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Seems like it's been done, right? I mean the show is 30 years old. Phenom in its time, now almost the joke of Broadway (a very lucrative one at that). But, it had been 15 years since the last time I saw it. There wasn't a lot playing this week and my wife hadn't seen it in longer, so we figured, why not. Now, I DID see this quite a few times back in its day. New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, even Des Moines (yes). To be honest, the Broadway production was the least impressive of the bunch. This was still at a time when talent would flock to any production of this musical, as it did to Rent and I'm sure it will to Hamilton. But let me say, here and now, that era is over. To begin with, this 'new' production, this re-imagining, doesn't really work. They managed to remove many of the little touches that brought emotion into the show, be that emotion fear or empathy or anything else. They also removed a few lines that help explain some of the plot. There were characters who had died in the previous version, suddenly given a new lease on life? The masquerade stairway set piece? Gone, among others. Ok, I don't like change, I get it. Perhaps others find this slightly less engaging version more in tune with the times (no pun intended). But for fucks sake (sorry Don), the next time I pay $100 for a ticket to what amounted to a community theatre performance I'm going to request a refund. It is great that you were a runner up on The Voice a few years ago, but if your sole qualification for playing the lead role, the namesake character, was to appear (I say appear because he didn't win) on a reality tv music show - that doesn't cut it. I was trying really hard not to loudly mutter 'FLAT' throughout the performance, but whoa. There were some other cast members who were talented, some less so, but in reading through the playbill, it was common to have the only previous theatre experience be regional. Everyone needs to start somewhere, but they needed some more experienced/talented actors to anchor the performance. I get that this play is 30 years old, and everyone has seen it. But its a $100 ticket at the Kennedy Center. I expected better. P.s. Kudos to the Kennedy Center for immediately dealing with a young woman next to me who was texting during the performance P.s.s. The Kennedy Center has to be losing out on a huge revenue stream by not allowing drinks in the Opera House (I believe they do in some of the other venues there). I understand the drawbacks about spills and disorderly patrons, but every other theatre has managed to work through these. P.s.s.s. I'll be in NYC this weekend and I'm half tempted to buy a TKTS to Phantom there and compare talent pools. Or maybe I'll just pick up a playbill and hit the bar across the street for 3 hours. Hmmmm, yyyesssss.
