Back Under the Opera House

After more than a decade of delays, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera finally hit the big screen in 2004. Directed by Joel Schumacher, it's generally considered a disappointment, which perhaps should not be surprising given the fact that Schumacher directed two of the worst Batman movies of all time. Yet it was on the strength of Lost Boys, a decent film, that Lloyd Webber originally hired Schumacher and, while certainly a flawed, inferior work, Schumacher's Phantom isn't all bad.

Gerard Butler in the role of Phantom is certainly miscast. He's charismatic and his muscular frame is attractive. I can even believe the Phantom would strive to keep himself in peak physical condition. However, Butler's singing voice lacks skill and sensitivity, which is, I think, the main reason that Raoul (Patrick Wilson) actually comes off as more appealing in the film.

Emmy Rossum can sing, though notably not as well as Sarah Brightman, but she lets her beauty do a lot of the work in her performance. I do appreciate her beauty but, having seen the role performed by actresses who were both beautiful and capable of emotional complexity, she is also somewhat of a disappointment.

Minnie Driver stands out as Carlotta because she's Minnie Driver and seems odd in the role. Maybe more perplexing is Ciaran Hinds in the role of one of the theatre managers--Hinds can't sing at all.

However, Miranda Richardson is fine in the role of Madame Giry and Jennifer Ellison is cute as Meg. I also liked the production design which keeps the wonderfully lewd opera house statuary.

If this musical is ever adapted again, I would urge a director to consider how much heavy lifting the music does and refrain from too many close-ups. Also, the Phantom ought to look worse than someone having an allergic reaction to a bee sting when his mask's removed.

The Phantom of the Opera (2004) is available on Netflix in Japan.

The Music of Another Night

Last night I watched the 25th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall production of The Phantom of the Opera, recorded in 2011. I watched part of it in 2012 and stopped because I thought Ramin Karimloo wasn't as good as Michael Crawford. I stuck it out this time and Karimloo grew on me. His Phantom seems a bit more unstable than Crawford, he seems more often on the verge of mental and emotional collapse, which I sometimes really liked. Though I still feel Crawford's singing was more complex. Sierra Boggess as Christine wisely holds nothing back in the graveyard scene and gives the character's psychological issues a great deal of weight. She helps prevent the character from feeling like a blank romance novel protagonist, like the girl in Twilight.

The suitor selection, Raoul and the Phantom, makes this a good fantasy for heterosexual women to enjoy. And I think the influences of postmodernist literature that recontextualises villains, like Grendel and Interview with the Vampire, lead it down a path to the Byronic hero and Milton's Satan. The writers must have been thinking of Milton when the Phantom finally refers to himself as an angel of Hell.

The costumes in the 25th anniversary edition are great. I particularly love Christine's costume during the Don Juan Triumphant scene (an obvious nod to Lord Byron).

It occurs to me that Frozen is the Phantom of the 2010s.

A friend from work let me borrow a DVD of the 25th anniversary production. There's currently a production going on here in Japan. It makes sense that the musical is popular here given the fact that it deals with a contrast between public and private life, between the glory of creating beautiful artifice and the bitterness of reality's limitations.

It's a lovely show in any country, though.

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