Revisiting Phantom

I saw The Phantom of The Opera way back in August, 2001 and I'm not ashamed to call myself a fan. I know that theater snobs look down on Andrew Lloyd Webber, but I love a good spectacle and I really enjoy the score for all its melodrama. Plus, at the heart of Phantom is a compelling story which has everything--romance, suspense, humor. I hadn't been back since because there are always new shows to see and I tend to forget about the long-running musicals, but my sister was visiting me and there aren't that many new shows in the middle of January, so we decided it was time to see how Phantom was holding up.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't sold out on a Monday night in the middle of January, but it was still pretty full, especially in the rear mezzanine. Also not surprisingly, most of the audience seemed to be tourists. I really loved listening to the excitement of the people around me, many of who had never seen a Broadway show before (though I could have done without so many camera flashes going off). Now that I go all the time, I miss when seeing a show was a treat that meant getting dressed up and that sense of wonder that came with sitting in a big Broadway theater.

The show begins at an auction and there are sheets covering many of the set pieces. The reveal of the chandelier and its rise to the ceiling during the first chords of "The Phantom of the Opera" was as thrilling a moment of theater as I remembered it to be. However, the fall of the chandelier at the end of act 1 was noticeably less impressive than I remembered. I couldn't help but think of this SNL skit. The cast was fine in Act 1, they were hitting the right notes, but it didn't grab me as it did the first time. George Lee Andrews (who has been in the show since it started) as Moinsieur Andre and David Cryer as Monsieur Firmin, the comic relief, were by far the highlights and the only ones who really seemed in the moment, rather than going through the motions.

I'm not sure what happened at intermission, but everyone seemed to pick up their game in act two. Susan Owen, who plays Christine a few nights a week, delivered a beautiful "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." Jon Cudia as Phantom, Ryan Silverman as Raoul, and Owen came alive during "The Point of No Return," so the emotional impact of the ending was not lost. Phantom doesn't have shows on Sundays, so maybe they were just having a slow start getting back into the work week. All in all, I'm glad I gave the show another look, and now my memory is refreshed so I am ready for Love Never Dies.