The Phantom of the Opera, St Helen’s Theatre Royal – The Phoenix Youth Theatre Company

11 Dec 2013

The Phoenix Youth Theatre is a company of performers who are all under 21 and was set up in 2008 to discover, develop and display the musical theatrical talents of the young people of St Helens and its surrounding areas.  Having performed Evita last year, they took on the complex Lloyd Webber adaptation of Phantom of the Opera – with Natasha Agarwal playing the role of Christine Daae – a ballet girl from an Opera Company who is under the tuition and spell of the Phantom of the Opera.  The story is an intricate and exciting combination of love, anger, fear – with a smattering of comedy – and Natasha’s performance was extraordinary with her exceptional vocal talents being stretched to the full.  She was able to use her full range of notes in the operatic pieces whilst putting her own, beautiful sound to the more well known songs such as “The Phantom of the Opera” and the ballard “All I Ask of You”.

Natasha commanded the stage all the way through the show as the audience was drawn into her relationship with the Phantom.      This relationship moved from tenderness and vulnerability to anger and fear and Natasha stole the show with her characterisation.  Alongside her character’s relationship with the Phantom, she also falls in love with a rich patron of the Opera House, the Vicomte de Chagney, and Natasha’s voice moved seamlessly from dark to light as Christine had to fight her feelings and decide whether to follow the Phantom or risk him killing Raoul.  There was not a dry eye in the house by the end!

What a wonderful evening and Natasha was an absolute joy to watch.   She was an enormous credit to the school, her family and most importantly to herself and I cannot wait for next year’s production!  Well done Natasha!