Revisit: The Restaged National Tour of "The Phantom of the Opera"

   After seeing the national tour of "The Phantom of the Opera" this past July, I revisited the tour as apart of the 2016/17 Broadway in El Paso season. I am happy to report to all of you that this lavish production is still in terrific shape. With a packed house, the city of El Paso seems to be thrilled with this production. Since I have already reviewed this show and production before, I am just going to touch on the cast changes that have occurred since the last time I saw the show and a few other things that I feel the need to talk about.

     In the title role, understudy Eric Ruiz took the stage and was absolutely great in the role of the Phantom. He has a lovely voice and he did a wonderful job carrying the role of the Phantom. His rendition of "The Music of the Night" was gorgeous and he certainly did Andrew Lloyd Webber's score justice. I hope the production considers moving him up to the full time Phantom someday because Ruiz truly did a wonderful job. As I discussed in my last review of the show, I still do not like the way that director, Laurence Connor, chose to portray the Phantom. I'm sorry, but the Phantom is not a sympathetic character. I do not care about his awful childhood, that does not justify his killings, kidnappings, among other things. I never have and never will feel any sympathy for the character.

  The last time I saw the show, I missed Katie Travis as Christine and saw her lovely understudy, Krista Buccellato. This time, Travis was in and she was quite good in the leading role of the show. There were times during the show where I felt that her acting was a little bit too cartoon-y for the show, but her singing was very nice on my ears. Travis certainly commanded the stage and played the role of Christine Daae with great vibrance.

  When I saw Storm Lineberger as Raoul last summer, I found him to be a little bit to condescending. This time, I realized that the role is just written that way and his haughtiness really just depends on who is playing it. Jordan Craig did a fine job as Raoul, but he is way more on the condescending side than any Raoul I've seen, which really brought out that both the Phantom and Raoul were both awful for Christine. Christine really shouldn't have had to choose between them. I do have to say though, Travis' and Craig's voices blend very well together. Their "All I Ask of You" was truly beautiful and even brought some tears to my eyes.

  The rest of the cast was in top form. Trista Maldovan was perfect as La Carlotta, as was Anne Kageneiser as Madame Giry. The current touring cast of "The Phantom of the Opera" is very strong as a whole. As I stated a year ago, Paul Brown's set is still the best set for a show that I have ever seen and the Maria Bjornson's costumes still look absolutely exquisite.

The touring company of "The Phantom of the Opera" performs "Masquerade"

  I have exactly the same thoughts about the portrayal of the characters and some of the staging as I did the last time I saw the show, so for more on that, I am going to refer you back to my original review of this production. Watching the show this time, I knew very well not to watch the staging for "The Point of No Return" and while I was enjoying Eric Ruiz's "The Music of the Night", I had to look away as soon as I remembered he was going to blindfold Christine. That moment when he blindfolds her is just so uncomfortable. What's even worse about that moment and "Point of No Return" is that Christine is enjoying it. I've said it a million times, but the Phantom and Christine do not belong together. The Phantom is a known murderer who kidnaps Christine and continues to stalk her and cause trouble in her name. I have a problem with any version of the story that sets up a possible romance between Christine and the Phantom. Yes, The Phantom should be in love with Christine but Christine shouldn't even be a little bit interested in him.

  This "Phantom" is very lavish and beautiful. The music is sung and played terrifically and the scenic design and special effects are worth the price of admission alone. The tour will remain in El Paso through May 14 and after that, I am sure it will continue tour for awhile. I hope I get the chance to see the show again in the future because despite it's flaws, it is highly entertaining and stunning to look at. Go see it if you can!

CAMERON MACINTOSH'S SPECTACULAR NEW PRODUCTION OF
"THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
Book by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber
New Production Directed by Laurence Connor
For tickets more information, visit: http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/ustour/

The current cast of "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" on tour consists of:
The Phantom- DERRICK DAVIS
Christine Daae- EVA TAVARES
Raoul, Victome de Chagney- JORDAN CRAIG
Carlotta-TRISTA MALDOVAN
Firmin- DAVID BENOIT
Andre- EDWARD STAUDENMEYER
Madame Giry-KRISTIE DALE SANDERS
Ubaldo Piangi- PHUMZILE SOJOLA
Meg Giry- EMILY RAMERIZ