Anyone who is a theatre fan has special shows that first ignited their interest in the medium. One of those for me was The Phantom of the Opera. It was the first Broadway show I ever saw with my Grandma in San Francisco around 1990.

Back then I would have been stunned to be able to participate in a youth production of Phantom (not that I had the talent to do so but still) and it’s so neat that it is currently available for teenagers to do. I love, like Hadestown, that they made it available for young people before regional theaters. I saw it last year at Kensington and that was outstanding and now I had the chance to see it The Ruth and it is a real achievement for these teens.

The biggest praise of the night has to go to the 2 leads with Amalie Strongin and Braedon Reynolds giving commanding performances as Christine Daae and The Phantom respectively. What interested me most is with Reynolds take on the character because being a young man he’s naturally smaller than a typical actor for the role. This is gave a frailness I have never seen before which is a nice juxtaposition to the towering spooky vocals.

Strongin is up for all the vocal requirements of the role including those wicked high notes in “Think of Me” and she does all she can to embody the various emotions of the character. “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” is my favorite song of the show, and she brings a soft vulnerable quality to her performance of it.

There are some challenges director Brighton Sloan had to deal with in working on their Mainstage. There isn’t much variation in the stage with only a small staircase and a few moveable set-pieces. This is tough when trying to get the feel of an opera house with a giant lair underneath. Scenes like “Masquerade” are usually performed on a staircase but they don’t have that luxury, and I was impressed with the movement and spectacle they are able to create given the restrictions (choreographer Ben Roeling.)

Unfortunately I was seated on one of the wings of the theatre which did obfuscate my view of center stage a fair amount. If you get tickets I highly recommend trying to find a center seat if at all possible. Lauri Baird does superb work with the costumes. I particularly loved blue dress Christine wears in Act 2 and pretty much anything for Carlotta (played by Malea Hyte who is completely believable with her opera voice.) This production did not feel like anything was done on the cheap for the teens. It felt lush and extravagant with everything I could want out of a local production of Phantom. I am sure all the teens learned so much about every aspect of theatre from their involvement, and I love to see that.

Sadly the run of The Phantom of the Opera at The Ruth is brief going through the 26th, but I highly recommend getting a ticket while you have the chance. I hope that teens involved and watching it will be as inspired by Phantom as I was when I saw it back in 1990. It’s a neat legacy for one of the seminal works of musical theatre.

The Phantom of the Opera features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe with a book by Stilgoe and Webber based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

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