The Phantom of the Opera has been an ongoing battle between Greg and I. I grew up with a strong attachment to the music when I was a sixth grade chorus accompanist and had to learn “Think of Me” backwards and forwards so that every middle schooler could try to belt out her turn at the song. Eventually, it became the chorus song for the entire sixth grade, and pieces from the rest of it were selected as well. So I had to learn all of those pieces, and listened to the two tape recording until it mysteriously disappeared.
Unfortunately, the only exposure I had to an actual production was a bad community dinner theatre version of, I think, Ken Hill’s Phantom (apparently the original Phantom musical that Weber drew from) and the 2004 movie, which was a field trip that involved a bunch of you bloggers. And between 1990 and 2004, I tried to piece together most of the story in my head from the music highlights but just ended up with huge empty holes in plot.
Greg on the other hand, has seen Phantom twice with emotional scarring and baggage attached to each trip and hated the musical with a passion. He refused to ever take me to see it.
Well, on my birthday, he surprised me with two tickets to the Broadway production, as well as the most priceless gift of all, the willingness to give it one more shot.
And here are things that the “Broadway” production enlightened me on.
• Apparently, Christine does not need a horse to get to the basement level of the opera house.
• Christine does not double as my waitress.
• The Phantom does not play with dolls.
• They did not actually put a frog in Carlotta’s throat.
• There are no borrowed back up dancers from Madonna’s entourage for the song “Point of No Return.”
• The Phantom did not swoosh his cape around like Batman.
• There is no musical number about being a subscriber to the opera which consisted of jazz hands and the lyrics, “Tickets! Tickets! Tickets!”
• The Phantom was not violently gunned down by a mob pack where everyone had a rifle, including chorus girls, dancers, patrons, Raoul etc.
On a side note, the dinner theatre closed down about three months after I saw Phantom there and I own a copy of Joel Schumacher’s Phantom.
So did Greg’s opinion about the Phantom change after seeing it on Broadway?
- Tawn -
You know, he was a good sport. And while it’s still not his favorite, he doesn’t absolutely despise it, and I think he made some discoveries of his own about it.
Greg – What is your take? Your discoveries?
I think coming in a bit older and wiser helped a lot, plus not having very high expectations was advantageous.
Some discoveries I made:
- That while I have seen technical effects similar or better than these, they are based off of the revolutionary staging of Phantom. It was the original.
- Having been to the opera now, I’m aware that they do a remarkable job recreating that atmosphere three times in the show.
- I’m clearer on who they ancillary characters are and how they fit in the plot. (Still, I may never understand who the old geezer is in the beginning who gets all weepy about the monkey-clock-thing).
- “Masquerade” still sucks, no matter how you slice it.
- I light up like a kid on Christmas when there’s a song where three or four people sing over each other (in Phantom it’s the song about the letters, other examples: One Day More in Les Miz, the Beginning to Snow song in Rent).
- Phantom deserves our pathos. Previously I’ve tried to vilify him and stay aligned with the lovers, but that path is really unfulfilling. You need to emphasize the Phantom.
And I did this time, I in doing so, I think I watched it right, if that makes sense, and really enjoyed the production.
Skang: those are brilliant observations….you now know where all the laughing and eye rolling came from…Dolls, Horses, Jazz Hands, Madonna’s Entourage….I’m rolling on the floor.
But yeah, fun for you to see the actually show. The opening blew my mind the first time I saw it…I was in the 5th or 6th row, dead center, so the chandelier (not the one Hasselhoff hit with his head) rose out and up right over my head…it was awesome!!!
Wow, Skang – you brought those horrid memories of that movie SCREAMING back. It was the most hilariously awful night I’ve ever spent at the movies.
Glad you were there.
OMG, this post had me crying, remembering how freakin’ hilarious that movie night was!!! I’m so glad you got to see the real show. I saw it several times in Toronto in my formative years, and that’s why it will always hold a special place in my heart. Much more so than those darn singing CATS.
Greg: I think the old man in the beginning is Raoul, and in seeing the monkey toy at the auction he is reminded of this story from his youth, and the whole show is his memory of that time.
Scotte: Love the Hasselhoff pull!!!
The dinner theatre version of Phantom that you saw WAS NOT Ken Hill’s. So don’t dismiss his version as the crap one you saw at that dinner theatre which closed down!