It's the American dream for any girl who craves the spotlight -- a rags-to-riches story, an overnight success, a star is born on the Great White Way in one transcendent performance. So what if relationships fall by the wayside and a guardian angel greases the career path? It's the end result -- fame -- that counts.
Except this Gothic tale is set at the Paris Opera in the 1880s and Gounod's sweetly diabolical "Faust" is on stage. Below the theater dwells the deformed man of mystery with a sick infatuation on the lead soprano's understudy. He'll curse or kill if his beloved Christine isn't promoted to prima donna.
"The Phantom of the Opera" is embedded in our cultural consciousness: the giant swinging chandelier, the spooky recesses of backstage, the underground lake (the opera house's own River Styx) and, especially, the horrific face of Lon Chaney.
The classic 1925 silent movie "Phantom," directed by Rupert Julian, will be screened Halloween night in Symphony Hall, with a score performed by the Atlanta Symphony and recently composed by Rick Friend, a Malibu, Calif. organist and silent-film aficionado and impresario.
Although it's dubbed a "special event" on the ASO calendar, the "Phantom" screening brings together several slices of the ASO agenda. "This ‘Phantom of the Opera' is the kind of show that fits into a larger context of underscoring ASO concerts with some sort of visual element," says Charlie Wade, ASO vice president for marketing.
As examples, there are the orchestra's "Theater of a Concert" events -- including luminous, semi-staged productions of Bach's "St. John" Passion, Stravinsky's opera "The Nightingale" or an evening of music based on the Bard with scenes performed by actors from Georgia Shakespeare. More conventionally, there is Holst's "The Planets" accompanying footage from NASA space probes or music from the video game "Final Fantasy."
And with "Phantom," the ASO has several goals: luring fresh audiences into the concert hall, tapping pop culture trends and presenting the orchestra in environments as stimulating for the eyes as for the ears.
Pierre Ruhe blogs about classical music at ArtsCriticATL.com
Halloween at the ASO "The Phantom of the Opera" starring Lon Chaney. Music by Rick Friend.Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. 8 p.m. Saturday $20-$38. Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org
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