The OTHER Phantom

Greetings all, newbie here from the great city of Hibbing; located on the frozen tundra of northeastern minnesota. Hibbing's main claim to fame is that it's the town where Bob Dylan, yes THAT Bob Dylan, grew up; so we milk that pretty much every chance we get. :) Our local theater department is doing the horribly overlooked musical version of "Phamtom" in the spring. It was written by Maury Yeston of "Nine" fame, with a great book by Arthur Kopit. Our director claims that it's an incredibly difficult show to mount, hence the reason that very few local theater companies have attempted it. He claims that the story is much stronger and that the characters are far better drawn and more 3-dimensional than they are in the Lloyd Webber version.

I've heard the OCR of the show and i simply love the score. The music has a driving force, less romantic and darker than the music in the Lloyd Webber version, and much of it is incredibly intricate, almost "busy" for lack of a better word; "too many notes" as was said in Amadeus. I'm incredibly excited for auditions which are in Feb, and i'd greatly appreciate feedback from anyone who's actually seen the show, heard the score, or is at all familiar with the piece. Many thanks in advance, and one again may I say how happy I am to be here; this is truly an amazing site!

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Updated On: 1/17/05 at 12:22 PM

i like the song "Home"... even though the lyrics do seem a little weak... but i love the music to that song

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Thanks for all the great feedback, any other thoughts or opinions?

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the reason I don't like this one is becasue it strays even further from the original novel than the webber version. I mean, they cut Raoul! wtf??? and who the hell walks through Paris selling sheet music???

I actually saw a production of Maury Yeston's Phantom brought here in Manila for a very limited run. Sorry, but at that time it seemed like a pale copy ( even if the musical score is completely different) of the Webber musical to me.

Maybe I should revisit the OCR, which was available here, too, when they performed the show.

I was in a production of Phantom with my youth theatre 2 years ago. (Christine played by Sara Kramer - now in Mamma Mia). I love phantom! I think that the music is MUCH better the Phantom of the Opera and although I know many people didn't like it, I am officially infatuated with the movie. I think that as an overall show Maury Yeston really beats Andrew Lloyd Webber no competition!

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I thoroughly enjoy the yeston/koppit Phantom. I think it's extremely different from ALW's version, but in a good way. We have the opportunity in this show to have a more in depth look at the Phantom and why he is the way he is. In the midst of the show, there are two songs back to back that the phantom sings alone on the stage...My Mother Bore Me/Christine. I think these two pieces are honestly one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard yeston produce and make the entire production what it is. I had the good fortune of actually seeing this show and I was enthralled....I would definitely give this production a chance.

Switz I totally agree about the importance of making the disinction between the 2 versions clear to the ticket buying public! I keep harping to our director that the most crucial part of our advertising will be making it crystal clear to the public that ours is NOT THE LlOYD WEBBER VERSION!!! Anyhow, thanks to all for the great feedback concerning the show; i'm now incredibly excited about starting production and i'll keep the forum updated about it's progress.

I have not seen this version on stage - but I LOVE the score. I find it far superior to the rather bland Lloyd Webber score. It has at least 6 stunning songs and many other really good numbers, while - for me - the ALW show has just one great song, a couple of very ordinary songs and 2 hours of endless repetition.

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