The Phantom of the Opera Review

What Makes The Phantom of the Opera Such a Spectacular Show?

According to Wade Bradford from About.com (2013), at the start of the play, an opera ghost lays havoc on the crew and cast in the French Opera House in the course of tutoring a chorus girl. The ghost achieves the corrupting of the girl by way of a soprano. The ghost’s pupil gets hitched to De Chagny, which creates a problem since the ghost has too fallen for his student. The Phantom becomes angry as a result of the affair and kidnaps his student to be his bride forever.  This plot creates suspense and keeps the audience glued and interested to know what happens next. It makes one want to watch if De Chagny will react to the kidnapping or whether the girl is eventually seduced by the ghost to fall for him as a lover. This shows how the plot has made the film to be a successful piece extending several decades of enchanted viewings.

Bonnie Radcliffe from Clothes on Film (2012) highlights that the play has interesting characters, the main ones being the ghost known as Phantom, the music student Christine and her lover De Chagny. The trio is caught in a love triangle. The Opera Ghost (Phantom) is a unique character in the movie. While his appearance is terrorizing, with a disfigured face that forces him to hide from the rest of the world, his coaching talent is unquestionable and has the potential to help his student to be a world class singer. This character makes the audience to develop a mixture of good and bad feelings at the same time towards itself. The student Christine is another main character; she is a talented singer who just needs proper training to become world famous. She is young, innocent, and beautiful, becoming interested in Phantom. The third main character is De Chagny – a handsome man who is caught unawares of Christine’s attraction to him. He becomes Christine’s lover and is ready to go to extreme levels to protect the love they share. This trio makes the play catchy as people are tempted to watch the story unfold and whether there is eventually going to be a happy ever after scenario or if the Opera Ghost going to carry the day.

Radcliffe (2012) says that elements of design have also made the play a fantastic one. The Phantom’s clothes are dark while Christine’s clothes are bright, going in line with the characters. Dramatic contrasts are created by the dark hues in the play. The Phantom character is created by using costumes like a mask and clothing that forms an amazing acceptance of fear.

The Phantom is a voyeur, seeing Christine’s reflection on a mirror and a black lace veil. This showed there ought to be a barrier between them for security reasons; this can be sartorial or physical one like his mask. At some juncture, Christine destroys the mask from the Phantom’s face, symbolizing that his soul is in disarray. The Phantom has a bare chest revealed by an open shirt, which emphasizes the vulnerability of the disfigured man.

Director Joel Schumacher made the play a lavish depiction of the illusions that life offers. Watched by many millions of people, the show has proven to be one of the top-ranked in current culture. The opulent sets and sweeping compositions and lyrics have gone a notch higher to provide an amazing experience of live theater.

References
Bradford, W. (2013). The Phantom of the Opera. Why Do Audiences Love this Show? Retrieved from: http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/phantom.htm.
Radcliffe, B. (2012). The Phantom of the Opera: Colour, Character and Costume. Clothes of the Film, Retrieved from: http://clothesonfilm.com/the-phantom-of-the-opera-colour-character-and-costume/28581.
Unknown. (2013). Pretty Much the Most Useless Group. About Phantom of the Opera, Retrieved from: http://phantomonabudget.bravehost.com/poto.html.