It’s only been two years since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera ended its 35-year run on Broadway but the beloved sung-through musical that once carried the tagline “Now and Forever” is back in New York City — only this time in a wholly reimagined production that owes a lot to immersive theater hits like Sleep No More. The quasi-revival, retitled Masquerade, invites Phantom fans to follow actors around a six-story building in Midtown (across from the Nordstrom on West 57th Street) that’s been gut-renovated to create a series of spaces that mimic locations in and around the Paris Garnier opera house where the original show was set.
Purists beware: The format requires substantial adjustments, starting with the way it breaks up both Richard Stilgoe’s script and the Puccini-meets-electric-guitar score by Lloyd Webber and lyricist Charles Hart. While the newly adapted overture is performed by a live violinist, the rest of the instrumental music is prerecorded. The singing, performed by one of six different casts each night, is live — though many of the show’s familiar hits are truncated so that the audience can be ushered quickly to the next scene (sometimes going up or down a flight of stairs or an escalator). After that overture, you’re ushered into a candelabra-lined space where ballet mistress Madame Giry (Tia Karaplis at my performance) teaches each group of roughly 60 theatergoers some basic choreography for the first production number, “Masquerade” (an ensemble tune that usually opens the second act).
Familiar tableaux like the subterranean boat, the graveyard, and of course the fateful chandelier are meticulously re-created — as are backstage dressing rooms and even an old-fashioned circus where we get new scenes of the disfigured title character’s pre-opera origin story consigned to a freak show (and where we encounter specialty performers like a fire-eater and a woman who pierces her face with nails). But individual audience groups (who enter the space in staggered time slots, from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. on evenings) may be split up further, with a smaller crew ushered into a bedroom where the Phantom has whisked his beloved soprano muse/crush Christine or to a backstage area where the opera patrons plot how to appease the masked Phantom who makes felonious mischief throughout the opera house. Then the subgroups swap places, before reassembling someplace else.
As overseen by director Diane Paulus and an extensive design team — which includes set designer Scott Pask, costumer Emilio Sosa, and illusion technician Skylar Fox — the physical production and logistics of the operation are truly stunning. Each performance space is studded with loving details, like the monkey music box that becomes a recurring visual motif. Unlike in immersive shows like Sleep No More, you cannot linger for too long in any one spot to absorb every element but must stick to your group to keep this glorified theme-park ride on time and on track.
The intimacy of the production is one of its chief advantages. A series of close-up magic tricks created a series of wow moments and the cast is able to perform with more subtlety and less outright belting than they would from a conventional theater stage. At my performance, Clay Singer had a crisp baritone and nice sense of menace as the Phantom, and was well matched with Riley Noland’s demure emoting and lush vocal tone as Christine. The close proximity to the cast also allowed for a bit of ad-lib-like vamping from secondary characters like the imperious diva Carlotta (Betsy Morgan) whom the Phantom wants deposed in favor of his beloved chorus girl, Christine.
While it offers an entertaining twist on familiar material, Masquerade may not be for everybody. Newbies may be challenged to get swept up in a story that’s presented in such short CliffNotes-like bursts. There’s also a good deal of walking and stair-climbing involved, though there are elevators in the building and seated areas in many of the individual rooms. There are even scenes that take place on the building’s roof that could present challenges on rainy or wintry nights, especially since patrons are encouraged to dress up formally in black, white, or silver (high heels are strongly discouraged). If you’re not wearing your own masquerade mask, the venue will provide you one that may pinch your nose or fit awkwardly over your glasses over the two hour-plus running time.
In many ways, the show is a throwback to a time when going to the theater was an occasion, and one for which you rightly dressed up. It’s an idea that reinforced with the complementary glass of champagne offered at the start. (Night-time performances are restricted to those over 21; matinees allow people over the age of 16.) More importantly, turning Phantom into a special event like this shifts the show further from its origins as a star-crossed romance that has captivated audiences for decades with its melodic earworms and operatic tug at the heart strings. While Masquerade offers a memorable adventure in the milieu of Phantom, it’s harder to be moved by Christine’s story when you’re the one doing most of the moving. ★★★★☆
MASQUERADE
218 West 57th St., Off Broadway
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through February 1 for $212 to $322
Culture Sauce 
it isn’t Christine’s story this time around. It’s the Phantom’s….as we are told by Madame Giry at the beginning, and as is obvious if you’re paying attention to the perspective presented in each scene and from who’s point-of-view the scenes are constructed.