The Phantom of the Opera at the Forrest Theater is a work of bold and stunning onstage effectiveness. Those who have experienced the show come away with a rapturous lyrical sensation.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s portrayal of the hideously disfigured composer who lives in the caverns of the Paris Opera House has a magical twist that holds audiences spellbound. Infatuated with talented chorine Christine Daae, the Phantom masterminds the proceedings, advancing her career in the opera company by winning her devotion and threatening the opera-company management.
The $10-million touring production — which cost $1.5 million just to move into the Forrest Theater — meticulously reproduces the quality of the New York staging. I must say, however, that the orchestra at the Forrest is a bit anemic. The show is an opera done in English. People sing their emotions, their joys and heartbreaks instead of talking about them. There is no traditional dialogue; the play is narrated entirely in music.
Webber’s genius for stagecraft is apparent in his knack for blending music into the acting situation. Adding to the audience’s amazement is a kaleidoscope of 230 gorgeous costumes made of antique fabrics, silks, velvets, lace and beads. Ted Keegan’s portrayal of the distraught composer has tortured intensity, tilting nicely between pathos and demonic horror. His controlled singing voice has range, but his manner is too vigorous and youthful for the fatherly Phantom figure.
Rebecca Pitcher performs the role of the virginal innocent, Christine. Her skillful acting makes the emotional connection between fear and affection. Her reactions are spontaneous and her singing has a beautiful tone even if she does avoid most of the high octaves. St. Joseph University graduate Tim Martin Gleason plays the young suitor (Raoul) with suaveness.
Webber’s success has done more for Broadway than just guarantee steady employment. His works have embraced a spectrum of the public that rarely or never attends the theater. Listening to the happy chatter on the way out, the word is they want to see more.
Going to St. Ives, on the other hand, produces static conversation and little movement. Think about the children’s rhyme: "As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, every wife had seven sacks, every sack had seven cats," and so on. It seems to be a riddle of complex arithmetic — "How many were going to St. Ives?" — until you think about it. Only one person is going to St. Ives; everyone else is headed the other way.
Lee Blessing’s play derives its title from the poem and its message from the problem of knowing which way you’re headed by pondering where you’ve been. In the play, now on stage at Interact Theater, one woman believes she has killed her son. She can’t forgive herself — her son was dear and innocent. The woman thinks killing her son, even unintentionally, is the most awful thing imaginable. Another woman wants to kill her son. Her son is a cruel tyrant, a mass murderer. This second woman can’t forgive herself for letting her son live because she thinks killing him would be a good deed for humanity.
Dr. Cora Gage (Catherine Slusar) is a British eye surgeon, a woman at the top of her profession. May N’Kame (Claudia Robinson) comes to England seeking treatment from her. The patient is from an unnamed African nation, where her son is an Idi Amin-type dictator whose reign of terror has made him despised around the world.
It takes one minute to read the synopsis, but Blessing stretches out his thoughts on motherhood and murder to a seemingly interminable two-and-a-half hours. By the time the last anguished mother analyzes her final bit of unhappiness, one begins to envy the fate of those dead sons. Adding to that problem is Seth Rozin’s lackluster direction — two characters groping for emotion on stage — and a charmless Slusar, who has limited dramatic resources.
Going to St. Ives is a classic "two-hander," meaning two actors are constantly on stage together. Such works are devoid of action and can become a tedious seesaw between the players.
Playwright Blessing is drawn to moral extremes and political dilemmas, and so is Interact’s producing director Rozin, but this is a bad play selection that is poorly done.
The Phantom of the Opera
Forrest Theater
1114 Walnut St.
Through Dec. 8
Tickets: $26.25-$79
800-447-7400
and
Going to St. Ives
Interact Theatre Company
2030 Sansom St.
Through Sunday
Tickets: $12-$24
215-568-8079
