Musical’s charm stands test of time
And the chandelier falls another day. The unstoppable force of The
Phantom of the Opera is a theatrical wonder, having celebrated 30 years at the Majestic Theatre in New York City this January — by far the longest running production in Broadway history. It has run even longer at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End. And of course, it occupied Toronto’s Pantages Theatre (now the Ed Mirvish Theatre) from 1989 to 1999 — yes, it was produced by Livent’s Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, but it was still a Toronto arts phenomenon we’re unlikely to see again. Mirvish Productions has brought Phantom back to the city, almost 10 years after the original production closed, for a tantalizing three-week run at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
British producer Cameron Mackintosh — long-time Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator and original producer of Cats, Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon as well as Phantom — by no means had to revamp this audience favourite to justify a new U.S. and Canada tour.
But alas, the ’90s nostalgia obsession of the mid to late 2010s wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the pinnacle of the 1990s theatrical spectacle, with a few more special effects, because why not. Upped pyrotechnics (a lingering smell of burning isn’t uncommon throughout its two acts) and added video projections, are usually impressive, but sometimes fall on the side of fussiness. And in the case of turning an offstage death into an onstage murder, more hassle than the final effect is worth.
This new production, directed by Laurence Connor (also behind Mackintosh’s updated versions of Les Mis, which played in Toronto in 2013, and Miss Saigon), stays faithful to the gothic opulence and melodrama of Hal Prince’s1980s version (including original Tony Award-winning costume designs by Maria Bjornson), while trimming its extraneous bits and digging into a dingier, more dangerous behind-the-scenes world at the Paris Opera.
The story remains the same — chorus girl Christine Daaé (Eva Tavares) is chosen to take the lead role from diva Carlotta Giudicelli (Trista Moldovan), and her starring turn wins the affection of the Vicomte de Chagny, Raoul (Jordan Craig).
But the romance between the lovers, in combination with the new opera owners’ irreverence for tradition, the Phantom of the Opera (Quentin Oliver Lee), Christine’s secret vocal coach, wreaks havoc on the opera and its employees. The centrepiece of Paul Brown’s set design is an enormous rotating column, which contains hidden departments to reveal the opera’s unseen wings (exposing the less glamorous world of stagehands, fly operators and dark corners where phantoms lurk) and the crimson office of the empresarios of Monsieur Firmin (David Benoit) and Monsieur André (Edward Staudenmayer) — an effective comedic duo who keep the show light as they accidentally cause its ghostly mayhem.
The edge of one wall stands in the for infamous staircase that the Phantom descends with Christine to reach the lake underneath the opera, the steps of the staircase ingeniously appearing out of the wall as the pair reach them, retreating into it once they’ve stepped off. Tavares’s Christine has an added level of fear when she looks back and realizes she can’t escape, even if she wanted to.
Which brings us to the inher- ent creepiness of The Phantom of the Opera, central to its dark themes and Beauty and the Beast- like pairing of innocent young woman and lonely, ugly man, and the love that grows out of the woman’s incarceration.
The antidote to that dynamic, which screams problematic in 2018, is Christine and Raoul’s “legitimate” love and subsequent engagement. But in this straightforward production, Craig’s energy on the stage met with Raoul’s wealthy confidence gives him an odour of unchecked entitlement, and Tavares is as sweet as Craig is brash, not helping Christine’s lack of character as it is written (though Connor does unleash a bit more of Christine’s desire at her first kiss with Raoul).
This is a relationship that could have benefited from the kind of updating received by the show’s technical aspects. But interestingly, Lee’s Phantom represents a new threat — the opposite of Craig ’s stocky Raoul, Lee towers over the cast in height, but his long strides across his dungeon and his lanky arms at the organ transform his presence into one that’s more cerebral and sinister (like a 19th-century Slender Man). His dark demand for affection from Christine hits like a missive from the incel movement.
But in the rare case of a Black performer as the Phantom, his ostracization, history as part of a freak show and dangerous sexuality (especially if it is directed toward a white woman) has a different resonance that this production doesn’t seem to have made on purpose.
Still, much like the man himself has a hold on Christine, Phantom has a charm that’s hard to shake. Whether a call back to a former style of theatre, or a reminder of past years, or a first meeting with sets, costumes and effects that are meant to impress — we’re glad the music of the night has returned, if only for a little while.