PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - "The Music of The Night" THRU "Prima Donna" [UNEDITED]
Added 2025-02-09 21:46:38 +0000 UTCWe see a rougher side of the Phantom!
Comments
I would say that Phantom is in the early (and possibly peak) modern era of musical theater, alongside Les Miserables and Into the Woods. The "pop" sound started in the 70s but solidified in the 80s. Also, this is the 25th-anniversary cast which took many members from both Broadway and West End for several performances and features some of the best voices to perform in the show recently.
Tyler Cloar
2025-02-26 04:14:32 +0000 UTCWill you be reacting to more Phantom soon?
Boo
2025-02-26 03:08:05 +0000 UTCChristine in the book is around 20, a mistranslation made her out to be 15. Still highkey grooming behavior to teach a teenager and fall in love with her, but still - I think Ramin and Sierra having the least age gap in any cast I’ve seen really helps me root for the phantom but I loved reading your other points too😌✨
Harace Fynch
2025-02-25 21:41:45 +0000 UTCCarlotta is so valid in her outrage too, because in the original book Christine is literally 15, (and the phantom in his 50’s, which, ew) so she’s being passed up and turned away in favour of a literal child 😭 Also! Phantom was deformed from birth, and I’m pretty sure the description given by Buquet of his skin being yellow parchment and his nose being a ‘black hole’ is very close to, if not exactly, the description given of the phantom in the book. He’s understandably horrified by the thought of anyone seeing his face, since he’s been ridiculed and rejected by even his mother due to his deformity, which is why his reaction to Christine removing his mask was so intense. They have to tone down how deformed he is for the musical to allow for the singer to sing to his best abilities, since the prosthetics and mask can really impact the movement of his mouth and how much freedom he has with that movement. I’m so hyped for the next video!! Edit to add: Fact checked, and yes he was born deformed! And the description matched. His skin is described as being yellow and dead, his eyes sunken, and his nose missing. There’s no reason given for the deformity, such as a named birth defect or illness, but he was indeed born that way, and his mother abandoned him for it. In the original, he also wears a full face mask, but that obviously cannot be done in the musical since it would impact sound and how emotions are perceived by the audience.
Katie
2025-02-25 09:47:42 +0000 UTCcertain musical productions stream live video of the conductor to monitors that are visible from the stage, so that they can cue actors (and musicians that need to be put into time out in another room) when need be. I do not know if they did that here, as the orchestra in this production was above and behind the actors and stage, but i know its a technique used in certain professional contexts
Beedul
2025-02-23 21:49:53 +0000 UTC"Your Obedient Servant" was a very common way to close off letters. ALW got all these ideas you're making note of from actual opera. I used to be so unimpressed with POTO because I grew up listening to opera (because my parents were classical musicians) and didn't see what the big deal was, but as I've grown older I've come to understand that it's not just a slightly lackluster opera wrapped up in a vaguely different wrapping with some special effects and presented as something novel, it's a musical with many operatic influences. Which is its own kind of hybrid, just like rock opera (Jesus Christ Superstar) or jazz opera (Porgy and Bess). But because it's *not* an opera, it is allowed to have just as many pop influences, which make the tunes very hummable and memorable. It's really very brilliant. If you love this, you'll love Les Miserables.
Amy Golightly
2025-02-23 05:00:13 +0000 UTCIf you thought Music of the Night here is beautiful you should hear Michael Crawford sing it
Bec Nolan
2025-02-22 22:45:12 +0000 UTCAnyone know when we can expect to see the next episode? 👀
Scott Boyd
2025-02-22 21:34:12 +0000 UTCOh yeah this is definitely possessive love. I mean there’re red flags all over the place, but this was the start of the “ohhhh the villain yes please” thing in books and movies for a lot of people (me included😂😂😂). Though that is not to say that it’s not insanely problematic
Sarah Handberg
2025-02-22 20:59:15 +0000 UTCI believe the story, if I remember correctly, it’s said that it appears to be a large port wine birthmark (a bright purple/red birth mark on the face that varies in size) that was attempted to be removed as a child in a botched procedure that left the deformity the made his parents abandon him as a baby and leaving him an outcast. One thing I do like more in the movie musical adaptations is the scene when Madame Giry is talking to Raoul about her history with the phantom and how he came to be in the opera house. It explains his genius and also why he sees other people the way he does.
Liz Massie
2025-02-19 03:41:49 +0000 UTCI cannot overstate the extent to which “Music of the Night” launched an entire generation of elder millennials into villain attraction. We did not stand a chance against that voice even wrapped in red flags as it is. Now that I’m older though, and looking through a historic lens, I find myself feeling bad for Carlotta. The shelf life of an opera diva was extremely short and the post-career livelihood extremely precarious. She’s clearly not a nice woman, but she’s just as clearly good at her job and the minute she objects to unsafe work conditions, the owners try to replace her with a younger model. And this random stranger is sending her threats. And if she stops singing it’s unclear how she’s going to support herself. I’d be unhinged, too.
Andrea Hunt
2025-02-17 23:53:47 +0000 UTCPrima Donna is one song I recommend listening to from the Original 1986 London recording because the sound mixing is a little different and you can hear Raoul, Meg and Madame Giry a lot more clearly and get a better sense of what they're all singing. I love this version of the production but that's one song I actually prefer in the original recording.
Christen
2025-02-17 18:06:22 +0000 UTCEven if Lin got the "your obedient servant" from POTO, that phrase isn't from this. It was just how people used to end letters back in the 1700's to the 1800's. So I highly doubt he just 'got it from this'. He did a lot of extensive research for Hamilton and even read some of the letters that were preserved. Which, as you might have guessed, a lot of them ended by saying "your obedient servant."
Bub
2025-02-17 04:05:48 +0000 UTCPoor Christine, she's young and naive and fully believes the "Angel" was sent by her father's spirit to watch over and guide her. She trusts him implicitly and he's been grooming her. She fainted at the end of Music of the Night because she's exhausted and overwhelmed. She had to learn the lead role in the opera at the last minute, overcome her stage fright, perform, re-meet a childhood friend, and had all THIS happen with her "Angel" she DESERVED that nap! lol
Peramia
2025-02-16 06:48:43 +0000 UTCJust be even more amazed that Ramin (phantom) is not a trained singer as such he is self tought. Even more amazing really my fav songs are music of the night you can see why a young impressionable girl could be swayed to love/lust with that song, all I ask if you a very typical love song and maskarade
Liz Lilliman
2025-02-14 20:32:34 +0000 UTCAnother note: I haven’t noticed if they do it here, but some shows have the orchestra situated in such a way that the conductor can mark time for the actors on stage for scenes like ‘Notes’ where they are speak-singing or singing without musical accompaniment. If you watch more pro-shots you might be able to spot that happening.
Tessara Dudley
2025-02-11 08:15:41 +0000 UTCA quick note: Erik (the ‘Phantom’) has a very minimal deformity in the musical—possibly due to the limits of stage makeup or the difficulties more extensive prosthetics might introduce for a singer, but in the book on which it is based his looks were considerably more severe. Dude actually has no nose and looks way more corpse-like, and he uses prosthetics and masks to hide it. He had a tragic childhood—his mother abused him and called him a monster—so he can be VERY sensitive about his looks. They kept some of that characterization for the show, although it doesn’t always feel earned, which I think you noticed in ‘I Remember’/’Stranger Than You Dreamt It’ here.
Tessara Dudley
2025-02-11 07:54:43 +0000 UTCYour read on the phantom is so interesting to me. I'm only going to share my thoughts on him I had up to this point in the story, but I always felt that his "love" is rather possessive! He calls Christines debut his own triumph. And then in the title song he literally says "my power over you grows stronger yet" - it always felt kinda icky to me... And then, when Christine goes "off script" and takes of his mask? He becomes violent immediately. I don't know, that just doesn't read love to me. More like he sees Christine as this pretty thing he owns...
PumpkinSparks
2025-02-10 18:34:09 +0000 UTC"I remain your obedient servant" was a pretty widely-used phrase for probably centuries, so Lin might've gotten it from Phantom, but it so easily could've just been a historically accurate reference
Magnus Taliesin
2025-02-10 18:03:43 +0000 UTCSignet rings, which were really the only classically fashionable ring type for men around the 19th-20th century (other than a wedding ring) were traditionally worn on the pinkie of the non-dominant hand. The Phantom, I think, wore it on his dominant right hand here (the hand which he used to push away Christine's face). Interesting choices
Balazs Foldes
2025-02-10 08:36:04 +0000 UTCFeel better and have a good time on your trip! I'm so happy you are loving Phantom! I look forward to the next session!
logicaldreamer
2025-02-10 07:33:53 +0000 UTCThis is so awesome!! If you have time after this, I definitely recommend the movie version. It's definitely different since it's film versus stage, but it also has some flashbacks of how the Phantom grew up!
Kjrsten Schindler
2025-02-10 01:42:39 +0000 UTCMy favorite songs are the two songs at the end that have the word Down in the titles.
WatersOfBorvo
2025-02-10 01:03:17 +0000 UTCPlease feel better soon! Don't push yourself though if you need to rest. I can't wait for you to get to the opening of act 2 - I love that song and another in act 2 (I don't want to say names if you haven't read all names of the tracks)
Danika Wolfbaine
2025-02-09 23:21:59 +0000 UTCI hope you feel better soon, Casper!
Kory Misun
2025-02-09 22:19:48 +0000 UTC
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