The Phantom of The Opera will be opening at the Ziff Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center as part of a North American tour.
Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Laurence Connor, the new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera is expected to be bigger and better, say critics. What’s more, it has the largest cast and orchestra to date on tour, reaching a number of 52 performers.
The Phantom of the Opera has retained success through its captivating story line and musical numbers, remaining a favorite among theatergoers. Based on Gaston Leroux’s novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra and set at the Paris Opera House, the plot follows soprano Christine Daaé as she becomes enamored by and the obsession of a mysterious masked musical genius, dubbed The Phantom. Phantom, although having an operatic musical score, maintains the form and structure of a musical and is the second longest running musical since its 1986 inception in London’s West End theater, after Les Miserables.
A total reconception of the musical and deviating a little from the original show, this new production has a new scenic design by Paul Brown, original costume design by Maria Bjornson, lighting design by Paule Constable, new choreography by Scott Ambler, and new staging by director Laurence Connor. Associate Director Seth Sklar-Heyn says the behind the scenes experts have “worked to deliver a production that provided the material and the audience a physical world that would satisfy and exceed one’s memory and expectations of the original production, which isn’t easily done.”
Having been around for 3 decades and technology evolving, Phantom needed a revamp. In addition, there will be many special effects including the musical’s famous chandelier, which creates a spectacular scene as it glides over the audience and falls on stage at the end of Act I. It is a key component to all the onstage glory. “The trick has been to give it more of a personality – to engineer it to do more – and I think we’ve achieved that,” says Sklar-Heyn.
That said, Webber’s score remains untouched as it is timeless and an epic operatic musical element to the production. Through new direction and design, the re-invented production has achieved dynamic characters, making the center characters we have all loved more human and complex. Chris Mann as Phantom, Katie Travis as Christine, and Storm Lineberger as Raoul continue to stun with powerful three-dimensional character development and voices that polish the long loved love-triangle.
The show will open on February 24th and last until March 6th.
