You never forget your first encounter with the Phantom. 

For me, I was 12, and my parents had carted us across the Atlantic for our first look at the dusty castles and monuments of the Old Country. We were in London — all seven of us — when my dad crept on us the ghastly idea of taking his five teenaged children to the opera.  

Uggh. Cool teens with skateboards and Duran Duran tape cassettes don’t do opera. “But, this is a different kind of opera,” he pleaded. “The chandelier falls on the crowd.”  

Well, then, in that case, violence of that sort is always welcome in teendom.  

And so began my lifetime love with the Phantom of the Opera:  London (again, at age 23, before leaving for the first Gulf War), New York (twice, while living there and working the nightside cops-and-robbers beat for The New York Times), and DC (twice).  

Based on the classic novel Le Fantme de lOpra by Gaston Leroux, and brought to the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Phantom still has that golden way of unplugging me from uncontrollable reality, displacing the day-to-day assaults of the senses, and lifting me into the mind-clearing world of world-class theatre.   

The Phantom of the Opera,  of course, tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it.  He falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents and by employing all of the devious methods at his command. 

John Cudia heads the 36-member company as the Phantom, with Marnie Raab as the young soprano, Christine Daa, and Greg Mills as Raoul. Also featured are Kim Stengel as Carlotta Giudicelli, D.C. Anderson as Monsieur Andr, Bruce Winant as Monsieur Firmin, Rebecca Judd as Madame Giry, John Whitney as Ubaldo Piangi, and Polly Baird as Meg. At certain performances, Sarah Lawrence plays the role of Christine.   

The Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc. production of Andrew Lloyd Webbers The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Harold Prince, returned to the Kennedy Center Opera House for an eight-week engagement on June 20, and runs through August 12.   

With worldwide box office sales of over $3 billion, hantom is the most successful entertainment venture of the twentieth century, surpassing such blockbuster films as Titanic, E.T., and Star Wars. The winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, it celebrated its milestone 19th anniversary on Broadway on January 26 and is currently Broadway’s longest-running show of all time.   

The Phantom had its world premiere on October 9, 1986 at Her Majestys Theatre in London, winning every major British theater award including the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards.   

The New York production opened on January 26, 1988 with a then-record advance of $18 million.  The musical went on to sweep the 1988 Tony Awards, winning seven, including Best Musical. It also won seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critics Circle Awards.  The original London cast recording was the first in British musical history to enter the charts at number one.  It has since gone both gold and platinum in Britain and the United States, selling over 25 million copies. 

Worldwide, the play has had over 65,000 performances and has been seen by over 100 million people in 20 countries and 107 cities.  It is currently playing in London, New York, Madrid, Kyoto (Japan), Stuttgart (Germany), and Copenhagen, as well as on one national tour in the United States and one national tour in Japan. A new production opened in China in 2004. 

The Phantom of the Opera has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is directed by Harold Prince.  Lyrics are by Charles Hart (with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) with book by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Production design is by Maria Bjornson, lighting by Andrew Bridge and sound by Martin Levan.  Musical staging and choreography is by Gillian Lynne and orchestrations are by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Glenn Langdon will conduct the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. 

TICKET INFORMATION:  The production run for The Phantom of the Opera runs through Aug. 12 with performances Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:30 PM with matinee performances Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 PM.   Tickets $37 to $95 are on sale now and are available for purchase at the Kennedy Center box office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324.  For more information about The Phantom of the Opera, please visit www.thephantomoftheopera.com.  For more information about the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.