Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Masquerade’ Sets Dates And A Cast With Two Ex-Phantoms

Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Masquerade, the immersive spin-off of The Phantom of the Opera, will begin previews in New York on July 31, producers announced today, with a large cast that includes former Broadway Phantoms Hugh Panaro and Jeremy Stolle.

Character roles for the large cast were not revealed, but Stolle has been identified by fans as the Phantom that visited the Tony Awards ceremony earlier this month.

In the announcement today, details of the production were disclosed for the first time. For starters, yes, it’s a musical event based on Phantom with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and book by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

“Masquerade blurs the lines of reality, bringing audiences inside and closer than ever before to the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera – a mystery never fully explained,” the announcement states. “From the highest rooftop to the subterranean lair deep below the Opera Populaire, guests will be invited to experience the music of the night more intimately than ever before. And when the iconic chandelier rises again above New York City, it will provide more than ‘a little illumination,’ with a dazzling display of over 30,000 crystals provided by Preciosa, the Official Crystal Partner of Masquerade.”

Panaro joined the Broadway cast of Phantom in 1990 as Raoul, taking on the title role for several stints from 1999 through 2014. Stolle was with the Broadway production for 15 years, initially playing Passarino and Raoul before putting on the famous half-mask.

In addition to Panaro and Stolle, the cast will be Baby Byrne (who appeared in the recent, acclaimed Off Broadway reimagining of Lloyd Webber’s Cats retitled Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Nicholas Edwards, Gabriella Enriquez, Haile Ferrier, Nkrumah Gatling, Cooper Grodin, Maxfield Haynes, Bryan Hernandez-Luch, Satomi Hofmann, Kody Jauron, Francisco Javier González, Maree Johnson, Tia Karaplis, Nathan Keen, Joe Kerr, Jeff Kready, Jacob Lacopo, Eryn LeCroy, Raymond J. Lee, Telly Leung, Claire Leyden, Francesca Mehrotra, Georgia Mendes, Betsy Morgan, Riley Noland, Charles Osborne, Chris Ryan, Kyle Scatliffe, Paul Adam Schaefer, Clay Singer, Phumzile Sojola, Kaley Ann Voorhees, Nik Walker, Andrew Wojtal, Kevin Zambrano, and Anna Zavelson.

Earlier this week, producers announced that Tony Award winner Diane Paulus would direct Masquerade, and today the full creative team was announced (though, like the cast, their exact roles were not revealed: Hunter Bird, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Kathy Fabian, James Fluhr, Jessie Flynn, Nicola Formichetti, Skylar Fox, Kate Lumpkin, J. J. Janas, Brett Jarvis, Marc Kimelman, Lee McCutcheon, Diane Paulus, Scott Pask, Emilio Sosa, Gypsy Snider, Ben Stanton, and William Waldrop.

Masquerade will launch a six-week preview period with the July 31 performance, with tickets on sale Monday (with first dibs going to people who signed a “ledger” at the production’s website). The production will be located in a multi-floor space at 218 W. 57th St in midtown Manhattan.