Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall [Blu-ray] [US Import]

Totally mind blowing performance of Phantom, best I have ever seen, the extra 30 mins at the end also very informative.

It is in well great quality and well wrapped and done up. Very excited in playing it. Would defintely recommend it to anyone who likes opera and orchestra. When I first watched it on TV I thought it was good and I enjoyed it so that is when I decided to order this dvd right after I last watched it.

A great dvd

Great dvd if you like this musical.

Already had this disc but lent it to someone and never got it back. It's so good I bought it twice! But a brilliant adaptation fantastic seeing Michael Crawford at the end, thoroughly enjoyed it, arrived earlier than it was meant to, good all round 👍

Recently I bought the DVD of the 25th anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Be prepared for this review not to be all a-twitter with adoration.I do not like the Raoul of the 25th anniversary - he always seems to be angry about something, and is completely dismissive of Christine's fears, more so than I heard in Patrick Wilson or Steve Barton.For vocals, I like Barton's Raoul the most. Sierra Boggess during "The Point of No Return" and "Think of Me" displayed exceptional emotions and vocals, but I got the distinct impression that she has only a single, default facial expression.The lack of the chandelier rising and falling in the Royal Albert Hall was incredibly disappointing, but the Royal Albert Hall doesn't have the architecture necessary to employ the necessary rigging. The Phantom's disfigurement makeup seemed a little toned-down.To borrow a phrase from a different reviewer:"Ramin [Karimloo] might make a good Phantom...when he grows up."I could have done without the mutual stroke-fest at the end, when Andrew Lloyd Webber came onstage. "Five Phantoms" was decent, except for the presence of Sarah Brightman. Twenty-five years ago, in 1986, when she played Christine, she was very good - the most perfect Christine of that era, to my ears. She's now past her prime, trying to play a character she's too old for, and doesn't seem to understand that waving her arms about as she sings distracts from her vocal performance.Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. One of those stars is awarded simply for finally putting the original stage show into an affordable format.

Saw on big screen so had to have for my collection

Cards on the table, briefly: I've seen Phantom twice in the theatre, both times more than a decade ago. I liked aspects of the film, but the vocals offered by the Phantom let it down. Some decisions were baffling too, like the design of the Masquerade scene with its total lack of colour. Les Mis is my favourite musical, but Phantom is up there. It and Superstar stand well above Lloyd-Webber's other shows, for me.Seeing a proper staged version, set in the majesty of the Albert Hall, was an intriguing prospect, made even more so by the overwhelming number of positive reviews. I love the two Les Mis concerts, particularly the 10th Anniversary, but it's a real shame there doesn't exist a direct equivalent of this production for that show.As other reviews indicate, the staging is imaginative and well-implemented, making intelligent use of the space available in the Albert Hall. Choreography is faultless and the costumes sublime. The Masquerade scene makes up for the one from the film and then some in its lavish, colourful splendour. There are a couple of effects lost from the theatre - the chandelier doesn't move, and some of the visuals are achieved via LED screens - but overall the feeling of watching a full performance is very much there.Ah, performance. The performances really shine. Bad or even uneven casts often annoy me, but there's none of that here. Vocals are indeed about 10 million times better than in the film, and even compare favourably to the original London cast album CDs which I've owned and enjoyed for years (and owned on cassette before that).Ramin Karimloo offers a sublime level of tonal control in his voice, providing everything needed to sing the challenging part of the Phantom. He switches from soft, sublime beauty to raw power with consummate ease. One needs these vocal abilities to sing the Phantom well, but one must also act the part, must inject the performance with the character's anguish along with the tortured yet tender love he feels for Christine... a love which of course provides his eventual redemption. Karimloo imbues every note with the passion appropriate for the character, providing the emotional impact needed to elevate his performance to that of one of the great Phantoms.Hadley Fraser brings a welcome bit of steel to Raoul, a character who has historically felt somewhat wet and, one imagines from a female point of view, probably not that sexy. Here his passion for Christine, his determination to be with her and his anger at the Phantom shine through strongly, making him a believable and dramatically appealing love rival. His voice is fittingly superb.Ah, but Christine. Christine. Christine. The biggest revelation of all for me is Sierra Boggess in this role. Her acting, her grace, but most of all her sensational voice, had my wife and me bowled over from the start. I really like Sarah Brightman in the role and I thought Emmy Rossum was decent in the film, but this for me is the ultimate performance of Christine. I see and hear many performers in many incarnations of many musicals, and rarely am I left as breathless with admiration as I was by Sierra.The rest of the cast all acquit themselves well. Carlotta and Piangi are perfect, as are Meg and Mme. Giry. The actors playing André and Firmin do admirably with the relative lightness of their roles; they sing well and round out one of the strongest all-round casts I've seen for any kind of production.Most people will be used to the mutual back-slapping that goes on at the end of these anniversary concerts, and this show is no exception. Thankfully, speeches are kept to a minimum, and the reprises of the songs with various old cast members are enjoyable, most notably with the various Phantoms. Sarah Brightman impresses with her ability to still hit the notes in the title song, including that final one, which always feels like if it were any higher it would only be audible to dogs.A quick word about the technical side of the Blu-ray. The picture is sharp and strong, though of course this element takes a back seat in a production like this. The sound is mesmerisingly good. I don't have surround, but I do have the sound playing through a Naim amplifier and a pair of very high quality speakers. Not only is the audio rich and clear, but the separation of the instruments is marvellous - a fact which hit home during the overture when I realised how much more of the organ I could hear than ever before. Extras are very sparse - disappointingly so for an anniversary production like this - but given the strength of everything else I'm not too bothered.Overall, this is by far the best filming of a stage show I've seen, and it pretty much means I will never bother watching the film again. I only watched it last night, and I'm already itching to hear some of it again. Fans of The Phantom of the Opera would be insane not to buy this, let alone for under a tenner.Purchase, sit back and enjoy.