Phantom of the Opera - Kim

Recently I watched the “Broadway Across America” production of the “Phantom of the Opera”. Early in Act I, I wondered if this theatre production would evoke the empathy for the Phantom as the movie did. Without all the close up camera shots would we as an audience feel the anguish of this sorrowful character like I did when I viewed the movie version?

Fast forward to the curtain call. The minor roles appeared first on stage to receive their due. In my opinion it was a fantastic performance and everyone deserved the enthusiastic applause we offered. When “Raoul” and “Christine” came forward to take their bows an even greater applause was heard. Here were the beautiful heroes of the story.

The standing ovation, however, came when the Phantom appeared. Perhaps this standing ovation was just our commendation for everyone and the Phantom merely ushered it in as he completed the cast appearances. But I sensed that at least a significant part of that ovation was given because we felt that he was the true star of the show.

Perhaps all of us relate most to the “misfit” in the story. Maybe that is really how all of us feel on the inside, like a misfit in society. We’d like to be the Raoul whose love for Christine gave him courage to seek to save her and to even sacrifice himself if necessary. Or we’d like to be Christine whose bravery came in embracing what she feared, out of love for her hero Raoul and out of compassion for the Phantom.

But likely while we all wish to be them, we find our inner, honest selves most often identifying with the sorrow, the anger and the loneliness of the Phantom. We want to experience true love, want to have what it appears others have, but feel like life has dealt us deformed parts to work with. And even when we put our best foot forward, it just doesn’t seem to take us where we want to go. Somehow, no matter how hard we try, we never measure up to “fitting in."

All of us wish the world would see the “hero” inside us who feels like a misfit. We all long for a standing ovation, an acknowledgement of our validity, for our true hearts to be revered or at least understood rather than our outward appearances or awkwardly lacking social behaviors to be the horrifying focus of who we are seen as.

Here we stand, hearts wanting to be loved and understood. Here we are, wishing that a few would see what we long for and not close the curtain before we get our chance to take a bow.

Kim