Growing up, one of my favorite movies to watch was The Phantom of the Opera. Little did I know that this movie was the longest-running show on Broadway. For years, audiences have walked away with a thrill from this exciting story of romance, heartbreak, and mystery. The Phantom, a musical, haunted genius, falls in love with ballet dancer Christine Daae but suddenly she is swept off her feet by her childhood lover, Raoul. The Phantom teaches Christine to become a better singer and guides her to becoming the lead in the Opera House. In the end, Christine is forced to choose between the two men: the Phantom, who has helped her reach her musical talents or Raoul, the childhood friend that she can trust and depend on.
My experience after seeing the show was the same for most. I instantly became a “phan” and could not stop singing the famous songs. The score was composed by Lloyd Webber and inspired by his professional singer wife, Sarah Brightman, who says,
“He’d pull me in and say, ‘Let’s try this out,’ and I’d sort of lead him through various things I knew, and together we — well, really he created everything, but I think I was definitely a muse at that time.”
Webber modeled the role of Christine after Sarah Brightman and she went on to perform in the very first show on January 26, 1988. The show would run for 25 more years after that. It is also acclaimed to be one of the most “successful entertainment franchises of all time” after making a whopping $5.6 billion worldwide.
Opening night curtain call in 1988.
Courtesy of The Phantom Company
Broadway recently celebrated their 25th anniversary at the Majestic Theater with many of the people that performed in the original cast. Peter Joback, who currently plays the part of the Phantom, was actually introduced at the 25th anniversary, although he played parts in many other shows before. Samantha Hill, who plays the part of Chrisitna Daae, also made her debut to Broadway as well. The two performers had both been in several shows before but were now rising to the top with their star appearances in Broadway. The special part of the 25th anniversary, was that it brought back the members of the original cast, such as Michael Crawford as the Phantom and Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae. They have both continued performing in different ways. Crawford later on became more involved in film and Brightman went on to make her own album. To learn more about the original cast click here.
Original and current leads of The Phantom of the Opera in New York.
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Thanks for the very informative facts about The Phantom of the Opera, and to be honest, I’ve watched it once in my life only. I can’t explain how much I loved it after I saw the whole performance. I really appreciated every single performer’s efforts and talents. To be able to have such great attractive performance, practice and teamwork contributed the best in this great performance. I have to say their performance touched every audiences’ heart, especially their melody, voices and acts melted the strange feeling that I had for The Phantom of the Opera.
Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the book for Phantom of the Opera and produced the movie and even thought I did not see the whole movie I had the opportunity to play the music from the music and it was insanely hard to play while learning the instrument I was playing but I fell in love with the music. Greatest music ever!!!!!!
Great post! The phantom of the opera is one of my favorite musicals!