By Shor M. Masori in San Diego
At Broadway San Diego/the San Diego Civic Theatre, the chandelier was irate. It swung violently over the stage, spitting sparks as though it might break loose and land among the actors. The audience roared throughout the evening, especially after the opera performances. Somewhere around us, the Phantom’s (Isaiah Bailey) voice moved from one part of the theater to another. Before Bailey had taken full command of the stage, the show had already made the entire building feel haunted. This was perhaps the strongest technical production I have ever seen at the Civic Theatre.
For anyone unfamiliar with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical, the Phantom is a masked composer who lives beneath the fictional Opéra Populaire and becomes obsessed with the young Christine Daaé, and with teaching her to sing. He demands her devotion, sabotages performances and murders people who interfere. The production is almost entirely in song.
The sets were the most sumptuous and decadent that I’ve ever seen. The staging settles into an enchanting gloom that invites you in all the while warning you about what may be waiting there for you. A mirror in Christine’s room reveals the Phantom’s mask and then becomes a doorway. The staircase into his underground lair seems to build itself out of darkness. Below, his boat drifts smoothly across a layer of fog like Charon carrying a passenger across the River Styx.
The world above him can feel just mobile. Bailey stands on a statue that turns toward the audience while the backdrop and cloudy night sky move with it. Later, the entrance to Christine’s father’s tomb looks like a summons into hell. Flares, explosions, candles and sudden flashes of fire keep danger close during the quieter passages.
Bailey’s singing often gave me chills. His physicality could change from suave and dramatic to wounded and stunted in an instant. He sometimes stood almost motionless while his arms continued working like those of a composer conducting music only he could hear. When his mask came off, he covered the exposed side of his face or kept it hidden from the audience in shadow.
Jordan Lee Gilbert’s Christine could alter the timbre of a scene through a small shift in posture. Her singing had the force to stop the room cold. Midori Marsh played house diva Carlotta Giudicelli with exactly the right amount of excess. Her voice earned awe from the audience, while her outrage drew laughter.
Broadway San Diego’s sound occasionally weakened all that precision. When several characters sang or spoke together, their words blurred. The Phantom’s distorted announcements also became difficult to decipher. His voice traveling around the theater made him seem omnipresent, although a few of his words disappeared along the way.
As songs, only a few numbers stay with me. However, the title number remains my favorite and has yet to leave my head days later.
Theater fans should see The Phantom of the Opera at least once in their lives, and Broadway San Diego has given local audiences a terrific rendition. The show remains at the Civic Theatre through September 13. Keep an eye on the chandelier. It may be the only performer in the building dramatic enough to upstage Bailey.
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