Phantom vs. Ghost — Page 2

Go see Phantom--(spoilers)

if only to watch him shoot magic fireballs from a walking stick, and writhe in anguish on the floor of his hide-out.And pop-up conviently to over-hear conversations. And the mirror doll is not to be missed. Who would've guessed that would've been a first date turn off?

Hey, I'm glad I saw it,there was much to love, and also much to roll your eyes at. We just found ourselves giggling when it was obvious we shouldn't have been. Costumes, singing, sets--beautiful and I wouldn't have brought up the magic candles coming out of the water if there hadn't been so many other things to take me out of the story with wtf moments.

The other kids(middle school) I brought to the show LOVED it. Teens--not so much. All the soccer moms I know love it, so, as always, form your own opinion. Just saying we found it a little cheesy at times.

By all means, see Phantom, especially if you are female - women seem to be captivated by the love story, but guys ... not so much. The new touring production (which has not yet come to the U.S.) has different sets and costumes, and a smaller cast. The Las Vegas production, which is shorter, but includes all the songs and features the Broadway costumes, is closing at the end of the summer, so it's New York or nothing. Phantom, which I have seen twice on tour, twice in Las Vegas, and once on Broadway, never loses its appeal for me. I say go for it!

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I would assume they are talking about the 25th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Aww I forgot all about that concert--I only caught some of it on PBS. But I didn't think it really replicated (or even tried to exactly) the Prince staging.

That production was horrible. The sound design was completely off. The scenic design was a ripoff of the original but with lcd screens. The leads are great, but it's not a good representation of the show.

Agreed. The Royal Albert Hall event is NOT a good representation of the show. Design issues aside, the direction is also weak and confused as it was done by an ex-resident director of the London production and not by Hal Prince himself, who was busy at the time on Broadway and couldn't make it for the event. I was there live at the Albert Hall and found the whole thing disappointing. I watched it again recently when it was broadcast on TV and still found it a bore.

Go and see Phantom if you've never seen it. Like it or loathe it, it's an iconic piece of theatre history and no fan of Broadway should go without seeing it at least once. It's the most successful production of anything ever and the Prince/Björnson staging is very unlikely to be topped. I saw the new 'reimagined' tour in the UK recently and was left unimpressed and in some cases appalled by what I saw. It pales massively in comparison to the original production.

That said, I saw the Broadway production a month ago and really didn't like the cast, who were going through the motions and seemed tired and bored. Marni Raab in particular needs to go. The whole show needs a cast purge like Cameron Mackintosh did with the original Broadway Miz in the 90s.

Updated On: 6/6/12 at 07:30 AM

I saw GHOST, and it sucked. See PHANTOM.

I think Phantom is good, not great. Should've closed a long time ago. The book is terrible. ALW writes music well, but vocals not so much. You can't understand half the things they sing unless you already know what they're saying. Also, a lot of the songs that got cut from the movie are horrendous. They just go on and on. They sing for singing's sake. The effects are cool, but old fashioned. Probably the biggest reason to see Phantom, but they're all almost 30 years old.

Ghost is new, The effects are new. Some of them haven't been seen in over a century. I would see Ghost. You can form an opinion for yourself about it. With Phantom people are always going to say it's great, even if it lacks in a lot of areas.

Also, if you are a fan of lyric writing, go for the well-crafted, beautiful lyrics of The Phantom of the Opera over GHOSTs...which I'm not quite sure how to describe.

By all means, see Phantom, especially if you are female - women seem to be captivated by the love story, but guys ... not so much.

Really? I went to see this with my school, and all of my female friends, including myself, my mother, and my sister, all hated it. And there were a couple of guys who really enjoyed it. So I think whether or not you enjoy sappy, melodramatic "love" stories between a creepy stalker and a very reluctant woman would be more of an indicator than your gender.

And there is good reason it is still running- the show hits a chord with non-theater snobs who don't mind getting lost in rousing music and spectacle.

It's not just theater snobs who dislike this show.