This Andrew Lloyd Webber musical isn't bad bad in the same way as some of the others, it just makes me feel ill watching it.
I think maybe the show would have been better if the characters weren't supposed to be the ones from Phantom, because it makes all of my red flags go off seeing Christine so quickly welcoming of the phantom just because he says he feels great pain without her and they reminisce about their "one night" together.
I mean, I am still thinking of him as a real horror; manipulative / stalker / threatening / murdering.
And both phantom and Raoul - when confronting each other - treat her as a possession, and Raoul has become just angry and useless... there's no-one really to root for out of the two of them.
And I would not put a child in the trust of a twisted and murderous man just because he's biologically his father.
It's not that the show is bad bad, it just makes me feel like everything the show wants me to get on board with is wrong. I'm sitting there going "no, no, no, no, no" at every moment that I think is supposed to be positive.
I think if you looked at the book for this musical in isolation, this phantom would be no more of a horror than a grumpy goth with bad skin.
So... either you have a phantom who is far too horrible for you to want him to succeed, or a completely declawed phantom who is just bland.
