Page 36 - Paduan Fall/Winter 18-19

Fine ArtsNews(cont.)
The Phantom of the Opera
Padua Franciscan Performing Arts presented The Phantom of the Opera from April 12-15, 2018.
About the Show
The music of The Phantom of the Opera is by Andrew Lloyd Weber, with lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. It is based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux. The central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Opera Populaire.
It takes many gifted students working together to produce a spring musical, and The Phantom of the Opera was no exception! Starting in February students shared their talents by participating as members of the crew, dance chorus, cast, or orchestra pit. The crew worked with adult staff to design set pieces used in the show through researching, creating scaled drawings,
listing required materials, and ultimately building the pieces they designed. The dance chorus rehearsed the ballet sequences at weekly rehearsals in the dance studio while the cast learned choreography, lines, and blocking. Orchestra pit members worked hard to play Andrew Lloyd Webber’s challenging score as the cast gathered three to four times a week to memorize the vocal music. In addition to building and painting the sets, the running
crew also prepared for the scene changes and technical cues that would be used during the show. By April all these specialized student groups joined together at the technical and dress rehearsals to produce the full show. The hard work, dedication, and collaboration of the entire production company culminated in five memorable performances of The Phantom of the Opera.
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