The Phantom of the Opera on Tour
The longest-running show in Broadway history celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018 with a spectacular new road production currently touring North America.
The Phantom of the Opera came to life when composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Charles Hart adapted French writer Gaston Leroux's 1910 horror novel about a disfigured musical genius that haunts the Paris Opera. Harold Prince directed the 1986 West End premiere in London. The show arrived in New York in 1988, with Michael Crawford in the title role, and went on to set box office records after winning seven Tony awards, including Best Musical.
Early reviews were outstanding. Clive Barnes of ‘The New York Post' lauded the musical as "a piece of impeccably crafted musical theater"; Howard Kissel of the ‘New York Daily News' called it "spectacular entertainment." It became a pop-culture blockbuster on the strength of its story, songs, and production values, of course, but also thanks to its unforgettable iconography (that mask!) and buzz-generating replica productions equaling those found on Broadway and the West End.
Director Cameron Mackintosh's new production of Phantom maintains these stellar standards. Rather than radically change the original, Mackintosh's revamp adds a fresh coat of technologically enhanced dazzle, grandeur, and pyrotechnic thrills to match its emotional fireworks.
Everything about this grandly produced new adaptation of Phantom is bigger and more spectacular than before: A 52-piece orchestra supports soaring melodies heard through a 200-speaker surround-sound system. Its famous chandelier, designed by Howard Eaton, contains more than 6,000 beads. And more than 1,200 costume pieces, many designed by Maria Björnson for the show's original production, are as colorfully joyous as the music itself.
Quentin Oliver Lee fills the title role's cape and mask to both visual and vocal perfection. Eva Tavares hits all the right high notes as soprano singer Christine Daaé, object of the Phantom's obsession. Texas-born Jordan Craig takes on the role of Christine's dashing childhood friend Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. And Trista Moldovan adds comic relief as the irrepressible diva Carlotta Giudicelli.
The "music of the night" lives on in a show that remains forever new by remaining true to its magnificent origins.