Phenomenal 'Phantom'

At last! After nearly 20 years I’ve finally seen “The Phantom of the Opera.” Kris and I attended the performance tonight at Proctor’s Theatre.

The show was fantastic (or should that be “phantastic?”). The music was great and the performers were awesome. Not to mention, the show is a technical marvel (except for poor Raoul, whose mic was clipped as he was delivering his first lines—the only flaw I could notice in the night).

If you’ve never seen this show before then you should really get yourself down to Proctor’s while you have the chance. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ve been dying to see this show since I was in high school. I fell in love with the music first when we sang it in the high school choir.

I also went with some friends to see a show at Proctor’s called “The Phantom Strikes Again and Again.” Allen Mills performed some of the music on the theater’s famous Wurlitzer organ, “Goldie,” and the then they played the 1925 silent movie version with live organ music. All along a guy in a Phantom costume could be spotted lurking about different parts of the theater.

Even though I never got to see the show, I felt like I knew it well. For various occasions my parents got me as gifts the Broadway soundtrack, the book “The Complete Phantom of the Opera” and the original novel by Gaston Leroux.

I even dressed up as the Phantom for Halloween one year (a pretty good costume if I do say so myself).

Now that I’ve finally seen it I can say that it was well worth the wait—every bit as good as I imagined.

Kris loved it too. She didn’t know that much about the story going into it. She said she could see why I liked it because it was a little “comic booky.” I never thought of it that way, but she may be on to something.

The question remains: which do I prefer, the musical or the classic Lon Chaney movie? Hmm…that’s a tough one. I think the musical gets the edge, but I’ll always have a soft spot for that great silent movie. Chaney is probably the definitive Phantom. It pops on TCM now and then. In fact they have an airing scheduled for March 26—fire up the VCR (or TiVo for those in the 21st century).