Phantom of the Opera: Mostly Original Broadway, some 25th

[cahn]

So the 25th Anniversary edition of Phantom of the Opera came up on Spotify Radio, and I ended listening to about half an hour of it (the last half hour, so I could get the revised ending) and then giving it up and going back to the original Broadway recording. And then I felt the need to write a lot about it.

Is it my imagination, or has Broadway, at least big-production Broadway, gotten a lot more… emotional… in the last twenty-five years? There was just so much aaaaaangst in the 25th-anniversary recordings of both POTO and Les Mis that I feel wasn’t in the original (and which I wasn’t really a fan of). It’s almost like they feel that if they don’t shriek and wail that we won’t actually believe that they’re feeling any real emotion.

Anyway, it’s interesting to me that in terms of the musical itself, I’ve only gotten more rabid about Les Miserables, while POTO has not aged well in my reaction to it. POTO is kind of a terrible story, boring narratively (oh hey love triangle, never seen that one before!) and thematically incoherent, and full of Relationship Fail. (Even when we were kids, my sister and I used to make fun of “I must go! …Order your fine horses!” It never, I think, even occurred to us to take Christine/Phantom seriously.) And worst of all where I’m concerned, the music is just so boring (because let’s face it, I will still listen to your musical if it has terrible plot and no themes and horrible messages about relationships). I present to you Music of the Night… Masquerade… need I say more?

And yet the original Broadway recording is still special to me. Some of that, I’m sure, is early childhood imprinting. But also — also the triumvirate of Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, and Steve Barton transcends the poor material they were given to work with.

Michael Crawford — I kind of almost feel like I don’t even have to say anything about him. He’s genuinely creepy as the Phantom, and part of the creepiness is that he is always so in control, both vocally and character-wise, so that a) the control itself is all kinds of creepy, and b) all he has to do is drop just a smidgen of that control and it is extremely effective at portraying his emotion, way more so than the hysterics the poor guy on the 25th-anniversary recording was having to resort to. And it is amazing to me that he can sell “Music of the Night,” which as I’ve said has got to be just about the most boring solo song ever. (I mean, it has, like, four verses of the same freaking not-very-interesting three-chord tune! I-V-IV-I for the win lose!) But he does.

Steve Barton just, just, just. I’m kind of in love with his voice. I think actually one of my favorite bits is the prologue, where he gets to be old and doddery and full of regrets, and it’s very different from anything else he sings in the whole musical, and he just sells it to me SO HARD. But just in general I feel like he is an amazing voice actor -- he can do an extremely wide range of emotions in his singing, as well as an extremely delicate touch. And his voice-charisma is so compelling that whenever he sings anything, no matter how idiotic the lyrics are (and man, Raoul’s lyrics are pretty idiotic), I’m all “Okay, Steve Barton! I’m totally on your side! Sure, yeah, plan to trap the Phantom in the Opera House by closing all the doors because you have any evidence ever that he actually uses the doors? I’m totally up for you doing that!” I totally buy his attraction/love for Christine and his naive but energetic plans to deal with the Phantom. Raoul is in love and arrogant and foolhardy and brave and afraid and worried and aristocratic and well-mannered and gentle and optimistic and jealous and good-hearted — it’s sort of a complicated mix, or can be, and Steve Barton just gets it all.

And I think Sarah Brightman’s portrayal of Christine is understated and absolutely lovely. There are bits where I think I might like a trifle more emotion (Angel of Music seems like it ought to be a little more ecstatic) but in general I love the understatedness for bringing across the naivete of the character, along with the almost hypnotic effect the Phantom has on her, and the realization she comes to at the end. “I gave my mind blindly” — 25th-anniversary does it a lot more angrily, but this works SO much better, to me, as a combination of bitter (which of course she is) but also the dawning of an understanding — otherwise the part where she kisses him makes much less sense to me.

Also, the guy who plays Firmin always makes me totally laugh, whenever he says/sings anything (er, sometimes inappropriately) — I really like him.

Anyway, I still love this recording, but I don't think I can deal with anyone else singing POTO. (Though I would welcome recommendations!)

Also, note to self: do not listen to Phantom/Webber’s Don Juan Triumphant in close proximity to Don Giovanni like this time, because, um. Yeah. Webber? Not even close.

Comments

[cahn]

My sister had known Pryce was the Engineer in Miss Saigon and was kind of shocked at exactly the same thing. Not having any familiarity with it before watching the movie, I thought Madonna and Banderas were great. (The friend who made me go watch it was horrified I thought Banderas was great, and forthwith made me listen to Mandy Patinkin -- and somehow I didn't know until really recently that it was the same guy whom I love on my Secret Garden recording -- who, I agree with her, has rather more of an emotional range than Banderas does in his singing. But I still liked Banderas a lot.)

[thistleingrey]

I do think Banderas did a pretty good job--and Patinkin sometimes phones things in; I liked the one season of Dead Like Me (which is also the last US tv show I watched regularly, or kind of at all, heh) but wasn't impressed by him there. Anyway!