A big double-banger: "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Blue Suede Shoes."

"The Phantom" has arrived in Cleveland...and what a Phantom he is, even if he did make a bit of a detour from "the barricades" in the streets of Paris of the 1830s (a setting for "Les Miserables") to the city's Opera House of 1881 (where he now dwells)!

Elvis' "kids" knocked 'em dead in Detroit! Cleveland Ballet's "Blue Suede Shoes" was a smash at its world premiere here and know the Ballet's "road show" is getting raves from Detroit, the first stop on its international tour! First, "The Phantom of the Opera." (The State Theatre through June 7; tickets, $16-$66: 241-6000.)

Craig Schulman is the Phantom in this U.S. National Tour cast.

Schulman comes to this role of Erik (yeah; that's the Phantom's name) from the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. His long-running performance in that musical from the Victor Hugo classic established him as one of the favorite English-language Valjeans.

(Some may recall from the Channel 25 broadcast not too long ago that Schulman was among 19 performers who are among those who have played Valjean in productions around the world, and who were part of the big finale of the 10th Anniversary Performance of Les Mis at Royal Albert Hall in London. Schulman does the final 12 seconds of "Do You Hear the People Sing" in those closing moments.)

It is not always easy to make the transition from one smash hit to another. Even Colm Wilkinson, who also has played Valjean and The Phantom, has critics, who have difficulty "seeing" him as The Phantom after so many indelible performances as Valjean.

Schulman also joins two other musical favorites in the Phantom role in North America: Ethan Freeman now has the lead in the eighth (or is it now the ninth?) year of Phantom in Toronto, and Peter Karrie is scheduled for the Vancouver production.

"Phantom" and "Cats" are the two big money-makers for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Really Useful Group" and its American counterpart, "Really Useful Theater Company." For his lordship, it is well that Phantom is doing so well; some other Webber-empire productions are not or have not been financial successes.

But enough of that.

"The Phantom" and that awfully big chandelier and the underground labyrinth and Erik's lair beyond the lake all come together on The State Theatre stage (and under it) for the performances. Cleveland has waited for the return for a long time.

In Detroit, they were waiting, too, for a big production.

And reviewers say the Motor City music-lovers were on their feet, cheering and banging their hands together for Cleveland Ballet's "Blue Suede Shoes," the rock ballet to the Elvis Presley recordings.

The show was a blockbuster in Cleveland, and is obviously off to a good start on the international tour that will take it to at least nine cities this year and in 1998. (It was supposed to do a 3-day engagement at Cleveland's Music Hall before the tour, but that was cancelled when Ballet Artistic Director Dennis Nahat decided the show just wasn't ready. From the reported Detroit reaction, the show certainly is ready now.)

It's a "reallllllllly big shew" (with apologies to Ed Sullivan) that cost a million-dollars-plus to stage. Of course, it has had to be scaled down to fit five moving vans and sometimes smaller stages for the tour, but Plain Dealer dance critic Wilma Salisbury says that "downsizing" has worked: "The touring version looks almost identical to the...production that premiered last spring at the State Theatre on Playhouse Square."

So, on Playhouse Square and from Playhouse Square: two musical biggies to compliment such other "openings" as baseball seasons in Cleveland and Akron (with its new Canal Park), the Louis Stokes Wing of Cleveland Public Library and the new and new-concept-in-healing tower at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.

Other stuff:

"The Legacy...The Promise" continues through May 17 at Bolton Theatre of Cleveland Play House. It's the Anne Frank photo exhibit and stage performance.

And those "Eggs" are still bringing 'em in at The Cleveland Museum of Art. "Faberge in America" is drawing about 17,000 visitors a week; it will be at the Museum through May 11.

Now, back to that dude in the white mask:

"Angel of Music!

"Guide and guardian!

"Grant to me your glory!"

OTHER STORIES by John Herrington

RETURN TO Cleveland, The New American City