World news – The Phantom of the Opera comes to the Sydney Opera House

Opera Australia and the Really Useful Group will direct Cameron Mackintosh’s new production in September with Australian performer Josh Piterman in the title role.

The audience may be wearing masks – and so is the leading actor, but he won’t be because of COVID

Opera Australia and the Really Useful Group have announced that they will stage the first season of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera at the Sydney Opera House.

When the famous chandelier on the stage of Joan Sutherland Theater falls, it does so in a spectacular reinterpretation – just one of the new effects in Cameron Mackintosh’s revamped production.

Josh Piterman and Kelly Mathieson in Phantom of the Opera, West End, 2019. Photo © Manuel Harlan

The Australian Artist Josh Piterman, who played Phantom in the West End for six months until theaters had to close due to the coronavirus pandemic, will return to Australia, including I’m to repeat the role of the mysterious, masked composer who lives in the catacombs of the Paris Opera House and terrifies the opera company members before falling in love with soprano Christine Daaé.

Based on the classic novel by Gaston Leroux In 1910, Lloyd Webber’s musical (with lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe and a book by Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber) premiered in the West End 35 years ago. It opened two years later on Broadway in 1988 and became one of the most successful musicals of all time.

The production, which opens in September in Sydney, is the new production that Mackintosh will perform on a sold-out national UK- This tour premiered, followed by a seven-year tour of the US that grossed over $ 400 million.

It features a new staging and scenic design by Paul Brown along with the original costume design by Maria Björnson. The new production was directed by Laurence Connor and will be directed in Australia by Seth Sklar-Heyn.

Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh said in a joint statement: “We are very excited to bring this exciting new production to Australia. The show has already proved a sensational box office hit on national tours in the UK and the US. It is a great pleasure for both of us that a new production, which takes up our beloved Phantom in a completely original way, was received with as much enthusiasm as the brilliant original. « 

Lyndon Terracini, Artistic Director of OA, said: » We are delighted that Opera Australia is presenting such an iconic piece of musical theater at the Sydney Opera House. We look forward to working with Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber to showcase this new production in Australia. It creates incredible theater for the audience and opportunities for many art professionals to return there. “

Piterman’s Australian credits include Tony in the production of West Side Story 2010, Bustopher Jones / Gus / Growltiger in the production of Cats 2015/16 and Gerry Goffin in the 2017/18 tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical . He also played with the ten tenors. In the UK he played Corny Collins on the Hairspray tour.

« Words can’t describe how I feel on this Sydney Opera House season of The Phantom of the Opera, » Piterman said.

« The The role of The Phantom was truly a lifelong dream of mine and putting the mask on on the West End stage in such a legendary production was magical in every way. Experiencing the global impact of the pandemic, particularly on the theater industry, over the past year has been difficult for so many, making it an even greater honor to be able to play The Phantom at home now, to revitalize our industry and bring people back to our theaters . « 

The Phantom of the Opera opens at the Sydney Opera House in September 2021. Tickets are available from April 19th. A waiting list is now available.

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