| re: Streaming PHANTOM — can we start a petition to fix Ramin Karimloo’s vowels? | |
| Posted by: Derek 11:52 am EDT 04/20/20 | |
| In reply to: Streaming PHANTOM — can we start a petition to fix Ramin Karimloo’s vowels? - GrumpyMorningBoy 05:28 pm EDT 04/18/20 | |
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| Watching the 25th anniversary concert, I was reminded why - though I've always been impressed by the show, its music and its staging - I've never warmed to the main characters. Can anyone explain to me why people think this is a love story? Phantom: disfigured victim of society (depraved on account of deprived) or misogynist stalker? Kidnaps a woman, hypnotises/educates/trains her, spies on her, kills an innocent bystander, kidnaps singer's boyfriend, goes on the lam without paying for his crimes Christine: traumatised orphan or Eve Harrington climber? Misses daddy but happy to learn tricks of the opera trade from mysterious music-lover to get ahead, dumps him when she's acquired his knowledge and she gets a better offer from an aristocrat though (according to Love Never Dies) lives to her reget choosing status over love, paying the ultimate price. Raoul: handsome but weak aristocratic playboy who is interested in his former childhood love only after she's made something of herself onstage, encouraging him to win her heart, then break it by becoming a bankrupt gambler, drunk and jealous husband from hell in Coney Island. Madame Giry: mysterious relation of Mrs Danvers who has eyes everywhere but fails repeatedly to intervene and prevent misery. Opera owners: gilmet-eyed business men determined to squeeze as much out of their new investment - and performers - as possible, whatever the cost. It seems to me that Carlotta is the only likeable character in the piece. She's a prima donna handful, but at least she doesn't claim to be something else. Again, I don't mean to question the show's justified success -- it is a remarkable piece -- I just always feel I am missing something important that makes the rest of the world swoon. What makes these characters likable? I don't empathise with any of them. I'll take Sunset Boulevard any day. She's using him, he's using her -- and both know it. Thoughts? |
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| Previous: | Streaming PHANTOM — can we start a petition to fix Ramin Karimloo’s vowels? - GrumpyMorningBoy 05:28 pm EDT 04/18/20 |
| Next: | re: Streaming PHANTOM — can we start a petition to fix Ramin Karimloo’s vowels? - Billhaven 12:21 pm EDT 04/20/20 |
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