Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular -- The Epic Review, Part 1

Hey, everyone!

As promised, I will begin posting my reviews of Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular over the next few days. I went with two fellow Phantom Phans who had seen the show there the previous year: Alex (aka Count-Alexiel-Ravenswood) and Jo (aka Sylent Phantom). After an epic road trip from the San Francisco Bay Area down to Costa Mesa and then to Las Vegas, we saw the show twice -- I attended the late (9:30 PM) show on Monday, June 27th; and then I went to the 7:00 PM show the next day. In addition, as I found out when we got there, they play the audio from the show in progress; thus, we were able to hear the earlier show on Monday (featuring Michael Lackey and Sarah Elizabeth Combs, the understudy Phantom and Christine) and the Wednesday evening show (with Anthony Crivello and Kristi Holden, the principals). In other words, we were able to at least hear if not see all 3 Christines and 2 of the Phantoms in the Vegas production. Not bad, especially since we didn't plan it that way!

Because I saw the show twice, I'll be making a separate post to review each performance. First, though, I'll post the CliffsNotes version here: Anthony Crivello was sublime; very close to Leroux's Erik, so it really surprised me to find out that he had only read bits and pieces of the novel. Sarah Combs (Christine understudy) and Kristen Hertzenberg (alternate) were both excellent, but I have to give the edge to La Hertzenberg for being pretty much exactly as I imagined Christine in the novel. Andrew Ragone made a great Raoul, the Carlottas were both a bit underwhelming, the Managers and Piangi were superb, and the Girys were awesome. From what we could hear in the lobby, Michael Lackey was also excellent and performed really well opposite Sarah Combs. Kristi Holden didn't seem like my cup of tea, but maybe if I were to see her live, I'd feel differently.

So yeah, that's the short version. Stay tuned for the longer reviews where I'll get into all the nitty gritty details. ^_^


I remain your obedient servant,
I.A.E.