The truckload of equipment recently stolen from the touring production of The Phantom of the Opera has been recovered. The missing trailer was discovered April 30 afternoon abandoned behind a building in a Nashville, TN, strip mall. The truck's tires were stripped, but the equipment, which included speakers and cables, remained locked inside. The trailer disappeared from a Nashville storage lot sometime between March 28, when Phantom closed in that city, and April 17. Its theft forced producers to rent $80,000 in replacement equipment for its upcoming date at Raleigh, N.C.'s Memorial Auditorium.
Laura Eichholz, associate production manager for the tour, theorized that the thieves were never interested in the theatrical apparatus. "I think they just wanted the tires," she told Playbill On-Line. "It would have been an easy lock to cut."
