Phantom returns to Sydney Harbour
Phantom transforms the waters off Fleet Steps at Mrs Macquaries Point into a theatrical world, placing the audience in open air, framed by the Sydney Opera House and city skyline.
Sydney’s harbour will once again host one of musical theatre’s most enduring stories when The Phantom of the Opera returns to Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in March.
Unlike a conventional theatre staging, this Phantom transforms the waters off Fleet Steps at Mrs Macquaries Point into a theatrical world, placing the audience in open air, framed by the Sydney Opera House and city skyline.
The 2026 season coincides with the 40th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original The Phantom of the Opera. The musical first debuted in London’s West End in 1986 and has since been seen by more than 160 million people across 205 cities in 58 territories, translated into 21 languages.
While this production is entirely new, it brings together director Simon Phillips and designer Gabriela Tylesova to reimagine the story for the harbour’s vast canvas. Both Phillips and Tylesova worked with Lloyd Webber on the Australian premiere of Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom.
Key scenes of the musical, such as the mirror sequence, the descent into the Phantom’s lair and the iconic chandelier moment, are reworked for dramatic impact on the outdoor stage, while a live orchestra will perform from beneath the structure.
The scale of the harbour staging is central to its appeal. In past iterations, elements such as a towering staircase, complex set pieces and expansive lighting have been used to ensure visibility and theatrical resonance across the open space. The 2022 production’s chandelier, for example, was modelled on the real one at Paris’s Palais Garnier and suspended high above the water, while gold foil and elaborate costume designs helped catch light across the harbour at dusk.
The musical’s score, featuring songs such as ‘The Music of the Night’, ‘All I Ask of You’ and the title number, is among the most recognisable in theatre. Its combination of sweeping melodies and atmospheric storytelling has helped sustain the show’s popularity on stages around the world for four decades.
The 2026 cast will be led by Queenslander Jake Lyle as the Phantom, who is making his “dream-come-true” musical theatre debut, and Amy Manford revising her role as Christine.
Manford performed the role on London’s West End and in the last Australian in-theatre tour, in which Jewish musical theatre cross-over talent Josh Piterman starred as the Phantom. Completing the trio is Jarrod Draper as Raoul.
For Opera Australia, the harbour staging of The Phantom of the Opera has become less a novelty and more a statement about how large-scale musical theatre can be reimagined depending on where it is staged.
The production is designed around the shifting light, with its scale shaped as much by the open horizon as it is by scene or costumes. Scenes normally contained within the walls of an opera house are reworked to travel across a vast outdoor stage, and the music is adjusted to stretch into the surrounding landscape.
The production places one of the world’s most familiar musicals in an environment that is constantly changing, subtly altering the mood of each performance. It is this interplay between story, sound and setting that has come to define the harbour version of Phantom: a production built specifically for one of Australia’s most recognisable stages.
The Phantom of the Opera is on Sydney Harbour from March 27 to May 3. For tickets, visit opera.org.au/productions/the-phantom-of-the-opera-on-sydney-harbour/
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