Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts is opening a student production of The Phantom of the Opera on Friday, and this is not a scaled-down school version. The show involves roughly 230 costumes dressing 74 performers, 37 wigs, and a four-week production build that is four times longer than the academy's usual turnaround.
The production opens Friday at the Huntington Beach Union High School District Auditorium and runs for two weekends, with a running time of two hours plus intermission, according to the Los Angeles Times. Tickets run from $18.50 to $28.50 including fees and are available online at hbapa.org/see, per the same report. Tim Nelson directs this staging. HBAPA itself operates as a magnet program within the Huntington Beach Union High School District, embedding a full performing arts academy inside a traditional high school setting.
A Four-Week Build and a Century-Old Stage
Getting those 230 costumes stage-ready took real logistical lifting. About one-third of the costumes are rented, the Times reports, and the rental terms restricted the crew from using a lot of machine stitching on those pieces. Costumer Miku Rogaski reported that she personally completed roughly 20 costume alterations in just two days during the production's four-week build.
One costume carries extra weight: Christine's nightgown from the original production will appear in the HBAPA staging, a tangible link between this student run and the musical's history. Kylie Schnaas said the production team's goal is to keep the show accurate to the source material while adapting it to fit the theater's particular space and equipment. That theater is itself a milestone this year — the Huntington Beach Union High School District Auditorium was built in 1926, making 2026 its centennial, according to the Huntington Beach Union High School District.
Immersive Effects and a Cast Reliving Its Own History
Beyond costuming, the production aims to create immersive audio and lighting effects that extend throughout the auditorium, not just on stage. Wig designer Kylie Aviles reported the show required 37 wigs to complete the cast's transformations. It's a level of technical ambition consistent with HBAPA's recent track record — its 2024 staging of Singin' in the Rain, held in the same auditorium, famously brought actual falling water onto the stage for its Act One finale, per the Times' earlier coverage of that production.
For sophomore Antonio Lopez, who plays the Phantom, the show carries personal history. He attended HBAPA's previous Phantom of the Opera production back in 2019 with his family, and now calls this new staging the biggest production of his career so far. Cole Johnson plays Raoul, while Madisson Harkey and Addison Shay are double-cast as Christine Daaé. Addison Shay said the musical balances chaos with kind, quieter moments, and expressed hope that audiences will come away reflecting on their own lives.
Diva Energy and a Shared Stage Legacy
The role of Carlotta is shared between Bella Tafua and Riley Moser. Tafua described Carlotta as the biggest diva you'll ever meet, and said she drew inspiration for the role from her performance in Hello, Dolly! the previous spring. That 2019 HBAPA staging of Phantom that Lopez once watched as an audience member earned high marks at the time — The Orange Curtain Review praised its use of digital backdrops, fog and pyrotechnics, calling the overall result a very impressive production.
The timing adds another layer: 2026 marks 40 years since The Phantom of the Opera first premiered, and the musical is celebrating that milestone on London's West End, where, as The Guardian notes, the show was revamped during COVID-era theater closures while staying true to the production created more than four decades ago. The original stars Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman reunited during a special curtain call at a London show, and the touring production also played Segerstrom Center this past August. For the HBAPA students opening their own run Friday, the anniversary is less a spotlight than a backdrop — the real story is a school auditorium turning 100, a cast of teenagers, and 230 costumes finally ready for the stage.
