This is definitely an unusual post for me, but on this rainy evening I decided to dig deep and rewatch possibly my favorite live production of all time: The Phantom of the Opera’s 25th Anniversary Performance. For some reason I have a really vivid memory of watching it when it aired live on PBS and my eight year old self thought it was the greatest thing ever. I haven’t watched it for many years and just now realized how weird and (forgive me for using this word) cringe-worthy the story is. I don’t know if this is correct but I got the feeling that Christine is like 15 and the Phantom is around 40. And I don’t know if it was just this performance or if all of them are like this but parts of it seemed quite sexual which is really weird.
I’m not actually sure if this qualifies as a real movie, but I have it on DVD so that must count for something. Also, the production itself was MASSIVE. A normal phantom show has a cast of about 40, but this one had 140. Also, they retrofitted a concert hall to suit a theatre production which is an amazing feat for a show that ran for just two nights. I also appreciated the careful camerawork. Not to say I wouldn’t have given a lot to be at this performance live, but I do feel you tend to miss a lot when you’re sitting from a far and only seeing one angle. Especially because I believe a lot of this particular performance relies heavily on subtleties that you just wouldn’t pick up unless you’re in the front row. Anyway, believe me when I say I’m generally not a fan of musicals. But I do know and appreciate a high quality live production when I see one. As someone whose not a big fan of musicals, I’ve seen a lot of them over the years including multiple productions of this very play. So take my word when I say no other production that I’ve seen even comes CLOSE to this. I actually saw it on Broadway and it was fantastic but I left semi disappointed because, well, it just wasn’t nearly as good as this production. I was curious so I watched some video of the original cast from the 80s and this might offend some musical theatre aficionados, but I thought they weren’t nearly as good. Crawford’s voice wasn’t strong enough and Brightman’s voice kinda just annoyed me, and the two of them together seemed like an awkward match. But these singers specifically are, to put it shortly, incredible, not to mention their effortless chemistry. I shouldn’t be surprised by this because this is the 25th anniversary and they handpicked the best Phantom and Christine for this performance. If you’re someone who’s into musical theatre at all, this performance is a must watch. It’s honestly unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
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May Featured Movie QuoteBarry B. Benson: Yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black... Oh, black and yellow. Yeah, let's shake it up a little.
Yeah, I have letterboxd now
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