ARTICLE
Listen to the Music of the Night with 'Three Phantoms'
By Freddy / 13 May 2017 (Saturday)
Image credit: Gingerboy Productions
‘A Night At The Musicals With Three Phantoms’, or ‘Three Phantoms’ for short, is an entertaining concert for musical theatre fans. The concert is headlined by three men who have played Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘The Phantom of The Opera’ for over 2,000 times collectively. They are Kieran Brown, David Shannon, and last but not least Earl Carpenter, who devised and directed this concert. Their voices need not be doubted and they impress in their harmonies and solos. When the concert opens with “This Is The Moment” from ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ and the three Phantoms croon their solos afterwards, we know we are in good hands (or vocal cords) for the rest of the night.
While a concert with these three talented leading men would have already been impressive, they are joined by three ladies: Olivia Brereton, Marisa McIntyre, and Lisa Anne Wood. Brereton and Wood have actually played Christine. Each of them gets to sing a duet with their the Phantoms in Act Two, but they are not there to merely play second fiddle to the men. The trio sings two songs, “You Can Drive A Person Crazy” from ‘Company’ and “Make Him Mine” from ‘The Witches of Eastwick’. The latter song is where they truly shine. Brereton and Wood have their solos as well, in Act One and Two respectively.
The Company is completed by Alistair Barron, who often serves as a comic relief getting bullied by the three Phantoms. At one point in the middle of Carpenter’s solo, he was searching for Fullerton Bay to take a selfie with the Merlion. Nevertheless, when he sings, it is clear that he has a powerful voice that is on par with the three Phantoms. His rendition of “Stars” from ‘Les Miserables’ sounds confident and seasoned.
A Night At The Musicals With Three Phantoms
Date: Fri, 12 - Sat, 13 May 2017
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: MES Theatre at Mediacorp, 1 Stars Avenue, Singapore 138507
Ticket Price: $68 - $158
(Purchase your tickets here!)
The seven performers are best when they sing together. The highlights of the concert is their jaw-dropping a capella version of “I Dreamed A Dream” and their performance of the iconic “One Day More”, both from ‘Les Miserables’. The latter sends shivers down my spine for the last half of the song.
The song selection is very diverse, showcasing over twenty songs from various musicals throughout. The second half of Act Two presents songs from different musical adaptations of Gaston Leroux’s ‘The Phantom of The Opera’, before ending with a haunting harmony of “Music Of The Night” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Given the concert’s premise, it is a pity that it is the only song from the musical. If it could spend time to have five songs from ‘Les Miserables’ and two songs from the musical’s unsuccessful sequel ‘Love Never Dies’, there could have been a few more songs from the longest running musical on Broadway.
What elevates this concert from just a showcase of musical theatre songs is the humorous banters between the performers. From bad puns to thinly-veiled insults, the audience alternates between being struck in awe to roaring in laughter. I wish there were more of such banters, as they started disappearing in Act Two, but of course the time they spent talking means they are not singing. And we love to hear them sing.
‘Three Phantoms’ only perform for two nights in Singapore, which means this evening would be your last chance to catch it in Singapore. Not many seats are left, but you could still get to enjoy the music of the night serenaded by unmasked maestros. They joked that today’s programme is far superior to yesterday’s. I cannot guarantee that they were really joking.