Differences Between the Musical and Movie-Musical
Recently, a very close friend of mine saw the movie-musical version of Phantom of the Opera. He rather liked, I (as I am a member of this community), do not. But we talked about it a bit and I realized something that bothered me about the movie version that I never placed before.
During what would be the second act of the story, not only are scenes deleted ("Don Juan Triumphant" Rehearsal), but the chronology is changed. In the musical, it goes from "Masquerade/Why So Silent" to "Notes II/Twisted Everyway/" to the Graveyard (Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again/Wandering Child") Right after "Masquerade" the story moves to the Graveyard scene, then to Raoul's Plan (part of what would have been "Notes II") and then that moves to "Twisted Every Way." Now, this is the problem, the timeline differences make no sense when considering Christine's state of mind.
In the musical: after the Masquerade, Christine is visibly shaken and this only gets worse with "Notes II" since the managers are pressing her about why she will not sing the Phantom's opera, Carlotta is bullying her, and then Raoul--though he initially comforts her--develops his plan and basically betrays Christine by setting her up as bait. She literally is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. That's why she goes to visit her father, because all of this stems from his death. After he died she completely shuts down emotionally-which is why it was so easy for the Phantom to manipulate her. So going to her father's grave and singing ”Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" is a very emotional moment where she is confronting all these emotions within her heart (I know there is a better word for this, but for the life of me I cannot think of what it is). Anyway, after this moment, the Phantom plays on her vulnerabilities in order to hypnotize her and kidnap her. After which, the next time we see Christine is during "Don Juan Triumphant" which challenges us to decide what has made her go through with sing this role (I have my own conclusions about this).
In the movie, Christine goes from the Masquerade to the Graveyard and then to "Twisted Every Way" and then she is singing in the opera. To me this doesn't make sense as I do not believe that just the Masquerade incident would be a catalyst for Christine to need to see her father because at that point she still has not had Raoul betray her so she still has him to cling to, whilst after he does, Christine has to look to no one else but her self. So we have the graveyard scene and the Phantom's attempt to kidnap her, and the swordfight (you really don't want to hear my opinion on that), and then Raoul's grand plan and then Christine saying she doesn't want to do it, but she does it anyway.
I feel by this change in order greatly diminishes the emotional power of certain moments. "Wishing" is an incredibly personal and touching moment that makes Christine very vulnerable, but longing to find strength within herself because it is a realization that she must depend on herself alone to get through all of this, and I think, by placing this scene before "Notes II" lessens that. I also feel like by placing "Twisted Every Way" just before "Don Juan Triumphant" makes it look like Christine is being pushed into this unwillingly and makes her character very weak-willed. And I do not believe that if Christine has not found inner strength and (most importantly) a reason to sing the Phantom's opera, that she could be as strong as she is during the final lair.
So that's my thoughts on that.
Continuing on with the discussion my friend and I had, we both settled on the fact we disliked the movie's version of the Phantom's Red Death costume. See in the movie, he wears this sleek, clean cut costume with a skull half-mask. In the musical, he wears this garish, over-the-top costume and a full skull mask. I think my main problem is that because in the movie he only wears a half-mask (you see his mouth), you do not get the full, terrifying affect of a hideous skull with four black holes (eyes, nose and mouth) wagging threats. But I also feel that in the musical, the flamboyant costume adds an air of the grotesque since vibrant scarlet surrounds the white skull head.