After 35 years on the Broadway stage, The Phantom of the Opera is finally taking its final bow in February 2023. This legend of both stage and screen has captivated and seduced audiences with its music of the night, and it's hard imagining the theatrical world without it. However, while the curtain might be falling on the Phantom, there are other musicals that fall right in line with its themes and motifs.
The musical has existed since the '80s and has undoubtedly influenced a litany of other shows that came after. From other ghosts to sinister singers on stage, there are plenty of other productions that honor Phantom's legacy.
Wicked
Like The Phantom of the Opera, sometimes the villain can be the star of the show, and few embody classic Broadway stardom better than Elphaba. What the show lacks in falling chandeliers it more than makes up for in size, scale, and dramatic flare as it retells the origins of the witches of Oz.
Loosely based on the book by Gregory Maguire, the musical reimagines the Wicked Witch of the West as a misunderstood heroine of a corrupted land of Oz. Characters like Dorothy, Glinda, and the rest might get all the glitz and glamour, but villains like the Phantom and Elphaba have more interesting stories, and that's what sells tickets.
The Shining
An honorable mention to be sure, but the operatic adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining proves that there are very few limits when it comes to the stage. Opera and Stephen King might be two elements that seem poles apart, but it proved to be quite an impressive vision.
The production was a brilliant hybrid of both the book and the Stanley Kubrick film, and it pulled a remarkably large amount of its material right off the pages of the novel. It was a strange way to adapt the source material, but it was a production that fans of Phantom would find extremely familiar.
The Grinning Man
Though no longer running, The Grinning Man is a grim and gothic musical that could give the Phantom some serious competition. Based on The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo, the story tells the tale of Grinpayne who finds love, fortune, and terror on his quest to discover his identity and who struck him with his excruciating smile.
The musical combines elements seen in Phantom with a macabre black comedy worthy of a Tim Burton production on stage. With bitter clowns, disfigured romantic leads, and a traveling freak show, it's a delightfully dark musical that fans of the Opera Ghost will absolutely devour.
Ruthless: The Musical
While this black comedy might have flown under the radar to some musical fans, there are clear elements of Phantom scattered throughout this saga of child actresses, understudies, and murder. Ruthless is an all-female production that is as hysterical as it is horrifying.
The plot itself can best be described as what would happen if Shirley Temple decided to become a vengeful serial killer. When Tina Denmark is cast as the understudy in the school play, she quickly demonstrates that she's willing to do anything to get what she wants, including strangling her competition and hanging their body from a catwalk. The production is very tongue-in-cheek, but the idea of children killing children is undeniably chilling nad prove there are worse things than a shattered chandelier.
Phantom Of the Paradise
While it's not a stage musical (yet), Phantom of the Paradise is a phenomenal Phantom musical that deserves just as much attention as Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation. Brian De Palma's rock opera is a magnificent blend of Faust, Phantom of the Opera, and the glam rock stylings of the '70s, and it's positively magnificent.
The film is essentially a rock version of the original story, involving a disfigured musician in love with a theater's young ingénue. However, a Faustian deal lends the production a colorful horror element as the titular Phantom seeks vengeance against a devilish music producer and all those that would stand between him and his beloved Phoenix.
Lestat
With the adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, the musical based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles should definitely be revisited. While the original production certainly had its problems, it was a macabre musical that was more than the sum of its parts.
Taking chapters from both Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, the musical was indeed a lengthy production, but the album alone is worth its weight in blood. Of course, with music and lyrics by the great Elton John and Bernie Taupin, it's hard not to give a character like Lestat such a theatrical treatment.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Josh Groban might be the next in line to assume the role of the butchering barber on the Broadway stage, but there's no one who does it quite like Depp. Vengeance, meat pies, and murder most foul are the main course in this gory Sondheim affair, and no one could have adapted it better than Burton.
Burton's adaptation truly captured the unhinged and darkly comic nature of the production whilst giving it his own stylistic touch. Comitting murder out of love and obsession is something the Phantom could very much understand, and fans of both shows tend to overlap.
Jekyll And Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been adapted time and time again, but the stage version is truly one of the most underrated and underappreciated takes on the tale. This gothic adaptation has much more bite than the average trip to the laboratory, and could very easily fill the space left by the Phantom.
There is much more weight and power seen in the musical adaptation than in many other versions that came before. While it's certainly a loose adaptation, the duality of both Jekyll and Hyde is represented brilliantly well in musical form, and the dual role of both characters is a testament to any seasoned stage actor.
Nevermore: The Imaginary Life And Mysterious Death Of Edgar Allan Poe
If there was ever a musical that was shamefully slept on, it's Nevermore. Inspired by the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe, the production went above and beyond to capture the chilling nature of the writer's poems and short stories, as well as his fractured mental state.
The mix of fact and fantasy is blended so well together that it's hard to distinguish Poe the man from Poe the artist. Scenes from Poe's are sprinkled with nods to the "Tell-Tale Heart," "The Black Cat," and of course "The Raven." The result is a gothic horror masterpiece that desperately demands a comeback.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
The Phantom of the Opera is a show that's pretty hard to top, both in of story and soundtrack, but if there's one that does at least come marginally close. Disney's animated Hunchback of Notre Dame was indeed a very loose adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel, Disney's stage adaptation was scarily more accurate than many fans might suspect.
Although it takes its music and most of its plot from the animated feature, it is decidedly much darker than any other Disney stage adaption. Elements from the original novel are blended with the animated classic, making the production surprisingly yet refreshingly tragic. Much like the Opera Ghost, Quasimodo's tale is bittersweet and punctuated by magnificent music.
