Manatee Players stage a different 'Phantom'

It may be, James Alexander Hyde said, "The biggest show that's never been on Broadway."

He was talking about "Phantom," the musical based on Gaston Leroux's novel "The Phantom of the Opera."

Hyde has the title role in the Manatee Players production that opens Thursday. Although it shares the same source material, "Phantom" should not be confused with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera." The music, Hyde said, is both more operatic and catchier.

"From a musical standpoint, it's certainly more operatic," Hyde said. "It's very Gilbert and Sullivan."

It's also thematically and narratively different than the Lloyd Webber version. For one thing, the ending of "Phantom" is true to the novel.

"I feel it's quite different," Hyde said. "Andrew Lloyd Webber's version leaves it open for a sequel, which was great."

(Hyde adds very quickly that he was being sarcastic. Just in case it wasn't obvious. "Love Never Dies," the sequel in question, is notoriously awful, and never even made it to Broadway.)

"Phantom" has an odd history that's intertwined with Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera." Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston, the team who created the Tony Award-winning musical "Nine," wrote "Phantom" before Lloyd Webber's version was known. A Broadway production was in the works, and after the success of "Nine," people expected it would be a hit.

When Sir Andrew's own adaptation of "Phantom of the Opera" became a smash in London the backers of "Phantom" got nervous and withdrew their support for the planned Broadway production.

Kopit (who also wrote the straight plays "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" and "Wings") later adapted his book for "Phantom" for a TV miniseries that didn't use Yeston's music. The success of the TV version encouraged Kopit and Yeston to resurrect their musical.

It's been staged more than 1,000 times since.

Steve Dawson, who's directing the Manatee Players production, is among the many people who know both shows and prefer "Phantom."

"I did it before at Golden Apple and fell in love with it," Dawson said, referring to a well-known but now defunct theater in Sarasota. "It gives you more of a story that you can sink your teeth into. It's maybe a little different for people who know 'Phantom of the Opera,' but it doesn't take long to win over an audience."

Besides the more substantial story, he said, "Phantom" has songs that are more tuneful than those of "The Phantom of the Opera."

"Some of the melodies are just gorgeous," he said. "It's like if opera and musical theater got together and had a baby."

Details: April 28-May 8, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $27-$37. Information: 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Manatee Players stage a different 'Phantom' ."