Inside The Phantom of the Opera’s Mumbai Debut with Director Rainer Fried

There is a mystique about The Phantom of the Opera. It was originally a book written by French author Gaston Leroux in 1910 and made into a movie exactly a hundred years ago, in 1925.

Based on part truth and part legend, it is the story of a masked, somewhat disfigured inhabitant of the Parisian opera house Palais Garnier and his love affair. Truth or not, the Phantom is an intriguing tale from Leroux that has captivated the imagination of many for over a century.

Almost 60 years later, Andrew Lloyd Webber created a musical score for this dramatic tale and the stage version of The Phantom of the Opera took shape.

Since its debut in 1986, The Phantom has had record-breaking performances on Broadway in New York and the West End in London.

This much-acclaimed Phantom will debut in Mumbai at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in March 2025.

In anticipation of this musical being staged, Rolling Stone India interacted with Rainer Fried, associate director for the Mumbai production, about our expectations from this production of The Phantom of the Opera.

Here are some excerpts from our dialogue:

You are bringing to India an undoubted classic from the stage. However, the silent movie of this theme was made exactly 100 years ago but adapted into a musical for the stage much later, in 1986. The story and its presentation were adapted for the stage. Has there been any reshaping of The Phantom in its last 40 years of performance?

Rainer Fried (RF): That is an interesting point. There have actually been very few changes to the original production since its West End opening, which I believe points to the brilliance of the original creative team led by Harold Prince and the strength of their vision for the stage adaptation. Over the years, we have made several improvements to some of the technical elements of the show to continue to enhance the experience for the audience.

Are you bringing the same cast of players and musicians that performed at the West End?

RF: The cast of this international tour of Phantom is a group of carefully selected, top-tier performers from all over the world, of whom I’m very proud. Some have performed in Phantom in the West End and on Broadway. For the orchestra, we have a small core group of musicians touring with the show but a majority of the Mumbai run will be from India—something that is always special to us and which we are very excited about.

The NMACC auditorium is a state-of-the-art facility for theater. Do you have to make adjustments to the size and capacity of such an auditorium?

RF: We have already heard so many good things about this brand-new and beautiful theater, and I cannot wait to see it—and without a doubt, the show will look magnificent in the space. No two theaters are the same and that is why the set for this production of Phantom has been designed and engineered to be able to accommodate different venues. And because we have a very experienced and capable technical crew, I anticipate that any adjustments will be very minor.

Has any editing been done in recent years to The Phantom to allow for the young audiences today? The perception is of an impatient generation with a limited attention span due to the dominance of social media.

RF: Very good question! I have actually never thought about this, which probably answers part of your question. We have never thought of the need to edit the show to accommodate shorter attention spans as a result of the dominance of social media. To the contrary, we have observed the demographic of our audiences shift to a much younger age group in recent years. In my view, it is part of the magic of Phantom that it pulls audiences into its spell because it offers an escape into a mysterious and romantic world, which to many younger people may seem increasingly exotic.

What is your anticipation of bringing this musical to India? Do you expect a different response from that elsewhere in the world, especially in the West?

RF: I am, of course, hopeful—and perhaps quietly confident—that the show will have a similar impact on audiences in India as it has had all over the world for so many years now. But I would never be so presumptuous as to predict exactly how audiences will respond. Discovering this in different corners of the globe is one of the great joys of being associated with the Phantom, and every corner has its unique energy. I cannot wait to get to Mumbai to experience how Indian audiences respond to the show.

You can book tickets for the musical here.