Arrive - Summer/Fall 2016

A DARKER
PHANTOM

Since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera debuted in London in 1986, it has been seen by more than 140 million people and performed in more than 30 countries. The show has been on Broadway for 28 years.

After all those shows, the characters and musical numbers are very familiar to audiences. But this North American tour, which comes to The Kennedy Center this summer, is a slight departure from Phantoms of the past, says director Laurence Connor.

Audiences can expect a “ grittier, darker” rendition.

This production is “a little less fantastical and magical and just a bit more real. I wanted to make the Phantom a real character, a real man,” he says.

There are still plenty of explosive special effects to enjoy, he adds, but the focus is on the story, which he believes is the main reason for the show’s enduring popularity.

“It breaks the rules of most musicals … there is no happy ending,” Connor says. “There’s an honesty to that.”

If you’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera, you remember the part where the grand chandelier comes crashing to the stage. And after
your breathing returned to normal, you
may have wondered, “How did
they do that?”
Thanks to a behind-the-
scenes program at The Ken-
nedy Center in Washington,
D.C., you can ask that ques-
tion, as well as anything else
you might want to know about
staging one of the world’s
most popular musicals.

The center’s “Look-in” events give audience members the chance to hear directly from the performers, directors, composers, costume designers and other professionals who create theater and opera. In a panel discussion, a selection of cast and crew discuss how they put the show together and what the production means to them.

They also welcome questions.

The Phantom Look-in is scheduled for
July 20, shortly after the North American
tour of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musi-
cal opens its 5½-week run at the center on
July 13. Tickets for the show range from

$25 to $149; the Look-in tickets are a rela-
tive steal at $12. The difference, of course:
The look-in will last just
one hour (as opposed to the
show’s 2½), and no one will
actually perform.

Instead, the focus is on meeting the real people behind the production, says Ginger Rogers, director of education for The Kennedy Center.

While the Phantom performances will take place in the

2,300-seat Opera House, the Look-in will be in the Terrace Gallery, which is normally a jazz venue that seats about 160 people. The up-close look “makes the actors real to the audience; it establishes a connection that carries over to the performance,” Rogers says.

The Look-ins are part of a broader
“Explore the Arts” program at the center
that pairs an educational element with
a performance. This year, the lineup has
included a creative movement class for
nondancers taught by company mem-
bers of the New York City Ballet; a dis-
cussion from the creative team behind
the four-opera saga The Ring, performed
by the Washington National Opera;
lectures on composers such as Joseph
Haydn and Gustav Mahler; and a George
Gershwin singalong.

This kind of audience-engagement opportunity is especially valuable for a production like Phantom, which director Laurence Connor says is a new take on a familiar show.

“When you reinvent a show that is in the hearts and minds of everybody, it’s always good to be able to ask questions,” Connor says. “It’s good to have that interaction with the audience; it’s who we created the show for.” —Meredith Heagney