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Eight years after the crystal chandelier dropping from the dome of the Culture Center, the Phantom is coming back to Hong Kong this December.
The 130 cast, crew and orchestra members of the Phantom of the Opera are now in town for 33 performances at the Asia World Expo Arena.
The original mask of the Phantom displayed in Hong Kong's 1010 Flagship Store in Central. APD/Zhu Yi
As the Broadway classic, the Phantom of the Opera is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most successful musicals, which has played more than 10,000 shows in both New York and London.
With a total box office now estimated at approximately US$5.6 billion, The Phantom of the Opera has a bigger box office than any film yet made. It has sold more theatre tickets than all six Star Wars films combined, out grossed The Lord of the Rings, and doubled the take (US$2.8 billion) of the highest grossing film to date, Avatar.
Rainer Fried, Assistant Director of the Phantom of the Opera interviewed by APD reporter in Landmark Mandarin Oriental on15, Dec. APD/Zhu Yi
"There's something in this show which I call it 'magic' ", Rainer Fried, the show's Assistant Director said, "the show has its magic to keep people coming back."
Takes the leading role on Broadway and in both U.S. and Asia tour, Brad Little played the Phantom on stage for more than 2,250 times and he is going to have his 20th anniversary of taking the role of the Phantom next February.
Brad Little, the actor taking the leading role of the Phantom in the show interviewed by APD reporter in Landmark Mandarin Oriental on 15, Dec. APD/Zhu Yi
As long as it's hard to explain the reason of the show's huge success, both Fried and Little gave the credit to Maria Bjornson, the Tony Awards winner for the scenic and costume design for the Phantom of the Opera in 1988. Each design people see on the stage has its prototype in the Paris Opera House, Fried said.
This new production will be staged in a specially constructed 4,200-seat theatre environment in the Asia World Expo Arena. The venue can hold many more than 4,200 seats, but it will be converted to emulate an oversized theatre. Two big screens will be set on both sides of the stage where the audience will be able to discover every impression on the actors' faces, Fried said.
Worldwide, the musical has been seen by 80 million people in 124 cities and in 13 languages in its 28 years' history. It's much more interested and rewarding for him to perform the show in Asia, Little said, for the reason that he could be the first people to deliver this classic show to some audience here and even could be the first artist to introduce the form of art of musical.
Principle cast of the Phantom of the Opera, Brad Little(L), Claire Lyon(C) and Anthony Downing(R) in Hong Kong's Central. APD/Zhu Yi
Together with the gothic theatricality and some celebrated songs with romantic melodies, Hong Kong audience will get a fantastic experience with "life-changing power", according to Fried. Having a different cultural background with western audience, Fried said, this story can be related to everyone who comes to watch the show.
However, this story of love, obsession and murder may not be strange to the local audience. The Chinese adaption of the French novel "Le Fantome de l'Opera" has been filmed into China's first horror movie in 1937. Meanwhile, the most renowned version of the Chinese Phantom of the Opera, "The Phantom Lover", was starred by Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong's most respected singer and actor who had committed suicide eleven years ago.
