Last night my love and I went to see what I believe to be the first local production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, performed by a high school, since the rights were released for high schools to performa Phantom. We attended a performance at William A. Shine's Great Neck South High School. I was very excietd and very curious to see the show and to compare it to the Broadway production.
Considering the high school probably worked on this production for possibly 3 months only (I'm still not quite sure about all the production details) they pulled together and did a pretty amazing job. Most of the scenes and musical numbers mimicked the broadway show but on a smaller scale although there were differences. I have some video clips (I was surprised I managed to get away with taking a few photos and video) which I will post to youtube, facebook and picasa sometime very soon.
Aaron Mor played the phantom, he did a wonderful job voice and acting wise. I have some of the final scene on video but couldn't finish taping because as always I started boohooing at the end. This kid blows Gerard Butler away voice wise. He's much better.
Karen Notovitz performed Christine very well, she managed to pull of Christine's high notes very well, which could have gone the other way as high school singers may not be as developed as a Broadway singer.
The real star of the show to me though was Jane Coons as Carlotta. She stole the show, she performed the role of the diva to a T and her voice was amazing, this young girl has great range for her voice and was an excellent Carlotta.
The set pieces, sets and costume as well as lighting were all very good. I liked the dancers costumes from the Il Muto scene best for this production. Christine and Carlotta's costumes mimicked the broadway costumes but were less elaborate, they were still pretty good though. The Phantom's costume was great, and make up did a pretty good job with the deformity, they gave him gray hair after he was unmasked which is pretty interesting.
Overall I can give the great neck high school's production a pretty good review, at the end of the performance I met the show's director and gave him my Phantom PHan business card with my contact information. I'm hoping he will contact me and I can score an interview or something for a bonus blog entry. It would be nice to get more pictures and hopefully some interviews.
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For a person so young, Aaron Mor's performance and voice was mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteAgreed my love!
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