August 2006 Archives

The world's longest-running musical is back. And The Fantasticks is a show that all but the most hardened soul will love.

The story is schmaltzy - the ageless one about boy and girl fall in love/boy and girl fall out of love/boy and girl fall back in love. Yet, for over four decades Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's musical, by far their best known, has entralled millions in over 12,000 productions worldwide. Not bad for a show that was considered quite avant garde for its time.

It is also probably the world's most-honored musical, with awards upon awards including the Obie and, in a rare recognition of an Off Broadway show, a 1992 Special Tony Award.

Jones and Schmidt were honored with ASCAP's 1993 Richard Rodgers Award. They were inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1999. The composers have stars in the Lortel Theatre Off-Broadway Walk of Fame.

Off Broadway, "the little musical that endured," as it came to be called, racked up a record-shattering 17,162 performances when it closed Off Broadway in January, 2002.

Ironically, considering the legend that's grown up around the show, it almost didn't happen. But more on that later.

The news is that it's back, opening tomorrow, in the Uptown Theatre District: the third-floor, 199-seat theatre in the Snapple complex [Broadway and 50th Street], which still has some technical kinks to work out. An attractive lobby space is not one of them, and on it's walls is much of the priceless media memorabilia S&J have collected through the years.

Jones [book and lyrics] is directing. Fantasticks veteran Janet Watson [recent Big River, Pacific Overtures] has done the musical staging.

Several of the songs - "Soon It's Gonna Rain," "They Were You," "I Can See It" and especially "Try To Remember" - have become theater and pop standards now known to generations. They still have the magical ability to soar.

Except for a bit of political correctness, not much attempt has been made to change the show, often thin as air but with dark clouds brewing. It's pretty much intact as it was running Off Broadway for 42 years.

Of course, the cast is different; and is particularly good - highlighted by three stage vets: Burke Moses [Beauty and the Beast, Kiss Me, Kate, Guys and Dolls, NYCO's Most Happy Fella,], who possesses one of theater's great voices, as El Gallo; Martin Vidnovic as Papa Bellomy and Leo Burmester [Les Miz, Big River, Thou Shalt Not] is Papa Hucklebee. Vidnovic, a Tony nominee for the Brigadoon revival and a Drama Desk winner for Baby, is intimately acquainted with the show since he's a former El Gallo.

If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Moses onstage, running the gamut from comedy and drama to parody, think of him as almost a twin of Danny Burstein.

Although he only occasionally gives a hint here that he could mop up the stage as a future Aldolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone, there's probably no other actor who could come close to Burstein's exhilaratingly pompous and hilarious performance.

Also starring in The Fantasticks are Santino Fontana as Matt, Sara Jean Ford as Luisa, Robert R. Oliver as Mortimer and Douglas Ullman, Jr. as the Mute.

Returning to the musical for the first time since it originally opened in 1960 is Thomas Bruce, as Henry, the old actor.

There's certainly comedy in the show, but Oliver and Bruce, thankfully, imbibe their scenes with shameless scenestealing - literally walking off it [even giving Moses a run for his money, which is pretty difficult to do].

It's not the best kept secret that Thomas Bruce is Jones.

What's it like returning to a role after nearly a half a century? "In one way, it feels totally strange to be recreating Henry," replies Jones. "Forty-six years is a long hiatus! In another, it feels totally natural."

Part of those "strange/natural" feelings may have to do with the fact that at the midtown Snapple Theatre, the producers have duplicated the atmosphere and set of the original production in Greenwich Village, where the musical ran for 42 years.

Jones explains, "I put on the same old age make-up, even though I'm old enough not to need it! I crawl into my space for my surprise entrance, and it's not quite as easy as it once was. But when I step out into the lights and the audience laughs, I feel that I've come home. Actually, that I never left it."

Flashback to August, 1959:

Jones, Schmidt and friend Word Baker met as students at the University of Texas, where J&S had been at work on a "unique new entertainment" for a decade.

A professor introduced Jones to Edmond Rostand's 1890 play Les Romaneques, a story of two fathers - next door neighbors - who concoct a feud to fool their romance-obsessed son and daughter into falling in love.

"It had a profound effect on me," he says, "but I didn't think of it as a source of a musical. In fact, I'd never seen a musical, except in the movies. We did hundreds of plays in college, but not one musical. It was later, in graduate school, when I met Harvey and Word, that I began to discover musical theater."

On their move to New York, while writing special material for revues, the duo decided to write a "fun musical."

"I don't remember who suggested the Rostand piece," says Jones, "but we all agreed. Then Harvey and I got drafted."

When they returned to civilian life, the duo continued working on their show, which championed such new ideas as an open stage. After another three years, they were about to throw in the towel when Baker suggested trying it out in summer stock.

The Fantasticks, as they titled it, a one-act blithe spirit of a musical about love in all its gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking complexities, would be on a triple bill in New York in Barnard College's summer festival.

What about the title? "The fathers refer to Luisa and Matt as being ëfantastic,'" Jones notes.

Adds Schmidt. "Tom added the ëk' to make the show sound more mysterious."

The mini-musical, in this early inception written completely in verse, was the definition of putting on a show on a shoestring budget.

The "orchestra" was Schmidt playing piano. In a stroke of later genius, he added a harpist to accompany the songs. An accomplished illustrator, he designed and executed the costumes in bare bones fashion. Still they had color and sparkle.

It was Jones' job to get producers uptown to see the show. Rehearsals ran smoothly until the dress. Susan Watson, playing Luisa, was recovering from a fall from the ladder that was the show's only "scenery" and strained her vocal chords. She could hardly manage a whisper.

The choreographer stepped in to Watson's dances, and Schmidt sang her songs. It was some performance.

"We didn't know what else could go wrong," exclaims Jones.

But, in one of those wonderful but rare show business stories, afterwards Lore Noto, a fledgling producer, said he thought The Fantasticks would be perfect for the booming world of off beat Off-Broadway.

"Like all producers," says Schmidt, "he had some suggestions. They were minor. One was that the show be expanded to two acts." The duo couldn't help but love Noto when he told them his other condition, "that he'd produce the show only if we had total creative control."

J&S were so poor that they held auditions in the Upper West Side apartment they shared. "We couldn't afford a casting director," remembers Jones. "Hopefuls were lined up out the door and down four flights of stairs. I don't remember how Jerry [Orbach] heard about the show, but he came and sang and read right in the living room. He was sensational."

Then and there, the composers and Baker decided he'd be the perfect El Gallo and they went to tell him; but Orbach, late for another audition, had left to grab the subway. Relates Schmidt, "We ran down the stairs past the other waiting actors and caught him at the corner."

As fate would have it, Orbach scored at the next audition and was offered a role in a new Broadway show. "At five times the salary Lore could pay!" recalls Schmidt.

But, psychic that he may have been, Orbach chose The Fantasticks. It ended up being a smart move. The other musical closed out of town. As a result of his fantastic reviews, he was soon Broadway-bound in the lead in David Merrick's production of Gower Champion's Carnival.

Other members of the original cast were: Bruce as Henry, George Curley as Mortimer, Rita Gardner [currently in The Wedding Singer] as Luisa, William Larsen as Hucklebee [the girl's father], Kenneth Nelson [later of Boys in the Band fame] as Matt, Richard Stauffer as the Mute and Hugh Thomas as Bellomy. Jay Hampton had the role of the Handyman, which was eventually dispensed with.

Though cast and with a theatre, the 150-seat Sullivan Street Playhouse, and though The Fantasticks opened [May 3, 1960] "it was a miracle we didn't close," Schmidt states.

"Of the handful of people involved in the original production, no two remember it quite the same," says Jones. "That goes for Harvey and I, and we were there; and have been answering questions about it for over forty-seven years."

From inception, the duo thought their creation would be the perfect show for what was shaping up to be a unique decade. Maybe they were a bit ahead of their time.

"Our opening was punctuated not only by the snores of sleeping audience members," Jones vividly remembers, "but also by such comments as ëI don't understand it!' and ëWhat the hell was that?' And then came the reviews!"

"They weren't money notices," laughs Schmidt.

Jones says they weren't that bad. For the most part, they were. Especially the all- important Times review by the much-respected Brooks Atkinson, who was known to love innovative theater. He wrote: "Two acts are one too many to sustain the delightful tone of the firstÖ[It's] the sort of thing that loses magic the longer it endures."

Even critics puzzled by the musical praised the cast and Baker's unique staging in the Sullivan Street's U-shaped arc. Still, The Fantasticks appeared doomed.

"In retrospect," claims Jones, "it's amazing that we had a second night, much less that we were able to run that first week with anyone in the audience."

Gardner remembers the rocky days after the opening. "The critics thought the show was sweet, but we didn't get the reviews."

Even at then-Off Broadway prices of $2.95, $3.95 and $4.95, Gardner says, "audiences were sparse. Sometimes we played to ten and twenty people. It got so bad that Lore suspended performances and took the show to East Hampton. We generated enough word of mouth there to assure some kind of life back on Sullivan Street."

[Tickets for the revival are $75, and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com or by calling (212) 307-4100. The Broadway entrance to the Snapple theatres is up several long flights of stairs; however, there is an elevator to the theatres located on West 50th Street in a small street-level acess lobby.]

Thanks to excellent outer critics' reviews and the gradual exposure the songs received on TV from such huge pop stars as Harry Belafonte, Ed Ames and Barbra Streisand, The Fantasticks went on to have quite a life.

By its third year, it was an established hit and remained so for years. In 1986, it almost closed when producer Noto became ill.

"When the closing notice was placed in the Times," reports Schmidt, "there were protests and calls and letters poured in from around the world. We were saved when Lore's friend Don Thompson stepped in to take over until he recovered." Within a week, performances were sold out.

Noto's 44 original investors received a 35% return on their $16,500 total investment.

In addition to setting a world record in New York, The Fantasticks gave performances at the White House. The show has been seen by nine presidents. It also established record runs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver.

Of course, the question is being asked, "Why bring the show back now?"

Jones responds,"I don't know why it seems strange to have it back. The Fantasticks is a classic coming-of-age story. Really, it seems strange that it should ever have gone away. There are now hundreds of thousands who've never seen the show."

Muses Schmidt, "The story is universal. It radiates a timeless sweetness and sunniness."

Jones points to other happenings: "Look at the changes and social upheaval we've been through since 2002. There's a certain comfort level in having our modest little show performing its ritual parable over and over today in the simplicity of its bare-bones staging." He adds, laughing, "The original production made it through ten presidents. I'd like to see it get through at least one more!"

Still available on DRG Records is the original cast album of The Fantasticks. The label also has a recording of the 1993 Japanese tour cast, which includes dialogue and features Jones and, at the piano, Schmidt.

Irving Berlin and Hollywood

It's not too late to catch the beautifully-mounted exhibition, Show Business: Irving Berlin's Hollywood at the very impressive James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA [138 South Pine Street; (215) 340-9800], in the shadow of that famed rustic arts, crafts, antiqueing and cruising getaway, New Hope. But hurry, it closes September 3.

Berlin was no stranger to this thriving arts colony, which was home not only to Michener and Pearl Buck but also a number of theater luminaries, such as the Oscar Hammersteins, who weekended and summered there.

Berlin and Hollywood have been linked since the advent of "talking pictures, " with Jolson singing "Blue Skies" in The Jazz Singer; Astaire and Rogers dancing in Top Hat; Crosby crooning "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn and the 1954 VistaVision blockbuster sequel; and Merman and company singing the title tune [from the score of Annie Get Your Gun] and Marilyn Monroe's sultry rendition of "Heat Wave" in There's No Business Like Show Business.

The Michener's large, downstairs gallery has divided the prolific, often brilliant [and cantankerous] composer/lyricist's career into periods, such as 1927-1931 and 1934-1942, to give the exhibit a real sense of continuity.

Among the more than 100 objects and images evoking the extraordinarily rich Berlin legacy are reproductions [most from the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts collections] of photos, window cards, set and costume designs, drawings and caricatures, album covers and letters.

There are few authentic artifacts, other than scrapbooks, but the walls are lavishly mounted with medium to large reprints of colorful movie posters from among the six decades of films featuring Berlin songs and scores.

In addition, wall legends go into detail on many of the films, such as the casting controversy surrounding the film adaptation of AGYG, the firing of Garland and her replacement, the larger-than-life Betty Hutton.

A wide-screen TV plays clips from such films as On the Avenue [1937; Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, Ritz Brothers], White Christmas [Crosby and Kaye] and TNBLSB [Merman, Dan Dailey, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, MM].

Show Business: Irving Berlin's Hollywood requires a separate $4 admission. Among items on sale at the museum's gift shop is curator David Leopold's book Irving Berlin's Show Business [Abrahms].

Don't miss the James Michener room, which is crammed with artifacts, manuscripts and volumes of the Pulizter Prize-winning journalist and writer, whose books have sold more than 75-million copies.

The Michener galleries are roomy, comfortable and well-lighted. They contain hundreds of impressionistic paintings from the New Hope Art Colony as well as regional artists. For more information, visit online at: www.michenermuseum.org.

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You

September 5-October 14, Keen Theater Company will present the New York premiere of Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett, based on the Thornton Wilder novel. Performances will be at Theatre Row's Clurman, 410 West 42nd Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Purchase $40 tkts through Ticket Central, (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Mint Theater Company, 311 West 43rd Street, fifth floor] continues its mission of presenting revivals of noteworthy or all-but-forgotten works will stage St. John Ervine's 1919 John Ferguson, beginning September 8 [through 25]. Martin Platt direct this rare New York revival [acclaimed on its original opening in the NYTimes by no less than Alexander Woollcott] about an Irish farmer facing eviction and its devastating chain of events. For tickets and additional information, go to www.minttheater.org.

Chelsea's Joyce will be jumping as it hosts 16 of the world's dance companies beginnging September 19 with the Joyce debut of acclaimed, NY-based Shen Wei Dance Arts, presenting the NY premiere of Re-, inspired by the people and culture of Tibet. Also on tap is the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's eyeSpace, in which audiences download and listen to the score on their iPods while watching the performance. How innovative, however you provide the iPods. For a listing of Fall attractions, which include Europe's provocative Ballet Preljocaj, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Ballet Hispanico and Garth Fagan Dance, go to www.joyce.org.

Not unexpectedly, the Public Theater has quite a varied season planned. While you're waiting in the Delacorte cancellation line for tkts to, hopefully, experience theater's "supernova" Ms. Streep [singing for the first time since her 1977 Lt. Lillian Holiday in Happy End] and Mr. Kline in Papa Brecht's Mother CourageÖ, you might contemplate making a run to the Public box office. Big news: After ten years, Ed Harris is returning to the boards in the U.S. premiere of Neil Labute's Wrecks - beginning September 26 [to October 29]. Labute, who'll direct, says "It's a play to challenge your assumptions about love, family and marriage." In November, the Public presents the free New York premiere of the first cycle of Pulitzer Prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days / 365 Plays, a national year-long festival using the combined resources of a wide cross-section of theater companies. For additional programming and information, go to www.publictheater.org.

The 2004 Drama Desk Award-winning Classical Theater of Harlem will spotlight its eighth season on September 29 [through November 5] with a new production of King Lear, with Tony-nominee AndrÈ De Shields in the lead role. This is a co-production with D.C.'s Folger. Peter Weiss' Marat Sade follows in February. The season concludes with an original adaptation of Sophocles' Elektra titled (The Blood) Elektra. All performances will be at the HSA Theater, 645 St. Nicholas Avenue, near 141st Street. Solo tickets are $35, with a season subscription for $75. To order, call Smarttix, (212) 868-4444 or go online to www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org.

The 2006 Drama Desk Award-winning York Theatre Company's season of its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series begins October 13-15 with Take Me Along, Robert Merrill/Joseph Stein and Robert Russell's adaptation of O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!. The musical will be followed a week later with Alan Jay Lerner and Stein's Carmelina; and another week later with Albert Hague/Arnold Horwitt/Will Glickman and Stein's Plain and Fancy. Performances are at the Saint Peter's Theatre, 54th Street, east of Lexington Avenue. For tickets and information, visit www.yorktheatre.org

[Photo of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones: JOE SOREL; Fantasticks production photos: JOAN MARCUS]

Ruben Santiago-Hudson is laughing. He's calling himself a "doting father," referring to the fact that he's directing August Wilson's Seven Guitars, the revival of which is kicking off the Signature Theatre Company's season of Wilson plays.

Seven Guitars, a metaphor for the play's seven characters, received eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. Santiago-Hudson won for Best Featured Actor. It also received five Drama Desk nominations, including a Featured Actor nod to RS-H.

[In addition, it was a nominee for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as was Wilson's 1992 Two Trains Running and his 2000 King Hedley II. Mr. Wilson won Pulitzers for Fences [1987], also honored by the Tonys and Drama Desk as Best Play, and The Piano Lesson [1990], honored as Outstanding Play by Drama Desk.]

"August Wilson's contribution to the American theater is beyond measure," says Signature artistic director James Houghton. "We're excited to be presenting three of his legendary twentieth-century cycle plays and honored by the faith his estate has shown. When we worked with August, he was happy for his work to be presented in an intimate setting and at an affordable prices, making it accessible to all."

Santiago-Hudson states, "August left so much for us to explore. He was fully in love with African-American people, their laughter, anger, style and perseverance. It's a glorious thing for me to be in a position to honor the integrity of his work, which says: All my people are worthy and their worst qualities are redeemable."

The role of Theo in the Negro Ensemble Company's 1985 revival of Lonnie Elder's Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, put the actor, then 27, on the map.

In 1999, four years after making his Broadway acting and singing debut as Buddy Bolden in Jelly's Last Jam opposite Gregory Hines' Jelly Roll Morton, he was chosen by renowned director [the late] Lloyd Richards to portray Canewell in Seven Guitars. It was a much-celebrated performance in a celebrated play.

There's such a deep, spiritual bond between Santiago-Hudson and Wilson that he often speaks as if Wilson is still with us. He reveals he's kept the last phone message between them. "Since August isn't here," he says, "it's a way to stay close."

RS-H, considering his connection to Seven Guitars and the fact that Mr. Wilson [who died in 2005], was a mentor, approached the casting of the revival meticulously. "Õ auditioned lots and lots of actors in an effort to put together the right family."

That family consists of Lance Reddick [TV's Oz, The Wire] in the pivotal role of blues singer Floyd, Roslyn Ruff as his left behind sometime fiancÈ, Kevin T. Carroll [Take Me Out] as Canewell, Brenda Pressley and Charles Weldon as neighbors Louise and Hedley. Cassandra Freeman as Louise's drop-dead gorgeous neice and Stephen McKinley Henderson [a veteran of numerous Wilson plays on Broadway, Off Broadway and regionally] as Red complete the "guitars."

"The cast," says Santiago-Hudson, "was passionate about August's work and being a part of this production. Happy to say, there's not a false note in the casting. They are amazing."

Seven Guitars is set in the late 40s in Pittsburgh's Hill District, as are several of the playwright's works.

The revival, with tickets at the bargain price of $15 [through the lead sponsorship of Time Warner and Target], at the 160-seat Signature Theatre at the Peter Norton Space [555 West 42nd Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues], is sold out. The the eight week run is set to end September 23; however, there's a cancellation line and efforts are underway to extend or move the revival.

"As soon as I found out that Jim [Houghton] planned saluting August's work," he reports, "I called and asked if he needed somebody to go for coffee, somebody to act, somebody to direct." He's happy Houghton settled on the last option. "To let me be a part of it is the ultimate blessing."

Wilson explored the depths of his characters in monologues. One of the most impressive is in Seven Guitars, when Canewell speaks late in Act Two on the loss of love. It was probably one of the deciding reasons for Santiago-Hudson's Tony win.

"It's a beauty," he says. "It still moves me and audiences. Kevin handles it gorgeously. Watching him recreate this role that's so close to me has been quite an experience. He has the same philosophy I have. I don't go in any play expecting anything other than the absolute joy of creating of a role."

He also has praise for Signature audiences. "They're an educated group. They come to appreciate theater, and they respect actors. There's rapt attention to the words."

Sometimes there's a question you want to ask but you don't want it taken the wrong way.

Having seen so many of Wilson's plays and how he portrays "white folks," one might wonder if there were any that he liked. There must have been, because the producers and regional theatre artistic directors who kept his work before the public are white.

A white person can come out of some Wilson plays fairly beaten up, asking "What did I do?" So RS-H is asked, "Did he ever write anything about white people that was nice - that's good, that's positive?"

"Yes," he immediately states, "there's the role of Solly Two Kings in Gem of the Ocean, in which I appeared on Broadway. He's literally a part of Aunt Ester's family."

[GOTO is also the play on which RS-H made his directorial debut in 2005 productions at NJ's McCarter and SF's A.C.T.]

Santiago-Hudson, a native of Lackawanna, NY, south of Buffalo, says, "The folks who don't harbor hatred and don't condone it might feel a bit beaten, because that's not who they are. What August has done in his plays is examine the results of the opposite behavior on blacks."

He points to how Wilson in Seven Guitars has Floyd describe how he got arrested for walking down the street after his mother's funeral. "In Pittsburgh," RS-H says with indignation. "In Pennsylvania."

The actor/director recalls that in the rooming house where he was raised and where his autobiographical play and film Lackawanna Blues is set, "everyone had been to jail - some for just spitting on the sidewalk, some for vagrancy. Others for inciting a riot, when they were just hanging out on a corner because they didn't have two dollars in their pocket."

He can't control himself when he relates the story that Stephen McKinley Henderson, who plays Red in the Seven Guitars revival, told of his grandfather in St. Louis getting a ticket for screaming at a white mule. "He was told to call the mule Mister," states RS-H.

The characters in Wilson plays are said to come from his and the experiences of family and friends, so was he an angry man? "Being quite honest," says Santiago-Hudson, "in my life I know very few black men who aren't angry. Heck, everyday somebody gives me a reason to be angry. It's what you do what that anger that's important.

"How can that anger manifest into something positive?," he continues. "I take my anger, as probably did August, and try to make it a positive thing. I try to prevent things that have happened to me from happening to those who are close to me. Let me educate my kids and at-risk teens about the obstacles they're going to face; and how they can overcome those obstacles through hard work and patience."

RH-S says that often he's at his happiest when someone makes him angry. "If I took everything that happened to me in a day and got angry about it, I'd probably take a gun and kill a few people. But I try to make those situations a lesson. I've had people tell me, ëI don't like your walk' and ëYou have a doctorate, so why do you talk like you do?'

"My reply to that," he furter states, "is I speak the Queen's English when I perform Shakespeare. In my day-to-day existence I'm uptown at the Lenox Lounge and downtown at Carnegie Hall. I take the middle ground. I don't bring myself off as too white or too black. But I'm both. I'm Latino and black."

One aspect of the Seven Guitars revival that RS-H is also proud of is the original blues score by Bill Sims Jr. "Everything in the play says something, whether subconsciously or ethereally. So it was important to link the right music to the story. So there's a variety of blues styles, Early on, there's acoustic when Floyd takes out his guitar and, later, electric guitar."

Then there's that jukebox in the lobby. "Compiling the music on that took me four months, but when I see audience members strutting and dancing to the blues as they exit, it was worth it."

He's also happy to note that there's another connection to Wilson in the revival at Signature. Associate artist Constanza Romera, who designed the costumes, is the playwright's widow.

Santiago-Hudson emphasizes that he's approached the play with great integrity, that not a word has been cut.

That leads one to another burning question: "Has August Wilson ever written a short play?"

RS-H responds, "I've been in longer ones." Probably by August Wilson. "Nope. It was by a guy named Chekhov and a fella named Shakespeare. And I've done plays that have had two intermissions."

He adds, "Seven Guitars is a two and a half hour play with intermission. That's not long when what you're seeing is classic theater."

Signature continues the August Wilson Series with revivals of Two Trains Running, beginning November 7; and, in February, with King Hedley II. All tickets will be $15.
For subscription information or to purchase single tickets or for possible ticket cancellations, call (212) 244-7529.

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

And in some cases, the Absinthe or la Clique show in the Spiegeltent, a small [320 seats], but elegant souvenir from the world of 20's Berlin cabaret, at the on the South side of Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, makes you grow a bit, welló Okay, let's just not say. Use your imagination.

After acclaimed runs throughout the U.K., Ireland, Canada and Australia, it is finally making its New York debut, and an auspicious one it is.

Beyond the charming old world faÁade and inside the round Spiegeltent [translated as "tent of mirrors"], the teak trimmings are set off by colorful stained glass panels.

The variety acts are a combination of old-time carnival sideshows and hucksterism, Paris' Crazy Horse and Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity in a very intimate setting. The stage may be small, but the artists are among the best presented in this type show in several years.

Right at the top, your attention is captured by the well-defined English Gents, Dennis Lock and Hamish Cann, accompanied by a brolly in their tailored pinstrips and bowler hats as they engage in amazing hand-to-hand acrobatics. The highlight is their finale salute to native merry olde England.

Una Mimnagh displays amazing prowness on the trapeze. The WOW-factor continues with Russian contortionist Yulia Pikhtina, who could teach Detroit a lot about how to rev their engines as she spins hula hoops at breathtaking speed over just about every body part.

Some may have a strong distaste for how far Miss Behave, as Amy Saunders is known, takes her routines, but in early appearances she is fun and, in the tightest red plastic dress you'll ever see, very sexy as she give deep throat new definition.

There are also guest appearances by local artists on various nights.

Except for one act, Absinthe could be family entertainment.

But Ursula Martinez, an English lass, in one of her sequences puts the show in a not-the-Big-Apple-Circus and firm adult-only context - except for the most broadminded family with kids advanced well beyond their ages. She certainly knows the art of striptease; and is quite the magician as she makes a tiny red silk handkerchief disappear right before your eyes and reappear in the unlikeliest cavities and crevices. For some, Martinez's in-your-face bits may be a little disconcerting.

Every circus, cirque and show has to have a memorable finish. Absinthe doesn't disappoint with Berlin native David O'Mer, who displays amazing body language performing stunning routines on aerial straps in between immersing himself in a water-filled bathtub.

Front row patrons don't have to fear. Protection is provided as he sprays and splays. There's a very nice touch at the very end.

With the minimal signage, you may have trouble locating the Spiegeltent site at the Seaport's Pier 17. Walk to the East River end, where the box office, tent and a charming beer garden can be found on the far, South-side patio. Arrive early. Seating is on a first-come basis.

Barring an extension, Absinthe plays through September 5. There are two shows some nights, at 8 and 10 P.M.. For tickets at $60, showtimes and information on other programs to appear in the Spigeltent, call (212) 279-4200 or visit. www.spiegelworld.com.

The closet subway connection is the Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street station, which can be reached by A, C, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 trains. After that, walk East about six blocks.

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You

The 2006-2007 season will surely be one to remember. There's something for everyone.

Events to eagerly look forward to are the return to the stage of legendary actress Zoe Caldwell, winner of four Tony and three Drama Desk Awards in Classic Stage Company's January English language premiere of Tony Award winner Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play, translated by David Ives; and the return of four-time Tony and three-time DD-winning Angela Lansburyteaming with five-time Tony-nominated [she won in 1971] and six-time DD-nominated [and a winner in 1971] Marian Seldes in Terrence McNally's new work Deuce, set at a tennis match. It will open in April on Broadway. The Tony-winning McNally and Ms. Seldes were DD-nominated this past season for PS' Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams.

Beginning September 6 [through October 15], Michael Cumpsty will headline a large cast in Classic Stage Company's 39th season opener, Richard II, directed by CSC's artistic director Brian Kulick. They teamed last season for CSC's imaginative production of Hamlet, for which Cumpsty received an Obie. For membership and ticket information, order online at http://www.classicstage.org/; call (212)-352-3101 or toll free at (866) 811-4111; or visit the box office at 136 East 13th Street.

Signature Theatre Company's 15th Anniversary and its salute to Pulitizer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson will be highlighted by a program of play readings and music, August Wilson and the Blues, on Saturday, September 9 at 7 P.M. as part of the River To River Festival at Battery Park's Castle Clinton National Monument.

In addition to the 14th season of Encores! [opening in February with Sondheim's Follies], two highlights of New York City Center's season will be London's Sadler's Wells Theatre's production of the Olivier Award-winning Push [October 11- 15], featuring French ballet superstar Sylvie Guillem, who's co-choreographer with contemporary dancer Russell Maliphant; and Career Transition for Dancers's 21st Anniversary production One World [October 23], honoring dance legend Chita Rivera and the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation. Fundraiser guests will include Sutton Foster, James Earl Jones and Rosie O'Donnell and performances by, among numerous others, ABT. For more of the lineup and general ticket information, visit www.nycitycenter.org. For One World gala tickets, call (212) 228-7446 X. 33.

The Atlantic Theater Company will host the New York premieres of Tina Howe's Birth and After Birth and Pulitzer Prize-winner [and ATC co-founder] David Mamet's adaptation of Harley Granville-Barker's classic The Voysey Inheritance. ATC will end its season in it's new Chelsea/West 16th Street theatre with the world premiere of a still-untitled musical by Grammy-nominated artist Patty Griffin and Keith Bunin. Tony-nominated and DD-winning Michael Mayer [Thoroughly Modern Millie] will direct. In the workshop, TMM's Tony and DD-winning Sutton Foster, Light in the Piazza's Tony and DD-nominated Matthew Morrison and Tony and two-time DD nominee Linda Emond participated. To become an ATC member [which qualifies you for $25 tickets to main stage performances], call (212) 645-1242 or visit www.atlantictheater.org.

[Seven Guitars production photos: CAROL ROSEGG, rehearsal photo: NELLA VERA; Absinthe photos: PRUDENCE UPTON; Composite: JUDY AXENSON, AUBREY REUBEN, ELLIS NASSOUR; Chita Rivera: ANDREW ECCLES]
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Las Vegas - Brent Barrett didn't arrive in Las Vegas, as an alternating star of Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular, with his image plastered across hundreds of billboards.

Yes, images of the Phantom abound just about everywhere, with a particularly huge one on a side of The Venetian Casino Resort Hotel [where P~TLVS plays]'s faux St. Mark's Square tower; but the face is masked.

Barrett has been called by critics "one of the greatest leading men in musical theater today" and, by no less than Ben Brantley, an actor "with matinee idol presence and a glorious tenor voice."

He's fondly remembered for his recent starring role opposite long-time friend Karen Ziemba in the City Center Encores! production of The Pajama Game; and his Frank Butler opposite Reba McEntire in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun.

For his role as Fred Graham/Petruchio in the 2001 West End Kiss Me, Kate, Barrett displayed great athletic prowness, had the critics raving and was Olivier-nominated.

Still, Barrett is not among Vegas' best-known faces, such as Wayne Newton [thank the show biz gods!], Danny Gans [the voice of a thousand other faces] or Lance Burton.

In fact, only a select few here recognize the face that has endeared itself to the New York theatrical community since he made his Broadway debut as Diesel in the 1980 revival of West Side Story.

That suits Barrett just fine.

"It's wonderful to be able to go where I need to go and do what I want to do without being recognized," he says. "It can be fun being incognito, especially walking through the casino on the way to work. There's such a mass of humanity. I can browse the shops, stop by Starbucks to have a coffee and people watch."

Barrett's not a gambling man, "but it's hard to avoid passing through some parts of the casino, especially since our Phantom Theatre doesn't have a stage door. But I don't go far into the gaming area. From the parking garage, there's an elevator or escalator that will take us almost to the theatre entrance. And, as theatres go, this one is just sensational."

He says if he wants to be social, there are restaurants in the vicinity of the theatre lobby. "I've never known The Venetian to not be busy and sometimes it's difficult getting a table, but," he laughs, "that's the time to not be so incognito and mention very nicely what you're doing out here."

Audiences have been wonderful. "I'm surprised to hear that so many have never seen The Phantom of the Opera, so we have a lot of first-timers, even after all these years. Then you have those who want to come back to see it again, especially here in Vegas."

This is, of course, the Vegas premiere of a new "casino" edition of the worldwide blockbuster by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe under the direction of legendary Hal Prince.

In a city where entertainers have long feared the dreaded dry throat, luckily, Barrett hasn't experienced vocal problems. "It's very dry, so I drink water and try very hard not to talk a lot. There's smoking out here, so you have to be careful to stay away from that. That's really all you can do."

He adds, "That and getting a lot of rest. I don't worry about exercise. Because of the running time, I have only one brief section where I'm off stage. Other than that, I'm running about, up and down stairs and across catwalks and crawling into tight spaces."

Small bits of that "running about," when the Phantom is singing, are on vocal tracks, but Barrett stresses the word "small."

He notes that the streamlined Vegas production isn't as physical for the Phantom. "Because of the time constraints and costume changes, there are certain things he used to do that are now done by doubles."

The alternate casting keeps Barrett and Crivello and their Christines [Sierra Boggess, Elizabeth Loyacano] on their toes. "We're in constant rotation," he reports. "It's great because you never get too comfortable. Some think that because we don't always perform with the same Christine, it throws us off. It's not the case. The Phantom drives the show. He's the one up there in charge."

Barrett feels the abbreviated version works well. "Hal and Andrew made good choices. They did a great job on excising sections while keeping the story intact. They've kept the integrity of the show and have enhanced it enough to make Vegas audiences oooh and ahhh."

One of the best things about appearing in P~TLVS is working with a 19-piece orchestra that sounds like a full symphony.

It turns out, there's a reason for that. "Under the Vegas contract," he reveals, "they were allowed to prerecord some fifteen minutes of enhanced instrumentation. A couple of numbers, such as ëAll I Ask Of You,' have full symphony backing. In that section of ëMusic of the Night' where the music swells, that's a full symphony."

When told that it seems that the Phantom is unmasked longer in P~TLVS than in the theatrical productions, Barrett didn't agree. "Maybe because in this shortened version you see so much more of the Phantom, it may seem like he's unmasked longer."

There are ten shows a week, with performances at 7 and 10 P.M. Barrett is off on Tuesday, and he and Crivello alternate Thursday and Sundays.

"We have two days off," he reports. "Right now, Anthony and I never do two shows on the same night." However, that might change. " Once we're really established, we're discussing doing two shows on one of the alternate nights. That way, we can have three days off."

Barrett is certain that appearing in the Vegas production will have a positive impact on his future. "I knew this would be a once-in-a-career opportunity. It was Vegas, yes. The money would be great, yes. But that's not why I pursued it. I was at a point in my life where I was looking for a different lifestyle. I was ready for something different."

He also wanted the opportunity to work with Prince again. Barrett appeared as the egocentric Maximillian in Prince's lavish second revival of Candide in 1996. It's his first Andrew Lloyd Webber show and, he says, "the Phantom's songs are a Broadway tenor's dream."

Why have some Vegas editions of Broadway shows had a difficult time in Vegas? "Does anyone ever know what will appeal to audiences? Some things that are socko on Broadway may not fare as well out here. Theater, no matter where, is a gamble."

However, he does admit that Vegas has a slight edge over what Broadway can do and that's because casinos have money to mount lavish productions. "Spectacle on Broadway is one thing, but here it's a horse of a different color. Green. Money's never an obstacle. The theatres are so right-now state-of-the-art that they can handle whatever kind of special affects you desire. Huge stages with vast wing space, elevators and turntables within elevators and turntables. Here, they can hoist a one-ton chandlier eighty feet into a doom! Few Broadway houses are equipped to do what can be done here."

Barrett is no stranger to town, but "living here, I'm really taken by it. A fantastic thing about Las Vegas is that you're only a half hour or a few hours away from great beauty and hundreds of things to do."

There's Mount Charleston [a 45-minute drive away, where in a matter of minutes you ascend from the desert heat to a world of snow and Swiss chalets], Red Rock Canyon [a haven for hikers and rock climbers], Lake Mead, Hoover Dam "and you're within a fairly easy commute of Los Angeles, Palm Springs, even the Grand Canyon. It's a great central location.

"Now that the show's open and running," he continues, "I'll be able to explore a lot more. In July and August, you really don't want to get outside for too long anyway! The temperatures can be very scary."

He's gone so far as to purchase a house, a twenty-minute drive West of the Strip. During rehearsal breaks and what free time he has is spent at Lowe's "buying things to put the house together. That's my casino."

Barrett's contract is for a year, when he hopes to resume his role in Princesses [which featured Boggess], the Matthew Wilder/ David Zippel/Cherri and Bill Steinkeller musical set against the background of a girls prep school doing a musical about, well, a princess, with the stalwart and often misdirected help of a Hollywood superstar.

"It was fun and I had a great time during it's pre-Broadway run," says Barrett. "I would love for it to happen. Seattle [the 5th Avenue Theatre] went very well. At the time there was no available New York theatre, but David [Zippel, also the director] and everyone agreed there was work still to be done."

Even after P~TLVS and wherever the work takes him, he says he'll always want to return to the area.

"When you get off the Strip," he states, "the city is quite interesting. With the amount of people moving to the area, estimated to be seven thousand a month, it's got incredible growth potential. There's culture, but it can be developed more. In the outlying areas, people are still looking for things to do, things to see."

Right now, he's hoping, that high on the list of things to see is Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular.

Barrett can't get over how spectaular David Rockwell's spanking new, $40-million Phantom Threatre is. "But, in addition to it's sheer beauty, there are 1,800 seats and," he notes, "not a bad seat in the house. The way David designed the auditorium gives it a warm, intimate feeling. All of us salute him and his team for the good job they did in getting the acoustics right."

He compares the opening of the show, when the chandelier rises to be assembled, akin to being in a planetarium. "The pieces float all around the auditorium to that great underscoring like great planets in the solar system. When it's all together, that chandelier is gigantic!"

Onstage and, especially, high above the stage, he admits, "there's always an element of danger. We have to be very careful. Our crew takes safety issues very seriously."

When the chandelier into its free-fall, it gets within ten jaw-dropping, nerve-pounding feet of those directly under it.

There's been only one accident but, with two ghostly Phantoms in the house, to borrow a phrase from Carlotta, things do happen.

At an early run-through when it was being tested, relates Barrett, "someone, who will go nameless, forgot to put the Stop on the winch drive system and it came crashing down and tore out a few seats."

Not all the special effects always work. "It's live theater," he emphasizes. "There are duds and misfires."

There have been more than a few in the cemetery sequence, which features Christine singing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" and a confrontation between the Phantom and Raoul [portrayed by Tim Martin Gleason].

"The Phantom is very upset that this guy is stealing away his girl," says Barrett, "and he slings brickbats of fire from his fingers at him. The problem is that the flames are sent by radio transmitter. So you're always are a bit nervous. You always hope. But when the radio doesn't pick up the signal, Anthony and I are up there going like Cat Woman - zing, zing, zing! - but nothing's happening.

"Not everything always works the way it's supposed to," he adds, laughing. "Not even in a thirty-five million dollar production!"

Visit Brent Barrett's official web site, www.brentbarrett.com. For information on Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular, go to www.phantomlasvegas.com.

[Photo credits: 1) ETHAN MILLER/Getty Images ; 2) JACOB ANDRZEJCZAK ; 3) JOHN O'LOUGHLIN ; 4) JOAN MARCUS; 5) MICHAEL CAPRIO]



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Las Vegas - Bets are still being wagered on the Vegas Strip on whether or not the debut of the "all new" reconception of The Phantom of the Opera here, 18 + years after premiering on Broadway and becoming a worldwide phenomenon, will have staying power.

Many have questioned if Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular, as it has been rechristened, can change Broadway's luck on the Strip after the recent failures of Avenue Q and Hairspray to draw audiences to at least make the weekly nut.

It's not all bad news for Broadway. One of the biggest draws on the Strip is the Abba musical Mamma Mia!, a hit since it opened in 2003.

One obstacle to success in Vegas is the vast array of entertainment available - everything from the beguiling and ridiculous to the bawdy and XXX. There's no shortage of white tigers, sharks, dolphins, magicians or topless and, sometimes, bottomless dancers.

Then, there's that other attraction: gambling.

Tourists can gamble almost anywhere these days, so they come to Vegas to have a grand old good time. Can an operatic-style musical, even one as sumptuously staged and costumed as P~TLVS, entice enough of them away from rolling craps or pumping quarters and nickels into the Blazing 777 and Wheel of Fortune slots?

Will the populace of this boomtown, one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., with its plethora of cultural attractions [Philharmonic orchestra, jazz festival, UNLV Performing Arts Center], where a majority avoid the infamous Strip, support the production?

Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular, intermission-less in the Vegas tradition with nearly an hour cut, plays in a specially-created and designed $40-million theatre at The Venetian Resort, Hotel and Casino. The production is estimated to cost a mind-boggling $35-million. [Feature films have been made for less - well, a couple, anyway].

A projected audience of 80-million is necessary to go beyond breaking even. So there¥s a firm hope that what¥s said in Vegas about P-TLVS won¥t stay in Vegas.

With two shows a night and 1,800 seats to fill at performances, business has to be spectacular. Since officially opening a month ago with a red-carpet gala, business has been above average during what Vegas considers low season [which, seeing the throngs on the street, in the casinos and theatres, makes one wonder what high season is like].

Ever since a disappointing licensed production of ALW's Starlight Express opened in 1993 at the Hilton, The mogul/composer has wanted to return to town in a big way. "I've long been a fan of Las Vegas," says Lloyd Webber. "It's been my ambition for twenty years to bring a show here, and Phantom is the perfect property."

[Trivia: In 1991, when the original Aladdin Casino was about to be imploded, it was Lord Webber's ambition to replace it with a resort called Phantasy, where visitors would enter to find a choice of three musicals running. "It was going to be a wonder," says ALW, "but we were ahead of the times." The deal went South.]

For all the hype about reimagining POTO, you have to look hard for any major "reimagining." Worse, there's not an abundance of that something - spectacular - which should be inherent in a show titled Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular.

It's a shame that the powers-that-be launched the Vegas premiere of The Phantom of the Opera dubbed as spectacular. Just as it's all but impossible for traditional Broadway producers to compete against the resources of the Disney Studios, how can Broadway spectacular be judged favorably on the Strip that's given new definition to that word.

What "spectacular" $10-$15-million buys on Broadway is a pittance compared to what Vegas - thanks to 24-hour gaming and us poor suckers who think we'll somehow hit a jackpot - can accomplish with budgets of $50-, $100- and $150-million.

But ALW and Hal Prince can largely hold their heads high.

What has endeared POTO to 100 million [give or take a few thousand] theatergoers is, as Lloyd Webber is fond of saying, "the story of the Phantom and the universal theme of love and love lost. In the end, that's what stays with audiences."

Prince smartly resisted the temptation to go the Vegas route and vulgarize or camp the show up. Well, there is that bit of daredevil antics - a necessity in any Vegas spectacular - by the Phantom on the chandelier.

The esteemed director and his design team [working with the inspired Olivier, Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning costumes and production design of the late Maria Bjˆrnson] have created a stunning reproduction of the West End and Broadway blockbuster and do it in approximately 95 minutes.

The cast of 40+ is headlined by Brent Barrett [Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago revival, Prince's Candide revival and the West End Kiss Me, Kate] and Tony-winner Anthony Crivello [Kiss of the Spider Woman; also, Marie Christine, Les Miz], both known to anyone who follows theater; but to the daily influx of thousands of tourist they're unknowns. However, POTO has tended to make stars, not be driven by them.

What draws record audiences to the West End, Broadway and worldwide, making the show a historical long-run champ, is the name of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who knows a thing or two about savvy marketing.

Since there have been changes in the sequence of events - one in particular - and with the show shorn of some character development, the Phantom comes over more violent and less sympathetic.

Barrett and Crivello acquit themselves admirably in a role they're playing for the first time. They have slightly different styles and, thankfully, don't have to give copycat portrayals. However, to the unknowing audience member, it would be difficult to point "That's Brent!" or "That's Tony!" What distinguishes them is height. Barrett is taller. When it comes to vocal power, they're an equal match.

Due to the challenging vocal score and schedule [and the dreaded fear of Vegas entertainers: dry throat], Prince double-cast the roles of Christine. Elizabeth Loyacano [The Woman in White, Oklahoma!] and Sierra Boggess [regionally: Les Miz, West Side Story] are the beautiful and vocally-gifted soprano ingÈnues.

Tim Martin Gleason, a recent Broadway Raoul, repeats his role here with equal effect.

The Carlottas are Elena Jeanne Batman, who played the part on Broadway, and Geena Jeffries, who played the role in San Francisco. Nothing against the ladies, but if Judy Kaye had played the role as Batman and Jeffries have been directed to, there's a strong chance that Featured Tony wouldn't be hers. Kaye brought the necessary fiery diva aspect to Carlotta, but without ever garnering a hiss thanks to her very calculated sense of humor.

How fabulous this production would be if the Carlottas had been allowed to bring the over-the- top costuming and comic timing that delectable Minnie Driver brought to Carlotta in the film.

Madame Giry continues to be played with larger-than-life silent movie gestures and equal parts of Gale Sondergaard's Spider Woman and Mrs. Hammond [The Letter] and Judith Anderson's Mrs. Danvers.

One somewhat prominent featured role in POTO has traditionally been cast weak. The same holds true for the casting of that role here.

Okay, yes, Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular has another star: the swinging, dangling, gigantic chandelier.

Prince laughs at the word of mouth and media frenzy POTO's chandelier has received, but says that's part of the show's history.

In P~TLVS, a fragment of the chandelier lies under wrap onstage and when the auctioneer gives the cue to illuminate Lot 666, it rises to join three other pieces that have been floating, for years we are to believe, magically above the auditorium.

Once assembled to measure an impressive 15ë X 16ë, the chandelier, draped in hand-strung crystals and period lighting, is heisted 80' to a center dome [courtesy of extra heavy duty, but thin wire, 32 winches and 40 computers]. It's weighs a ton and is almost five times the size of the prop in theatrical productions.

"This will the one audiences will remember," smiles Prince. "It's dazzling beyond imagination and certainly delivers response in relation to its enormous size."

That depends on where you're sitting and if you're paying attention at the specific moment the Phantom commits his dastardly deed and orders the chandelier into a fiery free fall to a mere ten feet above those audience members in its trajectory. Don't blink. It only takes three seconds; then it's gone. [Hint: the best seats are mid-orchestra back and the front mezz.]

Whereas in POTO the Phantom seems to be acting alone [even though he has the magical ability to be in sometimes two and three places at the same time], here it appears he has an assistant who comes to his aid when he fulfills his promise of "a disaster beyond imagination."

Since the chandelier, as in the film adaptation, has its cataclysmic demise at the end of the show, there's now a bit of an awkward segue from "All I Ask Of You" on the opera house roof to the "Masquerade" celebration.

The segue is helped immensely by Paul Kelly, who was associate designer to Maria Bjˆrnson on the Broadway production, who's created a striking fly-in exterior of the opera house framed in hundreds of bright lights.

As before, the lion's share of choreography, courtesy of Gillian Lynne, whose brilliance and ingenuity helped make Cats a long-run champ on the West End and Broadway, is in "Masquerade," which opens Act Two of the traditional POTOs.

Here, there's nothing different in the still extraordinarily colorful number except that the stage can accommodate a much larger and more authentic-looking staircase.

"All I Ask Of You," the love duet, and Christine's "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" are again poignant highlights. In the former, thanks to a more detailed scenic design and special effects, it becomes clearer that Christine and Raoul are cavorting on the roof of l' Opera Populaire. There's the addition of blinding pyrotechnics in one scene.

A particular highlight of P~TLVS is the 19-piece orchestra. David Cullen, the show's orchestrator with ALW, has come through with lush orchestrations. David Caddick, also a POTO veteran, is musical supervisor. Jack Gaughan is musical director.

So far, there's been little mention of "spectacular" in Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular, so one wonders why the powers-that-be burdened the show with that word baggage.

Scott Zeiger, executive producer and head of BASE Entertainment, announced that he didn't want to present Phantom in Vegas "the same way that you would present it in Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York or London. It's got to be something different. Otherwise, why come all the way here to see the same Phantom that's playing in, say, Tampa?"

He added, "The extraordinary talent we¥ve assembled truly complements the once-in-a-lifetime setting. The Venetian, the physical production and our amazing cast combine to create a show that will be unrivaled on the Strip, or anywhere else."

David Ian, global chairman of Live Nation, said to expect a "truly unique production, which will exceed everyone's expectations."

ALW noted that today's "cutting-edge theater technology will allow all the things that we naughty boys in the theater love when we have the budget to do it. Phantom in Las Vegas will give us the rare opportunity to utilize all of the theatrical advancements of the last twenty years and create an environment that is singularly unique."

What should you expect of this version at the Venetian, posed Prince. "How do you deliver what has drawn audiences for over twenty years and at the same time make it new and surprising? This was the task facing all of us. "

David Rockwell's theatre is a surprising space, he continues, "unlike any we have performed in. When the opportunity to bring a 95-minute version of The Phantom of the Opera to Las Vegas, arguably the entertainment capital of the world, presented itself, it was more than tempting."

In fact, says Prince, it was an invitation he couldn't refuse. "To be able to incorporate today's special effects and technical capabilities into this timeless music and story is a great thrill. They wanted surprises, we gave them surprises."

Rockwell is the architect of Hollywood's glitz and glitter Kodak Theatre and set designer for Hairspray. His 90.000 square-foot replica of the 1862 Paris Opera [in that other City of Lights], is a wonder.

Located at the back of the complex where, before the walls were ripped out, a branch of the Guggenheim Museum was located, it's only a nearby escalator/elevator ride from the shops along the all-weather Grand Canal, St. Mark's Square and huge but stunning faux reproductions of Tintorettos and Titians.

It's good that, as Rockwell puts it, "the theatre is designed to harmonize with the show's set design and help transport the audience into the story." Otherwise, it easily could overshadow it.

Antique-like, high-backed seats are comfortable and there are no bad sightlines, though you wouldn't want to sit too close or to the far left or right. The theatre has a design drawback in how the entrance doors had to be placed, all on one side. The ushers kindly advise those in the front orchestra that if they must leave the auditorium during the performance for any reason to please walk up their nearest aisle and exit from a door that's not adjacent to the stage. Of course, very few seem to hear the admonition.

In Vegas, "spectacular" is a jaw-dropping state of mind. Everything is "spectacular," so to be spectacular you really have to pull out all the stops as do the two still running show-horse spectacular standard bearers: Jubilee! at Bally's, twice nightly, where in addition to a tribute to Fred and Ginger, the Titanic hits an iceberg, compartments flood and, amid thunderous pyrotechnics, the ship sinks; and the Folies Bergere at Tropicana, where plumed, towering headdresses are higher than an elephant's eye and semi-nude showgirls raise a few blue-blood eyebrows.

[Alas, the Lido de Paris, which had spectacle coming out of spectacle, not to mention topless and almost bottomless gals and guys, is no longer. In it's heyday, long before John Napier thought of having a faux helicopter as part of his scenic design for Miss Saigon, helicopters (not to mention airplanes and Zeppelins) flew high above the Stardust (soon to be imploded for yet another mega casino/resort) showroom while onstage there were trains, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes and bursting dams.]

A short drive away on Tropicana Avenue is the Liberace Museum with the flamboyant pianist's spectacular treasure: jeweled cars and concert grands, 50- and 100-pound capes of monkey and Artic fox and ermine, even red, white and blue hot pants and a Swaroski crystal chandelier.

Back on the Strip you have Treasure Bay's pirates, who swashbuckle aboard seemingly seaworthy ships and, next door, Mirage's exploding volcano; the Sphinx guarding the pyramid of Luxor; and, atop the tallest observation tower West of the Mississippi, Stratosphere's unimaginable thrill rides and magnificent views.

There's also Bellagio's dancing waters, Caesar Palace's moving statues, Rio's Carnival sky parade and Wynn's cascading waterfalls that drop into a dazzling lake that's full of surprises.

Nor should one forget the architecture of the resorts, such as Caesar's with its gigantic Coliseum, the desert oasis that's the Aladdin, the semi-skyscrapers of Manhattan at NYNY, the Eiffel Tower and environs of the [other] City of Lights at the Paris and, at The Venetian, home of Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular, the Disneyesque reproduction of Venice in all its faux glory.

Rockwell's Phantom Theatre stage has depth, height and vast wing space. It's just not used to deliver a lot of spectacular. How interesting it would have been to do something startlingly different with the travelator sequence, which here doesn't seem to work as coherently as it does in traditional POTOs.

In a city where water is supposedly a precious commodity but where there's water, water, water [dancing or otherwise] everywhere, how exciting [hear the gasps!] it would be to have the stage open and become a lake for the gondola ride into the Phantom's lair.

Maybe Raoul could even have done a Cirque du Soleil O- or Franco Dragone Le Reve-style high dive into the lake.

To even remotely recoup the expense of the new theatre and the cost of the production, P~TLVS will have to sell and sail well for five to 10 years. That's the type of spectacular which will keep Vewgas audiences coming.

The Olivier, Tony and Drama Desk-winning musical is far from an unknown commodity. It's greatest selling point is that, as one of the five best-known musicals ever and certainly the one that's raked in the most revenue, it's time-tested and beloved.

How else would it have grossed more than $3-billion in 65,000+ performances in 20 countries and 110 cities? Even the 2004 film adaptation, which was rather a dud in the U.S., has done huge overseas b.o. and is racking up high ratings in foreign premium TV debuts and DVD sales.

In unique Vegas, the glittering oasis of overkill, the big question for some time will be if the romantic pop opera ballads and operatic arias of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricists Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe are too high-faluting for the hoards who invade the Vegas sandpit exhorting luck to be their lady.

The true test is in the months to come. Really Useful Company [ALW's organization], Live Nation and Base Entertainment, the lead producers and no strangers to producing or marketing theater, are not hedging their bets. Their goal is to make sure the property gets even better known.

To attract audiences, the producers are offering special weekend packages and conducting a huge media blitz not only into adjoining states but overseas. Vegas has worldwide cache. A huge tourist element has always been foreigners, especially from Asia.

Most shows in Vegas don't have language-barrier problems and, now, with P~TLVS's whittled down production, it's more foreigner-friendly than ever.

However, all those superspectacular spectaculars from Cirque du Soleil aren't going anywhere and The Producers and Spamalot are Vegas-bound. But, for now, Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular has Broadway in Vegas back on a winning streak.

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Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular performs Wednesday-Monday at 7 P.M. and Friday-Wednesday at 10 P.M. Tickets are sold 90 days prior to the desired performance and are priced "slightly" higher than on Broadway. There are 25 orchestra rows. Golden Circle tickets are $157. Remaining orchestra and the first three rows of the mezz are $132. Balcony seating is $107 and $82. To purchase, call The Venetian Casino Hotel Resort box office, toll-free, (866) 641-7469 or (702) 414-7469, or online at www.Venetian.com. Visit the official website: www.phantomlasvegas.com.

Thursday: Visit the Phantom's Lair with Brent Barrett

[Phantom ~ The Las Vegas Spectacular and rehearsal photos: JOAN MARCUS; Phantom Theatre photo: JAFFREY GREEN; Incidental photos: ELLIS NASSOUR]

Los Angeles - "I don't want to jinx it," says the book writer, Tony Award-winning Rupert Holmes of the world premiere production of Curtains, his and Kander and Ebb's musical comedy murder mystery, "but we have a 1,600-seat house, packed at every show, and audiences are howling from the start and they never stop. There's more fun in this show than anything I've ever written. Oh, I know about standing ovations these days, but we're getting them at every performance. To say I'm thrilled would be a vast understatement."

L.A. theatregoers are the first to see the new musical, presented by Center Theatre Group in a pre-Broadway run opening August 9 at the flagship of the Music Center, the Ahmanson Theatre, the grand finale to its 2005-2006 season.

Multiple Tony and Drama Desk nominee Scott Ellis is the director, with choreography by Rob Ashford [1992 Tony, Thoroughly Modern Millie]. Curtains runs through mid-September.

With the death of Ebb in 2004, it marks one of the last collaborations by the longest-running songwriting team in Broadway history - a beloved duo that gave us Cabaret, Zorba, Chicago, The Rink, Steel Pier and Kiss of the Spider Woman [not to mention Flora, the Red Menace, The Happy Time, 70 Girls 70, The Act and Woman of the Year].

The team met through mutual friends, reports Kander, "and it was a case of instant communication and instant songs. Our neuroses complemented each other. But the really lucky thing is that, as we began to work, we fell into an ethic that allowed us to enjoy what we were doing. We never made an intellectual decision. We just fell into it."

He notes writing musicals wasn't always easy and sometimes it was very hard, "but even when there was trouble and concepts or songs changed, the act of writing was never unpleasant for us."

Curtains' curtain raiser is the death of the leading lady of Robbin' Hood!, a Wild West musical retelling of the Sherwood Forest legend, in pre-Broadway tryouts in Boston, who comes to her untimely end during a thunderous ovation while taking her bows.

David Hyde Pierce of Fraiser fame, stars as Frank Cioffi, a bungling Boston homicide detective, albeit one who is a fan of musicals, who conducts what soon becomes a murder investigation. Since everyone on and backstage is a suspect, the company finds itself holed up in the Colonial Theatre. As rehearsals go forward, Detective Cioffi finds himself caught in a web of bedlam, deceit, massive theatrical egos, a budding love affair and more murder.

Pierce feels this last K&E collaboration "is a historical moment for the stage. The premise of a musical set against a murder mystery is a bit tricky, which makes it all the more fun. John and Fred are at the top of their game and the result is classic Kander and Ebb. And, with Peter gone, Scott's idea to bring in Rupert, an acknowledged master of the mystery/thriller genre, was genius."

Four-time Tony-nominee Debra Monk [who won the 1993 Featured Actress award as well as a Drama Desk nod for Lanford Wilson's Redwood Curtain], plays producer Carmen Bernstein.

Karen Ziemba, a three-time Tony-nominee [and a winner for LCT's Contact] and four-time Drama Desk-nominee [and a winner for the K&E revue And the World Goes ëRound and Contact], is Georgia Kendricks, the lyricist of the try-out musical ["Not unlike Betty Comden," she reports].

They co-star along with Jason Danieley, as Kendricks' estranged husband [who attempts to carry on, of course, for the sake of the show. Jill Paice and Edward Hibbert, who was also seen frequently on Fraiser, are featured with Noah Racey [Never Gonna Dance, TMM], Darcie Roberts [Crazy for You, Dream] and an 18-member cast.

[Trivia: This is Monk's sixth show with Ellis. She and Hyde Pierce met in his early Broadway days in a reading of a Christopher Durang play; and she later appeared with him on Fraiser. Monk and Ziemba met in the cast of Steel Pier, which Ellis conceived and directed. Ziemba met Ashford when they joined the cast of Crazy for You and performed with Racey in Never Gonna Dance.]

Curtains was developed by Holmes from an original concept by the late Tony-winning book writer Peter Stone, who won three Tonys for his librettos for Titanic, Woman of the Year and 1776. His six nominations included one for the book of The Will Rogers Follies.

With the death of his long-time partner Fred Ebb, composer Kander has done additional lyrics with Holmes.

"Because it's a murder mystery, Curtains has an edge," Ellis explains, "but it's also a wonderful homage to musical theater. We've known some Kander and Ebb shows to be dark. Even though we have a murder, this one isn't. And because it's a show within a show setting we really embrace that ëLet's put on a show' feeling that Mickey and Judy had."

The Center Theatre Group proudly points out they debuted The Drowsy Chapperone and sent it on its merry, Tony and Drama Desk-winning way to Broadway. Everyone connected with CTG certainly feels Curtains in on the same trajectory.

Director Michael Ritchie, former producer of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, was tapped to assume artistic directorship of the three-component CTG in January, 2005 ó replacing Gordon Davidson, a three-time Tony-nominated director, who won for The Shadow Box [1977]. He oversaw the Ahmanson for 15 years blazing new horizons. He also originated numerous hits and Tony Award-winners in the complex's smaller playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, since its inception in 1967.

Davidson, a theatrical giant, was also a six-time Tony nominee as producer, winning twice for Angels in America: Millennium Approaches [1993] and Perestroika [1994].

Ritchie has big shoes to fill, and he's filling them. Among his initiatives for CTG is to present original musicals and large-scale productions through partnerships with Broadway producers. He has A-List support on Curtains: Roger Berlind, Roger Horchow and Daryl Roth.

"There is no formula for producing a hit," Ritchie says. "If there were, we'd all be doing it and on a regular basis. So instinct and gut feelings played into our decision to produce Curtains." He notes that, as with any new musical, "the risk was great, but as we felt with The Drowsy Chaperone, the potential reward was greater."

He adds, "I was drawn to the show for very simple reasons: the music is terrific and the story is compelling. When I'm reading a new script, my main guide is whether I want to continue turning the pages. Nothing more, nothing less. ëAm I engaged by the story?' is the question I keep asking."

With Curtains, Ritchie explains that he not only wanted to turn the page, "but couldn't wait to. The songs by John and Fred just sang from the pages and Rupert's book is absolutely hilarious. The plot machinations and character shifts were beautifully imposed, and the fact that it had a theatrical setting made it all the more irresistible. It's an engaging and wildly comic romp that will keep audiences guessing right up to the end."

Because of Fraiser [which won him four Emmy Awards] and his Drama-Desk-nominated performance in Spamalot, Ziemba states the obvious, "Everyone knows David can be funny, but in Curtains he's amazing. This is Kander and Ebb so you expect the songs to be incredible, but this score just keeps coming at you."

Having originated the role of Shelby Stevens in K&E's Steel Pier and having been a Mama Morton in Chicago, Monk is no stranger to their scores. She's also been aboard Curtains, since the 2001 workshop.

"What attracted me and kept me attracted," she explains, "was that it has one of John and Fred's greatest scores. It was also the opportunity at that time to work with Peter Stone. And now Rupert, who's written one heck of a part for me."

In Curtains, she delights in hearing the vamps K&E are famous for. "Their scores are always so funny and rich. The songs so full of irony. They can do something big and brassy, then turn around and write the most heartfelt ballad. And follow that with a great eleven o'clock number. If anyone loves Kander and Ebb, they won't be disappointed."

Monk, who has been a producer in her career [as well as a writer], says, "I was never a producer like this one. Carmen's very special; one of a kind, really. She's larger than life and loves theater deeply. She's a shrewd businesswoman, but she also has heart."

And no, she states with an exclamation mark, contrary to scuttlebutt, Carmen isn't based on Fran Weissler! "As I understand it," says Monk, "she's based on a woman Peter knew."

Curtains is a musical and Ziemba's in it, so she must dance, right? "Well," she reports, "not really. I mostly sing and act. But, hey, they figure Ziemba's in the show so they gotta give me some dancing. So, I do. A little. However, the bulk of the dancing is done by our wonderful ensemble."

She couldn't be happier with her songs. "John knows Debra and me so well that he came up with perfect songs that are just right for our characters. One of John and Fred's great assets is they can write beautiful songs that come out of the story. What's really special are their big finishes, the kind that really lift your heart. This score raises the bar even for them!"

And Holmes' book packs punch, says Ziemba, "because the comedy comes from the theatrical egos of the characters."

For his part, after short-lived Broadway productions of Accomplice [1992] and Solitary Confinement [1994] and the great joy of working on his beloved TV series Remember WENN, set in the late 30s into the life-changing early 40s when radio was king at a Pittsburgh station where the employees are as wacky as the characters they portray on the air.

It was a dream situation, he states, "one I'll never encounter again. There was no laugh track, no commercials. I was able to write a continuing story line, fifty-six half-hour episodes. I thought of it as writing the world's longest play." He was able to shoot it in New York with a repertory company, many of whom were seasoned theater veterans.

Now, he's adaptated Remember WENN for the stage, an arena dear to his heart from his experience working with Joe Papp and the Public to develop Drood, as that musical eventually came to be called.

After Curtains, back at home in Scarsdale, he'll continue to develop Charles Strouse and Lee Adams' adaptation of Paddy Chayevsky's original teleplay and Academy Award-winning film Marty, which starred John C. Reilly in a Boston tryout in what Holmes called "a heart-breaking performance."

In addition to a tour of Say Goodnight, Gracie, which starred the late Frank Gorshin regionally and on Broadway, there are the new adaptations, Second Hand Lions, into a "magical" family musical, and First Wives Club.

He loves calling the musical "a valentine to the shows I was weaned on. My first Broadway musical was My Fair Lady." He still has vivid memories of it, even though when he saw it, the show was well into its run.

The stars were Michael Allinson [Coco, Sleuth, Shadowlands] and Pamela Charles. "Unfortunately, at the matinee I attended, Ms. Charles sort of phoned her performance in. I didn't hear one note of hers in ëI Could Have Danced All Night.'"

It may not have been the only performace she phoned in, for MFL is Charles' only Broadway credit.

"Still," says Holmes, "I came away floating on air. Nothing could spoil it. More than any other, My Fair Lady set the standard for the Golden Age of Broadway Musicals."

It shares a long list, which includes West Side Story, Bells Are Ringing, The Music Man, Damn Yankees, The King and I, The Pajama Game, Candide and The Most Happy Fella.

"I set the story in 1959," he reveals, "to convey the simple, joyful wonder I felt as a boy witnessing those great musical comedies. I thought it would give me the opportunity to remind an audience who can remember and inform one that doesn't."

It also allowed him to create larger than life theatrical characters and temperamental directors. "If I wrote about Broadway today," he admits, "I'd have to bring in Lloyd Webber, Mackintosh's mega musicals and Disney. But setting it as I have, I was able to fall back on the legends."

Helping to evoke that era, he notes, are Ashford's evocative choreography and William Ivey Long's costumes.

"In fact, Curtains is the William Ivey Long encyclopedia. One of his mentors was Cecil Beaton, who did My Fair Lady, so there are lovely tributes to the look of that period not only in styles but also in color schemes."

Noting how computer driven today's shows are, he wanted to remind audiences of the noisy scene changes of old. "I recall all those vividly-painted drops in the musicals that the actors stood in front of while things were shifted behind them. I thought of the fun we'd have bringing those back."

Bright and brassy is how Holmes describes Curtains' score, "but it's a bit different for Kander and Ebb. However, there's no mistaking it's a Kander and Ebb score. It has their mark, which is the absolute height of theatricality with a wonderful show business sensibility. There're also a couple of stirring tunes that would cause any thespian's heartbeat to race."

The British-born Holmes [nee David Goldstein], who came with his English mother and Yank Air Force father to New York when he was three, soon lost his accent living in Levitttown, Long Island."

Always instilled with an intense love of music, he attended and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music and became a successful session pianist and arranger for Gene Pitney, the Platters, the Drifters and the Partridge Family.

Musically, he's a sort of jack and master of all theatrical trades.

For his 1986 Tony and Drama Desk-winning Best Musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Holmes was the first artist to receive Tonys for Book, Music and Lyrics. Jonathan Larson was the second.

He laughs, "I'm probably one of the few who've won Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America and sung on American Bandstand."

Holmes has recorded over 15 albums. Two of his best known and biggest-selling tunes are the megahit "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" and "Him." He's written novels, one of which was adapted for the screen.

He wrote, arranged and conducted extensively for Streisand, with tunes on six albums and reveals there are some ten songs they did that have never been released. Other tunes have been recorded by Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, the Jets, Patti Lupone, Dolly Parton, Dionne Warwick, Margaret Whiting and, among numerous others, Britney Spears.

Easily, though, his great love is the mystery/thriller genre. "Mysteries and thrillers have that extra something that keeps you guessing," he states. "They invite audiences to get one step ahead of the detective, and even when they're wrong - which in the case of Curtains they usually are - that's part of the fun. In this show, no matter how certain you are of who done it, chances are you'll be surprised."

He does realize there's going to be a problem keeping the show's ending secret. "The killer's the same at every performance, so you have the possibility of audiences spilling the beans. We're hoping they won't, but it's not something you can control. However, I've come up with a couple of little games."

He pauses briefly and laughs about how it would be if Curtains were set in present day. "We'd be all about CSI-type forensic and DNA evidence, wouldn't we, and all the excitement of an old-fashioned who-done-it would be missing. What kind of good time would that be?"

[Production photos by Craig Schwartz; Rehearsal photos by Joan Marcus.]