who sings the phantom of the opera 2004 version

#Who sings the phantom of the opera 2004 version how to#
#Who sings the phantom of the opera 2004 version movie#

In the musical, his role is largely taken over by Madame Giry. There is also a character known as the Persian, an old acquaintance of the Phantom's. The novel is a bit more action oriented, with a lot more time spent explaining the various booby traps the Phantom set up in order to prevent people from finding him. By the time the harried denizens of the opera house track the Phantom down to his lair, he has disappeared.Īt least that is the story as told in the musical.

Eventually Christine persuades the Phantom to let her and Raoul be together. When Christine reunites with her childhood friend, Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, all hell breaks loose. However, the teacher - in reality, a deformed genius who hides beneath the opera house - has fallen in love with her and is extremely possessive.

#Who sings the phantom of the opera 2004 version how to#

The story starts with an orphaned chorus girl (Christine) at a celebrated Paris opera house being visited by a mysterious 'teacher.' This teacher trains her how to use her voice to maximum effect, and soon she is blowing the competition away. (Bit of trivia: Wilkinson was the first to sing the Phantom role at the Sydmonton preview in 1985.) It went on to be a huge smash, and starred many notables in the Phantom role, including Colm Wilkinson in the Toronto production. That musical premiered at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1986, starring Michael Crawford as the Phantom and Sarah Brightman as Christine. Since then, it was adapted to the screen countless times, until in the mid-1980s, Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to adapt the story for a musical.

I hardly need to provide background for Andrew Lloyd Webber's most famous musical, but just in case: The Phantom of the Opera first appeared in 1909 as a novel written by a French author Gaston Leroux. And fortunately, whatever their shortcomings, I do. Phantom imposes a similar requirement - fear and pity the Phantom! - but if you don't, you can at least care about Christine and Raoul. Who else is there to identify with? Che the shape shifter or Peron the adoring spouse? You're following Eva on her journey and if you don't like it, too bad. With Evita, if you don't connect with Eva Peron, you're sunk.

#Who sings the phantom of the opera 2004 version movie#

If I like the movie version of Phantom better than Evita, or at least find it easier to sit through, it is because of the characters. When I went to see the movie back in 2004, I could not recall any major promotion. At least that's how it felt to me at the time. And while Evita was promoted for months as a potential Oscar contender, Phantom all but sneaked into the theatre. Any tinkering with the story or songs was very modest. Phantom, on the other hand, seemed to have no goals larger than transposing the musical onto the screen. Evita was the much more ambitious film, and in many ways it succeeded in its goals of being a grand epic.

The same with 'All I Ask of You,' a very similar song.Īnd it's not because the film version of Phantom is so ambitious or well executed. In total, there are maybe three songs I really like from the musical: 'Masquerade,' 'The Point of No Return,' and, of course, 'The Phantom of the Opera.' 'Music of the Night'? Pretty, but bored me on subsequent listens. While I nearly wore out the CD when I was 15, I came to dislike the hackneyed lyrics, bombastic score, and incoherent ensemble numbers. Even though Evita was the more successful of the two Andrew Lloyd Webber movie musicals, I find myself coming back to The Phantom of the Opera more often. There are actually quite a few things I like about this adaptation.