I saw the professionally filmed version of the original cast of Phantom of the Opera at the NYC library archives and I will NEVER be the same.
To be honest, I never got the hype around the main trio. Michael Crawford’s voice was too unique for me and he never clicked with how I imagined the phantom. Sarah Brightman was similar. And Steve Barton I thought looked too, idk, old and not handsome to me, and I didn’t like the idea of a baritone Raoul. So I was almost not even going to bother going to see the archived footage.
… I was wrong. I cannot believe how wrong I was. I have never witnessed a musical that was truly perfect before. There’s always something, even just the tiniest thing, that I would change. Not here. Every actor was at their peak. Every movement was perfection. Every note. EVERYTHING.
I was watching it on an old box tv screen with big headphones on. Grainy footage, lines across the screen. And the cast made me feel like I was in the theatre. I forgot where I was. I forgot to take notes. In fact these are the only notes I took:
(Before Don Juan starts) Wait they set out a bottle of champagne out for the phantom before Don Juan? In his box? Raoul even repositioned it like he wanted to make it appealing? Do they really think, what, the phantoms gonna kick up his feet in box five and start sipping champagne?
The screams from Meg are top tier. Throughout but especially upon finding Piangi mid-nap.
(After PONR unmasking) Michael looks so scared when he’s unmasked - just a lil baby
He does not throw Christine in final lair. They start eye to eye. His mouth is pathetic.
He starts shaking during the kiss and when Christine backs away it’s like she thinks “did I kill him?” Cause dude isn’t MOVING he’s DEAD then he reanimates like “oh no oh no I done messed up oh no I’m so sorry baby girl”
I came into it assuming I would be rewinding and fast forwarding to rewatch stuff. But I couldn’t. I had to watch it all unfold and by the time it was over I was too devastated I couldn’t go back. If I had watched final lair again I would’ve started bawling in the library.
It was a religious experience. The cast took me to church. They transported me to another realm and deposited me back into an uncomfortable chair in front of a box tv with dorky headphones on.
Go see it if you can. Your life will never be the same.
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