Who would have thought that there would be buzz around "The Phantom of the Opera?"
The show's been around for almost three decades, and I've seen it no less than 15 times, plus I saw the 2004 movie version.
But something exciting happened when I saw the "new" "Phantom" at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. It was as if I was seeing the show for the first time.
Julia Udine as Christine and Ben Jacoby as Raoul in Phantom of the Opera now at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts
This is a 21st century "Phantom of the Opera" — sexier and more modern than the show that first opened in London in 1986.
Blockbuster producer Cameron MacKintosh, the show's original producer, has created a new retooled version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that seems more intimate and more modern.
Based on the classic novel "Le Fantôme de L’Opéra" by Gaston Leroux, "The Phantom of the Opera" tells the story of a disfigured man who inhabits the Paris Opera House in the late 19th century. His obsession with a young soprano, Christine, leads to disaster for those who don't abide by his wishes to make her a star.
Director Laurence Connor honors the original "Phantom," keeping some of the best nuances while amping up the characters' relationships a bit more. When Christine sings to her father in the graveyard in Perros, there's more of a backstory about her loneliness than was conveyed before, and her relationship with the Phantom also has more depth along with a bit of a psychosexual tension built in.
Is she really under his spell or is it a fantasy she's having? Is anything we're seeing real or is it conjured in Christine's head. Like good art, Connor's direction lets the audience decide where they want to place their attention without forcing a focus.Julia Udine as Christine Daaé brings a freshness to the role. Broward Center audiences get a treat as Udine will join the Broadway cast of "Phantom" right after the Lauderdale stop — and no wonder she's going to Broadway. Her soprano in the second act for "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" echoed through the rafters of the Broward Center and held the audience spellbound. She does echo shades of the original Christine, Sarah Brightman, but has made the character of Christine her own – playing her sometimes almost ingénuish then showing her range by giving her a whorish romp during a rehearsal scene for Don Juan.
Cooper Grodin is a sexier more nimble Phantom than the original Michael Crawford, slowly leading up to the madness he unleashes in the Labyrinth Underground.
The part of Raoul, Christine's love interest, is usually a throwaway, side character, but Ben Jacoby makes him chivalrous – Christine's knight in shining armor. Their song together, "All I Ask Of You," which has been performed by everyone from Barbra Streisand to Susan Boyle, had an originality and poignancy to it that gave it back its Broadway roots.
For those who will see the production in its second week at the Broward Center, the leads will change: Chris Mann of the NBC show "The Voice" will make his theatrical national tour debut as "The Phantom," with Katie Travis as Christine Daaé, and Storm Lineberger as Raoul.Spending a night with the new "Phantom" is a wonderfully satisfying experience.
"The Phantom of the Opera" plays through Nov. 30 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Tickets start at $34.75 to $159.75. For tickets visit www.browardcenter.org; by phone 1-800-745-3000
