If Sondheim had made a Phantom...

[*ClassicVintage*]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:34pm

How do you think Sondheim's version of Phantom of the Opera would have ended, were there not a novel's ending to follow?

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:34 PM

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:37pm

The music would have had much more variety, and the lyrics would be a lot better.

Edit: Whoops, I misread the question. But I'll leave my previous response here anyway.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:37 PM

[D2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:37pm

With excellent reviews, lots and lots of Tony Awards including Best Musical, a year and half run on Broadway and the undying devotion of Theater Queens everywhere.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:42pm

^ The sad, sad truth.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:46pm

If Sondheim had written Phantom, Christine definitely would have married Raoul, but she would have been deeply depressed. As she and Raoul headed off in the boat at the last scene, she would be singing a reprise of "Marriage Is a Dirge (But a Necessary Urge)." Raoul, meanwhile, would be scoping out Meg as she rappelled down from the rafters, but he, of course, is sad when he realizes she's only wearing tight pants and not a skirt. The Phantom has otherwise relocated to a bar somewhere in Chelsea having realized that the bitches are just too much work.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:05pm

Hence the imminent sequel? The Phantom could probably get work at a piano bar.

[*ClassicVintage*]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:30pm

SorryGrateful... I think you may be on to something..

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:33pm

As she and Raoul headed off in the boat at the last scene, she would be singing a reprise of "Marriage Is a Dirge (But a Necessary Urge)."

***************************

Wow, I needed that laugh in the middle of this day. The odd part is I can almost hear the song...

Good one.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:35pm

There would have been an 11:o'clock number called "Losing My Mask".

Actually he did do a version of an ugly/deformed character falling in love with a hot young thing. It's called Passion.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 3:33pm

Raoul and Christine would die. The Phantom would have commited suicide. Actually the only one left standing would be Meg and she'd be found dancing in an all white room with a straight-jacket on.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 3:41pm

That sounds like his version of Hamlet with Horatio dead instead of Ophelia.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 5:42pm

Actually Meg would be found dancing alone in an all-white room, playing the tuba.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 6:17pm

If Lrry Gelbart wrote the book, Sondheim's songs would interrupt a farce involving confused identities, as Raoul is in disguise and hilariously mistaken for Christine, finally marrying Monsieur Andre.

If John Weidman wrote the book, it would offer a savage indictment of the French beau-monde.

If James Goldman wrote the book, there would be no definitive version but Sondheim would write 3 patter songs in which the Phantom cannot make up his mind whether to commit to the steady Christine, or run off with the quietly rampant Madame Giry.

Personally, I prefer the version where Stephen Schwartz writes the score in which the Phantom, though green, is shown to be entirely justified in dropping a chandelier on the wicked Parisian opera-goers.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 8:07pm

If Sondheim had written Phantom...
It would have been A LOT better than the piece of crap playing now.

[jasonf]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 8:27pm

Under the mask
I go again
I have to every
Now and then
Under the mask
I go again
To lure another singer

Under the mask
I haunt the place
I have to hide
My distorted face
Under the mask
But not forget-
ting why the chandelier fell
Under the mask
To get the girl
I don't care how
The time is now...

[littlechavela2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 8:33pm

brilliant

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 8:42pm

Actually he did do a version of an ugly/deformed character falling in love with a hot young thing. It's called Passion.

I just got the cast recording yesterday, and was thinking about how similiar it is to Phantom, story-wise.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 9:05pm

Well, Fosca wasn't a psychopathic murderer though... Stalker, yes. Murderer, no.

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 9:39pm

I think that Sondeim would have made an even darker musical. It would have been more true to the book.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 9:52pm

The Phantom marries Christine, but is left flummoxed as to what to do with his virginal child bride, all the while secretly pining away for Madame Giry, who is now sleeping with the new comically chauvinist tenor, who is married in turn to Carlotta.

::inhales::
OR.

The show would be set over a series of Sundays, with Christine musing over the Phantom's obsession with his music and his inability to connect with the rest of the human race. The Phantom muses over his inability to pull himself away from his Don Juan Triumphant, which is under criticism from the opera company ("... if you can call this gibberish art!"). Christine then decides to go off with the Vicomte de Chagny because he offers her security, which is what she needs - even if it's not what she really wants. Then the plot moves 100 years later to 1981. Repeat, rinse.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 09:52 PM

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 11:05pm

omg this is so interesting for me because i just wrote a research paper for my english class in college comparing ALW and SS and their contributions and success in the 1980s.

if SS had made phantom, the spectacle would be no more haha