BY LAUREN APETZ
Staff Writer
I attended this musical on March 3 at the Fox Theatre through the McKendree University Honors program. Through this program I was able to get to go see this musical
for free. I had seen the movie so I thought I had an idea of what was going to happen, but I was still amazed and surprised about how great the performance was.
I was so mesmerized by the set due to its beauty and the many surprises it held. There were moving stairs, fire, explosions, and the grand chandelier drop over the audience, which I was something I was not expecting. The way the staging was designed, the audience was sometimes actually a part of the performance and they even had actors out in the audience. Having this kind of involvement makes a musical so much more engaging.
The Phantom of the Opera is a very vocally demanding musical. It was written by Andrew Llyod Webber for his wife Sarah Brightman, who is a very talented soprano singer. The part of Christine was played by Katie Travis and she did a
fantastic job. Local theatre goers may recognize her from Les Miserables at the Muny. She hit every high note with such ease, it made me feel like such an inadequate soprano. The part of the Phantom was played by understudy Eric Ruiz, originally supposed to be Chris Mann who was a contestant on The Voice. Ruiz also did a great job of portraying the emotional turmoil that is the phantom through song.
I highly recommend this musical to anyone who wants to be genuinely entertained and to be sent for a trip on an emotional rollercoaster.
Visit http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/ustour/ for ticket information!
Photo Cred: Phantom US Tour Twitter Page
