I suppose the best way to start off a blog about the Phantom, is to share when I was first introduced to the Phantom. So, how else would anyone have been introduced to Erik post 1986? By Andrew Lloyd Webber! (Really... were you all that surprised?)
In 2006, one of my best friends had a great-uncle that unfortunately passed away. He loved both the cinema and the stage, and collected memorabilia from all sorts of productions. I had helped my friend with one of several estate sales her family was organizing after his death, and while looking through his extensive VHS collection I came across the Claude Rains (1942) version. My friend told me I could take it home, but said if I was taking the VHS I might as well take some more! She then pulled out a few things she said she'd found earlier that day: A two disk CD of the original London Cast performance of Phantom of the Opera along with the booklet you can buy when you attend a show. I can't remember if she told me he actually went to the show in London, or if he came across these articles somewhere else, but either way I was the one who ended up with them.
I took the items home with me, and unfortunately they sat on my kitchen table for far longer than I would care to admit now. It wasn't until some afternoon when I was cleaning up my kitchen that I noticed the CDs and decided to do a bit of a sample listen while I finished cleaning.
The CD came on, the Prologue started with one of the most interesting premises I had ever imagined. I feel embarrassed now, admitting that the most I knew about Phantom of any kind, ALW or otherwise, was it was about some man in a mask and a ballerina (I still will NEVER figure out where I got the ballerina thing from....). A Hannibal poster, a musical monkey... and a previously broken Chandelier... I was intrigued and the dishes were not getting the attention they probably needed.
Then came the overture. Holy mother....
I can't say that my reaction was quite so dramatic, but I can say that from that point on I never looked back. I spent the rest of that afternoon flipping through the program I had received and trying to imagine how a story like this could have been staged. Within a week I knew the words to Christine's part, and most of the words to the other songs (although, I still couldn't tell you half of the lines in Notes... and it doesn't help that they seem to change the lyrics to Think of Me every couple of years) and after my friend clued me into the fact that they made a movie in 2004 (I know! I'm late on that bandwagon!) I soon owned that on dvd as well.
I watched the 1942 VHS tape that night, and I didn't take to it quite as strong as the musical did earlier that day, but I kept it for no other reason than for my nostalgic pack-rat tendencies. I will talk more on this version later, just because I'm a bit sad that this was the first movie version of the story I had ever seen. If I had gotten my hands on a number of other versions, I might have formed an interest for Erik's story away from ALW much sooner than I did.
It wasn't until early 2011, while surfing youtube for Love Never Dies footage (I am choosing to hold my opinion on Love Never Dies until I see the Australian DVD for myself. I will not judge something I haven't experienced to the best of my abilities. Just an FYI... I suppose) that I stumbled onto a fan made trailer (ClickHere) for the Charles Dance (1990) made for TV miniseries. I knew there would be a huge difference, given my experience with the 1942 version, but for some reason found this very well done trailer much more appealing... so much so that I found it uploaded on Youtube and immediately started watching it.
I will go into greater detail about the 1990s version at a later date as well, but this movie was what got me searching for more. I now have a quickly growing collection of Phantom films and spin off books, and am slowly learning and understanding more and more about Erik and who he was and who he has evolved into.
And, I suppose, that this is the root of this blog. Finding and understanding Erik and his passage though this last century. I think a lot of people have differing views on who Erik is, and in no way is any Erik the right or wrong one. But this is what I hope to find out, and I hope you all will share it with me.
Until next time, be good Angels.
- Maya
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