
Next, based on your personality and vocal type, decide whether you’d like to audition for the ensemble or a specific character. Keep in mind that just because you audition for a specific character doesn’t mean you will necessarily be chosen for that role. One way to do this is to read through the synopsis or libretto while listening to the The Phantom of the Opera cast album.

And even if it’s not requested, it’s generally assumed. In casting calls, they often ask for you to be “familiar with the show”.

People have been working on the set for three months. The performance will be held at the Capitol Theatre as opposed to the auditorium at Walkerville High School. "This is a huge production," said David Asher, a parent volunteer. The group raised all the money itself, through proceeds from previous shows. The Walkerville Creative Centre for the Arts will spend an additional $40,000 on the production, above and beyond the payment for the rights. "Not only have we, I believe, done justice to its original, but also made it our own piece," he said. "How you moved them was up to you," said Nabben.Ĭody Weldon, the understudy for Phantom, called his role "the hardest thing I've ever had to sing" but said the production stays true to the original. The production had to include the play's signature gondola and the chandelier, for example. "You weren't able to substitute any of the iconic scenic moments for something simpler," said director John Nabben. The production could not be compromised and had to stay to to the original script and score.

The Walkerville Creative Centre for the Arts, a special theatre school open to Windsor-area public high school students, paid the price. Only drama students with a proven track record can buy the rights - at a cost of $10,000. It was only in 2010 it began to allow student theatre groups the rights to put on the show.

The company usually does not allow amateur or community theatre groups to stage the iconic musical. R&H Theatricals, which licenses shows by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, are very careful and selective when it comes to selling performance rights to the show. A group of Windsor, Ont., high school students are some of the privileged few allowed to perform The Phantom of the Opera.
