The Phantom of the Opera (Chicago) Tickets

Great show and the cast was wonderful. The music, as always, was thrilling.

The Phantom of the Opera is a CLASSIC. I've seen this musical four times, this last time was disappointing as several things have changed from the original. Sometimes change can be good, however, changing certain things in a CLASSIC needs to be for the better. The Chandelier, for instance, was very disappointing. Rather than swooping it over the audience as it had been done in the past, it is already suspended in mid-air the entire time. The mirror scene, also a disappointment, was changed. Rather than displaying an actual (trick) mirror for when the Phantom reveals himself, they use a dark shady window, which opens for Christine to enter. The original illusion of seeing Christine walk through into the mirror was much better than this. The masquerade scene, quite the disappointment as mirrors were used in the background vs a staircase. The Phantom then enters with his normal mask, perhaps it was a little more bedazzled, however, originally he entered wearing a pretty neat skull mask. Last but not least, he doesn't disappear after sitting in his chair at the end. One more thing I can mention, this is supposed to have taken place in France, where were the French accents? It sounded a little more Americanized. If you have never seen the original show, this show is great. But if you have seen the original...you'll be disappointed as I was. Never change a classic.

This production of Phantom was extraordinary. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The actors/actresses voices were amazing, beautiful, made you want to just jump for joy. I did not want it to end. I have seen this play 5 different times already and must say this was as good if not better than my previous shows. I highly recommend it to all!

Phantom of the Opera was even better than expected with phenomenal performances by everyone on the stage and in the orchestra! The set was superb. The theater was quite comfortable. Even at intermission, the ladies bathroom line was kept moving along briskly with staff that helped monitor available stalls expeditiously.

Great voices (though I did notice a few scenes that were lip-synched) on the cast, excellent acting.

I've seen Phantom of the Opera several times and thought this was going to be the same as always. But I was pleasantly surprised-this production was one of the best I've ever seen.

If you've seen it before like I had (man that sounds pretentious), you can look forward to a great rendition of a classic. The three leads really leave it all on stage and are accompanied by a stellar supportive cast that perspires enthusiasm and talent (and perspiration). Plus, the staging has been elevated to include a few of the classic "looks" from Phantom's of the past while using newer techniques for certain scenes. If you haven't seen it before but have been looking for the right time to go, put your watch away and go see it now!

Saw the latest Phantom on a cold winter evening in Chicago. The cast was so good, we forgot about the arctic chill outside. Great enhancements to the classic performance.

Beautiful venue, amazing show. You do my want to miss Phantom in Chicago!

After seeing Phantom many times this is one of my least favorite productions. It seemed to be in a rush to get to the end. The sets were too dark most of the time. The costumes blended in with the set so it was all one bland nothing. Even the Masquerade ball wasn't very colorful or elaborate. Carlotta did do an excellent job though. Her voice is amazing!

I brought my daughter to Phantom for her first experience in the Arts and she absolutely loved it. On the way home all she talked about was different parts of the play that were intriguing. She looked at the playbill and was already asking me which play would we be watching the next time.

We were in the upper balcony and had great seats and visibility. The quality of the music and drama were excellent. A thoroughly enjoyable evening. The variety of set changes was so smoothly executed and so creative - we were in the drama!

Talent was top tier. I have not seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, but was really impressed by the acting and singing. The show was also visually stunning. We sat in the second balcony, which allowed us a great vantage point to see the entire performance, except for the scene where the performers stood at the top of the stairs. Otherwise, it was a great theater to watch the performance.

The Phantom Of The Opera is an Excellent play I loved every minute of it. I would highly recommend it for everyone to see.

The show was great. The actors' voices sounded amazing, and the sound system in the Cadillac Theater complimented their voices well. The scenery and spectacle also were great.

I have been very skeptical about this new production of Phantom. Re-stage and change a show that has been running successfully since 1986 and is much loved by thousands and thousands of people all over the world? ---Maybe not such a good idea and certainly not anything I had ever wanted done. I've seen the original production several times and love it. Howsomever, my general impression of this new production is that I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Why? First, the orchestra was excellent---17 live musicians playing the beautiful score. The music was also well sung. I couldn't really find any fault with the three leads or the secondary performers---no disappointment there---and the chorus sounded great. I think the dancing was fine also although I'm not as interested in dancing as in other things and don't know much about it. Acting? Mostly good, I think. I don't particularly like an angry, violent Phantom like the one we see in the last scene of this show, but Cooper Grodin does an angry, violent Phantom well. Julia Udine was pretty, young , appealing--a little more feisty and sexy in some scenes than is usual. Ben Jacoby is, perhaps, a rather more forceful Raoul but not very different from most Raouls as far as I remember. The actress playing Carlotta is a hoot, Piangi is also pretty funny and enjoyable, and Linda Balgord as Madame Giry is appropriately stern. The Managers are funny and got laughs. ---Speaking of funny, this version IS funnier than the original. There aren't any big changes; but new little bits of business are well-performed and make the humor fresher and better. All the actors did quality professional jobs. The costumes? ---good enough but not outstanding. The advertising and interviewed Creative Team members proclaim that the show retains the Maria Björnson costume designs. Some, maybe most, were Björnson's ---but some were not, I think---or somehow not quite the same. My opinion is that the costumes were good enough not to distract but not obviously opulent or lovely----except for a couple of Carlotta's dresses that did look opulent. The Phantom for whatever reasons is in his shirt sleeves a lot of the time. Things I didn't like or found wanting? Perhaps the first and biggest disappointment for me was the absence of the gold proscenium, draped and covered during the opening auction scene. When the overture pounded in with the organ track and the live musicians in the tour show, my heart lifted, but not as much, not as much, as it does in the original show, where we see the drapes fall from the proscenium and begin the transformation of the space from the dusty old opera house to the opera house of the story. The sets…..some of them looked pretty good, but I think that the essential problem with the sets in this show, which have been described by members of the creative team and by critics as more realistic, is that it is hard to make flats and roll-in set pieces look very realistic. The big moving "barrel" that provides stairs and has many other uses is good, but some of the other scenes looked a little tacky to me. With the Hal Prince black-box design, there wasn't really an attempt to make the sets look realistic much of the time. It was obvious, for instance, that Christine's dressing room was only part of a room, realistic in details, but clearly a construct. The rest of the backstage area was in darkness. The Phantom's Lair consisted of an organ, a portcullis, and a throne, little else. The designers didn't try to make it look like a real room. in these examples and others in Hal Prince's show, the audience's imagination and effective lighting filled in any dark empty areas as necessary. We in the audience have to suspend our disbelief and let ourselves feel, for the moment, that what goes on on stage is real. I didn't find that the more realistic sets did as good a job of helping us do that as the more stylized sets of the Prince production. I might be wrong in this next judgement, but I THINK that the re-imagined sets of the tour are mostly designed to use a smaller space than many of the sets of the original show. A number of the tour scenes have the roll-on box seats on the left and right so that the main scene deals only with the middle part of the stage. "Masquerade" uses the full stage. Everything in the trip to the Lair through the mist is smaller and less impressive. I missed SPECTACLE more than I thought I would. We were in the front row of the Dress Circle, but that was a poor place to see the Chandelier. MAYBE that was why I was underwhelmed by its pop-banging and tinkling. The statue of Apollo on the Opera house doesn't look too bad when it was just standing there nakedly while Christine and Raoul sing "All I Ask of You, " but after they leave, and it moves forward with the Phantom hanging on and being distraught, it wobbles as the cheap piece of easily moveable scenery it is. ----and distracts from the emotion that should be at a peak at this point. I thought the managers' office looked good, and the mirrored ballroom was effective in "Masquerade," but my general impression of the sets is that too often they looked…kind of cheap. Another problem that intruded into the story for me was that some actions seemed unmotivated, or in one case I can remember, just kind of silly. In "Point of No Return," toward the end of the scene, two men with pistols come out from opposite sides of the stage and level their guns at the Phantom, who was standing on the table at that time, an easy target. After a little more action and singing, they simply back off stage without firing a shot, leaving the Phantom free to grab Christine and carry her off to the Lair. Nobody says "Don't shoot." they just back off for no reason that is evident in what has been going on. An example of something that struck me as silly happened in the grave yard scene. Christine beautifully sang "Wishing" to her father's pathetic, undersized tomb, and the Phantom just sort of strolled out from the shadows and came over to her---as if he had just happened to be taking a walk in the cemetery, and there she was. The two men grappling didn't add anything. The new-style fireballs were good, though! Another example of the silly or unmotivated: After "Music of the Night, " Christine just…goes to sleep. Sure thing. THE END OF THE SHOW Despite the problems I've described, I did get a tear in my eye after Christine and Raoul left and the Monkey Music Box played---and the Phantom looked up. i do think, however, that the throwing around and choking of Christine by the Phantom makes it harder for the audience to make the sudden change to sympathy for the Phantom, but I don't much like rough, angry portrayals in the original production either. In this production, I think sympathy for the Phantom is less than it could/should be. He doesn't interact with the music box, doesn't pick up the veil and abandon it along with his hope or do anything else to show how shattered he is. He just looks at the music box and walks miserably over to the side of the stage, and---it looked like--- he leaned on something and pulled his cloak over himself and…??? I'm not sure just what happened next. It was dark over there. There's no portcullis, but Meg comes in, goes over to the Phantom, and puts her arms around his shoulders and back (assumedly) in what looked to me like a protective way-----trying to protect him from the mob that is coming after him. WHY? I don't remember ANYthing in the show that would prepare us for Meg to be protective of the Phantom. Somebody pulls the cloak away, and I guess the Phantom is gone. I couldn't see clearly. Meg picks up a mask and holds it up, but not for long, and a spot light catches it only for a moment. Weak. To end on a positive note, the trio, which is not heard in the United States, IS IN THE GRAVEYARD SCENE. it is glorious!

The performance made me and others in our group want to listen to this music over and over again as well as sing it! Our entire group thoroughly enjoyed the music, the orchestral work, the singing, and the acting. One of us who saw a NY Broadway show several years ago said that this new production in Chicago was much superior. The only disappointing performance was the one by Ben Jacoby/Raoul: his voice was seriously lacking. I hope that he was just having a bad day, and it was not a typical performance by Mr. Jacoby.

I have seen Phantom live before and watched the movie several times. I absolutely love the story and the music. This performance was good and the singing was good but the phantom was weird. Usually I am rooting for Christine to pick the phantom but he acted so weird in this performance that I couldn't stand him.

This was a great show, would definitely recommend it to friends and family.

My husband and I brought our 15 year old granddaughter to see this show - her first "Broadway" musical and she fell in love with the magic of the theater (as her mother had before her). It has been a number of years since I had been to the theater and I wasn't as entranced. The staging was amazing. The music was lovely and the cast very talented. There were a few flaws that I found distracting but, overall, it was an impressive show.