Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical)
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| Phantom of the Opera | |
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| Music | Adapted by: Ken Hill |
| Lyrics | Ken Hill |
| Book | Ken Hill |
| Based upon | The Phantom of the Opera 1911 novel by Gaston Leroux |
| Productions | 1976 Lancaster 1984 Newcastle 1987 St. Louis 1988 San Francisco 1989 U.S. Tour 1991 West End 1992 Japanese tour 1992 World tour 2004 Tokyo |
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Phantom of the Opera is a 1976 musical adaptation of the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, written and adapted by Ken Hill. Ken Hill's musical is a unique adaptation of Gaston Leroux's classic novel, dealing with the hideously disfigured Phantom's amorous obsession with the magnificent, naive singer, Christine. Writing original English lyrics to the music of Verdi, Gounod, Offenbach, Mozart, Weber and Donizetti, Hill created an evening of murder, mystery, and song. It is a return to Gaston Leroux’s original story and its long-forgotten humour. Hill felt, like Leroux, the Opera Ghost is not merely a "creature of the imagination of the artiste," rather he is a spirit who will touch all those who enter the theatre.
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[edit] History
Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera was the first musical version of The Phantom of the Opera. Ken Hill’s version is often overlooked when it comes to stage versions of the famous Phantom of the Opera tale by Gaston Leroux. Hill's musical is said to have inspired the award-winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version of the story, although he never received any formal royalty for it.
As Ken Hill rummaged through a junk shop, he picked up a copy of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera novel and decided on the very same day to produce it as a stage musical in the original form - using the author's vision. He set to work straight away and a few months later it was complete. Apparently, the show started off as a production at Morecambe Pier, but was also first staged when Hill was working as Director of Productions for the Newcastle Playhouse. This first production was produced at The Duke’s Playhouse, Lancaster on July 26, 1976, where it proved to be a hit. It was directed by John Blackmore, designed by Clare Lyth, with musical direction by Gary Yershon. It differed from the later version of Ken Hill’s musical, in having a modern musical score by Ian Armit (who also worked with Hill on his production of The Curse of the Werewolf) in addition to excerpts from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod.
The musical was then forgotten about until 1984, when Hill was in much need of a new show. Remembering the success he had with his original version of The Phantom of the Opera, he decided to revive it. This time though, he wanted to add the kind of music that would have been heard at the Opéra Garnier in the late nineteenth century. Consequently he discarded the modern score by Ian Armit and wrote original English lyrics that told Gaston Leroux’s tale. By placing them to opera arias by Gounod, Offenbach, Verdi, Weber and Donizetti, he created a musical that reflected the era in which the original novel was written. This updated version of The Phantom of the Opera was produced in a joint production by the Newcastle Playhouse and the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and premiered at the Newcastle Playhouse on April 3, 1984, before shortly moving to the Theatre Royal Stratford East. In between, the show had two very brief runs at the New Tyne Theatre, Newcastle and the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton - neither of those productions did very well. When the show got the Theatre Royal Stratford East, Sarah Brightman, who created the role of Christine in the Lloyd Webber version, was famously asked to perform the role of Christine in the 1984 cast but she turned it down, leaving the role for the opera singer Christina Collier.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who at the time was married to Brightman, and Cameron Mackintosh attended a performance of Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Prompted by the good reviews, they approached Hill about the possibility of their collaborating on developing a grand scale version of his Phantom in the West End, and offered to produce it. In fact, Hill and Webber were already friends, having worked together earlier on a revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Winchester Theatre. Webber and his producer, Cameron Mackintosh had been highly enthusiastic when they broached Hill about his Phantom of the Opera. But in the end, Webber chose to pursue the musical without Hill.
Phantom of the Opera then emerged on the other side of the Atlantic in 1987 for its American premiere in St. Louis at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. This production starred Sal Mistretta as The Phantom - his performance won him the St. Louis Theatre Critics Award. A second US production was mounted in 1988 in San Francisco at the Theatre in the Square, produced by Jonathan Reinis.
The productions of Phantom of the Opera in St. Louis and San Francisco were so successful that Hill was asked to mount a national tour of the United States. Jonathan Reinis (who later produced Ken Hill’s The Invisible Man in London) formed Phantom Touring Company Inc. who acted as the producers for the tour, along with Electric Factory Concerts. The tour began in 1989, with musical arrangements and designs by the original Newcastle Playhouse team. It performed for a few years to packed houses all over America, travelling to approximately 110 cities, and grossing a total of $72 million.
In 1991, Phantom of the Opera returned to the United Kingdom where it embarked on a national tour and then transferred to London’s West End. It opened at The Shaftsbury Theatre on December 18, 1991, with a similar cast to the 1984 production - Peter Straker was The Phantom and Christina Collier as Christine. But despite positive reviews, the West End production did poorly at the box office and was forced to close earlier than expected, on April 11, 1992. However, the production was nominated for two Olivier Awards (equivalent of the Broadway Tony Awards) for Best New Musical and Best Director of a Musical, the latter of which placed Ken Hill against Simon Callow and Judi Dench.
[edit] Musical Numbers
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[edit] Further productions
A new song was added to the show in 1992, especially for the first Japanese Tour, based upon an aria by Antonín Dvořák. The title of it was "All Of My Dreams Faded Suddenly" and is sung by the character Christine. It replaced "Love Has Flown, Never Returning," but not before the latter had been recorded onto the West End cast recording of Phantom of the Opera. It still remains there, and the newer song was never recorded and released officially.
Since 1992, Phantom of the Opera has toured the world, in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom. The most recent UK tour took place in 2000/2001 and was produced by Chris Moreno at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln. It has been said that modern productions of Phantom of the Opera tend to place emphasis on the camp side of the show, sometimes poking fun at the Lloyd Webber version.
The most recent production of Phantom took place in 2004 in Tokyo, Japan running from November 10, 2004 to November 28, 2004. It was produced by Stewart Macpherson who originally produced the West End production in 1991.
[edit] Recording
The official cast recording of the show, was released in 1993 by D Sharp Records. It featured the entire West End (Shaftesbury Theatre) cast, and includes all the songs in the show. It was also later released by two other record labels; Stetson Records (an off-shoot of The Stetson Group), and BMG. The latter versions of the CD were mainly sold in Japan (in Japanese packaging), Australia and New Zealand, on national tours.
[edit] Related links
- Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera fan website
- Phantom's Mask - Phantom Discussion Forum
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