Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary review

With the “Phantom of the Opera” recently celebrating its 27^th anniversary on West End October 9, let us take a flashback to the 25^th anniversary that was performed live two years ago.  The 25^th anniversary is on DVD in London, the United States, Japan and is now on Netflix as well.

The 25^th anniversary features the Phantom sequel “Love Never Dies” co-stars Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, along with Hadley Fraser, portraying the three main characters. This was not Karimloo and Boggess’ first time on the Phantom stage, Karimloo was a famous Phantom since he took on the role in 2008 on West End at age 28. Boggess was the first Christine in the Las Vegas production, “Phantom-The Las Vegas Spectacular” in 2006, where “Phantom of the Opera” creator, Andrew Lloyd Webber, first noticed her. The entire cast did a great job performing, and the acting and singing is amazing.

The anniversary performance took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London and was seen worldwide with the use of recording cameras, it was also Karimloo’s last performance as The Phantom. The 25^th anniversary performance had an encore performance after the play with Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones, Anthony Warlow, Peter Joback and Ramin Karimloo singing “The Music of the Night” and special guest star Sarah Brightman (Original West End and Broadway and Christine) singing “The Phantom of the Opera.” Original West End and Broadway Phantom, Michael Crawford, also made a guest appearance, but did not sing. It is a great performance and highly recommended for any “Phan” to have and add to their Phantom collection.

I agree with this reviewer, “The Phantom Reviewer” for the most part. The part that I did not agree with was the harsh criticism of Sarah Brightman’s encore performance, where they talked about her “flying away” and “big eyes” (her acting techniques). I do agree with what they said about Hadley Fraser portraying Raoul, and the character Christine having to hold him back at the end of the “Final Lair” scene. I do not particularly like the little fangirling moments focused on Ramin Karimloo, I’m a fangirl too, but when I watch this DVD I keep it as professional as possible.