Review: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Kristianstads Teater

In Guide Michelin, three stars mean that the restaurant is so good that it is worth a trip of its own, and it was really worth traveling from Stockholm to Kristianstad just to see Emil Sigfridsson's production of Phantom of the Opera. As they say at the beginning, this is not the West End, it is not Broadway, but it is Emil's Phantom at the small Kristianstad theater.

They had dot find their own creativesolutions because it is a smaller stage than it is usually played on and it is not possible to make the same technical solutions. The budget is lower as well. But this means that the musical itself comes across in a completely grander way, you are not enchanted by candelabras that come up from the floor, a gondola that slides forward in the fog or an ornate large elephant, but here you are enchanted by John Martin Bengtsson (The Phantom), Hanna Ulvan (Christine), Jonathan Böiers (Raoul), Anna Hammarqvist (Charlotta) and the others on stage and the musicians in the orchestra pit under the direction of the incomparable Julian Bigg. The majority on stage have other jobs, but together on stage they lift each other up and become full-fledged musical artists. John Martin has a voice that is so perfect and he has tremendous empathy in his interpretation of the Phantom, absolutely one of the best I have seen. Hanna Ulvan's sweet voice enchants all of us in the audience.

The stage solutions they have made are really good and shows that Phantom can be staged on small theaters as well without losing anything. It's only the elephant in Hannibal that feels a bit low-budget. It works just as well for the lights to come down from the ceiling as up from the underground on the floor or slide in from the side. One of my favorite scenes in Fantomen is Masquarade because it's so grand with the whole ensemble on stage at the same time and it was just as powerful on the small stage, almost better, because now it wasn't filled with puppets on the stairs but the ensemble filled the whole stage and that felt bigger than it is. Very impressive and grand.

There is probably only one thing I wish they had worked on a little more and that is the lighting. Felt that there was too much darkness and shadows on the faces in some critical scenes where I would have liked to see the facial expressions and the emotional play. But even that didn't stop me from several times getting shivers from the singing and the music. A truly magical experience. It was also noticeable that Julian Bigg was given a bit of free rein here because there are a bit extra long notes in some places. Such luxury with a live orchestra in this class. This was Julian Bigg's last performance in this set and he was thanked and told himself how great it was to be part of this special set that didn't follow the fixed concept and he knows having worked for 30 years with the Phantom around in the world.

I've probably seen the Phantom around 30 times, at the Oscars, West End, Broadway, Circus and Gothenburg Opera's modern production, and I'm incredibly impressed by how well they succeeded with it here in Kristianstad. If I lived closer, I would not only have gone there once, but several times. Pretty much every show has been sold out and they have extended some shows and everything else would have been weird. The people of Kristianstad can really consider themselves lucky to have such a fine theater and then Emil Sigfridsson who puts on this type of production here.

This is musical magic - a big musical on a small stage.

There are only a few shows left and they are sold out, red light until the end. But keep an eye out for what Emil Sigfridsson will stage next at this fine theatre. It will be really exciting to see what he comes up with next.

To post a comment, you must register and login.