In keeping with any project or show that hits Las Vegas, the budget for the theatre that houses it’s version of Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was as grand as the sets themselves. A massive $40 million went into the custom build theatre at the Venetian. Audiences have been mesmerized by this shorter version of Lloyd Webbers Broadway hit which is now called ‘Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular’ and it is not only the show itself that has them raving about the show but the 1,800 seat theatre with its elaborate seta and special effects too.

The theatre has been built to look very like the Opera Garnier in Paris with red seats and curtains, gold statues and carvings with a hand painted ceiling and eighty foot dome and typical private boxes along the sides of the theatre. There are 70 mannequins placed in each of this boxes are constant spectators, they are dressed in authentic period costume and each of these characters is an individual person as not one of looks alike.

In the centre of the theatre is a chandelier which weighs 2,100 pounds and was designed at a cost of $4.5 million. This centre piece of the hall plays a major part in the show. There are nearly 30,000 crystals that were hand strung to this amazing creation. At the start of the show this chandelier appears to be in four pieces that dramatically reassemble themselves into a single light again.

The execution of this incredible feat is so technologically advanced that it takes 40 computers with navigational software to put it together at the beginning of every performance because at the end of each show the chandelier falls in three sections 45 feet in a few seconds and spectacularly stops just 10 feet above the audience that is seated just beneath it. When it does fall the people seated underneath have no idea that this is going to happen so the effect is to say the least amazing.

Many of the illusions that have been created are the work of Jim Steinmeyer who has worked with David Copperfield in the past. With pyro-technicians who oversee the firework displays that feature in the show and the opera house façade that appears in this version of the Phantom the show keeps the audience enthralled throughout the performance. With a state of the art sound system Andrew Lloyd Webbers music really comes into its own allowing the audience and performers being immersed in the songs that are played by a live 19 piece orchestra.

The special effects of this show leave the entire audience mesmerized at every turn and the lake scenes with the fog that is generated by a specially designed fog machine are no exception. The 43 actors who take part in the show are just a part of the entire crew that it takes to run every performance. There are 70 back stage crew members who each play a vital role in every show.

For spectators who know the Broadway version of the Phantom this show does not disappoint them. It is has been shortened but the music has not altered and the special effects and incredible theatre lends the show a fantastic angle that really gets the audience involved with everything that is happening land anyone who goes to see it will have a experience of a lifetime. It will certainly be a night to remember for the rest of their lives.