#1
Posted: 4/24/09 at 2:57pm
Anyone here in Southern California who wants an amazing, fantastic evening of music mixed with movie musical theatre should make sure they see this before it leaves. It's at Segerstrom Concert Hall at OCPAC for just two more nights, tonight and Saturday night, April 25th at 8 p.m. Although pricey it was well-worth the money and I'm thinking of seeing it again.
I went to opening night (April 23rd) and it was truly magical. This is a musical recreation of the classic silent film, "Phantom of the Opera" starring Lon Chaney as the Phantom and Mary Philbin as Christine. The Pacific Symphony sits onstage with the huge organ pipes on the back wall plus a screen for the audience to watch this pristine copy of the film, one of only two still available today. Right below the screen is the organ where Dennis James, a renowned silent film accompanist sits to play the organ. He is fantastic! There is also a second screen in the center of the theatre for those sitting higher up to see the movie.
The orchestra plays the score that accompanies the film to perfection which is a recreation of the original one from 1925. The organ music used is a combination of what was used originally in NYC and in London. I loved the Phantom's theme so beautiful even though this Phantom is not likeable at all as in the ALW version. It's so much fun to see how much this story has changed in all the different movie and theatre versions over the year. The opera scenes for Christine and Carlotta are sung by Lisa Vroman who played Christine in the long-running San Francisco production and she was magnificent!
This film was one of the first silent films to experiment with technicolor in certain parts of the film = the Masquerade Ball and it was incredible to watch.
Last year the Pacific Symphony did "The Wizard of Oz" which was good, but this was even better. Can't wait to see what they do next year! If you want an enjoyable evening of musical film theatre this is it.
I went to opening night (April 23rd) and it was truly magical. This is a musical recreation of the classic silent film, "Phantom of the Opera" starring Lon Chaney as the Phantom and Mary Philbin as Christine. The Pacific Symphony sits onstage with the huge organ pipes on the back wall plus a screen for the audience to watch this pristine copy of the film, one of only two still available today. Right below the screen is the organ where Dennis James, a renowned silent film accompanist sits to play the organ. He is fantastic! There is also a second screen in the center of the theatre for those sitting higher up to see the movie.
The orchestra plays the score that accompanies the film to perfection which is a recreation of the original one from 1925. The organ music used is a combination of what was used originally in NYC and in London. I loved the Phantom's theme so beautiful even though this Phantom is not likeable at all as in the ALW version. It's so much fun to see how much this story has changed in all the different movie and theatre versions over the year. The opera scenes for Christine and Carlotta are sung by Lisa Vroman who played Christine in the long-running San Francisco production and she was magnificent!
This film was one of the first silent films to experiment with technicolor in certain parts of the film = the Masquerade Ball and it was incredible to watch.
Last year the Pacific Symphony did "The Wizard of Oz" which was good, but this was even better. Can't wait to see what they do next year! If you want an enjoyable evening of musical film theatre this is it.
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