Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” back on the Bucharest stage

“The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the longest-running musical on Broadway, was staged again in Bucharest earlier this month. All eight events were sold out in less than 10 hours after tickets went on sale.

By Oana Vasiliu

After the first performance in 2015, at The Operetta, Adrian Nour and Irina Baiant are back in business with “The Phantom of the Opera,” this time at the Bucharest Opera.

The performance is conducted by Daniel Jinga, the current director of the Bucharest Opera, and staged by Razvan Ioan Dinca, with the help of scenographer Gary McCann, among others.

“From my point of view, The Phantom of the Opera is not a show that one should only see once. You are meant to take in all the information, because the show has a lot to offer—from a visual point of view, from an auditory point of view, and from an emotional point of view—and I think one should see it at least twice to really understand it and take it all in. And what has been prepared and what we hold inside us and we can't wait to give other people is, first of all, something that happens in everyone's lives: that moment when life takes us into the darkest corners of our being and then lifts us to the highest heights, precisely so that we can understand what the power of choice means,” says soprano Irina Baiant.

For the Bucharest production, the team worked with mixed teams from Broadway and the London West End Theatre. “We can say that this production required an import of know-how because it is a very complex and very expensive production—it is a franchise. The licensor has asked us to strictly follow the details of this title, so it would look just like it does on Broadway and live up to those expectations. That is why we needed mixed teams, because we wanted to go with people who already had expertise in The Phantom of the Opera. The director is Romanian (Razvan Ioan Dinca), and the choreographer, Violeta Dinca, is also Romanian. But the scenographer is from London, the sound engineers have done the Phantom of the Opera before, and so has the lighting engineer. So, it is a collaboration between us, those who are doing this for the first time in Romania and putting our artistic imagina- tion, energy, and creativity to the test, and those who have worked on The Phantom of the Opera before and bring their experience to the table,” says conductor Daniel Jinga.

With a total of more than 145 million viewers and gross revenue of more than USD 5.6 billion (even higher than hit Hollywood films like "Titanic," "ET," and "Star Wars"), "The Phantom of the Opera" is the longest-running Broadway production, overtaking the record of 7,486 performances previously set by the musical "Cats."

"The Phantom of the Opera" has won 70 major awards to date, including three Olivier Awards, most recently the Olivier Award for the Most Popular Show in 2002, an Evening Standard Award, seven Tony Awards (including Best Musical), seven Drama Desk Awards, and three Outer Critic Circle Awards.

For the local performance, the cast includes: Phantom – Adrian Nour; Christine – Irina Baiants; Raoul – Kyrie Mendel, accompanied by the Bucharest National Opera Orchestra, Choir, and Ballet.

Who is Ana Rubeli and what is “Aici a stat” for those who don’t know about the project?

My corporate job has only stirred my passion for discoveries. I am an actuary seeking to calculate probabilities and find the expected value of buildings and lives as a whole. The mathematics behind my actuarial knowledge can go hand-in-hand with the mathematics behind historical buildings and heritage.

I was eager to find out and minimise the probability that our national heritage would perish, would disappear. And this opened up a whole new universe: my personality as a cultural storyteller. I have studied three majors and got two Master’s degrees: Actuarial Sciences in the Netherlands and Heritage in Romania. 13 years ago, I studied Communication and Finance. (…)

During my two maternity leave periods, I found my second (complementary) workplace: the street, the city as a whole. I love wandering the streets and learning the unknown stories of historical buildings. I like the fact that I can document my discoveries while I’m walking around with my children. It was especially easy when they were babies, and now we adapt the rhythm and the places depending on their preferences as well. (…)

How did your social media heritage project start?

The project started out of curiosity. Ever since I can remember, I have constantly asked myself “why,” “what is actually go-

If you use Instagram, you may already be aware of the @aiciastat project. Ana Rubeli is an actuary who is passionate about stories and dedicated to promoting culture, history, and heritage through this project. Business Review went behind the scenes with her to find out more.

By Oana

ing on here,” “where does this thing come from.” So, a whole new world was generated by answering this simple question: “what kinds of stories might be laying around, hidden behind the walls or surfaces of heritage buildings?” I used to write long stories about places I had visited or about landmarks and destinations on my personal account, and I was happy to see the multitude of reactions: my friends encouraged me to continue. I wanted to create a separate identity, an alter ego, where historical buildings, the people who built them, who loved them, their architects, their constructors would become “rockstars.” And this is how #Aiciastat started to come to life.

What were your expectations when you started Aici a stat, and how did they evolve over time?

My expectation was purely to create an alter ego, and I thought that only my friends and inner circle would read my posts, which are usually lengthy, factual, and historical. I had no idea that it would become the phenomenon it is today: being read by more than 40,000 followers and generating cultural dialogue. As soon as my account grew, I started to feel a lot more responsibility on my shoulders, striving to bring more added value, to improve my photography skills and my research. I have decided to get a Master’s degree in heritage and cultural resources at the Bucharest University and put more resources into my journey of promoting Romanian heritage. I have seen the real effect and impact of my posts. (…) And after the beautiful online story of #Aiciastat, I have decided to also take it “offline” and founded a cultural NGO in order to be able to create projects with more impact. I have a lovely team of volunteers, I have started organising architectural treasure hunts, classical music events in historical places, and heritage tours, and I hope to engage more individuals in this quest to promote our heritage.

How do you conduct research for your page?

For some historical buildings, I go the National Archives or the Municipal Archives to carry out extensive primary research, while for others I use books from my large collection (of which I am very proud: more than 5,200 volumes, including three huge shelves dedicated to history, architecture, and heritage). If I don’t have enough time, I use credible online sources. I always use more than one source and try to back up my posts with relevant information, citing the sources (as none are infallible).

How many buildings/histories have you collected since the beginning of the project?

I have documented approximately 700 stories: some on a general (or I might call it “macro”) level, tackling cities or larger heritage areas, while others were dedicated to particular buildings or people who inhabited them. I have a special place in my pocket (pun intended) for micro-stories, where I talk about various ornaments on buildings, a specific wooden frame of a window or even a terracotta apotropaic figure guarding the entrance of a special house.