Letters from Max and Leo

A rave review. No way out. No way out. Please, I can’t go back to jail. I won’t survive in there again. You’ve got to do something, anything. I’m getting calls from little old ladies every five minutes asking about their investments. Soon they’ll figure out I’m lying to them. And these little old ladies are ruthless. You’ve got to do something… anything.

Look, don’t listen to me. I’m not in my right mind anymore. I can’t sleep. I have such terrible nightmares. Just… just read Sheila Sunshine’s review and maybe you’ll learn something that will save us.

Sheila Sunshine's Review

In what could have been another blow to theater-goers, sensibility gains the upper hand over mediocrity in the new Phantom of the Operator. From the swooningly romantic duet “Please Hold (My Hand)” to the show-stopping “Call Center Purgatory,” this is a show that is unafraid to try for the big moment.

The plot follows telephone linesman Jack LaRue as he chases the woman whose voice haunts his nights. He is confronted by the mysterious Phantom in a cellar infested with roaches, and spends the rest of Act I sleuthing for nuggets of information while keeping his antagonist on ice.

He realizes his life isn’t worth a plugged nickel when he’s threatened by a goofball coworker wielding a live wire. He escapes and runs to rescue his cousin Mary Jane Austin, whom he secretly loves. But he is too late, and he discovers the Phantom is his former boss, scarred in an acid attack a decade earlier. The show closes on Jack placing the final nail in his beloved cousin’s coffin.

This is not a subtle musical. Phantom of the Operator is sheer wall-to-wall melodrama, perfectly conceived and executed. You will love every minute of it.

10/10