I remember being five or six years old, and watching in awe as a pretty-looking, round-eyed young woman came on the TV screen, captivating me with her enchanting voice and a story of mystery, mystique, and splendor. The music was enthralling; the soprano sounded straight out of a fairy tale. And the show featured masks, gondolas, and, in the final scene, a humongous chandelier that crashed down with much affair. Yes, you got it… I am of course talking about The Phantom of the Opera. It was playing on TRT in our living room in Istanbul, the only TV channel that was broadcast in Turkey at the time.
Fast-forward a few years, and we have moved back to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A friend visits and presents us with a double-disc CD set of the musical, which he watched in London. A black cover, featuring a mysterious white mask and a bunch of roses. The year is around 1990. My mom teaches art at the Turkish School of Riyadh, where not all the kids have experienced international music. She makes herself a cassette copy and plays it in the background of her class as her students sketch in the notepads. A student comes up and thanks her, saying that he has never heard anything so enchanting.
Three decades pass, I trot the globe and call six other countries home. And yet, The Phantom of the Opera never loses its appeal. Last year, while visiting the Zorlu Center PSM for a performance of The Notre Dame de Paris, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be so very awesome if the PSM brought the Phantom of the Opera to Istanbul?” I then quickly dismissed my own thought as being too ambitious, too grand. A few weeks later, however, with a smile reaching from ear to ear, I had two tickets in hand for The Phantom of the Opera to be performed at the PSM. In my enthusiasm, I had rushed to the ticket booth ten months in advance for a performance scheduled across three-weeks in April 2015. But one can never be too early. I felt exhilarated and the rush of the musical already.
The long wait finally came to an end a few days ago. The Phantom of the Opera was everything I expected and more. The stage had taken two weeks to assemble and required the sweat and tears of some one hundred and fifty persons. The production was the real thing, as produced by the company of Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. The cast biographies revealed successful and impressive careers across the globe, with performances across the stages of Broadway, the West End, and more. Each of the two hundred and thirty costumes made a statement of their own with their colors, design, and workmanship. The mechanical feats of the musical were the most impressive I have ever seen, with a one-ton chandelier coming crashing down on stage from above our heads, gondolas floating in mist, and instant transitions from one majestic scene into another.
Needless to say, among the highlights of the musical was the scene where Christine Daee (portrayed by Emilie Lynn, with Mona Botha and Kristi Holden replacing Lynn on certain nights) singing the musical anthem “The Phantom of the Opera.” Not only did it impress artistically and talent-wise, but it also flashed me back to everything I had ever experienced related to the musical ever since 1986… It was a rush of feelings and emotions and a moving moment for me. I do not even need to mention how the chandelier coming crashing down on stage, from the ceiling of the colossal PSM high above our heads to the stage a few meters ahead of us. One of the most enthralling moments was for me when the entire cast was on stage, in full assemble, lined up across an impressive staircase, in the scene of the Masquerade.
The storyline is nothing less an intriguing work of opera. It is more than the telling of a love affair between a pretty young soprano and a ghastly figure. In the words of Emily Lynn, i.e., the“Christine” of the musical, “it is a story of love in all its forms.” From the fatherly love that Christine misses with the loss of her father, to the awe, intimidation, and affection she feels for the figure of a mysterious master, to the physical and emotional love she feels for Raoul. Simultaneously, we also see the story from the perspective of Raoul, the dashing young nobleman who must transform his nonchalant self into an ambitious and persuasive lover in order to win over Christine.
And of course, the Phantom is a story of his own, an outcast and loathed figure who strives to become both the lover and the master of the pretty and talented Christine. The dynamics among the three, and the clash and conflicting of feelings naturally result in a plot of much action, drama, love, hate, jealousy, plotting, scheming, and desire, all of which keep the audience captivated from start to finish (even though we have all known the story for decades). From the storyline, to the surreal staging, to the amazing costumes, The Phantom of the Opera is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not to miss. The run has been extended until May 17th, and if you have not already seen it, I would grab a ticket quick before it sells out.
