Mickey Jo Theatre (13:45)

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Sasha (14:18)

Or Red. I guess they really don't want the audience members to stand out here. If you want to be the snazziest person at Immersive Phantom, then you have your work cut out for you because they really don't want you to pop. Although again, the silver. The silver is throwing me. And evidently this is a masquerade mask I would not be able to wear to Immersive Phantom, although I do have a black one in the next room. It may or may not surprise you to learn I'm a man who owns several different masquerade masks. And here's the slightly egregious bring your own or purchase one at the door. And for die hard regular theatre goers of immersive experiences, this is a little bit of a curveball because there have been previous shows that have involved mask wearing. Sleep no More being one of the most obvious where these masks have been provided. So it's a little bit of an unexpected detail that guests are expected to bring their own masks or be required to purchase one. It would be one thing if they were going to be provided free of charge, but to be specific about the kind of masquerade mask that you need to wear or demand you to purchase one in addition to the ticket price does feel a little bit egregious. Finally, a word of advice. Do not wear high heels. Does that mean heels at all? Or specifically high ones? Whilst in certain circumstances these can be appropriate, they could be treacherous as you tread. The secret catacombs and darts, dark crannies. That's what that word is that I have prepared for you. Which sounds again, intriguing, slightly escape room esque. And I don't know why that wasn't a scenic element of this that I had been thinking about, because in my head up to this point, it was just going to be a lot of like backstage dressing rooms and mirrors and smoke. And then eventually you make it onto the roof and he's there on the other side of like a statue, singing sadly about how Christine doesn't want to bang him as much as she does her childhood sweetheart, who has a perfectly normal face. And then maybe you go back downstairs again. Maybe are snacks, if you couldn't tell. I'm very excited about the whole thing. Further instructions will follow at my pleasure. I remain your obedient servant. O G Ba ba ba ba ba. Yes, that was a Hamilton reference. Now, there is more information about this that has been announced because I've seen the Internet reacting to it, but whatever it is, it was not part of that email. Let's see what else we can find by scouring the Internet. So there's an article from Greg Evans in Deadline that pretty much just summarizes the information as we've just talked through it. Oh, a little bit of a mistake from me there. Dates for the six week run have not been announced. I just assumed in my head that it was going to be over the summer, but there was nothing to suggest that ticket sales are going to start on June 30. But we don't yet know exactly when this is going to be. Maybe I will be in town. This article also very helpfully lists the address for the experience. It's a building at 220 West 57th Street, a little bit higher than the Midtown Manhattan Theatre district that formerly housed the multi floored Lee's Art Shop. The building has undergone extensive renovations for the production at and all the while it's been thoroughly reported on on TikTok by people walking past and seeing everything that was going on as much as they could from the street. Now there's a little more information here about prices as well as an age requirement. So entry prices start at get ready for this $195 I know, I know. And I guess the thing is, is that when you are ticketing a Broadway production you have different seating tiers and so if there are cheaper prices, those tend to be the further back, the to the side, the up in a higher level, whatever. And when an immersive experience, everyone tends to be on the same tier of the access as you would want to be. Like, it would be really disappointing to be a deprioritized audience member in an immersive experience just because, you know, you didn't have as much money to pay for a higher ticket price. But what that means is that everyone is paying a fairly high price and it's not yet clear what the capacity of this is going to be. Obviously they have costs that they need to offset both for the renovation of the space and the initial expenses of the thing, as well as the ongoing expenses and paying the actors and the crew and everyone else involved to keep the thing running. And it's been a really challenging time for Immersive Theatre. Recently a bunch of staple shows have closed and a bunch of sort of immersive adjacent productions. Even the Broadway revival of Cabaret, which was only ever really like atmospheric Immersive, have struggled to maintain the level of audience that they need to in order to support their high running costs. Cabaret never did terribly in terms of its box office, but it enduringly was Just such a expensive production. So $195 each. And it's at that point that you really do begrudge the mask not being included with the ticket price. At the very least, I feel like it would be easier to say here, Mr. Phantom, take 195 of my hard earned dollars. But do I get a nice souvenir mask at least? Like I know you're getting the experience and I'm sure that it's going to be very exciting and very fancy and it better be good for 1 95. But I just think if you were getting a mask alongside that it would sweeten the deal somewhat rather than the sour taste left in the mouth by arriving not having brought a mask. Because you know not everyone is going to pay attention to the exact requirements of this event. Not everyone reads the terms and conditions of these things. And then finding out at the doorway that you need to pay God knows what kind of additional fee in order to buy a mask. What will be included in the ticket price, however, is a flute of Tata Champagne that guests will be welcomed with. This is a 21+ event which is going to come as a disappointment to some young fans of the show. You have to be 21 years of age or old older in order to go to immersive Phantom. And I was never a big immersive theater person. I don't know if this was ever a rule for the New York sleep no more or other like punch drunk shows. I know that some of them could be very personally involved. You could have one on one experiences that were sort of pseudo sexual on occasion. Or at least that's what I heard about some of these immersive shows. I'm not judging anyone. It's not necessarily for me. And you wouldn't have thought that that's what they're going to be doing at the Phantom of the Opera. But listen, some people have very strong thoughts about this musical and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the intention of certain audience members. But that from what I can tell is everything that we know. And if you want to know where to actually sign your name in the ledger, they are referring to the sign up here@masqueradenyc.com if you're wondering why I keep calling this immersive Phantom and it's called Masquerade, it's because I'm being playful and I believe it's because they do not own the entirety of the to the Phantom of the Opera as a musical. In terms of everything that's tied up in that in terms of original designs and title treatment, they very possibly have the rights you would assume to the music, because I believe Lloyd Webber is involved with this, but not necessarily Sir Cameron, McIntosh. The two of them having always been co producers on the Phantom of the Opera, I think this is a Lloyd Webber project. I don't think Cameron's involved, which I think makes it hard for them to access everything within the Phantom of the Opera, which is why we're not seeing that title artwork treatment, which is why we're not hearing the full title. It will be interesting to see to what extent the designs are different. I imagine that they will be. Is it going to be a different kind of a mask, really? Like the Phantom mask that you always see in the marketing is a full face one like this. The one that you see on stage is a half face one and there's a story that goes with that as well. I can't remember if it was prompted by Michael Crawford or prompted by director Hal Prince. Somebody's going to immediately have an answer for me in the comments section. I've read the story before, but often in other media depictions of the Fantas of the Opera story, like the the Charles Dance one, you do tend to see a fuller facial mask. So I am wondering if that's the version that we might see at Masquerade. So those are the details. What do I actually think about all of this? Well, I am cautiously intrigued. I love anything sort of spinning off of the world of musical theatre. I'm one of those people who would love to see a musical theatre theme park somewhere in the world. And on that subject, there is a VR Phantom the Opera roller coaster at one of the big theme parks in Europe. And you know, I don't think this is a suitable alternative to the Phantom of the Opera as a musical on stage, but it's a nice accompaniment or alternative for fans, especially given that the Broadway production is no longer running. My greatest fear with this was that tourists were going to get confused. And I think it's for the best that it is not called the Phantom of the Opera off Broadway or anything even adjacent because I just had visual of it being sold at tkts and tourists. You, I think probably you have tourists arriving right now in Manhattan. I mean, not right now because it's.

Mickey Jo Theatre (23:02)

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Sasha (24:04)

Well, actually, time difference in any case, I think you probably have tourists arriving regularly still in Manhattan and asking for tickets to go see the Phantom of the Opera, because I think your general tourist doesn't necessarily know that it closed. And they think like Phantom and Wicked and the Lion King are the big Broadway musicals and they don't realize that Phantom is no longer playing at the Majestic. So if they saw the Phantom of the Opera being sold at tkts, they would buy tickets and they would be sent to 57th street and they would find out they're not wearing the right colors, they have the wrong kind of shoes on, they don't have a masquerade mask, and this is not the Phantom of the Opera that they were expecting. That was my greatest fear. So I'm glad that that is not what we are doing. I do think that first and foremost, this needs to be an experience for the Phantom of the Opera fans. I mean, that's the key demographic here, right? I think they're going to have a fairly hard time courting anyone from outside of that particular bubble. I think it's a general rule. They're going to get trade from Phantom fans willing to try immersive or immersive theater fans willing to go try the new Phantom thing, but certainly not a lot of individuals who are alien to either of those concepts. If you don't like immersive theatre and you don't like Phantom of the Opera, then there's no real reason why you would want to go and do the immersive Phantom of the Opera unless it becomes this hugely talked about thing on social media. I'm curious as to what extent people will be allowed to film things and capture content because it has the possibility to go kind of viral. And say what you will about the mainstream popularity of musical theater, but it has the capacity to go viral on social media. We have heard all of those death becomes her trending sounds on TikTok, not to mention the whole Rachel Zegler balcony performance currently happening. And admittedly that one is free and that's a big part of the attraction, is that you can just go and stand outside the Palladium and listen to her sing Don't Cry for me, Argentina RA than having to pay $195 to get into this former art shop in order to have Phantom sing in your face, basically. Although God help me, every time I describe this experience hypothetically, I do get a little bit more intrigued by it. Anyway, all of that to say if this is going to be an experience for the fans, I do wish that it was at a slightly more accessible ticket price because $195 is a lot of money and it's unclear at this point how justifiable that is in terms of of the duration, in terms of what else it gets you. There's a flute of tatinja champagne, so you can add that into the mix and kind of discount it. But then that could also be an optional thing that not everyone may necessarily want to buy into. What happens if you're someone who doesn't drink alcohol? Then it kind of feels like you're paying an inflated ticket price for something that you don't even want in the first place. Not to mention the expenses of potentially having to go out and buy new items of clothing, although presumably everyone owns some something at least semi fancy in black or white, as well as of course the obligatory masquerade mask. Oh my God. Hey. From the future. So in the time it's taken me to edit this video and eventually publish the thing, things have changed. Things have changed, Raoul. And after inquiring minds got in touch with The Phantom himself aka DMed the social accounts we have learned a few more details about Masquerade and allegedly it has now been confirmed that masks will be made complimentary after a little bit of social media pushback. Not just that but but there will be some performances AKA weekend matinees during the six week preview period, which has now been allegedly confirmed to be just a preview period as I suspected at which guests will be able to attend if they are age 16, I believe was the wording though in that same sentence. They still suggested that this was going to be a 21 + event, so not entirely clear what the plan will be after the preview period for all performances. There was also some addressing of my thoughts around the inclusive alcoholic bedroom beverages because apparently non alcoholic options will be available. So already some of my concerns have been addressed. But that's not all. I had another letter from the opera Ghost. Don't worry, I'm not going to try and read out the entire thing because that didn't work well the last time. But he confirmed that Diane Paulus will be directing Masquerade. Essentially it was a press release where they're confirming the creative team and what's going to come next is the cast at such time as this that has not yet been confirmed. I'm hearing more and more exciting names rumored by the day, like legit Broadway credits names. So that's very exciting. You can't imagine that a lot of off Broadway immersive shows would have access to that kind of casting caliber if they weren't like the Phantom of the Opera. But also, if we can just dwell on the Diane Paulus of it all for just a second. Diane Paulus, who, if you don't know, directed not only Waitress, but also the Broadway revivals, the award winning Broadway revivals of Hair and Pippin. She is someone who understands the theatrical atmosphere very, very well. And I think she's a very exciting name to be linked to this production. It gives the whole thing not only huge theatrical credibility, but it also makes it legitimately very exciting. Even perhaps if you weren't interested in the Phantom of the Opera before, maybe you're interested now. Anyway, back to Mickey Jo from the past. But my understanding here is that they are casting legit musical theater performers and that we're going to have Phantom and Christine obviously in the mix. I feel like feel like my version of what I would want immersive Phantom to be is a little different to what everyone else wants from it. Because I think everyone else wants just like the Phantom and Christine, lustful fan fiction moments and the Rowl of it all and the complicated love triangle and the rhapsodic singing and all of the heaving and the capes and the random fedora that he puts on at one point and a little bit of magic and appearing and disappearing. I also think in Nevada, inevitably there is a decent amount of horror just key to the story, really. Like a huge amount of gory and shocking murder and like falling chandeliers and sudden corpses that have been hung from the top of the stage. And yet the immersive Phantom experience I would like to have is getting to meet the managers of the Opera Populaire, getting to hang out in their office as they're trying to deal with the PR nightmare unfolding in real time. Maybe a little bit of a ballet rehearsal with Madame Giry gossiping with Carlotta in her dressing room? I hope might be features of the immersive Off Broadway Phantom experience, but I dare say they're not going to be the priority focus. But at this point, and I'm sure there are going to be a lot of Phantom of the Opera fans in the comments, I am very intrigued once again to know what you think. What do you want immersive Phantom to be? Are you signing up? Are you going to try and get tickets? Is $195 an acceptable price point to you for an immersive experience that might last a few hours for something that's a little more personal and a little more involved than a standard Broadway show? Or do we think that that' reasonably astronomical ticket price? What do we think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. That is all I ask of you. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening. Those have been my thoughts on Masquerade New York, the immersive Off Broadway Phantom experience set to take place later this year for an as yet uncertain amount of time, beginning on a currently uncertain date, but with wildly specific requirements in terms of your attire. As the rest of this news unfolds, you can bet that I will be talking about it here on social media, either right here on YouTube or on podcast platforms where you can subscribe or follow me, or over on the other social media platforms if it's slightly smaller updates, for example, on my Instagram or TikTok pages where you can find me. Also, ickyjotheater. In the meantime, this mask has become surprisingly warm and that's all I have to say. So thank you so much for listening to this theatrical news update and I hope, as always, that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.

Mickey Jo Theatre (31:45)

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