The Phantom of the Opera has been said to be a musical that is stuck in the 80s, when Andrew Lloyd Webber created his masterpiece. GMTG, however, could not have proved this statement more wrong. From the outset, there was anticipation in the air that was matched by the brilliant singers and orchestra as the show began to unfold.
Josh Sood, the musical director, and his orchestra worked extraordinarily hard to produce a brilliant sound to accompany the performance. From beginning to end, they were a strong and bright ensemble, exactly what was needed to keep the excitement bubbling. Not a cue was out of place, not an instrument sounded out of tune and it was even unclear as to whether a recording of the orchestra was being played due to the tidy mixing of the instruments. The orchestra truly made the production a slick and dazzling performance.
Jake Dorrell and Joanna Goldspink stole the show as the comical double-act of Piangi and Carlotta. Their comedic timing and impressive singing led the audience into fits of laughter time and time again, a match well made to keep a light feel to what was a dark and mysterious musical.
Andrew Wilson (Phantom) and Abby Fiddik (Christine) were two powerful lead characters. They captivated the audience with their clear voices and moved around the stage with strong presence.
Other notable characters deserve a mention, Ben Cuffin-Munday (Monsieur Firmin) and Peter Brooks (Monsieur André) complemented each other as a team and Thom Udall (Raoul) stood out as an impressive singer matched against the Phantom.
The choreography throughout the performance was mesmerising, a special shout out to Emily Bowers and Lorna Newman who made use of the whole stage with their dancers and kept an elegant backdrop to important moments in the musical.
The Phantom of the Opera is an over-the-top performance that GMTG managed to portray well with the use of pyrotechnics that had many audience members crying out in surprise. The heavy mist that rolled out onto the stage throughout the production created the the strange and sinister setting of the musical.
GMTG is a very capable society that has clearly shown that the sky is the limit when it comes to putting on musicals. The Phantom of the Opera presents many difficult issues that GMTG overcame to create a wonderful evening of entertainment.
By Bethany Bagnall-Ainslie
UoB Blogfest 
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