A Message from the Director

I'm told that there is another musical based on The Phantom of the Opera, but for my taste, this is the definitive version. Creators Kopit and Yeston have created a remarkable story, translating a novel and a horror film into a very human story.
They have imagined a tremendous amount of back story, inventing why these characters behave as they do.Their achievement; a human monster, one for whom we feel compassion and understanding.

This Phantom is a man named Erik,who is forced to live in the bowels of the Opera house. He has the heart of a poet and exists on the fringe, outside the "normal world." He falls for a girl who, like himself, is alone in the world and often feels like
an outsider herself. It is a "beauty and the beast" romance, which Kopit and Yeston make us believe.

I hope this imaginative re-telling of a classic story unmasks the mysteries behind
the Phantom of the Opera.

Walter Stearns
Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago