When Cassie Austin and Mathew Malecki Martinez sang the duet, “I’m Home,” at the Gateway gala last week, their voices rose up in such beauty, passion, and longing, a couple so imbued with music and its power, you would want to hear more.
You can, starting August 1, when Austin and Martinez play Christine Daee’ and Erik, the Phantom in Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit’s “Phantom,” a Gateway musical, similar but different from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
“We have lots of spectacle but there’s a much deeper understanding of Erik, the Phantom, in this version,” said director Larry Rabin. “Including his birth and childhood. It’s full of more emotion. And, it’s an operetta.”
The story of the Phantom, a musical genius relegated to the bowls of the Palais Garnier, the Paris Opera House, because of his disfigured face, and his love and obsessive devotion to singer Christine in the early 1900’s, was a book based on Gaston Leroux’s successful 1910 novel. It eventually captivated early movie-goers, then became a blockbuster musical.
(Lloyd Webber’s Phantom was edgy and scarily obsessive, it was pointed out. Both productions were neck and neck in development, but Lloyd Webber lured investors away for his show, first appearing in London in 1986, then Broadway. “It’s the best Broadway show, not on Broadway,” joked Rabin of the Yeston-Kopit version.)
“I think Lloyd Webber’s version only focuses on his anger and rage and doesn’t focus on his humanity,” said Martinez, who played Magaldi, the tango singer and Evita’s first love interest in Gateway’s “Evita” production.
Martinez’s voice is a tenor baritone.
“The Phantom is a true baritone. I think there’s more power, gravitas there. What’s so special is that you don’t see baritones anymore. It’s a very special score,” he said.
His favorite song in the show, i “You Are Music,” the Phantom sings with Christine.
“She’s ready and he can’t teach her anymore,” he said. “It’s a point where they learn to love each other and the orchestra is lush and beautiful.”
He credits his accomplished voice instructor John DeLuise at the American Music and Dramatic Academy with his vocal development. DeLuise urged him to sing Italian, French and German arias. “He wanted my base to be classical,” Martinez said.
Both stars have performed in a slew of regional and national tours as well as Broadway (Austin) and the Gateway (Martinez).
As for Austin, her character is no shrinking violet. “Christine is very driven,” she said. (Austin’s soprano vocal last Friday night practically shattered glass.)
“It’s easy with an ingenue to sit back and let things happen,” said Austin. “But it’s what inspires her to say yes to the Phantom for lessons and walk into the opera house and ask for a role that’s interesting. They fall in love in the setting among her lessons and see the music in each other and its unspoken love and passion.”
There are 21 songs, a spectacular music arrangement, and a cast of 24 with wonderful costumes. (The Phantom has 10 different masks!!!!) Charles West plays the empathetic Gerard Carierre, the former opera manager and mentor to Eric with a secret.
“He has one of the best songs in the show,” Rabin said.
A lot of comic relief evolves from imperious diva opera singer Carlotta and her husband Cholet, said Rabin. Both are the married singers Aaron De Jesus and Gail Bennett with Broadway, national and regional tour and Gateway appearances. They were also present at the Gateway gala.
But, “The Phantom does get laughs,” said Rabin.
Plenty of awe-inspiring set details, like the Phantom rising up from the bowls of the opera house, a gondola scene on the underground lake, and wow, even that famous chandelier, will rivet the audience.
Don’t wait. Get your tickets now at www.thegateway.org; or call the box office at
631-286-1133. It’s playing Aug. 1 to Aug. 31.
Photo: Gateway’s “Phantom” stars, director Larry Rabin, Mathew Malecki Martinez as Erik, the Phantom, and Cassie Austin as Christine. The musical starts Friday, August 1.
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