I had tickets to see the National Tour of Phantom – for March 18th 2020. On March 16th 2020 the national lockdown was announced and my trip to the theatre was cancelled at the last minute. To say I was gutted is an understatement.

Last week, fate seemed to play me a good hand when last minute tickets became available for me to go and see Sky Theatre Production perform their version of the iconic classic by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I snapped up the tickets and took my two eldest sons for the final performance of the run and to say I was thrilled is also an understatement. I was VERY thrilled.

Firstly – the venue! A church is the last place you would expect to see a show such as this but it worked perfectly. I had missed Sky Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar that they had previously performed at the church so had no idea what to expect and was suitably impressed.

With tech supplied by Light Up Creative, St Mary’s Church in Melton was turned into an auditorium that did everything in its power to enhance a fabulous show. The acoustics in the church were mastered very well and the sound didn’t overpower – something I am always aware of with a son who needs ear defenders to suppress his sensory overwhelm for some shows. He had them ready but they weren’t needed at all as the levels were just spot on – even as we were sitting just behind the temporary trussing gantry that had been rigged with lights and speakers.

The chandelier also needs its own mention. I can imagine it is quite difficult to create such important moments from such an momentous show but the ideas of the production and tech team managed it adding their own anticipation to the opening of the show and the drama to the end of Act One as the chandelier came crashing down.

The daylight coming through the church windows grew darker almost in perfect timing as the story itself became darker and this simply added to the eerie atmosphere of the performances.

The staging and set was simple yet extremely effective and gave us so many wow moments such as when the Phantom, brilliantly played by Ryan Green, disappeared from view in one part of the stage only to reappear seconds later in another, as well as his magical disappearance right at the end of the show leaving just his mask to be found by Meg (delightfully played by Heidi Wilbourn).

The vocal talent in the cast was astounding – I have already briefly mentioned Ryan’s amazing performance and the journey that he took us on had me switching from loathing for this murderous beast to abject pity that he had become this way following a lifetime of rejection only for the final rejection from his protege, Christine Daae (Katie Morton) to push him over the edge. The triangle of love between the Phantom, Christine and Raoul (Benjamin Studd) was portrayed by these three immensely talented vocal stars. The strength in both their vocals and their acting skills carried you on this magical, and sometimes deadly, journey without a single note out of place – no mean achievement with ALW’s oftentimes complicated score.

The rest of the cast also gave superb performances but a special mention simply has to go to Helen-Mary Boyce whose portrayal of Carlotta was just stunning!! Those notes!!! The comedy value!! The attitude!!! What more do you need?!

As with any ALW show you cannot achieve the dizzy heights of brilliance without a very good orchestra and the eighteen strong pit, led by MD James Stevens, were just that – brilliant. It was wonderful to hear such good live music doing the vocal skills of the cast justice. So much nicer than ‘canned’ music that seems to be becoming more and more prevalent with the cost issues so many productions face (I understand why this is becoming the norm though so not knocking other productions).

Directed and produced by Jak Beasley and Suzanne Forrester with choreography by Jessica Walker every single member of this cast and crew should be so proud of themselves! I have used a lot of positive platitudes in this review but, in all honesty, this production deserves it. It really made up for the loss of my original Phantom tickets in what seems like a lifetime ago.

Looking forward to seeing their next productions – Les Miserables (Schools edition) is on at Melton Theatre from 10th – 14th September 2024 – and SIX (Teens version) in February of 2025. They are also performing School Of Rock with PSA Juniors on 6th and 7th July 2024, again at Melton Theatre but I will sadly miss this due to other commitments.