I never ever get tired for seeing this show. I miscalculated a little though as I thought that this was David Thaxton’s final performance. To be fair to me, it was when I booked the tickets; he just booked in holiday since then! So it was Scott Davies as the Phantom tonight.
Anyone who complains about seeing an understudy hasn’t seen Scott Davies because he is phenomenal; I haven’t seen him play the role for a few years, and I’d forgotten just how brilliant he is. The menace, the malevolence, the child-like moments, the love, the adoration, the anguish. Simply exquisite and heart wrenching. And his Phantom’s dynamic with Christine is different too: most recent portrayals of Christine seem to have her happily going off with Raoul and forgetting all about the Phantom, but Kelly Matheison’s Christine seems to love Scott Davies’s Phantom and is conflicted and anguished about leaving him. That is my favourite portrayal of the Phantom/Christine relationship, so it was wonderful to see it tonight, and it may have brought a tear to my eye.
I’ve not been to a Saturday evening show for a while, and it was interesting to see that the energy levels were so much higher than mid-week shows and that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage a lot more. Can’t wait for the next Phantom trip.