Three Phantoms (UK Tour)
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
Reviewed on Friday 20th September 2013
The title says it all, Three Phantoms stars three musical theatre performers who have all played the title role in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera. The three performers lead a small cast (including Rebecca Caine, a legendary Christine) and guide the audience through a journey which is a celebration of musical theatre.
Packed with cheesy banter, in their own words Three Phantoms is the "Ryanair of musical theatre", it's a little bit cheap but cheerful. The show kicked off to an awful start with the cast (minus Rebecca Caine) performing Glee's version of Don't Stop Believing. It is an odd song choice and made the cast appear a little dated.
The Les Miserables section which concluded the first act was by far the strongest part of the show. To hear Rebecca Caine, who created the role of Cosette in Les Miserables, perform A Heartful Of Love was a particularly special moment. The cast performed with so much power that if you closed your eyes you would never have guessed that there were only seven performers on stage. As I left the theatre for the interval, I actually spotted one lady who couldn't stop crying, she had clearly been very moved.
The evening featured several numbers from one of my favourite musicals, Spamalot. While the songs are hilarious they didn't quite work out of context and most the audience didn't understand the humour which was a great shame. A performance of 'What Is This Feeling' from Wicked was the worst part of the evening. I was slightly baffled as to why American accents were used and it was an odd song to choose as the number does not work out of context.
The three Phantoms and Rebecca also told several stories about their experiences in The Phantom of the Opera. While their delivery felt slightly over-rehearsed it was a nice touch. Matthew Cammelle, Stephen John Davis and Glyn Kerslake's voice's blend together perfectly, their harmonies were always tight and you could hear a pin drop when they performed together. My two favourite performances were Unchained Melody and, of course, a spellbinding rendition of a hauntingly beautiful arrangement of The Music of the Night.
Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
For further information about the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre click here.
Please visit www.three-phantoms.com for further informatiom, tour dates and tickets.
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Totally agree about the American accents in What Is This Feeling! Would have been better if they had stuck with British accents. It worked well in Manchester as Three Phantoms was on the same night as Wicked so lots of jokes were made about people being in the wrong theatre etc. I'm also a Wicked fan so the song didn't strike me as such a strange choice...the American accents did! Loved the show though and Rebecca was an absolute star!
ReplyDeletewhy would they sing wicked in american accents? I don't understand lol! Want to see this show, just for Rebecca Caine!!!!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps they sang in American accents as that's how the show is written. It's an all American story and the songs were all originally written to be sung in American accents. I have only ever heard and seen it performed this way, so it would be odd to hear it sung in anything but American accents but I guess it must depend on what version of this you have seen first because that will become the norm for you perhaps.
ReplyDeleteThat's a crazy argument. You don't sing in any other accent than your own when you're performing in a concert... they are not playing characters!? Can you imagine watching someone like Alfie Boe singing in an American accent because he's singing 'Maria' from 'West Side Story'??
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