Sergei Polunin in The Phantom of the Opera

Posted on September 26, 2011

The Royal Ballet’s Sergei Polunin will dance the Slave Master in The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall on October 1–2.

Presented by Cameron Mackintosh, the three fully-staged performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary. The Royal Albert Hall will be transformed with a spectacular setting by Matt Kinley, inspired by the late Maria Björnson’s designs for the original stage production. As in the original, the choreography is by Gillian Lynne.

Polunin (pictured in costume for the role) joins a cast led by Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine. Hadley Fraser will play Raoul, with Kiera Duffy as Carlotta. More special guest appearances have been promised. Polunin appears by kind permission of Monica Mason, director of The Royal Ballet.

The production is at the Royal Albert Hall for three performances, on Saturday, October 1 at 7.30pm and on Sunday, October 2 at 1.30pm and 7.00pm. For tickets, call the Royal Albert Hall box office on 0845 401 5034, or see http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/phantom-of-the-opera/default.aspx

The Sunday evening performance will be broadcast live to around 250 UK cinemas, and subsequently released on DVD, Blu-ray, CD and as a download. See local cinema listings for details.

Picture: Sergei Polunin as the Slave Master. Photograph: Robin Savage

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.