Oh yes, I know how your minds work! Bwahahaha.
However, I'm going to be as unbiased as possible in this review to actually aid those of you considering the purchase of this album (a wise decision).

First of all, this is not the best musical ever written. I freely admit that. I don't think there IS such a thing as the "best musical ever written", and if there was, this would most certainly NOT be it. It might be something by Sondheim, but I'm not here to discuss politics.

Why IS this musical so enduring and magical? First of all, we have the lush, operatic score that has been never-quite-duplicated. The actual amount of individual melodies are very few... each character and episode in the story has been given a "lietmotif" (operatic term for those melodies we associate with given people or parts of the plot). The Phantom has his dischordant descending organ notes, Carlotta her opera-diva faux-aria, the Managers their little lilting patter song, Raoul his melodramatic violins, etc. I find this delightful, some will find it merely tiresome.

Now it's time to give credit where credit is due. This album would be less of an achievement if it weren't for the showstopping, onceinalifetime performance of Michael Crawford in the title role. His voice is impeccable and capable of wide ranges of emotion, as fits the Phantom. He rescues more than one slightly banal lyric by infusing it with depth and tragedy. Very few other actors have been able to make the Phantom's seduction of Christine both romantic and incredibly desperate.

Sarah Brightman is very talented but...i hesitate to say this...but sometimes she gets on my nerves. Her vibratto and classicaly-trained meticulous attention to diction merely gets in the way in musical theatre. She is a convincing opera singer but an unconvincing person. Her acting is less than fabulous-- sometimes, her voice sounds detached, as if she didn't know the meaning of the words she's singing, or as if English wasn't her first language.

The rest of the cast is amazing... Carlotta, Firmin, Andre... tutti bravissimi!
Raoul is a convincingly whiny, rich tenor with a nice young voice and audibly blond hair.

All in all, a worth while purchase. You will listen over and over again... the music is at turns seductive, erotic, dark and forgiving, but remains soaring throughout. Whoever orchestrated this rocks. The last few notes of the entire album are so caressing, so uplifting, they seem to absolve both the Phantom and the audience in a melody of absolute mercy.

Obviously, you have to lose yourself a little in this music. Don't try to obsess and believe this is the "Best Musical Ever"- but certainly accept it for what it is: a stunning achievement of Broadway-Meets-Opera.


The Best Musical of All Time...   December 26, 2004
 19 out of 22 found this review helpful

The Phantom of the Opera is the most popular musical of all time. It has grossed more money than any other stage play - or movie, for that matter! Yet, it is constantly under attack from the critics. Why is this? Well, the answer is quite simple - they have bad taste. Drama critics are not music critics, and music itself is a nebulous area. Most of the criticism of the music has been nonsensical. For instance, many critics have written (in the same review!) that there are no catchy songs in the piece, but they can't get those songs out of their heads. Andrew Lloyd Weber is usually criticized in one of two ways: either that all of his stuff sounds alike, or that all of his stuff sounds like something else. The problem is that these two criticisms are mutually exclusive - they cancel each other out. Another nagging problem is that critics are usually power-mongers - they need to believe that they have influence on which shows succeed and which shows fail. They hate Lloyd Weber because his success mocks their power.

The Phantom of the Opera is one of the best musicals of all time. It is actually an opera - sung almost completely throughout. I have examined the sheet music and it is wonderfully rich and complex. Every song is a gem. The Original London Cast Recording is - by far - the best one to own. We may not have Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the movie, but we do have an almost complete performance by them on disc. Those of us fortunate enough to have seen Crawford's performance know why he is the best Phantom (poor Gerard Butler pales by comparison).



"The best musical ever made."   July 21, 2003
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

"The Phantom of the Opera" is simply the best musical ever made. Sure, it has quite a bit of material lifted from Italian opera, but as an opera fan, I can appreciate that, and it enhances the score. No other musical equals this musically...from the complicated harmonies of "Notes" and "Wandering Child" to the vocally stunning "Phantom of the Opera" and "Music of the Night." The lyrics are beautiful, the story simultaneously eerie, mysterious, touching, and deep. The only musical that comes close is Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story." Neither Lord Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford, nor Sarah Brightman have ever equaled their work here. It is a "love it or hate it" musical, definitely, but any lover of romance, mystery and great music will appreciate this show.

The original cast was also probably the greatest musical cast ever put together in one place. Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman give the performances of their lifetimes...and ours. They have real, legitimate voices, not those awful Streisand/Minelli belts that cover Broadway today. While both are flawed performers in general, each found their best role in this show.

As for Crawford, he is the definitive Phantom. No one else's dramatic interpretation is anywhere close to his. He did it first, and he did it best. His beautiful tenor voice just takes the material and soars with it...from the eerie "Wandering Child" to the powerful title song to the seductive and incomparable "Music of the Night." Anyone who doesn't weep at the heartbreaking finale ("It's over now, the music of the night...") must have a heart of a stone, or a Broadway critic. Michael Crawford is the Phantom, and that is all there is to it. I have never seen anyone become a role the way he did in this show.

Sarah Brightman is not quite as good, but she is still vocally the best Christine. This material was unmistakably written for her, and her clear, bright, silvery soprano and enormous range makes every note dramatic and perfect. While some say her voice is too thin and weak for opera and pop, her current musical directions, her voice manages to fly above the music here without being overpowered. Since Christine's role does not require much dramatic range, her limited acting skills don't hamper the material, and she manages to make her one solo character song, "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," sufficiently poignant, even though it is musically the weakest song in the show.

The supporting cast is mainly strong, and any weakness here comes more from underwritten roles than lack of skill. Meg is always cast to make Christine sound good, so her voice must be a little weak. Raoul is such a boring, one-dimensional character that no actor, no matter how talented, can do much with the role. That aside, Steve Barton has a rich, gentle, and satisfying baritone that sounds good in his duets with Christine. Rosemary Ashe's Carlotta is actually cast for her own merits in this older CD, not to make Christine look good, as in the current Broadway produciton...she has by far a good enough voice to be a believable opera diva, and she has good comic timing.

I was shocked that Amazon critics, who gave favorable reviews to "Hairspray" and "Annie" of all musicals, felt the need to demean this beautiful show, definitely Lloyd Webber's best effort. Just goes to show how much quality Broadway has lost since the start of shows like "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables." Go with the customer reviews and buy the full version, not the highlights. It's worth it. Trust me.