“The Phantom of the Opera” Performances in Unibet Arena
Text Stewart Johnson Photo Giulia Marangoni
Arguably the world’s most famous musical, “The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber will be performed six times in Tallinn’s Unibet Arena between 5–10 May. In honour of the 40th anniversary of this massively popular operatic-style performance, “Phantom” will be performed in its entirety in the original English for the first time in Estonian history.
Webber’s musical is based on a novel by the same title originally published as a serial starting in 1909. This novel by Gaston Leroux, originally titled “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra”, takes place in the actual Paris opera house—the Palais Garnier. The plot is inspired by actual events and rumours surrounding the early years of the opera house. For example a small fire in the roof caused the cable holding the chandelier to snap, resulting in several injuries, and one death. There had always been stories of a ghost in the opera house…
What’s more is that the underground lake from the novel, and consequently the musical, is real. It’s actually a massive cistern, still used today for training firefighters for working in the dark. In the fictional story however, this “lake” is the route to the Phantom’s lair, and audiences can see it on stage.
“The Phantom of the Opera” production in Tallinn will be by Broadway Entertainment Group. Georgia Wilkinson is confirmed for the role of Christine Daaé. Worth noting is that “Phantom” was performed just short of 14,000 times in the Majestic Theater on Broadway, holding the record for the longest-running show in Broadway history. In fact, it was the first Broadway show to celebrate a 20th anniversary, even though the show itself lasted for 35 years.
The official website for “Phantom” is in Estonian here, and tickets for all performances are available here.
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