Paris Opera Rises on Bunker Hill : Setting the stage for opening of ‘The Phantom’

There are plastic tarps everywhere at the Ahmanson. Covering the carpets, covering the seats. Huge light boxes are stacked in the lower lobby. Electric cables crisscross the floors backstage. Dozens of props--the Phantom’s organ, a bed, the famous chandelier--are unceremoniously piled together on stage. Gold-leaf figurines smile down from the rafters. Drills are humming, machinery is moving up and down, walkie-talkies are abuzz with workmen conferring.

“The Phantom of the Opera” is moving in.

“This production will be as spectacular as the original, (designed in London by Maria Bjornson)--if not more so,” promised associate designer Dana Kenn, who oversaw “The Phantom’s” Broadway staging, as well as one in Toyko last spring. In this staging, work began at the Ahmanson the first week of March, with more than 50 full-time workers in various posts. For Kenn, the responsibility will continue way into the run, when she will periodically come in from New York to inspect the show and issue a “report card” on its status.

“This production is larger than the one in New York,” the designer said. “The actual stage space is deeper here, the proscenium is a bit larger. So the show has also gotten bigger--and it feels more expansive.”

Expensive too. Although Kenn is not giving out exact numbers, she admits the pre-production has cost “several million dollars.” She adds: “But it’s also been put in like a permanent installation--they’re thinking (of being here) two or three years.”

Backstage, there are six painted draperies, 10 full-stage “fancy Victorian” ones. Bleachers hold 20 life-size mannequins (for a joke, someone’s outfitted them with sunglasses); nearby is a 12-foot-high gray elephant replica that appears in the “Hannibal” opera number. Large sculptures, constructed from fireproof resin and Fiberglas, have been flown in from England; smaller ones were built in New York. Most of the decorative pieces are painted in shimmering gold leaf--the better to see from the Ahmanson’s second balcony.

Probably the most extensive part of the renovation has been the stage itself. A new floor was constructed--and with it, a specially devised basement structure to accommodate the machinery to conjure up the on-stage magic: 167 traps have been drilled in the stage floor, from which a group of silver candelabras and 125 candles will rise. The effect takes place during the Phantom’s gondola ride (on a “lake” simulated by dry ice and fog) when he takes the soprano Christine to his lair.

Kenn (who began working on this staging last July and is currently preparing the national company tour) noted: “There are 37 men running scenery and lights, 16 dressers for 35 actors, 8 wig people, 5 makeup artists. It’s a city back there. And it’s all moving so fast.”

Most of the technical controls--such as those for the sound and lighting--are via computer devices, while the motorized effects (such as the Phantom’s gondola) are powered by a radio-controlled mechanism. “ ‘Les Miserables’ has maybe six or seven special effects,” Kenn pointed out. “We have 57. So there’s a huge amount of mechanisms.” Which, she acknowledged, occasionally break down: “We had a final dress rehearsal in New York where a lot of things went wrong; it was like a train wreck. But it was all fixed the next day. And it never happened again.”

Seth Felson isn’t vaguely theorizing that “The Phantom of the Opera” will be a merchandising bonanza in Los Angeles. He’s counting on it.

“It takes a special kind of show to support a merchandising program,” said the president of Loring & Matthews, merchandisers for DeWynters Advertising, the London-based concessionaire for “Les Miz” and “Phantom.”

“Visually, musically, philosophically, the show has to be huge . You’re selling a mystique, especially with this one. My spiel is, ‘Take the Phantom home with you.’ ”

The memory makers come in various forms--some of which are already available at the Music Center Gift Shop. Since last November, $9,740 worth of Phantom merchandise has been sold. The in-house concession stands will feature: T-shirts ($15), sweat shirts ($22), mugs ($10), matches ($5), buttons ($2), window cards ($12), songbooks ($15), records ($22), cassettes ($22), compact discs ($40), “Phantom perfume” ($35), silver-plated key rings ($15), “The Complete Phantom” (a history of the show, $30), souvenir programs ($5) and postcards ($1).

But note: These are not just ordinary T-shirts, sweat shirts and mugs. The garments are emblazoned with a white Phantom logo that glows green in the dark, thanks to phosphorescent ink. And the white-mask logo mysteriously appears on the plain black “magic mug” when the container is filled with hot liquid (a special oxidized ink creates the effect). “We’re shipping thousands of everything,” Felson added. “I’ve already sold $2 million in 50 weeks in New York; we’re anticipating sales of $40,000 a week in L.A. We’re in this for the long haul.”