As Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s enduring gothic melodrama celebrates its 40th birthday, producer Cameron Mackintosh and cast members from down the years recall what makes it so special<\/p>\n
There is something about Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s masterly musical The Phantom of the Opera \u2013 celebrating 40 years on the West End this month \u2013 which seems to take hold of its fans in a special way. For me, it was the show that first sparked my love of theatre and inspired me to work in the industry. Even today, Phantom is still the memory that gets my heart racing as I sit in the stalls, waiting impatiently for the curtain to come up, hoping for an experience just as intoxicating and all-consuming as that very first experience all those years ago.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the fans, either. When I talk to a cluster of key creatives, all of whom have a special working relationship with the show, each of them seems a little spellbound by Phantom. Sierra Boggess, who plays Carlotta in the 40th-anniversary production, talks tearfully about the lingering spirits of original director Hal Prince and choreographer Gillian Lynne. Jordan Donica, now starring as the Phantom in the West End, speaks passionately about the power of Lloyd Webber\u2019s music (\u201cIt feels like heaven to me\u201d), and John Owen-Jones, who has played the Phantom more than anyone else in the West End, talks tenderly about his long-term history with the show: \u201cI\u2019ve got a picture of me in full Phantom get-up holding my baby daughter. It\u2019s an incredible thing to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/21fdd52e4a714595ddfb9d0b3379649a7f3cd64c\/0_411_3106_2484\/master\/3106.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5eceb0d98039623247f37db75e99e73c\" "\\"Forty")
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