just curiou about this. Which phantom of the opera soundtrack is better: 2004 movie or the 1986 Broadway one w/Sarah Brightman in it? Which people have better voices and/or sing better? Which soundtrack do you all like? Thanks.
Personal favorite might be the Broadway one, but I haven't decided yet. That's why I'm posting this.
Both soundtracks/albums are excellent for different reasons. First, if you're a true devoted fan of Phantom of the Opera as a musical, you'll want to own all the original cast albums. There's the original London cast, the original Broadway cast and Canadian cast and the newest 2004 Joel Schumacher film with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford are simply magical together. Crawford's whimsical, airy voice is melodic and a perfect match to Sarah Brightman's beautiful, pure voice. They were a smash hit when they first sang together. However, Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, despite having no Broadway training, have strong acting abilities which they bring to their roles. Gerard Butler's portrayal is strong, masculine and youthful as well as passionate, giving the Phantom an edge, reason enough for Christine to be drawn to him. Emmy Rossum has a lovely voice, which is feminine and dramatic. I love both versions and I think you ought to give both a try before you personally choose one over the other.
But also try the Canadian cast with Colm Wilkinson (?) as the Phantom. He is a veteran Broadway singer and has a strong and dramatic voice which is very fascinating.
There was no Original Broadway Cast Recording with Crawford and Brightman, only the Original London Cast Recording (which I bought as an Import long before the show ever transferred to Broadway). This was a great disappointment to Crawford, who felt that his singing of the role had improved since the London recording (on which he does sound a little tinny).
I didn't think the film was particularly well sung, and wondered why Lloyd Webber didn't cast better voices, as it's his music everyone hears and I'd have thought he'd wanted it presented to its best advantage: he may have cast the film with actors closer to the ages of the characters in the original story (particularly Christine and Raoul) but vocal maturity was definitely lacking. He also cast the film with an eye towards attracting younger audiences, without major star names, banking on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera being the main drawing-card - a not entirely successful gambit.
"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker
The OLC, definately. I like the 2004 soundtrack, but only for Emmy's "Think of Me", "All I Ask of You"....basically, I love Emmy and Patrick in their roles, but loathe Gerard Butler's performance.
Michael is the ALW Phantom, to me. I wish he'd been in the film. If he had, I'd watch it every day. Alas, though, Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to fix something that wasn't broken and cast an untrained, "rock voice" singer in the role of the Phantom....
Nevermore!
OLC, no question. There's just no comparison between the two casts. I adore Sarah's voice and Emmy just didn't have enough power in her voice to cope with the high end of the vocal range required. For her age though I thought she did very well, especially I would hazard a guess that she's more of a soubrette or a mezzo than a full on soprano like Sarah. Of course, voices change and mature with age - a friend of mine at uni has gone from soprano to mezzo and back again in the course of three years, and another has gone from high mezzo to coloratura soprano in the same amount of time! I'm sure Emmy's voice will change over time as well.
I love Gerry but his voice just wasn't right for musical theatre - give him a rock song and he'll be fine :) Patrick Wilson was amazing though, and one of the best voices in the movie along with Margaret Preece who was the singing voice for Minnie Driver's Carlotta as well as one of the confidantes in the 'Il Muto' scene.
So, yeah, basically OLC all the way!
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