On the Phantom vs. Raoul

My cousins H&H came to town last weekend (meaning I met their mom half way to Indiana and picked them up), and it was so delightful to host them. They are twin girls, 15 years old, and were awed and amazed at everything we did. I suppose the benefit of being from Nowhereville, Indiana is that it makes even Cleveland look happening. Which, incidentally, is probably why I like it here. I'm from a Nowhereville myself and have nothing better than this to compare. We shopped, we ate, we went out on the town, and we saw the Phantom of the Opera. Not only had the girls never seen it, they had never been to any live show. Ever. This was rather shocking to me, as I can't imagine having been raised without shows and soundtracks and such.

It was a solid performance, although I struggled not to compare it to the Broadway cast I saw a few years ago whose Phantom brought me to tears simply because his voice was perfection. Of course, I'm always a sucker for the Phantom story, mostly because I like the Phantom. I feel for him. And I typically prefer his mysterious sexy to Raoul's out-of-nowhere protective dorky. Sure he's obsessive and deranged, but this was the first performance I've seen that portrayed the Phantom as 100% certifiable. It was so disturbing to me, especially as a member of Team Phantom (do they sell T-shirts?). The finale is my favorite number, because it's just so intense, and the overall badness of the situation hit me in a way it hasn't before. How crappy it all is for her, and how utterly un-sexy the Phantom's crazy is. The man was SO nutso that for the first time I thought Christine actually made the right choice. Maybe that's the point, and I've just missed it all these years. So this is me, disillusioned.