All I ask of Hugh: Panaro brings his magical 'Music of the Night' to San Francisco

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 11/30/24 at 2:08am

Hugh Panaro might be best-known for his over 2,000 performances in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' on Broadway, but last night he made his San Francisco cabaret debut at Feinstein's at the Nikko. With his beautifully soaring vocals and spellbinding sense of drama, Panaro kept everyone in thrall with his riveting renditions of ''Bring Him Home'' from ''Les Miserables,'' ''The Music of the Night'' from ''Phantom'' and ''Johanna'' from ''Sweeney Todd.''

Panaro played Anthony in ''Sweeney Todd''' at the Kennedy Center in 2000. Sondheim had summoned him and said: ''You know every word of my score, don't you?'' Panaro eagerly nodded, in deep appreciation. Sondheim said: ''Stop mouthing the lyrics to everything else everyone's singing.''

For me, the highlight of the night was Panaro singing ''Right Before My Eyes,'' a glorious song that Elton John and Bernie Taupin had written for him, for the short-lived ''Lestat.'' At our 2007 ''Leading Men'' benefit for Broadway Cares, I asked Panaro to perform it (video below) and he happily obliged. Alas, rights issues have kept him from recording it for his wonderful new solo CD, ''Man Without a Mask,'' but he still sings it live and now gives it a fine falsetto-ey finish.

Panaro has one more night (Nov. 30) at Nikko's in S.F.

Plus, he plays Dec. 5 at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood and Dec. 7 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHLug4bw-MI

Updated On: 11/30/24 at 02:08 AM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/30/24 at 4:20am

Sounds like a great concert!  I've seen Hugh three times live, and have long been a fan, and somehow it's never been on my radar that he is indeed probably best known for Phantom.  I saw him in two incredible Seattle productions--Sunday in the Park with George (which used the actual sets and I think much of the direction from the Menier/Broadway revival) and a really strong Company that actually got permission to return to the 1970 book as opposed to the currently licensed 1996 revised version--a smart move.  Met him briefly by chance (not stage dooring) after Company and had a brief talk mostly about Sondheim--he does indeed know his stuff.

Oh, the third show was Lestat in San Francisco, which I honestly am really glad I saw, and I thought he was as good as could be and I probably actually liked the show--at least the SF version--better than most seemed to, but yeah it was still a mess that overwhelmed the poor cast.