THEATER REVIEW : Less Lavish Show Unmasks a ‘Phantom’ With a Heart

Let the comparisons begin.

“Phantom,” the Arthur Kopit/Maury Yeston musical based on the same source as “The Phantom of the Opera,” has briefly ventured into the Los Angeles area. A production by Whittier-La Mirada Musical Theatre is at La Mirada Theatre, even while “The Phantom of the Opera” is still with us.

After Aug. 29, when the Andrew Lloyd Webber version closes at the Ahmanson Theatre, at least two other productions of the Kopit/Yeston “Phantom” are scheduled for Los Angeles County during 1993-94. Musical theater fans will tote up the shows’ respective qualities for months.

The new “Phantom” has a big edge in one crucial department--its book. Kopit’s script answers the musical question, “Who was that masked man?” with much greater detail and depth than did Lloyd Webber and his co-librettist, Richard Stilgoe.

This Phantom is more of a man and less of a monster. His romance with Christine is much more credible. His relationship with his father--yes, his father--produces the show’s most moving moment.

Comparing the scores is more of a tossup. Yeston’s is more varied--in style as well as in merit. His worst music is worse than Lloyd Webber’s, but his best music is as good (more hearings will be the true test). And he doesn’t repeat himself quite as often.

The spectacle at La Mirada isn’t nearly as lavish as that of the Lloyd Webber production. Some of this is no doubt due to the shows’ respective budgets, but some of it is built in: Kopit and Yeston created a more intimate show, in which the characters clearly take precedence over the sets.

It begins badly. Christine Daae (Stacy Sullivan) strolls through gay Paree, selling (or giving away) sheet music and singing a wan “Melodie de Paris.” All the passers-by join in, swept up by her sunny optimism. It would be hard for anyone to rescue this insipid scene, and director David Galligan and choreographer Toni Kaye help kill it off with a stodgy staging.

But interest picks up with a sudden switch to the Phantom (Stephen Zinnato) in his lair, complaining that “Paris Is a Tomb.” And then we meet his chief antagonist, the opera’s new owner and diva, Carlotta (Sandy Rosenberg).

Rosenberg mugs magnificently. To borrow a Yeston lyric, Carlotta wants no one to forget that she owns everything at the Opera--”from every toilet bowl to every leading role.”

A wealthy count (Jamie Anderson) gets Christine a job in the opera’s costume shop. She sings as she works, attracting the attention of the Phantom down below. He introduces himself and offers his services as a coach. It’s illuminating to see their first moments together--something that’s missing from the bigger “Phantom.”

Soon, Christine’s good enough to take on Carlotta herself in a sing-off at a bistro. Here, the count falls in love with Christine, claiming--in an odd Gershwinesque number that sounds out of place--that her singing is “beyond incandescent.”

It’s a difficult review for poor Sullivan, as Christine, to live up to, and she doesn’t. Carlotta is quite right about this Christine’s voice: “weak but sweet.”

Nonetheless, the ardor between Sullivan and Zinnato seems authentic. It even overcomes a moment when the blocking slavishly re-creates a famous pose from the other production, in which Christine looks straight ahead but leans slightly toward the Phantom’s seductive hands.

Yeston’s music becomes effectively lush and swoony during these love scenes. But baritone Zinnato sometimes sounds as if he’s imitating tenor Michael Crawford’s feathery delivery, which doesn’t work as well for a baritone and serves only to muffle some of the lyrics. In a recording of the Yeston score released last year, Richard White (who also played the role in San Bernardino in 1991) sounded more full-throated, as does Jack Ritschel here, playing the opera’s deposed manager.

This production does include a scene with a falling chandelier, but perhaps it shouldn’t be described, lest it become as overrated as the other production’s chandelier scene. The showiest visual effect here is a somewhat arbitrary fireworks display when the Phantom finally corners Carlotta--a scene that’s more memorable for the stench that it briefly wafted through the orchestra than it is for the thrills it tries to provide.

Such imperfections aside, this is a “Phantom” with a heart--a bleeding heart, perhaps, but one that beats with a distinctively human pulse.

* “Phantom,” La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2:30 p.m.; dark July 29, no matinee on July 31. Ends Aug. 1. $23-$25. (310) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Stacy Sullivan: Christine Daae

Jamie Anderson: Count Philippe de Chandon

Paul Ainsley: Alain Cholet

Jack Ritschel: Gerard Carriere

Paul Formanek: Jean-Claude/Young Carriere

Sandy Rosenberg: La Carlotta

Stephen Zinnato: The Phantom

Howard Mango: Inspector Ledoux

CeCe Moore: Belladova

Robert Tomaka: Young Erik

A Whittier-La Mirada Musical Theatre production. Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, arrangements by Jonathan Tunick. Book by Arthur Kopit, based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. Director David Galligan. Musical director Jan Ritschel. Conductor Todd Helm. Choreographer Toni Kaye. Technical director David Wagner. Sound designer Chuck McCarroll. Lighting designer Michael Gilliam. Costumes B. Modern. Stage manager Lisa Palmire.