My "25th" Phantom Experience

I first got introduced to Phantom of the Opera and in passing at that, when I first saw the video of “All I Ask Of You” with Sarah Brightman and Cliff Richard on local TV. I felt the song stood out and thought that it was nice for a musical sounding song to have a video and be on heavy rotation on local MTV-like programs. The voice-over mentioned that it was currently a song being performed in a musical called Phantom of the Opera but as it was the 80’s, only the song registered and not the scope of the work. It didn’t make me want to find more about the show and all I knew of the Phantom was the famous Lon Chaney horror movie. I was a big fan of horror movies back then and still am to this day. I remembered swiping a hardbound book from our school library about famous movie monsters and horror movies that figured prominently in the early days of Universal and other movie studios up to the late 70s and early 80’s. Of course I brought this book wherever I was and still to this day hoped to have at least remembered the title of the book before guilt took me over and I returned it to the library after.

Then I happened to listen to the cast recording (on tape then) complete with a Xerox copy of the libretto through my cousin who recently then moved to Canada. It was a package that I was slated to pass onto her best friend here but thought that I might as well listen to it. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into I swear. And that changed my life. Well, perhaps that’s a little too dramatically put. But rather, that changed the way I looked at cast recordings and opened my ears and eyes to the world of musical theatre. Growing up listening to movie soundtracks and the film versions of Camelot, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, Carousel and others, I naturally equated musicals to film and not strictly as a stage show that wows audiences every night both on London’s West End and on Broadway I New York. I fell in love with the score and the show and imagined how it could’ve looked on stage. I mean, to see the boat and the lake to Phantom’s lair, the opulent Paris opera house and of course the crashing Chandelier.

My cousin did me a big thing that time when she sent that package over and allowed me to listen to it first. She then started sending me clips of Phantom articles whenever she could and shared me her stories of watching the show in Canada as performed by Jeff Hyslop. (Gosh, can’t believe I still remember the name as I write this and so I need to look for the souvenir program she gave me) Like the elusive Phantom who was so much into Christine, I was obsessed with the show. Everything and anything I can get and have in association with it, I accepted gladly. I hoarded and collected. From pamphlets to finally reading the Gaston Leroux book and writing a review of it for my English class in college, everything back then for me had something to do with the Phantom. And seeing that I would never get the chance to see the show as no one in my family was into it as much as I was, I thought I would relegate myself with footages and books that I can get my hands on.

In the process of discovering musical theatre, I soon I found myself discovering other works of Andrew Lloyd Webber, like Evita, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar and others. I also found myself loving the angelic voice of Sarah Brightman and thought how lucky of Andrew to be married to someone like that. Of course, the show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical as well as the Tony and has been seen by millions around the world. I finally got to see the show in 1998 when I visited and met my dearest and special friend, Richard Alpert, and was moved by it immensely and only hoped that it could be staged here locally. Watching Phantom then was a memorable experience. I felt at the time that I was the only one in the world who has not seen it for it has already been running then both on London and on Broadway for 12 years.

Fast forward to another and little over 12 years after and another musical milestone for me happened and made my weekend just last week as I watched the 25^th anniversary concert of the show in the cinema. It was a treat to see the film as it featured the current stars of the musical’s sequel, Love Never Dies, in the two lead roles; namely Ramin Karimloo (portrayed Phantom in London) and Sierra Boggess, who also played Christine in New York and originated the role Ariel in Disney’s Little Mermaid on Broadway. What made the concert a true celebration was in fact that not only was it not a sung-through celebration unlike the past two Les Miserables concert performances but was actually a performance celebration complete with moving set pieces and big screen projections serving as complete backdrops! What a treat for others who have yet in their lifetime to see the show live on stage!

The staging in itself was already a wonder to see but to see it on the big screen and all other elements of live production come together like the lights, the sets, live orchestra and the audience cheering and being moved and swooned by the performances, it was literally the best show in town ever! Ramin played the Phantom with such intensity and passion that I found myself in tears at certain parts of the musical. And to think this was just in Act One! Michael Crawford played Phantom like he was an enigma to himself and demanded love and attention because he was a genius but Ramin’s was more human, I felt. His Music of the Night sequence came off as a man who has been given by providence the chance to behold and have this sense of beauty upfront and yet afraid to grab it. His pain and betrayal at the end of the first act after having been “duped” was so palpable that although it is a given that audiences root for the Phantom because he is the star, I found myself rooting for him because we know how it is to want to have someone love us, only to find out that they can’t do the same.

Sierra’s singing was pure brilliance and was a talent to behold and truly embodied the gem that is Christine. Had she been the one cast in the movie version, I felt it would have done the movie more justice. The character of Christine for me, should already have the “Voice” within her to do justice as Carlotta’s replacement and to star in the musical within the show, “Don Juan Triumphant”. Sierra, apart from Sarah who originated the role, was the perfect Christine and the perfect choice to essay the role in this memorable celebration. And with the chemistry that Ramin and Sierra had in Love Never Dies, I guess it was apt and fitting to establish that connection and chemistry because the concert itself will be available on home video soon as well as Love Never Dies itself! Can you believe that?

Now apart from Ramin and Sierra the cast was just wonderfully picked. Hadley Fraser, the actor playing Christine’s beau Raoul Vicomte de Chagny was also strong and I felt that vocally and in his  portrayal there was ruthlessness there that wasn’t in the original Steve Barton role. Now that was what I was picking up then when I first listened to the cast recording. How Steve Barton sounded and vocally portrayed the dashing, protective and not to mention rich French Vicomte is what I imagined to be portrayed onstage. 

At this point I suddenly remembered a line from the Prince Charming character in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, “I was raised to be charming not sincere.” Could there be actually some truth to this? Could all or if not most “royalties” or important people have this sort of take on themselves? Because if it were so, then that explains the 180 degree turn in character for Raoul in the Phantom sequel that got most of us in a tizzy and scratching our heads looking for the warm, dashing and loving Raoul in it. That he was never that protective and truthfully loving of Christine for she was just a prize for him to earn and aptly befitting a prominent member of the Parisian society. How bourgeois. But that’s what I picked up from Hadley’s portrayal and why I knew I had to listen to Love Never Dies again upon getting home.

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And as if it weren’t enough to have the perfect cast assembled and the audience rising to their feet at the end of the show, they had to bring out members of the original London team and cast, including Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman who delighted the audience by signing the title song as an encore. As age would have it, her voice is not as bell-like as before and was off to a slow and shaky start at the beginning as if the notes were too low for her to reach. But when the scales began, Sarah was able to redeem herself and she sounded just like the original recording. Michael Crawford, unfortunately, was not asked to sing. I quickly wondered why until Nixon, my highschool batchmate and fellow Lloyd Webber fan, remembered reading that Crawford was recuperating from some illness or had just come out of surgery. So I guess to address that, and to have an encore for the encore they brought out 4 more actors who played the iconic role in the past; namely Colm Wilkinson (yes, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables), Anthony Warlow (the Australian Phantom), and two more whom I didn’t know.

All in all it was indeed a celebration that celebrated the greatness of the show and for me topped and surpassed the Les Miz 25^th which was merely a sung through and even had the misguided notion of attracting a younger market to the show by casting (badly and poorly at that), a Jonas brother to portray the role of Marius. Michael Ball originated the role and only an actor of that vocal calibre and intensity and sensitivity can and should do the role.

Now with the local run of the anniversary concert over, the time is nigh to wait for the dvd of the show of which I will get a copy. But watching it at home will never compete with the delight and the moving experience of watching that celebration in the cinema and complete with a 20 minute intermission in between acts like a real musical! Andrew Lloyd Webber truly has revived and has given new life to the British musical theatre. And Phantom for me has certainly given my love and appreciation for musicals the much needed boost and maintenance doses it needs to thrive and influence me both as a singer and as a composer.