The spectacle of ‘The Phantom’ continues
Karen Mason is Madame Giry as ‘Love Never Dies’ arrives in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Love Never Dies” took some time coming to life, considering its pedigree. The sequel to “Phantom of the Opera” — Broadway’s longest running show by a landslide — landed in London with a thud.
It had the spectacle and an Andrew Lloyd Webber score, but catching up with the Phantom, Christine and Co. 10 years later in Coney Island didn’t click with phans and critics — at first.
The composer regrouped, with lyricist Glen Slater and Australian director Simon Phillips reworking the story that has the Phantom, now the impresario of a Brooklyn boardwalk Phantasma, inviting Christine Daae to sing in a well-paying gig. Her marriage to Raoul is in trouble, and her family, including son Gustav, join her for the beachside spectacle.
Broadway and cabaret star Karen Mason plays Madame Giry, the Phantom’s stalwart business partner and companion, in the national tour of “Love Never Dies” that opens at the Benedum Center on Tuesday.
“It is such a special score, and so special to Andrew Lloyd Webber, and composers make changes all the time,” Ms. Mason said. “And when Glenn Slater came along, they added some things and shifted things around, but still maintained that core of truth they wanted to tell; it just made sense.
“It was just a magical combination of talents,” she added. “Then they ran in Australia for I think a year, moved it to Frankfurt, Germany, and it was a success there.”
And now it’s on the road, playing sold-out Broadway Series throughout the United States.
In a long career that would have seemed to see it all, this is Ms. Mason’s first national tour.
She was an original cast member of Broadway’s “Mamma Mia,” as Donna’s sultry chum, Tanya, and the Kander & Ebb revue, “And the World Goes ’Round.”
She has toured as a singer throughout the world, including at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Pittsburgh’s Cabaret at Theater Square — a one-night-only Trust Cabaret Series presentation in November.
Her cabaret career dates to the 1970s and hit Broadway in the 1980s, most memorably as a replacement in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.”
“As every actor, I needed a job and I was looking around and it’s always great to work with a very successful composer — and he is that, and for good reason,” Ms. Mason said. “I think this is a beautiful score and when my agent called and said would you like to go in for it, Madame Giry in the Broadway company sings very, very high. And I said, I can’t sing that. And he said just go and watch the Australian DVD and see what it is. And I thought, ‘OK, after 10 years her voice had dropped a little bit. I could actually sing this.’”
The role brings her back to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber — she was the long-running standby to Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige as Norma Desmond in Mr. Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” stepping into the role more than 200 times. When: Tuesday through Jan. 7. 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 and 8 p.m. Sat. and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sun. Tickets: $30-$116; trustarts.org or 412-456-6666.
Madame Giry is a relatively small role, but an important one in the Phantom’s success.
In the original stage version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” Madame Giry works with the corps de ballet, and with her daughter, Meg, suggests ingenue Christine Daae replace the lead. That is the Phantom’s will. In the film version, she is shown as a young woman rescuing the young Phantom from a traveling circus and hiding him in the Opera House.
“Over 10 years, she’s even more invested in the Phantom,” Ms. Mason said. “She was pretty highly invested in this person, this talent, this Svengali — to the point where she risked her life to get him away. And I think that relationship has continued throughout the years. And now she is running the Phantasma that he has created. When you have that kind of connection, it gets deeper and deeper, so the losses and the betrayals and the joys can be that much deeper.’
One carryover from “Phantom” to “Love Never Dies” is that the new show does not lack for spectacle, including a big moment for Ms. Mason as act one comes to an end.
“It’s a wonderful vocal moment, and a wonderful acting moment. … It’s dramatic and passionate and what every singer hopes for,” she said.
If she has one regret, it’s Madame Giry’s wardrobe, which hasn’t changed in the move across the Atlantic. Set and costume designer Gabriela Tylesova “did a spectacular job of capturing a world that’s just a little off. That’s full and bright and in your face and just a little on the outskirts,” Ms. Mason said.
The exception is her character, whose tastes are singular and drab.
“I am one and done,” she said laughing.
Ms. Mason has traveled as a cabaret artist before and, with the musical “Wonderland,” did a short pre-Broadway tour and a couple of weeks at a time with the musical “A Christmas Story.”
“I’ve never done a week here and a week there, and it’s a fascinating journey,” she said.
That journey now takes her to Pittsburgh, which she visited for the first time in November for a Trust Cabaret showcase. She liked what she saw of the appreciative local audience.
“What’s great about theater audiences is, they are pretty game for the ride if you tell a good story, and [’Love Never Dies’] is a good story,” she said. “It’s very passionate and gothic, and it’s spectacularly beautiful.”