Life With….

On Friday my brother drove down and we attended a traveling performance of Phantom of the Opera at DPAC.   Thus I began two weeks of shows with what can only be described as an opulent, bombastic traveling show.  I am not sure that a minimalist verison of Phantom would ever work – given the texture of the music – but there was nothing toned down about the sets.  Though some of the performances were not what I would wish having listened extensively to the original London cast recording numerous times, but they were better then most touring company’s.  This is probably due to the length of time they have been together – the lavishness of the set and score – and the length of stay in venues – in Durham they are here a month.  They have a larger retinue then most casts, and this makes it more cohesive.   While it ran a little long in places, the show was fun, and having not seen it for years and years, it;s spectacle was amazing to see, even if the characters were a bit wooden in places, particularly Meg, Christine, and the lead Male opera singer were all disappointing to me.

The sets were lavish – and multiple.  There was two different stage productions for lavish operas embedded in the story.  There was the phantom’s lair in a underground lake complete with candelabra, in addition to the backstage sets, and of course the lobby for masquerade and the top of the opera house. (appreantly a sequel to the show is oepning in my March, set on Coney Island, which seems both uncessary and odd).

Having been to the Paris Opera House and read the book – ti was still fun to remind myself that the gorgeous

While it was not a transporting experince as theater can often be it was worth seeing and one of the better traveling productions i have seen recently.

I am following up by seeing two more drams based off of 19th century literature.  Wednesday and Friday I will see Nicolas Nickleby parts 1 and 2 at Playmakers and a week from Wednesday I am seeing Jane Eyre at ManBitesDog.  December seems the right month for the Gothic drama of Jane Eyre, and I am intrigued to see how Nickleby with its many characters and plots will be adapted to the stage – it is one of my favorite of Dickens’s works.  I will be sure to let you all know how they go!

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Create Your Badge  All text and copyrights preserved by the author for words and original pictures and may not be used without author's permission. For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/peebesalgy or contact me directly through http://www.peebesalgy.com/blog/contact-me/ Courtney Brown | Create Your Badge