Three decades after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masked phantom first haunted Chapman Music Hall, he’s coming back. Celebrity Attractions is bringing the North American touring production of The Phantom of the Opera to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center for a two-week run from Nov. 18 through Nov. 29, 2026, giving Tulsa audiences their first crack at the show’s reimagined staging.
The engagement marks a return to a theater with a sold-out history. According to TulsaPeople, the production performs at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Chapman Music Hall, with Celebrity Attractions presenting the tour locally. The company first staged the musical in Tulsa in 1996 for a five-week run, and as Tulsa Flyer reports, that original engagement was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s thriller. All 40 performances of that run sold out, according to News on 6, which also reports that the city spent more than a quarter of a million dollars reinforcing the backstage grid and ceiling to accommodate the production’s famous chandelier.
A New Christine Makes Her Tour Debut
This time around, the role of Christine Daaé belongs to Jordan Lee Gilbert, who is making her national tour debut in the part. Per TulsaPeople, Gilbert is the tour’s lead soprano and described playing Christine as a huge honor, noting she came from an opera background and that this tour marks her first. She also told the magazine this will be her first time visiting Oklahoma.
Gilbert’s opera résumé includes roles as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea, according to the official Phantom of the Opera site. A San Diego review from the San Diego Union-Tribune described her as a classically trained soprano with a beautiful, flexible voice and a dancer’s grace onstage, following the production’s stop at the Civic Theatre, which ran through Sept. 13, 2026. She’s joined onstage by Isaiah Bailey as the Phantom and Daniel Lopez as Raoul, rounding out the central love triangle that has driven the story for nearly 40 years.
Keeping her voice ready for eight shows a week — the tour performs six to eight shows weekly, per TulsaPeople — requires discipline. Gilbert maintains her vocal health through hydration, nebulizing, steaming, sleep and vocal rest, the magazine reports. She also travels with a book and items from home, and says finding a coffee shop to visit during each stop matters to her on the road, since the production changes cities every two to three weeks.
Veteran Cast Members Offer Guidance
Gilbert isn’t navigating the tour alone. Lisa Vroman, who plays Madame Giry in the touring production, spent 10 years performing the role of Christine on Broadway and now advises Gilbert on costumes and vocal phrasing, according to TulsaPeople. Other longtime cast members bring decades of experience to the production: Scott Mikita performed on Broadway with Phantom of the Opera for more than 20 years, and Carrington Vilmont, who plays Monsieur André, has been with the show for over 20 years as well. Trista Moldovan and Stephen Tewksbury round out the cast.
The production is directed by Seth Sklar-Heyn, based on the original direction by Harold Prince, according to Broadway.com, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. The outlet reports the touring version is a reimagined take based on the production that opened at London’s His Majesty’s Theatre in 2021, the birthplace of the musical, while still featuring Maria Björnson’s original 1986 design. The show’s creative team emphasizes Christine’s strength, resilience, compassion and agency in this staging, per TulsaPeople.
A Massive Production Rolls Into Town
Moving Phantom of the Opera from city to city is no small logistical feat. The touring production features a 38-person cast and a 14-musician orchestra, Broadway.com reports, and travels with 20 trucks. It takes 38 hours over three days to load the show into a building, and the production includes 1,000 handmade costumes, according to News on 6. The tour launched Nov. 7, 2025, at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, per Broadway.com.
The Tulsa stop is part of a broader six-production Broadway season that Celebrity Attractions is bringing to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center for 2026-27, Tulsa Flyer reports. Celebrity Attractions CEO Kristin Dotson called Phantom the company’s most requested show, describing it as the number one most requested show from its audience, according to the outlet. Broadwayworld.com notes the musical has played to more than 160 million people across 47 territories, 195 cities and 21 languages since it debuted.
Reviews of the reimagined tour have been mixed on design even as they praise the performances. A review from The Daily Californian praised the Masquerade scene’s colorful costumes and dynamic choreography as an absolute embodiment of theatrical grandeur, though the same review criticized inconsistencies in the set design, including its digitally printed staircase and sky backgrounds. Still, the publication concluded the national tour rejuvenated this Broadway classic.
For her part, Gilbert has some modern musical opinions too — she recommended Men at Work’s Who Can It Be Now? as a song that captures the Phantom’s vibe, according to TulsaPeople. She’s also invited Tulsa audiences to meet her at the stage door during the run. Ticket information for the Nov. 18-29 engagement is available at tulsapac.com.
