An evening of heavy Malaysian rain and bustling traffic could not stop the droves of people who came out on a Wednesday night in support of the Tuanku Ja’afar Educational Trust by attending An Evening With The Phantom – Songs From The Musicals.

As this was a can’t-be-missed event for the musical lover in me, I joined fellow blogger Choy Peng of Choypengism for the performance. Here we are together, and isn’t her unicorn hair just amaze-balls!

This event was especially meaningful to me as I had previously been enchanted by Claire Lyon’s magical voice during her performance as Christine when I attended the Phantom of The Opera musical at the Mastercard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, in 2013. Phantom is still by far my favourite musical and what a pleasure it was to witness it and cross it off my bucket list. 

As I knew what was in store when it came to Claire’s vocal prowess, I was excited to see how she has grown as an artist and I was not disappointed in the least. It was also interesting for me as I had the opportunity to view other people’s reactions towards her singing. Enthusiastic chattering could be heard during intermission and all I could do was smile.

Michael Cormick on the other hand was a new name to me, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear and read that he had played both the roles of Raoul and The Phantom in the past. At that, I rubbed my hands together in glee, knowing that we were in good hands for the evening. To top it off, award-winning musical director Bernard Walz graced us with his expertise on the ivory keys. What could be better than this trio with so much Phantom history put together!

The thing I was not expecting was for Claire and Michael to serenade us with their renditions of songs from other musicals besides Phantom of the Opera. Granted, I had not heard that the concert would include “songs from other musicals” when I signed on to attend, and so thought that it was going to be all Phantom the whole evening. Not that I was complaining but it did have me wondering at first at how two people were going to pull off singing Masquerade! Phantom fans will definitely understand this sentiment.  

And even though it was howling cats and dogs outside the hotel venue, we, the audience, could not be bothered as we were being transported to multiple worlds through the beautiful music that night. The event turned out to be a 75 minute performance with songs from Cats, Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Beauty & The Beast, Jersey Boys, and of course, The Phantom of the Opera to name a few. What I found lovely and personal was that Claire and Michael shared some of their musical stories with us, and sung some of their favourite songs from the list above.

What better way to spend a Wednesday, eh? Everyone was saddened when the concert came to an end. Here’s hoping that such a spectacle will come about for many more years. 

Thank you for having me Milestone!

About Milestone Production

Established in 2003, Milestone Production is one of the region’s leading show production company that provides unparalleled live entertainment experiences globally. We aim to cultivate appreciation of the performing arts in the region by bringing in internationally acclaimed West End and Broadway productions to Malaysia and to the rest of South East Asia, namely – Mama Mia!, The Mousetrap, the multi-award winning Broadway production Jersey Boys, Thriller Live, Saturday Night Fever, Potted Potter, Dr.Bubble With Milkshake, One Man Star Wars Trilogy , Dr.Balloon’s Science Adventure, Rumour Has It – Adele – Her Life And Songs and now the iconic An Evening With The Phantom – Songs From The Musicals.

About Tuanku Ja’afar Educational Trust

Tuanku Ja’afar Educational Trust (TJET) was established 25 years ago with the vision to provide educational support to those who are in the lower income bracket. The Chairman of The Board of Trustees of TJET, Y.A.M. Tunku Naquiyuddin ibni Tuanku Ja’afar strongly believes that the provision of proper educational opportunities and necessary financial support are essential to the beneficiaries to succeed and fairly join the ranks of those with jobs and career opportunities. As at to date, TJET has raised RM320,000 worth of financial assistance benefiting thousands of students during the charity event.

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