Thursday and today I am at the Venetian reporting a few stories on a convention of "Phantom of the Opera" fans for what is being dubbed the first-ever "Phantom Fan Week." Actually, the people I spoke to Thursday think it is the first-ever "Phantom of the Opera" convention, and some of these people should know, as they know this show the way I obsess on Bob Dylan.

Later today I interview Broadway legend Hal Prince. But the highlight for pure spectacle happened Thursday night when cast and fans mingled, with both in costume (pictured), at a masquerade ball modeled on a scene in the show. The dedication of the fans to this show was on full display. And the range of people was greater than I expected. I spoke to a recent college graduate who came from Boston dragging her mother because none of her twentysomething friends could afford the trip right now. She told me that even her roommates are taken aback by her dedication to "Phantom," which includes a chandelier bedspread. "But here I feel like I'm with people who really understand why this story and music touches me so much," she said. Then I met a 69-year-old retiree who was dressed as one of the characters, a soldier, and he had done the research I associate not with the theater but with Civil War reenactments to make his costume "more" authentic than the one used in the show.

Today, almost as much as interviewing Prince, I am looking forward to talking to a woman who runs a site dedicated to just one of the show's characters, Meg. On Thursday, I interviewed the actress, Brianne Kelly Morgan, who plays Meg in the Las Vegas production of "Phantom," and Morgan was very excited to meet this ultimate expert on her part and even a little nervous about the expert's judgment from seeing the show the night before. "I like to play Meg as a more feisty character," Morgan said. Thinking of the Meg fan site operator, she added, "I think she liked my approach. I hope she did."