Webber Wants Sarah Brightman for Upcoming Phantom Follow-Up — Page 3

Brightman is indeed an international star (though she's certainly not my cup of tea.)

I bet he hasn't even written a note for this show yet.

Isn't that song "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" that Webber debuted a year or two ago planned for this show?

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"Second of all, I'm wondering if this is Lloyd Webber's attempt to lure her back... in more ways than one."

Isn't The Phantom of Manhattan about the Phantom writing some big opera to try to get Christine to come back and sing for him? Coincidence? lol

"Isn't that song "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" that Webber debuted a year or two ago planned for this show? "

That would be VERY shameless of Webber to re-use it--even more than his usual re-using--considering it was the big pop single from Beautiful Game (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7gKW7oRnoE )

I've never cared for Sarah's very thin voice (which is why I much prefer the Toronto Phantom recording)--my fave songs of hers are the disco classics I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper and its sequel Adventures of the Love Crusader (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLEZmhkVVkA)

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Yes, he has less themes than say Sondheim, so he repeats them more...i'll give you that. But I hope you don't literally mean one or two...there are at least 12 different themes in Phantom that I am thinking off the top of my head right now. If you want me to name each one i'd be more than glad to, just say the word.

And I'd reccommend punching a pillow or squeezing a rubber ball...

I think parts of Phantom musically are lazy but I dunno--ALW is alwasy criticized for repeating his themes when some of the best regarded operas are at least as guilty

OK you give me no choice, here we go..

-Prologue music/I remember
-POTO theme
-Think of Me
-Angel of Music
-Don Juan triumphant theme (precedes MOTN and PONR)
-Music of the Night
-Notes
-Prima Donna
-All I Ask of You
-Masquerade
-Point of No Return

That's not counting the ballet and opera music that im not sure if he composed or not..probly not but.

Unless your argument is that all those themes are too alike...im not sure where you get the number 2...

I guess my biase is I always found The HEart overated among Webber fans--so I don't really care if he used it again or not. That said I think the fact that it was premiered on such a hugely televised concert AND that Our Kind of Love was a pop single, makes the comparison much more obvious than the other examples you brought up (plus I disagree--the similarities between the two songs is so close--that even a very casual listener would notice)

I really thought I could stay out of this discussion, but the thread has become too delicious.

I was an investor, although a small one, in the Broadway production of "Phantom". Obviously, from a financial standpoint, I am thrilled with the success of the show. One can argue all day about the relative merits of the show, but what cannot be challenged is the eight hundred million dollars in box office the New York production has generated.

However.... there are SO MANY great back stories with this show, and I think some of you are either forgetting them or just aren't aware.

After Phantom's triumphant debut in London, when the show was being readied for New York, the producers here were keen to have Michael Crawford to reprise his role of Phantom, but had very little interest in Sarah. Actors' Equity similarly agreed quickly to let Michael appear on Broadway, but initially rejected Sarah.

Of course, Andrew threw one of his famous fits, to the point where he made strong implications that if Sarah was not allowed to perform on Broadway, then he was not at all sure that he would allow Phantom to come to Broadway. Things were very tense for some time before a compromise was struck- Sarah would be given permission to perform as Christine for six months; after that the role would have to be played by an American actress.

That compromise was somewhat begrudgingly accepted, and the show opened in New York. But there was still some animosity on all sides. While Micahel was nominated and won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, Sarah was not even nominated. Andrew was nominated for the music from the show, but the Tony went to Stephen Sondheim for "Into The Woods". And when Phantom won Best Musical, Andrew's short acceptance speech concluded with him raising the Tony Award and saying, "For Sarah".

And while the show was indeed originally written with Sarah in mind, including "The Music of the Night", which was originally meant to be sung by Christine, almost no critic of which I'm aware- theatre or music- has ever named Sarah as the definitive Christine. As one who has been associated with this show for over twenty years now, Sarah may clearly be Andrew's favorite, but VERY few on the "inside" would share his assessment.

I know i'm just being a loser who saw "Behind the Mask"...but according to Cameron, Music of the Night was a song he'd already written called Married Man for Aspects of Love (which was written about Sarah). They realized that the Phantom didn't have a song of his own so they threw it into the middle of the first act and Stilgoe called it Music of the Night.

I am super impressed that you were an investor and everything but...maybe you should get some of your stories straight before we take your "backers" word for it.

And jv92...c'mon man. You are making my point. Why are MOTN and AIAOY the same? Because they are in the same key? The melodies aren't the same...the chord progressions aren't the same...how exactly are they "identical"?

KQuill- understand and appreciate your passion, but you should also not think seeing "Behind The Mask" substitutes for actually being behind the scenes. I've read your other postings, so I know you do understand who produced and released "Behind The Mask". Do you really think that's a candid "warts and all" chronology, or a documentary meant to enlghten and further interest patrons about a phenomenally successful show? As in most entertainment, and that's exactly what "Behind The Mask" is meant to be, there are many factual elements, some of which are given "spin" to rewrite history a little more kindly than the reality. As I said in my first posting, there are MANY back stories to this show, as I think there are in every production. But you will not have read about these in a book or seen these on television; you would have had to live them in real time.

Darth - thanks for sharing some of your insights and experiences -- now if we can get one of the investors from Sunset Blvd to post some backstories!

I do remember the whole Sarah infighting about them bringing her over - and wasn't one of the conditions was that an american had to premiere in ALW's next production (hence Ann Crumb starring in Aspects on both sides of the atlantic in a role that ALW also had written with Sarah in mind... imho - Crumb is the definitive Rose and Sarah's takes on the Aspects songs always disappointed me)

Jim