PHANTOM CELEBRATES SECOND ANNIVERSARY WITH RECORD BOX OFFICE SALES
Phantom—A Las Vegas Spectacular is hitting a whopping $1 million a week in box office ticket sales as it begins its third year at The Venetian! That message from executive producer Scott Zeiger to his cast and crew at their private second anniversary celebration party last night (TUES) won rousing cheers and applause!
“In our second year we’re beating our first year’s box office,” he said. ”Phantom has become the No. 1 theatrical show on the Strip and is a very real part of the landscape and fabric of Vegas. We’ll definitely be back a year from now with a third anniversary to celebrate and we’re looking confidently ahead to a 5th year too!”
Scott, head of Base Entertainment, also revealed that because of the Vegas success of Phantom the other theatrical companies producing the Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber musical around the world will each close for one week to ‘upgrade’ their sound and light systems along with the Vegas theatrics. He explained, “London just closed for the one week overhaul. New York will close in September for the one-week upgrade. Vegas is without a doubt the best of all the Phantoms and this was simply a case of all the others wanting to catch up to what we do in Vegas.”
It was a low-key private cast, crew and families only party in the balcony bar after last night’s performance and Luxe Life was invited to be part of it. Phantom star Anthony Crivello had told the sold out audience how grateful the company was for their support over the first two years. “We get people coming back time and time again to see our show and they come from all over the world. I’ve performed as Phantom now over 400 times and its still an amazing thrill every night,” he told me.
Anthony now holds down the lead role without an alternate actor for the eight-weekly shows which increase to 10 performances over holiday periods. Former alternate Brent Barrett left for the summer touring company of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Tina Walsh, who starred in Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay for two years before joining the Phantom cast as the Phantom’s courier Madam Giry told me, “With the black wig, severe long black dress and makeup its so different from everything I’ve done before that nobody recognizes me. But it’s really wonderful to be in the two longest running Broadway hits in Vegas.”
The show’s executive producer who is handling the Cirque du Soleil spectacular for The Venetian Macau told me he’s got lots of additional theatrical plans for both Macau and Vegas. “We are developing three or four more shows for the Las Vegas Sands resorts in Macau, which are without language so we cross the problem of all the different Chinese dialects,” said Scott.
“We’ve got new shows in the works for Vegas, and Robin, I promise you’ll be the first to know.” In fact he told me and then swore me to secrecy. I’m honoring the vow so that Luxe Life can reveal all of them first and exclusively. The most I can tell you for now is that the first for early next year will be an extraordinary surprise with an amazing new theater and several unexpected stars!.
Happy second anniversary to all at Phantom—A Las Vegas Spectacular. Click here for yesterday’s Luxe Life interview with Phantom creator Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.