MASK MANIA: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA DESCENDS ON SHANGHAI

MASK MANIA: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA DESCENDS ON SHANGHAI

In the world of musical theatre, Phantom Of The Opera is at the top of the heap. But it’s not just devotees of the stage who are drawn to the tortured artist and his unrequited love, people across class, country and language boundaries have embraced its unique cast of characters and moving storyline – and this month, it’s Shanghai’s turn to take the Phantom to its heart.

Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ground-breaking musical will be performed 60 times at Shanghai Culture Square from December to the end of January. Tickets will be scarce on the ground for this one, with the hoards descending to buy their coveted seats since the run of shows in Shanghai was announced six months ago. Despite recent performances of Andrew Lloyd- Webber’s Cats and the Claude-Michel Schönberg musical, Les Miserables, the Phantom still holds Chinese box office records and is expecting to break them with this run of shows. The man behind the mask will be Broadway star, Brad Little, a veteran of the role (he has played the Phantom more than 2,000 times in his career). He’s returning to Shanghai after playing the starring role back in 2004, when Phantom of the Opera last descended on a Shanghai stage. The experience was a formative one for the performer, who knows from experience just how passionate local crowds can be about this musical in particular. “I will never forget that experience in Shanghai. I learned that many local people had to put aside three weeks of their salaries to buy a ticket. The audiences in Shanghai really made me believe that they cherished the show much more than any other place we had toured before,” he said. Australian soprano, Claire Lyon, 26, will be by Little’s side onstage as Christine, the object of the Phantom’s twisted obsession. Though she is new to the role as a cast member of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company, she recently told the media she has been singing songs from the musical since she was five.

Harold (Hal) Prince, 85, is the Broadway legend who is tasked with pulling the strings for this production of Phantom backstage. He has high hopes for the Shanghai shows and cites the city as one of his favourite places to visit in the world. “My expectations are very high. I’ve been to Shanghai and I know how much energy, sophistication and appreciation of the arts inform the entire city,” he said.

“The last time we played in Shanghai, we were totally embraced by the audiences. The show plays extremely well in all parts of the world. I am sure Chinese audiences will love it.”

Despite adaptations of the play into many different languages, this production will be staged in English, which Prince doesn’t believe, given their experience of putting on the play in China previously, will hinder the audience’s enjoyment. Rather, the director points to examples he has observed first-hand where audiences watching Phantom adapted into their local language said they would prefer to see the English-language production. “I think perhaps there is some appreciation for the authenticity of the language that the show was written in. I do think, however, that I would like to see Phantom ultimately be translated into Mandarin and seen by a wider audience in China,” Prince added In terms of the show’s enduring popularity, Prince describes the appeal of Phantom of the Opera as multi-faceted.

“The combination of the story’s romance, its music and its stagecraft make it accessible to all audiences, even those who don’t speak the language. Everyone can follow the story and appreciate the impact of the production,” Prince told Talk. And in terms of the upcoming production in Shanghai, he adds that audiences should expect nothing but the best. “Our efforts have always been to keep every production of the show up to the very highest standards,” Prince said. “We replace scenery, costume and lighting whenever we need to and we rehearse the cast regularly. I do a great deal of that myself and the comment I get most is that every performance feels like an opening night performance.”

Phantom of the Opera will be performed by a touring group of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company from 3 December 2013, to 26 January 2014 at Shanghai Culture Square, 36 Yongjia Lu, near Maoming Nan Lu. 

Price: RMB 80 - RMB 800. Web: www.thephantomoftheopera.com; www.smartshanghai.com/ smartticket/phantomoftheopera (tickets)

Phantom Facts

Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s musical version of The Phantom Of The Opera is the most successful piece of entertainment of all time, produced in any media, and its success continues the world over.

It is estimated that Phantom has been seen by more than 130 million people, and the total worldwide grossnow exceeds $5.6 billion.

The show has won over 70 major theatre awards including three Olivier Awards, the most recent being the 2002 Oliver Audience Award for Most Popular Show, an Evening Standard Award, seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critic Circle Awards.

The Phantom Of The Opera opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London on 27 September 1986, and at the Majestic Theatre in New York on 9 January 1988.

The London production of The Phantom Of The Opera celebrated its 25th Anniversary in October 2011 with a series of three performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The Phantom Of The Opera became Broadway’s longest running show ever when it overtook the record set by Cats with its 7,486th performance on 6 January 2006.

The West End production played its 10,000th performance on 23 October 2010.

The Broadway production played its 10,000th performance on 11th February 2012.

The box-office revenues are higher than any other film or stage play in history – including Titanic, Star Wars and Avatar

The Phantom Of The Opera has been produced in 151 cities, in 30 countries around the world, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

Playing worldwide it has been translated into no fewer than 13 languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Polish, Swedish, Castilian, Hungarian, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese and Mexican Spanish.

The original cast album of The Phantom Of The Opera was the first in British musical history to enter the music charts at number one.

Album sales, including original cast recording, foreign language recordings, studio recordings and the film soundtrack now exceed 40 million.

The cast album has gone six times platinum in the US, twice platinum in the UK, nine times platinum in German, four times platinum in the Netherlands, 11 times platinum in Korea and 31 times platinum in Taiwan.

Joel Schumacher directed a big screen version of the show, which was released worldwide at the end of 2004. It starred Gerard Butler as The Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, Patrick Wilson as Raoul and Minnie Driver as Carlotta.

‘Learn to Be Lonely’, a new song written for the movie, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2005 Oscars. Beyoncé performed the song at the ceremony.

Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular opened in a purpose built theatre at the Venetian Resort Hotel on 24 June 2006. The production cost $75 million, making the new 95-minute version the most expensive musical extravaganza of all time.

d, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand,

Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,

Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States