My daughter is obsessed with The Phantom of The Opera. I don’t know why. Obviously, some of this is due to her constant involvement in community theater (next Friday marks her fourth show this season), but I’d be lying if I said she only just found Phandom. When she was three, one of her Christmas presents was a set of Phantom-themed felt hand puppets (Christine, Raoul, and The Phantom). She’s been into this since she was a toddler.
Last year, I was lucky enough to give her an even better Christmas present: front row tickets to the national touring company of Phantom, which stopped in Kalamazoo in February.
I mean, front row tickets to the matinee. I don’t have front-row-at-7-p.m.-money. I’m not the Monopoly man.
Now, this Christmas present was really the ultimate sacrifice, as I knew that I would be the one who had to take her to the show. And I am not hugely enthusiastic about Phantom. Especially not when the movie is on a near constant loop in my home. But it was worth it all to hear her biting criticisms of the performers.
Since it’s been a while since she was on my YouTube channel (as she has reminded me countless times), I was happy to collaborate on this video with her, in which we discuss the cool parts and the weird parts and whether or not Gerry Butler was a good Phantom.
Spoiler: we are hotly divided on that.
Stayed tuned tomorrow for the “spooky” Patreon reward video for January/February!
Precious moments! Hold them close to the heart!
Oh, Wednesday, I understand the ‘Phantom’ love. Then I got older and realized how darn creepy the romance part of the story really is…my entire family had to go see the show with me though!
One of the things I love about Phantom is that Christine actually realizes how dangerous the Phantom is, which means I don’t have to spend the whole time yelling about it. It’s one of the only times I let myself indulge in the ‘creepy obsessive controlling stalker dude’ fantasy that’s so mainstream popular.
Jenny, have you ever seen Movies in Fifteen Minutes? Absolutely hilarious recaps / snarking about the film in question. Here’s the link to the Phantom of the Opera recap
https://m15m.livejournal.com/6231.html
I quite enjoy Phantom too. I am also a big fan of the book “Phantom” by Susan Kay, which explores the Phantom’s back story and how he became the Phantom of the Opera. Great read!
Oh wow, Kay’s Phantom was super formative for me. I first borrowed it from my BFF in ninth grade and tore through it in like two sittings. I still have my copy, but I’m kind of afraid to revisit it. #myfavesareproblematic
I listened to the Phantom soundtrack over and over again when I was in middle school, but I never did get to go see the show. The movie came out when I was in college and I made my boyfriend at the time take me to see it. It thought it was OK, but Gerard Butler was pretty bad. I read once that it was supposed to be Hugh Jackman but he couldn’t do it due to scheduling conflicts….what a missed opportunity that was. Great video, glad you had a great time 😀
I saw that tour in SF. I missed the original hoo-hah and wasn’t crazy about the idea of a stalker musical but went to see what was going on.
The sets and staging were amazing! The stairs coming out during that scene while the actors were singing and acting down them was just magic. And that chandelier! It cost over a million dollars to make but it is important to the story. Glad I was under the mezzanine 😉 The cast was great too. I had the understudy on as Christine and she aced it (apropos, no?) .