The Phantom Of The Opera at Cadillac Palace Theatre

The Phantom of the Opera! The spectacular production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh. An architect and designer, a composer and magician. He's a genius who must hide his facial disfigurement behind a mask and in the catacombs beneath Paris's Opera House, known only as the Phantom of the Opera or Opera Ghost. His one companion is his young singing Protégé, a soprano named Christine who is drawn to and mystified but at the same time terrified of her Angel of Music whose rapturous voice sings songs in her head while she sleeps and whispers in her ear during day. Everyone at the opera house is used to the Phantom's deadly pranks when his demands are not met but when a canopy falls on top of her, nearly crushing her, the opera's leading diva: Carllota resigns. With no understudy, the mangers turn to Christine who at the time was no more than a chorus girl. The show casts her into immediate fame. But when Christine, whom the Phantom has fallen in love with, accepts a marriage proposal from her childhood sweetheart Viscount Raoul de Changy, the Phantom's heart is broken. His despair quickly turns to furious, jealous rage and is willing to do anything to win her, even if it means raising the stakes to the ultimate level in Christine's choice between her love for Raoul and her strange attraction to the Phantom.

The Phantom of the Opera makes a triumphant return to Chicago, bigger and better than ever before. Featuring brilliant new scenic design by Paul Brown, Tony Award-winning original costume design by Maria Björnson, lighting design by Tony Award winner Paule Constable, new choreography by Scott Ambler, new staging by director Laurence Connor, and the now legendary chandelier! A cast and orchestra of 52 makes this one of the largest Phantom of the Opera productions now on tour!

Cameron Mackintosh has so far produced the three longest running musicals in history Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and CATS. Cameron was knighted in 1996; recently was the first British producer to be elected to the Theater Hall of Fame; and is the recipient of the 2017 Stephen Sondheim Award.

“Well, you start with a story that reeks of sexuality, mystery, innocence and passion. Then you add music that weaves motif after motif together in a manner that even a tone deaf person could grasp. Add impeccable design – 19th century costumes and a set that is so enormous it dwarfs the cast and so spectacular that you can hardly keep track of where you are. Top it off with staging that is actor proof and voila!” – Tulis McCall, New York Theatre Guide.com

“Phantom” may be the riskiest reboot. Even Mackintosh regards the dark, shiny fable of the tortured, disfigured Phantom and the sweet soprano Christine as “the most beautiful of my big shows.” The new version is deliberately more prosaic.

“It’s more realistic in many ways,” Mackintosh says, drawing a comparison to the well-known set and costume design by Maria Bjornson, who died in 2002. “The original doesn’t attempt theatrical realism.”

“There is a realer sense of a backstage, of a theater world,” says new “Phantom” scenic designer Paul Brown, whose career has been mainly in the opera realm. “The glamour is only makeup deep.”

[Cameron Mackintosh profiled by The Post in 1996]