The London Sunday Times once called Phantom of the Opera “God’s gift to musical theatre.” What’s more certain is that ‘Phantom’ will be musical theater’s gift to the ailing Providence economy, when the traveling extravaganza arrives at the Providence Performing Arts Center on Feb. 19.
Divine intervention is certainly one way to explain the world’s unending fascination with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical about a romantically disfigured masked man who lives in the bowels of the Paris Opera House. The award winning musical has mesmerized audiences in more than 90 cities worldwide since it began traveling almost a decade ago.
Phantom’s five-week run at the Providence Performing Arts Center is expected to pump millions into the local economy, say local tourism and business experts – creating at least 50 temporary jobs and bringing an expected 125,000 paying patrons to local hotels, restaurants and parking lots.
“From a numbers point of view, Phantom will be the largest entertainment event in the city in last two to three years. What happens with a show like Phantom is that people travel into the city for dinner before the show, and then they go out for dessert and drinks afterwards. It’s crucial for the hospitality industry in what is generally viewed to be a tough part of the year,” said J.L. Singleton, president of the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Phantom’s first visit to Providence in 1994 drew 160,000 people to the Providence Performing Arts Center over a two-month period, and infused an estimated $5 million into the local economy, said Singleton.
Joshua Miller, owner of Trinity Brew House and Restaurant and president of the Providence Downtown Merchants Association, remembers those eight weeks, when patrons packing his business were routinely overheard talking about going to see Phantom. The traveling show comes at an especially welcome time of year, because February is typically the slowest month of the year for restaurants, said Miller.
“Anything that happens off the traditional busy season helps, especially when people hunker down and stay for the night because of cold weather,” said Miller. “When you get a midweek event that’s going to be that successful, it’s a tremendous boost to anybody in our line of work.”
It will take two or three days to get the show into the Providence Performing Arts Center when Phantom rolls into the city on 20, 48-foot trailer-trucks. This is a musical that features a 1,000-pound chandelier, 230 costumes, 479 lights, 10 fog machines that consume 550 pounds of dry ice each show and more than 114 tons of dry ice a year, 2,700 yards of fabric in drapes, and one live elephant.
It is also a show that requires considerable manpower, beyond the traveling group of 36 actors, 16 orchestra members, 37 electrical systems operators and 60 crewmembers. Once here, the show will create 50 to 60 jobs at the Providence Performing Arts Center, in the form of house managers, concession workers, security guards and doormen, said Singleton.
“The show will bring extra jobs into the economy nightly, and twice on Saturday and Sunday – stagehands, even extra police details to direct traffic. I like to call it ‘found money,’ because for most of these workers it will be a second job,” said Singleton.
Comes in at a great time of year, off peak. The show will attract people to Providence who have a greater discretionary income than most visitors to the city, said James Wood, president of the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“Having a show with a magnitude that you see with Phantom draws people from far away, so many of them will dine beforehand, book a room at a hotel and make an expensive evening of the event. So we couldn’t have asked for a better time for this show to come into town and spend some weeks,” he said.
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