Cast: Gerard Butler (The Phantom), Emmy Rossum (Christine), Patrick Wilson (Raoul)
For complete cast info, see The Phantom of the Opera page.
As someone who loved the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in high school, I was very excited to hear that the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera was finally happening.
Fortunately, I was not disappointed by this version. I was confused by the moving of the crash of the chandelier, but I guess they did it to make the end of the movie seem more dramatic. I was bummed that some of my favorite interludes are now spoken, but I anticipated this in the move to screen and it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.
Emmy Rossum does an amazing job as Christine. Her opera background was very apparent. On a whole, I'm just so happy to see movie musicals coming back as a genre. I hope this trend continues.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2004, adventure, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, drama, Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler, movie, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 1:15 PM show | 1 screams
Cast: Brad Little (The Phantom of the Opera), Lisa Vroman (Christine Daae), Tim Martin Gleason (Raul), Kate Wray (Meg Giry), and many other talented performers
Like almost everyone who loves theatre, I went through a The Phantom of the Opera phase. Mine took place in high school (which still seems to be when most people hit it even now).
Although The Phantom of the Opera isn't the best show and definitely relys on too much spectacle, it is entertaining. I hope that this will be the last time I see it, since two times was more than enough and this was my third. However, it's definitely a show everyone should see if they like musical theatre and my boyfriend had never seen it.
The cast of the touring company is very good and the music is still good, though I prefer Evita or Song & Dance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's.
Grade: B-
Labels: 2003, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom, romance
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Madonna (Eva Peron), Antonio Banderas (Che), Jonathan Pryce (Juan Peron)
For complete cast info, see IMDb's Evita page.
In my opinion, the movie Evita contains the best overall cast of Evita ever. Yes, Mandy Patinkin was a better Che, but the accent Antonio Banderas brought to the part really helped make Che seem more authentic and beneath Eva. They did take out my favorite lyric in the musical, but they didn't alter too much and did an amazing job putting this musical on film.
Although some are upset that the mistress's part was almost complete cut out (since Madonna asked to sing "Another Suitcase in Another Hall"), how can anyone who's heard the song blame Madonna? It's one of my favorites from Evita and she sings it beautifully.
The lowering of some of the notes in "Rainbow High" bothered me quite a bit (as a soprano who used that song in auditions), but it worked in the show and it's still a great song.
I decided to see the movie before deciding if I needed to buy another version of Evita on CD (I owned the American recording already) and I've decided that I need the movie soundtrack, since it's such a great cast.
Grade: B+
Labels: 1996, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Antonio Banderas, drama, history, Madonna, Mandy Patinkin, movie, musical
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:30 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Colm Wilkinson (The Phantom of the Opera), Susan Cuthbert (Christine Daae, understudy), Gillian Saunders (Meg Giry, understudy), and many other talented cast members (including Neve Campbell in the Ballet Chorus)
It was a bit strange seeing a man I associate so strongly with Jean Valjean from Les Miserables as the Phantom. It took me a while to get used to it, but he did a wonderful job. It was also odd initially to be thinking that Meg was singing Christine's lines and visa versa. This is probably because of the understudies performing, but I had never seen even a picture of a blonde Christine or a Meg who wasn't blonde, so it just took me by surprise.
The cast was very good and the music and dancing were amazing. Not nearly as big of a fan of The Phantom of the Opera as I was when I first saw it, but it's still an enjoyable show.
Unfortunately, in the production we saw, the trap door didn't work, so the ending was messed up. Apparently, The Phantom of the Opera has at least a minor technical problem in almost every performance, due to the number of special effects. It was still sad for all my friends who hadn't seen the show before, though.
Grade: B
Labels: 1991, Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Michael Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Dale Kristien (Christine Daae), Elisabeth Stringer (Meg Giry), and many other talented performers
Since I'm writing this later, it's a bit hard to find the enthusiasm I know I had for The Phantom of the Opera when I first saw it in person, but I'll try.
I had been waiting to see The Phantom of the Opera ever since I got the recording. Although I know Michael Crawford doesn't have the best voice in the world, I understand after seeing him why he will probably always be the best Phantom for this show. He is an amazing actor and that combined with his good singing voice make him the perfect Phantom. He, Dale Kristien, Joseph Dellger (Raul), and the rest of the cast did an amazing job with this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Andrew Lloyd Webber is definitely good at writing musicals that appeal to the masses. The spectacle in them appeals to almost everyone and makes the shows seem larger than life.
Note: I really saw this in the summer of '89, but it won't allow me to back date the post that far.
Grade: B+
Labels: Andrew Lloyd Webber, ballet, Best Musical, drama, musical, Phantom
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams