Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera

Phantom of The Opera is a wonderfully dark musical that even people who don't like musicals will enjoy. The music is so melodic and well written it doesn't make you feel the aggravation some other musicals do. The Phantom himself may be a bit scary to look at in one scene, he has either a serious burn or a birth defect that is the reason for him wearing his mask, the special effects make it look very real and nasty. The whole concept of the story is that the Phantom wants to take Christine away with him to create music but also to be his lover. So if your child is old enough to understand the elusive talk of "pleasures of the flesh" you should make sure they are mature enough to not think it is sweet but understand the wrong in how he behaves towards Christine. There are some low cut dresses that are a representation of the time period and a man looks through a peephole into the girls dressingroom but none of the girls are indecent. [Spoilers] Some people get killed by the Phantom and he threatens to kill Christine's fiancé infront of her but he does not. In the end he relatively becomes a better person who lets Christine go, but again, you child should be able to comprehend the difference between lust and love. This may even be a good movie to start that conversation with them. Some cursing but nothing beyond a PG movie.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the Phantom of the Opera, however I would only recommend it to maturer audiences, of people over the age of 13. I had high expectations for the musical, due to having great past experiences of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals, and it exceeded these expectations greatly, with the Phantom of the Opera becoming my personal favourite quickly! Everything from the music, to the costuming was excellently carried out, with it being extremely memorable and iconic. The scenes were tear-wrenching and thought-provoking- I must admit that I cried a lot, as the cast performed in such an emotional way and were so interconnected with each other in the moment by the piece of art that they were creating! The reason for why I would only recommend the musical to those over the age of 13 is that many scenes included were extremely intense, and depicted moments of violence and chilling obsession of the Phantom to the main protagonist, Christine. The musical contained many elements such as lighting, sound and backdrops to emulate the scene of a 19th century opera house, and they were extremely successful in this. The music was also spectacular, with it all being produced live by both actors on stage and musicians in an orchestra, of many instruments from woodwind to percussion! Even the theatre in which the musical was performed in was expertly thought out, with Her Majesty's theatre in London being used, due to its baroque-style architecture, which was commonly used in the 1800s. Overall the Phantom of the Opera was excellent and is a must-see for any musical and opera fans!