For those of you who don't know, Peter Karrie is the actor who has been voted the world's favourite Phantom, and he is good, I can tell you that. As I have said before, I went to see him in the 2000 UK Tour, but the night I went the understudy was performing instead of PK. I was really disappointed, since I had heard such good reviews of Peter and that would most likely be the only time that I would ever have a chance to see him (or so I thought). When I heard he was coming back to Bradford for a one night only performance of his show, Peter Karrie Unmasked, I was delighted and immediately rushed to get tickets! I was not, this time, dissappointed, and I got fairly cheap but decent seats in the Stalls.

Despite the fact that the show was 20 minutes late in starting, PK was well recieved when he made his enterance. His first song was a number from West Side Story, which, since I haven't seen it, I can't remember the title. He then introduced himself and told how much he enjoyed live theatre, mainly because of the little mistakes which are often made in live performance. (I had always heard that PK was the King of Phantom Cock-Ups, so this didn't surprise me!) He promised to tell us some stories as the night went along, which he did, as well as keep us entertained with his marvellous singing! Some of the numbers he, (and his friends- he had two sopranos with him, Zoe Tyler and one whose name I never caught, because everyone was always clapping when he told us, as well as a cast of about 30 kids from La Scala, a local acting school) performed include: "Mack the Knife", "New York, New York", "Joseph Megamix", "Superstar", "Valjean's Soliloquy", "Castle on a Cloud", "Bring Him Home", "Minnie the Moocher" (I think that is the title and how you spell it, if I'm wrong please tell me!), "I Know Him So Well", "All I Ask of You", "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", "The Phantom of the Opera" and, of course, "The Music of the Night".

Since this is a PoTO site, I'm going to tell you about the Phantom songs. All I Ask of You came first. This, of course, is not usually sung by Peter and he admitted he hated it, as he was usually cramped up in the flies when it was sung. He had trouble remembering the words and kept repeating thesame phrase. Although I noticed the mistakes straigh away, it took a while for all the audience to catch on. It was clear he was struggling and he was just trying to come up with sometihing that rhymed with the other lyrics. His line "I'm here. No-one will find you... the harm is all behind you!" got a round of applause for this reason entirely, as well as a good laugh. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again was fantastic as it usually is. I love this song anyway, and it was extremely well sung. Bravo that woman! The Phantom of the Opera was also excellent, and I spent half the song figuring out whether or not PK was wearing the mask or not, since he remained in the shadows throughout the song. (It turned out he wasn't, which disappointed me). The it was Music of the Night which deservedly received a standing ovation. PK's MOTN is the closest I've heard to Michael Crawford. MC is the best I've heard, but PK comes a close second!

I certainly wasn't disappointed with the show. PK is a wonderful entertainer, not just a singer. His stories were hilarious and singing fantastic! All I can say is, if you get the chance, see the show, it was certainly worth the money!

For more Peter Karrie pictures go to my pictures from the UK Tour 2000 or visit the Peter Karrie Website