Hartnall and Maria begin to develop romantic feelings for each other during the first few days of rehearsals. He vows to help her and that her triumph will be his revenge. The Phantom who also witnessed the audition is interested in Maria, not just because of her voice, but because she bears a remarkable resemblance to Elena. A young Italian/American soprano Maria Gianelli, performs a perfect audition which amazes everyone and she is granted the role. So Hartnall holds an understudy audition for the role of Marguerite. But Hunyadi refuses due to his "personal relationship" with Madame Bianchi. Hartnall offers Baron Hunyadi to take over the show. The spoiled diva accuses everyone in the show being the reason for her problems and walks away. The selfish leading soprano Madame Brigida Bianchi refuses to follow the direction from the show's English director Michael Hartnell. From then on Sándor Korvin becomes the "Opera Ghost" AKA The Phantom of the Opera.įour years later, Faust is being performed again. Lajos steals a mask from the costume department to hide Korvin's deformity caused by the acid. He is saved from the fire by the rat catcher Lajos who hides him in the cellars beneath the Opera house. Korvin murders the critic but a bottle of sulphuric acid falls over on a shelf and splashes on to Korvin's face badly burning him. During a struggle the office catches fire. A vengeful Korvin murders the man who drove the audience against his wife, then he goes to confront the critic. Completely heartbroken Elena jumps into the river, drowning herself. He also bribes the critic to write a bad review about her. In revenge for Elena refusal the baron bribes a man to make the audience boo and despise Elena during her debut. But Korvin insists that she is and proves so by convincing her to be calm and confident. Elena loses hope of succeeding in the role believing she is not good enough. She leaves with a fearful threat from Hunyadi that her career will end. The Opera House's owner Baron Hunyadi attempts to win Elena's heart to draw her away from her husband but Elena refuses. In Budapest a young operatic soprano Elena Korvin is struggling to rehearse the part of Marguerite in the Opera Gounod's Faust despite the assistance from her loving husband Sándor Korvin, the orchestra's conductor. Go big or go home, as they say.īooking at Her Majesty’s theatre, London, until 13 February.A film adaption of novel by Gaston Leroux. But the late Maria Björnson’s maximalist designs, from vivid masquerade ball to Degas-style ballet dancers, set the tone for old-school fantasy. The show has a dedication to analogue theatrical effects, from trapdoors and smoke to a skull-topped cane shooting fireballs, and, sure, there’s something hokey about the Phantom playing gondolier in the boat to his subterranean lair. ![]() There’s a bit of Hugh Grant about him (the edgier real-life Grant, rather than foppish film version) and he’s rich-voiced in the soaringly romantic All I Ask of You. Rhys Whitfield plays Christine’s more trad love interest, the dashing Raoul. No room to interrogate his status as an abusive incel here, just a good yarn. ![]() He’s a Frankenstein’s monster, sinister yet vulnerable, whose eyes “both threaten and adore” and who tells Christine “fear can turn to love”. He handles a tricky role, a stalker and kidnapper who is also an alternative romantic lead. She’s beatific, her tone bright with no harsh glare, all delicate vibrato, fine control and escalating power.Īs the Phantom, Killian Donnelly (a former Jean Valjean in Les Mis) finds a range of colours from a whisper to a roar. Lucy St Louis (who played Diana Ross in Motown the Musical) is an enchanting Christine, the object of the Phantom’s obsession. Winning formulas, of course, still need a refresh, so post-pandemic the show has returned with a new cast. Lucy St Louis and Killian Donnelly in The Phantom of the Opera.
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