He’s back The Phantom comes to the Opera House BY IRIS FANGER
	The Phantom of the Opera Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. Book by Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber. Based on Le fantôme de l’Opéra, by Gaston Leroux. Directed by Harold Prince. Musical staging by Gillian Lynne. Music direction by Glenn Langdon. Production design by Maria Bjornson. Lighting by Andrew Bridge. With Gary Mauer, Rebecca Pitcher, Tim Martin Gleason, Elizabeth Southard, David Cryer, D.C. Anderson, Kim Stengel, Patti Davidson-Gorbea, John Whitney, and Kate Wray. At the Opera House through June 4.

In 1986 in London, producer Cameron Mackintosh presented The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spectacular melodrama based on Gaston Leroux’s 1911 novel about a ghoulish genius living in the bowels of the Paris Opera House who falls in love with a beautiful soprano. Its Broadway debut came a year and a half later, and the musical-theater juggernaut would go on to beat even the revenues of mega-films like Titanic, E.T, and Star Wars. A grateful Queen Elizabeth, no doubt responding to the wealth of tax receipts pouring into the Royal Exchequer, bestowed knighthoods on both creator and producer.

Still running strong in New York and London, the show, on its umpteenth American tour, began a 10-week engagement last weekend at the Opera House on Washington Street. And the touring production is pristine in every aspect, from impeccable casting to re-creation of stage effects to the signature flying chandelier, every lamp alight and glowing in the gloom of the darkened stage house. A new generation of viewers filled the Opera House at a matinee last weekend, holding what seemed like a single sustained intake of breath throughout, with nary a cough or whisper or rustle of candy wrapper to break the mood. The film version released last Christmas seems not to have made a dent in the show’s appeal.

Don’t look to this reviewer to put down Sir Andrew’s one-melody scores or his gleaning of inspiration from the international musical repertory, or for cynical asides about Harold Prince’s telling the actors to tear the passions to tatters. The franchise has found yet another set of performers to bring the musical’s romantic characters to life. Gary Mauer as the Phantom has not only the voice to negotiate the operatic range of his role but also an intensity of inflection; the words are delivered as if torn from his soul as a gift to his beloved or a warning to those who would thwart him. Lyric coloratura Rebecca Pitcher has a rich, full-bodied voice; moreover, she looks like the ravishing virgin Christine is meant to be. And Tim Martin Gleason’s Raoul is the requisite matinee idol. Mauer and Pitcher are Phantom veterans; Gleason is appearing in his first national touring company after four years in a business career and a slew of experiences in regional theater. Also impressive are Kim Stengel as prima donna Carlotta and Kate Wray as Meg, the ballet girl who’s Christine’s best friend.

The score is enhanced by their performances, which make "Angel of Music," "The Music of the Night," and "All I Ask of You" into distinct melodies when they’re heard in the first act. It’s only in the second act, after two hours of those obsessively repetitive chords on the organ coupled with the monotony of the recitative, that the songs begin to blend. Act one builds without stopping; act two is less well constructed and struggles to its climax. Still, Lloyd Webber, lyricist Charles Hart, and lyricist/co-librettist Richard Stilgoe did well to stuff Leroux’s complex story into two and a half hours. By contrast, Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, The Woman in White (currently running in London but due for a US transfer next spring), omits too much of Wilkie Collins’s 1860 novel.

As the years pass, it’s easy to forget the attention to detail that is part of the Phantom’s success. One charming visual motif is the troupe of fragile, childlike ballet girls wearing the tiny white practice dresses familiar from the paintings of Edgar Degas. Flitting in the background like shadows of a suppressed memory, they create a living scenery behind the more robust images of backstage activity. Another artful effect is the sharp and constant contrast between light and shadow used to emphasize the theatrical metaphor of the life of the Phantom, which is spent in hiding in dark passages beneath the stage. The achievement of The Phantom of the Opera cannot be dismissed. It’s a consummate work of total theater, a maker of memories for those who saw it then and for audiences coming to it anew.