Phantom (musical)

Yeston and Kopit had just finished the musical Nine, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1982, when in 1983 they were approached by actor/director Geoffrey Holder to write a musical based on Leroux's novel. Holder had obtained the rights to musicalize the novel in America from the Leroux estate, making Phantom the only Phantom of the Opera musical to do so.{{cite web|title=Stage Door Chicago: Phantom|url=http://chicago.broadwayworld.com/article/Stage_Door_Chicago_Phantom_20071020|date=October 20, 2007|work=Broadway World|author=Roberts, Michael J.}} Holder planned to direct. Initially, Yeston was skeptical of the project. "I laughed and laughed.... That's the worst idea in the world! Why would you want to write a musical based on a horror story?.... And then it occurred to me that the story could be somewhat changed.... The Phantom would be a Quasimodo character, an Elephant Man. Don't all of us feel, despite outward imperfections, that deep inside we're good? And that is a character you cry for."Vitaris, Paul. "The Unsinkable Maury Yeston." Show Music The Musical Theatre Magazine Spring, 1997: 17-23

In 1984, British producer Ken Hill revived his 1976 musical 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 when Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera became a smash hit in London in 1986. The novel was already in the public domain in Britain but would still be under copyright in United States for two more years, where Holder held the rights to it. Yeston had completed much of the score to Phantom, and Yeston, Kopit and Holder were in the process of raising money for a Broadway production when Lloyd Webber revealed plans to take his musical to Broadway.[http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/yeston-maury-biography Kalfatovic, Mary. "Maury Yeston", Contemporary Musicians (ed. Luann Brennan). Vol. 22, Gale Group, Inc., 1998] Subsequently, Yeston's Broadway investors backed out.{{cite news |title=A Song in His Psyche, As Hummable as Fame |first=Robin |last=Pogrebin |author-link=Robin Pogrebin |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E0D9123EF93AA25756C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 19, 2003 |access-date=2010-05-23}} Yeston, Kopit and Holder reluctantly shelved their plans for Phantom and went their separate ways for a time.

When Kopit saw the Lloyd Webber version of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, he 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, Kopit wrote the NBC miniseries Hands of a Stranger, which was successful enough that NBC approached Kopit again.{{cite journal| title='Phantom' musical has spirited history|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JjEdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XqUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2614%2C2654092|date=February 14, 1993|journal=Tuscaloosa News|author=Trussell, Robert}} Kopit rewrote the script outline of his unproduced musical Phantom into a teleplay for a four-hour two-part miniseries entitled The Phantom of the Opera 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. Maybe someone would see the miniseries, think it would make a good musical we'd be ready."

The Yeston/Kopit musical was finally produced by Theatre Under The Stars (Houston) in 1991 under the official title Phantom. The piece has since received over 1,000 productions around the world. Yeston refers to Phantom as "the greatest hit never to be produced on Broadway." Yeston and Kopit's Phantom is more operetta-like in style than Lloyd Webber's, seeking to reflect the 1890s period in its score, and seeks to project a French atmosphere to reflect its Parisian setting. Its story offers a deeper exploration of the phantom's past and his relationship with Gérard Carrière, the head of the Opera House. The character Raoul does not feature at all in the story.Robinson, Julie. [http://www.londontheatre1.com/index.php/40541/what-will-the-phans-make-of-the-uk-premiere-of-maury-yestons-phantom/ "What will the ‘Phans’ make of the UK premiere of Maury Yeston's Phantom?"], LondonTheatre1.com, May 14, 2013

;Original production

In January 1991, Houston Texas's Theatre Under the Stars presented the premiere of the Yeston/Kopit musical, renamed simply Phantom to separate it further from Lloyd Webber's and other productions of Phantom of the Opera. Richard White starred in the title role.{{cite web|title=Yeston's Phantom w/ Original Star, White, Haunts San Jose, May 20|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/52905-Yestons-Phantom-w-Original-Star-White-Haunts-San-Jose-May-20|work=Playbill|date=May 20, 2000|author=Ehren, Christine|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016101418/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/52905-Yestons-Phantom-w-Original-Star-White-Haunts-San-Jose-May-20|archivedate=October 16, 2012}} Members of the Houston cast recorded a cast album released by RCA records.

;Early regional U.S. productions

That summer of 1991, 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 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 1992 productions at Casa Mañana in Fort Worth, Texas, Seaside Music Theater in Daytona Beach, and at the Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, New York, starring Robert Cuccioli in the title role;[http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=23743 Information from Broadway World.com] and 1993 productions at Music Theater of Wichita (Kansas), Musical Theatre Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico [http://www.musicaltheatresw.com/page10.html Musical Theatre Southwest history], accessed 23 June 2009 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601223127/http://www.musicaltheatresw.com/page10.html |date=June 1, 2009 }} and the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, New York.[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/22/nyregion/theater-a-phantom-that-is-true-to-a-tradition.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm A 'Phantom' That Is True to a Tradition], accessed 3 August 2012

;2007–2008 Westchester revivals

In October and November 2007, the show played at the Westchester Broadway Theater, in Elmsford, New York,[http://www.broadwaytheatre.com/ Article on the 2007 Westchester revival] and continued from December 2007 to February 2008, featuring Robert Cuccioli reprising the title role.[http://www.broadwaytheatre.com/show_pgs/phantom.htm Article on 2007-2008 Westchester run] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121193610/http://www.broadwaytheatre.com/show_pgs/phantom.htm |date=2007-11-21 }}

; International productions

A 1993 Helsinki City Theatre (HKT), Helsinki, Finland, production was directed by Ritva Holmberg with choreography by Marjo Kuusela. The cast starred Sanna Saarijärvi as Christine, Oskari Katajisto as the Phantom, Kristiina Elstelä and Rea Mauranen alternately as Carlotta and Esko Nikkari as Gerard.Sundberg, Kenneth. [http://www.kennetti.fi/phantom.html "Phantom":The Kopit & Yeston Musical"], KenNetti Entertainment Database, May 31, 2010, accessed November 30, 2016

An Australian production ran in 1996 at Altona City Theatre in Victoria.[http://www.altonacitytheatre.com.au/pastshows.asp?showid=77 "Phantom: The Australian Premiere"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012162237/http://altonacitytheatre.com.au/pastshows.asp?showid=77 |date=2009-10-12 }}. Altona City Theatre website, July 1996, accessed April 2, 2010 A German-language version toured for three years in Germany.{{when?|date=July 2024}}

A Japanese language run was produced by the Takarazuka Revue's Cosmos Troupe in 2004 (featuring Yoka Wao and Mari Hanafusa)[http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/ente/takarazuka/backnumber/040515/takarazuka.html "Yoka Wao's Phantom Appears! The Premiere of the Cosmos Troupe's Phantom"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309193700/http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/ente/takarazuka/backnumber/040515/takarazuka.html |date=2016-03-09 }}, Sponichi.com, May 15, 2004, accessed March 9, 2016. and by its Flower Troupe in 2006 (featuring Sumire Haruno and Ayane Sakurano),[http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/ente/takarazuka/backnumber/060624/takarazuka.html "The Internal World of Haruno's Phantom: the Flower Troupe Musical Opens at Takarazuka Theatre"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309192903/http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/ente/takarazuka/backnumber/060624/takarazuka.html |date=2016-03-09}}, Sponichi.com, June 24, 2006, accessed March 9, 2016. 2011 (featuring Tomu Ranju and Hana Ranno)[http://www.asahi.com/showbiz/stage/spotlight/OSK201106270047.html "The Debut of Takarazuka's Flower Troupe's RanRan Combi, Phantom, Lifts Its Curtains"], Asahi.com, June 27, 2011, accessed March 9, 2016. and in 2018 (featuring Fuuto Nozomi and Kiho Maaya).{{cite web |title=ファントム |url=https://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/revue/2018/phantom/index.html |website=Takarazuka Revue Official Website |publisher=Hankyu Corporation |access-date=May 25, 2024}} A Japanese production was staged in 2023 starring Kazuki Kato and Yu Shirota, double cast as the Phantom, and Kiho Maaya and sara double cast as Christine.{{Cite web |title=ミュージカル『ファントム』2023年公演 ― 梅田芸術劇場 |url=https://www.umegei.com/phantom2023/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=www.umegei.com}}

The musical was performed in Tallinn, Estonia in 2007.[http://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Brown-Morsley-Lead-Cast-in-London-Premiere-of-Yeston-Kopits-PHANTOM-20130501# "Brown & Morsley Lead Cast in London Premiere of Yeston & Kopit's Phantom"], BroadwayWorld.com, May 1, 2013

A UK production of Phantom was staged at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre Pub, Walthamstow, in 2013. It was directed by Dawn Kalani Cowle.Scott-Presland, Peter. [https://archive.today/20131211204610/http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=19311 "Trapped by a legend"], BroadwayBaby.com, May 2013Gardiner, Emily. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131221010940/http://www.thepublicreviews.com/phantom-ye-olde-rose-and-crown-theatre-london/ "Phantom – Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre, London"]}}, The Public Reviews, May 15, 2013 The musical was staged in South Korea in Korean in 2015 at Chungmu Art Hall in Seoul, directed by Robert Johanson.{{cite web|last1=Lee|first1=Sun-young|title=[Herald Review] Peering through mask of 'Phantom'|url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150701001062|website=The Korea Herald|date=July 2015 }} The production was filmed at Seoul's Charlotte Theater in 2021 and released in select theaters with English subtitles in May 2022.{{cite web |title=Phantom The Musical |url=https://www.artseenfilms.com/phantom |website=The Art Seen |publisher=Art Seen Films |access-date=24 June 2023}}

The story begins at the time of the first meeting of Erik (the Phantom) and a street singer named Christine. Erik was born and raised in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House and needs beautiful music – he cannot exist without it. Complications arise when Gérard Carrière, the company manager, loses his position as head of the Opera house and therefore cannot protect Erik any longer. Furthermore, Carlotta, the new diva and wife of the new 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. He accepts Christine as his pupil, training her for the opera, but forbids her to see his face. Erik's rival for Christine's affection is Count Philippe de Chandon, whose influence helps Christine get a minor job with the Paris Opera, but it is Erik's training that helps her earn a place as a member of the company. When Carlotta's jealous machinations ruin Christine's debut, Erik spirits Christine to his underground lair and later takes a terrible revenge by electrocuting Carlotta.

Carrière finds Christine and reveals an amazing secret: he is actually Erik's father. Emboldened by this revelation, Christine begs Erik to let her see his face, since his mother was able to look at him and smile. Reluctantly, he removes his mask (although the audience never sees his face), but Christine doesn't have the same fortitude and recoils in horror, causing Erik to go on a destructive rampage. Carrière helps the guilt-stricken Christine to escape, and later he returns to tell Erik the truth about their relationship. However, Erik has known all along that Carrière is his father and has only waited for Carrière to corroborate the fact. Erik fears that he will be captured and treated like a circus freak because of his horrendous face, but Carrière promises Erik that he will never be put on display. The police surround him, and Erik makes a failed attempt to swing to safety on a rope. With Erik dangling helplessly, 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. Reluctantly, he fires, and the Phantom falls. Fatally wounded, Erik allows Christine to remove his mask. She now smiles and tells him "You are music, beautiful music, and you are light to me … you are life to me," and places the mask on him again as he dies.

The Theatre Under the Stars cast is listed first:

• Erik, the Phantom: Richard White
• Christine Daaé: Glory Crampton
• Gérard Carrière: Jack Dabdoub
• Count Philippe de Chandon: Paul Schoeffler
• Alain Cholet (the new head of the Opera): Lyle Garrett
• Carlotta (his diva wife): Patti Allison (replaced by Meg Bussert on the recording)
• Joseph Buquet: Allen Kendall
• Inspector Ledoux: James Van Treuren

Other notable cast members in later productions:

• Erik, the Phantom: Robert Cuccioli
• Christine Daaé: Kristin Chenoweth

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;Act I

• Overture
• Melodie de Paris – Christine, Street Vendors and Prisienne
• Paris Is a Tomb – Erik and Acolytes
• Dressing for the Night – Open Company and First Nighters
• Where in the World – Erik
• This Place Is Mine – Carlotta
• Home – Christine and Erik
• The Music Lessons/Phantom Fugue – Erik, Christine, Carlotta, Cholet, Ledoux, Policemen and Opera Company
• You Are Music – Erik and Christine
• The Bistro: "Sing, Can You Sing!" – Waiters and Bistro Partygoers
• Melodie de Paris (Reprise) – Christine, Waiters, and Bistro Partygoers
• Who Could Ever Have Dreamed Up You? – Philippe and Christine
• This Place Is Mine (Reprise) – Carlotta
• Titania – Oberon, Christine, and Opera Company
• Where in the World (Reprise) – Erik

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;Act II

• Entr'acte
• Without Your Music – Erik
• Where In The World (Reprise) – Erik
• The Story of Erik – Carriere, Belladova, Young Carriere, Young Erik, and Company
• My True Love – Christine
• My Mother Bore Me – Erik
• You Are My Own – Erik and Carriere
• Finale: You Are Music (Reprise) – Christine

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The New York Times review opined: "Mr. Kopit's Phantom … is no less bravura than Lord Lloyd Webber's, but he is far more affecting. Mr. Yeston's sophisticated score is the model of how a loving assortment of classical forms can make popular theater music bloom. Mr. Yeston's music charms and effervesces, valuing melodiousness and variety more than the extended leitmotif and endless bloated reprises."Klein, Alvin. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/nyregion/theater-review-another-chance-for-a-different-phantom.html "Another Chance for a Different Phantom"], The New York Times, September 21, 2003, accessed May 19, 2019 The News-Times reviewer commented: "song for song and story for story, Yeston's score is richer and more varied, and Kopit's book provides a convincing, touching and resolved narrative that tops Webber's ambiguous ending."Plemmons, Chesley. [https://www.broadwaytheatre.com/index.php?src=blog&category=Phantom&srctype=lister&pos=12,4,19 "Phantom is haunting musical drama"], The News-Times, via BroadwayTheatre.com, October 19, 2007, accessed May 19, 2019

The Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote: "There is a lot more understanding of Erik than of Lloyd Webber's more furtive phantom, but also less mystique. Kopit puts in details Leroux never imagined."Drake, Sylvie. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-04-ca-617-story.html "Another Phantom in the Southland"]. The Los Angeles Times, November 04, 1991, accessed May 19, 2019 Peter Scott-Pressland felt, in reviewing the London production, that "as a piece of writing, Yeston's Phantom is altogether more engaging than ALW's. It is tighter, more intimate and informed by more human sympathy. ... While it doesn’t produce the kind of melodic sweep and glamour of ALW, it rises … in the second act to genuine emotional fervour. … Erik is altogether more engaging and believable than the Lloyd-Webber skulker." He stated that this makes the Beauty and the Beast theme "credible and agonizing", and that the father-son theme is even more "moving in the agony of both loving and loathing the thing you have spawned."

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://www.amazon.com/Phantom-complete-script-lyrics-Arthur/dp/0573693412 Script] of Phantom
• [https://mauryyeston.com/works/phantom Maury Yeston’s Phantom page]

{{Phantom of the Opera}}

{{Maury Yeston}}

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Category:1991 musicals

Category:Backstage musicals

Category:Compositions by Maury Yeston

Category:Musicals based on novels

Category:Musicals based on The Phantom of the Opera

Category:Musicals set in opera houses

Category:Musicals set in Paris