The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

Ah, it's been so long. A month has passed since I last blogged, or so I think. 

Anyway, I"M SO EXCITED to talk about this one... THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!

Honestly, I don't know if my judgement is of any weight in value since I have never witnessed a musical play (Philippine literature such as Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura, etc aside). This is the first time I have watched the Phantom of the Opera at all! But I must say it was superb! It was awesome, fantastic, amazing, and magnificent! It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and that ain't even a word, Mary Poppins! I was going to say "magical" but let's leave that to the kids and Disney, but I  digress.

Pardon me for not summarizing the story, it would definitely bore you and make this blog boring, and I do not want to contradict my excitement and kill the momentum so I'm just going to tell you how beautiful it is. Of course, I'm going to use my "professional" judgement as a Speaks member.

First, the actors. They did a splendid job. Their vocalization, their voice projection, their expressions of emotions, their gestures, everything was spot on. It is true that it takes a lot of time to rehearse this but it isn't as simple as being a movie actor. What they present on stage is pure, raw talent. There are no multiple takes nor are there any editing teams and soft wares to delete mistakes and add special audio and visual effects. What the stage actors present to the audience is nothing but days, weeks, months, and years of honed skill, dedication, and perseverance, and yes, the audience feels it.

Next would be the setting. The stage may be a big place, but it isn't big enough compared to a small room with green screen. Props have been made specially for each and every scene. Everything was handcrafted. Everything was made to be engraved with detail and precision, which overall makes the setting all the more realistic, but what really astounded me was the transitions. Ah yes, the transitions killed it. I noticed that whenever the scenes transitioned, the props where set in place as quick and as smooth. The stage lights would be cut for about three seconds then BOOM -another scene with another set of props are set on stage waiting for the actors' dialogues to commence. Ah, it was brilliant.

Lastly, the music. Jesus, take the wheel, the music was breathtaking. I didn't realize till the halfway through the play that the stage had a balcony or "second storey". It contained the orchestra. Dozens of musicians led by the orchestra master or whatever you call the awesome old dude with the stick blasted away the roof off the place with such mellow, smooth, fast-paced, thrilling, or whatever kind of music that accompanies the mood or theme of the scene! It was pure, raw music as well. There were no DJ's to mix recorded pieces, nor were there any editors as well that smoothed out "rough" parts. It was entirely MAGICAL. There, I said it, MAGICAL. It's just something beyond my belief that people can do this... people can actually combine and fuse together different forms of art and literature such as music, speech, and drama. It may be a pity that most people don't appreciate works of art like this one. Nonetheless, I am proud and honored to have witnessed such a beautiful piece, part, and parcel of heaven imparted to my life. So this is what the one percenters call "Theater".