It was the day everything changed.
On April 13, 1996, "The Phantom of the Opera" opened for the first time on Wharton Center's stage. Within weeks, Wharton had out-grossed nearly every other theater in North America, breaking sales and attendance records.
Raking in nearly $1 million a week during its eight-week run, Wharton's "Phantom" made more money than any other production of the show - beating out Broadway and Toronto. More than 137,000 people came to see the musical at MSU.
Never before had the Great Hall been so recognized. Never before had such a small Broadway-style market - one of the smallest in the nation - so wowed the establishment.
"The market is just so small," says Wharton Executive Director Bill Wright, the driving force behind bringing "Phantom" to MSU. "A lot of producers will look at us and think it's impossible to do that here.
"But we did."
And Wednesday, one of the world's most renowned musicals returns.
This time, there isn't the same amount of buzz surrounding "Phantom" - as Wright half-jokes, "It's a kind of old hat for us now" - but don't expect any less out of the show's second run.
Wharton Center isn't about to lose its reputation.
And neither is "Phantom."
"It's a phenomenon," says actor Tim Martin Gleason, who plays Raoul. "Everybody feels they have to see it.
"It's really exciting to come into a town and be a part of something that people are so excited about. It's a rare occasion that you see an empty seat in the house with 'Phantom.'"
The show tells the story of the disfigured Phantom (played by Brad Little), who lives beneath the Paris Opera House. For years, the Phantom has controlled the opera house, manipulating the owners with threats and acts of violence while writing beautiful operas for production.
He has his eyes set on young Christine Daaé (Julie Hanson), whom he secretly takes as his singing student. He soon falls in love with her, but she pledges her love to her childhood companion Raoul, enraging the Phantom.
The show comes complete with pyrotechnics, a falling chandelier and a love story - quite literally something for everyone.
"It's interesting to hear what different people have to say about the show," says Gleason, who joined the touring version of "Phantom" about a year ago. "Everybody sees it from a different angle."
That variety has helped "Phantom" earn acclaim as one of the most popular musicals of all time. The show has earned 20 major theater awards from around the globe, including two Olivier Awards, an Evening Standard Award, seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critic Circle Awards.
It's an awe-inspiring record, even for those in the show.
"I remember my first day in 'Phantom,' says Gleason, who describes himself as a "bridge-and-tunnel" kid who used to make jaunts from his New Jersey home to Broadway. "I was standing there on stage, I was just sitting there thinking, 'Holy shit, I'm in 'Phantom.''
"What's so great is it's so validating to the masses, to the people. I don't come from an artistic world. No one in my family is an artist and I was in the business world for five years. One thing people can identify with is the 'Phantom of the Opera.'"
And the touring troupe cast takes its responsibility of carrying on a classic very seriously. Despite productions around the world, "Phantom" continues to sell out shows in return locations - no matter how many times it goes back.
"The people in charge are not resting on their laurels with 'Phantom,'" Gleason says. "You read all the reviews of 'Phantom' and they're still as strong as they were in the beginning."
That's what Wharton Center is hoping for. Tickets are available for the show's four-week run, but no one knows how long they'll last.
"We'd always like to do just as well as we did last time," Wharton spokesman Bob Hoffman says. "It's a matter time will tell."
And if time is on Wharton Center's side, the venue could build on the solid reputation for Broadway-style productions it soundly set six years ago.
"We built a really huge reputation on 'Phantom of the Opera' and we've been able to retain it," Hoffman says. "It takes you back for a minute because you think Lansing is a smaller town, but people know us."
