Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

This is topic PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - 25th Anniversary BD in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-08-2012, 05:56 PM:

I have waited a long time for a stage production of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and LES MISERABLES to be released on home video on DVD and Blue-Ray. Until yesterday, only a concert version of LES MISERABLES was available on discs but a staged version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was finally released. It was worth the wait because the performance I watched last night was the special 25th Anniversary of the show performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London with a cast headed by Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Christiane Daae and Hadey Fraser as Raul and it was SUPERB!. This was the 3rd time I saw THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The first time was when the national touring company of Phantom, came to Hawaii and performed it at the Honolulu Concert Hall at Neil Blaisdell Centre about fifteen years ago . The 2nd time was the movie version. Of the three versions I saw of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the other two could not compare at all with the recent Albert Hall performance in London. Beside TPOTO, I bought a couple of other new BDS yesterday including LADY AND THE TRAMP, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, MALCOLM X and SE7EN. I was planning to watch TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD last night but I was curious about the picture and sound quality of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and decided to see only a few minutes of it but was so intrigued by the performance, I could not stop watching and saw it all.

Like THe Metropolitan Opera and some concerts, I believe THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA's 25th Anniversary performance was beamed live to movie theatres all over the world including the Regal Dole Cannery Theatre here in Honoluly. I did not go but wish I did after discovering how wonderful the performance was. In a way it was a blessing because the cost of the theatre ticket would have been more than what I had paid for the Blue-Ray disc ($19.95). Now that I have the disc, I can watch it as often as I like.

BTW, after the performance at the Royal Albert Hall on the disc, Andrew Lloyd Weber introduced the members of the original London cast including Michael Crawford and Sara Brightman. They both sang and Sara Brightman was excellent as expected by I preffered Sierra Boggess's voice. Same hold true between Michael Crawford and Ramin Karimloo.

-Claude

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 02-08-2012, 06:59 PM:

I haven't received my blu-ray copy yet, but supposedly the 5.1 soundmix is odd - in that the center channel of sound is underused. Even the Fathom event in the theater all the front stage sound to be coming out of the left and center speakers only. As for the cast, Sierra Boggess as Christine is simply amazing her rendition of 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' made me weep.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-08-2012, 07:06 PM:

I noticed that too, Jonathan and that is the reason I listened to the sound of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in the Pro Logic sound setting instead of the DTS mode. It sounded great that way.

-Claude

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 02-08-2012, 09:01 PM:

did you notice at the end of the program when Sara Brightman comes out on stage she stood way clear of Andrew Lloyd Webber - her behaviour suggested 'don't touch me, don't stand so close to me' [uhoh]

guess their repartee and relationship has not completely healed.

Posted by Warren Smyth (Member # 1838) on 02-09-2012, 12:24 AM:

I got the Blu ray copy for Christmas and the family watched Christmas evening. What a wonderful performance. The costumes, staging and use of projected imagery in place of sets is amazing. The performances are a pleasure to see and listen to.

I also noticed the lack of audio on the centre channel in fact I spent the first few minutes in my projection room checking the plate current meter on the amplifier. Yes, I still use valves (KT66s). The only thing that marred the recording I thought was that the dialogue level is slightly low at times relative to the orchestra. This reinforced my view that my centre channel had dropped out. The sound mix however is improved after interval, yes, this show does have one.

Overall, this version of Phantom is a treat and in my opinion slightly more dramatic at the end than the film which is also extremely enjoyable. Both are a pleasure to see on Blu ray.