I am dubious. Raoul looks very cute in an I'm-about-to-run-off-and-cry sort of way, so that's as it should be, but I'm not wild about the Phantom's voice. Dunno.
posted
I was never a big fan of Phantom... in fact when I saw it live in the mid 90s I was seriously underwhelmed - even tho I was seeing it in what was supposed to be one of its more spectacular incarnations in Sydney. I was unimpressed by the over-amplified vocals - but then I'm biased; I'd only just completed my training in Opera at the conservatorium. I also never really liked Weber's work.... *shrugs*
But this looks like it might really add some of the energy the production needs... looking forward to it.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I dunno. Not craqzy about the Phantom's voice either. He's not Intense enough for me. Raoul and Christine i couldn't care less about, but if the Phantom's not right, nothing's gonna be right.
posted
It's vaguely ironic that I just found this for myself, then came here to see a thread on it. Huh.
I think I could like this Phantom's voice. At first, I was rather unimpressed, but I think he'll be alright. At least he'll be better than that one production's Phantom I saw over the summer...
posted
I'm totally spoiled by Colm Wilkinson, who did the original Canadian cast recording. Every other voice I've ever heard seems dull by comparison. I love this book, I loved the musical. I can hardly wait for this movie. Yay!
posted
How funny - I had no idea there was a movie coming out - Nathan recently discovered my CD it and is utterly fascinated . . .
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posted
For me it was the way he captured Erik. I always felt bad for "poor Erik."
When he sings "The Mirror (Angel of Music)" I can feel Erik's exultation that someone wants to SEE him, KNOW him... Every single person in his entire life has reviled him, and here is this lovely young girl who seems to actually like him. Maybe he is forgetting that she doesn't really know anything about him, because his excitement about it overwhelms him.
When he sings the Phantom's reprise to "All I Ask of You," I can feel his confusion and hurt over her perceived betrayal, and how it turns to anger.
And then, at the very end, his rage and cruelty are transformed when she takes off his mask and somehow conveys to him that "he is not alone." For this, for the first person in his life willing to see him as anything but a monster, he lets her go, and sits alone in the dark, realizing what it really is to love.
Usually my "favourite" version of a song will be the first one I hear frequently. But this wasn't, it was the second or third. I love the book and the extraordinary portrayal of a man forced into the life of a monster. I cannot blame Erik for what he did in his past, not really. Any of anyone, Colm Wilkinson did the best job of giving us the humanity of "poor Erik."
And I still can't wait for the movie.
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posted
Did anyone else read Phantom? It's the story of the phantom of the opera from his point of view and the beginning of his life. It's unashamedly a melodramatic novel, but I LOVE it. It fills in all the details of his backstory, and I just sobbed at the end.
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You know, I never understood Crawford's appeal, and I've even seen him in three productions. The guy just doesn't have that great of a voice.
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posted
kat, I adored Phantom. It was really inventive, the way it imagined what events could have lead to him ending up the way he did.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I really liked it, too. The story with his first love wrung my heart. I was about 16 and not feeling particularly pretty when I read it, so that may have had something to do with it, but I still loved it.
Hmm...I need to read it again.
Added: Grrr...no cheap copies on half.com. The movie must have given everyone else the same idea.
posted
Anyone ever see the Phantom of the Opera non-musical movie? I saw it when I was very young, but I remember loving it.
And it makes me very sad that the best Phantom rendition I ever heard was from a comedian singer on a cruise ship. His Music Of The Night gave me goosebumps like woah. So yeah, not so impressed by this one.
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