A GREAT TIME FOR PHANS OF THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE McCALLUM
by Audrey Liebross
Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a concert at the McCallum Theatre by four former Phantoms (of the Opera) and one former Christine. As almost everyone who follows Broadway knows, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera ran on Broadway for more or less 35 years. (This includes the time when Broadway was shut down for the Covid pandemic; that’s why I say “more or less” 35 years.) “POTO,” the phans’ acronym for the iconic musical, was the longest-running musical on Broadway. After the pandemic, Broadway recovered too slowly for the show to keep making money, and, on April 15, 2023, the chandelier ceased crashing for good — or at least till enough time has passed that Sir Cameron Mackintosh or another impresario believes a revival will make enough money.
By the way, all is not lost for phans who can afford to travel around the world to catch up with the show. The easiest place to find it is the London West End, recently revamped with a smaller orchestra and interactive staging. With the changes, the show is chugging along nicely, as it has been since 1986, but it is only the second-longest running musical in the West End — in New York, where the original run of Les Misérables, which opened a year before Phantom did, closed long ago followed by two long-running revivals. However, in London, Les Miz, also a year older than POTO’s West End production, shows no signs of, you should pardon the expression, giving up the ghost.
The only way to see the full show in North America is to attend school and community group productions whose organizations have been licensed to perform it — and, by the way, some of those are extraordinarily well-done, although you won’t usually see a full-fledged chandelier crash. Another pleasing substitute that eased the pain of us bereft Phans was the recently concluded Four Phantoms in Concert tour, which stopped at the McCallum. And what a concert it was!
Ciarán Sheehan, John Cudia, Franc D’Ambrosio, and Brent Barrett, joined for some of the numbers by Kaley Ann Voorhees (one of the best Christines I’ve ever seen) not only showed off their mellifluous voices, but talked about some of their personal experiences. In addition to solo pieces, the men sang duets and quartets, in which the harmonies and counterpoint blended beautifully. Part of what made the concert so special was that three tenors plus Ciarán Sheehan, whom I consider at least a baritenor, and maybe even a true baritone, each managed to make his own voice stand out from the others’ voices.
The five singers performed numerous songs that Broadway devotees will probably know. My favorites were, of course, from POTO and its less familiar sequel, Love Never Dies. All five got together on “All I Ask of You.” John Cudia’s rendition of “Till I Hear You Sing” was extraordinary — in my opinion, better than the original. The title song from POTO generated its own standing ovation. During “The Music of the Night,” which the men sang as a quartet and with solo sections and harmony, you could hear a pin drop.
They were also brilliant in singing non-Phantom tunes. Brent Barrett movingly performed “I Am What I Am,” from La Cage aux Folles, which he indicated was a personal anthem of his. I also especially enjoyed Kaley Ann Voorhees’ contrapuntal duet with Franc D’Ambrosio of “I Hear Singing and There’s No One There” (officially called “You’re Just in Love,” from Call Me Madam, which Ethel Merman made famous). The final song was not one from a Broadway show — “Nights on Broadway,” a bouncy Bee Gees number that begins with, “Here we are, in a room full of strangers.” The group invited everyone in the audience to stand up and move in place. Despite the fact that more than half of us seemed to be senior citizens, we did. Gosh, that was fun, just like the whole evening.
I do not know whether the tour will begin again at a later date. You can check the group’s web site, www.fourphantomsinconcert.com, to see if they add tour dates. Their Web site also contains previews of the songs on their new album, which is available through Spotify.
Best of all, one of the four will be returning to the Coachella Valley to perform at a cabaret at Coachella Valley Repertory Company (CV Rep). Specifically, Brent Barrett and his husband, Bernie Blanks, will appear as part of the organization’s summer series, on July 18, 2024, at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at https://cvrep.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0STS000005nayl2AA.
Finally, for those who love Broadway concerts, don’t forget the McCallum itself, which has released information about the 2024-25 season. Similar programs to “The Four Phantoms in Concert” include, among others, Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Mandy Patinkin. They appear to be changing their Web site, but check the Facebook page for more information.