‘Phantom of the Opera’ epitaph: We did well to survive six years

By John Katsilometes

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 | 11:15 p.m.

In Twitter-speak, it was hashtag-buzzkill.

The information from Scott Zeiger to the “Phantom -- the Las Vegas Spectacular” team was imparted in halves. The co-CEO of BASE Entertainment called a backstage meeting of the company that stages and stars in the Venetian spectacle after the performance Jan. 10.

Zeiger started with happy news. He told the crew of actors, musicians and stagehands that “Phantom is not closing anytime soon.”

Expectedly, the group cheered.

“But I have to tell you,” he continued, “the show will be closing Labor Day weekend."

The mood dropped like, well, a giant antique chandelier. It was time to play the sad trombone.

Of course, it is a given that there is no ideal way to inform dozens of high-caliber performers and employees that their show would be closing, regardless of the time frame. In a phone interview the next afternoon, Zeiger stressed that Team Phantom was being given several months to plan for the future. The Phantom is not disappearing without ample notice. Already, cast members are saying there is an uptick in audience numbers as the show moves toward its Sept. 2 closing.

That doesn’t change the grim reality that a total of 142 actors, musicians and crew members will no longer be working on the singularly entertaining version of “Phantom” staged at the Venetian. The show will have run for six years and four months by the time it closes.

“I want to emphasize that, if we were on Broadway or (London’s) West End, we would be a monumental success,” Zeiger said. “Nothing in Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles runs for longer than three years.”

The show was an artistic success, no question, during its entire run. But that success was expensive to maintain, and the financial outlay to keep the show great was the very reason it could not continue indefinitely.

“We worked very hard to preserve the artistic integrity of a very expensive show to operate,” Zeiger said. “In an economic downturn that lasted several years, we were still not in position to do certain things. We never put a musician on tape. There is a full orchestra in that pit, and you’re hearing lush music but not seeing them onstage.”

The idea of using a recorded music track behind Anthony Crivello’s powerhouse voice is a concept more frightening than the unmasked main character.

“As a custodian of the show, we are required to maintain a high standard,” Zeiger said. “We couldn’t cut the chorus or crew. The show is the show, and people want to see the whole show.”

The numbing financial information is that “Phantom” is reviewed annually, not on a weekly or even show-by-show basis. It can’t too ably adjust to a slow period as a resident production, and when the production was looking at losing money 27 weeks and making money 25 weeks, it was time to plan for the closing of a show whose theater construction and production costs were nearly a combined $80 million.

Thus, the show was almost annually rumored to be heading for closure. As Crivello himself noted the night of Zeiger’s announcement, there were skeptics who felt the show would close after its first year.

“When you are offering discount prices and seeing average ticket prices dipping, you get to be in a losing position versus a profitable position,” Zeiger said, by way of explanation. For the past couple years, the BASE official has explained that musicians, actors and stagehand unions have all shaved their salaries to keep the show afloat.

Vendors who supplied the production’s lighting and sound, too, were willing to cut their prices to help the show survive.

“Everybody rolled up their sleeves,” Zeiger said. “We came out still standing through some difficult times.”

Now the Venetian will try to fill an 1,800-seat theater, joining a similarly sized venue that is the current home of the soon-to-be-departed Blue Man Group and the Palazzo theater that was home to “Jersey Boys” until it left for Paris Las Vegas at the end of December. “Spider-Man” is one rumored production show creeping toward the Venetian, and “Rock of Ages” seems all but certain to supplant the Blue Men (BASE execs with ties to that show have been hanging out in Vegas periodically for several weeks).

Zeiger put an 18-month time frame on a new production for Venetian, and the hotel will be filing the former “Phantom” theater in the interim.

During that period, the $5 million chandelier will be put into a “fixed and functional position,” Zeiger says. This is wonderful news for fans of aesthetically appealing light fixtures.

In at least one instance, diplomacy was set aside in a message of support for the entire “Phantom” company.

The show’s Broadway director, Hal Prince, conveyed his pointed opinion of the closing in a memo sent to “Phantom” cast members and posted backstage Monday night.

In a missive dated Jan. 11, he wrote:

“Just heard that Scott Zeiger announced the end of our 6 ½-year run -- what a run! Now, of course, if you were swinging from the rafters and jumping through fire, we might’ve been able to add a few more years, but what you accomplished was tremendous and unique for a Las Vegas audience. Congratulations to you all, and I hope to see you before the closing.”

Read into that whatever you want. But to those responsible for one of Las Vegas’ finest productions, the Prince of “Phantom” was note perfect.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.