No Broadway play is safe from the Desert Star Theatre’s comic attack, especially not one as dramatic and over-the-top as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” It turns out this is not the first time the playhouse has poked fun at the show.
“The Phantom of the Opera’ is timeless, and it’s so incredibly popular. It’s just a favorite of so many people that we decided to bring it back,” says Michael Todd, the producer of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
The theater prides itself in tearing apart the most serious of musicals. It makes them not only extremely silly, but also family-friendly.
“When you come to Desert Star, you get to have a two-hour escape from reality, laugh hard for two hours, and then hopefully go back to your regular life a little bit more capable of dealing with it,” Todd says.
To long-time fans of the original production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the thought of a parody is blasphemous. The very idea that a musical which is so deeply ingrained in the hearts of many could turn into a two-hour gag bit is absurd. But, as artistic director Scott Holman admits, that’s why the Desert Star chose to do it.
“We’ve always kind of done ‘The Phantom’ as over-the-top dramatic, as a parody, but this is the first time where we’ve done it where he’s really going to be a bit whacked,” Holman says.
The production opens with the cast, better known as “The Desert Star Players,” singing a rendition of the famous number, “The Phantom of the Opera.” In true Desert Star fashion, the song was given a lyrical makeover.
There is a striking difference between how the show plays out in the first half and how it ends in the second half. The first half of the show features a lot of basic slapstick humor, including (but not limited to) falling down stairs and running into things. Although some physical comedy is enjoyable, the cast relies on it too much, and the slapstick humor becomes tiresome as the production gets closer to intermission.
The second portion of the production is where the real comedic magic takes place. Woven throughout the second half are cleverly concealed jokes and a few double entendres. It’s a relief the physical humor has been placed on the back-burner, allowing witty puns to shine. Trenton Krummenacher (The Phantom) and Matt O’Malley (The Phantom’s Friend) are genius in the portrayal of their characters. Both successfully play off of the responses of the other characters. At times their routine is almost impromptu.
The first half of the production is definitely catered toward the (very) young at heart, while the second half carries a weightier, more adult sense of humor.
“With the classic shows like this, it’s amazing how many times people will say, ‘I didn’t ever see ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ but I came and saw that show and laughed and thought it was fun.’ And then they end up actually going and seeing the real play. You know, the real musical. That’s pretty rewarding when you’ve tricked somebody into taking an interest in theater,” Holman says.
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