Allen Music Studio

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PHANTOM! - NEWS

As the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is about to celebrate a landmark 40th Anniversary at its original London home, His Majesty’s Theatre, Cameron Mackintosh introduces a sensational international cast who have been put together to play for a special, limited birthday season. The 40th Anniversary cast will be led by Broadway star Jordan Donica as The Phantom and Beatrice Penny-Touré’s acclaimed Christine Daaé, with Rhys Whitfield returning to the production as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny.

One of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’s most loved Christines and one of Broadway’s great leading ladies, Sierra Boggess, who starred in the 25th Anniversary production at the Royal Albert Hall in London and also played Christine in Love Never Dies, is now returning as the Prima Donna, Carlotta, opposite Matt Bateman as Piangi. Sierra’s co-star of Love Never Dies, Britain’s Joseph Millson will be playing Monsieur André alongside Ian Pirie as Monsieur Firmin, with the much-loved Joanna Riding as Madam Giry and Millie Lyon as her daughter, Meg. At certain performances the role of Christine will be played by Colleen Rose Curran.

The brilliant original staging of Hal Prince, choreographed by Gillian Lynne, was revised for the post-Covid re-opening of the production in 2021 by Seth Sklar-Heyn and Chrissie Cartwright, and the original stage and costume design by the legendary Maria Björnson was thrillingly restored and updated with even more spectacular effects by Matt Kinley and Jill Parker, dazzlingly lit by Andrew Bridge with associate lighting design by Warren Letton, sound by Mick Potter and Musical Supervision by Simon Lee.

The cast is completed by Harry Apps, George Arvidson, Michael Baxter, Embla Bishop, David Burilin, Polly Clarke, Leonard Cook, Hywel Dowsell, Connor Ewing, Lila Falce-Bass, Florence Fowler, James Gant, Emily George, Melanie Gowie, Molly Hall, Will Hawksworth, Matt Hayden, Nino Hepher, Mandy Kwan, Verity Marlow, Tim Morgan, Inguna Morozova, Skye November, Taylor Pardell, Johnny Randall, Rachel Spurrell, Jasmine Wallis, Victoria Ward, and Alicia Wong.

Happy Birthday to Christoph Willibald Gluck!

Today we celebrate the birth of one of the greatest reformers in the history of opera. Christoph Willibald Gluck transformed 18th-century musical drama by placing emotion, truth, and storytelling above vocal virtuosity, paving the way for composers such as Mozart, Berlioz, and Wagner.

His masterpieces continue to remind us that music is at its most powerful when it serves the drama and speaks directly to the human heart.

“Simplicity is the language of true greatness.”

The Napoleon Hat Shape Piano, commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1853 as a wedding gift for Napoleon III, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.