Yeston/Kopit 'Phantom' Makes a Lovely, Puzzling Production

Veteran Chicago theatergoers will recall the long-running production of the musical called simply "Phantom," at the now-razed Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in southwest suburban Summit, Illinois. The show, written in the 1980s by composer/lyricist Maury Yeston and bookwriter Arthur Kopit as a follow-up to their Tony-winning musical "Nine," was derailed from Manhattan stages by the London and Broadway success of a certain other musical based on the same Gaston Leroux thriller, the one with now universally-known music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The 1991-92 Candlelight production (not the first to be mounted, but the one widely credited with putting this "Phantom" on producers' radar screens) was helmed by the legendary William Pullinsi, the same man who is now the Artistic Director at the Theatre at the Center in southeast suburban Munster, Indiana, less than 45 minutes from Chicago's Loop. TATC's current "Phantom," while proudly demonstrating why this show is billed as "The Most Successful Musical Never to Play Broadway," (thank God they didn't call it "The Monster Does Munster") doesn't quite have the magic of that 1991 production or its 1996-97 Candlelight remount, though it does have the formidable Marilynn Bogetich reprising her juicy interpretation of the role of Carlotta. Most importantly, though, it has Larry Adams in the role of Erik, the Phantom himself, and Johanna McKenzie Miller as Christine Daae, the young singer whom he tutors, loves and changes forever.

Adams is swaggeringly theatrical in the role, a nice blend of man and boy and just haunting enough to be thoroughly believable. His voice has great depth—though a minor quibble is the way his voice seems to thin out at the big climaxes of several numbers.  Miller is a lovely, even serene presence (looking exquisite in the cream-colored gown she wears in the Bistro scene), and though her mid-range voice sounds too hard for the operatic purity the character's voice is purported to posses, her silvery high notes do sound miraculous, indeed. The highest of the many high points in this production come when the two leads have extended dialogues and songs together, specifically the "Home", "Lessons" and "You Are Music" numbers in the first act, and the big "mask unveiling" scene in the second act.

(Come to think of it, one of the strengths of Kopit's book here is the fact that the leads actually spend time together on stage. You can't really say that about that other "Phantom" show.)

The book has its problems though, too. For all the boasting about how this show explains why the Phantom looks like he does, lives and loves like he does, etc., so much of the early expository dialogue seems clumsy or even cheesy.  And the first time we see Erik, he kills someone, and then the audience is suddenly expected to empathize with him and wish him all the best. Luckily, Adams's performance makes this possible, not Kopit's writing.

The score is unusual too, in that it veers around stylistically in a way that doesn't seem on purpose, but a little too random and with the seams still showing. Yeston's other major shows, "Nine" and "Titanic," as well as the half of "Grand Hotel" that he wrote, seem much more unified than this effort. The opera pastiche sequences are ok, the street singing, the cabaret singing, etc. are all fine, the character-exposing monologues, the flashback sequences, the pop power ballads, the choral chase sequence a la "Brigadoon"—they all work well in themselves, but they seem to clash rather than contrast. And there are some unrepentantly clunky lyrics, as if a rewrite was intended but just didn't happen.

But the Munster production is a triumph in several respects, particularly in its technical elements. The set by Andre LaSalle, a little unexpected in its juxtaposition of a jungle-gym multi-level construct and some large gears resembling those seen downtown in "Wicked," has as its coup de theatre a huge hydraulic lift which raises virtually the entire playing area a dozen or two feet in the air and provides a marvelous visual understanding of the depths of the opera house where Erik resides. Myron Elliott's costumes and Kevin Barthel's wigs have wonderful period detail (the opera costumes are witty and accurate), and the lighting by Tim Fandrei is exciting and evocative. Particular mention must be made of the fight choreography (violence design by R & D Choreography), performed expertly by the hard-working and very well sung ensemble. Dances choreographed by Linda Fortunato are robust and stylish. 

While I am not a big fan of small orchestras, the five pieces conducted by Valerie Maze does a superb job, with the synthesizer scoring a particularly fine effort. The supporting cast is well suited to their roles and performs them extremely well, particularly the afore-mentioned Marilynn Bogetich, her comic side-kick David Perkovich, and Jeremy Rill as the young suitor Count Phillipe de Chandon. Jim Sherman in the pivotal role of Gerard Carriere, while working hard and carrying the weight of much exposition and apology, seems earnest but somewhat more one-dimensional than one would have hoped.

But everyone is committed to telling the story of this unfortunate young man, his parents, the girl he adores, and the sadness that none of it (save for Christine's knowledge of it all) will survive the night's proceedings. No one in the audience could help but be moved by the final, fast-moving, highly emotional sequences of this production.

Pullinsi may know this show better than anyone alive, and he has pulled out all the stops at his disposable to give grateful audiences a chance to see another side of Leroux's immortal, unusual tale. It is puzzling why parts of it don't come across better, but heaven knows there are far worse evenings to be had than this one. Perhaps the subject and the setting are just too old-fashioned to benefit from a modern, psychological approach to penny-dreadful material. But revel in the variety of modern musical theater tunes, admire the stagecraft, and wonder along with me—when the rights to the Lloyd Webber "Phantom" become available, will this version survive? Only time, the gods of musical theater, and the love of audiences for Erik's lovely tortured soul, will tell.

"Phantom," written by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit and directed by William Pullinsi, plays at the Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road in Munster, Indiana, now through August 17, 2008. For tickets call 219-836-3255 or visit www.theatreatthecenter.com.

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