AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

It’s the longest running show in Broadway history and it has been to Hartford a number of times before, but a lavish tour with an engaging cast in The Phantom of the Opera playing at The Bushnell through May 10 proves that some shows never grow old.

If you aren’t one of the more than 80 million people who have seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical since it took the 1988 Tony Award for best musical, it is a tragic love story based on a novel by Gaston Leroux with lyrics by Charles Hart and Robert Stilgoe who collaborated with Lloyd-Weber on the book.

John Cudia stars at the Phantom, a deformed misfit who secretly longs for beauty while hiding himself in labyrinths below the Paris Opera House in 1911. The Phantom is, among other things, a music master who stays in shadows while he trains the voice of beautiful young chorus girl Christine Daae (Trista Moldovan), who is drawn to him, mistaking him for a mysterious angel of music. The Phantom’s plans to make Christine a star of the opera and to marry her are thwarted, however, when she falls in love with the dashing Raoul, Vicomte deChagny (Sean MacLaughlin, who’s really very dashing and whose dreamily haunting voice should be considered the next time there’s an opening for Phantom in the Broadway production).

Mysterious doings upset theater owners Monsieurs Andre and Firmin (D.C. Anderson and Michael McCoy, both a hoot) and the opera company’s diva soprano and starring tenor (played to the hilt by Kim Stengel and John Whitney), so a trap is set to catch him.

There are some weaknesses in this tour, notably the chorus, which doesn’t have the oomph of the original cast (a comparison necessary only because this version has been permanently embedded in the brains of many who have been listening to the CD since 1988). In addition, Musical Director Jonathan Gorst conducts the group numbers at a pace just a tad slower than the original (though to be honest, it is easier to hear some of the sung dialogue this way.)

Those who don’t have the score memorized probably won’t notice, however, and the principals, all with beautiful voices, do justice to the classics “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Music of the Night,” “All I Ask of You” (I had goose bumps listening to MacLaughlin sing this) and “The Point of No Return.”

Moldovan and MacLaughlin show great chemistry, but the Christine/Phantom interaction feels stiffer, as though the actors are trying hard to recreate Harold Prince’s original stage direction instead of yielding to a force greater than themselves. Cudia proves a compelling Phantom, however, particularly in the scenes where he becomes vulnerable by the unmasking of his deformity and the revelation of the depth of his love for Christine.

All of the sumptuous costumes and sets of Maria Bjornson’s original production design are intact, including the famous candles lighting the boat ride to the labyrinth. No matter how many times you have seen or heard Phantom, you won’t be disappointed.

--Lauren Yarger

The Phantom of the Opera plays at The Bushnell (166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT) through May 10. Performance times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm and Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $28-$82 and can be purchased by calling 860-987-5900 or by visiting www.bushnell.org.