Worst of all, this movie was responsible for the phanbrat epidemic. The what? What is that? If you mean annoying young show fan behavior, that was around long before the Phantom of the Opera musical film. I believe the Rentheads were the first musical theatre fan club to become widely known by name. They started with the best of intentions, but descended into a nuisance at each performance, distracting the cast and the audience with their self-indulgent behavior. And the young Annie and Cats fans thrived in their own unique fashion during the pre-internet days of Broadway. I knew a girl who had a personalized "CATS" license plate on her car and would remove it to have it autographed and framed each time she saw the show on tour and would purchase another to replace it.
I was told "Over the Moon" was played earnestly, and not as a parody of bad performance art. That is exactly how it was originally performed, but only for a couple of years. Once it became a smug parody by replacements who had only been given the blocking and not the direction, the scene turned into a hammy insincere stand-up act that was completely out of place. I hated that scene for years until they finally got it back on track at the end of the show's run. What made the scene funny was the honesty and commitment of the character's performance, not the performer's desperate attempt to yank laughs out of the audience with their drama major SNL antics.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Updated On: 6/3/09 at 10:33 AM
