The Phantom of the Opera at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Review

My name is John Ceballos, and I am a musical theatre dork.

I've seen countless shows on stage, I routinely blast original cast recording soundtrack CDs in my car (one can only listen to the radio play T.I. and Katy Perry so many times), and one of my biggest disappointments in life is that no one ever breaks out into choreographed song and dance numbers.

Then again, I'd never seen Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" on stage. Fortunately, I remedied that situation recently before my musical theatre dork card could get revoked.

Thanks to a co-worker, I scored some insanely excellent tickets (three rows from the stage in the center) for myself and my alluring love interest Erica at an insanely low price ($44) because of an "Election Night special." I think it would've cost me a more to see a bunch of college kids stage "Phantom," but this was the price we paid for a travelling Broadway company.

It's not like I was completely unfamiliar with "Phantom." I'd heard most of the songs just like anyone else (who is a complete dork). I actually own Joel Schumacher's pretty, but too-literal and over-long movie adaptation.

As a result, the story was familiar. The action takes place in the Paris Opera House, where a masked, disfigured musical genius terrorizes its inhabitants, but mentors young Christine Daaé. The theatre is sold to new owners and the opera house's new patron, Raoul, Christine's childhood sweetheart. Eventually, Christine becomes the theatre's new star with the Phantom's help and the inevitable love triangle is formed between the Phantom, Christine and Raoul.

Simply put, this was the most impressive theatrical production I've ever seen. While the show's excellent music is still not my all-time favorite (I'm still a "Rent" guy in that regard), there's no denying that the show itself is a spectacle to see live.

I'm not even talking about the impressive chandelier structure which almost blinded me when it first burst to light in the prologue (thanks for making me wear my glasses Erica) and later swung DIRECTLY above us or any other flashy pyrotechnics. I loved the clever way the show used the entire theatre to tell its story, such as pumping the Phantom's disembodied voice to make you think he's at different places in the theatre, and the deceptively-simple-yet-excellent set changes and set design (the boat ride to the Phantom's lair is pretty stunning).

The cast was also rock solid. Richard Todd Adams was excellent as the Phantom. It wasn't until a few days later that I realized he's not actually on stage all that much, but, thanks to his performance, he was always a strong presence. Adams was very magnetic, and I'm convinced that was only 30% due to the awesome mask — he was THAT good! He also managed to make an emotional connection with the audience, despite his relative lack of time on the stage — I genuinely felt bad for the Opera Ghost.

Trista Moldovan was very good as Christine, despite the fact that she appears to be a bit too old for the part (sorry, but I always got the impression that Christine was really young). Still, that can be easily overlooked because she has terrific chemistry with Adams.

Unfortunately, she doesn't have the same amount of chemistry with Greg Mills, who plays Raoul and kinda looks like a middle-class man's Hugh Jackman. Maybe that's by design (and we're supposed to want Christine with the Phantom), but I still felt the character wasn't fully realized beyond being really rich, really handsome and having affection for Christine.

The rest of the cast was also very good, if underutilized. I particularly enjoyed John Whitney as Piangi (more so than Kim Stengel as diva Carlotta), as well as D.C. Anderson and Bruce Winant as Messieurs André and Firmin, the theatres new owners.

Since I'd seen the movie, I knew how the story played out, so the show probably didn't have the same emotional impact it would've had I gone in fresh. Still, the show kept me thoroughly engaged thanks to Adams's performance, the great music, and the way it pays back theatre fans by making it such a blast to see a show on stage.

The Phantom of the Opera...A