Shortened Phantom Faces Critics in Las Vegas

Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, the 90-minute version of the wildly popular musical The Phantom of the Opera, has its own $40 million theater inside The Venetian. It also has alternating Phantoms Brent Barrett and Anthony Crivello, Christines Sierra Boggess and Elizabeth Loyacano and Carlottas Elena Jeanne Batman and Geena Jeffries and a host of special effects. The big-budget production officially opened in Sin City on June 24. Did area critics enjoy attending this masquerade?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Charles McNulty of The Los Angeles Times: "This latest Phantom may not be definitive by any measure, but the production fills the bill well enough… Though there are plenty of special effects on hand, including a mini-fireworks display when the Phantom's evil high jinks reach their crescendo, nothing compares to that initial launching of the crystal colossus… It's at moments like these that a new hybrid of entertainment seems to have been spawned out in the frolicsome desert, a combination that's one part Broadway, one part amusement park, one part circus extravaganza… Condensed to 95 intermission-less minutes, the new production skims through a book that many felt could use a little skimming. But opera, even of the pop Lloyd Webber variety, needs time, and the shorter version leaves too many plot points fuzzy."

Jerry Fink of The Las Vegas Sun: "The special effects are spectacular; the sets brilliant; the costumes lavish. But all of that—plus the $40 million theater built for the production—would be to no avail without the talented cast, which is greatly enriching the Las Vegas entertainment scene… Lloyd Webber and Harold Prince, who directed the original Broadway version, did the trimming with surgical precision and created a seamless production, which, by all accounts, has lost none of the Broadway luster. All of the original songs—'The Music of the Night' and other favorites—are intact. They saved time by cutting the 20-minute intermission, some dancing and other elements that did not affect the plot."

Mike Weatherford of The Las Vegas Review Journal: "The new Phantom is a fastidiously shortened but otherwise faithful copy of the original… For the most part, the cuts get to the heart of the romantic conflict and prune away a lot of peripheral silliness and exposition… Every bit of it, from the costumes to the casting of minor characters, is gorgeous-looking and sounding."

PJ Perez of The Rebel Yell: "Phantom is a dizzying 95-minute ride through innovative sets including a convincing underground lair featuring moving staircases, giant spiked gates and a convincing lake scene using only fog effects and a wheeled boat, smoke-and-mirror illusions the Phantom disappears and reappears like a 19th-century David Copperfield and tremendous performances from the award-winning cast. For those who fear Phantom may have lost some of its dramatic power being reduced to a length tolerable for fickle Vegas audiences, there should be little cause for worry."