The Phantom IS there inside my mind

I can't be in any way objective about Phantom of the Opera. When it opened on Broadway in 1988, I was obsessed. My father--who, God bless him, is where I get my love of musicals from--bought the records and I listened all the time. I acted it out in the basement. My copy of the libretto is well-worn. I was for years convinced that "queue" meant "letter" because of a line in the song "Notes." So there's no way for me to write a review of the show, which I saw this week at the Hippodrome in Baltimore, where it's launching its new national tour.

(I note that I have tags for both Sondheim and Les Mis,but not for Phantom or Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is because I didn't start this blog as a 10-year-old. I grew up listening to an ALW mixtape my father made. The first two shows I saw on Broadway were Cats and Starlight Express. ALW is very much foundational to my musical theater being.)

This also means that I critique the show against how I acted it out. (I have notes about their staging of "Masquerade" compared to the one I have in my head.) I've now seen it six times and while I understand there's been some restaging, I sure couldn't point out any specifics, particularly since the last time I saw it was on Broadway, and so some things might be Broadway/tour differences. I think the backdrops/scenery might be different, and I feel like the set for the rooftop scene for "All I Ask of You" is different. Costumes might be tweaked a bit, but are largely how I remember. The effects in the "Wandering Child" sequence in the second act were not as cool as before; the Phantom doesn't shoot fire at Raoul, he just kind of sends sparks up in the air.

I did feel that that scene, particularly, didn't work as well for me as it could've. Christine wasn't looking at the Phantom as he got his hooks into her again; maybe Raoul could sense that "once again she is [the Phantom's]," but I couldn't sense it from the middle balcony. My only other real quibble is in the "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" sequence in the first act, where the Phantom winds up kind of crawling around on the floor. Like, I'm sure it's always been that way, but something about it seemed off to me. (Maybe because the Phantom in this production--Isaiah Bailey--is a Black man and it just made me uncomfortable?)

Anyway, otherwise it was, dare I say it, phantastic. Everyone was amazing. I was delighted that Madame Giry was played by Lisa Vroman, who I know because I was a huge theater geek in the 1990s, and she was in, among other things, Hey, Mr. Producer!, playing Christine Daaé, which I both watched and listened to a billion times. We saw the alternate Christine, Alexa Xioufaridou Moster, and it may have been her first performance; during the curtain call, the cast were super enthusiastic and Vroman and Midori Marsh (Carlotta) both were wiping away tears when Moster took her bow. She was amazing.

Also, the audience was great. The run in Baltimore sold out pretty quickly, I believe, and you could tell the audience was definitely excited for the show. The enthusiasm was palpable, and it was great, for instance, hearing some well-deserved "Bravo!"s after "Music of the Night."

My husband has never seen Phantom and kept exclaiming about how great the entire cast was; he noted that even Firmin (William Thomas Evans) and André (Carrington Vilmont), characters that you could get away with more for their comedic acting than singing, sounded fabulous. 

Another thing my husband commented on was how clearly horny Christine was for the Phantom, which, yes. The sexual tension was distinctly palpable. What we both found interesting was that she was also clearly into Raoul (Daniel Lopez), but in a different way. Which completely makes sense, character-wise, but I don't remember particularly noticing before. (Though people--do NOT ship Christine with the Phantom! He's not your wooby! He has killed MANY people! I get that he's sexy and has a fabulous voice, but that does NOT make him a good romantic partner!)

I did get slightly distracted thinking about Raoul and Christine's relationship and how quickly it moved. Like, they were already a little too physically friendly in their first scene in her dressing room (it just seemed improper!), and really, how long was it between Hannibal and Il Muto that they're declaring their love to each other? Also, Raoul was 100% in no way let Christine go back to the Phantom to return the ring at the very end.

But anyway. I sadly have not had the chance to see this a billion times the way I have with Les Mis that I can evaluate random background relationships. Maybe someday.