I’ve seen four actors play the Phantom live - three on Broadway, and one on a national tour. None of them matched the raw emotion that Crawford put in to this. Not one of them. I know that every actor plays the Phantom differently, and that other people have seen many more notable Phantoms, but as far as the heartbreak the Phantom feels when he hears Christine confess her love for Raoul - for me, Crawford *sells* it. The way he sighs “no,” before clenching his teeth and screaming - I feel that in my bones.
The pain in his voice is something that I havent seen expressed since. I've seen Phantom over 35 times, and MC has something in his voice that the others don't have. A mixture of madness, pain but also normality - Something that we all feel.
I can only imagine how magical it would be to see this in the video quality we have available today…Michael is an angel…..that voice. His portrayal set the bar high.
Watching this to grieve the loss of the West End angel. That set piece felt like another cast member, decorating the proscenium and allowing for one of the show’s most shocking moments. I can’t believe that Cameron Mackintosh replaced it with a Pegasus/horse statue.
Hear! Hear! I’ve introduced my friends to Phantom after Covid and was gutted that this gorgeous set piece is missing. It creates such a beautiful image on stage for the rooftop scene and then never failed to get a gasp from the audience when the Phantom emerges from it. Shame.
Ugh when he covers his ears, it hurts me physically. MC was better than any other phantom in portraying The Phantom's utter, lonely, despairing, tortured love (and desire) for Christine. No words to describe him
I've heard an audio recording of this (not this performance exactly) and it's incredible, but to see it with my own eyes, wow. Never thought I'd get to see it. WOW. Michael's laugh can't be beat.
When he says "Christine" so sadly, and when he cover his ears. :( And the "youuuuuu", and the maniac laugh... Those are a few of the reasons why Michael is my favorite Phantom.
OMG, this comments will make me cry :(. I truly hope that we willl get that performance one day, it's something I really wish. And I've read from comments of people who got to watch Crawford's Phantom that he was the best they have seen. But I want to make my own opinion based on that performance. :'(
This is going to sound ridiculous but, to everyone who says Michaels Crawfords Phantom is the best, what is the best way to judge? These blurry videos? I just wish we could all have a HQ performance on a DVD one day, hopefully ALW will give us that one day
DameHaha2011 i think they mean vocally, but you can kind of tell whats going on seeing the way hes moving. Also theres still people out there who saw him in person, im pretty sure my mother had gone to see it on broadway when he went there.
DameHaha2011 I know this was 5 years ago but there's a HQ video of music of the night I think it's a music video not from a performance but still it's from the 80s so its not like watching a video form now
He'll be 71 Jan 19 and the M E is over. He starred in The Wizard of Oz in London for a year until last March, and he just did a recording with Susan Boyle of Music of the Night for her new album. Of course he wouldn't do Phantom now even though we can wish :)
Heres the thing....Micheal Craford (BEST.PHANTOM.EVER.) can seem REALLY sad when he trys to...but he cant really be sad...And Ramin Karimloo... He can be VERY angry at the you will curse part but... he always seems angry..........
my advice for getting this video popular is posting it on t3hfiasc0's all i ask of you reprise [25th aniversary] everytime i check it has more and more views.
@adam4757 But I should agree with you here, the chandelier is falling dreadfully slowly =\ And I actually enjoyed your funny wording in the previous message :)
@adam4757 Oh, certainly you're not :) It just that there is actually in this video something that deserves so much more attention than a (notyet)shattered chandelier! ;)
@adam4757 Who cares? :) Seriously, listen to that laughter, listen to that "you-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u... (and so on and so forth)" which only Michael is capable of delivering! This video is a legend. Invaderphantomstar11, millions of thanks for it.
@Monkeyballmania the Broadway chandelier crash is more exciting than this. This looks like one of the tours, probably the 5 year run in Los Angeles in the 1990's. I just saw the New York production last April and the chandelier fell much faster than this one.
