The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall(2 Disc Set)

The longer a show runs, the more people are going to get protective of their favourite cast/company/performance. This is then amplified the more times that show is then recorded (officially recorded, ha). So that the next time ANOTHER version comes out you wonder, is it worth it? And the bottom line is, sometimes it is and sometimes it's not. So is this one? The short answer is yes. It is worth it 100%.

Why? 3 reasons: the cast, the orchestra, and the 4 Phantoms (no Sarah sadly, but I'll get to that). So, first orchestra. While this score would probably still sound good with a 10 piece, letting it blast with a 200 piece just sends it through the roof. And while some got irritated by the edition of a few modern sounding instruments (such as an electric guitar) I personally liked it. I think it gave it an edge it has never had before.

Next, the 4 Phantoms. To be completely fair Colm Wilkinson was the only one I personally recognized as a Phantom Past but the four sounded so beautiful together it made me wish I had seen them all. And yes, the CD only features "Music of the Night" and not the duet with Sarah Brightman. Why? I have no idea. But it, and some editing choices are the only bad things to say about this recording.

Lastly, the cast. Even characters beyond the 3 central seem more in dept and more thought out than I've ever seen before (and I've seen the movie and various live productions). I don't mean to short change them in this review but I've probably lost most of you already so I'll just jump to the central 3 after a brief mention that everyone sounds fantastic. First, Hadley Fraser as Raoul. I have to admit, Raoul as a character has always irritated me. I'm not really sure why, but he has...until now. Again, I'm not sure what is it about Hadley's voice and performance but for the first time I actually enjoy Raoul's presence in the story. Plus, Hadley's voice is just so rich and, for lack of a better word, so self assured it makes him perfect as the rich aristocrat. Now, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. In my opinion, the best pairing of Erik and Christine I've ever seen/heard. Sierra brings a softness and a openness along with her beautiful soprano that just knocks her songs out of the park. It is also the first time a Christine has sounded so equally (yet differently)good with both her Raoul and her Phantom. Which brings me to Ramin. His take on the character is so unique to anything I've seen and it just makes it for me. He starts as the Angel of Music, big and impassioned.Then you can hear more of the Phantom, darker and rougher. And then, you hear Erik, who is just so HUMAN. There's just a pure rawness to his voice (yes, I know that's an oxymoron) that I love and makes me hum the score for days after listening to it.

So, is it perfect? Due to the lack of a encore, a 6 minute speech, and some editing choices, no it isn't. Is it still my favourite recording and definitely worth your times listening to? Yes.

First I must fully disclose that I am not an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan but that said, I do think Phantom is a very good work and theatrical piece. I saw the show in London during previews and later in New York when it just opened and both times I was never completely satisfied by the original production however in the theater. Nor did I warm to the original CD recording. Michael Crawford certainly did an admirable job with the part but something just struck me as wrong about his casting. First, his choir-boy voice was just not up to the musical requirements of this part, some of his darker high notes sounding disembodied and in performance I kept having the feeling that they were overdubbed. The current Phantom on this new recording Ramin Karimloo is a highly accomplished singer and sings the part with ease. He also played the Phantom in the sequel Love Never Dies. His performance brings new life to this role and it's nice to hear the score sung beautifully by him. Sarah Brightman was well-suited for the histrionics of Christine's part but I never warmed to her tiny, strained voice. Sierra Boggess is a very accomplished singer who nicely compliments Ramin Karimloo. In addition to the fact that these performances are solid, there's more of the original score on this recording. The live quality of the performance also lends some excitement to the work.

When this concert was announced last year I was giddy with excitement - I was a big fan of Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess from Love Never Dies, and I've never been a Sarah Brightman fan, so for them to do a concert with these two in the leads was a dream come true. The performances all around are great. Like I said, Ramin and Sierra are a great pair as the Phantom and Christine, and I thoroughly enjoy hearing Hadley Fraser sing Raoul (as a fan of The Pirate Queen, I've always been eager to hear him in more cast recordings).

Originally this CD was set to me released in November, and I was disappointed to see it pushed back to February. I assumed they discovered after the performance that they needed more time to edit the audio before releasing it on disc. After listening to it, I can't help but wonder what they edited, if anything. There are several points where there are awkwardly long moments of silence or filler instrumental where all you hear are the actors breathing/sighing/grunting/what have you. I imagine that if I were watching the video of this, there would be something going on - not the case here! I wish they would have taken the time to edit out the few bits that kind of stop the audio performance dead.

Those are just minor annoyances if anything. The deciding factor between making this a 4 and a 5 was the omission of the four Phantoms quartet singing the title song. Now the second disc is absolutely packed, only a few seconds short of the 80-minute capacity of a CD. But at the end of "Down Once More," there are well over FOUR MINUTES of just applause, which could have been edited down with little effort. And in the "Grand Finale" track, although they cut their all-star quartet, they somehow saw fit to leave in close to six minutes worth of Andrew Lloyd Webber making a speech. I'm sorry, but when you're deciding what to omit for a CD release, I don't see how there is even a question between cutting an event-exclusive quartet or ten minutes of applause and speech (things that, again, would be fine on DVD, but not when I'm listening to music!). Luckily they did leave in the Music of the Night sung by the quartet, but the logic behind cutting the first half of this baffles me.

In conclusion, wonderful cast and performance, but not much thought given to adapting the audio for a MUSIC CD release.