Welcome to Gaia! ::

I was hooked when I saw the film version of the play ^.^

I think my true Phan-dom started when I was little. My mom had the cd of Sara Brightman, Micheal Crawford singing several Phantom of the Opera songs. At the time, I was little and really didn't understand the song and didn't like opera.

Theeeeeen....I found her cd when I was about 12..>w< and enjoyed it majorly.
Forgot about it for a while crying
Then since the latest movie came out, my Phan-dom will never ever leave again. gonk heart gonk heart PotO!!

Also, having friends who are also over-obsessed Phans are great. The Phan-dom never ends. mrgreen

That's a lot like my story goes.

My friend Patta had seen the movie and was telling me about it, I knew nothing about the story (I thought it was a horror story, as most of the versions are and all that). I made some comment to my mom about how Patta's obsessed with this Phantom of the Opera now or something on that order, and she said she recalled vaguely having seen a version in her childhood. (We're thinking it was the 1925 silent, which I have now seen, because my grandparents were here when I was first getting super obsessed and right away when I mentioned Phantom of the Opera my grandpa, who seems to know a little something about everything, mentioned that Lon Chaney had done a silent version of it in the 1920s.) So, as she works at Wal-Mart, she picked up the copy at work that night. She told me to put it in, and I was on the computer as always and was only half paying attention. I told Patta I was watching it and he kept asking, "Has __ happened yet? Wait 'til you get to Masquerade, its the best part!" and so forth and that only confused me. By the time it got to the end I had little idea what had been going on in the movie. I remember, though, the one part that really grabbed my attention was Christine being led down to the lair, being pulled through her mirror by this masked figure. It's always fascinated me.

A few weeks later, Mom put it in again, and I was curious so I sat down and really watched it. I fell in love with the music before I ever did the story- I think that's what makes it so addicting to me, I don't watch movies over and over usually, but because of the music I wanted to hear it over and over again. I didn't like the Phantom with Christine in the beginning, I remember that distinctly. I remember not seeing how Patta could like them together, that the Phantom was creepy. The more he explained the story to me and the more I watched it, though, the more I began to sympathize and understand Erik- Patta soon told me that that was his name. I became fascinated with the story. I started hanging around and browing places like this, but I felt like an ignorant newbie. Everyone was talking about Sarah and Michael and the Leroux novel, and I felt I was budding in on a fandom I didn't understand.

Mom, determined to find the version she remembered, got the Robert Englund movie at Blockbuster. I hated it, I couldn't even bring myself to watch it the whole way through. Maybe I'd appreciate it more if I'd read the Leroux first, but I didn't.

Online (At online-literature.com) I found a copy of Leroux's novel. I intended to stop by the library and check it out, I was just going to read a couple chapters to get an idea of it. I started reading it online one night, and I kept coming back to it, reading a few chapters every night until my bleary eyes forced me to go to bed, until I finished it, amazingly. I could understand more of the story now, and I did enjoy the Leroux story as well, though my heart always belongs to ALW's PotO and I think of them as two different stories.

Since then I've also seen the 1925 silent and read Forsyth's The Phantom of Manhattan (Which I had several issues with that I won't get into.)

Its amazing to think that was only at the start of this summer, PotO seems to be such a big part of my life now, I don't go a day without listening to a song or bringing up something related to it. I have not seen the stage show, but I hope to when it comes to Vegas next summer, I can only imagine how amazing it must be on stage.

And this is how Arqueete gained her new obsession smile

Oh, I was just saying last night how strange it is... I can remember now, thinking back, someone I knew from a roleplaying site at least a year ago, who was obsessed with Phantom, Michael Crawford as the Phantom particularly. I remember distinctly her saying Christine should've gone with the Phantom. I had no idea what any of this was about then, and now that I understand I have no idea how I might come in contact with her again or anything. Its a shame. Her, or her character perhaps, was named... Jamie, I think? She had pictures of herself with a wax Phantom, she was 21 at the time, dyed her hair blonde, the owner of the RPG was named Laska and I was going by the name Ezmerelda. How funny it would be if she were here or someone here knew her...

My dad won tickets to The Phantom of the Opera (on stage musical) and I loved it!
That's basically it....

A tough question had to be the music. Love the way it touches you emotionaly and then when I saw the play in Toronto I feel in love with the hole aspect I have read the adaption of the Phantom of the Opera and really enjoyed it seen many versions of the movie from the oringinal black and white silent movie to the recent one with Geral Butler! I even seen one that was like a horror movie of the version with the guy who played Freddie from nightmare on elm street. That was weird starts in New York present day then the girl named Christine gets knocked out and sent back to Paris and relives the Phantom terror and when she wakes up the phantom is still alive and in New York! totaly weird and scary! But no matter what I still love the Phantom and where everything comes to! Would make a pretty good horror movie if Hollywood is daring.

I love to read classic horror (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.), and The Phantom of the Opera is on that list. I loved the book, and when I heard about the movie, it was a must-see. Despite the differences, I love them both. I am not an obsessvie "Phan" like some, but I love it more than most others I know.

I know this sounds really weird, but it started off a long time ago before I'd even known what The Phantom of the Opera was even about. I only had the general concept "that tuxedo-clad guy covering his face and playing a pipe organ."

I had a dream that a guy in a tuxedo was trying to contact me and take me away and for some reason I called him The phantom of the opera- Guy despite me knowing nothing about it. It got me interested in what it was really about and what I was referencing, so I looked up the movies. I started with that strange 1998 horror version by Dario Argento. XDD