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| (courtesy The Phantom of the Opera tour) |
The Phantom of the
Opera
Paramount Theatre
Through August 19, 2018
Well, guess what! I liked the musical The Phantom of the Opera a bunch more than I expected to. See my
preview at http://sgn.org/sgnnews46_32/page21.cfm. (What kind of critic, you
grumble, uses the phrase “a bunch more”?) Truly, the famous songs that have
become popular from this musical, particularly The Music of the Night, and The
Phantom of the Opera, made me feel like running away instead of marking my
calendar for productions to see.
This touring production is quite honestly very lavish and
attentive to making a great experience for an audience. It’s opulent to look at
when it needs to be and dark and mysterious, too. The folding and unfolding set
works beautifully to change locations. The falling chandelier is not really all
that scary (it doesn’t fall that fast), but it’s really pretty.
One aspect that definitely delighted me was how campy funny
some of the moments in the musical are – at least in this production. There are
two scenes in the production office of the opera company where the characters
all produce notes written to them by the Phantom, as he threatens them
variously to pay him or else, or let Christine sing or else, or various other
demands or else. It’s clear that they know it’s a joke and make the most of the
moment. It got big laughs from the audience.
The river scenes were a bit tortured, as far as believing it
was a big long river, but not terrible. However, the scene where Raoul has to
find his way alone to the Phantom’s underground lair to save Christine was just
completely not credible, unless there is only one way to get to the lair and it’s not very far, even if you don’t
have a boat….
The night I saw the production, Emma Grimsley replaced Eva
Tavares as Christine and did a great job. I could not tell that she was in any
way an understudy! Quentin Oliver Lee was a great choice for the Phantom, with
a smooth, powerful voice and he’s a large person, so he seems very compelling
as a commanding personality.
As far as the love triangle, the story/script is not
believable as far as why anyone is in love with anyone else, with the exception
of Christine having both a reverence for her phantom tutor (before she knows
it’s the Phantom) and being compelled magically to feel attraction for him. Why
the Phantom has become obsessed with Christine is one of those “things” you
just have to accept. The heart wants what it wants, I guess.
As for why Christine glombs onto Raoul, well, there just is
not enough script given to explain that. They knew each other as teens. Ok.
And? The heart wants what it wants, I guess.
The Phantom, in the meanwhile, has likely morphed with
society’s cultural expectations from a “poor man” who is lonely and desperately
insecure from being deformed, into a real monster who only peripherally cares
about who he hurts. Certainly, if anyone ever wanted him to end up with
Christine, that’s likely no longer possible.
And in fact, that makes the horrendous sequel, Love Never Dies, that came through
Seattle recently, even more awful. Just kill that one dead.
The supporting characters, particularly Jacquelynne Fontaine
as Carlotta, and Phumzile Sojola as Ubaldo Piangi, who were both terrific
singers and also funny, and David Benoit as Monsieur Firmin, and Edward
Staudenmayer as Monsieur Andre, who were pompous and funny, were top notch in
their talent.
If you love Phantom,
you’ll probably be very happy with this production. If you have never seen it,
I can recommend it as a spectacle with some terrific singing.
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