Phantom!

My first experience of watching a theater musical was back when I was in high school when my sister and I got tickets to watch a local production of the Little Mermaid starring Carol Banawa and KC Concepcion. I still remember that time, wanting to buy the CD of the show, but couldn’t because I was just in high school then and my allowance wasn’t enough to purchase that CD.

Fast forward 5 years later in 2008 when I was in Canada, I got to see the CATS musical when it went on tour in Vancouver! I only heard of this musical, but never knew what it was about until that time I watched it. Interesting story, very simple, but what really got me were the costumes, dancing, and of course, the music!

Ever since then, I began my quest to watch musicals. I’m thinking maybe because I now have the resources to watch it (they are quite expensive). I’m very blessed with opportunities that allow me to watch musicals. In Las Vegas, I got to watch The Lion King, and early this year, my friend and I went off to Singapore to catch the Wicked musical there!

And of course, when the longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, as part of their Asian tour, decided to drop by Manila, I wouldn’t pass up the chance. Well, I almost did, good thing they extended their show here.

We had tickets for last October 06, 2012’s 8 pm show. Tickets are expensive. But mind you, although tickets were expensive, the shows, I heard, were sold out. And that means only one thing – the show must be that good!  And I could tell you it was a great show. In fact, I ended up buying a program souvenir, which by the way, costs 500 pesos. I can only imagine (and compute!) how much they were earning per show! It’s all worth it after all, because this was a world class production after all!

I know when I really loved a show when I get home, I end up reading about its history, and even watching the 25th anniversary show, and the movie!

Anyway, going back, my favorite part was surprisingly, the masquerade scene! Aside from the catchy tune, I loved how most of the cast was out and about dancing and singing in their colorful costumes. I loved how the curtains dropped unexpectedly, showcasing the casts in their colorful costumes. Napa “Wow” talaga ako! My second favorite would probably be the scene where Phantom, Raoul and Christine were singing altogether! I don’t know how they keep their tunes correct, considering they are singing together, but different of songs and tunes!

So all in all, the pricey ticket was well worth it. Made everything even more worth while was when we were outside on our way to the car, Mr. Raoul shows up in the side stage door and I got to have a nice (but dark) picture taken! No thanks to the camera’s flash, which was, turned off.

Hi Raoul!