RELEASED 14.11.2011
“Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” will be directed by Laurence Connor with Musical Staging and Choreography by Gillian Lynne. The Royal Albert Hall will be transformed with a spectacular and unique design by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original design. Lighting is by Patrick Woodroffe and Andrew Bridge and Sound by Mick Potter. The original London production was directed by Hal Prince. Ramin Karimloo’s theatre credits include, leading roles in “Love Never Dies” (2011 Olivier Award Nominee and Winner of the 2011 What’s On Stage Award, both for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’), “The Phantom of the Opera” (Theatre Goers’ Choice Award Nomination) “Les Misérables”, “Miss Saigon”, “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Sunset Boulevard”. Ramin had the privilege of performing as ‘Enjolras’ in “Les Misérables – A Special Concert at Windsor Castle” to celebrate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, in front of Her Majesty The Queen and also reprised the role for the 25th Anniversary celebration of “Les Misérables at The 02”. Recordings include: his own album “Within the Six Square Inch” and the première symphonic recording of “Love Never Dies”. Ramin has signed with a major label and is currently recording his first solo album. Sierra Boggess is currently starring opposite Tyne Daly in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s “Master Class”. Prior to that, she starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies” in the West End. For her performance as ‘Christine Daae,’ Sierra received a 2011 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Sierra’s other NY theatre credits include starring as the title character in the Broadway production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and Broadway.com award for Favourite Breakthrough Performance) and in the City Centre Encores! production of “Music in the Air”. She starred as ‘Christine’ in “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” and has been seen in the national tours of “Les Misérables” and “West Side Story”. Recordings include the Symphonic Recording of “Love Never Dies” and the Original Cast Album for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”. Sir Cameron Mackintosh said “It is amazing to think that the extraordinary success of The Phantom of the Opera is about to celebrate 25 years. From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary. One of the great strengths of The Phantom of the Opera is that being set in an opera house, its production is totally theatrical. So we felt that there could be no better 19th Century theatrical auditorium in London for this occasion than the Royal Albert Hall. With its Victorian red plush and celebrated magnificent organ it is the perfect place for The Phantom to haunt. Though this special staging will naturally be drawn from the brilliant original, it will be both a spectacular and unique production with a cast and orchestra of over 200 headed by Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. Both artists have been an outstanding ‘Phantom’ and ‘Christine’ in recent productions and have also enjoyed huge success together as the stars of Love Never Dies. I have no doubt that these three performances at the Royal Albert Hall will be a thrilling celebration of the Music of the Night.” THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder “Cats”. This coincided with the Broadway and the US national touring company celebrating an unprecedented 20,000 performances in the United States. In October 2010 the London production celebrated its 10,000th performance.