The Phantom of the Opera

It is one of my favorite times of year, rich in cultural opportunity. This is the week our favorite Nutcracker production begins and it is the time most of our local high schools are doing their big play. Lucky for us Northridge High was doing Phantom. I have to admit I was nervous. This is one production that could get ugly fast if you didn't have the talent to carry it. I was counting on their drama department being smart enough to know they had enough talent if they committed to it. They did. It was great! I think high schools in our state have a great reciprocal system going. They seem to share sets and resources which results in a much better production than any of them would have the budget for alone. So this production had great sets, costuming and even the big chandelier. There were very few moments when I remembered that I was at a high school production, although the moment when the chandelier came down was one of them. It descended slowly rather than came crashing down-but they did have to do another show that night. But the big question was of course whether they could possibly have enough kids with voices to deliver those gorgeous songs. They did! Three of them. The Phantom was great, Raol I think I liked better than the guy on my original CD and Christina was gorgeous as was her voice. Seriously, I have said that high school productions are my was of exposing my kids to the dramatic arts but this one was one Brittany and I will be talking about for a long time. The tickets were a little pricier than some high school productions ($10 for adults and $5 for kids) but it was really worth it. It is playing again next weekend, go if you can!