Slider Photos Credit Luis Suarez
Hold my champagne flute, please…
When you are asked to dance by a masked man in jester type regalia, you leap at the chance. As he twirls you, all memories are forgotten of how less than ten minutes ago you were having misgivings about donning the requisite cocktail attire in freezing temperatures in order to attend the show.
We had arrived in this grand and festive dance hall after listening to a violinist (Nikita Yermak) serenade us with the transporting tunes of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. Some two hours later, looking back, it seems super-obvious that someone would grasp that Webber’s score almost screams an invitation to immerse us in another world. It was Randy Weiner who first heard the call of the music; it was Director Diane Paulus who took the spark and made it visceral.
We are wearing lace black masks provided to us upon entry and are expertly ushered from room to room with what feels like a full platoon of white lace mask wearing butlers. The music enchants more than usual because we are often just two arm’s lengths away from The Phantom (Telly Leung, in this performance) and Christine (Haile Ferrier, in this performance). We are so close we can sometimes feel the vibrato of their voices in our bones— WOW!
MASQUERADE Detailing of Another World Astounds
As we are swept into this story of romance and horror, we segue into new corners of the gothic take where the talented supporting cast is able to show their stuff. The Phantom’s back story is fleshed out to show us the carnival freak show where he had labored as a boy. It was here that his murderous ways were cultivated. There we not only are regaled by dancers but by a wince and cringe making fire eater (Joseph Kerr) as just one part of the cruelty unleashed scene.
Slider Photos Credit Andy Henderson
You too may feel a desire to run back to see the many ingenious mechanical sculptures we are rushed past in order to enter the Phantom’s lair. There are dozens in the pathway, and one of the white masked butlers noting your gaping tells you on the q.t. that the Phantom is quite the inventor. We mistakenly think that the sculpture at the portal— a mannequin head crashing back and forth against a mirror—ends this sequence. Instead, two dancers become mechanical marionettes, with studied jerking arms and neck choreography. This is one of countless moments when we are stunned anew at how every detail, every microsecond, every shadow and every line has been considered by the creative team. They want to transport us to another world, and they succeed, and then some.
Masquerade sets a new standard for immersive theater. The previous musicals and plays you’ve seen where actors surround you at your cocktail table seem downright primitive in comparison. Masquerade is not to be missed.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
CAST:
Baby Byrne, 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, Hugh Panaro, Chris Ryan, Kyle Scatliffe, Paul Adam Schaefer, Clay Singer, Phumzile Sojola, Jeremy Stolle, Kaley Ann Voorhees, Nik Walker, Andrew Wojtal, Kevin Zambrano, and Anna Zavelson.
CREATIVE TEAM:
Shai Baitel, 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, Tori Sparks, Ben Stanton, and William Waldrop.
WHEN:
Thru September 6, 2026
WHERE:
218 West 57th Street
New York, New York
TICKETS:
For more information and tickets visit the MASQUERADE website.
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
