DMT Editorial 2017_04_JUN_JUL_Proof15

Photography: Matt Crockett, Dan Wooller.
*Calls to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres 0844 numbers cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge
are still very much active and engaged with the piece, despite the fact
that the director Harold Prince and the choreographer Gillian Lynne will
be 89 and 91 respectively on their next birthdays.
‘On the one hand,’ Foster points out, ‘we have musicians who have
been in the pit from the day Phantom opened, which means that the
show comes steeped in a tradition you feel the minute you walk through
the stage door. At the same time we’ve had Gilly [Lynne] there with us
changing the choreography after 30 years – saying to us, “I am going to
take that bit of movement and make it better.”’
If this is a love story with staying power, that’s because its emotions
come at a price. ‘It’s the heartbreak and the pain that make it count,’
Schoenmaker says of the enduring wallop delivered by the show.
‘I would imagine 30 years ago that Phantom could have been quite
controversial, given that Christine has two men to pick from. So
when the ending comes and [spoiler ahead!] the Phantom is left on
his own, people recognise what’s going on. Everyone, after all, knows
heartbreak, and every night when I look into those eyes and the
Phantom sings, “Christine, I love you,” I can hear people sniffling.’
Every night? ‘Yes, 100%.’
Forster talks of the challenges inherent in a role that has to draw
to the Phantom’s side the same audience that might be put off by the
character’s more extreme actions. ‘The hardest thing is playing this
murderer and stalker and obsessive who is also completely in love with
the one person who has ever shown him compassion: I have to do all
these things but I also have to make the audience love me and also
forgive me for everything I do. If Christine stayed with the Phantom at
the end, it wouldn’t be the greatest love story; it’s the greatest love story
because there’s tragedy at the end.’
What’s tricky, too, is that the love story is conducted between a
woman and a man whose face is, of course, famously obscured. ‘The
first time I saw [the Phantom’s] make-up, I thought, “Oh my God,”’ says
Schoenmaker, ‘and up close it looks really scary. But Ben wears the mask
so elegantly and moves so beautifully that I’m completely taken in: Ben’s
like a panther in the part – that’s what is so cool.’
Nor would the stars’ partnership be what it is without that ever-elusive
thing called chemistry. ‘We’re lucky because we like each other very
much,’ says Schoenmaker. ‘The first time we met, we hit it off straight
away with jokes; we have fun.’ Forster nods emphatically, widening out the
realisation of the pair’s good luck. ‘For the two of us to be in this show at
this time is the biggest honour we will ever have in our lives.’
The Phantom of the Opera is at Her Majesty’s Theatre. For information
and to book tickets call 0844 482 5138* or visit delfontmackintosh.co.uk
Thephantomoftheopera.com/london
ThePhantomOfTheOpera @PhantomOpera
Matt Wolf is London theatre critic for The International New York Times
and covered the 1986 press night of The Phantom of the Opera back in his
days as arts and theatre writer for The Associated Press.
PAST LOVES
Notable Phantom Couplings from the Archive
Michael Crawford and Sarah
Brightman The original Phantom
and Christine played at Her
Majesty’s for two years before
moving over to open the
Broadway production in 1988.
Michael and Sarah
John and Sofia
John Owen-Jones and
Sofia Escobar
Having clocked up 1,400
performances in the role,
Owen-Jones is the longestserving
London Phantom to date.
Escobar received a nomination at
the Portuguese Golden Globes
in 2010 where she sang ‘Think
of Me’ from Phantom.
Peter Karrie and Jill Washington
Karrie and Washington appeared
together in 1990, with Karrie going
on to be voted the Phantom of the
Opera Appreciation Society’s
‘Favourite Phantom’ in 1994 and 1995.
Peter and Jill
Ramin and Sierra
Ramin Karimloo
and Sierra Boggess
The pair appeared in the 25th
anniversary performance at
the Royal Albert Hall and also
starred together in Phantom
follow-up Love Never Dies.