“The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway

BY JESSICA HEITZMAN

SC Staff Writer

The lights turn off, and the curtain draws open. It’s time for an incredible 25th year anniversary showing of “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway.

To see a show like “The Phantom of the Opera”, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is one show you’re surely never to forget. Every aspect of the stage was beautiful and astounding.

“I’ve seen it twice,” said Jacquie Hanna, an English major and senior at ESU. “It’s the best Broadway show ever. That’s why it’s the longest running show ever.”

The moment the famous chandelier rose to the ceiling, the hair rose on my neck, I got goose bumps and, yes, I even got a little emotional.

The acting was phenomenal. Christine Daaé, played by Sierra Boggess, did an amazing job. She played her part spot on and to perfection.

Phantom of the Opera, played by Hugh Panaro, was just as incredible. The entire cast did such a marvelous job, that for a moment, I forgot I was even watching a Broadway show. They really got into character and brought the play to life like never before.

Not to mention the actor Kyle Barisich who played Raoul did just as an amazing job. Both the Phantom and Raoul got the audience to choose sides of good and evil.

The pyrotechnics were out of this world. All throughout the show there were fireworks, flames and flare. It really brought the show to life.

Many times the Phantom used pyrotechnics to disappear from the stage, leaving the audience in awe.

Candles rose from the floor, and actors descended down the floor only to appear seconds later at the top of the stage. How they did all this, I don’t know, but I want to know.

The technical production manager and crew really brought the magic to the show. They created illusions that made the audience want to know: “How did they do that?” They accomplished this through disappearing acts, the rising and sinking of props on the stage and how they got one character from the bottom to the top of the stage in a matter of only seconds.

Another reason why the show was so great is that many fans saw themselves singing along to the music. I know I was one of them. Of course not aloud so everyone could hear, but even afterward on the way home, I still had songs playing in my head. I even heard a time or two some people humming the music on the way home.

Another student from ESU, Tyler Hernandez, a sophomore and Exercise Science major, said, “It was fan-freakin-tastic.”

The only issue with the show was the missing rose. Not once did the rose appear during the show. The rose is a very important symbol portraying the love between the Phantom and Christine, Christine’s purity and innocence and the Phantom’s satisfaction in her performances.

It’s exactly like if the rose never appeared in “Beauty and the Beast”. Which some may say the story adapts from as Beauty (Christine) and the Beast (The Phantom).

I highly recommend seeing this show on Broadway. It’ll surely take your breath away and leave you wanting to see it again.

Email Jessica at:
jmh2643@live.esu.edu