Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” has long been one of my and my oldest daughter’s favorite musicals of all time, so when I heard that there was a new immersive theatrical experience based on this beloved musical, we had to go and experience it. Going to “Masquerade” is a dream come true. It is everything you remember and cherish about “Phantom” — except that you are there! You are there in the room where it happens, you are dressed elegantly, wearing a mask, and the actors are literally up-close and personal as you travel through a six-floor building to experience the story of the Phantom as told from his perspective. You may find yourself dancing with a cast member in the Masquerade scene or chatting with one of the dancers as you wait for Christine to enter the room. You are in the room as each scene happens, you travel throughout this complex via escalators and stairs and move from place to place experiencing moments that you will never forget.
One moment you find yourself taking a dance lesson with Madame Giry; the next you find yourself following her and sometimes the Phantom as the story unfolds. The costumes are absolutely gorgeous. The settings include dressing rooms; a carnival where you see the backstory of the phantom as a deformed, exploited child and how he came to be with the Opera House; and even the Phantom’s lair.
The story of the Phantom is incredibly moving as it is, but imagine the Phantom singing to Christine about breaking his heart and betraying him when you are only an arm’s length away. Imagine sitting in a room and the Phantom hands you an item to replace something that another actor in a previous scene gave to you. But the item he gives you will have a different effect on the user than originally intended. (I know that sounds mysterious, but that’s part of the fun.) There were so many moments where I found myself overcome with emotion; so many moments when the Phantom and Christine moved among the audience, singing and literally looking audience members directly in their eyes.
Experiencing this production, you get to get a taste of the anguish and pain that the Phantom experienced his entire existence, but you also see his tender side that barely got a chance to see the light of day. You also get to see all the levels of emotion that Christine experiences.
What’s so spectacular about this immersive experience is that there are multiple groups experiencing it at separate times each day. There are six different Phantoms and six different Christines, and ticket buyers are given a time to enter the building and a secret password. This production is also a spectacular example of non-traditional casting at work.
The cast is too vast to name them all, but the cohesiveness you experience through them is sublime. At the performance I attended on a Sunday at 1 p.m., African American actor Kyle Scatliffe was absolutely extraordinary as the Phantom. His voice, his pain, his love for and dedication to Christine, his protective yet deadly manner of making sure she was successful, touched the soul. You felt great empathy for this man who never knew love, not even from his own mother. Eryn LeCroy was stunning as Christine. Her voice was enchantingly beautiful. You could sense every emotion she experienced, feeling grateful to the Angel of Music but also terrified of him. One of the songs that always tears me down emotionally is when she sings “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” and I must admit, when she performed it in a very interesting setting, I could not wipe my tears quickly enough. The character that we meet from the beginning is Madame Giry, who is a role played by four different actresses. At the performance I attended, that role was marvelously performed by Liz Pearce.
Sounds like a unique experience. How did you decide on the themes for the masquerade?