December 24, 2004

Christmas Eve

My family is all home for the holidays, my mom and stepdad, my brother and I are all at home. We are having fun and enjoying hanging out. My brother and I went shopping today, the mall was pretty crowded but once you got in there the lines weren't too bad. Then my brother went shopping by himself, he's very talented in leaving his shopping to the last possible day.

Then we headed out to the movie The Phantom of the Opera. I have to say I have always been a big fan of this musical. Most of you missed my 'I will listen to the soundtrack once a week phase', as it happened in high school and I loved seeing the play. I was very excited about seeing the movie and it was pretty good. I guess the thrill of a play/musical/operette was gone, the thrill of knowing they are singing right there in front of you and could mess up at any second. That just doesn't happen in a movie, which is probably the point of a movie actually. Someone said this isn't the next Chicago, my response would be (of course) DUH! The Phantom is a fundamentally different type of play than Chicago. Also another reviewer said that Andrew Lloyd Webber composed a new song for this production... unless they are counting the song that runs AFTER the movie is over there was no new song during the movie which wasn't in the original operette. If you like the original you will probably like the movie, but I can't guarentee that because I still would rather go to the theater to see this one. The movie isn't bad, though there are a couple awkward items...

Has anybody out there read the actual Gaston Leroux version? I have read the Susan Kay version, which while overly romaticized, was extrodinarily good and multidimensional. Hopefully I will get and read the original book soon...

Posted by 10lees at December 24, 2004 08:01 PM