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OPERA

‘Curse of Phantom’ strikes as Paris theatre burns

The curse of Phantom of the Opera appears to have struck again with a fire at a Paris theatre on Sunday which is threatening to derail the musical's debut in France next month.

Published: 25 September 2016 17:16 CEST
'Curse of Phantom' strikes as Paris theatre burns
Anthony Crivello and Elizabeth Loyacano in the New York production of Phantom of the Opera. Photo: Really Useful Group
The global sensation composed by Britain's Andrew Lloyd Webber was due to open at the Mogador theatre in Paris on October 13.
 
But a blaze that started under the stage of the Mogador on Sunday morning has thrown the plan into doubt, the theatre's management said in a statement. A fireman was injured bringing the fire under control.
   
A superstition has grown up over the years among theatre-makers and audiences that performances of “Phantom” are somehow cursed — in much the same way that actors shy away from uttering the name of Shakespeare's
“Macbeth”.
   
In 1896 a chandelier counterweight fell from the ceiling killing a patron at the Paris Opera House, inspiring Gaston Leroux to write the novel on which the “Phantom” musical is based.
   
The fire on Sunday damaged scenery for the upcoming production, along with part of the theatre's floor, the Mogador said.
 
“(It is) difficult to estimate the time needed for the repairs at the moment,” its statement said. “We will probably know tomorrow if we will need to delay the performance,” the theatre's director Laurent Bentata told AFP.
   
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
   
“The Phantom of the Opera”, which had its world premiere at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1986, is the most lucrative theatre venture of all time, grossing a reported $5.6 billion worldwide.
  

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OPERA

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing

Spain's main opera house, the Teatro Real in Madrid, defended itself Monday after it had to cancel a performance when a small group of spectators loudly protested against being seated too close to each other amid a spike in Covid-19 infections.

Published: 22 September 2020 11:23 CEST
A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing
View of the Teatro Real in Madrid. Photo: Claudia Schillinger/ Flickr

The performance of Giuseppe Verdi's “A Masked Ball” on Sunday night was called off after a “minority” of spectators repeatedly jeered and clapped despite being offered the chance to be relocated or get a refund for the value of their tickets, the theatre said in a statement.

Videos shared on social media by several spectators who were at the performance showed full rows in the upper sections where seats are cheaper, while in the pricier floor section many empty seats could be seen.

Clapping and calls of “suspension!” could be heard even after the actors tried to begin their performance.

The Teatro Real had “respected the health norms” put in place by the regional government of Madrid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and “even reinforced them”, the chairman of the body which manages the theatre, Gregorio Marañon, told a news conference on Monday.

Attendance at the performance had been reduced to just 51.5 percent of the total, well below the  limit of 75 percent set by the regional government, he added.

The regional government does not require there to be an empty seat between spectators, but it does require there to be a distance of 1.5 metres (five feet) between people, or if this is not possible, that they wear face masks, which is mandatory at the theatre, Marañon said.

The Teatro Real, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2018, is studying “what measures we can take for those spectators who… clearly felt in an uncomfortable situation,” he added.

The incident comes as the regional government of Madrid has imposed a partial lockdown in several densely-populated, low income areas mainly in the south of the Spanish capital where virus infections are surging, sparking a debate about inequality and triggering protests in these neighbourhoods over the weekend before the new measures took effect on Monday.

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