Feature: The Phantom of the Opera Lands at Wharton Center
The upcoming musical blockbuster Phantom of the Opera is expected to have a major impact on MSU and the community. Theatre fans throughout Michigan will turn their attention to Michigan State University this spring when Wharton Center hosts an unprecedented 8-week run of Andrew Lloyd Webber's award-winning musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Wharton Center's executive director, William Wright, announced a year ago that an extended run of The Phantom of the Opera would open in April 1996. 'It would be an understatement to say that this is the biggest show we've ever had at Wharton Center,' says Wright. 'Having The Phantom of the Opera come to Wharton Center is on par with our hosting the 1992 Presidential Debate. 'This a great opportunity for Wharton Center, for Michigan State University, and for the entire community.'
Wright's announcement was both the culmination of his conversations and negotiations with the Phantom's New York producers and the beginning of a year's worth of intense preparations to ready Wharton Center and the community for the Phantom's arrival. According to Wright, the seeds to bring Phantom to Wharton Center were planted over three years ago. 'I was at the annual presenters conference in New York when I asked their executive tour director, Stephen Schnepp, when he was going to bring 'Phantom' to Wharton Center,' he recalls. 'That was during my first year here and I'd been mentioning it to him every year since.'
When Wright closed the deal to bring Phantom to MSU the producers cited Wharton Center's location, facility and staff as major factors in their decision making process. 'With East Lansing's proximity and easy access to a number of metropolitan areas outside of Detroit, Wharton Center's tremendous facility and a professional staff capable of such an undertaking we were very confident in our decision to bring Phantom to MSU,' Schnepp explains. 'We've had a tremendous amount of success here with other productions, like Les Miserables, so Wharton Center was a perfect fit.' Well, Wharton Center was almost a perfect fit. When the producers decided in the early 1990s to tour Phantom they made a conscious effort to recreate on stages all over the world the same magic and quality of performance as theatre goers would see in New York, Toronto or London.
Two of the performances, on May 10 and May 30, will be earmarked for members of the MSU Alumni Association. The traditional 'Alumni Evening At Wharton' program features a gourmet dinner at the University Club followed by the performance. Barb Kimball, MSUAA assistant director, notes that both performances are sell-outs.
In order for Wharton Center to accommodate the massive sets, huge props and of course the infamous half-ton chandelier, a significant amount of work had to be done to the Great Hall. In January, a Phantom advance technical crew moved into Wharton Center for 10 days to place steel re-enforcements, build new platforms in the ceiling, and construct a huge catwalk for the stage. 'This is just slightly more than the average amount of preparation we have to do to bring Phantom into a theatre,' says Jack Anderson, who was in charge of the Phantom advance technical team. 'There aren't too many places in the world where we can walk right in and set up.'
When the dust settled, Anderson and his crew had the Great Hall ready for the Phantom's arrival on April 1. When a typical bus-and-truck Broadway show comes to Wharton Center for a week-long engagement it normally takes less than two days to get the set loaded in and up and running. It will take the Phantom crew a full two weeks to unpack the 20 semi-trailers which will deliver the set, load it in and set it up before opening night.
Since its premiere in 1986 in London's West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber's award-winning musical The Phantom of the Opera has come to be recognized as the most successful musical of all time. Before arriving in the United States, The Phantom of the Opera claimed every major British theatre award including the Olivier and Evening Standard awards. The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in January 1988 and went on to win seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critics Circle Awards.
If money is the measure of success, then The Phantom of the Opera is truly the greatest musical of all time setting box office records by selling over $18 million in advance ticket sales for its Broadway debut; $15.3 million in advance sales prior to its 1989 opening in Los Angeles and $15.2 million advance sales in 1990 for the debut of the first national touring production in Chicago.
Internationally, The Phantom of the Opera has played, or is currently playing in, Toronto, Montreal, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Hamburg, Melbourne and Vienna. The original cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera was the first in British musical history to enter the charts at number one and has gone gold and platinum in Britain and the United States by selling nearly 2 million copies.
When The Phantom of the Opera opens at Wharton Center in April it will make more than just a huge artistic statement for the community--it will make a huge financial statement too. According to figures provided by Alan Wasser Associates--the management company for The Phantom of the Opera--gross ticket sales for the 8-week Wharton Center run could total close to $10 million with an additional $20 million being spent in area businesses. It is assumed that for every dollar spent on ticket sales for The Phantom of the Opera, another $2 of ancillary spending will occur in local business. These numbers are based on previous performances in other cities across the United States. There are several factors which contribute to the amount of money which will potentially be spent in local businesses while The Phantom of the Opera is in town:
The Phantom of the Opera is not just another Broadway musical arriving in town, it's an event. This is the most popular musical in the world and one of the toughest tickets to get. People are expected to travel from across the Midwest to East Lansing to see this show.