Late in the first act, there are fifteen glorious minutes when everything comes together: music (the title song, "The Music Of The Night"), set (candelabras rising from the mist as the Phantom and Christine gondola their way across the prettiest sewer you ever saw), performance -- everything. When the Phantom first brings Christine down to his lair, the show is transported to the realm of legend. The rest of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical extravaganza simply can't top this high point, though the "Masquerade" sequence remains gorgeous, and the finale, though breathlessly paced, nonetheless leaves room for a lump in the throat.
If the production has declined in any way since Phantom's premiere eight years ago, it's in the ensemble singing, where words are indecipherable. Otherwise, the reasons for the Phantom's juggernaut success remain as clear as the mask on his face.
