Await a spectacle of spectacles!
For most directors, to watch the show they’re about to produce performed on Broadway would only be an intimidating experience – instead Jerome L. De Silva tells me he was a little bored. ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ has long been hailed as one of Broadway’s most spectacular productions – from the iconic chandelier to the cellars under the opera house, its sets have dazzled legions of theatre goers. The soundtrack is itself critically acclaimed and includes numbers like ‘Think of Me’, ‘Angel of Music’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘All I Ask of You’, ‘Masquerade’ and perhaps most memorable of all, ‘Music of the Night’. Now Broadway’s longest running musical is coming to Sri Lanka and while it might be in the hands of an amateur troupe, this one has a great record and it’s clear expectations couldn’t be higher.
Jerome De Silva: A toast to the Phantom
Jerome and a trio of senior Workshop Players are fresh from Broadway where they took in 10 shows and went backstage on two of them. This is the way Jerome has always staged his plays – learning simply by looking. “I don’t even go sightseeing,” he says of these visits to New York City. “I spend all my money on the theatre. That’s how I’ve always learned. That’s how I’m able to do productions like this.”
Looking under the hood of a tremendously complex and successful production was an eye opener. He was particularly impressed by the set design – not just the deployment of the famous candle sequence but also the way large stage elements were stored and recalled on demand. The technology was both expensive and difficult to replicate. For Jerome it only served to underline how much he relies on the creativity and determination of his team to recreate some of that magic.
He’s also aware of another strength – where a cast of professionals can sometimes come across as tired and overdone, his amateurs bring a rare passion and enthusiasm to each staging. “They’re raw amateurs but there’s a freshness that comes through with our people. Our actors are not spoilt in that sense,” he says, adding that when it comes to the production itself, they can also be much more adventurous. “In fact we take more risks, even our chandelier crashes with more force.”
Jerome knows that some of his audience will have already seen the show on Broadway, but for those who haven’t he’s playing his cards close to his chest. There are production details he says even his cast aren’t entirely sure of – and he’s happy to keep it that way. Having presented a string of successful musicals, Jerome already has this down to a fine art.
The ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is the latest in his running tribute to the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber, which has included productions of ‘Cats’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita’.
Jerome first saw ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ in 1995 when a touring Australian company staged it in Singapore. He says that he thought then that he would never be able to tackle it – what changed his mind was staging ‘Les Miserables’. “After that I knew anything was possible.” With the ideas for this production quietly working in the back of his mind for years, Jerome says it became one of the shows he felt a director of musicals must attempt.
Of course, he brings to it his own obsession with the role of the Phantom, which he was meant to play in a previous production that never made it to the stage. Now Jerome says he loves the moments when the actors playing the Phantom aren’t available and he gets to play with the role again. “I approached it in a very cerebral way,” he says explaining that he explored how a sensitive man could find himself struggling with his insecurities about his deformity and that it could eventually lead him into evil. “All three phantoms are approaching it in that way,” says Jerome of his actors.
While Jerome wouldn’t consider the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ the best work he’s ever done, it’s certainly up there among the most challenging projects he’s undertaken. “In my mind, it’s one of my greater productions. There’s lovely music and a lot of razzmatazz. It’s all spectacular,” he says promising fabulous sets. That they’ve had to fireproof the entire Lionel Wendt Stage is in itself a prediction of wonderful “pyrotechnics.” For the Workshop Players team, if all goes well this will be a major triumph.
When auditions were underway, Jerome says he found himself faced with many newcomers. Working with them has meant teaching musical theatre as a discipline in itself, an approach Jerome says he has been perfecting. (It calls for a lot of style with critical differences in how you approach everything from strutting on stage to singing your lines.) Rotating sets of cast means that there’s room for over 70 people on this production. “We’re among the more professional of the amateur theatre groups in this country and definitely the biggest theatre group in any language,” says Jerome proudly. “We’re known for our big spectacular productions,” he adds explaining that it is only the professionalism of his cast and crew that makes this possible. “It’s not like teaching a bunch of kids anymore, they’re disciplined.”
As opening night ( October 1) draws closer, Jerome says his fondest hope is to see a full house. He’d like to see the newcomers to the cast experience what the troupe has in previous productions – “the thrill of a standing ovation.” He’s keeping his fingers crossed they will.
(The boxplan for the Phantom opens at the Lionel Wendt on September 16)