When Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera finally took its bow on Broadway in 2023, after 35 record-breaking years, many theatergoers thought they had seen the last of the chandelier crashes and shadowy gondola rides. The Majestic Theatre went dark, the Phantom retreated into myth, and New York’s longest-running romance seemed consigned to history.
What no one predicted was that his return would come not in a traditional Broadway house, but in a closed art store — and that it would be even hotter, stranger, and more intoxicating than before.
That’s Masquerade, the new off-Broadway sensation staged inside the cavernous shell of Lee’s Art Shop on 57th Street. Directed by the visionary Diane Paulus, the two-hour, no-intermission experience transforms four floors of retail space into a lavish, immersive world where music, mystery, and Champagne spill into every corner. If Sleep No More met The Music of the Night, the offspring would look a lot like this.
A Theater of Seduction
The adventure begins the moment you arrive. Instead of velvet seats and Playbills, audiences of just 60 are instructed to don masks in shades of black, silver, and white.
Suddenly, you are not just a spectator — you are part of a secret society. From the basement crypts to the rooftop under the stars, Paulus has crafted a dreamscape that feels both intimate and expansive, with audiences gliding together through each scene in a carefully choreographed dance.
It is impossible not to gasp when a violinist — devilishly good, prowling like a phantom of his own — strikes up the overture live in the shadows, bow slicing through the air.
Later, when the chandelier plummets, the crash reverberates so close you feel it in your bones. At another moment, you’re handed a glass of Champagne and swept into a Parisian ballroom that glitters with red velvet and candlelight.
The Cast Behind the Masks
With six Phantoms and six Christines rotating throughout the evening, Masquerade ensures that no two performances are alike. On opening night, Jeff Kready (the Phantom) and Anna Zavelson (Christine) sang mere feet away from the audience with Broadway-caliber power. The intimacy is electrifying — to hear “All I Ask of You” on the open-air roof, with a blast of night wind rushing in, is to feel like you’ve stumbled into a private rehearsal you were never supposed to witness.
Supporting players — Raouls, Madame Girys, even sideshow performers in a circus dungeon sequence — weave in and out of the labyrinth like living pieces of a puzzle. The performances are bold, but the staging ensures no one ever feels out of reach. The Phantom’s story, for once, feels human, even touchable.
Paulus at Her Boldest
Where Masquerade triumphs is in its bold departures. The circus dungeon sequence, for instance, reimagines Erik’s origins with shocking theatricality — fire-swallowers, sideshow freaks, even a nail hammered through a nose. What could have been grotesque is instead revealing, showing the frightened child behind the monster. By the final moments, when our own masks are pulled into the storytelling in a brilliant coup de théâtre, the line “hide your face so the world will never find you” resonates with fresh heartbreak.
Paulus has always excelled at balancing the commercial and the profound. Here, she fuses both seamlessly: the grandeur of Webber’s melodies with the intimacy of immersive theater. She makes the familiar feel brand-new, wringing unexpected tears from songs we’ve heard for decades.
More Than a Tourist Attraction
Yes, the orchestra is mostly canned — a logistical necessity in a show that moves its audience across four floors. But to quibble over that is to miss the magic. Masquerade isn’t trying to replicate Phantom. It’s reinventing it. Every hallway, every candlelit chamber, every escalator ride that jarringly reminds you you’re still in New York becomes part of the journey. It’s like being lost inside the world’s sexiest Whole Foods, only instead of avocados you find chandeliers and aria-singing lovers at every turn.
A Phantom Reborn
By the end, you emerge breathless, disoriented, and strangely moved — as if you’ve been living inside a fever dream of 1881 Paris. The Phantom has not only returned; he has been reborn, stripped of the dust of the Majestic and clothed in the immediacy of immersive theater.
For longtime fans, Masquerade is a thrilling resurrection. For newcomers, it is an intoxicating initiation into one of musical theater’s most enduring romances. Either way, it proves that while The Phantom of the Opera may have vanished from Broadway, his majesty now rules 57th Street.
Verdict: A dazzling, sexy reinvention. Run, don’t walk. This is the hottest ticket in New York.