‘Phantom’ Will Arrive In 2000 Spokane Lands Andrew Lloyd Webber Opera

For the past 11 years, local Andrew Lloyd Webber-lovers have been issuing this plaintive cry: “When is Spokane going to get `Phantom of the Opera’?”

Finally, the answer has arrived.

Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” has been booked into the Spokane Opera House for three weeks, beginning Feb. 23, 2000.

Details will be announced at a press conference today at 11 a.m. featuring representatives of G&B Presents the Best of Broadway and the Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Company.

The “Phantom” engagement will be part of a four-show season that will include several other big-budget touring shows. The season had not been finalized as of press time, but may be announced today.

No matter what else is announced, “Phantom” will be by far the biggest Broadway touring event Spokane has ever hosted, both in terms of the size of production and the sheer duration of the run.

The only show to come close has been “Les Miserables,” which has played Spokane for a total of three weeks, but never for more than one week at a time. As for the scope of the production, the following comparison is instructive: “Les Miserables” requires a fleet of eight semi-trucks, while the “Phantom of the Opera” steams into town in 28.

“Phantom” also has the potential to have the biggest economic impact of any theatrical event in Spokane. If every show sells out, the total audience will be somewhere around 62,400. Many of those people will be from out of town - British Columbia, Idaho, Montana - meaning they will be booking hotel rooms, eating at restaurants and catching various other tourist attractions.

For instance, a 10-week Denver engagement had an estimated $24 million impact on the local economy, including $1.6 million in city sales tax revenue alone, according to figures from “Phantom’s” producers. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that a 12-week run in that city pulled in $23.6 million in revenue.

During a Miami run, the Miami Herald reported that the Le Dome Restaurant was deluged with 4,000 reservations before the show even opened. “I really didn’t know the power of this play,” the owner was quoted as saying.

The Best of Broadway people hope that “Phantom” will have the same kind of impact here.

“This will be one of the largest things to happen here since the World’s Fair,” said Lindy Hanford of G&B Presents the Best of Broadway.

“Phantom of the Opera,” a lush romantic melodrama with such well-known songs as “Music of the Night,” opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in January 1988. It remains there today, and is currently the fifth-longest running show of all time.

“Phantom” has also toured incessantly since 1989. The New York Times reported in 1995 that it had already grossed $1.5 billion, surpassing what was then the most successful film ever, “Jurassic Park.”

Spokane has hosted the lesser-known Ken Hill version of “Phantom of the Opera” (played mostly for laughs), but the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has never been closer than Seattle. The explanation lies in economics.

With huge sets and complicated production values, this show costs money to pick up and move. So the first touring sites were in the biggest cities, where the show could stay for many months, or in the case of Los Angeles, four years. As the years went by, the tour gradually moved into smaller markets - San Antonio, Memphis, Salt Lake City - which could support shorter runs of a month or so.

Finally, the show is moving into markets that can support a three-week run. Even that is a stretch for Spokane. Even now, most of “Phantom’s” tour stops are in bigger markets like Fort Worth and Hartford - but the Best of Broadway people couldn’t pass up such a “huge opportunity,” said Hanford.

“Do you have any idea how lucky we are to get this?” asked Hanford.

Tickets go on sale today at noon, but only for Best of Broadway season ticket subscribers, both new and renewing members, and for group sales of 20 or more. Individual tickets won’t go on sale until late fall, according to Hanford.

For season tickets, call 325-SEAT or (800) 325-SEAT. For group sales, call 459-6116.