Andrew Lloyd Webbers Stage Musical

On finding a secondhand copy of the oroginal Gaston Leroux novel, Lloyd Webbers attitude to the material was transformed. He was especially impressed that in the novel Christine keeps her promise to return to the Phantom, at his death, the ring he entrusted to her. He also enjoyed the little touches of humour Leroux gave his Phantom - a humour the music deliberatly reflects in the "Shock! Horror!" chords of the title theme. "I was actually writing something else at the time," said Andrew Lloyd Webber, "and I realized that the reason I was hung up was because what I was trying to write was a major romantic story, and I had been trying to do that ever since I stated my career. Then, with the Phantom, it was there!" Next to come into Andrew Lloyd Webbers sights was the director. He went to New York to meet with Hal Prince, who has directed or produced many legendary musicals, Including 'The pajama game,' 'West side Story,' 'Fiddler on the Roof,' 'Cabaret,' and the Rice- Lloyd Webber collaboration, 'Evita.' "Hal told me that what he wanted to do was a great romantic musical. I said, "What do you think about 'Phantom of the Opera?" he said "It sounds terrific, what have you done?" I said, "I havn't really done anything yet, but come and see me in England." ' Hal Prince did and said "yes" immediatly. "I don't usually say 'yes' right away. It was exactly the sort of show I wanted to do - I felt that there was a real need for a romantic show." Prince made a pilgrimage to the Paris Opera and spent many hours climing over every inch of the building, from the subterrainean lake to the topmost pinnacle, where he ventured along narrow catwalks unsupported by handrails and found himself looking down on the roof of the Galeries Lafayette, the city's well-known department store.

The stage designer of the Phantom, Maria Bjornson, carried out a similar reconnaissance with her assistant, which was made even more hazardous by their taking hundreds of Polaroids to serve as a reference when it came to set design.

Success in the Charts

Now that Andrew Lloyd Webber was hard at work composing the music for the rest of the show and determining the final shape that it would take, there were other important, even brutal creative descisions that had to be made. The lyrics for an early draft had been written by Richard Stilgoe, an accomplished writer and musician, who had previously collaborated on 'Starlight Express'. "Richard Stilgoe is a good lyricist, and knows alot about Opera," explained Lloyd Webber, "but I beleived that he would not be able to do it on his own. Romance is a tightrope, and it's very hard to write. It was something that in the end it was my own decision, because as a composer you must get the libretto you want." An old friend and a giant of the musical theatre, Alan Jay Lerner, was approached for help in untangling the story. Lloyd Webber recalled Lerner's reaction: "He said, 'Dear boy, it's your best score so far. You're not in as bad trouble as you think. The main thing you must not do with this plot is to ask too many questions - because it works!' But three weeks later he wrote to me to say that although he would love to do it more than anything, he was too ill." The great lyricist of 'Brigadoon' and 'My fair lady', 'Gigi' and 'Camelot' was shortly to die of cancer. The lyricist eventually chosen was an unknown, found in a musical writers' competition, which, as he later pointed out, he did not even win. Charles Hart was twenty-five and inexperienced, but he had a good musical ear. He was recruited after he had written some lyrics to a tape sent to him by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had not explained that the music was for Phantom. Hart modestly assumed that he was offered the job because he had the same type of typewriter as Tim Rice. In spite of his late arrival to the project, he immediatly grasped the deep romanticism of the story and the specail potency of the situation in which a talented young woman is in thrall to three male figures - her high-born lover, her deceased father and Erik, the Phantom. He worked against the clock to keep up with the flow of Lloyd Webber's music, but his own musical knowledge proved invaluable, allowing the two to communicate in the special shorthand of musicians. As a result, the lyrics were produced in just three months. Although the new version of Phantom was to be closer to the Leroux story than any of the films, it was considerably adapted to heighten its dramatic effect in the theatre. Lloyd Webber beleives that the consititution of a musical is one of the most important ingredients in its success. "Clearly one of the biggest problems was the unmasking of the Phantom. In the cinema, tremendous impact can be made by virtue of a close-up shot, but we had to devise a way that would make the unmasking effective from any point in a big musical theatre. I therefore decided that we had to move the moment of the unmasking to a situation where a large number of characters could react to it, rather than only Christine, as was written in the book. The book gave a perfect clue. There is a scene when Christine describes being alone with the Phantom in his lair... 'Presently I had heard the sound of the organ; and then I began to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about operatic music. What I now heard was utterly different from what had charmed me up to then. His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but he had rushed to his masterpiece to forget about the horror of the moment) seemed to me at first one awful, long, magnificent sob. But, little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. It intoxicated me . . .' What a mervelous opportunity! I decided that if we adapted the plot to include a performance of an opera specially composed for Christine by the Phantom, we could not only introduce a far more modern musical ingredient in the score, but could contrive a situation where the Phantom was not only unmasked in front of many characters, but on the stage of his opera house, in his own opera, in what was supposed to be his night of triumph."

Lloyd Webber's Adaption

Lloyd Webber further altered the plot. His decision to follow the romantic strain of the Leroux novel led to his structuring the denouement of the musical as a trio between Raoul, Christine and the Phantom. Charles Hart observed that there was no intention to follow the storyline of movie versions, nor conversely, to make it seem like a faithful BBC classic serial. Supporting Hal Price for the musical staging and dance sequences was Gillian Lynne, a former dancer turned choreographer and director. There is little dancing in The Phantom of the Opera, but Andrew Lloyd Webber had asked her to join the team, aware that she was over-qualified for the job she would do. She was attracted by the prospect of working with Hal Prince again and her presence in the team enriched the production. She studied the dance styles of the period, and taught the dancers in her small ballet chorus to hold themselves with their arms in front, the torso tilted foreward, eschewing the exaggerated back postures and strained legs of the post-Russian ballet. Maria Bjornson's cleverly designed costumes hung exactly like the tutus and ballet skirts of the 1880s, and audiences were to applaud the Degas-style poses. There was dissapointment for Steve Harley, who had hoped that the part of Phantom would he his. Instead, Lloyd Webber insisted the role should go to Michael Crawford. He had heard Crawford singing when collecting Sarh Brightman from a class held by their teacher, Ian Adam, and was impressed by his vocal range. Crawford celebrated for his physically charged performance in the title role of Barnum, had sung as a boy with the English Opera Group, and was cased by Benjamin Britten in the world premiere of Noah's Flood and Let's Make An Opera. Renowned for his exacting dedication to his craft, Crawford had just gone to the West Indies, on his first holiday in four years, but after three days of frantic telephone calls from London he abandoned it to present himself to the management. It was a brilliant casting group. Crawford not only had the physical agility to express himself with his body when his face was shrouded by its mask and disfiguring makeup, but he was also a fearless stunt performer, having no qualms about balancing precariously on a gilded angel that soars over the audiences heads, or shooting throught the dangerous stage device, the star trap. The Illusionist, Paul Daniels, was brought in to devise certain magic effects to enchance Crawfords performance. The Phantom was able to shoot fireballs from a staff, to appear and disappear at will, and at the end of the show to vanish in front of the audience. Said Crawford: "It was great to be in at the beginning of something. It has been the greatest adventure of my career without a doubt, to be there as it grew."

The Casting

Andrew Lloyd Webber has never hidden the fact that he had his then wife, Sarah Brightman, in mind when he composed the part of Christine, but her selection for the role was not a foregone conclusion, and other acctresses were auditioned. Nor was this an empty exercise: the demands of the role and Brightman's physical frailty required an understudy of comparable quality, and Claire Moon was chosen, eventually taking over as principal Christine when, in early 1987, Sarah Brightman left the cast. "The role of Christine is one of the most demanding I have ever written," said her then husband. "It involves not only being able to sing music covering and enormous range for a considerable length of time, but it also demands that the artist can dance 'on pointe'. My Christine is a member of the corps de ballet. The Phantom beleives in her voice because it represents a new sound in music, purer than a conventional soprano." Christine's transformation from dancer to singer meant that Sarah Brightman was able to use her talents in both these areas. However, it was not easy. As she explained, "The way I use my muscles as a dancer is quite different to the way I use them as a singer. Both methods work agaisnt each other and it was hard for me to seperate the two. It was essential that Christine, a ballet girl suddenly plucked from the chorus to sing a leading role, developed her voice as the plot moved on if Andrew's idea of the character was to work. I had to control my voice and develop it as Christine would have done, so I couldnt start off too strong."

Critical Acclaim

Few shows have generated so much anticipation, and many performances were sold out long before the opening. Advance bookings are a satisfying cushion if the critical notices turn out badly, and expensively mounted successes have often survived an initial lack of enthusiasm. Nevertheless, no producer is happy if the press is hostile. Fortunatly, The Phantom of the Opera impressed the critics. The duo of Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman worked perfectly together. Craford's discipline and energy made him seem ubiquitous, a presence pervading the atmosphere even when not on stage. His tender and hypnotic singing voice, and the tortured body movements of a man constrained emotinally and physically, gripped the audience with as powerful a hold as that of Erik over Christine. Sarah Brightman fulfilled all expectations in a role skilfully fashioned for her by her husband, and delighted that audience with the precision and clarity of her bell-like soprano. Of the whole comapany, Lloyd Webber said, "It was one of the strongest I had ever worked with. It was very exciting, as it was really the first time I had been involved with so many artists who came almost exclusively from an operatic background." The Lloyd Webber score proved to be strongly atmospheric, lushly romantic and also knowingly witty. Meeting head-on those who had scorned his talent for pastiche, he delighted in faking part of a Meyerbeer-esque grand opera, Hannibal, with a scenic elephant, a demented soprano and a chorus of slave girls. The audience went home to spend days with their heads filled with some of the haunting melodies such as, "Music of the night", "All I ask of you", and "Past the point of no return." Among the many technical complications was the make-up of the Phantom. Christopher Tucker was engaged to design a horrific head that would be applied to Crawford's own features six times a week. There were endless journeys from London to Tucker's Berkshire base for a period of three months. The design had to be capable of making the audience even at the back of the upper circle recoil in disgust, without forfeiting sympathy for the misshapen Erik. At the same time, the make-up could not be so overpowering as to prevent him from acting. An inspired addition was a vertical half-mask, which left part of Crawford's face always visible. Contact lenses, however, diminished his vision to such an extent that in some scenes he had to led on to the stage. The physical discomfort of the double layers of latex and the wig proved to be acute "It's like being trapped in a lift - it's quite horrendous," said Crawford. After the show had been running for a few months, he had managed to get the application stage reduced from nearly three hours to just two. Michael Craford felt great sympathy for the character he created: "I feel incredibly sorry for Erik, I feel terific compassion for him. And I think that the audience must also, because I have never seen such a reaction from men and womenalike. They enjoy it in an emotional way. It's as though anyone who has ever felt love will come out crying. They feel sympathy towards the man's plea, that cry he makes at the end. Even Kate, my dresser, wept when she saw it." Another important aspect was the look of Christine. The role as perceived by Lloyd Webber demanded that Christine be a convincing member of the corps de ballet - a physique which is not normally assiociated with operatic sopranos! As Sarah Brightman explained, "In order to prepare for the performance, I found I needed at least three hours prior to curtain up to allow me time for a complete physical, vocal and mental warm-up." Undoubtedly, part of the success of The Phantom of the Opera, launched in London and destined for the world, is a consequence of the creative fusion of some of the most notable talents than at work in the theatre. But there is another factor in the success of The Phantom of the Opera, that of timing. Llyd Webber's gifts include a true theatrical instinct, which allows him to sense what the public is hungry for. He wrote Phantom at a time when the spiky, abraisive, loose-structured musical was loosing its appeal and he sensed that the public wanted a romance and spectacle, proscenium arches and orchestra pits. And now, years after the Lloyd Webber Phantom began stalking stages across the world, he is haunting the cinema. When the idea was first suggested, Lloyd Webber reticent. "I am a theatrical animal," he said. "But now the film has been made and who knows, it might just give us the definitive version of the Leroux legend."

This information consists entirely of exerpts from the book "The Phantom of the Opera Companion." It has been reproduced here for people who do not have access to the book. It is a wonderful book which I recommend everyone who is a fan should buy. I realise some people will not be able to buy it for some reasons (availability, shipping, money etc...) so most of it's Theatre Information can be found on this page. Some of it's information has been excluded though. You should be able to order it from bookstores with it's ISBN 1-86205-691-9 No copyright infringement was intended by this website.