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La Comedia’s 'Phantom' has more romance, rock and backstory of character

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Patrick Ryan, who plays the Phantom, rehearses his role in Phantom at LaComedia Dinner Theatre Thursday afternoon March 4, 2010. The play will be showing through May 2. For times and ticket prices visit lacomedia.com or call 800-677-9505

Jessica Uttinger Patrick Ryan, who plays the Phantom, rehearses his role in Phantom at LaComedia Dinner Theatre Thursday afternoon March 4, 2010. The play will be showing through May 2. For times and ticket prices visit lacomedia.com or call 800-677-9505

La Comedia version called ‘smarter’ version

By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 4:46 PM Friday, March 12, 2010

SPRINGBORO — The musical playing at La Comedia Dinner Theatre may feature a phantom and an opera, but it’s not “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Many people know the story of that title by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the longest-running show in Broadway history. However, that is not the version playing at La Comedia through May 2.

The dinner theater instead is playing what is titled, simply, “Phantom,” by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit, who wrote the musical “Nine.” Like Webber’s version, “Phantom” also tells  the story originated in Gaston  LeRoux’s 1910 novel, about a phantom that haunts a Paris opera house and becomes obsessed with the talents of the beautiful singer Christine.

The novel was also the inspiration for the classic silent 1925 film starring Lon Chaney as the Phantom. The actor playing the title role for La Comedia, Patrick Ryan of Boston, watched that movie as part of his research.

“I watched that movie very late after coming home from work and was totally freaked out. I was holding my pillow, I was so scared,” he said.

Unlike the Webber version, this “Phantom” delves more deeply into the masked man’s backstory, so the audience understands better why he became such a tortured soul.

“It’s a difficult character to step into the skin of. In many ways, he’s like a little boy who wants to be accepted. ... I have to take a lot of time after the show to wind down. In a way it’s very cathartic for me,” said Ryan, who is making his La Comedia debut.

His opposite, Christine, is played by Megan Buzzard, who appeared as Guinevere in La Comedia’s “Camelot” last year. For her, playing Christine is a “dream come true,” she said.

“It’s really the music and her voice. It’s a wonderful role to play for a singer like me. I identify with Christine a lot. Christine comes to Paris as a young singer, inexperienced and with a dream — I can relate to that,” she said.

The Yeston/Kopit “Phantom” also differs musically from the Webber version in that it is like a rock opera, while “Phantom’s” songs are more in the style of classic musical theater, Buzzard said.

“Phantom” has been staged at La Comedia three times, most recently in 2000, and is one of the most requested shows, said Justin Walton, the publicist for the dinner theater. He said this version is often called the “smarter” version of the story, as it focuses less on effects and more on the romance.

If the reaction to the 2010 staging on opening night is any indication, “Phantom’s” popularity will endure.

“It’s only going to get better. We got a standing ovation,” Buzzard said.

La Comedia serves a buffet meal followed by the show.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.

‘Phantom of the Opera’

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