![The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall [Blu-ray]](/wp_content/uploads/2012/02/51tYXA3WDtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg "The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall [Blu-ray]")
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It’s not quite the Universal Monsters version of the story that I fell in love with as a child, but Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical version of the Phantom of the Opera does hold some limited appeal to monster fans like me. And this new Blu-ray presentation of the 25th Anniversary concert of the popular show is bound to please not only devout fans of the musical but also the most critical of home video fanatic.
- “In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera”, Cameron Mackintosh produced a unique, spectacular staging of the musical on a scale which had never been seen before. Inspired by the original staging by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne, this lavish, fully-staged production set in the sumptuous Victorian splendor of London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall features a cast and orchestra of over 200, plus some very special guest appearances.“
I’ll admit that I got a little swept away by Phantom-mania back in the ’80s, when I was in high school. It’s the musical that tricked me into getting involved with “the theatre.” Those of you not old enough to have been caught up at the time (or old enough to have known better, back in the day) won’t recall the hysteria surrounding the production and the popularity of the cast recordings (that 2-disc set was one of my family’s first CD purchases.) And by that token, might not appreciate why this 25th Anniversary concert recording is rather significant.
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray scratches that itch that many of us were hoping would be taken care of by Joel Schumacher‘s sadly-ineffective 2004 feature film adaptation. It provides a record of a landmark show, well cast this time around and exceptionally well sung, that fans can return to any time they wish to recall memories of skulking around in the shadowy catacombs under the Paris Opera House or the haunting and sometimes far-too-’80s songs from the show they love. The one caveat, I would point out with this production, is that the very talented Ramin Karimloo, who plays the part of the Phantom, isn’t able to restrain his performance in front of the unforgiving HD cameras. I imagine his take on the character must work well when you’re watching it from quite a distance away, seated up in the rafters of the Hall, but it lacks the sense of nuance or realism that would allow for suspension of disbelief in this merciless recorded medium. His twitching fingers and over-dramatic movements never allow the audience to forget they’re watching a performer putting on a show. If I’d been in the director’s chair, I would’ve sat Karimloo down with hours of Chaney on film to teach him how to gesture dramatically without screaming to the world, “I’m acting!”
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall looks amazing on Blu-ray. And it should, as it was shot as recently as a few months ago on modern HD cameras. Detail is fantastic, colour is spot on and contrast is impressive, as you would imagine. The only drawback of the presentation is that the cameras don’t always perfectly resolve the image from the video screens that provide the backdrop set pieces of the show. It’s a minor issue and, I imagine, a rather technical one regarding the interplay of recording speeds on the cams and refresh rates on the screens not always lining up perfectly. You might not even notice it.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on the disc is mostly fantastic, but doesn’t always use the center channel as you’d hope, sometimes dropping dialogue completely. This might be a fault of the live recording because the anomalies also seem to occur in the Dolby Digital 2.0 mix but to a lesser degree. Either way, make certain when you start playing the show that you’ve got the audio track you want to listen to, as the disc tends to default to the lossy DD track, which is mostly likely not your preference.
Special features are, unfortunately, quite limited on the The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Disc. There’s only really a single bonus goodie here – the 17-minute ‘behind the scenes’ doc called Getting Past the Point of No Return. It’s actually pretty decent, if not relatively brief (watch two short snippets embedded above.) But with the show itself running over two-and-a-half hours long, I’m happy not to have too much additional video eating away at its bandwidth. The best possible scenario would’ve been the addition of a second disc featuring interviews and docs about the show, the music, this particular production and the history of the Phantom. A fan can dream. This disc is rounded out with a trailer for a Blu-ray release of Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Getting Past the Point of No Return behind-the-scenes featurette starring the cast and crew
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