PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 25TH ANNIVERSARY MOVIE

Phantom won seven 1988 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Crawford) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical ( Judy Kaye, now starring in Nice Work If You Can Get It).ġ2. Producer Cameron Mackintosh had to bring him back to the theater for the curtain call.ġ1. Lloyd Webber was so nervous about Phantom’s premiere that he couldn’t attend the performance. The Broadway premiere of Phantom cost a then-record-setting $8 million to produce.ġ0. He spent a year studying Nelson Eddy’s performance in the 1943 film adaptation before he discovered that Steve Barton had already been cast in the role.ĩ. When Lloyd Webber approached him to audition for Phantom, Michael Crawford assumed he was auditioning for the part of Raoul. Steve Harley was originally asked to play the Phantom in London (they even recorded a music video!), but the creative team ultimately decided to eliminate the Phantom’s rock edge and cast Michael Crawford instead.Ĩ. It took four weeks and five people to build the original chandelier.ħ. He went on to win a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.Ħ. Director Hal Prince was briefly fired from the original London production, but was rehired again before rehearsals began. Early Phantom rehearsals in London included animatronic rats, a white horse and real doves flying through the theater-these ideas were scrapped before previews began.ĥ. Although the Phantom has no name in the musical, he’s called Erik in Gaston Leroux’s original novel.Ĥ. In early drafts of Phantom, the character of Christine was called “Kristin.”ģ. Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera was originally published as a poorly received serialized novel in 1909.Ģ. In honor of Phantom's Broadway birthday, here are 25 fascinating facts about the Tony-winning musical.ġ. He was inspired to write a Broadway musical about the haunting love story…and the rest is history! On January 26, The Phantom of the Opera is celebrating its 25th anniversary on Broadway, and the longest-running musical in history continues to be one of the most sought-after tickets in town.

While these are traits that make the audience love him, he is meant to be insane, angry and murderous, which is why people in the show fear him.Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was browsing a used bookstore in 1984 when he discovered a worn copy of The Phantom of the Opera, an out-of-print book by Gaston Leroux. His desire for love and to have an undeformed face are what make him human and depending on who portrays the Phantom, he can be a bit childlike. The character’s voice and skills as a musician are what make him beautiful. The Phantom is not meant to be a physically handsome man. Schumacher chose Butler because of his looks, rather than his voice and told him to “ make it sexy” during filming. He made the role his own and has a fantastic voice.īutler is more of an actor than a singer, which is not good considering the role is vocally demanding and the Phantom is meant to have an angelic voice. Karimloo and Boggess had been in different productions of “Phantom” and co-stared in the “Phantom” sequel, “Love Never Dies.” Fraser was the only actor of the three who had no experience with the show.īutler and Karimloo played the Phantom differently, however, Karimloo portrayed the role on West End and had more experience. The 25th anniversary starred Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser as the lead roles.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 25TH ANNIVERSARY MOVIE

It looks as if Christine is plotting her own plan, rather than being scared like in the stage show.Īfter years of the 2004 movie being the only source to view the musical when it was not on tour, it was a surprise when the “Phantom” team announced the 25th anniversary of the stage show would be recorded and released on DVD in 2011 for the U.K. The leads are not as impressive as I thought previously, and a few things do not make sense, one of them is the “Point of No Return” scene. Watching the film now, I have noticed a few things I did not a few years ago. Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson starred in it and Joel Schumacher directed it. The movie is now considered below par among most “Phans” who love the stage show. For the 25th anniversary of the stage show, the London performance was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall and released on DVD months later. Over the years there have been countless film versions, including the 2004 movie based off the 1986 musical adaption. “The Phantom of the Opera” is a story about love, seduction and mystery.

Phantom of the opera 25th anniversary