Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – At 54 Below, HUGH PANARO, in spectacular voice, reflects on his fascinating career on the Broadway stage

• By drediman
• April 30, 2026
• No Comments

Hugh Panaro and I go way back. When I saw the original production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre for the first time way back in 1992, the handsome singing actor was my first Raoul. Years later — after a good number of further Broadway credits under his belt — he returned to the legendary Hal Prince production as the Phantom. Seeing him multiple times in the title role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical over the years, he would emerge as my very favorite Phantom — an intoxicating combination of combustible emotion and full-throttle vocals that animated the misunderstood character with vitality and fierce specificity that I have not seen since (he recently revisited the portrayal in Masquerade, the current immersive incarnation of The Phantom of the Opera).

As such, it was with bated breath that I approached his recent cabaret show at 54 Below. All in all, it was a satisfying evening. Aptly titled Man Without a Mask, the intimate evening found the still dashing leading man reflecting on his long and winding association with the theater, starting with his first exposure to Broadway musicals as a child, namely the unlikely juxtaposed viewings of Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan and the original production of Sweeney Todd. From there, Panaro fondly went down memory lane to recount his major (and not-so-major) appearances on the stage, commencing with his stint as Marius during the original Broadway run of Les Misérables (as with Phantom, he would eventually graduate to the mature leading role of Jean Valjean). Over the years, he’s appeared in productions — some of them fascinatingly short-lived outings that, as a completist, I wish I could have seen — as wide-ranging as the cult Side Show, the massive revival of Show Boat, the Kennedy Center’s storied Sweeney Todd, and very short-lived musicals like The Red Shoes and Lestat.

Throughout the evening (which was smoothly directed by Broadway mainstay Richard Jay-Alexander), he was in cheerful spirits and in spectacular voice. Indeed, no one sounds quite like Panaro, who is in possession of a distinctively sharp tenor voice that cuts through the air like a knife and is capable of both power and sublime delicacy. Some highlights of the evening included stirringly earnest renditions of “Not While I’m Around” from Sweeney Todd and “Why God, Why?” from Miss Saigon — interestingly, two songs he never sang in character onstage. Other memorable numbers were a deeply affecting “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”, Marius’s mournful anthem from Les Miz, as well as his signature version of “The Music of The Night”. His special guest for the evening was his Masquerade co-star (as Madame Giry), the poised and gorgeous Francesca Mehrotra, with whom he wound back the clock by dueting a lovely “All I Ask of You”. Musically, Panaro was expertly supported by his music director Joseph Thalken on keys, as well as Dick Sarpola on bass.

RECOMMENDED

HUGH PANARO: MAN WITHOUT A MASK
Cabaret
54 Below
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Two more shows through May 1