Vivian DeGain Better at 50 Blog
Columnist and arts writerDetroit Arts: Live and Worth Watching ‘Phantom of the Opera’
The Phantom of the Opera
Popular, spectacular story shines in smaller venue
By Vivian DeGain
Oakland Press Sept. 20, 2009
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” is back in town and Tim Martin Gleason, who performs the title role, said this touring company is especially happy to be staging it at the Detroit Opera House, “where the acoustics are fantastic and the house makes for a wonderful performance for the entire audience.”
He’s right.
And he can compare houses, because prior to playing the lead, Gleason performed The Phantom of the Opera more than 2,600 times in venues around the country as Raoul, the baritone love interest of the young female lead. Holding the record as the longest-running Raoul in the most popular musical ever, Gleason played the role with three different American companies of Phantom: In this same touring production for over three years, in the record-breaking Broadway Company when Phantom became the longest-running show in Broadway history, and in Phantom Las Vegas Spectacular.
Yet every performance has an individuality, he said, a new audience and other defining characteristics which allow him to rediscover the story and his portrayal of it.
“Yes, Phantom has the music, the costumes, the special effects, the pyrotechnics – but the heart of Phantom’s popularity is that it is a true love story, filled with the twists and turns of passion, jealousy, murder, fire and mystery,” Gleason said.
“And it is a story of a man who goes through redemption. At its simplest, the man (Phantom) thinks he is in love with Christine, but his is a selfish, obsessed love. It is only at the end of the story, through Christine’s example of what real love is and what she is willing to sacrifice for it, does the man really learn for himself what love is.”
Gleason is wonderful in his new role as the Phantom, the disfigured musical genius, a role that will be critiqued by audiences that have heard the greats – Michael Crawford and Colm Wilkinson. After all, the original London recording sold over 25 million copies.
Gleason’s tenor voice is rich and compelling, and he admits he is still growing into it after all those baritone performances as Raoul. Gleason’s Phantom, on opening night, was remarkable and meaty and very enjoyable.
“Right from the beginning, I was encouraged to make the role my own,” Gleason said. “It is a character role, and I’ve been told the way I play it comes off as a wounded child, with a kind of raw emotionality.”
It adds a deeper meaning to the monster in the character.
The audience should know that the story is based on the classic 1910 novel “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra” by Gaston Leroux. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it. He falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating her into new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents and using many devious methods at his command.
Webber’s Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running show in Broadway history. This international award-winning musical is the winner of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, as well as seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. The show has been seen by over 80 million people in 124 cities and 25 countries. With worldwide grosses estimated at over $5 billion, The Phantom of the Opera is the most successful entertainment venture of the twentieth century. Period.
The music of Webber and Charles Hart are legendary in the Phantom’s title theme song, and his Music of the Night, as well as in Angel of Music, Think of Me, and All I Ask of You. Company favorites are the fugue-like “Notes/ Prima Donna” and “Masquerade.”
Directed by Harold Prince, himself a recipient of 21 Tony Awards and who has earned a National Medal of Arts for his career of over 40 years, this touring company’s cast also includes Sean MacLaughlin as Raoul and Trista Moldovan as Christine Daae. D.C. Anderson performs Monsieur Andre, Michael McCoy is Monsieur Firmin and Nancy Hess performs Madame Giry.
The story also makes wonderful fun of opera history in the first few acts, as Kim Stengel performs Carlotta, the spoiled diva.
The Phantom of the Opera runs through Sept. 27 at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway in Detroit. Performances at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 7:30 Sundays; matinees at 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 1 p.m. Sept. 24. Tickets $23-$75 at the Fisher Theatre box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787 and at www.ticketmaster.com or www.BroadwayInDetroit.com. Phantom facts at www.thephantomoftheopera.com.
