#and really embody the LND versions of the characters

[opera-ghost]

it's honestly amazing how love never dies, in its most recent iteration with the US tour, did so much to improve upon the original london production

the sets look beautiful, the music still goes hard, the lyrics were reworked, and they had an extremely talented cast with great chemistry

and despite it all, it still managed to be one of the worst things i've ever seen. absolutely nothing can save that dumpster fire, and i think that's beautiful

[phantom-of-musicals]

"Who seems a beast but secretly dreams of beauty..." or "Why is 'Phantom of the Opera' NOT a 'Beauty and the Beast' story"

So yesterday, I was listening to "Phantom of the Opera (POTO)" and I noticed that though majority believe that POTO is "Beauty and the Beast" with a tragic ending, I see it as more of a "Hades and Persephone" type of story.

Anyway, I keep mentally comparing the Phantom and Christine to Hades and Persephone. I mean, the Phantom kidnapping her and showing her his world... Not returning for six months... Yeah, the sources vary so... Depends on your views!

Ok, let me start getting into what all the adaptations got wrong. Christine did NOT have any romantic connection whatsoever to the Phantom. For one thing, she has a boyfriend! A boyfriend who actually cares for her well-being and is actually pretty loyal to her! And majority of the adaptations get this all wrong! But why does this keep happening? Why do a lot of adaptations insert a "Beauty and the Beast" subplot between the Phantom and Christine?

Maybe it is to give the Phantom some emotional depth and show that he's not entirely a killing machine bent on blood? And during the scene where Christine kisses him, perhaps it is from that one little scene where people later recreated the story thought "Hmm, there might be more to the kiss than what meets the eye?" I mean, I'm all for that, but c'mon! Christine would never fall for a guy who kidnaps, murders and threatens her to marry a guy who plans on killing her boyfriend. She wouldn't!

Their relationship was not one of growth and development, but of stalker and prey! Don't bring Love Never Dies into this because it's a complete disservice to the Leroux novel!

Now lots of people give Christine some flak for choosing Raoul over the Phantom but if you think about it, she made quite a clever choice. The Phantom lied to her about himself and he manipulated her religion and memories of her father! He killed people, blackmailed people AND dropped a chandelier and abused her both mentally and physically! And y'all blame her for choosing a guy who did NONE of that?! Sheesh!

As for the kiss... My personal interpretation is that Christine wanted to show the Phantom that she was pretty much willing to give up her freedom for Raoul and the Phantom, touched by the gesture, realizes true love is sacrificing something for the ones they love. So, he lets Raoul and Christine go after realizing that he has to sacrifice in order to earn love!

So if it is not a "Beauty and the Beast" story or a romance, what is it about then? Well, it's a gothic thriller. It's meant for scares and adventure... And to show how obsession could blind someone... Tbh, the Phantom's 'love' could be easily labelled as an obsession, like, he thinks he owns Christine and treats her as an object rather than a human! And the entire point of letting Christine go was to show how he matured over the story, realizing his own selfishness and to ensure redemption in the audience's eyes!

It's also a story on "Beauty VS Beast", y'know, the Phantom is the Beast while Christine is the Beauty. Or really, to me, it's a coming-of-age story of a woman getting autonomy and overcoming the trauma of an abusive relationship. She went through the loss of both parents, manipulation, being stalked, and knowing that the person she loves most has his life on the line - because of her. And then she literally gets off of her knees and shows her abuser the first form of kindness he has ever known. Not even the Phantom was strong enough for that; he gave up on the world far too early. Christine is the embodiment of courage and kindness; she teaches us to love and forgive those who have been awful to us, and to protect those we love even if it means our own suffering. But she no longer succumbs to the Phantom and makes sure her abuser never hurts anyone EVER again. Seriously, this girl is AWESOME! And this was in the 18th century! It's really sad that such a great character is overlooked by many...

It seems that Leroux really understood women... That we can be emotional, we are vulnerable but not weak... And emotion really helps us when we keep them in control! So the moral of the story is: Don't let selfishness blind you, kindness does not equate to weakness, true love is sacrificing something for the ones you love and "Phantom of the Opera" is NOT a "Beauty and the Beast" story!

And for funsies, even though she's never played Belle before, here's former LND and POTO Christine Anna O'Byrne singing "Home" from the Broadway version of "Beauty and the Beast". 'Cause why not?