Phantom Of The Opera
Opening Night: January 26, 1988
Theater: Majestic Theatre
Website: us.thephantomoftheopera.com
The paint on the balconies of the Majestic Theater looks chipped and the electronic drum machine sounds like something left over from a music video from the 1980’s. But “The Phantom of the Opera” really shows its age (17 years and running) when the signature special effect is presented. Musicals have opened and closed in the time it takes that chandelier to lumber to the floor. Looking like one of Ed Wood’s teetering flying saucers, it crashes to the stage with the force of a shopping cart, the biggest, most extravagant anticlimax in town.
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July 1, 2002
With the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera just passing the 6,000 performance milestone (a feat achieved before it only by A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, and Cats), it seemed like an apt time to revisit the Majestic Theatre and see how this landmark musical production is holding up after almost fourteen and a half years.
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July 1, 2005
The paint on the balconies of the Majestic Theater looks chipped and the electronic drum machine sounds like something left over from a music video from the 1980’s. But “The Phantom of the Opera” really shows its age (17 years and running) when the signature special effect is presented. Musicals have opened and closed in the time it takes that chandelier to lumber to the floor. Looking like one of Ed Wood’s teetering flying saucers, it crashes to the stage with the force of a shopping cart, the biggest, most extravagant anticlimax in town.
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January 26, 1988
The London audiences aren’t wrong. “The Phantom Of The Opera” is romantic musical theater hokum in the grand manner – hokum cordon blue – and it justifies the feverish buildup that has given it a $16,500,000 advance. It’s good for a Broadway run of several years.
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October 27, 1999
Howard McGillin has just taken over the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, and he’s a revelation. Not at all the mesmerizing seducer that Michael Crawford and others have portrayed, Mr. McGillin’s Phantom is a genuine lost soul, far closer to the passionate and mad monster of the classic Lon Chaney film. It’s a brilliant performance, and it provides the vivid, dangerous center that this lush romantic musical adventure requires. I’ve never enjoyed Phantom more.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 8, 1988
Even if The Phantom of the Opera were the greatest show on earth, probably nothing in the way of actual experience could measure up to the hoopla that preceded last week’s U.S. debut of the monster-meets-girl musical. No previous offering in Broadway history has rivaled the $18 million advance sale for Phantom, a commitment made by hundreds of thousands of people to pay up to $50 a ticket, generally before having had a chance to hear any of the songs, read any reviews or acquire the vaguest familiarity with the imported-from- London stars.
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