In the case of the Phantom, it's done on purpose in the Broadway production. However, the original novel is much more straightforward about how we're supposed to interpret that character.
On the other hand there is a lot of this concerning Raoul and especially Christine. She has been interpreted as a child-like idiot savant, a young woman suffering from a severe Electra complex, and even a straight-out victim of sexual abuse.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In the original novel, a character known as the "brown man" is introduced, living in the sewers parallel to, and only intersecting momentarily, Erik. It's explained that he's a hermit monk, and that he's just always been there. Erik is understandably more frightened of HIM than he is of Erik. He is never mentioned again. Interestingly, this character is a lot closer to the real figure Erik was loosely based on.
Common Knowledge: It's widely believed that Christine is in love with both Erik and Raoul, but the novel makes it clear that Raoul is the only one she loves romantically, while she reveres her singing teacher and his musical genius. Even after he reveals himself as Erik, her only positive feeling for him is pity.
Die for Our Ship: Raoul, more often than not, is done away with so Christine can hook up with Erik.
Draco in Leather Pants: Erik's tragic backstory and twisted love for Christine is used by certain segments of the fandom to overlook and excuse all of his evil deeds, such as kidnapping and murder.
Fair for Its Day: Lindsay Ellis considers this is the case when it comes to the Persian; she argued this in her video “The Most Whitewashed Character In History”. On the one hand, to her, the original book plays right into “Orientalist” stereotypes of a savage Persia. And a character called the Persian might not sit well today, even if his identity is supposed to be a secret. But the Persian himself is largely absent of obvious stereotypical traits, coming across as a determinedly calm voice of reason and even being one of the most likeable characters in the book overall. She thinks it’s also why the Persian is nearly always Adapted Out, Demoted to Extra, or retroactively stereotyped, making it hold up even better. Raoul is one of the only people in the book to treat the Persian like a fellow human regardless of his race or nationality and puts his complete, unconditional trust in him immediately.
The Persian and Erik — Raoul doesn't help by comparing the ways the Persian and the smitten Christine swoon over the charismatic Tragic Monster…
Occasionally some between Erik and Raoul, of all people. Mainly due to the fact that Erik apparently keeps very close tabs on Raoul, even to the point where he breaks into Raoul's house to watch him sleep...
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Raoul tends to get a good deal more ire from readers for his jealous and possessive attitude towards Christine (to say nothing of outright berating her) than Erik does for trying to force Christine to marry him and murdering multiple people. Of course, this probably has a lot to do with just how tragic Erik is.
Macekre: The English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, which was the only one available until 1990 and therefore the most popular, especially since it's now in the public domain. Any English edition that does not specifically credit a translator by name is most likely de Mattos' Macekred version. While the translation isn't bad at all , several pieces of extra dialogue were cut.
Narm: Due to the heavy use of Purple Prose within the novel it was inevitable that we'd wind up running into this trope. A notable example is during the climax when Erik pulls a And Now You Must Marry Me. What is set up to become a tense scene becomes unintentionally funny when he announces "and the grasshopper hops jolly high!"
The Scrappy: Raoul might be one of the least popular heroes in all of literature, being jealous and possessive of Christine even before they're actually dating, not being particularly intelligent, and even berating her on occasion. Christine berating him back is a source of delight for many readers.
Values Dissonance: In spite of Leroux having strongly progressive political views for the era, the treatment of the Persian, specifically him being an object of fear to others, and the descriptions of Iran are extremely Orientalist at best and outright Islamophobic at worst.
Vindicated by History: The original book isn't much more than a frothy pulp horror novel and hardly left an impression on the general public upon its publication. It wouldn't be until the many, many adaptations it received that it would be considered any kind of attention, and it’s Leroux’s most famous novel in the English-speaking world.
Woolseyism: There is a translation (or an adaptation, rather) by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier that aims to preserve the spirit of Leroux in the English language, which includes preserving a ghastly pun that Erik uses when having Christine choose between a scorpion and a grasshopper. In the original French, Erik warns Christine that the grasshopper not only turns, but it hops, or "Ça sauté!" In French "sauter" means both "to jump" and (more colloquially) "to explode" or "to die." "Il va sauter" could mean he's going to jump, he's going to explode or he's going to die. The Lofficiers changed "grasshopper" to "frog" to preserve the double meaning because a frog "croaks", resulting in this:
"'The frog! Be careful of the frog! A frog does not only turn: it also croaks! It croaks! As we might all croak when all is said and done!'"
The famous 1986 musical and myriad other adaptations further contain examples of:
Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, who played the Phantom and Christine in the original Love Never Dies and the 25th anniversary at Royal Albert Hall, get a lot of this from the phandom, due to their chemistry onstage and in real life, with the term "Rierra" designating them. There are frequent arguments about them dating or not... until one discovers Ramin is actually happily married with two kids.
Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, or "Gemmy", still have a devoted fanbase that has been shipping them since the movie came out.
Adaptation Displacement: The popularity of the musical has eclipsed the previous works in the franchise, including that it originated as a novel. Many know there are movies but quite a few assume they're adaptations of the musical, and it's mistaken for far older than 1986! And even fewer know that there already was a musical adaptation staged a few years before the Andrew Lloyd Webber adaptation debuted.
Erik has become more or less the poster-child for woobiedom. Try to find a fic where he ends up miserable and alone. The fan base is split over this, but a strong majority finds Erik to be by far the most sympathetic character in the book/play/film. And how you feel about this will make a difference on what you think of Love Never Dies. Fan works aside, there's been a lot of different interpretations of who Erik actually is—he's been portrayed as everything from a doomed romantic who just got pushed a little too far (Kopit/Yeston version) to a slasher-style killer who sold his soul to the devil and flays the skin from his victims (the 1989 film starring Robert Englund, yes, Robert Englund).
Christine:
Is she genuinely in love with Raoul, or is she unconsciously attracted to him simply because he can save her from her Stalker with a Crush? Notice on the rooftop scene, after Raoul declares his love for her, Christine immediately says, "Order your fine horses, be with them at the door..."
When she kisses the Phantom at the end, is it because she really loves and/or pities him or because she's trying to save Raoul?
It's interesting to note in the stage production that while both Raoul and the Phantom explicitly say they love Christine and make that declaration to her, she never says it back to either of them, not even in song.
Awesome Music: One of the show's major selling points is Andrew Lloyd Webber's spectacular score.
The overture is absolutely iconic, setting the tone for the story and inspiring a sense of pure awe as the chandelier rises.
The titular number, one of the most famous songs in theatre history, is epic, bombastic, and powerful, especially with Christine's cadenzas at the end.
"The Point of No Return" is a thrilling power play between Erik and Christine, as well as a wonderfully seductive love song. And then it slides into pure tearjerker territory when Erik reprises "All I Ask of You."
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The "mirror bride" bit in the instrumental climax of "The Music of the Night" is just bizarre. Yes, it provides a great romantic moment for the Phantom to catch the fainting Christine, but makes little sense. (Although given that he later forces Christine to wear the same wedding dress, he's presumably showing her his plans/wishes for her—the non-replica Hungarian version has him showing her a vision of them marrying).
Similarly, while most commenters like the changes that the Hungarian, Finnish, Polish, Norwegian, and Czech productions make, they have a handful of detractors too.
The Ship-to-Ship Combat between Christine/Erik and Christine/Raoul began the day the show opened and goes on to this day. It's quite legendary in musical theatre fandom. Fans of the former tend to find Erik more compelling and think he and Christine have more chemistry, while fans of the latter tend to like Christine with someone who hasn't stalked and kidnapped her. All of this gets more heated if you include the novel in your discussion, or, God help you, Love Never Dies. Bring one pairing up to fans of the other at your own risk.
Fans of the show tend to either love the movie or detest it, with very little middle ground. The one thing they can agree on is that it revived interest in the show itself—ticket sales surged after the movie was released, ironically because people loved or hated it.
Who is the best Phantom? Michael Crawford or Ramin Karimloo? Those who prefer Crawford feel he better captures the Phantom's eeriness and somewhat "supernatural" vibe, while those who prefer Karimloo consider him to be a superior singer with a wider range of emotions even if he's not quite as creepy as Crawford.
Critical Dissonance: When the show opened, reviews were not all flattering (especially in New York). But in October 2021, the show celebrated its 35th anniversary in London and it reached its 35th on Broadway in January 2023.
Evil Is Cool: The Phantom pulls his share of nasty deeds throughout the show, but damn if he doesn't look awesome while doing so.
Fan-Preferred Couple: The vast, vast majority of The Phantom of the Opera fanfics have Christine ending up with Erik.
A lot of fans would like to forget The Phantom of Manhattan, a novel by Frederick Forsyth that was based on the original plans for a sequel to the musical in the late 1990s, ever happened. The main issues seem to be the original principals hardly interacting with each other as opposed to all the new characters, the odd rewrites of the original show's canon (such as Buquet's death being a suicide and Piangi's death an accident), and the central plot twist relying on two wildly unpopular developments (first, Raoul being unable to sire a child due to a youthful injury, second, Erik raping Christine after the Don Juan Triumphant disaster).
Love Never Dies appears to be heading in the same direction. Many fans refuse to accept it as canon and prefer to pretend it doesn't exist.
Also, the canon ending of the original story, where Christine ends up with Raoul. Try to count the number of fanfics that have her ending up with Erik instead. We'll wait.
The fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber essentially wrote the musical for his wife and muse, Sarah Brightman, in order to make her a star - he even gave her a chance to show off her skills en-pointe by switching Christine from a member of the chorus to one of the corps de ballet - becomes all the more awkward and depressing after their divorce.
Especially so upon watching the guest performance at the end of the Royal Albert Hall performance. She was actively inching away from him and grabbing Michael Crawford's hand. (ALW managed to hold her other hand, though.) Although Sarah's still smiling and laughing, she looks like she wants to get as far from ALW as humanly possible.
Considering the ephebophilic overtones of the story, it's a bit cringe-worthy to know that James Barbour, Phantom on Broadway from February 9, 2015 until December 23, 2017, was convicted of sexually abusing a fifteen year old girl in 2006. Despite vociferous protests from the theatre community, he retained his post through multiple cast changes.
The way the Phantom roughs up Christine during "Final Lair" gets this with actress Rebecca Caine (the first Christine in the Toronto production) posting a story to her Instagram page about Colm Wilkinson (the Phantom) being very abusive to her, to the point of actually injuring her during that scene.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The 1937 Chinese version, ’’Song at Midnight’’, features a Phantom who is disfigured in an attack rather than born deformed; while it’s very unlikely that Western film producers were aware of it upon its release (as it didn’t receive a release outside of China until the 1990s), starting with the 1943 Universal version many subsequent takes just happened to include a similar divergence from the book. The deformity only returned to being the traditional explanation with the 1986 musical, as it happens.
In the Mini Series, the dying Erik muses to his father regarding the love his mother and Christine had for him, "Twice in my life, I've been Touched by an Angel."
Some Phantom fans (or "phans") say that the makeup on the title character is a cop-out, as it's still only over one half of his face, but, let's be honest - a man who's good-looking on one side and like a rotting steak with an eye on the other alongside a partially exposed cranium and about as much hair as the average healthy person cleans out of their brush at the end of the month is still deformed enough to be believably outcast from Victorian society, even if he's not the "living corpse" Leroux described. (And with those conditions, being handsome on the other side tends to only make the deformity look worse.) Word of God says that:
The half-mask was created because it was very difficult for Michael Crawford to sing properly through a full-face mask,
Both Crawford and Andrew Lloyd Webber have said that it just took too long to apply make-up all over his face; Lloyd Webber was apparently worried no actor would play the role for very long if it required five-plus hours in make-up. Even with a half-mask, it takes time: by the end of Crawford's tenure, the make-up application was down to two hours, and that's about how long it takes for his successors.
And, in addition to all that, the half-mask makes it easier for the actor to emote to those seated at the back of the theatre when most of his face is covered half the time.
And in the Takarazuka Revue productions of the Arthur Kopit/Maury Yeston musical, both Wao Youka and Haruno Sumire◊ were WAY too pretty for their own good. Bizarrely, they both managed to make it work regardless.
Love to Hate: The Phantom, while sympathetic, is still far from a good guy. But despite his villainous qualities, audiences have absolutely loved him ever since the show opened. For some, this love causes them to forget his sins. For others, those sins are part of why they celebrate the character, as he pulls of his crimes with so much style. Either way, he's widely regarded as the best character in the cast, despite only being onstage for about 35 minutes.
Magnificent Bastard: The Phantom, born Erik, spent his childhood as a freak in the circus on account of his disfigured face. Helped by Madame Giry to escape, the Phantom sets up residence beneath the Paris Opera House, styling himself as a ghost to "haunt" the venue and have it perform to his expectations. A genius singer, composer and illusionist, the Phantom took Christine Diae and taught her how to sing so that she would glorify him on the world stage and eventually fell in love with her. When the Opera House's new owners attempt to defy the Phantom, he sabotages and murders to get his way, boldly presenting himself at the Masquerade and forcing the House to perform his masterpiece, Don Juan Triumphant. An attempt is made to catch him, but fails, the Phantom absconding with Christine, only releasing her when her compassion makes him realise his cruelty, letting her go so she can be happy. In the sequel the Phantom lures Christine back to him to give her a chance at a comeback, wins her back from Raoul and almost has a completely happy ending if Christine hadn't tragically died. Phantom still manages to end the story reconciling with his son, giving hope for the future. A tragic artist, the Phantom has seduced audiences for decades with his dark charisma and romantic Music of the Night.
The conceit that only half of the Phantom's face is deformed, originally designed because the full mask was interfering with Michael Crawford's singing, has become the iconic visual for not only the Phantom himself but any similarly deformed character.
On Tumblr, calling Erik a "melodramatic sewer goblin" or just "sewer goblin," due to a text post calling him that.
During "I Remember / Stranger Than You Dreamt It", the Phantom drags himself across the floor towards Christine, who herself sometimes responds by dragging herself further away. It tends to prompt a lot of snickering from the audience.
Narm Charm: This show is melodrama of the highest order, with plenty of cheesy or ridiculous plot points. But between the spectacle, the gorgeous music, and the way the actors (the good ones, at least) put their whole heart and soul into every note, it's hard not to get swept up in it and enjoy it. It has had a loyal, widespread, and active fandom for over thirty-five years and counting for a reason.
In addition to Michael Crawford's celebrated Playing Against Type turn (until this show, he was best-known as the hapless Frank Spencer in the Britcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em), the title character in the musical has been played by Paul Stanley (of KISS fame) and Robert Guillaume (until 2014, the only black actor to play the Phantom. In all fairness, the casting department might be trying to avoid the Black Vikings trope, as well as the Unfortunate Implications of a black man lusting after and stalking a young white woman).
The 25th anniversary concert got a bit of this from the fanbase, as well — some were skeptical about the casting of Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess as the Phantom and Christine, given that they'd played these roles in Love Never Dies (even though they had previously played those roles in the original show as wellnote Ramin Karimloo had previously portrayed Raoul in the West End production from 2003 to 2004 and the Phantom from 2007 to 2009 (and portrayed Christine's father in a photo appearance in the 2004 film); Sierra Boggess had previously played Christine in the abridged Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular production); and since Raoul, Piangi, and Meg were played by actors who had no prior connection with Phantom*Hadley Fraser (Raoul) was more known for his work in Les Misérables as Marius, Grantaire, and Javert; Wynne Evans (Piangi) is better known for playing Gio Compario, the Italian tenor mascot of Go Compare while several popular alumni of the show*For instance, recurring Phantom actor Earl Carpenter plays the Auctioneer at the beginning, original West End Carlotta actress Rosemary Ashe portrays one of the confidantes in Il Muto, and former West End Raoul actor Garðar Thór Cortes portrays Pasarino in Don Juan Triumphant were cast in minor background and chorus roles. Once the event actually took place, the casting was generally pretty well-received, especially Karimloo, who is now considered one of, if not the best Phantoms ever.
Gerard Butler in the movie, full stop. The man never had a singing lesson in his life, let alone sung professionally, prior to his casting and despite being a perfect tenor, those notes are just a bit out of his range (ironically, Lloyd Webber claims that Butler's singing was the closest to the "rock star" voice that he'd always imagined the Phantom having).
At long last, after 26 years, Broadway cast its first African-American Phantomnote Robert Guillaume's turn was as part of the Los Angeles cast, the first U.S. production beyond New York with Norm Lewis, who debuted in May 2014 and was paired up with Sierra Boggess as Christine.note Incidentally, Lewis and Boggess had previously co-starred in the Broadway adaptation of The Little Mermaid, with Boggess playing Ariel while Lewis played Triton. Opinion of his performance was that his acting and singing talents transcended the problematic above-mentioned tropes, as they did when he played Javert in the 2006 Broadway revival and 25th Anniversary concert of Les Misérables.
And the move has opened up opportunities for other minority actors:
Derrick Davis and Quentin Oliver Lee as now the third and fourth, respectively, African-American actors to play the role (in the touring company),
Jordan Donica as Broadway's first African-American Raoul and Jem as West End's (as the understudy). Joe Griffiths-Brown would be the second overall for West End, but the first to be the main actor.
Margaret Ann Gates as the first Asian Christine in the Toronto production and Ali Ewoldt as the first on Broadway.
Since re-opening after the pandemic-forced shutdown, the West End and Broadway productions finally cast black actresses in the role of Christine, with Lucy St. Louis opening the West End revival as its first ever black Christine, followed by understudies / alternates Beatrice Penny Toure, Paige Blankson and Chumisa Dornford-May — while Emilie Kouatchou debuted as Broadway's first (initially starting as an alternate, then promoted as the main actress from January 2022 up until the closing of the Broadway run)note Neither St. Louis nor Kouatchou is the first overall, however. That distinction goes to Lana English from the 2004 South African production , followed by understudy / alternate Kanisha Marie Feliciano as the second (and first Afro-Latina).
The West End revival has also been more inclusive with their casting of the supporting roles; Michelle Cornelius was casted as the first black Madame Giry (albeit as a cover), while Saori Oda and Maiya Hikasa are the first Asian actresses to play Carlotta and Meg respectively.
Though she's remained an icon of the show's legacy and has fans willing to defend her, Sarah Brightman got hit with this when originating the role of Christine, despite the part being written for her. Though praised as a singer, her acting received more negative reviews in addition to accusations of nepotism due to her being married to the composer. (This was especially so when the show was transferred to Broadway. She wasn't a "name" in the U.S. so Lloyd Webber had to work out a deal with the actors' union to retain her in the transfer rather than recast the part.)
Ron the Death Eater: Expect Raoul to get hit with this by the largely Erik/Christine shipping fanbase, who make Raoul out to be an irredeemable person who treats Christine horribly, despite the fact that Erik himself is a hardly a paragon of stability, respect or a solid grasp of personal boundaries...
Signature Scene: The Phantom taking Christine on a gondola ride is one of the most iconic visuals in all of theatre.
Signature Song: "The Music of the Night", with the titular number being a close second. ("The Music of the Night" is actually this for the show andMichael Crawford, who went on to a successful recording and concert career after leaving the show.)
The opera house explosion at the end of the Joel Schumacher film immediately brings to mind a late-1990s PlayStation FMV cutscene.
If you know what you're looking for, the Phantom's deformity in the 2004 movie is inconsistent as well as underwhelming. The trick is to take note of his right eye—the only hint that he's deformed is right before Christine pulls the mask off in "Point of No Return!" Every other time, the visible area around his eye is perfectly clear.
Squick: The Kopit/Yeston musical (and consequently the miniseries based on it implies Erik loves Christine partly because she reminds him of his mother. Some versions (including the Takarazuka Revue versions, and again, the Mini Series) take it a step further; the portrait of Erik's mother is a portrait of the actress playing Christine. Try not to think too much about that.
Take That, Scrappy!: The Phantom dishes out a handful of insults to Raoul every time he mentions him!
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: As stated in the "base" post, many fans feelings about the redesigned US/UK touring productions. Mostly averted with the non-replica Hungarian/Finnish/Polish/Swedish/Norwegian/Czech productions, where praise is nearly unanimous—particularly keeping Christine a blonde as she was in the novel.
The Woobie: Erik gets this treatment in some versions, while in others he causes at least as much grief as he gets.
. It is an artificial lagoon, built to divert groundwater away from the foundation while building the theater. The lake is also used to train firefighters.
Unfortunate Implications of a black man lusting after and stalking a young white woman).
