"The Music of the Night"

On Saturday night, we took a 100-mile road trip to see the The Phantom of the Opera. As a preface, I must say that our family cannot afford premium seating, so we were quite a distance from the stage. The only advantage that location offered was that the boat illusion was more impressive than for those who could see how it was achieved technically.

This show is three stunning musical numbers, and over an hour of filler. We were disadvantaged because we couldn't see the performers' mouths, so much of it was unintelligible to us, and, as far as we knew, the whole thing could have been lip-synched.

The voices were strong and appropriate. From our perch, it appeared their acting was competent. The lighting was dim, creating the dark mood a phantom would elicit. The settings were well executed and changed smoothly in the dark.

No one out here in the boonies recognized any of the players, but they seem to be young enough to be called "up-and-comers." It was well received by the provincials. The local newspaper had overhyped the falling chandelier, which was badly conceived and poorly executed. But then, in all fairness, they've been schlepping the thing around the country for months.