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It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: dramedy 04:01 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: Why is THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA B'ways longest-running musical? - GrumpyMorningBoy 02:32 pm EDT 10/30/15

Should that have had a spoiler alert?


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re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: MikeR 04:22 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - dramedy 04:01 pm EDT 10/30/15

I don't get that analysis. It's about a creepy stalker and his victim, and the milquetoast who loves the victim. The stagecraft is amazing, but the story is boring and the characters aren't remotely engaging (for me, obviously). Last time I saw it (out of a total two times in my life) I was far more interested in Andre and Firmin than I was anyone else on that stage.


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re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: LynnO 03:41 am EDT 10/31/15
In reply to: re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - MikeR 04:22 pm EDT 10/30/15

And that's what the new re-directed tour of PHANTOM is about: a creepy stalker and his victim. The new tour has managed to remove the magic from the show and demonstrates (to me, anyway) what makes the "original" version on Broadway so special -- it's a dark romantic love triangle about a mysterious, troubled man and an open-hearted chorus ballerina and her gallant childhood friend. The performers actually make a difference, the show works best when all three leads are strong but have their vulnerable moments, so you can feel Christine's torment when she has to choose between the exciting man who only lives below ground and the charming man who lives in daylight.


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re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 11:37 am EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - LynnO 03:41 am EDT 10/31/15

I've never seen that choice that you write that Christine has to make, " between the exciting man who only lives below ground and the charming man who lives in daylight."

One of these men is a father figure/mentor whom she seems to equate with her dead father (and who is a stalker, murderer, and possibly a rapist) and one is the man she has loved since childhood.

Christine never sees the Phantom as a potential romantic partner, the way that he sees her.


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re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: LynnO 12:56 am EST 11/03/15
In reply to: re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - JereNYC 11:37 am EST 11/02/15

If The Phantom is played the right way, he seems like more of an obsessed man (with Christine's voice), and not so much a murderer (which he obviously is). And I've never believed that he raped her because he's tentative and afraid to even touch her. But The Phantom clearly has some sort of pull on Christine, whether it is romantic or how he mentors her voice, but depending on how sexily the Phantom plays the role, people who love the show believe that there is a triangle. Raoul is not written very well in the show, so it takes a special actor to pull it off and make Raoul more appealing than The Phantom if The Phantom is played right. Honestly. At least that is how most fans of the original directed version see it. In the new tour version, The Phantom definitely comes off as a creepy murderer, and Christine is directed to clearly be afraid of him. (I still don't believe that he rapes her.)


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re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending

Posted by: jimn 04:08 pm EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - JereNYC 11:37 am EST 11/02/15

I couldn't agree more and yet some people love that love triangle aspect. I think it is vulgar to think that between the events in POTO, after murdering some of her co-workers and manipulating her so emotionally, and the events of Love Never Dies, Christine would go back and have sex with the Phantom. It makes no sense to me at all, but plenty of phans believe that she has a powerful and romantic love for the character. I find him sad and I empathize with his pain but once you start killing, I can't imagine I am ready to seriously consider a life with that person.


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i lovethe ending

Posted by: dramedy 04:28 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: It's a beautiful love story with a happy ending - MikeR 04:22 pm EDT 10/30/15

Where she has to make a choice and sacrifices herself to,save Raul. Of course the phantom relents and let's them both go, but it is such a touching moment. And the very end with the mask held on stage as the spotlight dims is magical ending that very few shows ever achieve.


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