The Soundtrack to POTO Stinks!

Ok, sorry to be so blunt, but I have been in a big The Phantom of the Opera mode lately. I love the show. I have been trying so hard to give the soundtrack a chance, because the orchestrations and orchestra are truly wonderful (Masquerade is astounding), but the cast stinks so bad it is almost (well it is) impossible to listen to. Emmy is actually ok, but Gerard just sucks. I mean if I was confronted with him as The Phantom I would laugh in his face, whereas with Crawford (who I normally don't care for) I would have shivers running down my spin. I guess it is such a shame that we have a new POTO recording that is so bad because of the casting choices. Gerard is sexy, but he simply doesn't have the voice to pull off the Phantom, much like Colm. I just don't know what ALW was thinking! Don't know why I'm posting this - just am. It was my first musical - the musical that brought me this great passion. I just would love a new recording that is acutally listenable. Gerard is a joke - flat out a joke!

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Updated On: 2/16/07 at 01:05 AM

I saw the movie. I am just saying that I am totally into POTO again, and it's disappointing (highly) considering this is more complete. better sounding, and with updating orchestrations, compared to the OLC. WTF was ALW thinking when he approved Gerard Butler as his lead. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

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The movie was ok. I just don't get it. There hard to be someone out there who had a powerful voice for the Phantom. I mean I would just laugh during the finale if Gerard were singing..."oh I'm so afraid". I just wish it was better.

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Bluntness I don't mind. The fact that this thread is taking me back to the insane Phantom wank in 2004 is kinda trippy, though!

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the only song I like on the soundtrack is "Poor Fool He Makes Me Laugh"... that says a lot I think. one of the songs I overlook on the OLC is the best on the soundtrack. wtf?

I totally agree. Gerard Butler ruined the whole thing for me. A missed opportunity.

If Sunset Blvd gets shot, I hope they'll make a better job of it. Evita was great and I'm not a Madonna fan.

i think joel schumacher had more to do with getting butler and rossum cast. he wanted to go young, real young to appeal to a younger demographic. alw consented and approved.

the result = one of THE WORST movie musicals in history. it makes grease 2 look like a masterpiece.

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Updated On: 2/16/07 at 08:51 AM

I saw PHANTOM at an early screening, when there was still some buzz that it was going to be an Oscar contender. It was a fascinating experience, because the first 15 minutes or so were just extraordinary.

But - and its actually very rare when this happens - you could pinpoint the minute the film started to falter. Half way through the title song - when she was walking down the hallway with the hand-candelabras -- there was suddenly this shift and nothing in the rest of the film equalled what had come before it.

Schumacher just isn't a gifted film maker. The film probably would have been "better" or at least more tolerable if they had cast bigger names in the two leads - but it became very insufferable very quickly. A fascinating experiement on how not to do a movie musical for modern audiences.

I was so disgusted I posted my message twice!

Updated On: 2/16/07 at 10:52 AM

The film was a massive disappointment to me. I knew it would be, because Joel Schumacher ruined "Batman" for me and I knew, instantly, he'd ruin this too. Still, I gave it a chance. I was not surprised. I was disappointed. I have a soft spot for this musical and the amazing performance that Michael Crawford gave. They should have made this movie in the 90s when they said they would. At least it would have been properly done by WB. Gerald Butler just stinks totally and utterly, IMO, Emmy Russom, can't stand her, Patrick, can't stand him. Everyone else, don't really care. Schumacher casting people young? Stupid. Phantom is not supposed to be sexy, it's supposed to be operatic and larger-than-life. The Phantom is supposed to be genuinely ugly.

And then you have all these stupid inconsistencies... Mme. Giry looking about 50 and yet she's the same age as Erik when she rescues him from the circus. The Phantom looks like a young man, late 20s, early 30s at that. Mme. Giry is obviously so much older

Christine hears his voice when she's a child. Ah, isn't that creepy paedophilia? The Phantom wouldn't have been the same age.

Just a lot of things, a lot of continuum problems, bad lip-syncing, great sets, ultimately wasted because you're so bored because everything seems to be running more slowly than the stage-show on a bad night. Just bleh

Maybe one day "Phantom" will receive a proper and authentic filming, true to the nature of the musical but obviously more cinematic. And hopefully not as identical to the stage script

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I suppose. But I've always thought of Erik as a middle-aged guy because that's his age in the original book. Still...

Perhaps when "Phantom" closes, they'll release a DVD? Something like "Cats", "Joseph", "By Jeeves" etc.

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Gerard is no good.

But Emmy cn sing, act, and she's hot. Call about a triple threat! She would be an awesome Belle.

Emmy...Rossum...sucked...the...end.
Gerard...Butler...sucked...the...end
The...film...sucked...the...end.

I can't stand all this crap about how "Emmy began her career at the Met as a singer in the Children's opera chorus so she was already an accomplished singer"..boo hoo. She squeeled, squeeked, and was dead on screen. She gave up her singing to go into acting which really didn't help much either.
Gerard, one of my favorite actors of all time...no. Joel just wanted to work with him after seeing him in "Dracula 2000" so, WHY NOT PUT HIM IN THE FILM!! dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnn. Of course it will work!....

It just didn't work. It was too much of a melodrama and with the whole "the cast should be young and sexy and the relationship between the phantom and christine is a deep, sexual one"....no. They butchered the film and although it was beautiful to look at, emmy and gerard should not have been given the credit they received for their performances. The did not deserve it at all.