I wouldn't describe Joe/Norma or Mrs Lovett/Sweeney Todd as likable either -- they are couples where one is using the other, but they are aware of it and, for the most part, even admit to it. Some are more emotionally invested in the transactional relationship than others, but no one is pretending to be noble/good
That's what bothers me about Phantom and Christine: are they good people in impossible circumstances? Should we feel sorry for them that they are deceiving themselves as to their true motives? I've never been sure what the libretto is trying to tell us on this point. Again, I'm not just trying to provoke, and maybe I need to listen more closely, but I have simply never gotten what moves people about the show. I remember a woman telling me she found it so romantic, but couldn't say why. And I've wondered all these years why I don't get it. |
