Hi! Have you seen any of the newer Phantom productions as well? Do they differ in staging and costumes from the older ones? Have there been any significant changes, perhaps in the script as well?
Note: Our apologies. We had drafted a response to this question a while back and realized that we never posted the answer!
The admins of VPA only have experience with the original US tour and Las Vegas productions. By “newer” we assume you do not mean the original London or Broadway productions. Since the original US tour is the same as the original productions, our only experience with newer productions is with Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas production was a bit different from the original. A custom theater was built inside the Venetian casino that was designed to mimic the Paris opera house, complete with large box seats along with walls and a massive chandelier. Along with the lavish venue, many of the sets were upgraded or altered, most prominently the chandelier, but the basic designs and use were the same. The costumes were left unaltered for the most part. One of the costume alterations was a more gory deformity for the Phantom.
For staging, most of the Vegas production remains the same. The only bits we remember as different were the Graveyard scene in which Phantom does not have the skull staff and instead shoots the fireballs from his hands, and the Final Lair in which Raoul is locked in a cage instead of hanged in a noose.
The most noticeable change in the Vegas production is the length. It is only about 90 minutes long and no longer has an intermission. They accomplished this by making small cuts here and there to some scenes and songs. I do not remember what parts were cut, but I am sure you could easily find out. The biggest change caused by the shortening of the show is the movement of the chandelier drop. Since there is no intermission, they moved the drop to after “Point of No Return,” similar to the 2004 film.
As for newer productions, we have not seen the new tour aside from photographs. In general, the script for the show is not significantly altered for any of these productions, since it is the heart of the show. While the new tour may look different, the libretto should not be significant changed from the original beyond a few incidental lyric variations that seem to occur from production to production.
