"Spectacle on a gala night,”
I say, “Spectacle and no soprano took flight!”
“Quite satisfied awed viewers say,
we are satisfied – such a brilliant play!”

Tim Martin Gleason knows his business!
Plays Raoul with unending smiles!
With Elena Batman
all the crowd still cheers!
Opera!
To hell with Gluck and Handel -
This show is gonna pack ‘em in the aisles!

I think I am going to stop there. If you are a Phantom Fan then you caught the play on these three verses as being based on “Notes/Prima Donna” from the first act. If not, ignore this post as it is a Phantom review and may be a spoiler if you plan to see it.

You have to know that I am a huge POTO fan and have seen it about a dozen times. I know just about every word and most of the parts. I think that the movie of POTO (2004) was just about the worst thing I have ever viewed. So, to say I am critical of this production would be an understatement.

OK, here is my review on “Phantom, the Las Vegas Spectacle” which is not the whole Broadway production of “Phantom of the Opera”, but it is pretty darn close. The goal of this Vegas production was to offer POTO as a 90 minute show. Why limit it to about 90 minutes? Simple, it gets the people back out on the casino floor sooner or into the restaurants faster. Also, at 90 minutes there can be two shows a night maximizing ticket sales. But 90 minutes means that there are going to be cuts from the Broadway POTO which runs about 160 minutes. So, how do you cut a Broadway icons running time in half? Very carefully, and in this case, mostly successful.

I always though that POTO was too long. There are scenes that needlessly drag on and awkward silences here and there. From time to time the production (the Broadway version) seems to worship its own elegance and that is boring. So when I heard that they were bringing the runtime on POTO down to 90 minutes, I was happy! But I was also skeptical because I thought 90 minutes was now too little, and I think I was right.

So, that being said, let’s get specific.

The production: The production is not as slick and as smooth as the Broadway production. Now I saw POTO in LA, but I have to say all the times I saw it the production values were tight. Fast scene changes (often under 2 or 3 seconds) were the norm and silences within the production were all but non-existent. Not so with this Vegas production. I hope that this cleans up with time.

The script: Well, when you have to cut about 40% of your running time you got to cut it somewhere. In this case they cut it from some scenes that I thought would have been best left in and others that could have been sacked. For example, they spend a fair amount of time on the Hannibal scene and that could have been cut a bit. They cut the Masquerade scene somewhat in what is a marquee scene in the play. They cut the rehearsals for Don Juan Triumphant and Il Muto (OK in both cases in my regard) but spend too much time descending into the depths of the “Phantoms’ world”. It is the choices of the cuts that bother me because it seems that the cuts in many cases were needed information and the stuff that was left was “for show”, a mistake in my opinion.

Other choices: Also, there were elements that were pulled in from the movie POTO that should have been tossed with the movie neg. One was the deadening of the language. The original is filled with sexual innuendo and colorful imagery. For instance after the line, “Ms Daae has returned” the next line was “I hope her midnight oil was well and truly burned” hinting she was having sex all night. Now it is “In which case, I think our meeting is adjourned!” and takes the wit away from great writing. This is a common change throughout the play.

The other holdover from the movie is the timing of the chandelier drop. POTO fans know that it crashes at the feet of Ms Daae at the end of Act One (the end of Il Muto.) Here they save it for the end and it is anti-climactic there since there is so much more going on. Also, they do not drop the chandelier at all really and I do want to see it crashed on stage. (Oh, the and chandelier prop itself is pretty lack luster, not what Weber had in mind.)

The actors: I have to admit, the acting was great and almost never lost pitch. A clean performance by all helped make the production of PTLVS a sure hit. These were not the Broadway Tour De Force performances of Crawford or Brightman, but they were good and entertaining. I can not pick out one performance as far and away better and that made for a balanced show.

There are many other things I can pick on that step the production down, and a few help. Overall the show is great and I think that everyone should see it.

If you have not seen the Broadway version of POTO you are absolutely going to love this production. It is lust and rich and easily digested in the 90 minutes allotted.

If on the other hand you have only seen the movie Phantom of the Opera (2004) then you should absolutely see this. If you liked the movie (and I can only think that those who do have nothing else to compare it to) then you are truly in for a treat. First off the quality of the voices is far superior to the movie. That alone is worth the view.

Finally, if you have seen the Broadway production of POTO, go into this production with an open mind, as if you are seeing something totally new and you will enjoy it a whole lot. It really is a good show for its’ few flaws.