Watching Phantom with Phantom

 

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

The Fantasy Of the Opera

(The Phantom Of The Opera is being staged at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre Grand Theatre till March 30)

The seat next to me is empty and I am waiting for the drama to begin at the NMACC Grand Theatre. Soon, we are engulfed in the eerie yet melodious magic of the theme music of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera. A gentleman takes his seat next to me, apologising for disturbing my excited humming.

In a flash, he is whistling along, as we watch a Parisian theatre memorabilia auction on stage. We are waiting for things to move,  and suddenly Christine comes on stage. I hear a rumble next to me as the heroine sings 'Think Of Me'. I look closely. The stranger next to me has a white mask hiding half his face. His hands are shaking as he holds a rose, given by the staff while entering. He looks like Phantom, and has the same kind of coat and hairdo. He sneers at me, saying in James Bond style, "My name is Crawford, Michael Crawford".

What rubbish, I say, trying to pay attention to the stage. Michael Crawford played Phantom in the 1980s, and this guy doesn't look 83. Anyway, from what I have already read, Christine is a soprano singer who is in love with Raoul. But it isn't a simple love story, as there's this disfigured masked person lurking in the vicinity, who is obsessed with her and is known as Phantom. Probably reading my thoughts, my neighbour says, "That's me. My name is Warlow. Anthony Warlow".

I'm now convinced that the person next to me is an impersonator, pretending to be different actors who played Phantom in earlier roles. Who knows? In reality, he could be Salman Khan or Boman Irani too, though they never played the roles. Not that I care, as I can barely enjoy Christine singing 'Angel of Music' sitting next to this devil.

Suddenly the man gets up, and starts singing in the aisle. "Insolent boy this slave of fashion, basking in your glory; Ignorant fool, this brave young suitor, sharing in my triumph", he booms, singing 'The Mirror'. I realise he keeps turning back to look at me, and a scary thought crosses my mind. Does this fellow think I'm Raoul? Is he an obsessed lover himself? In that case, who's Christine and is she sitting near us? Will this guy thrash me? 

The fake Phantom settles down next to me again, with that menacing look. "My name is Banderas. Antonio Banderas" he whispers in my ear. I want to tell him to stop shrieking, when the title track begins to play. "Sarah Brightman is here", says Antonio Warlow-Crawford excitedly, dancing with an imaginary partner. Sarah played Christine in the original West.End and Broadway shows.

Then he starts singing along with the actor on stage. "Turn your face away, from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light, and listen to the music of the night". Ah that's my favourite song ''The Music Of The Night'. It's almost like I'm listening to a chorus between Jonathan Roxmouth, playing the real Phantom in this stage production, and this other fellow pretender. I hear only one voice, and you know which one.

For heaven's sake I want to enjoy the show. I didn't buy a Gold class ticket to sit next to some Frankenstein, Dracula or Bhoothnath. I didn't have the ghost of an idea it would turn out this way. So I return after the intermission with a vow to ignore this fellow.

I try my best to focus on the performances of Roxmouth, Grace Roberts who plays Christine and Matt Leisy who enacts Raoul. I focus on the songs, from 'Masquerade' to 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' to 'Wandering Child'. This duplicate Phantom is singing, "Wandering child, so lost, so helpless, yearning for my guidance". He says, "My name is Butler. Gerald Butler". I ignore him, admiring the sets, the period costumes, the grandeur, the scale. Fascinating. This is dreamland.

Life comes crashing down like a shattered chandelier. My neighbour growls, "My name is Karimloo. Ramin Karimloo". I have had enough. I retort, now angry, and yell, "All these actors you mention have been great. But right now there's only one Phantom and he's on stage. His name is Jonathan Roxmouth. You're a fraud." To make things worse, people around us tell me to shut up as I am disturbing them.

The curtain call happens. The actors take a bow. I see my neighbour leaving and I heave a sigh of relief. That doesn't last long though as I can suddenly two people on stage taking a bow as Phantom. Wait, is it this duplicate who has suddenly made his way up there? He is offering the rose to Christine. I look closely and see his mask is missing. The security spots him and whisks him aside. Hope they handed him to the cops.

Leaving my seat, I spot something. A white mask is lying where this guy was sitting. I want to leave it there and move on. But the businessman in me tells me I can start a theatre memorabilia auction like the one at the beginning of this musical. I can make crores.

On my way home, a question suddenly strikes me. This fake guy was creating such a racket all through the show, but nobody around said a word to him I opened my mouth only once and everyone was disturbed. Wait, was this person next to me someone real, or was he just a figment of my imagination? And what about that mask? I'll never probably know the truth. Maybe I'm also Phantom in my own way.