When they first announced that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera would be available for high schools to put on I was skeptical. I doubted whether teenagers could pull off the opera required in numbers like “Think of Me” and “Prima Donna” nor did I think high schools would be able to mount the sets and props required for it to work. Now I have seen 3 productions over the years and I am delighted to be wrong. All of them have been outstanding including the latest put on by Ziegfeld Arts. It truly was an unforgettable night of theatre.

My seatmates told me they only had 5 weeks to put on this show, which I’m not sure why it was so limited but holy cow! I do not know how director Kristin Parry made this all work so seamlessly. I really have very few notes that could be improved. I saw the Opera cast, and I wish I had time to see the other one because it’s hard to believe there’s a whole different group of teens doing this material. Kayleigh Eagle should submit for the Jimmy Awards with that voice. She didn’t miss a note the entire night but she also invested us all in emotional journey of Christine especially when she is grieving in “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” and feeling sympathy for the Phantom at the ending.

I can’t explain it but there is a little bit of a nerdy energy to Landon Fugal’s portrayal of The Phantom (I’ve always thought that was the case especially with his confidence in his terrible opera and portraying himself as Don Juan.) They put a lot of scar makeup on him and it was starting to fall off by the end but he soldiered on and did a terrific job. The rest of the cast is excellent and the crew managed the set transitions very well. The costumes (including all the opera gowns) by Karly Van Komen would be at home in any permanent production.

The only major item they could work on is the lighting sometimes provides a glare on the screen which obfuscates the projections making it look like a white background or rainbow colored background. If we are going to all the effort to design projections as part of our sets than we want to make sure we can see them clearly. Unfortunately tonight is the last night of this The Phantom of the Opera (the Opera cast was crying as they took their vows and it honestly made me tear up. What a cool experience to be part of!) but I will definitely be on the look for more Arts Academy shows at the Ziegfeld in the future. It’s been a while since I have been at this venue but happy to be asked back. One can find out more about them here.