A vocally perfect Phantom, he has the powerful baritenor, soft when necessary, with simultaneous ease and drama in his high notes and a rich bottom. Love his growls/screams as well. I know he’s played Pirelli and that he typically sings higher roles (who wouldn’t, with that belt!!!) but I would LOVE to hear him sing Sweeney Todd.
John sounded so operatic during “The Mirror/POTO” here. I noticed as he got older he started singing in a more traditional style theater voice with considerably less Vibrato. I love both versions of his Erik though. John is incredible in whatever he does.
YES!!! He is so smooth and sexy as the Phantom. Imagine being Rachel! Especially in Point of No Return. No other Phantom has ever matched his seductiveness!
Grateful for this. JOJ is unparalleled. Others are good, even great, but JOJ is exceptional. I’d pay to listen to him sing the phone book. But with him it’s more than just a remarkable voice. It’s that he takes his time without dragging things out, makes everything seem effortless, has ideal musical timing and phrasing, and is an equally good actor as a singer, where even the best at the end of the day tend to excel at one or the other. Not JOJ. He’s the best at both. This Christine is also among the best I’ve ever heard, and I’ll take this Raoul over Hadley Fraser (and most others) any day. He’s not Michael Ball, but he’s very very good.
By far …. He is the best vocalist for phantom … no one has his control … no one can Belt better than him …. His notes are round and robust … and when he gets tender on music of the night …. He is smooth like warm maple syrup
OMG I just realized, after "Stranger than you dreamt it" when Phantom is crying, the instrumentals of "It's in your soul that the true distortion lies" is playing. Mind blown 🥺😢
My dude really is one of the GOATs in this role. I can’t lie-I enjoy Ramin in the 25th anniversary production, but it really should have been JOJ and Gina or Rachel (who is a VASTLY underrated Christine, she is wonderful here)
You provide Phantom phans with a priceless archive of memories. Thank you. Was lucky enough to see Phantom in the late 90s and early 2000s both in San Francisco as well as Broadway. Thank you. Newer productions don't seem to satiate me.
Anything from that San Francisco production has got to be some of the most difficult things to find for Phantom on the internet. Hardly any video, very few pictures from the actual production, a few articles here and there. Hell, it ran for just over 5 years and I've found only one video from it so far, when there's a bunch from early phantom productions on Broadway, London, Toronto, even LA. It's kind of the myth in the Phantom history, a legend or a tale, if you will
well, I've seen a whole lot of Phantoms on Broadway starting back in "88". I was a theater teacher and we saw it every year until 9/11(along with many others). I even dragged my tired bones in to see dear Norm Lewis do it and it was transformative. BUT...............JOJ is the best, hands down! And this Christine rocks too!
first time watching john owen jones and he is officially one of my fave phantoms now, his ‘music of the night’ performance is so good. thanks for posting!
John should of been the Phantom in the 25th show!!...also I love how protective both Rachel and Gina's Christine's are over Raoul! Btw the whispering is so irritating..can people please stfu if they're going to record bootlegs
Yes to your point on JOJ for the 25th Anniversary!! Ramin is simply too 'aggressive' for me and he tries to hard. I do respect him though. Also, YES to your point about the wispering! One does not talk during a show. One especially does not talk during a show when John-Owen Jones is singing.
@@mariekevanmuijden4675 it's so nice to see someone else with the same opinion. Tbh I believe the main reason why Ramin and Sierra are so popular is because they were young and easily accessible.. Also the whole " buddy romance " vibe they have...which in my opinion gets in the way of Sierra's portrayal as Christine..she seems to only put in effort when Ramin is her Phantom. I've seen her with others and she's so mechanical.. Anyway..you're rights... Joj is the best man for the role 💐
@@amandae8437 Not every singer can act. In theatre we can't see much Phantom's acting because of their makeup ,we can only "hear" their acting and singing , so the whole reason why Ramin's portrayal is celebrated because he "acts " and since it's on a film and not a theatre the little flaws can not be hidden , I believe he did great coz it's not easy to sing AND act with full prosthetics and makeup while a close-up shot too is being taken. Take screenshots of his acting in the film and you'll see just how much it's filled with emotions. Btw my faves are Anthony Warlow, JOJ ,Ben Lewis ,Peter Joback, Michael Crawford and Hugh Panaro.
I would've LOVED to see JOJ's phantom in higher quality recording, but I think casting Ramin for the anniv recording was the right choice. His subtle acting is great and that works better for close ups. Their performances have their own strengths and although JOJ is also my favourite we don't have to bring down one to appreciate another.
JOJ performance is amazing! I was extremely impressed with Ramin's performance at 25th anniversary edition and thought no other Phantom would be able to match that, but JOJ's is... wow! Now I'm not sure which Phantom is my favorite anymore lol
In every adaptation I see, I always like Carlotta and Piangi. I love a man who stands with his woman. Also, this has both my favorite Phantom, my favorite Christine, and my favorite rendition of the opening rehearsal.
Hearing Carlotta singing ‘Think of me’ , I couldn’t see why the phantom objects so aggressively to her singing 😳 might just be me? Haha (edit: JOJ has the most book-phantom like voice for me :)
One thing that annoyed me about the 2004 movie was that it furthered the incorrect idea that Carlotta was a bad singer. If she’s leading the opera house Carlotta is obviously amazing at what she does, the phantom just doesn’t like her cause he wants Christine to succeed.😂
@@phanoftheopera I think they only plug there ears and make it out like that because she can take it too far. In think of me in the movie, she starts with loud powerful notes instead of starting out calm then making it big. But yeah. I can’t see any other reason. She’s amazing
That overture glitch is devastating! Totally ruins that incredible moment in the show. You just can't recover from a break in the scene like that. What makes it so thrilling is how it all blends in one scene to another seamlessly from the auction to the overture to Hannibal, it's brilliant. That break killed it, lol. It's also the one thing the bootlegger failed to capture which would've been interesting to see. Funny how that happens, lol.
Hence why I put 2005 in parentheses next to it and mentioned it in the caption. It was his final show at the time. He returned to London from 2010-11 and then the tour from 2012-13.
Yep the track stopped so they had to play it again from the beginning. Thankfully I don’t think the chandelier had begun to rise so it didn’t throw the scene totally off
Besides Michael Crawford, John Owen Jones is the Phantom I most regret not seeing play the role. Ramin Karimloo, sure, but we got to see him on the 25th anniversary pro-shot, so I don’t really count him.
I assume part of it is because many people don’t come back until it begins, so you’d have a lot of people interrupting the footage. And more chance someone could see the camera and report it
I know this was uploaded probably years ago and you probably don't even use your account anymore whoever uploaded this but just want to say if you are a j o j fan and you don't know he did come back I believe in 2011 or 2012 for a limited run