Phantom (musical)

Phantom
Logo
Music	Maury Yeston
Lyrics	Maury Yeston
Book	Arthur Kopit
Based upon	Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera
Productions	1991 Houston 1991 Seattle 1991 San Bernardino Independent worldwide productions

Phantom: The American Musical Sensation is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Arthur Kopit. Based on Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, the musical was first presented in Houston, Texas in 1991, and it has received over 1,000 productions since.

Background

Yeston and Kopit had just finished the musical Nine, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1982, when they were approached by Geoffrey Holder to write an American musical based on Leroux’s novel. Holder had obtained the rights from the Leroux estate, making Phantom the first and only Phantom of the Opera musical to do so. The plans were for Holder to direct. In 1984, British producer Ken Hill produced a melodrama musical of The Phantom of the Opera in England. This was not a big threat to Holder, Kopit and Yeston, since their musical was intended to play on Broadway. The real threat emerged through an announcement in Variety, where an article was published concerning plans for a musical production of The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The rights to The Phantom of the Opera were in the public domain in Great Britain. Geoffrey Holder only held the rights for two years in the United States and Europe before the property became public domain there as well. The race was on to musicalize The Phantom of the Opera for American audiences. Lloyd Webber had instant fame with his rendition in Britain, and plans were announced for a Broadway production. In the meantime, the three million dollars Yeston, Kopit and Holder raised for their own Broadway production evaporated as investors pulled out. The three decided the musical market for Phantom of the Opera was completely saturated, and their project was reluctantly put aside. They went their separate ways for a time. Shortly after that, Kopit saw the Lloyd Webber version of The Phantom of the Opera in New York and realized that the approach he and Yeston had taken was fundamentally different and that it could still work on the musical stage. A few years later, he rewrote his script outline into a teleplay for a 4-hour 2-part miniseries and sold it to NBC, with Yeston’s blessing. It was filmed at the Opera Garnier, and the only music used was opera music. It starred Charles Dance, Teri Polo and Burt Lancaster and premiered on television in 1990. Kopit said, "I told Maury to hold on. There were Phantom musicals sprouting up all over the place by that time. Maybe someone would see the miniseries, think it would make a good musical and we’d be ready.”

Productions

Original production

In January 1991, Houston Texas’s Theater Under the Stars presented the world premiere of the Yeston/Kopit musical, renamed simply Phantom to separate it further from Lloyd Weber's and other productions of Phantom of the Opera.

Early regional U.S. productions

That summer, Yeston and Kopit made a few cuts and changes to the musical. In the fall, the revised version was presented in Seattle and at the California Theatre of Performing Arts in San Bernardino in California and was received warmly. In Chicago, Bill Pullinsi, Artistic Director of the Candlelight Playhouse staged the production, receiving rave reviews in publications including Variety and the Wall Street Journal. This led to other editions in other cities, including a 1992 production at Casa Mañana in Ft. Worth, Texas and a 1993 production at Music Theater of Wichita.

International productions

The poster of Phantom performed by Cosmos Troupe of Takarazuka Revue

Phantom has been performed in Japanese translation by the Cosmos Troupe of Takarazuka Revue in 2004 (featuring Yoka Wao and Mari Hanafusa) and in 2006 by Flower Troupe (featuring Sumire Haruno and Ayane Sakurano in her Grand Theater debut). A German-language version ran for several years in Germany.

2007-2008 Westchester revivals

In October through November 2007, the show played at the Westchester Broadway Theater, in Elmsford, New York,^[1] and is playing again from December 27, 2007 to February 9, 2008 featuring Robert Cuccioli potraying the title character.^[2] With more than 1,000 independent productions worldwide, including a multi-year run in Germany, Maury Yeston refers to Phantom as the most popular hit musical never to star on Broadway.

Plot

The story begins at the time of the first meeting of Erik (the Phantom) and Christine. Erik needs beautiful music and cannot exist without it. Complications arise when Gérard Carrière loses his position as head of the Opera house and therefore cannot protect Erik any longer. Furthermore, Carlotta, the new diva and owner of the Opera, has such a terrible voice that the Phantom is in torment. His salvation must eventually come through Christine, whose voice is so beautiful that he falls in love with her. Later, it is revealed that Carrière, the previous owner of the Opera house, is actually Erik's father. Erik's fears that he will be captured and treated like circus freak because of his horrendous face. The police surround him and the chief of police tells his men not to shoot because they "can take him alive!" Erik shouts out to his father for help. Carrière understands; he grabs a policeman's gun and aims at his son. After a struggle with himself, he fires, and the Phantom falls, calling out Christine's name.

Musical Numbers

Notes