Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Romance overcomes horror in Las Vegas’ ‘Phantom’

WHAT: Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular

WHEN: 7 p.m. Sundays and Thursdays; 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

WHERE: The Venetian's Phantom Theatre

RATING (out of 5 stars): 5

Until "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular," I had never heard applause for special effects. Or costumes. Or sets.

The inanimate objects receive almost as much praise from fans as do the performers in the new Las Vegas version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical. The accolades are well deserved. The special effects are spectacular; the sets brilliant; the costumes lavish.

But all of that - plus the $40 million theater built for the production - would be to no avail without the talented cast, which is greatly enriching the Las Vegas entertainment scene.

Whether that enrichment endures, only time will tell.

Still fresh in the memory are the failures of "Hairspray," a fast-paced musical that by all rights should have been a perfect fit for Las Vegas, and "Avenue Q," an adult puppet show that perhaps was too esoteric for Vegas audiences.

In the wings: Mel Brooks' "The Producers," premiering later this summer at Paris Las Vegas, and "Monty Python's Spamalot," which comes to the Wynn Las Vegas next year.

"Phantom" may have a better chance of succeeding than other productions because it has become so well known since it opened in 1986 in London.

"The Phantom of the Opera" has had more than 65,000 performances in 110 cities around the world, grossing more than $3 billion. On Broadway, it swept the 1988 Tony Awards, winning seven including Best Musical. It has become the longest-running production in Broadway history, with more than 7,500 performances.

Despite all that publicity, maybe someone still isn't familiar with the melodramatic love triangle that involves the grotesque Phantom who lives beneath the Opera House in Paris, the beautiful ingenue Christine and her childhood friend Raoul.

In Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel, this was a horror story wrapped in the trappings of a romance. Several movies have been made from the novel, notably the 1925 film featuring Lon Chaney and the 1943 version featuring Claude Rains. The early plots stressed the horror aspect of the story, especially the Chaney movie.

Lloyd Webber focuses on the romance. He downplays the Phantom's twisted mind and physical disfigurement, using them as plot devices to create the atmosphere of unrequited love.

If the Phantom were as demented as in the novel, the play's audiences would have a difficult time accepting even the remotest chance of a romance between Christine and the Phantom.

Christine has become the Phantom's protege, creating a bond between the two. For her, it is respect; for him, it is love. When Raoul re-enters Christine's life, they fall in love, setting up the conflict that carries the musical.

Two actors, Brent Barrett and Anthony Crivello, portray the Phantom on alternating nights.

The character is so ingrained in fans' minds that there is not much opportunity for the performers to bring their own interpretation to the role. (You won't find one doing a Nutty Professor and the other Hamlet.)

Both are strong actors with powerful voices who ultimately are sympathetic characters.

Crivello is a little darker in his presentation, more brooding, He seems to evoke a greater feeling of a crippled human being, someone sinister enough to commit murder and create an aura of terror. That's more in line with the original concept of the story.

On the other hand, Barrett, who is equally talented, creates a character who is more sympathetic to the audience, which is more in line with Webber's romanticized version of the tragedy.

Sierra Boggess and Elizabeth Loyacano share the other lead role, alternating as Christine. Again, there isn't much difference in their presentations, although Loyacano does have a more mature voice than Boggess.

Tim Martin Gleason gives an excellent performance in the vanilla-flavored role of Raoul, coming across as a wholesome character thrown into a strange world.

The musical has been trimmed down to 95 minutes. The original ran more than two hours and 20 minutes.

Lloyd Webber and Harold Prince, who directed the original Broadway version, did the trimming with surgical precision and created a seamless production, which, by all accounts, has lost none of the Broadway luster.

All of the original songs - "The Music of the Night" and other favorites - are intact. They saved time by cutting the 20-minute intermission, some dancing and other elements that did not affect the plot.

The crowd-pleasing special effects include blinding pyrotechnics. The most dramatic effect involves an enormous chandelier, which hangs above the theater in four pieces. It re-forms as an auctioneer puts it up for sale, and the story begins.

But some of the effects seemed pointless, such as balls of fire shooting out of the Phantom's finger like Roman candles.

In an age of taped music, it is gratifying that the show uses a live 19-piece orchestra.

Let's hope they are employed at the Venetian for a long time.