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‘A Day In the Life ... Three Phantoms In Concert’ Show goes behind the Broadway scene
By Guy D’AStolfo
Youngstown
Craig Schulman added a dash of humor when he updated his successful “Three Phantoms In Concert” show.
The original production highlighted the vocal talents of three men who all played the title role in “Phantom of the Opera.” The new show, “A Day In the Life ... Three Phantoms In Concert,” has the same prerequisite, but with a lighter touch.
“A Day In the Life” was launched a couple of years ago and makes its Youngstown debut Saturday. Like the original, it includes numbers from more than a dozen great Broadway musicals, but with a new theme: what it’s like to be a Broadway performer.
“It’s substantially different from the first one, which is about the mystique of the phantom, and doesn’t have much talking,” said Schulman in an interview with The Vindicator.
For the new show, Schulman drew on an old idea.
“I’ve long wanted to describe the life of a performer, and I came up with three guys who are middle- aging who all played these magnificent roles,” he said. “There is competition among the friends, and talk about ‘how does one get to Broadway’... and about ego, and things like ‘you’ve got your first big break in a production that is going around the world, but there are no days off, it’s hard on relationships, so be careful what you wish for’... and the song that follows is ‘What Kind of Fool Am I?’”
“We bust chops, and every dialogue leads into a song.”
For example, one segment of “A Day In the Life” involves audition scenarios that show the audience what performers go through. Each of the three singers relates a story about a significant audition in their career.
The show, which also stars Kevin Gray and Ted Keegan, has 22 songs representing 18 Broadway shows including “Chicago,” “South Pacific,” “Cats,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Music Man,” “Les Miserables,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Chess,” “Miss Saigon” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Backed by a six-piece ensemble, the three sing in solo, duo, trio and other configurations.
“We’ll pick a song and maybe I’ll sing lead, and the others will back me up,” said Schulman. “Or maybe there will be multiple characters with each taking one, or we’ll break into harmony or take turns singing the verses.”
Audience reaction has been encouraging. “If I do say so myself, it’s probably my best work,” said Schulman. “Afterward, people will come up to me and say, ‘That was the best show I’ve ever seen here’ or ‘the best I’ve seen in years.’”
Schulman is the only performer in the world to have performed the iconic title roles of “Jekyll and Hyde” and “The Phantom of the Opera” and nearly 2,000 performances of Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables” on Broadway and around the world.
Gray has appeared on Broadway and in the national tour of “The Lion King,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Miss Saigon,” “A Little Night Music,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Showboat,” “The King and I” and “Titanic.”
Keegan starred in the national tour of “The Phantom of the Opera” after a successful run in the Broadway company. He made his Broadway debut as Anthony in the “Sweeney Todd” revival and appeared on Broadway or in national tours of “Cyrano, the Musical,” “Camelot,” “My Fair Lady” and “The Most Happy Fella.”