As a theatre critic nostalgia is one of the trickiest factors to work around. My history with a certain material can give it an unfair advantage over other shows but also I can be too stuck in my ways to not respond to new or subversive takes on my favorites. I try my best to be as fair as possible but I’m also human and a certain degree of subjectivity is what makes my reviews personal and unique.

Anyway, all of this is to provide context to my thoughts on the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Along with Les Miserables, it is the musical I have the most nostalgia for as it was the first Broadway musical I ever saw and I have a treasured memory of seeing it in San Francisco with my Grandma probably around 1992. I loved it then and I still loved it today.

Maybe because of my nostalgia I feel like I end up defending Phantom a lot amongst Broadway and musical theatre fans. I admit the story isn’t the most complex or compelling but watching it yesterday at Eccles I was blown away by the spectacle of it all over again. I’ve seen the teen version recently and I saw it on Broadway in 2021 and it always takes my breath away. The songs are so good and gothic atmosphere is breathtaking. Some of the shows lose their intimacy with the national tour like with the recent Hadestown or Kimberly Akimbo but then other shows are staged oddly and end up frustrating like with the recent Les Miserables national tour. This avoids all of those problems by being big, classic and intoxicating.

Director Seth Sklar-Heyn does try some different things with this production which I appreciated, particularly with the chandelier and the way the stage is built in layers for the Phantom’s lair and other areas. I also liked when Phantom is watching Christine on a statue of a horse as if he is riding it like a king in battle.

I also liked the sound design by Mick Porter and how Phantom’s voice moved throughout the auditorium to different speakers. There are times I felt like he was right beside me and then he’d move to the other side of the theater. They were having some problems with the curtains and had to stop the show once but the actors got through these foibles with ease.

The cast is uniformly outstanding with Isiah Bailey giving a heartbreaking take on The Phantom with a beautiful voice. Jordan Lee Gilbert is an incredible Christine and Daniel Lopez is maybe the best Raoul I’ve ever seen. Their “All I Ask of You” was a highlight of the night.

After we finished Act 1 I leaned over to my friend and said ‘how can you not be entertained by that?’ and yet I know a lot of people don’t like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Phantom. Fair enough. I certainly disagree and would highly recommend checking out this national tour while it is in Salt Lake and be ready to be dazzled by the best in classic Broadway musical fashion. “The Music of the Night” is just what this critic needed! I’d go see The Phantom of the Opera again if I had the chance! It is playing until April 26th and tickets can be purchased here.

The Phantom of the Opera has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe with a book by Stilgoe and Webber based on the classic novel by Gaston Leroux. It first premiered in London in 1986 and then on Broadway in 1988.

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