NEW JOY FOR FANDOM OF THE OPERA
Crowds have flocked to producer’s latest version of musical favourite
Cameron Mackintosh certainly has an ear for a hit. He’s had it for a good half-century.
In December 1990, he was described by New York Times reporter Mervyn Rothstein as “the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world.”
Now 70, he was knighted Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh in 1996 for his contributions to the world of musical theatre. He’s estimated to be the third-richest person in the British music industry.
Mackintosh has thrown his weight behind such international smashes as Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Oliver, Miss Saigon and Cats. By his own estimation, he has 40 shows up around the world ranging from the U.K. and Europe to Japan, the U.S. and Canada.
“This week, I celebrate 50 years as a producer, but I actually began my career many years before as a stagehand,” he said in a recent interview. “Eventually, I worked virtually every job there was, from flying to cleaner to being a props boy with only the box office being absent. At the moment, I’ve literally been back to doing Snakes and Ladders, rebuilding an old London theatre to premiere Hamilton.”
Among the touring productions Mackintosh has on the go is the Broadway Across Canada version of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stiligoe’s 1986 smash hit The Phantom of the Opera, which will run at Calgary’s Jubilee Auditorium from Aug. 9 to 20.
Directed by Laurence Connor (Miss Saigon, School of Rock, Jesus Christ Superstar), the new version includes set design by Paul Brown. Maria Bjornson’s awardwinning elaborate gowns and costumes from the original production remain.
Mackintosh said he had already signed up the designer to do the show before Lloyd Webber had written down a note.
“I just felt that she would be the one, the only one, who could bring this vision to the stage,” Mackintosh said.
“This is the thing that I do, my role, as I’m not the one who talks to an author about an adaptation or suggests an idea.”
It’s been a draw for decades, but the Phantom of the Opera has more humble origins than one might expect.
“When Andrew rang me up about producing it for fun, not even writing it, we thought it would be fun to produce it together,” Mackintosh said. “As we got into it, it became evident that this would be a very good one for him to write, but we were up against four other versions going around as the story is outside copyright. We told everybody we were having a go at it and hoped we might scare off some of the competitors.”
In that, they succeeded — and more. There have been countless versions of the Phantom of the Opera since 1986 and it has launched many a career.
This tour features Derrick Davis as the Phantom and Eva Tavares as Christine Daae. Longtime fans can rest assured the new version hasn’t undergone any significant alteration.
“Twenty-five years on, with the original brilliant one still going on in London and New York and a few other places, I just thought we needed to have a new look at how we were doing it,” Mackintosh said.
“That physical production can’t be cut down and has, miraculously, kept going for this long, but economics requires that you look at how you can play cities for only one week, and rather than cut it down, I wanted to find a new way to look at the story with a set that could be cut down but still spectacular.”
Bjornson was approached and ideas of rethinking the use of the backstage were bandied about to make more use of whatever theatre in which the show was booked.
“Unfortunately, two days before we were to actually begin working on it, she had a fit and suddenly died,” Mackintosh said. “So it languished for several years until one year I saw a production done by Paul Brown and figured he could be the guy for Phantom. I told Andrew I wanted to come at it with something new and he was keen, but it still languished again, as he was working on the Phantom sequel Love Never Dies.”
To avoid confusion, the two shows weren’t put up at the same time. The reworked version of The Phantom of the Opera opened four years ago in London and was another hit.
“The new one is a complementary show. I think it’s darker and grittier than the original,” he said. “The two live side by side, and I think if you saw both back to back, you might like parts of one more than the other. The great thing is that it proves what a strong show Andrew has written.”
An unexpected offshoot is that longtime fans have flocked to the new version so that they can enjoy the wonder of The Phantom of the Opera all over again. Even when it’s not the new version touring, repeat customers for this show are consistent across global markets. Add in the changed sets and tweaked story and you have a whole new potential crowd.
“We didn’t change anything from the original,” Mackintosh said, “unless we were certain that it could bring the same joy and be as good as the original and fresh in a different way.”
Phantom of the Opera runs from Aug. 9 to 20 at the Jubilee Auditorium.