Whether the new version is better, though, is a more interesting issue to examine and a claim that can at least in some respects be taken seriously. Spectacle was – and is – an indispensable aspect woven into the original production, which is still running in London and on Broadway. The whole point of the original production was to wrap up the romantic tragedy into a huge package, tie it with every conceivable ribbon and then open it up again during the two acts in a series of remarkable tableaus. Yet, I doubt that anyone who’s seen both versions could possibly agree that the new version is bigger than the original. So is the story about a disfigured musical genius obsessed by a lovely young soprano at the Paris Opera House more than a century ago.

The lovely score is the same in both versions. The restaged national tour continues through Sunday (March 16) at the Ohio Theatre. So it shouldn’t be surprising if some theatergoers, like me, have some mixed feelings about the 'new' Phantom.

No matter how many times they see the show again, the first time is the one that lingers in the mind as the most haunting.Ĭase in point: The Phantom of the Opera, a sweepingly romantic spectacle that’s now been seen by several generations of dazzled theatergoers from its repeated national tours, its impressive record as Broadway’s longest-running show and its highly respectable record as London’s third-longest-running show (after Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, in its 59th year, and Les Miserables, in its 26th year - just one more than Phantom.) Nothing ever compares to the power of that first kiss, that first swoon of romance.įor many theatergoers, that same type of indelible memory is sparked by their first experience of a favorite play of musical.

Phantom of the opera tour