Sometimes a song just grabs you.
While putting together my Penn & Teller: Fool Us post, I couldn't help but notice how striking the background music was in the fourth clip. I eventually hunted it down and discovered it was the main theme song to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 remake of The Phantom of the Opera.
Since this is a musical, not a movie, there aren't any videos of the entire song being sung by the original performers, Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, but they gave a live performance at the 1988 Tony Awards that featured the last verse of the song, merging into the musical's second-most popular tune, 'Music of the Night'.
Since we here at Maggie's Farm aim to be the best darn-tootin' blog site around, offering the Maggie's Valued Readers™ (that would be you slobs) something that no other site in town has to offer, I've employed the wonders of digital magic to combine the sound track of the first part of the song from a YouTube clip with the clip from the Tonys.
Maestro, take it away.
That crowd certainly got its money's worth.
The lyrics to the theme song are
here. I have another clip below the fold.
First, a few tidbits from Wikipedia:
[Phantom] is the longest-running Broadway show by a wide margin (celebrating its 10,000th performance on Broadway on February 11, 2012), the second longest-running West End musical, and the third longest-running West End show overall.
With total worldwide box office receipts of over $5.1 billion, including a record-setting Broadway gross of $845 million, Phantom is the highest-grossing entertainment event of all time and the most financially successful theatrical show in history. It had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries by 2011, the most successful entertainment project in history.
I'd add that Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically tailored the music score for Sarah Brightman's voice. I well imagine that ultra-high note she hits at the end of the theme is precisely the extent of her usable range.
The show had its 25th anniversary a while back, part of which follows, wherein our lovely songbird sings with five former phantoms. (While Michael Crawford attended the gala, he didn't sing) In order of appearance, they're Colm Wilkinson, Anthony Warlow, Peter Jöback, John Owen Jones, with Ramin Karimloo in the mask.
I have been cursed throughout the years with perfect pitch. And, amazingly, the Yankees don't want me. I mean in the musical sense, of course. And, after a thorough, exhaustive 2-minute search through Wikipedia, it appears the precise nature of
Tracked: Jun 26, 09:07