Perhaps it's just the passing of time that enhances ones memories of the event... my first show... it was a big theater... we had orchestra seats... we got all dressed up... i recall the electricity in the air... i recall it fondly. I'm sure the theater was not as big i remember it to be. I am sure that there were many people with discount tickets in the audience and that someone sang a bad note or maybe flubbed a line, but I don't remember any of that. I was going to the theater and this was the biggest and best show that I could pick to see! I am positive that my rose colored glasses are still on whenever i look back.
Fast forward - When my awesome theater-going friend, Tom, told me he won tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera and asked me to go with him - I was torn."I don't see shows twice", I said. "And of all the shows, you won tickets to that modern day tourist trap?", I muttered.
Upon further reflection I decided that maybe it was time to have a repeat. Maybe it was time to visit something that was a distant memory. I'll update my opinion, record a review, maybe it will be bigger and better than I recall. Is it possible? Well, the answer is a big fat "NO!"
While the show is still the epic Andrew Lloyd Webber saga as it always was meant to me - I was embarrassed for all the tour bus patrons who attended. They were being duped in to thinking this was a GOOD show! I'm sure all their aunts and grandmothers told them to go to New York City and see a big Broadway show - like Phantom (or, god forbid, Mama Mia!).
Pedestrian! Run of the Mill. Emotion-less. Clearly director-less and direction-less. Actors going thru the motions with little gusto. The numbers were barely dramatic. The acting was marginal. The orchestra must have been missing 3 or 4 key players - it sounded anemic. I remember the theater shaking when the chandelier fell. I think it shook more when the "A" train passed by under 8th Avenue!
I left feeling a little bummed. I was disappointed, but even more i was angry for the tourists. Did all these tourists just see what they believed to be a "great" show? How they were robbed and they didn't even know it! Shame on the producers for turning this into the "Grey Gardens" musical on Broadway (i.e run down and shabby).
So - it is with great sadness that I lay this first duplicate playbill down on my pile. I am sure it was a lot better 18 years ago, albeit probably not quite as great as I seem to think it was. I just hope some young 19 year old kid didn't attend this show today and think "Ehhhh.. Broadway isn't really all that good - I think I'll go see a WWF event next week."