Thursday, April 16th 2015, 8:18 pm
The Phantom of the Opera is in town for ten days and there's something new in the production.
Before the curtain goes up, crews are working during setup time; that's when they test everything.
Wednesday, two engineers worked on one of the stars of the production, the chandelier. It has more than 6,000 beads and weighs a ton; if you've seen Phantom before, this one's different.
"The original design had the chandelier sort of swinging toward the stage at the end of the act, this one doesn't do that, it drops straight down over the audience," said Stage Manager, Heather Chockley.
If you know someone who has seats in the first five or six rows, don't tell them, let it be a surprise.
Chockley said Phantom has more than 1,200 costume pieces.
"This dress cost about $10,000 in materials, and about $30,000 in labor," she explained.
The production travels in 20 semi-trailers - one of them serves as a closet.
The Phantom is played by former The Voice contestant, Chris Mann, who said it's a dream come true.
"I've been in the recording industry for about ten years before The Voice and touring and in and out of label deals," he said.
Storm Lineberger graduated from OU a year ago, and now he's touring in one of the biggest shows on the planet. He credits the training at OU with getting him there.
"They put me in a good place and I think that's really the springboard that got me here," he said.
Mann is from Wichita, and Lineberger has lots of friends at OU, so both have bus-loads coming to see them.
Phantom runs at the PAC through April 25th.
April 16th, 2015
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