Phantom of the Opera R&D as of 8-10-2019 Please note I am more than willing to read good fanfics of Phantom. SPOILERS: I go into my reasons why I like or dislike them on the second intent. There will be spoilers here. Favorites to least favorites so far:
25th Anniversary Phantom of the Opera, written by Andrew Loyd Webber, directed by Nick Moriss and Laurence Connor, staring Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, and Sierra Boggess as Christine.
This comes out ahead of 2004 because of a few things: The masquerade mask Erik is wearing is. the. best. thing. EVER. The scene where Raoul plans on catching the Phantom and convinces Christine to sing in it (even though she doesn’t want to) scene is RIGHT before ‘Wandering Child.’ Which makes me think Christine might be singing to both the Phantom, who she is about to betray, and her father. Then, at the end, after Christine gives the ring back to the Phantom, she starts singing the last “Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime,’ and she almost turns around. This killed me. Also, the Phantom’s disappearing act at the end.
Phantom of the Opera, 2004, music by Andrew Loyd Webber, directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Gerard Butler as the Phantom, and Emmy Rossum as Christine.
This is the thing that made me love Phantom. The acting in this is GREAT. Fight me. I am of the unpopular opinion that Gerard Bulter’s voice is good (for the most part,) and he gives one of my favorite performances of the Phantom’s character. Emmy Rossum is my favorite Christine. I also love how they translated it from the Stage into the Opera House. Beautiful set, beautiful costuming, beautiful direction.
Kintsugi by Soigante on Fanfic.net.
Its a modern take on Phantom of the Opera, beautifully written, and has one of my favorite versions of Erik. I highly recommend it. Christine is POC. There’s some really great fan-art floating around Tumblr.
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, 1910, aka the original.
Free on Amazon btw. Gaston Leroux was a journalist before he was a writer, and he wrote Phantom like he was writing a research article for the newspaper. He also uses events, characters, and settings based on real life, which makes the book feel even more real.
Pantin’ at the Opera, Wishbone s1 ep 37. 1995, written by Adam Felber.
Its adorable. The story is dumbed down for kids (no murder.) Phillipe is ACTUALLY in it-which is saying something. AND THEY ACTUALLY GAVE ERIK HIS NAME. (unlike SOME MUSICAL WRITERS.) Also has a really impressive make-up job for Erik.
The Phantom of the Opera, 1988, animated, directed by Al Guest and Jean Mathieson-direct adaptation of the novel.
Made for TV so its REALLY janky animation and the voice acting hurts my soul. Literally, when Erik talks its like the same 10 frames over and over and over...Fun to watch and make fun of. Only 50 minutes long. Good back ground art.
The Phantom of the Opera, TV miniseries 1990. Directed by Tony Richardson, written by Arthur Kopit, staring Charles Dance. Referred as Dance!Phantom by the Phandom.
Least favorite version. Let me start with what I liked: The end scene where Erik, from Box Five, and Christine sang together-that scene was AMAZING and powerful. Erik had some GREAT lines. The author did some interesting things with character relationships that are pretty out of the norm for Phantom adaptations (at least that I’ve seen.) Extreme dislikes: Christine looks and sounds like Erik’s mother, which is why he’s into her is CREEPY AF. Erik’s tragic past is...non-existent? Like, if he’s a creep that has no social skills its because his parents never let him go outside (upstairs??) Pretty abusive if you ask me. I don’t feel like he has a good enough reason in this one to do what he does-hide himself from the world and think everyone else is evil. I hate that we never get to see his face. Christine is a pretty weak character. Philippe (INSTEAD OF RAOUL) has no character outside of liking Christine (a troupe I hate) and being a playboy. Erik’s assisted suicide. I’m also not the biggest fan of where and when it was set? THEN its 3 and a half HOURS long, and it is paced EXTREMELY slowly. Then it doesn’t have the drama, story, or well balanced fast and slow paced scenes to match its length, which makes it EXTREMELY boring.
Thats what we have so far. We plan on doing the 1925 film soon, one other version, I think its the TV one where the Phantom is Christine’s dad, and Phantom of the Paradise (though we want to watch Faust first) soon. Then its the 2004 (which I love and my friend hasn’t seen) and ‘Love Never Dies’ for bad movie night.
If you guys have any suggestions, let me know. I’m open to anything unless it NSFW or thats too terrifying (I do not do well with gore and horror; I got nightmares from Jurassic Park.)
