Composer - Andrew Lloyd-Webber
Lyrics - Charles Hart
Opened - 1986
Main Characters - The Phantom, Christine, Roaul, Carlotta

The stage is set in a Paris opera house in the last century. Christine Daae is a chorus girl, who gets a chance to sing when the star, Carlotta, can't do it. She sings well and draws the attention of the Phantom, and also a man, Roaul, she used to know as a child. The Phantom trains Christine to sing and shows her his home beneath the opera house. Meanwhile Christine and Roaul become lovers. Things go wrong between Christine and the Phantom when she sees behind his mask. Even though Christine now fears him, the Phantom still tries to get her the major role in an opera. When Carlotta stays in the part the Phantom brings down the chandelier on the audience. But the Phantom sees that Christine and Roaul are in love and disappears for several months.

The performers are celebrating his absense when he reappears with an opera that he has written. When they perform it, he kills Piangi and takes his place opposite Christine, and when she discovers him he takes her back to the underground lair. Roaul follows them, and the Phantom captures him and forces Christine to choose between saving Roaul's life or being free of him herself. But she shows him compassion by kissing him, and he realises that he must free Raoul. Christine and Raoul leave as the angry mob approaches the lair. Heart-broken, the phantom vanishes into his throne before the mob arrive.

Songs (With marks out of 10) -

1.Overture (10)
2.Hannibal (9)
3.Think of me (10)
4.Angel of music (10)
5.Little lotte (10)
6.The Phantom of the Opera (10)
7.The Music of the Night (10)
8.Stranger than you dreamt it (9)
9.Notes (9)
10.Prima Donna (10)
11.Il Muto (8)
12.All I Ask of you (10)
13.Masquerade (10)
14.Rehearsals (9)
15.Wishing you were somehow here again (10)
16.Wandering child (10)
17.The Point of no return (10)
18.Final lair(10)

(Average - 9.67, Overall score - 434)

Favourite song - Music of the Night

Favourite character - The Phantom

Favourite lines -

"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you. Hear it, feel it secretly possess you. Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind, in this darkness which you know you cannot fight. The darkness of the music of the night!"
- Phantom, telling Christine of his music, 'Music of the Night'

"What new surprises lie in store!"
- the company, wondering what will happen next with the Phantom, 'Prima Donna'

"All I want is freedom, a world with no more night, and you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me."
- Christine, having become fearful of the Phantom, 'All I ask of you'

"I gave you my music, made your song take wing, and now, how you've repaid me: denied me and betrayed me. He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing....Oh Christine....Christine.."
- Phantom, shattered that Christine has chosen Raoul over him, 'Act I finale'

"Wandering child, so lost, so helpless, yearning for my guidance...have you forgotten your angel? Too long you've wandered in winter, far from my far-reaching gaze. You resist, yet your soul obeys."
- Phantom, enticing Christine to join him again, 'Wandering Child'

"It's over now, the music of the night!"
- Phantom, just before the curtains close, 'Finale'

Comment - Phantom was my first musical, and still every time I hear it I am transported to the dark and beautiful world of the Paris opera house. Also whenever I hear it now it reminds me of a holiday to the Lake District a few years ago. We were in this little cottage, in the middle of winter, and I slept in this tiny sloped room with only a skylight. I listened to Phantom every night, and now it can always make me remember the feeling of being snug in my bed, watching the rain on the skylight, and knowing that there were mountains all around.

West End review
Dublin review