the moment where erik dramatically swishes his cape at the daroga and it clearly hits his mic, resulting in a loud but muffled THUNK? andrew lloyd webber WISHES he could be that iconic
I actually kinda like the idea of a guy who seems obsessed over someone, only to shift that obsession to someone else when he gets rejected...and playing that straight instead of for laughs, showing how psychotic such behavior really is. Just...not for the Phantom.
It would have been more effective if they'd had Madame Giry or someone be the Phantom's former protege, making Christine realise that the Phantom loves her for one thing and one thing only - using her voice as a platform for his music - and that he'll forget about her and fall in love with the next sensation whose career he can mold and catch some glory off of (which would hark back nicely to Carlotta's solo about being eclipsed by the new rising star.) That would have made the ending seem a bit less anticlimactic.
Yeah, phantoms whole character is entirely based around his love for christine. If he can get a girl like 5 minutes after she leaves it defeats the point. Idk just no. Maybe that's y he didn't try hard on that choice, cause he knew he could just immediately get a ballerina or something.
In the 90's that would be the NBC Phantom. You know, the one that almost everyone agrees is not only better than a made for TV musical should be, but is legitimately great by some fluke of the universe
I think "An Able Woman" is right on that line of being a Saving Grace. Other shows have given us a closer look at Carlotta (Yeston and Kopit, for example), but I can't really think of any others that made any real attempt to make her human. She's a whole character in this. Not a GREAT character, but still three-dimensional. I think the original novel is the only other version to make any attempt at showing her as an actual person, rather than a just a villainous obstacle. She's mourning the loss of her career and her dream, and the loss of the chance to display her talent, the only thing she really has going for her. Hell, a lot of versions try to claim she HAS no talent, despite her position. But then, it's not a very good song, lol.
I think they could make Carlotta a part of the horror if they wanted. The phantom is the personification of sensationalism, the people flock to him and he flocks to the younger and prettier. It happens to nearly every actress of a certain age, and one day Christine will be the new Carlotta
@@PrincessNinja007 I LOVE this point! There’s so much to explore in the Carlotta-Christine parallels. Carlotta’s a genuinely interesting character, but ALW was blind to the possibilities. It’s all bad older Karen vs pretty young ingenue. The Phantom might be unusually creepy, but he’s not the first egotist trying to stake a claim on a talented young woman. One wonders if Carlotta has encountered his type before.
“Yes! We have Persian! This is not a drill!” I laughed harder at that line than I probably should have. It is sad how underutilized the Persian is in Phantom adaptations, though. If he’s used right-if indeed he’s used at all-he can really bring a lot to the story. Susan Kay’s novel is a perfect example of this. Anywho, glad to see Christi tackled another Phantom musical. Four down, another billion to go! Also hoping for some more commentaries in the future...but now I’m just being greedy! 😅
What every adaptation (except the ALW musical) gets wrong is the lack of simplicity. When you really break it down, the Musical is incredibly straightforward. It builds Hitchcockian suspense by telling you the chandelier crashed and there was an Opera ghost. It tells you things on a need to know basis. Even when his face is first revealed, the audience doesn’t see it. Because nothing is more frightening than mystery. Which is why horror films don’t show the monster until they have to. If at all. And even Maria Bjornson’s set is quite simple (for a show that takes place in the Opera Garnier) it’s mostly heavy drapes to evoke mystery. Who’s a afraid of a man who’s just walking around the whole time.
The problem with adapting a simple story is that you can either complicate it or do absolutely nothing new. If you do nothing new, you need to do everything better than the best adaptation so far...and good friggin' luck with that.
"You tell the audience there is a bomb under the table and it will go off in five minutes" yep, most adaptations of POTO are built around this concept, tell the audience ahead there was an incident with the chandelier and a "phantom", keep them hooked on the curiosity to discover who is the phantom and why he crushed the chandelier. In a sense, every POTO adaptation is like this, even if they don't tell you the chandelier crushed people watch/read them anyway to see what variation of "the phantom makes the chandelier fall down on someone" there will be this time - it actually makes for a good plot twist when the phantom is NOT involved in the incident or is involved as the victim.
I found a VHS of this in my public library in high school (2000) and I always wondered the story behind it (had a handwritten 'Phantom' label and nothing else). I think it justifies it's whole existence for the bit with Carlotta doing Queen of the Night interspersed with the Phantom imitating in baritone. Not only hilarious but also well done! A lot of the music actually well sung, actually. Admittedly, though, the script, music choices, just whole general flow are wacky like a third grade make a story out of a bunch of shredded magazine articles.
the Persian is the Quincey Morris of Phantom canon, in that both are constantly ignored despite doing pretty important shit to the plot of their respective stories
"It's the late '80s/early '90s and Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom' is the 'Hamilton' of its day." And now I'm imagining what Lin-Manuel Miranda would do as the lyricist for a "Phantom" adaptation and this needs to be a thing right now. If there was ever anybody in this day and age who could put all the wonderful melodrama and characters into poignant poetry which stayed true to the book, including Erik's past with Daroga, it would be him. As for this musical, not gonna lie, I have the DVD somewhere, and as far as obvious knockoffs go, it's not that bad. I like that they at least TRIED to weave in more elements from the novel than Lloyd Webber did. "Perfect Music" is indeed the show's saving grace, and the fact that this is more of a traditional musical that includes dialogue as opposed to Lloyd Webber's pop opera where mostly everything is sung is a nice change of pace. It gives the characters time to breathe and sit down to have actual conversations and the audience time to digest who these people are. Don't get me wrong, I love the Lloyd Webber show, but it's far from a deep adaptation of the novel. The Staller version isn't much better, but it seems like a more honest effort. But that just might be my personal taste in theater. Shows that are simply staged and have that home-grown, "out of the trunk" feel to their design seem much more effective to me than ones which give off a "style over substance" vibe.
I’m glad no punishments were doled out on the cast of this one. I’ve seen it twice: once by myself, once as a drinking game with friends. (Pro tip: don’t take a shot for every time Erik is melodramatic to the extreme.) I’m excited for the next review for one specific reason: buff jock penguin Gaston-ripoff villain Tim Curry.
Hold up: Robert Englund starred in a late-80s slasher-horror version of Phantom of the Opera!? I suddenly feel very betrayed by everybody I've ever met for not making me aware of this.
I like the twist end to this really. It shows you Erik didn't really love Crist after all in version. It gives it more of creepy campy horror feel..he just wants to collect pretty girls and mentally mess with them for his own pleasure.
You know that saying "you don't know what you got until it's gone"? I didn't know how key the costume design was in ALW's Phantom until I saw this. ALW's Phantom walks this line between fantasy and historical accuracy. This has no accuracy, some gowns look medieval, but it's also astoundingly drab. This the designer have seasonal affective disorder?
Cool Idea for a Phantom of the Opera 1) Make the Phantom and actual ghost or a demon who preys on understudies and ballet dancers. Offers them a chance at a starring role... for a price. 2) Make a story where the Phantom is a red herring. He never existed and it was the understudy who did it. Confession: I use to like Pebble and the Penguin. I still like the song “Now and Forever”
The Reinhardt voice lines in this video are making me chuckle in addition to the usual commentary I love so much. Great work, Diva! Edit: I would also like to point out how I loved your "bad touch" comment because that reach Christine had to the Phantom was creepy and needed to be pointed out.
Wow, there's a bootleg Phantom of the Opera?! I mean, I knew there were multiple adaptations of the story already made, but... WOW! Honestly, I would rather watch this than the entirety of Love Never Dies any day. Also, the Phantom's face makeup is pretty much the only best thing I can find in this musical, and the ending where the Phantom finds a new object of obsession (a ballerina, not another singer, at that) after Christine runs off with Raoul just rubs me the wrong way. At least Love Never Dies kept his extreme admiration for his angel of music.
She was a real bitch in LND. And he wasn't really that obsessed with her. I mean in the original he kills people and writes an entire Opera for her. In LND he writes one song which took him 10 years to write and then walks off with their child after Meg killed her. God I hate LND
4:14 - Why did the hair and makeup designers think that Madame Giry's 'Conehead with extreme widow's peak' look was a good idea? 4:57 - To be fair, this isn't the first time a Phantom project has had wonky timelines... Love Never Dies, anyone? 8:23 - Oh look! Thing from the Addams Family! 9:25 (and elsewhere) - I don't know whether to be pleased that they've included existing operatic arias, or disappointed that they didn't put in the work to write their own pieces... 11:41 - Teeth marks? I can see massive bites ripped out of it! Do you think The Phantom gets indigestion from scenery? 13:01, 16:22, and 17:25 - Note that he said 'beyond the walls of the opera house,' not 'outside of the opera house' like he says later. Technically, the ceiling isn't a wall, and the roof isn't outside the walls, so really he doesn't have anything to be mad at them about later when they have their little rendezvous. Or he should've been more specific. Or just said, 'NO, you can't talk to him!' 13:54 - Yay! However, your instrumentation sounds a lot better! Their's sounds like a rejected Silly Symphonies track. 14:38 - Clearly, Reinhardt has NOT seen Jekyll and Hyde! 15:13 - No chandelier? -50 points. 16:00 - They could've at least used 'In the Hall of the Mountain King!' 17:32 - Even Magica de Spell thinks that smoke bomb was weak... 17:40 - I think they're giving the Disney Princesses a run for their money with how fast this is moving! 18:20 - "That's nice, Phantom. I-I-I-I need to not be near your crazy right now..."
I love Diet Phantom, it's so bad it's funny. I watch this when I need a good laugh. I hope at some point the Ken Hill Phantom (which lol predated the Lloyd Webber Phantom by ten years but was nowhere near as successful) will be in this series at some point. I would love to know Diva's thoughts on that one.
I kind of like how Erica chooses another object of his affection that the end. It's kind of realistic actually. I understand all your points, but it is still kind of realistic. It also kind of goes to show how psychotic he is. Or how psychotic he was made by the end. please share with us some of the names for those bootlegs. I would bet you dimes to dollars that somewhere in there is the one I've been looking for a but just posted yet
Sorry to dig up an old comment, but I thought I'd add something. I think the Phantom's face is often not scary to us because we live in a different cultural context. The book was written in 1909 and takes place in 1880 in Paris, France. At one point Roman Catholicism was the state religion and it wasn't until 1880 that the Jules Ferry Laws replaced clergymen in education. That means throughout all that time people were being taught very catholic leaning beliefs which includes the idea that the Original Sin brought deformity into the world. This was eventually twisted into the idea that if you had a deformity then it must be because you have committed some terrible sin. A large stigma grew where those who were deformed were shunned from society and few people cared what happened to them, so the Phantom's complaints and fears about how he was treated often come across as overblown or unreasonable because things like that so rarely happen in our society today. The most that would happen today would be that they would struggle with personal relationships and finding a job. Essentially to a lot of people a deformity meant that you were basically a criminal in the eyes of God and it was a condemnation that you couldn't be saved, which to a God-fearing community, in a religion in which it's quite easy to obtain eternal damnation, is quite frightening. People would be afraid that if they were even so much as kind to a condemned person that they might be dragged down with them.
And now I’m thinking of Reinhardt doing musicals during his off days with Brigitte doing stage design, lighting, and engineering and Lúcio doing the pre-show.
I saw that musical just last month and I became attached to it in an instant. I especially like the song, "Perfect Music." I wanted to write my own adaptation of Phantom of the Opera combining the ALW version with the David Staller version and keeping the Leroux storyline.
Pebble and the Penguin. Oh dear. Also holy cow there was so much a melodrama. I’m surprise that the sets were still intact with all the scenery chewing going on. Goodness.
Thank you! I have been complaining about the shitty makeup of the Schumacher one since it came out and it has fallen on deaf ears! I am overjoyed to finally hear someone else seemingly irritated by its half assed-ness!
“I’m whatever you want me to be!” *evil laughter* Oh WOW. Just WOW. I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad! That takes the cake, the pie, and the cheesecake, and the cookies, and the brownies. All the brownies in the land! EPICALLY BAD.
I love Christine's characterization in this and how close it is to the novel. She does pity and cares about Erik, maybe even attracted to him, but she realizes she can't love him in the way he wants her to because she can't sacrifice the things she loves, like her friends, the sun, and the rest of humanity to be with him and be his muse. She is a person, after all, not Erik's songbird who exists just to make him happy, and I feel like that's something people miss about Phantom. The whole point of the book is to show how toxic and abusive Christine and Erik's relationship is and how being it slowly drives her mad from fear.
Oh my gosh. The music at 13:55 sounds so much like the Prince Charming/henchmen medley in Shrek the 3rd. “Should I run or should I flee.” I can’t unhear this.
I bought this DVD years ago and only watched like 10 minutes of it. After seeing your review, I am going to go look for it and watch the whole thing (if I haven't thrown it out after a previous DVD cleanse). Thank you for sharing.
Another fantastic review, Diva! The Pebble and the Penguin?! Oooohhhhh...I can't WAIT!! Best birthday present ever! I hope that means The Thief and the Cobbler will be right around the corner.
Oh you need to do Dingo Pictures version of Pocahontas. Dingo is an infamous German mockbuster company, that is most known for ripping off Disney films.
Ooh, Pebble and the Penguin next! Cant wait to have to confront my nostalgic affection for it, considering i didnt have many options as a kid and watched it a lot
If this is the same one that was touring around 1990, I saw this. My then roommate got tickets thinking it was the ALW Phantom and we drove down from Omaha to Kansas City to see it. I have to say, as it dawned on us that this wasn't _the_ Phantom, we wound up in absolute stitches throughout most of it because it was just so bad. I remember us both squealing with laughter at some parts but trying to keep it all in so as not to be rude to the other patrons. All in all, a very memorable evening, so thanks, I guess, faux Phantom.
I've never seen this musical but I've sung "This Place is Mine." Based on your review, Carlotta getting to be hammier in that song is probably this musical's second saving grace.
I got really excited because I thought this was going to be the Maury Yeston one 😅 It was still interesting to learn about another adaptation though. I know you’ve already done one about the TV adaptation, and I’m not even sure if there is video of Yeston’s version, but PLEASE review it if there is! Love your channel!
You have no idea how ready I am for your take on Pebble and the Penguin. You always have such wonderful dissections and Pebble is one of those bad films that fascinates me. Do your best because I am ready.
Donna's present to Diva was to let her enjoy (for certain values of the term) this one on her own, as a thank you for letting her sit on the Phantom of the Paradise review.
This version is low in budget and production but I actually prefer the dialogue to that of Andrew Lloyd Webber. This version lacks the spectacle that is necessary to make Phantom great, but the characters are well-rounded and have a personality outside of their song. Bravo!
personally I think this version has a much smaller feel, more like the original novel (though there are some obvious changes). There are parts that don't work as well, but I think it overal simply works in a different way, so it's not really comparable to the broadway version. Further more, for some actors the super melodramatic acting doesn't work, for Erik is does.
By "(Other) Phantom" I thought you meant the the *other* other version, the one Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit wrote before Lloyd Webber wrote his, and which has a far superior score and a better-structured plot than the megahit show.
the moment where erik dramatically swishes his cape at the daroga and it clearly hits his mic, resulting in a loud but muffled THUNK? andrew lloyd webber WISHES he could be that iconic
I literally screeched with laughing while reading this comment lmfao
Lenin It To Win It I’m dead comrade
Ngl, TEN YEARS OOOOLLLLD is also pretty iconic what can I say
Poor Erik
"Illegal Heathers" decades before "Heathers" even premiered. "Illegal Phantom of the Opera", anyone?
Your profile picture is *amazing*
I mean illegal Heathers was just a bad school production, and like actually based on Heathers
@@citizenmalkane Many thanks, two of my favorite movies combined! I quite like yours as well!
Don’t forget Illegal Hamilton
I actually kinda like the idea of a guy who seems obsessed over someone, only to shift that obsession to someone else when he gets rejected...and playing that straight instead of for laughs, showing how psychotic such behavior really is. Just...not for the Phantom.
Isn't that basically Romeo, except that Romeo found someone who returned his obsession?
It could be a good character study.
It would have been more effective if they'd had Madame Giry or someone be the Phantom's former protege, making Christine realise that the Phantom loves her for one thing and one thing only - using her voice as a platform for his music - and that he'll forget about her and fall in love with the next sensation whose career he can mold and catch some glory off of (which would hark back nicely to Carlotta's solo about being eclipsed by the new rising star.) That would have made the ending seem a bit less anticlimactic.
Yeah, phantoms whole character is entirely based around his love for christine. If he can get a girl like 5 minutes after she leaves it defeats the point. Idk just no. Maybe that's y he didn't try hard on that choice, cause he knew he could just immediately get a ballerina or something.
Have you seen the show "You" on Netflix? That show is kinda close to that.
Why did Christine picking between Eric and Raoul remind me of those kids movies where two people let the dog run to whoever they want to go with
😂😂😂
Because they couldn’t afford a scorpion or grasshopper
Honestly, the line: "Here's the land where passion reigns..." is my new séduction line hahahaha
Pardon the outdated meme format
Some girl in the 80’s: mom can we see Phantom?
Mom: we have Phantom at home.
....Phantom at home:
Not outdated! Basically what this is😂
@@benderbendingrodriguez420 Actually yeah, I think I meant more overused? IDK
In the 90's that would be the NBC Phantom. You know, the one that almost everyone agrees is not only better than a made for TV musical should be, but is legitimately great by some fluke of the universe
I think "An Able Woman" is right on that line of being a Saving Grace. Other shows have given us a closer look at Carlotta (Yeston and Kopit, for example), but I can't really think of any others that made any real attempt to make her human. She's a whole character in this. Not a GREAT character, but still three-dimensional. I think the original novel is the only other version to make any attempt at showing her as an actual person, rather than a just a villainous obstacle. She's mourning the loss of her career and her dream, and the loss of the chance to display her talent, the only thing she really has going for her. Hell, a lot of versions try to claim she HAS no talent, despite her position.
But then, it's not a very good song, lol.
I think they could make Carlotta a part of the horror if they wanted. The phantom is the personification of sensationalism, the people flock to him and he flocks to the younger and prettier. It happens to nearly every actress of a certain age, and one day Christine will be the new Carlotta
@@PrincessNinja007 I LOVE this point! There’s so much to explore in the Carlotta-Christine parallels. Carlotta’s a genuinely interesting character, but ALW was blind to the possibilities. It’s all bad older Karen vs pretty young ingenue.
The Phantom might be unusually creepy, but he’s not the first egotist trying to stake a claim on a talented young woman. One wonders if Carlotta has encountered his type before.
13:33 Holy smokes! That's the face of death.
Even in low budget, it looks impressive.
Ikr? I can see why people would run away in fear if they saw that face.
Yeah that makes WAY more sense. Far more in line with the book.
This could have been in many of the productions that of Phantom.
“Yes! We have Persian! This is not a drill!”
I laughed harder at that line than I probably should have. It is sad how underutilized the Persian is in Phantom adaptations, though. If he’s used right-if indeed he’s used at all-he can really bring a lot to the story. Susan Kay’s novel is a perfect example of this.
Anywho, glad to see Christi tackled another Phantom musical. Four down, another billion to go! Also hoping for some more commentaries in the future...but now I’m just being greedy! 😅
"i was just fourteen and soaked to the skin"
"because you had gone and fetched my scarf, oh raoul! so it is you!"
why is this SUCH a knockoff
Sopher Saucer it happens in the book too
Emma The Unikitty yeah, but those lines are 99,99% directly copied from ALW
The epilogue had me thinking they saw my phan-fiction twenty years early
relatable af
#relatble
The.....the real life UA-camr 😦
Awesome, where can I read it?
@@questworldiangreenknight7455 I'm afraid it no longer exists.
“...staggers onto the dance floor with an axe in his back.” Cue the clip of Groundskeeper Willie from Treehouse of Horror. “Auch. I’m bad at this.”
Damn, I should have included that!
This is indeed a disturbing universe.
What every adaptation (except the ALW musical) gets wrong is the lack of simplicity. When you really break it down, the Musical is incredibly straightforward. It builds Hitchcockian suspense by telling you the chandelier crashed and there was an Opera ghost. It tells you things on a need to know basis. Even when his face is first revealed, the audience doesn’t see it. Because nothing is more frightening than mystery. Which is why horror films don’t show the monster until they have to. If at all. And even Maria Bjornson’s set is quite simple (for a show that takes place in the Opera Garnier) it’s mostly heavy drapes to evoke mystery. Who’s a afraid of a man who’s just walking around the whole time.
The problem with adapting a simple story is that you can either complicate it or do absolutely nothing new. If you do nothing new, you need to do everything better than the best adaptation so far...and good friggin' luck with that.
"You tell the audience there is a bomb under the table and it will go off in five minutes" yep, most adaptations of POTO are built around this concept, tell the audience ahead there was an incident with the chandelier and a "phantom", keep them hooked on the curiosity to discover who is the phantom and why he crushed the chandelier. In a sense, every POTO adaptation is like this, even if they don't tell you the chandelier crushed people watch/read them anyway to see what variation of "the phantom makes the chandelier fall down on someone" there will be this time - it actually makes for a good plot twist when the phantom is NOT involved in the incident or is involved as the victim.
I found a VHS of this in my public library in high school (2000) and I always wondered the story behind it (had a handwritten 'Phantom' label and nothing else). I think it justifies it's whole existence for the bit with Carlotta doing Queen of the Night interspersed with the Phantom imitating in baritone. Not only hilarious but also well done! A lot of the music actually well sung, actually. Admittedly, though, the script, music choices, just whole general flow are wacky like a third grade make a story out of a bunch of shredded magazine articles.
the Persian is the Quincey Morris of Phantom canon,
in that both are constantly ignored despite doing pretty important shit to the plot of their respective stories
"It's the late '80s/early '90s and Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom' is the 'Hamilton' of its day."
And now I'm imagining what Lin-Manuel Miranda would do as the lyricist for a "Phantom" adaptation and this needs to be a thing right now. If there was ever anybody in this day and age who could put all the wonderful melodrama and characters into poignant poetry which stayed true to the book, including Erik's past with Daroga, it would be him.
As for this musical, not gonna lie, I have the DVD somewhere, and as far as obvious knockoffs go, it's not that bad. I like that they at least TRIED to weave in more elements from the novel than Lloyd Webber did. "Perfect Music" is indeed the show's saving grace, and the fact that this is more of a traditional musical that includes dialogue as opposed to Lloyd Webber's pop opera where mostly everything is sung is a nice change of pace. It gives the characters time to breathe and sit down to have actual conversations and the audience time to digest who these people are. Don't get me wrong, I love the Lloyd Webber show, but it's far from a deep adaptation of the novel. The Staller version isn't much better, but it seems like a more honest effort. But that just might be my personal taste in theater. Shows that are simply staged and have that home-grown, "out of the trunk" feel to their design seem much more effective to me than ones which give off a "style over substance" vibe.
agreed!
Dang, now I wanna see that.
I’m glad no punishments were doled out on the cast of this one. I’ve seen it twice: once by myself, once as a drinking game with friends. (Pro tip: don’t take a shot for every time Erik is melodramatic to the extreme.)
I’m excited for the next review for one specific reason: buff jock penguin Gaston-ripoff villain Tim Curry.
Ooh The Pebble & The Penguin is next on the chopping block. I better get the popcorn ready next month.
Oh good, now I can have a Doug Walker--free review of that crap :)
“Don’t make me laugh!”
After The Pebble and the Penguin is Anastasia, Don Bluth's greatest comeback.
@@KariIzumi1 Yeah I stopped watching Nostalgia Critic after #Changethechannel became a thing.
@Brandon Roberts At least his character isn't stuck on the wall like in Beauty & The Beast: The Enchanted
Christmas.
Oh I totally thought this was gonna be the Yeston Phantom, I had no idea there was ANOTHER another Phantom
Here I thought it was going to be the Ken Hill one...
"There's Some Phantoming Going on" needs to be the title of someone's fanfic
😂😂😂
Hold up:
Robert Englund starred in a late-80s slasher-horror version of Phantom of the Opera!?
I suddenly feel very betrayed by everybody I've ever met for not making me aware of this.
I like the twist end to this really.
It shows you Erik didn't really love Crist after all in version.
It gives it more of creepy campy horror feel..he just wants to collect pretty girls and mentally mess with them for his own pleasure.
Shit. What you described is what my OC’s for Phantom of the Opera are going through.
Not being mean. Just a coincidence I thought was strange…
You have a point
You know that saying "you don't know what you got until it's gone"? I didn't know how key the costume design was in ALW's Phantom until I saw this. ALW's Phantom walks this line between fantasy and historical accuracy. This has no accuracy, some gowns look medieval, but it's also astoundingly drab. This the designer have seasonal affective disorder?
I'm inordinately relieved that you gave Perfect Music the "saving grace" credit, it's always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me 😅
You: Illegal Heathers
Me, an Intellectual: Illegal Phantom of The Opera
Cool Idea for a Phantom of the Opera
1) Make the Phantom and actual ghost or a demon who preys on understudies and ballet dancers. Offers them a chance at a starring role... for a price.
2) Make a story where the Phantom is a red herring. He never existed and it was the understudy who did it.
Confession: I use to like Pebble and the Penguin. I still like the song “Now and Forever”
And here I am thinking of Phantom of the Opera with the plot of the Little Mermaid.
Even Baywatch had a Phantom of the Opera, though it also has vibes of Poe's The Raven as well.
The other Phantom of The Opera? There's like a million iterations!
The other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other Phantom of the Opera
You'd be amazed. I would love to see Diva review the 40s version.
The 40's version? The Claude Rains one? I'm not sure if that really qualifies as a musical.
@@robinlaceishere ah, now I get it
I know of 6 musical versions(counting Love Never Dies)
Patreon request well used. I am so glad to have gotten your take on this, it's delightful!
Thank you for requesting this! I'm going to find this video and watch it all the way through!
The Reinhardt voice lines in this video are making me chuckle in addition to the usual commentary I love so much. Great work, Diva!
Edit: I would also like to point out how I loved your "bad touch" comment because that reach Christine had to the Phantom was creepy and needed to be pointed out.
"We have Daroga! This is not a drill!"
You put my feelings into words exactly, lol!!
Wow, there's a bootleg Phantom of the Opera?! I mean, I knew there were multiple adaptations of the story already made, but... WOW! Honestly, I would rather watch this than the entirety of Love Never Dies any day. Also, the Phantom's face makeup is pretty much the only best thing I can find in this musical, and the ending where the Phantom finds a new object of obsession (a ballerina, not another singer, at that) after Christine runs off with Raoul just rubs me the wrong way. At least Love Never Dies kept his extreme admiration for his angel of music.
She was a real bitch in LND. And he wasn't really that obsessed with her. I mean in the original he kills people and writes an entire Opera for her. In LND he writes one song which took him 10 years to write and then walks off with their child after Meg killed her. God I hate LND
4:14 - Why did the hair and makeup designers think that Madame Giry's 'Conehead with extreme widow's peak' look was a good idea?
4:57 - To be fair, this isn't the first time a Phantom project has had wonky timelines... Love Never Dies, anyone?
8:23 - Oh look! Thing from the Addams Family!
9:25 (and elsewhere) - I don't know whether to be pleased that they've included existing operatic arias, or disappointed that they didn't put in the work to write their own pieces...
11:41 - Teeth marks? I can see massive bites ripped out of it! Do you think The Phantom gets indigestion from scenery?
13:01, 16:22, and 17:25 - Note that he said 'beyond the walls of the opera house,' not 'outside of the opera house' like he says later. Technically, the ceiling isn't a wall, and the roof isn't outside the walls, so really he doesn't have anything to be mad at them about later when they have their little rendezvous. Or he should've been more specific. Or just said, 'NO, you can't talk to him!'
13:54 - Yay! However, your instrumentation sounds a lot better! Their's sounds like a rejected Silly Symphonies track.
14:38 - Clearly, Reinhardt has NOT seen Jekyll and Hyde!
15:13 - No chandelier? -50 points.
16:00 - They could've at least used 'In the Hall of the Mountain King!'
17:32 - Even Magica de Spell thinks that smoke bomb was weak...
17:40 - I think they're giving the Disney Princesses a run for their money with how fast this is moving!
18:20 - "That's nice, Phantom. I-I-I-I need to not be near your crazy right now..."
I love Diet Phantom, it's so bad it's funny. I watch this when I need a good laugh.
I hope at some point the Ken Hill Phantom (which lol predated the Lloyd Webber Phantom by ten years but was nowhere near as successful) will be in this series at some point. I would love to know Diva's thoughts on that one.
Maybe as a Know the Score. Being in the court implies it's bad.
Yes, a Know the Score episode about various Phantom adaptations!
@@DemiSemme Know the Score would be awesome for Ken Hill's Phantom! I'm down for that.
I kind of like how Erica chooses another object of his affection that the end. It's kind of realistic actually. I understand all your points, but it is still kind of realistic. It also kind of goes to show how psychotic he is. Or how psychotic he was made by the end.
please share with us some of the names for those bootlegs. I would bet you dimes to dollars that somewhere in there is the one I've been looking for a but just posted yet
The Phantom's face still isn't scary...but damn, that makeup was pretty good.
Sorry to dig up an old comment, but I thought I'd add something. I think the Phantom's face is often not scary to us because we live in a different cultural context. The book was written in 1909 and takes place in 1880 in Paris, France. At one point Roman Catholicism was the state religion and it wasn't until 1880 that the Jules Ferry Laws replaced clergymen in education.
That means throughout all that time people were being taught very catholic leaning beliefs which includes the idea that the Original Sin brought deformity into the world. This was eventually twisted into the idea that if you had a deformity then it must be because you have committed some terrible sin. A large stigma grew where those who were deformed were shunned from society and few people cared what happened to them, so the Phantom's complaints and fears about how he was treated often come across as overblown or unreasonable because things like that so rarely happen in our society today.
The most that would happen today would be that they would struggle with personal relationships and finding a job. Essentially to a lot of people a deformity meant that you were basically a criminal in the eyes of God and it was a condemnation that you couldn't be saved, which to a God-fearing community, in a religion in which it's quite easy to obtain eternal damnation, is quite frightening. People would be afraid that if they were even so much as kind to a condemned person that they might be dragged down with them.
...and “Phantom of the Paradise” continues to be the best musical film adaptation of the Leroux story!
“A little more wtf” blocking made me laugh so hard. Diva, this phantom has made my New Years all the more better
Woah hang on did they... During the intermission...
I both want to know and don't.
@@aurea. I feel the same
Did what?
Please do illegal heathers
And now I’m thinking of Reinhardt doing musicals during his off days with Brigitte doing stage design, lighting, and engineering and Lúcio doing the pre-show.
I would pay to see Reinhardt starring in Camelot.
I always thought the "other" Phantom was written by Maury Yeston & Arthur Kopit.
That Yeston and Kopit one isn't very good but this one makes it look like the highest art. At least Yeston's phantom has the song Home.
13:54 gave me life. Wasn't expecting that. This musical hell review is definitely one of my favorites. So fun and interesting
Wow Hirschfeld had his fingers in a lot of terrible pies
I saw that musical just last month and I became attached to it in an instant. I especially like the song, "Perfect Music."
I wanted to write my own adaptation of Phantom of the Opera combining the ALW version with the David Staller version and keeping the Leroux storyline.
Pebble and the Penguin. Oh dear. Also holy cow there was so much a melodrama. I’m surprise that the sets were still intact with all the scenery chewing going on. Goodness.
I don’t endorse bootlegs but the names I see for some of those videos are hilarious.
Thank you! I have been complaining about the shitty makeup of the Schumacher one since it came out and it has fallen on deaf ears! I am overjoyed to finally hear someone else seemingly irritated by its half assed-ness!
“I’m whatever you want me to be!” *evil laughter* Oh WOW. Just WOW. I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad! That takes the cake, the pie, and the cheesecake, and the cookies, and the brownies. All the brownies in the land!
EPICALLY BAD.
Darin De Paul is also J Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man Ps4 game. It's even more hilarious!
Also Sprigg in Critical Role season 1
You review the Takarazuka revue version of phantom of the opera it's a Japanese all female theatre company that's been around for 100 years
Oh, I know them! They did two Phoenix Wright musicals! xD
@@elsie8757 they're AMAZINGLY talented and fun.
Darrin de Paul... Oh god, I can TOTALLY imagine him quoting Phantom of the Opera as his character Ardyn from Final Fantasy XIV. XDDD
The gestures in the beginning are so melodramatic and cheesy, that you would think that it was a classical ballet 😂😂😂
Come to think of it, Raoul wasn't speaking during that moment!
I love Christine's characterization in this and how close it is to the novel. She does pity and cares about Erik, maybe even attracted to him, but she realizes she can't love him in the way he wants her to because she can't sacrifice the things she loves, like her friends, the sun, and the rest of humanity to be with him and be his muse. She is a person, after all, not Erik's songbird who exists just to make him happy, and I feel like that's something people miss about Phantom. The whole point of the book is to show how toxic and abusive Christine and Erik's relationship is and how being it slowly drives her mad from fear.
How do you not have more subscribers???
Your channel is one of my favorites and I love your humor!! Your channel deserves more attention
Wow, Madame Giry has a Sixhead!
19:19 Nor how many fans of the other musical hoped... for some reason.
In my opinion, this is your best review yet. Keep up the good work!
Can I just say that I’d never seen those names for Great Comet before and now I’m obsessed lol
Oh my gosh. The music at 13:55 sounds so much like the Prince Charming/henchmen medley in Shrek the 3rd. “Should I run or should I flee.” I can’t unhear this.
I bought this DVD years ago and only watched like 10 minutes of it. After seeing your review, I am going to go look for it and watch the whole thing (if I haven't thrown it out after a previous DVD cleanse). Thank you for sharing.
Another fantastic review, Diva! The Pebble and the Penguin?! Oooohhhhh...I can't WAIT!! Best birthday present ever! I hope that means The Thief and the Cobbler will be right around the corner.
Hey Diva, you should consider reviewing the Spiderman musical. You'd have a field day.
The phantom of the opera is there- inside your mind! Yeah, this will stay in my mind. Not in a good way.
FINALLY Pebble and the Penguin.
Oh you need to do Dingo Pictures version of Pocahontas. Dingo is an infamous German mockbuster company, that is most known for ripping off Disney films.
Ooh, Pebble and the Penguin next! Cant wait to have to confront my nostalgic affection for it, considering i didnt have many options as a kid and watched it a lot
I saw the title and had a mini heart attack until I saw (other) lol
Of course it recommends "Love Never Dies" in the end screen
If this is the same one that was touring around 1990, I saw this. My then roommate got tickets thinking it was the ALW Phantom and we drove down from Omaha to Kansas City to see it. I have to say, as it dawned on us that this wasn't _the_ Phantom, we wound up in absolute stitches throughout most of it because it was just so bad. I remember us both squealing with laughter at some parts but trying to keep it all in so as not to be rude to the other patrons. All in all, a very memorable evening, so thanks, I guess, faux Phantom.
Daroga is oddly charming in this. Guilty pleasure if only for him.
This might be an incredibly petty point, but I like that in this version when people are supposed to be performing opera they use actual opera songs.
Ooh, I thought this was going to be about Kopit and Yeston's Phantom!
The "Other" Phantom of the Opera? One of many, more like. You might have to take a look at the Ken Hill version, too.
Yes, but calling it the "Other Other Other" Phantom of the Opera would have been confusing.
Aggressive 80’s hair!
I once watched an old animated version of the Phantom. It was the weirdest trip ever. You should check it out
I remember coming across this during the height of my teenage PotO obsession. Was never quite certain afterwards that it was real.
I've never seen this musical but I've sung "This Place is Mine." Based on your review, Carlotta getting to be hammier in that song is probably this musical's second saving grace.
It makes me sad this is the only version that uses the Persian character
My mom got us tickets for a The Phantom Of The Opera musical and sadly it was this one.. I was so disappointed:,/
Look on the bright side: after Pebble and the Penguin, you’ll officially be done with all of Bluth’s crappier movies
I got really excited because I thought this was going to be the Maury Yeston one 😅 It was still interesting to learn about another adaptation though. I know you’ve already done one about the TV adaptation, and I’m not even sure if there is video of Yeston’s version, but PLEASE review it if there is! Love your channel!
You have no idea how ready I am for your take on Pebble and the Penguin. You always have such wonderful dissections and Pebble is one of those bad films that fascinates me. Do your best because I am ready.
you left out the part that this Madame Giry looks like Frank N Furter
Isn't there a '70's TV Jeckyll & Hyde musical starring Kirk Douglas? That sounds...um...interesting?
I submit another Know the Score request for both the animated film and stage musical of Anastasia, please!
I'm surprised that Donna wasn't here for this review. She does love Phantom stories.
Donna's present to Diva was to let her enjoy (for certain values of the term) this one on her own, as a thank you for letting her sit on the Phantom of the Paradise review.
@@MusicalHell I loved your Phantom of the Paradise review! I didn't think anyone else knew about that movie.
This version is low in budget and production but I actually prefer the dialogue to that of Andrew Lloyd Webber. This version lacks the spectacle that is necessary to make Phantom great, but the characters are well-rounded and have a personality outside of their song. Bravo!
Is anyone gonna talk about Ken Hill - Phantom of the Opera? Cause im still tripping on it
Right? I thought that's what this was going to be lol
Beetlejuice IS BECOMING A MUSICAL CIMING TO BROADWAY IN APRIL
Here’s something I find funny, apparently, Saban entertainment was involved in this production…. As in, the company that gave us power Rangers
personally I think this version has a much smaller feel, more like the original novel (though there are some obvious changes). There are parts that don't work as well, but I think it overal simply works in a different way, so it's not really comparable to the broadway version. Further more, for some actors the super melodramatic acting doesn't work, for Erik is does.
3:41 pfff, anyone else remembering Travolta doing the "When you were learning to SPELL YOUR NAME..."?
Bad melodrama in a nutshell, that.
"I was learning how to conquer GALAXIES!"
Oh my god, that new tour and it's over-the-top staging! Like...what even is it?
As bad as Joel’s phantom of the opera was, I could at least tell what was going on.
By "(Other) Phantom" I thought you meant the the *other* other version, the one Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit wrote before Lloyd Webber wrote his, and which has a far superior score and a better-structured plot than the megahit show.
This feels appropriate for me to watch cause I just got back from musical rehersals.
There have been so many questionable phantom adaptations over the years, from your review this sounds like it at least made it into the top 50%
HE MAY BE INSANE! But am glad he managed to make this happen. This is fun to watch!
Why does this Madame Giry look like she would fit right in with the McPoyle family from Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
It seems my jokes about OW Fathom became prophetic