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Minnie Driver plays the opera’s soprano diva as a delightfully over the top cliche. Prima Donna -the delightful Minnie Driver Christine is normally clothed in virginal white which creates an obvious contrast with Carlotta, the opera diva who is draped in garish, vibrant colors. The costumes are creative and well suited to each character. Furthermore, the song and dance numbers are beautifully choreographed. It is a feast for the eyes almost too rich to consume. The screen is filled with lush color, intricate settings, and stunning visual shots. The production aspects of The Phantom of the Opera are stellar. This creates a certain intimacy that is just not available in a theater production. But then the camera is also able to provide close-ups of certain scenes and faces. So we get a much better sense of place for the setting. This is not as easily produced for the stage. For example, we are able to see the detailed behind the scenes workings of an opera house. The benefit of the camera allows for a more detailed backdrop.
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One strength that the film has over the stage production is that it has both a broader and narrower scope to tell this famous story. So the questions I had about who the Phantom was and what happened to him after he disappeared were partially answered. The film provides a flashback into the Phantom’s origin story as well as flash-forwards into the future. One of the things I really appreciated about the film version is that it answered some of the questions left open by the stage version. RELATED POST: Beauty and the Beast (2017) A Magical and Romantic Adaptation of the Disney Classic Comparing the Film and Stage ProductionĪlthough there have been numerous productions of The Phantom of the Opera, it is inevitable that the main comparisons will be between Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage production and the film. Who will win the battle for control of the opera house? Even more importantly, who will win the battle for Christine? Christine held in thrall by the sexiest Phantom ever. Plus, her ability to view him with compassion, as few people ever have, gives her empathy for a man whose physical violence continues to escalate. She loves Raoul, yet feels grateful to the Phantom. These two goals put him on a direct collision course with Raoul and the managers of the opera. RELATED POST: La La Land (2016) A Contemporary Musical Dancing Through Hollywood
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He will stop at nothing both to dictate the management of the opera house itself and to possess the lovely and innocent Christine. But in spite of his kindness to Christine, the Phantom is a man to be feared. He is not the ghost that the company thinks he is, but a highly disfigured man (both physically and emotionally) who lives beneath the opera house. Her public success and meeting with the Vicomte motivate her mysterious tutor to finally reveal himself to her as the Phantom of the Opera. This also brings her to the attention of the new patron of the opera house and her former childhood sweetheart, Raoul the Vicomte de Chagny. When an accident occurs during rehearsal, Carlotta, the resident soprano, refuses to sing for opening night. But she has secretly been taking voice lessons from a tutor she only knows as the Angel of Music. In Webber’s version, the orphaned Christine Daae has been raised in a Parisian opera house where she also works as a dancer. But it is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage and film musical which is arguably the most familiar to audiences. Most importantly, what happened to the Phantom?! Welcome to “The Masquerade”īased on the French novel by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted many times. The music replayed continuously in my mind and I couldn’t let go of all the questions that the stage production left open-ended. For weeks, I was haunted by the story of the Phantom.
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But as much as I loved the message, it was not Les Miserable which stuck with me. We also watched the equally famous Les Miserable that same trip. My family was in New York and my father took us all to see the show on Broadway. I vividly remember my first exposure to The Phantom of the Opera.