The tour is still running strong. I saw it in Baltimore, and I thought that the cast was the best I've ever seen (and I've seen it in London, New York, and D.C.)
Yesterday was the official announcement to cast and crew of no further extension.
As far as the shape of the tour, aside from some sound issues last week in Cleveland, it's still in wonderful shape, and I agree with the comment about the fantastic cast
I've never seen the tour and I've asked about this many times without getting an answer, but how do they do the chandelier? Does it just come down from the proscenium? And what about all the candelabras and such that come up in his lair?
Ive seen the tour a few times recently, and its been 10 years or so since Ive seen the Broadway production, but the chandelier is basically handled the same way. It starts onstage, is raised during the overture and is brought down during the Act 1 Finale.
As far as the candles, and candleabras, the tour travels with their own stage floor, which is loaded in for each city, the candles rise out of the floor for the lair/river scenes, and the Candleabras move in from the wings, instead of rising from the floor.
I saw it in April of 2009 in Denver. Saw it on Broadway in the late 80's and wasn't impressed. The show was off and the chandelier didn't drop properly. The tour was really good. I had the chance to sit down with the tour's Advance Manager to talk about the touring production. Here is what I posted on the Denver site. The interview goes for 2 pages.