KEY POINTS:
Since its London debut in 1986 The Phantom of the Opera has spawned a plethora of productions throughout the world and with box-office receipts surpassing Cats, the show can accurately lay claim to being the world's most popular musical.
To explain the phenomenal appeal of the show, the obvious place to start is the music - lush, eerie and intensely romantic.
You would have to search deeply through Andrew Lloyd Webber's oeuvre to find a song that comes close to matching the extraordinarily seductive power of Music of the Night.
Then there is the spectacle; a wildly extravagant set design, sumptuous costumes, dazzling lighting effects, exuberantly theatrical staging, the haunting presence of the phantom and the gothic mystery of candlelit descent to a subterranean lake.
But The Phantom is more than the sum of its parts and for me the weird allure of the show comes from the narrative which adds intriguing layers of complexity to the Beauty and the Beast stories.
The ancient roots of the myth are inferred by a captivating plaster frieze on the proscenium arch that shows a grotesque assemblage of satyrs grasping at lithely elusive nymphs. The archetype creates a springboard for a complex and strikingly contemporary account of a young singer lured into a Faustian bargain with a diabolical genius who is haunted by rejection and tormented with indefinable yearning.
In the role of the phantom Anthony Warlow delivers an electrifying performance - dangerously deranged and explosively malevolent but at key moments a tremulous voice reminds us of the damaged soul lurking beneath the mask.
The show's Kiwi connection is admirably upheld by Andrea Creighton's comic turn as the fading prima donna Carlotta and by Ana Marina as Christina - the chorus girl who becomes the phantom's protege. Marina beautifully embodies the character's innocence and purity but also conveys an inner strength that lends credibility to her decisive action in the heart-wrenching climax.
Blockbusters of this kind often give the impression that the world's finest theatre designers have been employed to draw attention away from the thinness of the show but with The Phantom the bravado effects are woven into the fabric of the story and the most compelling moments arise out of simple human interaction between the main characters. The Phantom is romantic not as a love story but in its affirmation of Romanticism - intense passions and mysterious forces collide with the frivolous, mercantile business of an opera company.
At a time of economic uncertainty the show invites us to throw caution to the wind and surrender to the music of the night.
