The Phantom of the Opera is one of Broadway’s highest grossing musicals that is touring (check out the tour schedule here) the United States this year. This show was recently performed in Nashville at The Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). The actors change every once in awhile, but the actors and actresses mentioned here are the people who performed the  roles in Nashville this March.

There are many different characters in The Phantom of the Opera, but the main characters are Christine Daaé, The Phantom, and Raoul. The Phantom and Raoul are both head over heels in love with Christine Daaé.

Christine is a backup singer/dancer for the operas that are being performed at the Opera Populair in the beginning, and then she becomes the main character shortly after the musical begins. At the show on March 20, the actress playing as Christine, Celia Hottenstein, announced that it was her last performance in The Phantom of the Opera.

The phantom lives under the opera house. He gives the owners of the opera house specific demands about his salary and told them to give Christine the main role that Callata plays, who is usually the one to have the lead roles in all of the operas at the opera house. The Phantom is played by Chris Mann. Raul is played by a man named Storm Lineberger; Raul has known Christine for a long time and they reconnect once the opera house is bought by new owners. He doesn’t want The Phantom to harm Christine, he tries to keep her safe, and almost ends up getting himself killed.

As far as the stage goes, I was in awe of how they made everything work! The sets rotated and each section would be another room. I believe the best scene of stage work was when the Phantom was taking Christine down into his lair. They walked down steps that were coming out of a spiraling stage set and they walked down them as they rotated. Once they got to the bottom it started getting foggy on the stage representing that there was water, and they needed a boat, and then a boat appeared from backstage. They got in it and then somehow were rowing it to the other side of the stage! It was truly amazing being able to witness how much time and effort was put into all of the rehearsing and staging.

The Phantom of the Opera is truly an outstanding show that tells such an interesting love story. I really enjoyed watching how perfect the actors and staging was. It amazes me how they did some of the things they did on the stage. I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could! I would recommend this musical to anyone who enjoys the arts.