Phantom of the Opera OST
- Thread starter cessy
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mentos
New member
I was fortunate enough to have time to watch the movie, years back. I must say that I really fell in love with the movie. There's no way to watch the Broadway version here in my place so I must be contented with whatever the film had to offer. After I watched the movie, I immediately felt the urge to buy the soundtrack. I listened to it afterwards 24/7. Until know, I haven't gotten over it. I like the last song, "Learn to be Lonely" most of all.
selina
Banned
I was also fortunate enough to watch the movie.I was really touched by the love of the phantom.It was so desperate!And i like the song"angel of music","your spirit touch my voice in one combine",i like that. And "the music of the night",from the soft voice of the man,i can feel the love.
Christine Callisen
Commodore of happiness and laughter
I have seen The Phantom of The Opera on "Det ny teater" in Copenhagen, and I also have the new DVD. I really love that musical, and I think the song "Mascerade" and "Music of the night" are fantastic. My mom made me read the book, but I can´t really recommand it. To long and to many details....
Again, I must excuse my bad english - I speak it well though
- Christine
Again, I must excuse my bad english - I speak it well though
- Christine
lightparabol
New member
I saw the Musical first time in London in 91 and have seen it twice since - last year the most recent time. I think the musical is great and I love it. I have also seen the movie, and I must say I was quite disappointed. Somehow it became to "beautiful" and the Phantom did seem quite so scary/evil. I have the musical soundtrack and I really think this is still the best.
Miz_ai
New member
i've watched the movie, love the music so much!! but i think the musical will be the greatest.. but there's no way i'm going to watch that here, >_<;;
i don't really prefer emmy rossum's voice, sarah brightman is way better in the singing part, but not the act ^^, sarah brightman's not really a good actress..
i love all the arias and esp like "think of me" and "wishing you were somehow here again"
i may never seen the musical, but i played christine in a musical highlight, sang the "phantom of the opera" and "all i ask of you" ^_^v what a memory!!
i don't really prefer emmy rossum's voice, sarah brightman is way better in the singing part, but not the act ^^, sarah brightman's not really a good actress..
i love all the arias and esp like "think of me" and "wishing you were somehow here again"
i may never seen the musical, but i played christine in a musical highlight, sang the "phantom of the opera" and "all i ask of you" ^_^v what a memory!!
Leigh
New member
I am not agreat lover of this musical but have to say that having listened to a tape of the score many years ago that Sarah Brightmans performance of the theme tune was really good.
I know she is trained and all that but I just think that she has such a unique voice which certainly makes up for her lack of acting skills! Wonder what she is up to now?
I know she is trained and all that but I just think that she has such a unique voice which certainly makes up for her lack of acting skills! Wonder what she is up to now?
AeroScore
New member
I was fortunate to see it twice in Los Angeles (both times starring Michael Crawford), and I was always knocked out by the brilliant staging. One thing about a Lloyd Webber musical: love 'im or hate 'im, you always leave the theatre humming something from the show; plus, I've made a lot of tips playing a "Phantom" medley for years in restaurants.
I think the show was better (read: more gruesome) than the movie, but the story, book, and score were close to identical. :up:
Dean
I think the show was better (read: more gruesome) than the movie, but the story, book, and score were close to identical. :up:
Dean
Sybarite
New member
Am I alone in thinking that Andrew Lloyd Webber (and Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg) have done a great deal of damage to the musical theatre genre?
All those epic stories and thru-sung scores with – in my opinion – few songs of genuinely hummable note (you know pretty much every song in a Rogers & Hammerstein show, for instance) seems to have 'inspired' a load of other composers to think: 'oh, that's how to have a hit show, I'll do the same'. The results have been dire – I used to be a theatre critic in London and I have suffered an horrifically large amount of absolute dross that has copied such shows.
Kander and Ebb are a class apart and Cabaret and Chicago (both on in London's West End at present) more than illustrate the paucity of what is around at present, while Stephen Sondheim remains the finest innovator of musicals in many, many a year.
All those epic stories and thru-sung scores with – in my opinion – few songs of genuinely hummable note (you know pretty much every song in a Rogers & Hammerstein show, for instance) seems to have 'inspired' a load of other composers to think: 'oh, that's how to have a hit show, I'll do the same'. The results have been dire – I used to be a theatre critic in London and I have suffered an horrifically large amount of absolute dross that has copied such shows.
Kander and Ebb are a class apart and Cabaret and Chicago (both on in London's West End at present) more than illustrate the paucity of what is around at present, while Stephen Sondheim remains the finest innovator of musicals in many, many a year.
wtwt5237
Banned
Astonished!
Sybarite,
I am from China. So I am not familiar with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. And maybe I have a little difficulty in understanding your English.
But your opinion really astonished me.
If you would like to, can you explain in detail why you oppose to them and their music.
Sybarite,
I am from China. So I am not familiar with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. And maybe I have a little difficulty in understanding your English.
But your opinion really astonished me.
If you would like to, can you explain in detail why you oppose to them and their music.
Sybarite
New member
Hi wtwt5237,
Boublil and Schonberg's big hits were Les Miserables and Miss Saigon.
I think that, in essence, their shows are the victory of style over substance.
They look stunning on stage, but in my opinion, they don't have anything like the depth of shows by Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Rogers & Hammerstein or Lerner & Lowe – and that's just for starters.
I think that there's usually one or – at most – two memorable songs in each show:
• Phantom of the Opera – Music of the Night;
• Cats – Memories;
• Evita – Don't Cry for me Argentina;
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – Any Dream Will Do;
• Les Miserables – Do You Hear the People Sing? (I'll acknowledge that Master of the House could also be included here, but there are 44 tracks on the album, so it's a poor rate of good tunes);
• Goodnight Saigon – sorry, can't even think of one.
That's just to try to illustrate my point. Take a show by Rogers & Hammerstein; it's not my favourite, but let's take The Sound of Music as an example. Everyone who has a passing familiarity with Western popular culture in the last 50 years will be aware of at least half the songs – they have become standards; Climb Ev'ry Mountain, My Favourite Things, Edelweiss, Maria, Do-Re-Mi, So Long, Farewell, Sixteen, Going on Seventeen, The Lonely Goatherd – and the title song.
To touch again on what I said previously: these shows pulled in vast audiences across the world – coachloads of people would come from throughout the UK to see them in London. They dominated the musical theatre landscape in the city for years and made vast amounts of money. As a result, other composers of musicals decided that clearly the fomula for success was a big story that could be played out on an epic set (heaven preserve me from ever having to witness vast, overblown scaffolding sets again) and thru-sung.
Now, as I've said before, this really is my personal opinion, but given that, I don't think that Boublil and Schonberg and Lloyd Webber have the ability to write good recitative; it's difficult enough to listen to someone of Wagner's stature dealing with heaps of it in, say, Das Rheingold – and that's about as good as it gets.
They sell musical theatre short – it's not a naff form of theatre just for easily-pleased coach parties. It can be innovative and challenging and dark too. Just take Kander & Ebb's hit Chicago, which was arguably about 20 years before its time. A very, very cynical look at the US justice system – and it pre-dated the OJ Simpson trial – but very, very funny and created in an innovative way, almost as a cabaret. The music is super, with plenty of tunes that'll stay in your mind.
I've never seen, at this stage, anything by Boublil and Schonberg and Lloyd Webber of which I could remotely say the same sort of thing. In essence, I think that they're massively over-rated.
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zlya
New member
In regards to Les Miserables, I disagree completely. Let's see:
"On my own", "Castle on a cloud", "I dreamed a dream", "A little fall of rain", "Stars", as well as the two you mentioned. These are not only extremely famous . . . what little girl DOESN'T know "On my Own"? . . . they are also fantastic musical compositions, which come together to make a truly epic show. Sondheim is absolutely my favorite musicalwriter, but what show has he written which has as many recognizable themes? (West Side Story doesn't count, since he was only the lyricist). Fantastic music, crazy good lyrics, yes, but if you're basing the worth of a show on how many tunes people can hum . . . a truly horrible way to judge the worth of a show in my opinion . . . Sondheim certainly can't compete, despite his incredible musical gift.
Generally I agree that Andrew Lloyd Webber is a bit overrated, but Phantom of the Opera is a stunning exception. The music is exciting and beautiful, and the plot is interesting and even a bit dark. The movie didn't come close to doing it justice. Why not cast a Phantom who could actually sing, and dancers who could actually dance? Nonetheless, Phantom remains a wonderful serious musical.
I'm surprised you classified Lerner and Lowe and Rodgers and Hammerstein with the "deep" composers. If we're talking about easily-pleased coach parties, we need look no further than My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, and the Sound of Music. Yes, Webber DID write many frivolous shows, but many, such as Phantom and Evita, far surpass many Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Lowe creations as far as innovation and intellectual challenge.
That being said, my favorite musical writer remains Sondheim, not for the popularity of his tunes, but for the sheer beauty and cleverness of his compositional style. He could write music which was witty without being silly, clever yet very serious and at times shocking. He alone consistently avoids the "naff-ness" that so plagues modern theatre.
"On my own", "Castle on a cloud", "I dreamed a dream", "A little fall of rain", "Stars", as well as the two you mentioned. These are not only extremely famous . . . what little girl DOESN'T know "On my Own"? . . . they are also fantastic musical compositions, which come together to make a truly epic show. Sondheim is absolutely my favorite musicalwriter, but what show has he written which has as many recognizable themes? (West Side Story doesn't count, since he was only the lyricist). Fantastic music, crazy good lyrics, yes, but if you're basing the worth of a show on how many tunes people can hum . . . a truly horrible way to judge the worth of a show in my opinion . . . Sondheim certainly can't compete, despite his incredible musical gift.
Generally I agree that Andrew Lloyd Webber is a bit overrated, but Phantom of the Opera is a stunning exception. The music is exciting and beautiful, and the plot is interesting and even a bit dark. The movie didn't come close to doing it justice. Why not cast a Phantom who could actually sing, and dancers who could actually dance? Nonetheless, Phantom remains a wonderful serious musical.
I'm surprised you classified Lerner and Lowe and Rodgers and Hammerstein with the "deep" composers. If we're talking about easily-pleased coach parties, we need look no further than My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, and the Sound of Music. Yes, Webber DID write many frivolous shows, but many, such as Phantom and Evita, far surpass many Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Lowe creations as far as innovation and intellectual challenge.
That being said, my favorite musical writer remains Sondheim, not for the popularity of his tunes, but for the sheer beauty and cleverness of his compositional style. He could write music which was witty without being silly, clever yet very serious and at times shocking. He alone consistently avoids the "naff-ness" that so plagues modern theatre.
zlya
New member
"thru-sung" means there is no spoken dialogue. In most musicals, people talk a bit, then sing, then talk, then sing. In a "thru-sung" musical, there is no talking, just singing. So, to fill in the plot, some composers use recitative, a technique borrowed from opera. Recitative is like a cross between singing and talking. It uses just one or two notes, with very little accompaniment.