Canadian Phantom vs. London Phantom plus vocal arcs

[cahn]

So as one does, I was listening to the recent Force Over Distance chapters, and got to the discussion here about the use of pitch arcs in speaking to designate a certain kind of seductive fascination, particularly in male characters. Think Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold in OUAT... or Claudia Black in anything ...or Michael Crawford, in basically anything but in particular POTO. (Though the fact that he kind of tries to do it in everything -- I seriously think he doesn't know how to turn it off-- means that I can't listen to him try to do non-threatening characters. Like Jean Valjean *shudder*)

And then there's the Canadian recording of Phantom.

So on zopyrus's recommendation, I listened to the Canadian recording of POTO on Spotify, and despite my saying up and down that I wouldn't like any other recording because I imprinted on the London recording at a young age, I liked it a lot. I wasn't particularly taken by Canadian!Raoul (sorry, Steve Barton really did imprint me), but Rebecca Caine as Christine was lovely, and then the Phantom -- well, so, I listened not knowing who the Phantom was at first (thanks Spotify!), which was great, because now that I know it's a little creepy -- but anyway, it is a very, very different interpretation than Crawford's. Canadian!Phantom has a sort of disjointed, flat way of speaking/singing that brings forth a character who isn't used to socializing, isn't used to normal human discourse, writes self-insert Don Juan operas, is desperately in love with a girl way out of his league: is really a bit pathetic.

I sort of adore this interpretation. "Past the Point of No Return", for instance, is quite frankly incredibly fascinating to me for how different it is from Crawford's interpretation. Crawford, to me, is all about sweeping Christine off her feet, in an incredibly creepy and emotionally controlling way. Canadian!Phantom is -- well, yeah, he's still incredibly creepy and emotionally controlling, but in a much sadder and pathetic way, and in "No Return" I feel like it comes across much more as a "Hey, I finally get to star as Don Juan... and it's actually a little nervewracking."

But now it's very clear to me why a whole generation of fangirls has woobified the Phantom. Because Crawford's interpretation is very sexy, very darkly fascinating... And it's also wildly interesting to me that Crawford essentially does this by very controlled use of the way he varies both his pitch and his nasality in speech and singing; and Canadian!Phantom is able to achieve a very different effect by flattening that out quite a lot.

Comments

[carmarthen]

Yeah--I imprinted on Crawford as a teenage fangirl (although not to a woobifying extent, I still happily read the wooby fic) and I feel like...my perception of the character shifted HUGELY when my imprint moved to Brad Little. And I'm going to have to rewatch the 25th again, but I felt like Karimloo really played up the creepy/controlling/awkward -- none of which is incompatible with sexy and darkly fascinating, but yeah.

Basically I kind of blame Michael Crawford for a lot, haha. Have you heard his cover of "Gethsemane"? I am not sure whether he's doing the sexy thing because I no longer find his voice sexy, but if he is, that might be weirder than sexy Valjean.

...him singing Disney Princess songs is UNNERVING BEYOND WORDS, though.

[thistleingrey]

Yeah, I find his "Gethsemane" cover kind of overblown--he can't adjust well enough, perhaps. It's interesting, though.

[cahn]

Um, sorry, total comment failing today on my end! Annnnyway, yes, I totally agree with you -- I feel like everything he sings comes out as trying to do this control-freak sexy thing, and AGH.

[cahn]

(er, sorry, reposting for login-fail)

Yeah, this was the one where my perception just completely, whoa. I didn't even realize how badly I'd imprinted on Crawford. Karimloo seems not to have done it for me, but I haven't yet listened to Little.

oh my GOSH. I just... I am listening to your link right now and kind of freaking out. (...and sort of having terrible thoughts about Crawford-OOC!Jesus)

I think Disney Princess songs would be really... I don't even want to think about that!

[cahn]

...holy crap. I just went and listened to some Brad Little on youtube. That is... wow. I can see why you imprinted hard on it, and why you're a huge fan of baritone Phantoms, because, wow.

Little has a sort of scary violent edge to his interpretation, don't you think? Like it sets off all kinds of danger signals in my head in a way that neither Crawford nor Wilkinson's interpretation does (which I think is kind of awesome, and certainly much less woobifiable, if that even approaches a word), and which is a third very interesting take on the character.

[carmarthen]

Hmmm, maybe? I saw him live, and I know a big part of my imprint was his acting choices (the first Phantom I saw live was Franc d'Ambrosio, and he didn't make much of an impression on me). I do think Little's definitely aware of the darker aspects of the character--he'd put a lot of thought into the role even when I saw him ~10 years ago (I can't believe he's still playing it O_o).

I felt like Ramin Karimloo was going for even more of a scary violent edge, though, particularly in PONR--iirc, Little's PONR was more Awkward Boner Oh Shit and less I Am Going to Drag You Down With Me Right Now. Although it also depends on how the Christine plays it, of course.

[metaphortunate]

So interesting! Always cool to think about the mechanics behind the effects.

[cahn]

Yeah, I think it's neat to think about -- I've thought these things about Crawford for a while, but never had the vocabulary or understanding of why he affected teenage-me the way he did :)