Theatre Review: “The Phantom Of The Opera” Glides Into The Bass Performance Hall With Wonder & Spectacle

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A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opéra House.

After almost 30 years, “The Phantom Of The Opera” has become a near legend to theatre rats everywhere, old and young. Tonight, as I walked through the doors of the Bass Performance Hall, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t the technical spectacle that I experienced.

Technology has advanced considerably since Phantom first opened on Broadway in January of 1988. Back then, the boat, the staircases and especially the chandelier were cutting edge. This newly re-staged version by Cameron Makintosh has taken all of the technical wonder even further. The effects for the chandelier amazed and excited. It is almost now as if the chandelier, in its pivotal scene at the end of act one, becomes an extension of the phantom himself, shaking and sparkling in response to his emotions as the scene comes to its climax.

The show opens to reveal a 1919 opera house auction, with most of the items preset for the audience to view as the curtain wasn’t down as the audience filtered in. I walked into the theatre and the stage was set for the opening number, with the crystal chandelier hung over the audience, all covered in burlap. As I looked up at this one ton beast, designed by Howard Eton Lighting, the same company that designed the very impressive ‘molten steel’ Olympic Rings for the 2012 London Games, I tried to figure out how they were going to reveal the 6000+ hand polished crystals to the audience’s hungry eyes. Soon enough, the audience is caught up in the action and forgets about lot number 666. The auctioneer begins to talk about it and all eyes turn to the mysterious item up for bid. The burlap is magically whisked away from the inside of the chandelier, revealing the masterful gleaming crystal behemoth above us. As it lowered and flickered, the auction fell away, and became the opera house in the late 19th century, at the height of its glory, as well as tragedy.

So ensues a tale of love, hatred, jealousy, bitterness, and mystery. From the first stratospheric note, I was entranced. Every time Christine expertly performed by Katie Travis, sang, waves of chills went up and down my body. She captivated me from “Think of Me” to curtain call, especially with “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again.” I generally don’t care for that particular number, and tend to skip it on my iPod. However, I found myself wishing she would give us an encore. The emotion she was able to bring to that one scene clearly made a difference for me in understanding the lyrics.

Derrick Davis as the Phantom, however, stole my heart from the moment I interviewed him before the show. I was slightly taken aback, at first, because the website has Chris Mann listed as the Phantom and I was introduced to a black gentleman, not Chris Mann. The Phantom has been played by black men before, Robert Guillaume succeeded Michael Crawford in the Los Angeles production of POTO and a few other productions have had black men as the Phantom. I loved it because more and more, you see Broadway becoming more diverse. But what I love the most is the he wasn’t cast because he was black, but because he’s good at what he does and is right for the role. When I asked him about how he felt about it, he said, “I was a little afraid of how the cast and audience would receive me for that reason exactly, because you never really know what you’re going to get in the way of positive or negative feedback, but the cast was instantly supportive and receptive… and I’ve always believed that the Phantom was one of the few roles in the theatre world that you can cast to be pretty much anybody.” It lifts my heart to see bias and prejudice slowly but surely melting away.

The only real disappointment for me were the costumes. There was much pre-opening hype about the new elaborate costuming, the glittering ball gowns and ‘opera costumes’ that twirl all around the stage, and I was extremely excited for them. When it got right to it however, the gowns had been brought up to tea-length or shorter. It sort of ruined the effect of the Masquerade for me, but aside from that scene, the dresses were full Victorian gowns and the extravagant level of detail work in each ‘regular’ costume corresponded beautifully to each character.

Touring companies often have to adapt their sets due to the construction of the multiple theatres in which they perform. The one tech aspect I was impressed with over and over again was the set. They have moved everything inside the box. In other words, all the scenes and most all the action take place behind the fourth wall of the proscenium. Except, of course, for the chandelier. There was a single large piece that moved on, off and around the stage serving as the Phantom’s stairs, the manager’s’ office, and Christine’s dressing room. There were secret doors that would pop open and the audience would look in to see all this detailed set work going on inside the secret chamber. I was fascinated by the complex, ingenious design that allowed for easy flow between the scenes because as that block was turned one way, the next scene was being set up behind it. It created that perfect suspense of reality because there were never long pauses for them to switch the set around.

Jordan Craig as Raoul came to the stage with the required booming baritone and sang the entire score with ease and eloquence. Unfortunately, he fell a little flat in the acting department. Maybe it was because this opening night performance was actually the second performance of the day but the required passion and urgency of his love for Christine just didn’t come through in this performance.

I find it interesting when actors perform different roles from the same musical. How well can you come into one role when you’ve been playing another for several years. Trista Moldovan did it as easily as changing a t-shirt. She played Christine on Broadway for many many performances, including the milestone 10,000th performance of Phantom at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. She proves her acting skills are deep and well polished with a spectacular turn as the opera diva, Carlotta Guidicelli. Her accent was spot-on and her selfish mannerisms will make you hate her from the moment she opens her mouth on stage. Which is what we are supposed to do, so, for Trista, brava.

All in all, I was incredibly impressed with the performances given by all the actors in this production, and there are a LOT of them, with a traveling cast, orchestra and crew almost twice the size of a normal touring company. This production of “The Phantom Of The Opera” is quite possibly the biggest spectacular we will have the pleasure of seeing in Fort Worth for quite some time. With tickets starting at $44, it is an expensive experience to be sure but oh, so worth it.

“The Phantom Of The Opera” is here until Sunday, October 30th with performances every night except Monday and matinees on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are available at the box office or online at www.basshall.com