de l’Opera, the story of the Phantom and his love of Christine is a story everyone should know. I shall try give a brief and therefore unsubstantial nutshell of the story in case you do not know of it, It is fundamentally a classic triangle love story in the vein of other outcast romances such The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The Phantom, a deformed genius, lives haunts and controlls the happenings at the Paris Opera House.  His obsession and protegee, orphan Christine believes her father has sent her an Angel of music to teach her to sing, although she has all along suspected he is also the infamous Phantom of the Opera. She rises from chorus girl to lead thanks to the Phantoms interference with the Opera House and subsequently is reunited with her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, who is in awe of Christine's voice and has always fondly remembered her. However Raoul's advances enrage the Phantom, he lures Christine to his underground lair where he hides from the light of day and pays homage to music. He plans to use his music to enchant her and make her love him. When Christine awakes the phantom has removed his mask and has his back to her, Christine is determined to see the face of her angel of music but is horrified to see his deformed physique and the Phantom, embarrassed and enraged, sends her away. He is however, still obsessed with Christine and many horrors follow at the opera house, causing Christine to flee with Raoul, they declare their love for each other, Raoul promising to protect Christine from the Phantom. The showdown comes as the Phantom and Raoul vie for Christine’s affections. Christine is initially disgusted by the Phantom's actions, claiming it's not his deformity that repulses her but his soul,  but soon learns he's lived a terrible life, deprived of love and kindness. She kisses the phantom, showing him compassion for the first time in his life. He lets her leave with Raoul and disappears into the night.

Souvenir broach from Mummy. 

The set design was beyond incredible, it was a multipurpose set, Paul Brown's revolving set made the journey to the Phantom's underground lair a breathless joy to watch. From the steps which appear magically, to the mystical boat scene and the breathtaking chandelier which illuminates to the overture. The scenery was well planned and incredible, the Hippodrome is not the biggest of theaters and I was unsure how they would fit such a large production into the stage but his intricate and perfectly planned masterpiece proved me wrong. My only disappointment was that the chandelier never actually fell.  But, considering it was hanging over the crowded stalls it was probably for the best.


The music is, without doubt, the most important part of the production. The Orchestra are the unsung stars. The perfect and precise timing in the pit is what binds the whole production together. I think you really have to be there to understand the impact when you hear those famous songs, Phantom of the Opera, Think of me, Music of the Night etc etc. The songs really do stick in your heard, I literally have a constant orchestra playing in my head from the minute I wake up and find myself humming along. I was treated to the official CD from the Merch box, along with my broach so even if I do start to loose my internal overture I can always regain it. 


Obviously an amazing cast is imperative, even the small parts.  The managers provided comic entertainment without being try hards, the ballet cast were incredible and made me long to take up dancing again, something I haven't done for 4 years. But obviously the big three are the integral components of the show;

John Owen Jones- Phantom

Hailing from South Wales, John is actually the longest running West End Phantom of all time, nearing 2000 performances! His other most famous role is as ValJean in Les Miserables, (another favourite of mine) and was voted the best actor to ever play the role. His presence on stage was dominating and enticing all at the same time, just how the Phantom should be, He was aggressive, obsessive and frightening whilst also being fragile and vulnerable at the same time. He perfectly took the audience on a journey of heartache, pain and longing. His voice was outstanding and commanding, everyone in the audience would have certainly had goosebumps and little shivers sent down their spine when he his those grand notes. He does have an album out "unmasked" which I will be cheekily downloading despite the fact I am now a broke graduate. 

Simon Bailey- Raoul, Vicomte de Changy

Simon gave a new direction to Raoul for this production, he is more than just a pretty & handsome boy, (although he is that as well) he is now a hero in his own right. Raoul genuinely loves his childhood sweetheart Christine, you don't feel he only loves her success, in fact he is proud of her to have done so well and you get the impression he loved her even since he fetched her red scarf from the lake. I have always been team Raoul so say, but Simon's performance has cemented this for me. Which is why I refuse to watch Love Never Dies. Simon is also a friendly fella on twitter. This is not his first time playing Raoul and I find it touching that he dedicates every performance to the memory of his late father. 

Olivia Bereton - Chistine Daae 

It genuinely was impossible to believe she is the alternative Christine, what's more, this is her professional debut. I certainly did not feel short changed having the alternate Miss Daae at both performances, her performance was impeccable. She had the most beautiful vocal range, hitting high A with ease, her performance was one of such fragility and vulnerability it was so believable and touching. She found a fine balance between all the characteristics that makes Christine such a complex character, her grief for her father and constant search for comfort beyond the grave, her fear and disgust at the phantom, not for his physical appearance but for his heartless behaviour, her longing for protection and stability from Raoul and finally her uncontrollable desire for music. to improve her singing, to connect with her father's passion for music. Music over powers her in a way that allows the phantom to have a hypnotic control over her. Olivia encompassed all these qualities with ease and perfection. Her only flaw is that whilst playing a ballet girl she is the only one of the dancers not on pointe, although twitter reliably informs me she is training up and will be on pointe by Dublin performances! If this is merely her debut then we have many great things to expect from her. She is also very lovely and gratuitous to her fans (including myself) on twitter. 

The tour leaves Bristol at the end of June but will most likely be coming to a theatre near you. Check it out for yourself at http://www.thephantomoftheoperatour.com/tour-dates I would thoroughly reccommend seeing it. Even those of you who hate musicals or opera, It will move you in ways you cannot imagine and will open you up to a whole new genre of music. I will almost certainly be going to see it again, probably in Liverpool. It would be nice to see Katie Hall as Christine because I have only heard positive reviews about her! 

Aberystywth May Ball 2012

Aberystwyth May Ball is an odd one. Whilst it's certainly not worth the £40 ticket it's without doubt the best night of the year. But in comparison of other university balls, it's pretty substandard. Most Uni's attract big name acts such as Florence and the Machine, whereas the best we get are the Hoosiers, great in their hey day, but their hey day was 5 years ago. We were also expected to be impressed with Toploader, who's one greatest hit dancing in the moonlight was released well over a decade ago, if not two. It's not something i'm ringing home to brag about. Zane Lowe was surprisingly good, a mich bigger improvement on Westwood, who we were subjected to two years before. But I still wouldn't pay £40 to see him.

My dress from Jack Wills clutch from Spain, Emma's from French Connection, Shoes from Faith.

Photography done by our wonderful bestie Eiry Bateman.

I'm not sure why we bother spending most of the day preening and trying to make ourselves look good, most of the ball is outside and by the time I get off the coach I inevitable look like i've been dragged through a hedge backwards. But still, it gives us something to get excited about. Aber isn't the sort of place where you have to dress up for a night out. There's often girls on the dance floor in flats, jeans and tee shirts. You can even wear trainers on the dancefloor. So the chance to properly dress up is something we relish. Some people go all out and wear proper ball gowns, but we decided to go for slightly more casual formal wear, so that we could enjoy the rides and not ruin our dresses by dragging them through the mud. It is lush that all the boys wear suits though! ;) 

Staying Classy and hiding Gin up Stan's Dress.

The coach journey to Pontrhydfendigaid is a horror, First year I was unfortunate enough to be slightly travel sick, on my boyfriends suit... Needless to say this year my omnibenevolent friends made me sit opposite them rather than sit with me in case my upchuck reflexes went into over drive. So I ended up sitting next to some guy from Luton (being a Wrexham fc fan this was not a good thing and I spent most of the journey chastising him) whilst drinking gin that had been cleverly hidden in Emma's pants. It was a sure sign that things were going to stay classy.

No one would sit with me because of my travel sickness, ended up next to a Luton fan (BOO)

2 Shots for one token!

The drinks were heavily over priced. £10 for 4 drinks tokens. a Jug of pimms was 6 tokes (although 2 were just for a deposit). I ended up on the shots all night as you could purchase 2 sourz for 1 token. It wasn't a particularly messy night by our standards. Despite the copious amount of beverages consumed. The freezing weather was probably to blame! Sub zero temperatures will sober anyone up, have you ever seen a drunk eskimo? I rest my case.

Extortionately priced jug of pimms, extra strawbs ofc.

Luckily for us we have Stan, as she works for the union she seems to know just about everyone and she pulls some strings to get us extra strawbs in our pimms. Everyone loves Strawberries. 

The rides were all free. All four of them. And being an adreneline junkie I was more than happy to spend the warmest (yet still freezing) part of the night on the rides. Poor Ruth ended up being a bag donkey and watching us go round and round as she does not share our love for rides. We did take her on the dodgems and convinced her to come on the twister, which was a beautiful moment for me, not so much for her... I probably shouldn't have laughed the whole time when she was so terrified. I'll use this as a chance to profusely apologies for being so inconsiderate. Crying with laughter at your terrified friend is a horrible thing to do. But it was so funny. 

Headphone discoing

The layout of may ball is; there is one main building for all the "massive acts", a few rides and a few tents. Inside the tents are various bars hosting tribute acts, commedy shows, acoustic music and a headphone disco. Head phone discos are one of my favourite things, you can chose whether to listen to station A or B, so half of the room will be listening to ace of spades and the other half call me maybe. The awkward moment is when you and your friend are singing at each other only to realise you are singing completely different songs. Without a doubt the headphone disco is the saving grace of the mayball. Most of us aren't insterested in seeing the massive "acts" and would much prefer having a laugh at something like this. Perhaps the uni should invest in more tent attractions next year instead of ms dynamite (boring). Just not a foam party tent. I hate foam parties. on account of me being small and easily lost among the foamy horror. 

Headphone disco, Emma probably listening to beyonce whilst i'm on the tennacious d. 

Having our feet nibbled.

Not everything was included in the price. Things like the oxygen tank (A legal high) and the fish spa were optional extras that proved rather costly. Having always wanted to have fish nibble the dead skin from the feet I paid the £5 per person for 4 minutes (yes more than a pound a minute). Although really, we're doing the fish a favour by feeding them, they're getting a free all you can eat buffet down there. It was the strangest sensation ever. A very dull tickle with the occasional wee fish that gets carried away on your ankle or between your toes. I was slightly horrified to hear these were the baby fishes and in the shop they have much bigger ones to nibble you with. It was a nice experience though! 

 

So was it worth it? Of course, this was our last chance to have a night out together before the horror of exams set in. Sadly not all of our friends came but it was still lovely to get out of aberystwyth, even if Pontrhydfendigaid is basically a field in the middle of no where. I was getting so tired of the aber bubble. with its two night clubs and bog standards bars. The chance to dress up and do something different was something to jump at. I couldn't understand why some people were leaving early to go to Yoko's. you can go to that dive any day!  The weather was the biggest let down, I think we nearly froze to death but that can't be helped. A better array of food would be appreciated, we were limited to the choice of general burger vans or starvation. I'm thinking a hog roast or a sushi bar would have been a great success!  And we clearly need to attract bigger names, we deserve better than that! 

Would like to use this chance to thank our bestie Eiry for her lovely photography at the beginning of the night. Her photography proves you can polish a turd provided you have an SLR camera!  x