Charles Hart - The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast)
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Free Music Notes for The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast)
Free Music Review: Phantom Phan
Hit: 5 Stars
All of the actors and musicians in this musical recording are truely awesome. There is no better way to put it. I give props to Michael Crawford, without him the musical wouldn't be the same. Andrew Lloyd Webber is a great composer, the music fits the mood, passion, acting, and setting. The actual libretto itself, if you just read it without the musicality, has all of the ingredients of a wonderful love story. It has conflict and tension (Crawford), confort and hope (Barton), and a victim/direction of all this emotion (Brightman). The story sets the scene perfectly, we have the wonderous Miss Daeé sing the first passionate song in the album, after Carlotta obliterates everything with her horrid operatic signing style, a conflict of interests, conforting, a plan to help Christine, a menacing Phantom, some final tension/suspense/climax, and then, finaly, a resolve to all of this, which leaves us in mystery of where the Phantom went. In my opinion, this is the best Broadway that i've ever seen and listened to. It displays all the ranges of emotion, talent, acting skill, and perfection that the "best broadway" would need. So, if you're thinking about buying this, well, do! If you're looking at the 2004 movie, then think again and buy this instead. Those actors, in the new movie, need voice lessons, acting lessons, and the director needs to get his head out of the Disney movie stockpile.
So, i can only leave you with one finaly advise, buy this or be puerile like all the rest, as Firmin and André would have said. Therefore, go forth an purchase this original london recording.
Free Music Review: The Best Musical of All Time...
Hit: 5 Stars
The Phantom of the Opera is the most popular musical of all time. It has grossed more money than any other stage play - or movie, for that matter! Yet, it is constantly under attack from the critics. Why is this? Well, the answer is quite simple - they have bad taste. Drama critics are not music critics, and music itself is a nebulous area. Most of the criticism of the music has been nonsensical. For instance, many critics have written (in the same review!) that there are no catchy songs in the piece, but they can't get those songs out of their heads. Andrew Lloyd Weber is usually criticized in one of two ways: either that all of his stuff sounds alike, or that all of his stuff sounds like something else. The problem is that these two criticisms are mutually exclusive - they cancel each other out. Another nagging problem is that critics are usually power-mongers - they need to believe that they have influence on which shows succeed and which shows fail. They hate Lloyd Weber because his success mocks their power.
The Phantom of the Opera is one of the best musicals of all time. It is actually an opera - sung almost completely throughout. I have examined the sheet music and it is wonderfully rich and complex. Every song is a gem. The Original London Cast Recording is - by far - the best one to own. We may not have Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the movie, but we do have an almost complete performance by them on disc. Those of us fortunate enough to have seen Crawford's performance know why he is the best Phantom (poor Gerard Butler pales by comparison).
Free Music Review: MC AND SB ARE THE ANGELS OF MUSIC!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Ohmygod! They are SOOOOOO GOOD!!!! I love their voices! Michael Crawford "sigh", he can be MY angel of music any day. He's voice is so smoothing and hypnotic. When he sings "I am your angel of music, come to me angel of music" I wish I could be Christine. I felt like crying when he was rejected by Christine for Raoul (err!) You can feel the phantom's anger at them. And his insanity when he drags her down to his lair. But you really pity him at the end, (basically, he doesn't cry like a baby like some certain phantoms.) He is the BEST phantom EVER!!!!!!I'm serius, once you hear him sing as the phantom, you'll never listen to any other phantom (especially Colm Wilkinson in OCC) the same way.
And Sarah Brightman, I would love to be able to sing like her. When she sings as Christine, she has an operatic voice yet, it's also modern. In "Angel of Music", she sounds truly enchanted by him. Truly scared yet not scared when she tells Raoul about the phantom. She really does well in "All I Ask of You". I can really feel her pressure when she is urged to sing to trap the phantom. I just want to hugg her when sang to her dead father. I really think she is the best Christine EVER!!!!
The late Steve Barton is the only Raoul I don't hate (even though it sounds like I hate him in this review). John Savident and David Firth are great as the mangers, Rosemary Ashe and John Aron have great voices, the late Mary Millar is the best Madame Giry and Janet Devenish really sounds like a Meg Giry.
Over all THIS CD IS THE BEST PHANTOM OF THE OPERA CD EVER!!!!!
Free Music Review: Classic
Hit: 5 Stars
Let's quit with the whining - regardless of whether Andrew Lloyd Webber was married to Sarah Brightman, she made an excellent Christine that fans of the Phantom musical are always going to hold in high regard. Michael Crawford is a master tenor and his voice shines on everything he sings, and Steve Barton and Rosemary Ashe gave excellent interpretations of the characters Raoul and Carlotta.
This set blows the movie version out of the water (not to insult the wonderful movie cast, though). Not only does this come with the full printed libretto (including the dialogue) to Phantom, the CDs include every major song.
The orchestra is a little slow on the original cast and of less quality than the movie recording, and some of the lyrics are different but that's fine -- we know how musicals can evolve over time.
It's hard to review something like "Phantom," because I love it so much. It's simply a classic recording that will outlive most things in the pop culture spectre, and it's a must-have for anyone's CD collection, whether you're a fan of Broadway or not.
That's part of the genius of Andrew Lloyd Webber, in fact-- the songs he writes for his musicals are not songs that would necessarily be considered "show tunes," such as something from Rodgers & Hammerstein. "The Phantom of the Opera" is unconventional and will likely beat out "Cats" as the longest-running Broadway show ever (May 7th I'm going! Alright)
So! 5/5, A+... even though I'm biased, and obsessed with Phantom. Alright! :)
Free Music Review: A Phantom Fan's Perspective
Hit: 5 Stars
The Phantom Of The Opera soundtrack by Andrew Lloyd Webber is the best and most meaningful music ever created. The music provides story with a catchy tune and still provides a powerful theme. Throughout the songs you can establish a story about a young opera singer named Christine, and how she has encounters with the Phantom. The song, "The Point of no Return", is the most meaningful because it has the Phantom giving Christine a decision to spend her days with him, or watch her boyfriend, Raul, get hung. This part is very suspenseful and is presented in a very awesome way because it has all of the characters singing in a trio.
The theme of The Phantom Of The Opera is that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. The Phantom wears a mask over his face so people won't see how ugly he is. When the mask is on people don't think he's unattractive at all, but just mean. When Christine rips the mask off of his face, she sees how disgusting it looks and she freaks. Then she realizes the theme of this story and she gives him another chance by going back and looking for him so he'd teach her, but mysteriously all she sees when she goes back is his mask lying on a table before her.
At first riding in the car to see the show, I thought that I would hate it because it was opera but then my mom slipped in the CD and my thoughts about opera totally changed. That's when I finally realized that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover because you never know. Someday you might try deep fried banana.