Andrew Lloyd Webber's the phantom of the opera is the world's most successful entertainment event of all time to date grossing about 5.6 billion dollars worldwide and seen by over 130 million people. i personally love this musical, having seen it in London last year and became a "phan" i went on to check the 2004 film adaptation starring Gerard butler as the title role. and absolutely hated it. luckily for me i heard about this special royal Albert hall production released on DVD celebrating the show's 25th anniversary and when i saw it i absolutely loved it. it was spectacular in every sense of the word. the thing that matters most in any production such as phantom is the cast, since one cast member that isn't rightfully cast can ruin the entire show (for instance, butler's casting in the film), but here every cast member was brilliant. ramin karimloo's phantom was exactly what the phantom character needed, having a voice that is intimidating yet caring and tender at the same time, and his acting was also superb. sierra bogges was also perfect as Christine, with a great voice that completely blew my mind away. all the other cast members were also brilliant in their roles, and the casting was ideal in my opinion. the scenery and effects were good, but not perfect. the sets for example was replaced by screens (due to the fact that the royal Albert hall is a concert hall not a theatre, and the sets of phantom are enormous) which was okay, but not as jaw-dropping as in the original London production, also the chandelier effect was barely believable here, instead of rising over the audience like in the original production, the chandelier simply shoots some fireworks and move a little, and at the end of act I instead of crashing down the stage, it shoots fireworks again and turns off it' lights, which might have been effective for the audience sitting in the royal Albert hall, but not very effective for the DVD viewer. still those flaws didn't bother me from enjoying this tremendously. at the end of the show the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (whose music is nearly perfect in every way no matter how much criticism it received over the years) says a few words about the show and introduces the creative teams and original London company to the stage, which was very exciting. the grand final consisted the original Christine daae, the wonderful Sarah brightman performing the mesmerizing title song with 4 phantoms from the past, present and future was wonderful despite the fact that you could hear her breath a little during the first part of the song, but she hit those really high notes at the end perfectly, then the phantoms performed the iconic "music of the night" for one huge encore. all n all this production was awesome, and the next best thing to seeing the show in person, it proves why phantom is so loved and appreciated around the world and why it celebrated 25 years. a huge recommendation to fans of the musical and i think people that aren't familiar with the stage musical will like it too (not everyone though, if they don't like musicals and don't like this kind of repetitive musicals, which doesn't bother me). Andrew Lloyd Webber's the phantom of the opera: the most successful musical of all time is as timeless and haunting as ever in a sweeping breathtaking production. well done to all the ones involved in it.
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