Stage Review: The Phantom of the Opera

I am very vocal about my opinions when it comes to theatrical productions, and those who know me know that Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is not particularly my favorite musical. I didn't always feel that way about it. When I first heard the music, I loved it. I thought that it had some beautiful songs. I still think that it has some beautiful songs. I was so excited when I had the opportunity to see it in San Francisco in the mid-nineties. However, I didn't like the actual production. I think that it's too heavy on spectacle and too light on plot. I love the novel by Gaston Leroux that the musical is based on. It's one of my favorite books. I just have never thought that it was well adapted as a musical.

When I found out that a production of the musical was being mounted at Brigham Young University, I was curious to see what a production with university students would be like.  This is the first production of the musical I've been able to see that wasn't produced by Cameron Macintosh. I decided to go to the show with a open mind and try to enjoy a production that hopefully wasn't weighed down by the spectacle of Cameron Macintosh's version.

Review:

Okay, I have to admit that for the most part I enjoyed it. That is not an easy thing for me to say, but as I said, I am very vocal when it comes to my opinions of theatre, and my opinion is there were some very enjoyable moments in this production.

The costumes were stunning. I was surprised at the level of excellence in each piece on the stage. I didn't expect that level of quality in a university production. I especially liked the set. There was nothing that shouted over-done (other than moments when images on the screens were a bit over-done). The chandelier worked well and didn't take focus off of the performers on the stage. Some great set pieces were the elephant in Hannibal, the opera being rehearsed at the beginning of the show. There were two staircases on right and left stage, and they remained there throughout the production.

The second scene, that began with the rehearsal of Hannibal was good and set the tone for the rest of the production. It was entertaining and funny. There was an especially funny moment when Piangi, the tenor, tries to get up onto the elephant during the last measures of the song and he's trying to get on it before the songs ends. His attempt is quite entertaining, and his final pose as he tries to hold on at the end of the song is hilarious.

Vocally, the production was outstanding. Everyone had good voices and the musical numbers sounded wonderful. The acting was also very strong throughout the entire cast. There were a few stand-out performances. Preston Yates, who played The Phantom has a beautifully clear tenor voice. DeLaney Westfall (whom I performed with two years ago in The Drowsy Chaperone), was perfectly cast as Christine Daae. I knew that she could act, and I knew that she had a wonderful voice. I just didn't know that she could sing operatically as well as she does. I was very impressed that she was able to hit the high note at the end of "The Phantom of the Opera," and it was clear and loud. Well done, DeLaney!

Carlotta, played by Caroline Morris, was wonderful. Her operatic voice was beautiful, and she had very good comic timing. Brad Robbins and Sam Bostwick, who played Monsieur Andre and Fermin, respectively, also brought a lot of humor into the production. I think that's one of the things I enjoyed about this production. It had many humorous parts that made it more enjoyable. It didn't take itself entirely too seriously.

I was happy that, for the most part, most of the actors spoke with their own accents, and didn't try to adopt an affected English or French accent. Only Carlotta and Piangi had French accents, and they both did a good job. I like being able to understand actors, and many times if they use different accents you find it hard to understand what they're saying. We know we're in France, we don't need the actors to have a French accent to understand that.

"The Music of the Night" is one of the most popular musical numbers in the show, and Yates sang it very well. The way the song is blocked, Christine is mesmerized by his voice and the music, and he is able to control her like a puppet during the song. There were times when I wanted to laugh, because in another musical, Xanadu (which, by the way, starred DeLaney in one of the productions I saw last year), during the song, "Strange Magic," the goddesses control what Kira and Sonny do as if they are puppet masters, just like in "The Music of the Night." However, in The Phantom of the Opera it is meant to be serious and romantic, and in Xanadu it's meant to be funny. It's interesting how the exact same type of blocking can be funny or not depending on the tone of the musical.

I liked how the Phantom flies in at the end of "Masquerade" at top of Act II. He has a great costume with large wings like a bat, and it fits well that he would fly in. I'm glad that he doesn't fly out, though. He just walks up the stairs and off stage. However, I didn't particularly like that they fly him in and out in the cemetery. The Phantom is just a man, not a superhero with the power to fly.

The ballerinas were outstanding in the production. They had a group of female ballerinas, and then they had a male ballet dancer, Michael Milkinin, who did a few solos. He was incredible, and received a few ovations from the audience during his solos.

In Act II during the Phantom's opera, there is a song sung by Christine and the Phantom, "Past the Point of No Return." In the middle of the song, Christine walks to stage left where there are curtains leading off stage, and then she has some strange choreography with the curtains. It was very strange. I'm not sure why the director or choreographer had her do that.

I have always had a problem with the Phantom's half mask in this musical version of the book. It's strange to me that the man would have only half of his face deformed, when in the book his entire face is deformed. I heard that for the original production of the musical the half mask was created to make it easier for Michael Crawford, the original Phantom, to sing. They didn't want to cover his whole face. I know that the half mask is now iconic for this musical, but if you look at the original poster, it is a whole mask, not half of a mask. I believe that now a mask can be designed that the actor could wear that wouldn't make it difficult for the Phantom to sing. Just sayin'.

I'm glad that I was able to enjoy the musical for the most part. Now that musical is available to be done by regional and community theatres, I look forward to seeing other productions and hopefully I will enjoy the majority of these productions.

Movie/Stage Review: Love Never Dies

Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, was not a hit in London, and received mostly negative reviews. When it closed, it was rewritten, reworked, and then restaged in Melbourne, Australia to mostly positive reviews. The stage production was filmed and plays for two nights only at movie theaters. The first night was Tuesday, February 28th. The second is March 7th.

When you walk into the movie theater, you hear the sound of an audience in a theatre. Not a movie theater, but a theatre for live performances. There is a different sound of the audience of a theatre for live performances from a movie theater.

The commercials before the main feature were also different from those before a movie. There were commercials for Sister Act, the musical, and Ghost, the musical, both playing on Broadway. And there was a commercial for a touring show, Memphis.

Then they showed what's coming up next with Fathom Events. The Comedy of Errors, She Stoops to Conquer, and Casablanca. I'm excited that you can see these types of shows/movies on the big screen.

Before the main feature began there was a segment on the filming of the production that featured Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was interesting to hear how they decided to film the production, and what went into it. However, it went a bit long and soon I was just ready to see the show.

I am not the biggest fan of The Phantom of the Opera. My closest friends could tell you how I feel about it. But I have to say that I enjoyed Love Never Dies better than The Phantom of the Opera. Shocker! Like Phantom, it is heavy on spectacle and light on plot. As I once heard Sylvia Fine Kaye (Danny Kaye's wife) say, "the plot was so thin, its slip is showing."

So, here's the plot: Madam Giry helped the Phantom escape from the Paris Opera house ten years before, and they, along with Madam Giry's daughter, Meg, went to America. They found a place for themselves among the artists and freaks at Coney Island. In the ten years they have been there, the Phantom has pined for Christine.

Christine has married Raoul and had a son, and she believes that the Phantom is dead. Christine's marriage to Raoul is not a happy one as Raoul is a drinker and a gambler (sounds a bit like Gaylord Ravenal from Show Boat). The Phantom lures Christine to New York on the pretense that Oscar Hammerstein I (that's the grandfather of the Oscar we are familiar with) wants her to sing in his Opera house in New York City. Once she's there, the Phantom tricks Christine into promising to sing his song in his Coney Island show, Phantasma. Raoul knows that if she sings, he has lost her. I won't say what she does. Oh, and Christine's son is 10 years old and loves to write music. I'll let you guess that surprise on your own.

Andrew Lloyd Webber said in the segment before the show that he thinks this is his best score. There are many songs by Lloyd Webber from other musicals (even The Phantom of the Opera) that I like better than those in this show, but I think it has a decent score. The lyrics are not the best, but no lyrics for ALW shows have ever lived up to those by Tim Rice. Fans of The Phantom of the Opera will be happy to hear some familiar melodies from that musical interspersed through Love Never Dies. The score is very operatic, but one song, "The Beauty Underneath," has more of a rock beat, a little like "The Phantom of the Opera" from the original, and it seems very out of place.

The Phantom of the Opera was all about spectacle: the staircase, the giant candles coming up from the stage, and the chandelier. Love Never Dies has some spectacular sets too, but it's not quite as grand as Phantom, and I liked the set for many scenes. The musical is set at Coney Island, and one set looks like a roller coaster, but theatrical. That set also has a giant warped mask on stage right. It was effective. There was another beautiful set that was a circle of giant peacock feathers. It was my favorite.


The costumes were extremely well done. I love the styles of that period (early 1900s). I especially loved Christine's beautiful gowns, and when she sees the Phantom again, of course she's wearing a white gown. And, so as not to disappoint true fans, she does wear the white dressing gown made famous in The Phantom of the Opera later when she's in her dressing room.

I had a problem with the casting of the Phantom himself. He just seemed too young. His voice was beautiful, and he certainly could sing the score, but he wasn't believable to me as the Phantom. It also annoys me that they make him out to be this great romantic hero, just as they did in The Phantom of the Opera. If you've read the book, you know that he is not a good man. He kills people. He kidnaps people. The book is a detective novel, not a romance novel.

There's one thing I have to say about Christine, I don't know if she ever closes her mouth. Her mouth isn't wide open, but her lips are always apart like she's always under some spell (this is something I noticed in the film of The Phantom of the Opera too). I don't know if it's a specific direction given to every girl who plays Christine, but it bugs me.

My favorite of the cast was Meg Giry. She did an excellent job. I really liked her "Bathing Beauty" number. The costuming in that number was very fun. The little boy who played Gustave, Christine's son also did a very good job.

There are some very melodramatic parts in the musical that made me want to laugh, because the melodrama was so big, but I reminded myself that this is stage acting, not film. In stage acting you have to play to the balcony so they understand the emotion. In film it's close up, and a little goes a long way. In this production sometimes the acting was over the top.

I decided to go into the show with no bias, and judge it solely on its own merits, and I discovered many merits. It's not a perfect musical, but that honor for me only goes to Man of La Mancha. I would love it if they filmed a good stage version of that. The movie version is so bad.

Love Never Dies will be shown again at movie theaters on March 7th in case you want to see it. If you like musicals I recommend that you see it, especially if you like The Phantom of the Opera.