Gerard may not have an amazing voice, but I really think he understood the assignment. The Phantom needed to be alluring, tragic, hurt, and dangerous. Even if his voice wasn't incredible, his acting as the Phantom is overwhelmingly human and well done.
That’s basically it in a nutshell. I know in i terview a Gerard Said he knew he was bad at singing in the film. But if I ever ran into him I would tell him his acting was 10/10. So he could feel better at that part of it because it’s true.
Agree!! 100% Gerard Butler I was perfect for that role… HE IS THE PHANTOM. Delicate and Dangerous. Absolutely perfect, no dubts. Maybe he is not great at singing, but in this case… Who cares! For me he is not that bad. My voice in comparison it’s terrible!! Ahahah
i cant be the only one who was in love with his voice in the movie. He has always been my favourite phantom and the way he sung had so many emotions in it. To me it was perfect
Me to!! I loved his performance and I thought he was perfect for the role and the richness to his voice added more depth to the character. I don’t know why everybody hates his voice.
I always loved the phantom's voice in this movie, I never realised it was unpopular. It is certainly not a trained opera voice but that made him sound different from all the opera singers and I loved this about his voice because he would never have been trained, he had spent almost his entire life alone. His voice was all about raw passion and emotion, just like the phantom himself. His genius for music came from his feelings and his heart, not necessarily from technical skill and I think that enhances the character if nothing else.
That's how I feel. I never liked the opera style of singing, so this movie was perfect for me who likes the raw untrained voice. I also like that he seems sure of himself until she removes his mask. That's when we see how broken he really is.
With his mask, Butler’s Phantom is the man he would be without his unfortunate deformity. He is confident, self-assured and in control of his environment. That is conveyed in his singing. Without the mask, he is broken as only a scarred and scared human can be. He is rendered silent. The way Butler looks at Emmy Rossum when she removes his mask in Past the Point of No Return sequence is heartbreaking.
Gerard is still my favorite Phantom. No he doesn't have the best singing voice, but that didn't bother me. Makes him more human to me. The same with LMM in Hamilton. Not the best vocalist, but his acting was everything for me. I love their singing voices.
I also love Lin in Hamilton, but I think the point is that Lin doesn‘t need to sound ˋbeautiful´ for his role, he doesn‘t need a big vibrato and it would less of a deal if he missed a note. Hamilton is a hip hop musical and moreover, Lin originated this role whereas POTO is classical, more operatic and has a long history of singers who developed a sound and style for the phantom. So in my opinion, it is incredibly important for the phantom to have a good singing voice and Gerard Butler was a poor casting choice. Besides, the phantom is supposed to be Christine‘s singing teacher and if he can‘t sing I don‘t think he‘d have much authority on that subject...
I heard wayyyyyy worst from professional singers. He sounded amazing, he did the most passionate version of this song I have ever heard. He doesn’t come on strong like many others, he kept it intimate, soft, and he was really adorable in that scene. He was super hot!! And I love this version of this song, and I’ve heard quite a few versions. He is the best phantom period.
@@fellinuxvi3541 I thought his singing was perfectly fine. I don't see why his singing technique was "so bad" I'm just NOT hearing the "horrendous flaws" people keep insisting are there. I'm not tone deaf either, I was classically trained in music from the age of six and I can sing. The only flaws I hear in his voice are a lack of refinement and a lack of vocal strength. Most people who have not trained their voices will experience this. No one is born a "great singer," you have to train your voice for years to get the vocal quality you hear from singers on stage. There's a really fascinating video on youtube that I would recommend titled: Incredible Singing Transformation Video on Adam Mishan's channel. it's pretty astonishing how well people can train their voice from absolutely nothing. I don't think Gerard Butler was nearly as bad as this kid originally was, but even that kid can go on to be at a professional level. I thought he did a great job with what he brought to the table and I think he has a good instrument in there that has yet to be utilized.
@@felixthecat2786 I struggle to see why a "lack of refinement" and "lack of vocal strength" aren't huge flaws for a character who's meant to sound like an angel, those seem like the two things the phantom should have. I understand that untrained voices are like this, but again, compare him to Ramin Karimloo, fan favorite phantom who was almost completely self-taught, he sang much better despite not being classically trained. And also, doesn't this prove that he was miscast? Like, I understand untrained voices sound like this, but then, why cast him? This is hardly a good defense of the guy, he was clearly just not fit for the role. I just don't see anything he's done that any Broadway actor hasn't done better before, so I can't really claim I value anything he brings to the table.
@@valerielester7210 Completely agree. That heart wrenching appeal is why I love the movie. The stage version left me cold and I usually prefer Broadway productions to the movie version.
💯 agree! Also, if you hear him sing this out of the studio, it sounds pretty identical even on the notes they say are heavily edited. I personally love his darker rougher sound. And the guy used as an example of how he sings “sharpens”, I personally cannot stand on this song.
@@tomsautocadstudio6446 omg poor Pierce Brosnon. Why do they keep casting him in musicals 😅 Agent: "Hey Pierce we have another musical for ya." Pierce: "Really? Did they not see Mama Mia?"
Hey Marc, I don't know if anyone has already commented this, but that 'creepy clone' is accually Emmy Rossum standing very still. She did a great job, because it looks like a mannequin.
Gerard Butler is my favorite Phantom ever. I love that he seemed so genuine. I love his voice. I have seen the stage play numerous times with different actors. The only other actor that came close was Davis Gaines. It’s not always about the voice. Gerard has the look, the voice and his acting. Makes me love him.
Agreed! I Love Gerry’s pure raw emotional performance throughout! His style is unique and beautifully masculine in his own way. ✨🎭✨ Ben Lewis would be a second for me, with maybe Brad Little added as well. 💕
He didn’t have any experience of playing the Phantom though (I think he was playing Raoul at that point), it would have been great if they’d cast John Owen Jones or someone similar 💕
Lmao why is everyone now saying they’re realizing how imperfect he sang after watching this video. Listen people, if you liked how Gerard sang before, it shouldn’t change just because someone points voice technicality all of a sudden. If y’all thought he sang well then he sang well, period. Can’t believe this guy is saying he is cringing of the way Gerard sang even so far far to say his voice was a “train wreck” like lmao you made it sound like he was singing like he’s tone deaf when in reality he sounds better than 99% of the people in the world. I really hate these people that critique the smallest things, so small that people who never saw this video would even think he sang really well. All these “technicalities” on why it wasn’t good is BS, wether something is good or bad is subjective, tbh I think Gerard sang it better than most “musically trained” singer’s I’ve listened to that sang the same song. If you thought Gerard’s voice is cringe, what’s more cringe really is how you probably can’t enjoy any song because you find all these microscopic technical wrong notes in them lmao. People, just listen to songs and be your own judge, you don’t have to be musically trained to know wether something sounds good or not
dude how can you got offended by a personal opinion, but at the same time encourage other peoples to have personal opinions. That is just plain paranoid.
There are 2 kinds of singing - technically perfect and emotionally touching. You can be both - then you're the best. But if I had to choose only one, I'll go with emotional. Gerard Butler was emotional touching not technically good. Take it for what it is - an emotional performance not a technically "perfect" one.
You can't enjoy any song? If you like Gerard Butler in this role, you're entitled to that, but he's certainly the most overrated phantom out there. It is entirely possible to enjoy songs while listening to these criticisms because most real singers don't make them. I'm not saying it's Gerard's fault, but he doesn't set the bar very high. It's not like if you can't enjoy him you can't enjoy anything, maybe you just have different taste in music. This man's job is to understand how singing correctly is done, it is not cringe at all that he applies what he knows to a *professional* musical, it's the least you can expect. I think it's more cringe to get this defensive over a mediocre rendition of the musical when you can just enjoy it in private. No one's saying you can't.
He’s made valid points on Gerard and also he’s a theatre coach so obviously he’s going to critique the smallest detail and also in my opinion I agree with what he said about Gerard
And me singing as well I get soo many critics with my singing as every musician in every part of the music industry it’s the only way a musician can learn is taking in constructive criticism and learning from it to help them improve along with practice. Like if Gerard saw this he’d probably say ok this is what he said about me I’m going to take this in and try improve on this so if he goes to do that role again weather it be on broadway west end anywhere in the world he’s made improvements on Those critics. And also as I said before he’s a musical theatre coach obviously he’s going to critique the smallest detail of the song or the acting in that number
I don't care what you say, I loved his version of this even if it wasn't typical for classical musical theater. Everything you said made sense to me, but I can't help myself. I don't care lol I love him 💖
I actually just recently watched this movie becuase I started to listen to Phantom of the Opera again. And I thought he was awesome as the Phantom. I never knew some people didn't like the film because of his singing voice. I thought his singing was great. And you have to give him credit, he knew he couldn't sing that well but he still decided to work hard for this role. I actually watched an interview he did for this movie and he said he went to singing lessions so he can do the notes that were hard to do and see if he is capable to sing. So for a person that said he has never sang before and never had lessions until he got the part, I have to give him credit. And you also have to realize that Andrew Loyd Webber helped with casting and he chose Gerard. He didn't care if he can sing or not because he knew he would be wonderful in this role.
They should have dubbed it with any stage Phantom and the entire thing would have been incredible. I came across this video because there was one video where someone dubbed Michael Crawford over Gerard’s Point of No Return performance. It. Was. Incredible. All of the rough aggressiveness that Gerard is got contrasted by Crawford’s soft, haunting voice, and it was the perfect summary of what Phantom is and should be.
I agree with 99.9% of what you said, because it was Joel Schumacher who chose Gerard for the role, and Andrew had the condition set that the performers had to be able to sing. As an added note: The only person that they dubbed the singing for was Minnie Driver. She admitted that she 'was' able to sing well, but her voice wasn't suited for opera singing; so they had to bring in just one opera singer for her character.
I love him in this role, this was the first version of Phantom of the Opera I ever saw and just love it. His imperfect voice just makes it better for me personally.
I agree. I loved the movie. I’ve seen the theatrical version 25+ times and seen some real stinkers. Brad Little, Rick Hilsback. Yes Gerardo not perfect at times you can hear his Scottish brogue come through. My fav song is Past the point of no return and the very last song breaks my heart every time. So I loved it sue me.
But his imperfect voice doesn’t work for the character. The one beautiful thing about the phantom is his voice. The phantom lures Christine in with this voice. His voice f*cking sucks and definitely isn’t entrancing.
Just watched it for the first time. I will say, as someone who knows little to nothing about singing, it was passable for someone with no previous singing experience, but what really sold him as the phantom was his voice as a whole, which can transfer between soothing and intimidating at the drop of a hat, and of course his confidence in the role.
I know that his singing was not perfect, but I can't stand the original singing from the musical only because I have heard this version earlier! 😂 God, I love it SO MUCH, I even listened this version the hundreds of times. Sorry not sorry, this is the perfect Phantom's singing to me. Absolutely love it
How imperfect singing endears me more to his humanity (despite how skewed it is). It makes the phantom seem more realistic, not like how Hollywood tries to produce perfection but loses the plot quickly.
I’m sorry. But I will not get the 19 minutes of my time back. I watch this version of Phantom of the Opera because G.B is in it. He did an amazing job. His voice is unique, genuine & I guess imperfect but that’s what makes it. Perfect!! I love it G.B.
I'm slightly confused as to how you don't know about the Phantom's Christine mannequin, in which Christine faints after seeing... Have you ever seen the show live? They omitted that part in the 25th-anniversary version. So if that's the only version you know, I can see why you're confused. Having seen Phantom 5 times in London I can tell you that the fainting at the sight of the mannequin scene is in the original stage version. it's not done quite as well in the movie though.
Agreed - it's creepy and shock/scares Christine to faint in the original production (wasn't aware they changed it more recently), while the movie timing of this didn't hit for some reason... maybe they needed a wider shot w/ both the mannequin and Christine in the same frame to see the cause/effect.
This comment is old I know, but there was absolutely no way they were singing like. Emmy Rossum barely looks like she's singing in this because she was lipsyncing.
❤The 'Imperfection' of Gerards singing makes The Phantom more vulnerable & 'perfect' best Phantom ever...Gerards real soul comes through ,which touches so many ..& it still does for me ....❤❤🥹I most love the ' Point of no Return' scene...unforgetable still eternal ...impression😊😅❤
I did see an interview that Gerard did about the role. When he was approached for the role, he went to the academy of music in London and saw a singing teacher. He asked the teacher if he was capable of doing the role as he had huge doubts about it, and the teacher said yes, but you’ll need to put in the work. And the point you made about diction, as a Scottish woman, Scottish people we are notorious about not ending our words properly. I can only speak for myself, but I try very hard with my pronunciation when I’m singing.
Oh man I was OBSESSED with this movie when I was in high school. It was my first experience with Phantom and I had no idea at the time that it wasn’t very good lol. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! That being said - and maybe it’s just nostalgia - I still like The Point of No Return from this movie. His singing isn’t perfect but I like how they don’t put the stupid blanket on his head lol. Definitely ramps up the tension. I’d love to see you do a video about Emmy!
I still love it and I've seen other productions. Gerard had a rock voice and I liked that it wasn't the typical smooth voice you're used to hearing. He sounds rough and dangerous like the character.
I am sorry, but this is the first time that I can not agree with the verdict. Yes, Gerard is not a Broadway voice, not to be compared with professional singers of this field. But what he lacks in training, he makes up for in passion. I don't like the originals, but in this film I was won over by the music to the story. And Gerard Butler had a very decisive part in it. I love the film, the soundtrack, the powerful images and passionate actors. And Gerard shows the brokenness of this character like I've never seen. In his voice, his facial expressions, his gestures, all the facets of this interpretation of the story come out beautifully.
And regardless of the amount of technical assistance he was given in this song he still manages to convey the seduction that is supposed to be here more than most “technically” correct Phantoms I’ve seen.
I've probably wached this movie at least half a dozen times, purely because of how good Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson are in it. They've also both performed their songs live on stage over the years amd have done an admirable job.
@@simosa5842 MCCTheatre has a recent video of him performing Christine’s parts from “Think of me”. He’s very good: th-cam.com/video/SxxnEh45WYY/w-d-xo.html
The issue with the casting of Butler is less his singing and more the fact that they didn't adapt anything to suit his voice better. Especially as a film, they could have changed up the arrangement slightly to be more atmospheric and understated and allowed for more acting. Then again when you're pre-recording your singing you don't really have much room. At least with an animated film you can see what you're voicing to a lot of the time.
Change the Phantom of the Opera music to suit Butler? C’mon. How about cast one of DOZENS of better people instead? Hollywood already killed the Evita music when Madonna played Eva Peron (lowering it a TON). Madonna > Gerard Butler
They should have just cast somebody else -- no hate towards Butler, I think he's great in other movies -- but he was so painfully miscast here and there was no real reason to keep him in the role. But along with all the other strange decisions made with this film I don't think there was much of a chance of that changing
After watching Russell Crowe in Les Mis, I actually don't mind Gerards singing here. Russell ruined the movie for me! Gerard I can listen to, no problem.
I have to admit I quite like PONR in the movie 🙈 (except the ridiculous visuals) Although they definitely should’ve casted a Phantom & Christine with more training
Did you know that if Hugh Jackman wasn’t busy with the movie X-Men, he would have gotten the role of Phantom for the movie? Also, if Anne Hathaway wasn’t busy with The Princess Diaries she would have gotten the role of Christine for the movie. Just imagine them as those two characters. Just imagine. To me, that would have made the movie more enjoyable.
The funny thing is Hugh got the role of Gaston for the stage show in Melbourne and he had never sung before. So I suppose you don't know what you will get until they have had some lessons as he is now an amazing singer.
@@naly202 Anne acted her way through her songs although I have to say slightly overacted. Hugh compared to Russel was outstanding. Samantha barks, Aaron tveit, Colm Wilkinson obviously did great. Sacha baron Cohen and Helena Bonham carter were great. Eddie redmayne did a really good job I thought as well
It's worth noting that in the original literature, the Phantom was entirely self-taught and, while he certainly had the technical knowledge to teach Christine, he likely wouldn't have had the same level of skill and polish in his own voice, which makes Gerard's performance perfect in it's imperfection.
@SleeveHeart yeah and? Have you heard the Disturbed cover of Sound of Silence? An unpolished voice can do amazing things. And biblically accurate angels are Eldritch horrors beyond human comprehension. I still don't see it as much of a stretch.
@@LyricCicadaThe contrast is his voice to his appearance. In the book he has an angelic, heavenly voice, he is the angel of music, and then his appearance is described as a living corpse, with no nose and a death's head. The language used specifically lends itself to him having a generally polished voice. Christine, graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, would probably not believe he was The Angel of Music otherwise.
Given that they dubbed all of Minne Driver's singing for the movie, even though she's known to be quite accomplished, you'd think they could have done that for Butler.
That drives me crazy! Why not dub if your already dubbing one with a broadway singer!! No need to change the score like they did for Emmy and they're lipsyncing anyway??
Gerard Butler did alright for someone who has never sung before. I mean, before this movie he had NEVER sung. Ever. He is one of my favorite Phantoms, though. He really is. I’m sorry for saying it but he is. Also, please react to songs from Love Never Dies. Songs like Till I Hear You Sing, Beneath a Moonless Sky, Once Upon Another Time, The Beauty Underneath, Devil Take the Hindmost, Love Never Dies, and Ah Christine.
@@susanachristine5101 ok. He’s not at the top of my list, though. In fact he is close to the bottom. I’m more into stage Phantoms like Peter Joback, Hugh Panaro, Ramin Karimloo, John Owen Jones, Michael Crawford, Colm Wilkinson, Mathias Edenborn, Tomas Ambt Kofod, Dmitry Ermak, Saulo Vasconcelos, Atilla Csengeri, etc…
Valid points, however this particular video you're reacting to has the entire song pitched up a notch from the original to avoid copyright. So that's going to make it sound even worse than it is.
Not only is the pitch and volume off, the melody is completely off. All three of these factors are why I'm not giving more deference to Marc's opinion.
It ... it's finally happened! You've dipped your toes into MY area of expertise: wordsmithing! The original lyric is "In this darkness which you know you cannot fight." But that is grammatically incorrect! Use of "which" here (nonrestrictive clause) needs to be preceded by a comma ... so it ought to be, "In this darkness, which you know you cannot fight." But a comma would then require a pause, a beat in the middle of the lyric. Instead, the grammatically correct way to say the line is to replace "which" for "that," which does not require a comma beforehand.
I loved this! I’ve seen the live theater version and idk I loved Gerard’s rough and softer signing voice. Not sure why, but his performance was just great to me.
Ok but I like how he doesn’t pronounce the vowels and how husky and hurt his voice sounds sounds more realistic instead of over done or too theater like
The “clone” was a mannequin for the wedding dress he wanted her to wear. But the mannequin that he “made” just never looked right so they had Emmy paled down in makeup and pose as the mannequin
Butler is my favourite interpretation of the Phantom, mostly because he’s not overly operatic and polished. It’s almost like he’s been hiding in walls and cisterns his entire life. Same with Christine in the movie, actually. She has that clear, natural ring to her voice (which is ironic, as it’s probably digitally enhanced to the moon and back), reminds me of Sissel. Brightman I struggle to separate from the diva, whose voice is supposed to be exaggerated in her opera-ness.
This would not be so bad if somebody had worked with him to help fix some of his vowel shapes! Much of the song he does a semi-competent imitation of a trained singer, and then every so often something will come out sounding like a Brooklyn accent. It totally breaks any illusion that this might have given of being good.
I saw phantom of the opera the film and chose this song to be tattooed onto my body when I turned 18 because to me this performance is the most raw and amazing! This version hit me more than the one I saw live on Broadway and that’s saying something! The emotion is so raw and real! To me this imperfection is perfect and that’s what I love about it
Well here's something to consider. The 2004 movie I think was the more realistic version of the story with the characters. Erik has been living under the opera house for years and years and he probably only got to observe the other opera singers, he had no teacher. I think Andrew casted someone with a raw untamed voice to be Phantom because thats realistic given Erik's backstory and how he grew up. I know a lot of people prefer the musical version because it's with trained singers, but heres the thing... the musical has trained singers because its a live show and they need to be experienced and perfect. Thats just what I think. (OH and also in an interview Gerry said he was in a rock band lmaoooooo)
In the behind the scenes, they talked about his the original idea for the phantom had to have some roughness to him. So before they cast Michael Crawford, they had someone else who was in a rock band, I think. Gerard had that roughness even in his voice. But I kinda agree that his Music of the Night needed more work.
Does the disconnect between him not being able to sing and Christine Thinking he's the Angel of Music and him teaching her not bother you? Genuinely, like I'm not being like snarky. The movie was entirely unenjoyable for me, partly because I'm taken out of it by the singing. I don't find it feels realistic, I find the story stops making sense if at the very least Phantom, Christine a Carlotta can't sing. It's also important to note that the original novel has him singing beautifully to contrast his appearence. He's entirely self taught throughout his early travels before landing in the Opera House but has a generally hypnotic and polished voice that convinces Christine, a trained operatic singer, he is an angel of music. He is a music genius in the book amount other things. Edit also really quick: He was in a casual rock bad in college for law and admits he was fully untrained before the movie. Of the main three, Patrick Wilson is the only one with true checkable training before the movie. Also Joel Schumacher picked him it seems, as he liked his preformance in Dracula 2000. I'm uncertain how much imput Andrew Lloyd Webber really had.
Omg .. I'm listening to you at work and all I hear is the crotch between candles comment, made me go back to see what the heck was happening LOL. I had NEVER noticed that before
"It's, you know, the girl you've kidnapped, taken to your layer, and force her now to listen to you sing. that's...your typical first date". You need to reassess your dating activities, bro. You may have listened to too much Phantom
Grew up with this version, so in spite of myself I still maintain a certain nostalgic affection for his performance here. One thing I do appreciate is that his is one of the few performances where I feel like the Phantom is relishing the song itself. You can hear Butler smiling in his voice from time to time, and it gives it a warmth that I really do enjoy. Examples being 6:22 and 14:13.
On your note about “helping him through the full thing” as someone who has a lot of experience with using pitch correction on less than amazing singers, I can hear pitch correction throughout most of the song. I love his rendition of the character but I can’t imagine what it would sound like without any of that. I’m not sure the tech was good enough at the time to fully make him sound perfect, but we’ve also seen what that can turn into with some A list actors in Hollywood today. (Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast.) I think your dubbing idea would be nice.
Oh man. That's a tough one to decide between. I feel like Crowe's performance was, at least, well acted. Butler's whole performance is just so lackluster.
I think he is a good singer. He's not a professional opera singer so it makes sense that he isn't perfect but he is an incredible actor and his stunning performance mixed with his good singing is in my opinion the best Phantom there ever was. He brought this special something to the role.
I also love Gerard's phantom. By far my favorite. Yes his singing is a a bit rough. 😂 It sounds really fragile because he has poor control but I actually like the shakiness because it makes the phantom seem vulnerable.
Marc, I think the heat has taken your mind to some strange places m’friend… But I’m completely here for it because hearing you compare this “mellow first date song” that the Phantom really has to nail bc he doesn’t have Christian Grey’s rope & whips to fall back on DEFINITELY made my day. Stay cool 🙂
If they wanted Gerard so much for the part they could've just dubbed somebody else over him like they did with Carlotta. I think Minnie Driver is absolutely iconic in the acting part and she doesn't sing a single note 😂
@@simosa5842 She did! She can actually sing beautifully. It's a shame that Carlottas part requires some actual opera singing for which she was not trained. It's funny that this melody was supposed to be in the movie and sung by Gerard 🤦♂️😅
While I agree that I've heard better singers and that some notes are clearly edited, I personally think Gerard Butler did a great job singing for being an amateur singer. Because tha is what he is. He is an actor, not a singer, so you should give him credit for giving singing a shot and doing a decent job in my opinion. Once again, it isn't great, but I've heard worse people trying to sing this song. Also, I don't see the problem with a couple word lyric changes. I hear them all the time in covers and different versions of songs. Now, maybe I'm biased because this was the first version of Phantom I've seen and it is still near and dear to my heart even if I have seen the Broadway and it is great. I just think these versions are great in there own unique ways. On a side note, I can see and understand what you are saying in this reaction video, I just don't fully agree with it on this one. But I still love your reactions! Also, I would love to see you react to Gerard Butler singing the cut-out song "No One Would Listen" from the Phantom of the Opera movie.
He does alright. Sometimes. I think that's the most disturbing part of his performance, that there's parts where it's quite good and you start to get into it... And then he does something horrible which sucks you out if it. And this happens multiple times during the song so I'm left feeling confused. I'm not blaming Gerard for this, and it's been years since I saw the movie, but I never know what I'm supposed to be feeling during this scene. Allure? Fear? Comfort? Cinematography is quite bad.
@@atinity6749 Yeah, he wasn't that bad at the beginning in The Mirror and the title song, but then it was Music of the Night's turn. I judge the Phantoms by that song and Gerard destroyed it imo.
I'm not the biggest fan of Gerald's singing but he's really good for getting lessons for a MONTH and I repeat A MONTH!!! It's really impressive. Sure it's not as good as Ramin Karimloo or Ben Lewis but it's very impressive for how long he has had voice lessons for!
When it comes to casting leads for movie musicals, I really think the singing becomes way more important when a character is known for their voice. For example, I thought Emma Watson was a great actress for Belle but the singing was just kind of okay. However, since the character is never said to be an incredible singer, I'm okay that she doesn't sound like a trained vocalist. With the Phantom, he is said to be musical genius so you expect the actor to also sound like one. Gerald Butler sounds like he's struggling on every song and the high notes are just him shouting. Thus, they should have realized they either cast someone else who can sing, or have his vocals dubbed.
Your analysis of Gerard Butler’s Phantom is so spot on, it’s almost as if no one really told Butler to dive deeper into his acting chops (the man is a phenomenal actor). Without the computer enhancements, I fear that this performance would sound like a weak HS production. With this in mind - NEXT VID: Please do Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd - It is so hotly contested among Sondheim fans, Tim Burton did a better job at directing Depp in this role than this director in Phantom, but there are many people that cannot get passed Depp’s portrayal as it’s not George Hearn for example.
I honestly thought that the audio glitch at 6:30 was just on my copy of the DVD. But it's actually in the film, lol??? How the frick did that get past all the editing a film like this goes through?
Tbh what bothers me the most in Phantom of the Opera is how the musical strips away all of Christine's personality to make the Phantom look better. In the book, she doesn't gently follow the Phantom down to his lair, he carries her off while she's kicking and screaming, and later on she gives his en epic smackdown, telling him to take off his mask and calling him a coward. And, for real, I would love to hear a song of just Christine roasting the Phantom. Come on, it would be great.
@@simosa5842 But the musical still sanitized the hell out of him. He's not half as violent as he's supposed to be, and they even cut out the torture room
I think Gerard Butlers voice is perfect personally. Loved everything he sang in this movie, and I thought it was better than any version I have heard so far. To each his own I suppose.
After we had just left the movie, when me and my family saw it at the cinemas, my father and sister IMMEDIATELY started bitching about how awful they thought much of the singing was. I was still riding on the high of FINALLY seeing the musical and having all these songs put into context for me, not to mention all the awesome cinematic moments like the falling chandelier. So I snapped at them that we had literally just left, and that I'd enjoyed it, so could they give it a rest for, like, an hour? My father had a horrible temper, so he was in one of his bad moods for the rest of the day, since I dared to speak out against his behaviour. Which meant that the rest of us were treading on eggshells until bedtime. So I have some negative memories attached with seeing the movie for the first time.
Okay, I usually just watch your reactions to hear your thoughts but I'm gonna say something here this time. I've been an opera fan these past 25+ years. I've devoured books on vocal technique and analyze recordings dating as far back as the few recordings Adelina Patti recorded past her prime and your criticisms in this case strike me as overly snide, almost vindictive. Yes, they fixed some of his singing in post but guess what? Even stars like Domingo and Pavarotti have their voices "souped up" and high notes "fixed", especially if their performances end up on DVD. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf actually sang high notes for the divine Kirsten Flagstad in the studio. So you can play this game both ways. And to do so in Phantom where Christine's vocalise is bloody PRE-RECORDED (And even then most just scream everything above the passagio) is bloody rich. That being said, for someone who just had a year's worth of training, Gerard Butler actually does rather well, occasionally he sings better than Rossum even. He has an innate musicality, a way to sculpt a phrase that cannot be learned, you either have it or you don't. He very CLEARLY gave it all he had and went through a barrage of unwarranted abuse by stage show fans who were mostly angry that their fave wasn't cast. I'm not saying that Gerard Butler is up there with Peter Karrie, Ian Jon Bourg or John Owen Jones. (I personally find Crawford unbearably nasal) But his acting ELEVATES his performance, he REALLY captures what they wanted Erik to be like in this film. You don't like it? Fine. But I find this "reaction" just a tad too smug and tbh....not even musically sound overall. Want to impress me? React to actual opera that isn't Pavarotti crooning "Nessun Dorma". (I love the man but by 1994 he was...far from his best) Maybe then I'll not be doubting the sincerity of this particular reaction. I usually enjoy your stuff, I'm subbed after all. But I couldn't let this go unchallenged, I'm sorry.
Great critique, thank you for the video. I can get past the singing but I agree that there were some directional opportunites missed where they could have done much better to get the audience on board.
Anthony Warlow, who performed the Phantom in Australia, actually does some of these lines spoken like in your friend’s example. Of course, like your friend, Warlow can actually sing (he was one of the four Phantoms they brought in at the end of the 25th anniversary concert, if you’ve seen that).
Ok this is my take on this subject. I'll be 68 in September & I've been involved in personal singing, choirs, band, a Capella since I first heard music & started to talk & sing lol & after kindergarten on. I'm also a movie & TV Series buff. Sometimes you choose an actors qualities to fit the specifics of the role they're playing. The Phantom is a perfect example of that. The Phantom is a genius in all the arts of opera theatre, right? That doesn't mean he has a perfect singing voice. He's been locked away in those caverns since he was a kid, surrounded by & self taught by what was happening in the theater. So would you as a director/producer want your leading man & who is the subject of the movie, to be a perfect baritone? Hell no & that's why they chose Gerard Butler. Butler had music experience, he had his own rock band, he writes his own music still to this day. That's one of the reasons why they chose him to be The Phantom because they wanted an edgy rock vibe to their music for the film. I've seen every 'The Phantom Of The Opera' film ever made & this one will go down in history as the #1. I just found this 'The Phantom Of The Opera' last week & I watched it going in blind. I didn't Google it to see who the actors were or any other info on it because I already knew the basic Phantom story & I didn't want to prejudice my opinion prior to watching it & I'm so glad I did it that way because preconceived views regarding actors & actresses can prejudice opinions about a film. I challenge you, to set your music expertise & preconceived ideas aside for a few hours & watch The Phantom again remembering who he was, what life made him & everything that made him that way. Then listen to the soundtracks of just the songs between The Phantom, Christine & Roul, or just watch those sections without the add story filler about the opera bs. Then tell me what you think about the movie.
I think he sounds great. I majored in Music with concentration in Vocal Performance in College and i personally think you were wayyy to hard on Gerard for his voice. If you think this sounds bad, i would hate to know what you think actually sounds good for real. I thought he had a nice full voice that conveyed emotions well and that he did great especially for someone who doesn't have much musical background. Personally one of my favorite versions of the Phantom of the Opera to watch cause i feel like he doesn't do too much just right to the point and very good overall. A lot of people i know also really like his voice so not sure what you are talking about as he sounds great and did a great job not sure how you can say it sounds bad unless you truly didn't engage deeply in this song and already had preconceived notions of what you thought it would sound like or comparing it to musical theatre performances from people who have more experience, but its your opinion, i guess.
I watched this musical movie so many times that my dreams were singing. I loved Gerald voice it was soothing and it actually made the sweetest pillow talk, love to the music. Luke voice was creepy to me even though you stated it was crisp it sounded rather angry to me. The casting crew wanted heart strings to be pulled for the Phantom and Raoul. Why else give Gerald #the CAPE!
It's not 75% a computer, it's actually him singing. He does sing the high note in "where you long to be." I was surprised at how good of a job he did with this note when I listened to it. If you isolate the audio you can hear exactly where they digitally alter his voice and it's not where you think it is. It's actually when he sings "let your spirit start to soar," the "soar" is digitally altered. I'm guessing they did it to add a cavernous effect? But who can say why. Sound producers have their reasons for doing this. Then of course the final note is looped and is also digitally enhanced. They only digitally enhance two words in this entire piece. You can also hear it in Il Muto when he says "did I not instruct that box 5 be kept empty." Auto tune wasn't really widely used back then. It's so common now that we just assume everyone does it all the time, but I can hear exactly where his voice has been digitally altered. I can always hear a "fake voice" v a genuine voice because I grew up before auto tune was a thing. I'm really curious as to why you think he didn't sing the high note in "let your spirit start to soar." What software are you using to isolate and analyze the audio?
Hi Marc! The most common interpretation of the Christine mannequin it is that the Phantom 's proposal by using the mannequin that looks like her dressed in a wedding gown. The wedding gown is meant for her to wear at their wedding
Emmy Rossum was so damn beautiful in this movie. Sierra Boggess was asked to audition for this role but couldn’t do it do to a prior commitment as was Anne Hathaway, and ironically Katie Holmes who is a trained soprano also.
I love Gerard Butler, but he is absolutely the reason I can't stand this movie. Not only his singing, but his delivery (in the entire movie, but in this song especially) is just off for me.
I feel so bad for him since you can tell he's trying so hard, but his voice doesn't fit the music and he doesn't have enough training to help him better navigate the song
I was introduced to the Phantom of the opera first by film in 7 grade. My teacher was a DJ outside of school and a music nerd lol. When he show us this movie I fell in love with it. Even if Gérard Butler was not a great singer I still love the song and yes I do agree I wish he did more in the silence of the night scene as the Broadway theaters does instead of walking through candles. I say at least it was a beautiful Ground layer.
6:45 I honestly don't know where he's getting the idea that this note was heavily processed. Coming from both a singing and audio editing perspective, it sounds like the only thing on there is reverb and some compression (which is on every singer on every track in this production). He's singing in falsetto which, even for a baritone, makes it much easier to hit high notes, at the cost of a more "airy" sound. There's no reason to believe he couldn't hold a single airy note on pitch like that. Especially when he hits the same note using his chest voice shortly after.
I mean they could have dubbed him, they already did that with Carlotta in this film so they were generally open to that. Also they had Ramin Karimloo right there in a silent role 😅 (Its kind of that feeling if the Les Mis movie whenever Hadley Fraser's part comes up and you just sigh wistfully and wish he was Javert 😂)
Alright I get it he didn't do it in the typical singing style but that's what makes it good in my opinion he sang it in his own unique way and it sounds good
The one that really bothers me is Emma Watson as Belle. Yes, she looks exactly the part of Belle, but you can hear the auto tune. I can’t hear it so much in this, but I’m not an expert.
Can Gerard Butler sing? A bit, but can he act? Definitely! I loved this movie until I saw the 25th anniversary. Then I realized, a strong phantom MAKES the play. I've now watched it live and yes, the Phantom was the strongest singer in that cast. It was amazing!
Gerard may not have an amazing voice, but I really think he understood the assignment. The Phantom needed to be alluring, tragic, hurt, and dangerous. Even if his voice wasn't incredible, his acting as the Phantom is overwhelmingly human and well done.
That’s basically it in a nutshell. I know in i terview a Gerard Said he knew he was bad at singing in the film. But if I ever ran into him I would tell him his acting was 10/10. So he could feel better at that part of it because it’s true.
That’s precisely why he’s my favorite Phantom. His portrayal of the character is so perfect to me.
Agree!!
100%
Gerard Butler I was perfect for that role… HE IS THE PHANTOM. Delicate and Dangerous. Absolutely perfect, no dubts. Maybe he is not great at singing, but in this case… Who cares! For me he is not that bad. My voice in comparison it’s terrible!! Ahahah
Look at Ramin karimloos performance and then talk to me
@@winterwithawhyknudsen5166 I love Ramin's portrayal of the Phantom.
i cant be the only one who was in love with his voice in the movie. He has always been my favourite phantom and the way he sung had so many emotions in it. To me it was perfect
Fully agree
Me to!! I loved his performance and I thought he was perfect for the role and the richness to his voice added more depth to the character. I don’t know why everybody hates his voice.
I agree, not my favourite phantom, but his best song was definitely point of no return.
Gerard Butler is my favorite Phantom. His singing touched my heart. I thought his performance was excellent.
Yes
I always loved the phantom's voice in this movie, I never realised it was unpopular. It is certainly not a trained opera voice but that made him sound different from all the opera singers and I loved this about his voice because he would never have been trained, he had spent almost his entire life alone. His voice was all about raw passion and emotion, just like the phantom himself. His genius for music came from his feelings and his heart, not necessarily from technical skill and I think that enhances the character if nothing else.
That's how I feel. I never liked the opera style of singing, so this movie was perfect for me who likes the raw untrained voice. I also like that he seems sure of himself until she removes his mask. That's when we see how broken he really is.
With his mask, Butler’s Phantom is the man he would be without his unfortunate deformity. He is confident, self-assured and in control of his environment. That is conveyed in his singing. Without the mask, he is broken as only a scarred and scared human can be. He is rendered silent. The way Butler looks at Emmy Rossum when she removes his mask in Past the Point of No Return sequence is heartbreaking.
Gerard is still my favorite Phantom. No he doesn't have the best singing voice, but that didn't bother me. Makes him more human to me. The same with LMM in Hamilton. Not the best vocalist, but his acting was everything for me. I love their singing voices.
I thought he was PERFECT
And I like the slower pace of this release. In other versions of the Phantom, it sounds like they're chasing him. He is running instead of seducing.
I also love Lin in Hamilton, but I think the point is that Lin doesn‘t need to sound ˋbeautiful´ for his role, he doesn‘t need a big vibrato and it would less of a deal if he missed a note. Hamilton is a hip hop musical and moreover, Lin originated this role whereas POTO is classical, more operatic and has a long history of singers who developed a sound and style for the phantom. So in my opinion, it is incredibly important for the phantom to have a good singing voice and Gerard Butler was a poor casting choice. Besides, the phantom is supposed to be Christine‘s singing teacher and if he can‘t sing I don‘t think he‘d have much authority on that subject...
Ramin Karimloo entered the chat
I heard wayyyyyy worst from professional singers. He sounded amazing, he did the most passionate version of this song I have ever heard. He doesn’t come on strong like many others, he kept it intimate, soft, and he was really adorable in that scene. He was super hot!! And I love this version of this song, and I’ve heard quite a few versions. He is the best phantom period.
It's fine if you think he's hot, it's totally subjective, but singing skills are not, and he is nowhere near the best.
@@fellinuxvi3541 I thought his singing was perfectly fine. I don't see why his singing technique was "so bad" I'm just NOT hearing the "horrendous flaws" people keep insisting are there. I'm not tone deaf either, I was classically trained in music from the age of six and I can sing. The only flaws I hear in his voice are a lack of refinement and a lack of vocal strength. Most people who have not trained their voices will experience this. No one is born a "great singer," you have to train your voice for years to get the vocal quality you hear from singers on stage. There's a really fascinating video on youtube that I would recommend titled: Incredible Singing Transformation Video on Adam Mishan's channel. it's pretty astonishing how well people can train their voice from absolutely nothing. I don't think Gerard Butler was nearly as bad as this kid originally was, but even that kid can go on to be at a professional level.
I thought he did a great job with what he brought to the table and I think he has a good instrument in there that has yet to be utilized.
@@felixthecat2786 I struggle to see why a "lack of refinement" and "lack of vocal strength" aren't huge flaws for a character who's meant to sound like an angel, those seem like the two things the phantom should have.
I understand that untrained voices are like this, but again, compare him to Ramin Karimloo, fan favorite phantom who was almost completely self-taught, he sang much better despite not being classically trained.
And also, doesn't this prove that he was miscast? Like, I understand untrained voices sound like this, but then, why cast him? This is hardly a good defense of the guy, he was clearly just not fit for the role.
I just don't see anything he's done that any Broadway actor hasn't done better before, so I can't really claim I value anything he brings to the table.
@@felixthecat2786 True, Gerard may not have operatic training, but he still did a wonderful job. He trained for months and it definitely paid off.
No lmao he sounds like he's choking on himself
The man delivered, brought an aura, and heart wrenching appeal to the part no one ever has!
@@valerielester7210 Completely agree. That heart wrenching appeal is why I love the movie. The stage version left me cold and I usually prefer Broadway productions to the movie version.
I love this movie and music of the night was my favourite. I don't care that everyone drags his singing I liked it.
Me, too, Victoria!
Me too i agree
💯 agree! Also, if you hear him sing this out of the studio, it sounds pretty identical even on the notes they say are heavily edited. I personally love his darker rougher sound. And the guy used as an example of how he sings “sharpens”, I personally cannot stand on this song.
same
But at least he's pretty. And he's nowhere near as bad as Russell Crowe in Les Miz.
or brosmen in mama mia
Oh man I had almost forgot how bad brosman was!!!! Yes he tramps Crowe who tramps Butler!!
@@tomsautocadstudio6446 omg poor Pierce Brosnon. Why do they keep casting him in musicals 😅
Agent: "Hey Pierce we have another musical for ya."
Pierce: "Really? Did they not see Mama Mia?"
He sang this beautifully! every time I watch this movie I fall in love with music of the night all over again
Hey Marc, I don't know if anyone has already commented this, but that 'creepy clone' is accually Emmy Rossum standing very still. She did a great job, because it looks like a mannequin.
Gerard Butler is my favorite Phantom ever. I love that he seemed so genuine. I love his voice. I have seen the stage play numerous times with different actors. The only other actor that came close was Davis Gaines. It’s not always about the voice. Gerard has the look, the voice and his acting. Makes me love him.
Agreed! I Love Gerry’s pure raw emotional performance throughout! His style is unique and beautifully masculine in his own way. ✨🎭✨
Ben Lewis would be a second for me, with maybe Brad Little added as well. 💕
They had Ramin Karimloo playing the role of Christine's father (the silent role) in this movie...
WHAT
And they casted Gerard Butler as the Phantom!? How could they!?
He didn’t have any experience of playing the Phantom though (I think he was playing Raoul at that point), it would have been great if they’d cast John Owen Jones or someone similar 💕
Ramin Kamiloo is the best Phantom!!!
Gerard Butler will be playing the lead! (I had too lol)
No way! They did not do that!! Did they really???
Lmao why is everyone now saying they’re realizing how imperfect he sang after watching this video. Listen people, if you liked how Gerard sang before, it shouldn’t change just because someone points voice technicality all of a sudden. If y’all thought he sang well then he sang well, period. Can’t believe this guy is saying he is cringing of the way Gerard sang even so far far to say his voice was a “train wreck” like lmao you made it sound like he was singing like he’s tone deaf when in reality he sounds better than 99% of the people in the world. I really hate these people that critique the smallest things, so small that people who never saw this video would even think he sang really well. All these “technicalities” on why it wasn’t good is BS, wether something is good or bad is subjective, tbh I think Gerard sang it better than most “musically trained” singer’s I’ve listened to that sang the same song. If you thought Gerard’s voice is cringe, what’s more cringe really is how you probably can’t enjoy any song because you find all these microscopic technical wrong notes in them lmao. People, just listen to songs and be your own judge, you don’t have to be musically trained to know wether something sounds good or not
dude how can you got offended by a personal opinion, but at the same time encourage other peoples to have personal opinions. That is just plain paranoid.
There are 2 kinds of singing - technically perfect and emotionally touching. You can be both - then you're the best. But if I had to choose only one, I'll go with emotional. Gerard Butler was emotional touching not technically good. Take it for what it is - an emotional performance not a technically "perfect" one.
You can't enjoy any song? If you like Gerard Butler in this role, you're entitled to that, but he's certainly the most overrated phantom out there. It is entirely possible to enjoy songs while listening to these criticisms because most real singers don't make them. I'm not saying it's Gerard's fault, but he doesn't set the bar very high. It's not like if you can't enjoy him you can't enjoy anything, maybe you just have different taste in music. This man's job is to understand how singing correctly is done, it is not cringe at all that he applies what he knows to a *professional* musical, it's the least you can expect. I think it's more cringe to get this defensive over a mediocre rendition of the musical when you can just enjoy it in private. No one's saying you can't.
He’s made valid points on Gerard and also he’s a theatre coach so obviously he’s going to critique the smallest detail and also in my opinion I agree with what he said about Gerard
And me singing as well I get soo many critics with my singing as every musician in every part of the music industry it’s the only way a musician can learn is taking in constructive criticism and learning from it to help them improve along with practice. Like if Gerard saw this he’d probably say ok this is what he said about me I’m going to take this in and try improve on this so if he goes to do that role again weather it be on broadway west end anywhere in the world he’s made improvements on Those critics. And also as I said before he’s a musical theatre coach obviously he’s going to critique the smallest detail of the song or the acting in that number
I don't care what you say, I loved his version of this even if it wasn't typical for classical musical theater. Everything you said made sense to me, but I can't help myself. I don't care lol I love him 💖
❤️thanks
I agree completely with you, Amber!
Was the movie the first version of the Phantom you saw? Well that explains it.
@elphabathropp2818 Not everyone could afford to go to NY or knows about the 25th anniversary production for PBS.
I actually just recently watched this movie becuase I started to listen to Phantom of the Opera again. And I thought he was awesome as the Phantom. I never knew some people didn't like the film because of his singing voice. I thought his singing was great. And you have to give him credit, he knew he couldn't sing that well but he still decided to work hard for this role. I actually watched an interview he did for this movie and he said he went to singing lessions so he can do the notes that were hard to do and see if he is capable to sing. So for a person that said he has never sang before and never had lessions until he got the part, I have to give him credit. And you also have to realize that Andrew Loyd Webber helped with casting and he chose Gerard. He didn't care if he can sing or not because he knew he would be wonderful in this role.
They should have dubbed it with any stage Phantom and the entire thing would have been incredible.
I came across this video because there was one video where someone dubbed Michael Crawford over Gerard’s Point of No Return performance. It. Was. Incredible.
All of the rough aggressiveness that Gerard is got contrasted by Crawford’s soft, haunting voice, and it was the perfect summary of what Phantom is and should be.
I agree with 99.9% of what you said, because it was Joel Schumacher who chose Gerard for the role, and Andrew had the condition set that the performers had to be able to sing.
As an added note: The only person that they dubbed the singing for was Minnie Driver. She admitted that she 'was' able to sing well, but her voice wasn't suited for opera singing; so they had to bring in just one opera singer for her character.
I don't see any problem. He is the best Phantom for me. This scene made me cry everytime.
I love him in this role, this was the first version of Phantom of the Opera I ever saw and just love it. His imperfect voice just makes it better for me personally.
I agree. I loved the movie. I’ve seen the theatrical version around 25!/+
I agree. I loved the movie. I’ve seen the theatrical version 25+ times and seen some real stinkers. Brad Little, Rick Hilsback. Yes Gerardo not perfect at times you can hear his Scottish brogue come through. My fav song is Past the point of no return and the very last song breaks my heart every time. So I loved it sue me.
I agree!
But his imperfect voice doesn’t work for the character. The one beautiful thing about the phantom is his voice. The phantom lures Christine in with this voice. His voice f*cking sucks and definitely isn’t entrancing.
❤️
Just watched it for the first time. I will say, as someone who knows little to nothing about singing, it was passable for someone with no previous singing experience, but what really sold him as the phantom was his voice as a whole, which can transfer between soothing and intimidating at the drop of a hat, and of course his confidence in the role.
Yess that’s so right,,the transitions in his voice were so great 🤩
I know that his singing was not perfect, but I can't stand the original singing from the musical only because I have heard this version earlier! 😂 God, I love it SO MUCH, I even listened this version the hundreds of times. Sorry not sorry, this is the perfect Phantom's singing to me. Absolutely love it
How imperfect singing endears me more to his humanity (despite how skewed it is). It makes the phantom seem more realistic, not like how Hollywood tries to produce perfection but loses the plot quickly.
I’m sorry. But I will not get the 19 minutes of my time back. I watch this version of Phantom of the Opera because G.B is in it. He did an amazing job. His voice is unique, genuine & I guess imperfect but that’s what makes it. Perfect!! I love it G.B.
Facts this fucker needs to stop shitting on GB
I'm slightly confused as to how you don't know about the Phantom's Christine mannequin, in which Christine faints after seeing... Have you ever seen the show live? They omitted that part in the 25th-anniversary version. So if that's the only version you know, I can see why you're confused. Having seen Phantom 5 times in London I can tell you that the fainting at the sight of the mannequin scene is in the original stage version. it's not done quite as well in the movie though.
Agreed - it's creepy and shock/scares Christine to faint in the original production (wasn't aware they changed it more recently), while the movie timing of this didn't hit for some reason... maybe they needed a wider shot w/ both the mannequin and Christine in the same frame to see the cause/effect.
Sad to think that our critic here was "LOST" to the very pivotal part of the scene he was criticizing. 🙄🙄🙄
did you know the phan tom real name is ERIK?
@@priestessmikokikyo77 Indeed!
Vocal skills wise he may not be the most proficient, but he really understood the character well, having a dark, sensual tone to his voice.
The cast has said in interviews that they were singing live and not using the pre-recorded playback. I love PS I Love You.
Good to know. Thanks for that info!
This comment is old I know, but there was absolutely no way they were singing like. Emmy Rossum barely looks like she's singing in this because she was lipsyncing.
❤The 'Imperfection' of Gerards singing makes The Phantom more vulnerable & 'perfect' best Phantom ever...Gerards real soul comes through ,which touches so many ..& it still does for me ....❤❤🥹I most love the ' Point of no Return' scene...unforgetable still eternal ...impression😊😅❤
I did see an interview that Gerard did about the role. When he was approached for the role, he went to the academy of music in London and saw a singing teacher. He asked the teacher if he was capable of doing the role as he had huge doubts about it, and the teacher said yes, but you’ll need to put in the work. And the point you made about diction, as a Scottish woman, Scottish people we are notorious about not ending our words properly. I can only speak for myself, but I try very hard with my pronunciation when I’m singing.
Oh man I was OBSESSED with this movie when I was in high school. It was my first experience with Phantom and I had no idea at the time that it wasn’t very good lol. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! That being said - and maybe it’s just nostalgia - I still like The Point of No Return from this movie. His singing isn’t perfect but I like how they don’t put the stupid blanket on his head lol. Definitely ramps up the tension.
I’d love to see you do a video about Emmy!
I still like it more than any stage numbers ive seen
I think the Point of No Return was his best song in the movie too. It wasn't as distracting as most of the other numbers.
Same! Before seeing the broadways production, I saw this and loved it. Then when I saw it on Broadway it was soooo much more than I thought.
Barbara I agree it was definitely the best singing he did
I still love it and I've seen other productions. Gerard had a rock voice and I liked that it wasn't the typical smooth voice you're used to hearing. He sounds rough and dangerous like the character.
I for one loved Gerard in the movie. I had heard that Andrew hand picked Gerard for the role.
Andrew very often makes extremely bad choices. See all of love never dies.
Good point! I didn't like Ramin and Sierra in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Phantom, but liked them better on the soundtrack for love never dies.
Andrew is a weird man who was made many bad decisions in his lifetime lol
Aproclivity and who he originally wanted to play the Phantom 😬
@@princessJayNay22 thanks Jana for your comments and support I promise to make everyone especially my lovely fans
I am sorry, but this is the first time that I can not agree with the verdict. Yes, Gerard is not a Broadway voice, not to be compared with professional singers of this field. But what he lacks in training, he makes up for in passion. I don't like the originals, but in this film I was won over by the music to the story. And Gerard Butler had a very decisive part in it. I love the film, the soundtrack, the powerful images and passionate actors. And Gerard shows the brokenness of this character like I've never seen. In his voice, his facial expressions, his gestures, all the facets of this interpretation of the story come out beautifully.
And regardless of the amount of technical assistance he was given in this song he still manages to convey the seduction that is supposed to be here more than most “technically” correct Phantoms I’ve seen.
Agree.
Vanessa YOU PUT IT PERFECTLY!!!!!
@@crenner07 Exactly.
I 100 % agree with you, Vanessa, except with disliking the originals.
I've probably wached this movie at least half a dozen times, purely because of how good Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson are in it. They've also both performed their songs live on stage over the years amd have done an admirable job.
I watched a video of Patrick rehearsing a line from Raoul's part in Prima Donna. It was amazing!
@@simosa5842 MCCTheatre has a recent video of him performing Christine’s parts from “Think of me”. He’s very good: th-cam.com/video/SxxnEh45WYY/w-d-xo.html
@@GSAUS he's great!!
The issue with the casting of Butler is less his singing and more the fact that they didn't adapt anything to suit his voice better. Especially as a film, they could have changed up the arrangement slightly to be more atmospheric and understated and allowed for more acting. Then again when you're pre-recording your singing you don't really have much room. At least with an animated film you can see what you're voicing to a lot of the time.
Change the Phantom of the Opera music to suit Butler? C’mon. How about cast one of DOZENS of better people instead? Hollywood already killed the Evita music when Madonna played Eva Peron (lowering it a TON). Madonna > Gerard Butler
@@erikweigand4491 agreed
Think of me was changed for Emmy, they could have done it
@@erikweigand4491 Agree to disagree completely
They should have just cast somebody else -- no hate towards Butler, I think he's great in other movies -- but he was so painfully miscast here and there was no real reason to keep him in the role. But along with all the other strange decisions made with this film I don't think there was much of a chance of that changing
I love Gerard’s singing in phantom.
After watching Russell Crowe in Les Mis, I actually don't mind Gerards singing here. Russell ruined the movie for me! Gerard I can listen to, no problem.
I wish I couldn’t up vote this comment 100 times
Agree
Ew
I have to admit I quite like PONR in the movie 🙈 (except the ridiculous visuals)
Although they definitely should’ve casted a Phantom & Christine with more training
Look up Sideways' vid on les mis and you'll see it wasnt completely his fault
Did you know that if Hugh Jackman wasn’t busy with the movie X-Men, he would have gotten the role of Phantom for the movie? Also, if Anne Hathaway wasn’t busy with The Princess Diaries she would have gotten the role of Christine for the movie. Just imagine them as those two characters. Just imagine. To me, that would have made the movie more enjoyable.
I agree about Hugh but I think Anne would struggle with this
@@SeanConway99 that’s fine. I think and believe differently, though.
The funny thing is Hugh got the role of Gaston for the stage show in Melbourne and he had never sung before. So I suppose you don't know what you will get until they have had some lessons as he is now an amazing singer.
No way. I hated them both in Les Miz. Especially Hugh... he was soooooo terrible...
@@naly202 Anne acted her way through her songs although I have to say slightly overacted. Hugh compared to Russel was outstanding. Samantha barks, Aaron tveit, Colm Wilkinson obviously did great. Sacha baron Cohen and Helena Bonham carter were great. Eddie redmayne did a really good job I thought as well
It's worth noting that in the original literature, the Phantom was entirely self-taught and, while he certainly had the technical knowledge to teach Christine, he likely wouldn't have had the same level of skill and polish in his own voice, which makes Gerard's performance perfect in it's imperfection.
I read the book. Both Christine and Raoul describe the voice as beautiful, heavenly, and start to lose their senses if they listen too long.
@SleeveHeart yeah and?
Have you heard the Disturbed cover of Sound of Silence?
An unpolished voice can do amazing things. And biblically accurate angels are Eldritch horrors beyond human comprehension. I still don't see it as much of a stretch.
@@LyricCicadaThe contrast is his voice to his appearance. In the book he has an angelic, heavenly voice, he is the angel of music, and then his appearance is described as a living corpse, with no nose and a death's head. The language used specifically lends itself to him having a generally polished voice. Christine, graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, would probably not believe he was The Angel of Music otherwise.
@Tally_Core yeah okay. Well.... My final defense of Movie Phantom is basically "but daddy I love him!!"
And that's allowed. :)
Given that they dubbed all of Minne Driver's singing for the movie, even though she's known to be quite accomplished, you'd think they could have done that for Butler.
That drives me crazy! Why not dub if your already dubbing one with a broadway singer!! No need to change the score like they did for Emmy and they're lipsyncing anyway??
Gerard Butler did alright for someone who has never sung before. I mean, before this movie he had NEVER sung. Ever. He is one of my favorite Phantoms, though. He really is. I’m sorry for saying it but he is. Also, please react to songs from Love Never Dies. Songs like Till I Hear You Sing, Beneath a Moonless Sky, Once Upon Another Time, The Beauty Underneath, Devil Take the Hindmost, Love Never Dies, and Ah Christine.
Yes yes YES!!! Those songs are PHANTASTIC
Don't ever be sorry for saying Gerry is one of your favorite Phantom. He's one of mine, too!
@@susanachristine5101 ok. He’s not at the top of my list, though. In fact he is close to the bottom. I’m more into stage Phantoms like Peter Joback, Hugh Panaro, Ramin Karimloo, John Owen Jones, Michael Crawford, Colm Wilkinson, Mathias Edenborn, Tomas Ambt Kofod, Dmitry Ermak, Saulo Vasconcelos, Atilla Csengeri, etc…
Valid points, however this particular video you're reacting to has the entire song pitched up a notch from the original to avoid copyright. So that's going to make it sound even worse than it is.
Thank you! I knew right away the pitch was off!
Not only is the pitch and volume off, the melody is completely off. All three of these factors are why I'm not giving more deference to Marc's opinion.
@@alisond929 It's still enough reason for me to not give Marc's opinions more deference.
It ... it's finally happened! You've dipped your toes into MY area of expertise: wordsmithing! The original lyric is "In this darkness which you know you cannot fight." But that is grammatically incorrect! Use of "which" here (nonrestrictive clause) needs to be preceded by a comma ... so it ought to be, "In this darkness, which you know you cannot fight." But a comma would then require a pause, a beat in the middle of the lyric. Instead, the grammatically correct way to say the line is to replace "which" for "that," which does not require a comma beforehand.
Thanks for existing!
Yep, it's a change Andrew Lloyd Webber made for the film. He couldn't change it in the musical book without a load of headaches, so he did it here :D
I actually really like the way he sounds. Its very unique and not hard on the ear at all
I agree that Gerard Butler did not sound great on this song but when he's on Past the Point of No Return, my lord. Its sooooo good
"Your first date song." hahaha perfect comment Marc!!!!!
I loved this! I’ve seen the live theater version and idk I loved Gerard’s rough and softer signing voice. Not sure why, but his performance was just great to me.
Ok but I like how he doesn’t pronounce the vowels and how husky and hurt his voice sounds sounds more realistic instead of over done or too theater like
Maybe it's not perfect, but Gerard will always be my first phantom
I thought he was perfectly imperfect as the Phantom, that lovely textured voice of his,
The “clone” was a mannequin for the wedding dress he wanted her to wear. But the mannequin that he “made” just never looked right so they had Emmy paled down in makeup and pose as the mannequin
It was actually Emmy they tried to do a mold of her face it didn’t work so they chose to have Emmy stand still to get the shot
I loved this version!!! He did great!
he’s literally SOOOOOO good. he is the best phantom i love him so much🥹🥹🥹
Butler is my favourite interpretation of the Phantom, mostly because he’s not overly operatic and polished. It’s almost like he’s been hiding in walls and cisterns his entire life.
Same with Christine in the movie, actually. She has that clear, natural ring to her voice (which is ironic, as it’s probably digitally enhanced to the moon and back), reminds me of Sissel. Brightman I struggle to separate from the diva, whose voice is supposed to be exaggerated in her opera-ness.
This would not be so bad if somebody had worked with him to help fix some of his vowel shapes! Much of the song he does a semi-competent imitation of a trained singer, and then every so often something will come out sounding like a Brooklyn accent. It totally breaks any illusion that this might have given of being good.
He was taking voice lessons the moment he was offered the role. God knows what it would have sounded like had he gone in with non
I saw phantom of the opera the film and chose this song to be tattooed onto my body when I turned 18 because to me this performance is the most raw and amazing! This version hit me more than the one I saw live on Broadway and that’s saying something! The emotion is so raw and real! To me this imperfection is perfect and that’s what I love about it
Gerard has the perfect voice for The Phantom IMO. The little imperfections make me feel the emotion so much more than someone with a "perfect" voice.
Well here's something to consider. The 2004 movie I think was the more realistic version of the story with the characters. Erik has been living under the opera house for years and years and he probably only got to observe the other opera singers, he had no teacher. I think Andrew casted someone with a raw untamed voice to be Phantom because thats realistic given Erik's backstory and how he grew up. I know a lot of people prefer the musical version because it's with trained singers, but heres the thing... the musical has trained singers because its a live show and they need to be experienced and perfect. Thats just what I think. (OH and also in an interview Gerry said he was in a rock band lmaoooooo)
In the behind the scenes, they talked about his the original idea for the phantom had to have some roughness to him. So before they cast Michael Crawford, they had someone else who was in a rock band, I think. Gerard had that roughness even in his voice. But I kinda agree that his Music of the Night needed more work.
Read the book. He's a musical genius who lives under an OPERA house. He can sing so well it even entrances Raoul
Does the disconnect between him not being able to sing and Christine Thinking he's the Angel of Music and him teaching her not bother you? Genuinely, like I'm not being like snarky. The movie was entirely unenjoyable for me, partly because I'm taken out of it by the singing. I don't find it feels realistic, I find the story stops making sense if at the very least Phantom, Christine a Carlotta can't sing.
It's also important to note that the original novel has him singing beautifully to contrast his appearence. He's entirely self taught throughout his early travels before landing in the Opera House but has a generally hypnotic and polished voice that convinces Christine, a trained operatic singer, he is an angel of music. He is a music genius in the book amount other things.
Edit also really quick: He was in a casual rock bad in college for law and admits he was fully untrained before the movie. Of the main three, Patrick Wilson is the only one with true checkable training before the movie. Also Joel Schumacher picked him it seems, as he liked his preformance in Dracula 2000. I'm uncertain how much imput Andrew Lloyd Webber really had.
Omg .. I'm listening to you at work and all I hear is the crotch between candles comment, made me go back to see what the heck was happening LOL. I had NEVER noticed that before
I enjoyed Patrick Wilsons singing in the movie.
He and Minnie Driver (Carlotta) were the best things about the movie
He’s much better than Hadley Fraser (I literally can’t watch the 25th because of that man, which is a shame as everybody else is pretty good in it)
@@simosa5842 thanks Simo sa for your unending prayers and unconditional support and love ❤️
@@melissam597 thanks Melissa I appreciate your support and unending love ❤️
"It's, you know, the girl you've kidnapped, taken to your layer, and force her now to listen to you sing. that's...your typical first date". You need to reassess your dating activities, bro. You may have listened to too much Phantom
Grew up with this version, so in spite of myself I still maintain a certain nostalgic affection for his performance here. One thing I do appreciate is that his is one of the few performances where I feel like the Phantom is relishing the song itself. You can hear Butler smiling in his voice from time to time, and it gives it a warmth that I really do enjoy. Examples being 6:22 and 14:13.
"He's needed help since I pressed play" 😂😂😂
On your note about “helping him through the full thing” as someone who has a lot of experience with using pitch correction on less than amazing singers, I can hear pitch correction throughout most of the song.
I love his rendition of the character but I can’t imagine what it would sound like without any of that.
I’m not sure the tech was good enough at the time to fully make him sound perfect, but we’ve also seen what that can turn into with some A list actors in Hollywood today. (Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast.)
I think your dubbing idea would be nice.
Gerard as the phantom offends me less than Russlle Crow in Les Mis 🤦🏻♀️
Oh man. That's a tough one to decide between. I feel like Crowe's performance was, at least, well acted. Butler's whole performance is just so lackluster.
For sure. Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia is another bad one
It's the other way around for me!
I keep reminding myself that Lloyd-Webber is the one who cast Butler.
😄❤️
I think he is a good singer. He's not a professional opera singer so it makes sense that he isn't perfect but he is an incredible actor and his stunning performance mixed with his good singing is in my opinion the best Phantom there ever was. He brought this special something to the role.
I also love Gerard's phantom. By far my favorite. Yes his singing is a a bit rough. 😂 It sounds really fragile because he has poor control but I actually like the shakiness because it makes the phantom seem vulnerable.
Ewan MacGregor was good in Moulan Rouge! I was surprised at how good his singing voice is
❤️
Gerard was great I loved his voice in phantom
Marc, I think the heat has taken your mind to some strange places m’friend… But I’m completely here for it because hearing you compare this “mellow first date song” that the Phantom really has to nail bc he doesn’t have Christian Grey’s rope & whips to fall back on DEFINITELY made my day. Stay cool 🙂
The Phantom definitely has rope... Obvs
If they wanted Gerard so much for the part they could've just dubbed somebody else over him like they did with Carlotta. I think Minnie Driver is absolutely iconic in the acting part and she doesn't sing a single note 😂
She sang Learn To Be Lonely in the end credits tho!
@@simosa5842 She did! She can actually sing beautifully. It's a shame that Carlottas part requires some actual opera singing for which she was not trained.
It's funny that this melody was supposed to be in the movie and sung by Gerard 🤦♂️😅
He’s not a terrible singer but he’s more suited to rock music or something like the song he sung in how to train your dragon
In the original stage production, the Phantom had a weird mirror/painting/mannequin of Christine in a wedding dress, and she fainted after seeing it.
Also in the original stage production (at least the one I saw) the mannequin is mechanical and reaches out at her suddenly which is why she faints.
Thanks dear for your comments on my post I really appreciate add me up on my hangout Gmail if you don't mind geradbultler@gmail.com
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While I agree that I've heard better singers and that some notes are clearly edited, I personally think Gerard Butler did a great job singing for being an amateur singer. Because tha is what he is. He is an actor, not a singer, so you should give him credit for giving singing a shot and doing a decent job in my opinion. Once again, it isn't great, but I've heard worse people trying to sing this song. Also, I don't see the problem with a couple word lyric changes. I hear them all the time in covers and different versions of songs. Now, maybe I'm biased because this was the first version of Phantom I've seen and it is still near and dear to my heart even if I have seen the Broadway and it is great. I just think these versions are great in there own unique ways. On a side note, I can see and understand what you are saying in this reaction video, I just don't fully agree with it on this one. But I still love your reactions!
Also, I would love to see you react to Gerard Butler singing the cut-out song "No One Would Listen" from the Phantom of the Opera movie.
He does alright. Sometimes. I think that's the most disturbing part of his performance, that there's parts where it's quite good and you start to get into it... And then he does something horrible which sucks you out if it. And this happens multiple times during the song so I'm left feeling confused.
I'm not blaming Gerard for this, and it's been years since I saw the movie, but I never know what I'm supposed to be feeling during this scene. Allure? Fear? Comfort? Cinematography is quite bad.
@@atinity6749 Yeah, he wasn't that bad at the beginning in The Mirror and the title song, but then it was Music of the Night's turn. I judge the Phantoms by that song and Gerard destroyed it imo.
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Do you think an amateur singer should have been cast in such a vocally demanding role though?
A super strong opera voice would have turned off most audiences. For the cinema, Gerard was excellent. You want a more operatic voice? Go to Broadway.
I'm not the biggest fan of Gerald's singing but he's really good for getting lessons for a MONTH and I repeat A MONTH!!! It's really impressive. Sure it's not as good as Ramin Karimloo or Ben Lewis but it's very impressive for how long he has had voice lessons for!
When it comes to casting leads for movie musicals, I really think the singing becomes way more important when a character is known for their voice. For example, I thought Emma Watson was a great actress for Belle but the singing was just kind of okay. However, since the character is never said to be an incredible singer, I'm okay that she doesn't sound like a trained vocalist. With the Phantom, he is said to be musical genius so you expect the actor to also sound like one. Gerald Butler sounds like he's struggling on every song and the high notes are just him shouting. Thus, they should have realized they either cast someone else who can sing, or have his vocals dubbed.
Also like what happened to dubbing the right actor?
I agree with this so much! When I saw the movie I couldn’t believe it. How is anyone supposed to be mistaking that voice for an “angel of music”?!
Your analysis of Gerard Butler’s Phantom is so spot on, it’s almost as if no one really told Butler to dive deeper into his acting chops (the man is a phenomenal actor). Without the computer enhancements, I fear that this performance would sound like a weak HS production.
With this in mind - NEXT VID: Please do Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd - It is so hotly contested among Sondheim fans, Tim Burton did a better job at directing Depp in this role than this director in Phantom, but there are many people that cannot get passed Depp’s portrayal as it’s not George Hearn for example.
I honestly thought that the audio glitch at 6:30 was just on my copy of the DVD. But it's actually in the film, lol??? How the frick did that get past all the editing a film like this goes through?
Tbh what bothers me the most in Phantom of the Opera is how the musical strips away all of Christine's personality to make the Phantom look better. In the book, she doesn't gently follow the Phantom down to his lair, he carries her off while she's kicking and screaming, and later on she gives his en epic smackdown, telling him to take off his mask and calling him a coward. And, for real, I would love to hear a song of just Christine roasting the Phantom. Come on, it would be great.
The Phantom was very sanitized in this movie, more than he was in the musical
@@simosa5842 But the musical still sanitized the hell out of him. He's not half as violent as he's supposed to be, and they even cut out the torture room
Thanks dear for your comments on my post I really appreciate add me up on my hangout Gmail if you don't mind geradbultler@gmail.com
I think Gerard Butlers voice is perfect personally. Loved everything he sang in this movie, and I thought it was better than any version I have heard so far. To each his own I suppose.
After we had just left the movie, when me and my family saw it at the cinemas, my father and sister IMMEDIATELY started bitching about how awful they thought much of the singing was. I was still riding on the high of FINALLY seeing the musical and having all these songs put into context for me, not to mention all the awesome cinematic moments like the falling chandelier. So I snapped at them that we had literally just left, and that I'd enjoyed it, so could they give it a rest for, like, an hour?
My father had a horrible temper, so he was in one of his bad moods for the rest of the day, since I dared to speak out against his behaviour. Which meant that the rest of us were treading on eggshells until bedtime. So I have some negative memories attached with seeing the movie for the first time.
Okay, I usually just watch your reactions to hear your thoughts but I'm gonna say something here this time. I've been an opera fan these past 25+ years. I've devoured books on vocal technique and analyze recordings dating as far back as the few recordings Adelina Patti recorded past her prime and your criticisms in this case strike me as overly snide, almost vindictive. Yes, they fixed some of his singing in post but guess what? Even stars like Domingo and Pavarotti have their voices "souped up" and high notes "fixed", especially if their performances end up on DVD. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf actually sang high notes for the divine Kirsten Flagstad in the studio. So you can play this game both ways. And to do so in Phantom where Christine's vocalise is bloody PRE-RECORDED (And even then most just scream everything above the passagio) is bloody rich.
That being said, for someone who just had a year's worth of training, Gerard Butler actually does rather well, occasionally he sings better than Rossum even. He has an innate musicality, a way to sculpt a phrase that cannot be learned, you either have it or you don't. He very CLEARLY gave it all he had and went through a barrage of unwarranted abuse by stage show fans who were mostly angry that their fave wasn't cast.
I'm not saying that Gerard Butler is up there with Peter Karrie, Ian Jon Bourg or John Owen Jones. (I personally find Crawford unbearably nasal) But his acting ELEVATES his performance, he REALLY captures what they wanted Erik to be like in this film. You don't like it? Fine. But I find this "reaction" just a tad too smug and tbh....not even musically sound overall. Want to impress me? React to actual opera that isn't Pavarotti crooning "Nessun Dorma". (I love the man but by 1994 he was...far from his best) Maybe then I'll not be doubting the sincerity of this particular reaction. I usually enjoy your stuff, I'm subbed after all. But I couldn't let this go unchallenged, I'm sorry.
This was my favorite song in the whole musical... Because Ramin sang it like he's just speaking his heart
But they did pretty nicely on this film.. The best they could.
Great critique, thank you for the video. I can get past the singing but I agree that there were some directional opportunites missed where they could have done much better to get the audience on board.
Marc, your expressions during the video are a whole mood. I love you 😂😂😂
Anthony Warlow, who performed the Phantom in Australia, actually does some of these lines spoken like in your friend’s example. Of course, like your friend, Warlow can actually sing (he was one of the four Phantoms they brought in at the end of the 25th anniversary concert, if you’ve seen that).
No offence to Ramin but I wish Warlow had done the 25th, he is jaw-droppingly great as the Phantom
Ok this is my take on this subject.
I'll be 68 in September & I've been involved in personal singing, choirs, band, a Capella since I first heard music & started to talk & sing lol & after kindergarten on. I'm also a movie & TV Series buff.
Sometimes you choose an actors qualities to fit the specifics of the role they're playing.
The Phantom is a perfect example of that.
The Phantom is a genius in all the arts of opera theatre, right? That doesn't mean he has a perfect singing voice.
He's been locked away in those caverns since he was a kid, surrounded by & self taught by what was happening in the theater.
So would you as a director/producer want your leading man & who is the subject of the movie, to be a perfect baritone?
Hell no & that's why they chose Gerard Butler.
Butler had music experience, he had his own rock band, he writes his own music still to this day.
That's one of the reasons why they chose him to be The Phantom because they wanted an edgy rock vibe to their music for the film.
I've seen every 'The Phantom Of The Opera' film ever made & this one will go down in history as the #1.
I just found this 'The Phantom Of The Opera' last week & I watched it going in blind.
I didn't Google it to see who the actors were or any other info on it because I already knew the basic Phantom story & I didn't want to prejudice my opinion prior to watching it & I'm so glad I did it that way because preconceived views regarding actors & actresses can prejudice opinions about a film.
I challenge you, to set your music expertise & preconceived ideas aside for a few hours & watch The Phantom again remembering who he was, what life made him & everything that made him that way.
Then listen to the soundtracks of just the songs between The Phantom, Christine & Roul, or just watch those sections without the add story filler about the opera bs.
Then tell me what you think about the movie.
I think he sounds great. I majored in Music with concentration in Vocal Performance in College and i personally think you were wayyy to hard on Gerard for his voice. If you think this sounds bad, i would hate to know what you think actually sounds good for real. I thought he had a nice full voice that conveyed emotions well and that he did great especially for someone who doesn't have much musical background. Personally one of my favorite versions of the Phantom of the Opera to watch cause i feel like he doesn't do too much just right to the point and very good overall. A lot of people i know also really like his voice so not sure what you are talking about as he sounds great and did a great job not sure how you can say it sounds bad unless you truly didn't engage deeply in this song and already had preconceived notions of what you thought it would sound like or comparing it to musical theatre performances from people who have more experience, but its your opinion, i guess.
I watched this musical movie so many times that my dreams were singing. I loved Gerald voice it was soothing and it actually made the sweetest pillow talk, love to the music. Luke voice was creepy to me even though you stated it was crisp it sounded rather angry to me. The casting crew wanted heart strings to be pulled for the Phantom and Raoul. Why else give Gerald #the CAPE!
It's not 75% a computer, it's actually him singing. He does sing the high note in "where you long to be." I was surprised at how good of a job he did with this note when I listened to it.
If you isolate the audio you can hear exactly where they digitally alter his voice and it's not where you think it is. It's actually when he sings "let your spirit start to soar," the "soar" is digitally altered. I'm guessing they did it to add a cavernous effect? But who can say why. Sound producers have their reasons for doing this.
Then of course the final note is looped and is also digitally enhanced. They only digitally enhance two words in this entire piece.
You can also hear it in Il Muto when he says "did I not instruct that box 5 be kept empty."
Auto tune wasn't really widely used back then. It's so common now that we just assume everyone does it all the time, but I can hear exactly where his voice has been digitally altered. I can always hear a "fake voice" v a genuine voice because I grew up before auto tune was a thing.
I'm really curious as to why you think he didn't sing the high note in "let your spirit start to soar." What software are you using to isolate and analyze the audio?
Hi Marc! The most common interpretation of the Christine mannequin it is that the Phantom 's proposal by using the mannequin that looks like her dressed in a wedding gown. The wedding gown is meant for her to wear at their wedding
Emmy Rossum was so damn beautiful in this movie. Sierra Boggess was asked to audition for this role but couldn’t do it do to a prior commitment as was Anne Hathaway, and ironically Katie Holmes who is a trained soprano also.
Wtf... like why so much hate. I freaking love his version. Trainwreck???? He is freaking amazing. Prefer his version over the stupid opera versions
I love Gerard Butler, but he is absolutely the reason I can't stand this movie. Not only his singing, but his delivery (in the entire movie, but in this song especially) is just off for me.
I feel so bad for him since you can tell he's trying so hard, but his voice doesn't fit the music and he doesn't have enough training to help him better navigate the song
Thanks dear for your comments on my post I really appreciate add me up on my hangout Gmail if you don't mind geradbultler@gmail.com
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"The song needs to have a little more doubt from the phantom, ok he's not Christian Grey"
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
I was introduced to the Phantom of the opera first by film in 7 grade. My teacher was a DJ outside of school and a music nerd lol. When he show us this movie I fell in love with it. Even if Gérard Butler was not a great singer I still love the song and yes I do agree I wish he did more in the silence of the night scene as the Broadway theaters does instead of walking through candles. I say at least it was a beautiful Ground layer.
"whatever" best response to not only this number but this movie in general especially in comparison to the OBC
6:45
I honestly don't know where he's getting the idea that this note was heavily processed. Coming from both a singing and audio editing perspective, it sounds like the only thing on there is reverb and some compression (which is on every singer on every track in this production).
He's singing in falsetto which, even for a baritone, makes it much easier to hit high notes, at the cost of a more "airy" sound. There's no reason to believe he couldn't hold a single airy note on pitch like that.
Especially when he hits the same note using his chest voice shortly after.
I mean they could have dubbed him, they already did that with Carlotta in this film so they were generally open to that. Also they had Ramin Karimloo right there in a silent role 😅 (Its kind of that feeling if the Les Mis movie whenever Hadley Fraser's part comes up and you just sigh wistfully and wish he was Javert 😂)
Alright I get it he didn't do it in the typical singing style but that's what makes it good in my opinion he sang it in his own unique way and it sounds good
The one that really bothers me is Emma Watson as Belle. Yes, she looks exactly the part of Belle, but you can hear the auto tune. I can’t hear it so much in this, but I’m not an expert.
I can't even get past the first song without turning that movie off. It's so terrible.
Can Gerard Butler sing? A bit, but can he act? Definitely! I loved this movie until I saw the 25th anniversary. Then I realized, a strong phantom MAKES the play. I've now watched it live and yes, the Phantom was the strongest singer in that cast. It was amazing!
I completely agree and this also goes for actors who can't dance in roles that require dancing (LaLa Land)