I love watching live musicals, and Guangzhou Opera House is a wonderful place to enjoy them. Few of the musicals I’ve seen are as impressive or beautiful as Phantom. I love the costumes and most of all the music. The story is a bit frustrating. The first time I saw it, I was so disturbed, I said I would never watch it again. But another friend convinced me to watch it again, and that’s when I fell in love with the music.
When I found out that Phantom was coming to Guangzhou in January of 2025, I was thrilled, until I realized that I would be traveling for the entire time that the show was available to watch. So when they came back this January, and a new friend I had met at church also wanted to see it, we decided to splurge and get tickets even though the cheapest tickets were sold out. We got mid-range tickets.
Buying the tickets was much easier than I expected. All I had to do was follow the 广州大剧院 (Guangzhou da ju yuan; Guangzhou Opera House) official account on WeChat. Then I clicked on the 演出购票 (yan chu gou piao; purchase tickets for the show) button. Phantom was at the top. I just had to choose my seats and pay for them. If I hadn’t used WeChat Pay, that might have been more complicated, but with WeChat Pay, it was simple.
I love the area of Guangzhou with the opera house. The Opera House, while not as iconic as the Sydney Opera House, is beautiful and it has a wonderful view of Guangzhou Tower. Arriving a early and enjoying the night air and views is well worth it.
I would also definitely recommend getting food nearby. There are lots of options. If you want something cheap, you can find something in Huacheng Square (go out exit D of Zhujiang metro station and stay to the right. There are all kinds of little restaurants including Burger King or lots of little Chinese places for around 25-40 kuai for a dish. There’s also a little Korean place called Spoon that I really like.
But if you want a nicer Western restaurant, there are plenty of choices also with main dishes from 60-100 kuai. Some of my favorites are Morgan’s (a British pub), 13 Factories or Gail’s (American restuarants), or a Japanese restaurant called 希望日本料理 (Xiwang Riben liaoli).
Getting to the theater around 30 minutes early is nice and they usually have some interesting displays set up related to the performance. When I won tickets to the Marco Polo opera, they had some Chinese history displays up. For Phantom of the Opera, they had mostly fun places to take pictures.
But the biggest reason I would recommend arriving early is so you can get opera binoculars. When I bought our tickets, I didn’t realize we were on the second level and still pretty far away from the stage. During intermission, we found a place that we could borrow opera glasses for free, but they didn’t have any left. You don’t need to buy the ones at the front desk. Go to the place to leave coats and bags and ask for 望远镜 (wang yuan jing). I’m not sure what time they ran out, but I would recommend getting those first. Since I knew the story, I didn’t have problems following it, but it would have been fun to see the actors’ expressions.
The people next to us had opera binoculars, but they didn’t use them constantly. I was tempted to borrow them for a few minutes, but I never quite got around to asking.
But the best part of the opera was the music, and I didn’t need opera glasses to enjoy that. Even at the back of the second level, the music from the live orchestra reverberated through me. The week that I went to see the performance was also the week that the construction in my building started, and I was amazed at the difference in how the different sounds affected me. Both of them were so loud that I could feel them, but while the jackhammer from the construction nearly drove me mad, the beauty of the opera delighted me. It was probably a good thing that I couldn’t sing at all with the cough that had stolen my voice or I probably would have broken into song. As it was, I just broke into fits of coughing.
The actors had incredible voices and vocal range, capturing so much beauty. I’m so glad that God gave us the ability to enjoy beautiful things, and I’m especially thankful for music. Music is such a gift, and I’m so thankful for the ability to hear it. All of our senses are incredible gifts. Thinking about these wonderful gifts also makes me wonder what they will be like in heaven. Will music reach another level? Will I be able to sing beautifully? It’s fun to wonder.
