The Phantom of the Opera Is There Inside the Paramount

Seattlest has a very deep-seated thing for musical theater, so we're a little embarrassed that, until this weekend, we'd never seen Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera on the stage. We have, however, spent hours (nay, months) getting intimate with the original cast recordings, but somehow Phantom never rose to the top of our list of musicals we simply had to see. Still, when the opportunity arose to see it at the Paramount, we leapt at it. We're glad we did.

Granted, there are a few choreographic and compositional moments that date the stage production a tad. But, not to the point that it detracts at all from the story. It's still a tale that's equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. With almost no exceptions, the cast of the Broadway Across America production showing at the Paramount until October 5 is remarkable.

Appropriately, the phantom (Richard Todd Adams) is the most impeccably cast member of the company. He sings the role in a way that made us both appreciate the difficulty of the arrangements, and also made us feel like singing them was an effortless task for him. He was at his best in the most emotionally intense moments—good, considering that's more than 90 percent of his character. The chemistry between him and Christine (Trista Moldovan) was palpable and intense—a marked contrast to the apparent lack of passion between Christine and Raoul (Greg Mills). In fact, that was the show's one disappointment. (We felt like Mills overreached a bit during Act One, finally settling into the character toward the end of Act Two.) Other notable cast members included Carlotta (Kim Stengel) and Monsieur Firmin (Bruce Winant).

One thing The Phantom does such a great job at is ensemble performances. The masquerade that kicks off Act Two is a tremendous contrast of life, celebration, and color in comparison to the darkness and black-and-white-ness of so much of the rest of the show (particularly the phantom's lair). It is the one moment where the lifeblood of the theater over which the phantom so craves propriety makes itself most known. It also provides for some of the most honest moments between Christine and Raoul, coming off their end of Act One scene on the roof of the opera house for "All I Ask of You."

Although Phantom wasn't at the top of our list before this weekend, we now understand fully why it's managed to remain a Broadway draw for so long now. The driving themes of understanding and empathy, love and longing, control and submission are and will always be of interest to the theater-going public.

Sept 10-Oct 5 // The Paramount // $20-70