You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves*

It all boils down to love and mathematics. There are an infinite number of ways one can be happy, but when one is alone and focused on a singular, obsessive desire, only tragedy can follow.

… for a change, this isn’t about me, but the Phantom. I watched the show twice last week, and while I’ve watched it and listened to it several dozen times before, and everyone and their grandmother has critiqued and reviewed it to little pieces, the magic of it still wrecks me.

My Phantom is Susan Kay’s. I read and watch and listen to every incarnation of the Phantom with that specific specter looming over me: Erik the boy seducer, the tragic architect, the wry trickster, the doomed lover. It’s probably why I can’t bring myself to wrap my head around pretty Phantoms: Ramin Karimloo, Gerard Butler, Jonathan Roxmouth. (I’ll exclude John Cudia because his grotesque, pained movement is heartfelt.)

So, the Phantom in Manila.

I suppose I’ll have to first “remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples”. In no particular logical order:

1. Let’s start with the libretto (compared with the 1986 Original London Cast Recording): Masquerade either had different lyrics or the verses were switched around. No use trying to sing along.

2. In Wandering Child, Raoul didn’t start singing until after “Come to me, angel of music”, which was, to be truthful, VERY disappointing because it was the bit I loved most in Act 2 of the OLCR. I wanted to hear the trio where Raoul cuts in with “Once again she is his” as the Phantom lures Christine to him. Raoul instead sang “Leave her” which I suppose the producers intended to foreshadow his “Free her” line in the final lair scene. Siiiiigh. I’m glad I’m not the only one.

This demands a John vs. Killian.

3. In Phantom 25, Ramin Karimloo’s Phantom skips the oriental robe and hat for Stranger Than You Dreamt It. I don’t remember what Gerard Butler wore in the 2004 movie, but I hoped they’d use it for Phantom in Manila. They did for the Thursday show, but the Phantom crawled along the floor in his shirtsleeves for Saturday matinee.

4. Claire Lyon’s voice was bright, silvery, fantastic. Emilie Lynn wasn’t bad, but she sounded a little too old to be Christine – she could probably play Carlotta. I enjoyed Pauline du Plessis’ Carlotta more than Andrea Creighton’s, I think mostly because Pauline had spot-on comic timing and movement – her croaking was delightful – and partly because she signed my program. 🙂

5. Anthony Downing’s Raoul: Not one of the brave Raouls (brave = Hadley Fraser, despite the guyliner). Lovely voice, charming All I Ask of You, but RAOUL YOU HAD ONE JOB.

6. Jonathan Roxmouth’s Phantom: Okay, don’t start throwing overripe tomatoes. Roxmouth had a devastating voice, wonderful control and emotion… but I don’t know why the Phantom/Christine chemistry wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be. I felt he didn’t have enough stage presence until it all came furiously boiling out in the final lair. I felt Christine was better off with Raoul (hello, mob). BUT! I must say his hand-seduction was perfect (hands have been my thing since the Edge). Special mention must be made of his Music of the Night “touch me, trust me” and Point of No Return “before we’re one”.

7. Miscellany
– “I shall be in Frankfurt Boracay.”
– Masquerade: infinitely better seen from the upper box than the orchestra.
– The musical box monkey tune was played live!
– In the Thursday show, the Phantom embraced Christine by the second lair kiss. In the Saturday one, he gingerly tried to extricate himself from it.
– Crawling Stranger Than You Dreamt It Phantom is very creepily sexy.
– I don’t see what teddy bears or silver charm jewelry have to do with the Phantom. Shouldn’t they be selling monkeys and onyx rings? And the masks were ridiculously expensive.

It’s getting late. This will need a Part 2.

*Wild Geese. Mary Oliver, my prophet.

Photo by Llanydd Lloyd on Unsplash. Masquerade! Paper faces on parade…