The Sir Wilfrid Laurier production of The Phantom of the Opera featured Phillip Lukic as the Phantm and Rebecca White as Christine Daaé. Fred Sherwin/Photo

When it comes to high school musical productions, some are much more popular than others. Among the most popular are Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, and Grease, all three of which made the list of the Top 10 high school musicals in North America last year.

One surprising omission from the list was The Phantom of the Opera, most likely because it demands at least two strong male voices playing the lead roles of the Phantom and the Vicomte Raul de Chagny � something that is a rarity at most high schools.

When she decided on the Phantom for the high school's annual musical production, Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School drama teacher and high school musical director Sonya Schrum was blessed with a wealth of riches in that she had several strong male singers to chose from.

She ultimately chose Phillip Lukic to play the masked Phantom, and Xavier Cadieux to play Raul � both were excellent choices, as was Rebecca White who played the lead role of Christine Daa�, the love interest of both Raul and the Phantom.

White and Cadieux had a magical chemistry on stage that is all too rare among male and female leads in romantic high school productions. Their kiss at the end of their duet All I Ask of You seemed genuine and further endeared the audience to the story.

White was superb throughout the pro-duction. Besides her duets with Cadieux and Lukic, her solo Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again was one of the highlights of the second act.

Lukic's strong baritone voice gave a level of richness to his solo performance of The Music of the Night that was impressive indeed.

But my favourite number by far was the ensemble performance of Masquerade, which is one of the most recognizable songs from the Broadway musical.

Other performances of note included Michele Hill as Christine's best friend Meg Giry, and Jordan Mason as theatre owner Richard Firmin. The rest of the lead cast was rounded out by Alyssa Rama as the primadonna Calotta Giudicelli; Serena Ferzil as Madame Giry; Simon Nordin as Buquet and Andrew Parsche as Fermin's partner Gilles Andr�.

I honestly can't say enough about the cast, or the student orchestra which provided the accompaniment to the 23-song set list.

Student director Olivia MacKeen was responsible for the special effects along with Cadieux who did double duty both on stage and behind the scenes.

The costumes were amazing, the light-ing and the sound were both spot on, and the set design elements were true to the Broadway production. All in all, the play was truly a top-notch high school production. The cast and crew should be extremely proud of themselves for a job well done.

Phillip Lukic performs on stage as the Phantom along with Xavier Cadieux (Raul) and Rebecca White (Christine Daa�) in the Sir Wilfrid Laurier productuon of The Phantom of the Opera. Fred Sherwin/Photo

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