Before it was a West End musical, The Phantom of the Opera was a silent horror movie.
Rupert Julian’s adaptation of the classic book may not have been an immediate hit in 1925, but has gained fans since. One of these was composer and jazz pianist Roy Budd, who dreamed of writing music for the film since he was a child.
Budd did just that, but never got to see his piece performed, as he died from a brain haemorrhage weeks before the scheduled premiere at the Barbican in 1993.
Now, the piece finally receives its Barbican performance, as the 72-piece Docklands Sinfonia will play the live accompaniment to the film on March 18. The score has had just one other outing, at the London Coliseum in 2017, when Budd’s wife Sylvia fulfilled her promise to her husband before he died that she would make sure his Phantom was performed.
Budd made his own debut at the Coliseum at just six years old, going onto compose the music for a number of films including 1971 gangster movie Get Carter, starring Michael Caine, and later The Wild Geese, which starred hellraisers Richard Burton and Richard Harris, alongside one time Bond Roger Moore.
All proceeds from the concert will go to Rotary’s Purple4Polio Campaign to End Polio Now and Forever.
To celebrate the new show, the Standard has 50 pairs of tickets to give away. To enter the competition, visit this page.
Roy Budd’s Phantom of the Opera is on for one night only on March 18, barbican.org.uk.
