The Phantom of the Opera

[Mysterian]

Hey there, do you like the Phantom of the Opera? Got a favorite?
The Phantom varies from novel to film to musical, taking on new life with each interpretation. Sometimes he was born with a jacked-up face, other times it's an acquired affliction. He's varying degrees of evil and romantic, depending on each version.

Me, I favor three: the Lon Chaney version, Phantom of the Paradise, and I'll admit that the 25th Anniversary version with Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess grew on me.


PS- KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park doesn't count!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

LOVE the silent version of 1925. I'm a big fan of silent films in any case. The unmasking scene is still one of the scariest things ever put on film.

 

[MissStitch626]

Love the musical, the 25th anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall is my favourite performance

 

[E&Cmom]

Stage version but I am a huge musical fan. I haven’t see the older films. I listen to the cast recording for years before finally seeing the touring production. My youngest DD got her name from it as I was pregnant when I saw it.

Love the Albert Hall performance as well.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I've only seen the 2004 film! I enjoyed it but boy, that Phantom is a creep. I'd LOVE to see the stage version!

 

[Kennywood]

A lot of people forget the 1990 mini-series version with Burt Lancaster, Teri Polo, and Charles Dance:


I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

[superme80]

The stage version and the movie are 2 completely different things. The movie was awful. I prefer the 2011 Albert Hall Production

 

[princesscinderella]

The Andrew Lloyd Webber stage show all the way! The “sequel” love never dies was absolutely terrible however.

 

[loves to dive]

I love the stage version, but do own the movie version and it's o.k. I've been to see the stage version at the Fox in Atlanta (going to the Fox is an experience in and of itself) a number. I also own the soundtrack of the original London stage version.

Off topic but speaking of the Fox: One of the highlights of my life (and I'm not young) was going to the Fox and seeing Yule Brynner in the King and I. It was toward the end of his life but boy did he still have it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber show on Broadway back in the 90s. We didn’t enjoy it, though, basically because we’d been caught in a freak snowstorm earlier that day for which we weren’t prepared and couldn’t catch a cab back to our hotel. So we had little choice but to show up at the theater without our tickets, drenched and cold, inappropriately dressed, with packages from shopping, etc., We were overall miserable and couldn’t wait for it to be over! For that reason, we liked the film version a lot better, warm and dry in the comfort of our own home.

 

[Mysterian]

The stage version and the movie are 2 completely different things. The movie was awful. I prefer the 2011 Albert Hall Production

If you mean the Joel Schumacher movie, I'm including it with the Webber vote since it's still a version of his production. I'm not crazy about it myself, and am certainly not fond of Gerard Butler's singing.

 

[Mysterian]

The Andrew Lloyd Webber stage show all the way! The “sequel” love never dies was absolutely terrible however.

From what I've seen, I agree. Lindsay Ellis on YouTube has a thorough run-down of various versions, and there are far worse than even that one.

 

[TCRAIG]

Movie was awful - but theatre shows were amazing! I did see the old silent version when I was a kid and didn’t find it scary at all (unlike those flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz - I found them to be terrifying…still do)

 

[BayouQueen]

I guess just through happenstance, I've seen them all. And read the book. Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical is my favorite of the lot. Again, just by chance, I've seen it in London, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Los Angeles was my favorite.

 

[AuntieMe3]

I've only seen the Andrew Lloyd Weber's movie version and fell in love with the music.

 

[superme80]

If you mean the Joel Schumacher movie, I'm including it with the Webber vote since it's still a version of his production. I'm not crazy about it myself, and am certainly not fond of Gerard Butler's singing.

I get WHY you included it, but I personally don't included it when voting, so I did other.

 

[RedAngie]

I saw the Broadway show sometime in the early 90s and enjoyed it very much. I don’t think the original main cast members were still appearing at that time.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I only know what I saw on Seinfeld.

 

[slo]

I‘ve seen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s live theater version twice - it is my favorite. I have not seen the movie because there are some things that I want to keep as live theater only. I feel the same way about Wicked - I would not want to see this in a movie version either if it existed

 

[Colleen27]

The musical will probably always be my favorite because it started my love affair with the whole story, but I love the book and the Claude Raines film too. I can take or leave the '04 movie, though. I've seen the stage production with some incredibly talented men in the title role and it is hard for Gerard Butler (who I don't mind, but he's no Broadway-level talent) not to be a letdown.