The Phantom of the Opera

A couple years ago, I picked up a book called The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. I started it in the middle of the night, and couldn’t stop until I had finished. It was a strange book, part mystery, part thriller, part romance, part historical novel. But it had such an interesting theme that I liked it, and read it again.

Basically, the story is that of a man who was born disfigured in the face. His mother scorned him and made him wear a mask, and she was only the first. He was a genius, with an amazing singing voice, and his talents included composition, architecture, and sleight of hand. But because of his extreme ugliness, he was shunned, and lived out his life in loneliness and resentment underneath the Paris Opera House. While living there, he spent his time frightening the dwellers of the Opera House, who called him the Phantom of the Opera, and training the voice of his inamorata, a chorus girl named Christine. His teaching led her to fame, but when she acknowledged her love for another, he took her captive. She took pity on him in his loneliness, gave him unselfish love, not despising him for his ugliness, and he was so touched that he let her go.

As well as I liked the book, even better is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation to opera/musical. The original stage production has just surpassed Cats in the position of longest running musical, and it’s not hard to see why. The story is poignant, and the music is gorgeous.

In the character of the Phantom, we have a portrait of a man whose life held such promise, which was denied him by a world that only focused on physical appearance. It is ironic that the world called him a monster, but it was their rejection that led him to become one in truth. In Christine, we have an innocent young girl, who teaches this broken man what love really is.

The musical has got simply gorgeous music, and the recent movie adaptation has some excellent singers. The Phantom is supposed to have the most beautiful male voice, and Christine is supposed to have equal, but untrained, vocal beauty, so it is a challenge to cast.

The original Phantom, Michael Crawford, had a higher voice than I imagined from the book, sounded tinny to my ears, but did have the range. But the new Phantom, Gerard Butler, is a bass, has equal range, and has the most beautiful male voice I have heard. His voice is sometimes dark and tortured, but with a “strange sweet sound” that makes your “spirit start to soar”. Some arias of his sound beautiful but dangerous (Past the Point of No Return, Phantom of the Opera), some just beautiful (Music of the Night), and others lonely and lost (All I Ask of You Reprise, No One Would Listen, Wandering Child). I can’t think of a person who could sound more like the Phantom I imagined. [No One Would Listen is an aria they cut out of the film, but kept on the DVD, and I really wish they hadn’t, because it’s one of my favorites]

His costar, Emmy Rossum as Christine, has an innocent, clear voice, much different than the original Sarah Brightman, who has a very golden, rich voice, but Emmy’s is more fitting to the character.

The Phantom’s character, while sympathetic, is not moral (which comes from his being shunned and therefore untaught), so the movie has some objectionable parts, though overall the moral structure is strong. Especially strong is the message that we should not judge on physical appearance, and that selfless love is the highest a person can attain. I fell in love with the music (it is the only opera I like), and was touched by the story, and because of that, I would recommend it.