i honestly thought while i was getting ready to watch The Phantom at wendy’s hostel, that i’d fall asleep during the play! i was SOO tired and sleepy..a result of sitting in between bird woman and mr. fart-and-burp-and-make-clicking-noises-all-the-time on my flight to Singapore.
anyway got to the Esplanade. and the set itself before the play just blew my mind. the intricate details and the chandelier. When it started..wow! the singing, the dancing, it was all amazing. i’m a huge theatre buff and i love anything to do with the theatre..but this blew me off. the costumes!!! my limited knowledge of ballet and singing proved that pirouetting like that AND pitching was…damn hard! but they did it. there were no mishaps..obviously i mean the theatre company were hardly amatuers; the acress playing Christine had played the role on two world tours previously.
the phantom on the other hand…again let me repeat..wow! Just after Raoul and Christie sing ‘all i ask of you’ his completion of that song as he’s suspended from the ceiling on this…i dunno gargoyle type thing..is just amazing.
Anyway my knowledge of the technical aspect of the theatre is very limited..but performance-wise..it was Brad Little as the Phantom that completely blew my mind. i felt his pain..his anguish…his hold over Christine whenever he sang to her, calling himself her Angel of Music. Personally i felt that the role of Christine could’ve been played by an actress who was a little younger…however her performance too was amazing. all in all i thoroughly enjoyed my evening! 
(i realize i use the word ‘amazing’ too many times na?)
my only regret was the realization that inspite of sri lankans having the talent to pull off something of this magnitude…it will be something won’t materialize…not anytime soon anyway. Sri Lankan directors still must learn the talent of focusing..on every single aspect of the theatre. Not only the props or costume or effect or smoke…
