My Long Lost Love, Rediscovered!

[Mikawa Ossan]

Of course I speak of none other than "Phantom of the Opera". When I was in high school, this musical, along with Les Miserables was my life. When I moved to Japan, nothing Phantom nor Les Mis made the trip, so I had largely forgotten about these passions of mine.

But recently, I chanced upon the Phantom soundtrack on Apple's Itunes store. I downloaded it, and...I am in extacy once again. All I need is Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, and a few more, and I'll be in heaven!

Any other Phantom of the Opera fans out there?

 

[Revenant]

I'm a fan of The Phantom Of The Opera as well. I saw the Canadian Phantom and Les Miserable in Vancouver. Strangely, I got deleriously sick just before seeing both of them, and have only done the same one other time, and that was just before the one and only concert I've seen, The Tea Party. I don't remember much from either the Phantom or the Les Mis performances, just that somehow someway a couple parts were impressive.

The Phantom soundtrack later became my Tolkien music, or just music that got me thinking on the world of Tolkien, so images of High Elves, Morgoth, and lots of other stuff come to mind when I hear some tracks off the Phantom. I prefer the Canadian cast soundtrack to any others I've heard, but I couldn't say why.

 

[Mycernius]

I saw Phantom in Canada too, in Toronto back in 1990, with my cousin. I also have the CD, but I think Les Mis is much better. The book isn't bad either

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I agree that Les Mis is better in a number of senses, and I truly enjoy it, too.

Still the love triangle among Christine, Erik, and Raoul has always fascinated me. Especially the character of Erik, himself. (For those who don't know, Erik is the Phantom.) He is so despicable and pitiable at the same time, I still, to this day, am caught between cheering him and booing him.

I must admit that much of what I find to be beautiful in a woman was probably influenced by Christine. The recent movie produced by Andrew LLoyd Weber had a stunning Christine, and I actually like the way she seems to be in a trance throughout most of the movie. It fits with the "Angel of Music" idea that runs throughout.

And Raoul is basically your stereotypical hero, the prince on the white horse, so to speak. Still, it's good to have brave wholesome rolemodels in my opinion. And he fought hard for the woman he loved!

The romance between Cossette and Marius in Les Miserables never really sparked any response from me. Les Mis is of course at its heart about the struggle between Jean val Jean and Javert, which I do find very compelling, but in a different way.

 

[RockLee]

Phantom of the opera is good! If you like musicals, you should try "Notre dame de paris" ;-) Me and my gf are totally hooked !

Here you can watch some video's :