It is not out of a reciprocal yearning or “love” for The Phantom, but out of an understandable intrigue and even possibly a self-perceived expected loyalty to him. It is through his voice - a voice that Christine has come to associate with guidance, care, and guardianship - that The Phantom is able to secure whatever fascination she has of him, a seeming yet justified allure that is a byproduct of his meticulous engagement with Christine throughout her childhood. The following song, “The Music of the Night,” probably one of the, if not the most famous song of the entire musical, consists of the The Phantom singing to Christine how she should “abandon defenses” and succumb to the “darkness of the music of the night,” because “only then can belong to. The self-titled song, which happens when Christine and The Phantom meet in person for the first time, is basically an ode to the looming presence and intense psychological grasp that The Phantom has carefully created after years of grooming Christine (“The Phantom of the Opera”). And The Phantom’s repugnant sexual obsession, sense of entitlement and desire for unconditional power over Christine only then grows stronger. She finds reciprocated love in her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, who makes a reappearance as he is a patron of the theater. She lands her breakthrough performance as the lead in the theater’s grand opera “Hannibal”, since the usual lead Carlotta refuses to go on (“Think of Me”). 3 Putting aside The Phantom’s actions for a brief moment, it’s integral to provide the context of the large age gap in which The Phantom and Christine’s relations are fixed, as that fact already provides a massively imbalanced power dynamic, without any sort of external engagements.īut alas, Christine grows older. It’s also worth mentioning that The Phantom is not only at an age where he could be Christine’s father, given that when we see a glimpse into The Phantom’s past, him and the aforementioned Madame Giry were of similar ages, but also that Christine is 16 in the 2004 film 2 based off the musical. The Phantom probably knowing this uses this information not only to establish Christine’s trust and dependency on him, but also to affirm his own authority and gripping control of her (“The Mirror – Angel of Music”). Before he died, Christine’s father told her that he would send her an Angel of Music who would “guide” and “guard” her.

He constructs this mentor-persona who would speak to her whenever she would visit her father’s shrine, which was placed in an isolated room of the theater, hidden from plain view. It is then that The Phantom initiates a relationship with her, as he becomes her unseen, unknown singing teacher. So first thing’s first, The Phantom is a grooming pedophile.Ĭhristine entered the Opera House at the tender age of 7, the age when she became an orphan and consequently was taken under the care of Madame Giry, a self-described mother figure to Christine. I’m not going to attempt to describe or analyze every single problematic detail of this entire musical, but let’s try to hit the main points of why this supposed “love story” between Christine and The Phantom, and specifically The Phantom 1 himself as a person, should not be placed on any sort of pedestal. But the immense penchant for its soundtrack does not excuse the toxicity, manipulation, abuse, toying with our sense of sympathy and misuse of the meaning of love that is rampant in the musical’s storyline. Lyrics aside, the flow of the melodies is unequivocally beautiful, especially “Think of Me,” “Angel of Music,” “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” and “The Point of No Return.”Īnd the soundtrack is one of the many reasons why “The Phantom of the Opera” is so beloved. While most lyrics of the soundtrack speak to larger, more complex issues that I intend to address, the music in which the lyrics situate is absolutely divine and eerily enchanting. I’m going to be completely honest here, I used to love “The Phantom of the Opera”. I can’t be talking about anything other than “The Phantom of the Opera.” My mother has probably watched it over 100 times, with the same amount of enthused adoration each time. It’s regarded as one of the greatest musicals of all time even one of the most captivating love stories.

It’s the longest show to run on Broadway.

The phantom of the opera lyrics youtube