A
t the end of high school, I was pretty obsessed with the Phantom of the Opera, though specifically the Joel Schumacher film. I had gotten it into my head somehow that Phantom was a sort of universally beloved piece of immortal "high art"; and I was very excited by the idea that I was genuinely connecting with a piece of true culture. In actual fact, while the Phantom is very popular, it's not quite the monumental piece I assumed it was, but its songs and overall structure still hold a very sentimental place in my heart.
These past few days, Elena and I found out that we have this shared appreciation for the musical, and the car has been basically filled with Phantom songs in a variety of languages. We just went through the title song from about ten different countries, trying to identify our favorite Phantom singer. At the end of the day, the finalists were the Mexican Phantom, the Hungarian Phantom, and, in a big surprise, the Korean Phantom, who delivers the masculine power that the role needs, while still maintaining a through-line of emotional acting in the lyricism. Would travel to Korea to see.