History YMMV / ThePhantomOfTheOpera

* {{Macekre}}: The English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, which was the only one available until 1990. It's now in the public domain, so any English edition that ''does not specifically credit a translator by name'' is most likely de Mattos' Macekred version.

* TheScrappy: Raoul might be one of the least popular heroes in all of literature, being jealous and possessive of Christine even before they're actually dating, not being particularly intelligent, and even berating her on occasion.

* FairForItsDay: Creator/LindsayEllis considers this is the case when it comes to the Persian, she argued this in her video “The Most Whitewashed Character In History”. On one hand, to her, the original book plays right into “orientalist” stereotypes of a savage Persia. And a character called the Persian might not sit well today, even if his identity is supposed to be a secret. But the Persian himself is largely absent of obvious stereotypical traits, coming across as a voice of reason and even being one of the most likeable characters in the book overall. She thinks it’s also why the Persian is nearly always AdaptedOut, DemotedToExtra, or retroactively stereotyped, making it hold up even better.

** The mere interval and pre-show music even counts, being epically orchestrated snippets of the most iconic songs.

* SignatureSong: "The Music of the Night", with the titular number being a close second.

* TakeThatScrappy: The Phantom dishes out a handful of insults to Raoul every time he mentions him.

** In addition to Crawford's celebrated PlayingAgainstType turn, the title character in the musical has been played by Paul Stanley (of KISS fame) and Robert Guillaume (until recently, the only black actor to play the Phantom. In all fairness, the casting department might be trying to avoid the BlackVikings trope, as well as the UnfortunateImplications of a black man lusting after and stalking a young white woman).

** The 25th anniversary concert got a bit of this from the fanbase, as well -- some were skeptical since the Phantom and Christine would be played by the stars of ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'' (though, to be fair, they had previously played those roles in the original show as well); and since Raoul, Piangi, and Meg were played by actors who had no prior connection with ''Phantom'' while several popular alumni of the show were cast in minor background and chorus roles. Once the event actually took place, though, the casting was generally pretty well-received.

** At long last, after 26 years, Broadway cast its first African-American Phantom (Guillame's turn was as part of the national touring company), Norm Lewis, who debuted in May 2014. Opinion seems to be that [[AbilityOverAppearance his acting and singing talents are transcending the problematic above-mentioned tropes]], as they did during his turn as Javert in the 2006 Broadway revival and 25th Anniversary Concert of ''Theatre/LesMiserables''.

** Though she's remained an icon of the show's legacy and has fans willing to defend her, Sarah Brightman got hit with this when originating the role of Christine, despite the part being written for her. Though praised as a singer, her acting received more negative reviews in addition to accusations of nepotism due to her being married to the composer.

!!The famous musical and myriad other adaptations further contain examples of:

** Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, or "Gemmy" still have a devoted fanbase that has been shipping them since the movie came out.
* AdaptationDisplacement: The popularity of the musical has eclipsed the previous works in the franchise, including that it originated as a novel. Many know there are movies but quite a few assume they're adaptations of the play (which is mistaken for far older than 1986).

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: One of the show's major selling points is Andrew Lloyd Weber's ''spectacular'' score.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The "mirror bride" bit is just bizarre. Yes, it provides a great romantic moment for the Phantom to catch the fainting Christine, but makes little sense. (Although given that he later forces Christine to wear the same wedding dress, he's presumably showing her his plans/wishes for her).

* CantUnhearIt: With his unique, booming voice and intricate physicality, Creator/MichaelCrawford set the gold standard for The Phantom and all actors to follow - no matter how well received - remain in his shadow.
* CriticalDissonance: When the show opened, reviews were not flattering. But in October 2021, the show celebrated its 35th anniversary in London and it reached its 30th on Broadway in January 2018.
* EvilIsCool: The Phantom pulls of his share of nasty deeds throughout the show, but damn if he doesn't look awesome while doing so.
* EvilIsSexy: The Phantom's crimes have done little to stop fans from lusting over him, [[DracoInLeatherPants many of whom just ignore said crimes because of this appeal]]. It helps that the character is explicitly trying to seduce Christine throughout the show, so the actor has to play into their sex appeal. And while Erik is indeed deformed, the actors who play him are typically quite handsome, and it helps that his disfigurement is usually covered up.

** A lot of fans would like to forget ''The Phantom of Manhattan'', a novel by Frederick Forsyth that was based on the original plans for a sequel to the musical in the late 1990s, ever happened.
** ''Love Never Dies'' appears to be heading in the same direction. Many fans refuse to accept it as canon, and prefer to pretend it doesn't exist.

** The way the Phantom roughes up Christine during the final sequence gets this with actress Rebecca Caine (the first Christine in the Toronto production) posting a [[https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2021/10/20/rebecca-caine-phantom story]] story to her Instagram page about Colm Wilkinson (the Phantom) being very abusive to her, to the point of actually injuring her during that very scene.
* HilariousInHindsight: The 1937 Chinese version, ’’Song at Midnight’’, features a Phantom who is disfigured in an attack rather than born deformed; while it’s very unlikely that Western film producers were aware of it upon its release (as it didn’t receive a release outside of China until the 1990s), many subsequent versions just happened to include a similar divergence from the book.

** Some Phantom fans (or "phans") say that the makeup on Phantom is a cop-out, as it's still only [[TwoFaced over one half of his face]], but, let's be honest - a man who's good-looking on one side and like a rotting steak with an eye on the other alongside a ''partially exposed cranium'' and about as much hair as the average healthy person cleans out of their brush at the end of the month is ''still'' deformed enough to be believably outcast from Victorian society, even if he's not the "living corpse" Leroux described. (And with those conditions, being handsome on the other side tends to only make the deformity look worse.) WordOfGod says that:

* LoveToHate: The Phantom, [[JerkassWoobie while sympathetic]], is still far from a good guy. But despite his villainous qualities, audiences have absolutely loved him ever since the show opened. For some, [[DracoInLeatherPants this love causes them to forget his sins]]. For others, those sins are part of why they celebrate the character, [[EvilIsCool as he pulls of his crimes with so much style]]. Either way, he's widely regarded as the best character in the cast.

** Raoul is widely hated in the fandom, but the number of people who hate him drops dramatically when the role is played by Hadley Fraser. "I hate Raoul, but I love Hadley too much to care!" is a common refrain, as is "Hadley is the only Raoul I've ever liked!"

** Creator/PatrickWilson is also considered to be very good, even by those who hate the movie; many people consider him the only good ''part'' of the movie, or tied with Creator/MinnieDriver. And if he isn't everyone's favorite Raoul, it's probably because he's coming in second to the aforementioned Hadley Fraser.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Played with the Persian. It might seem peculiar to consider him a dark horse, since he is the narrator of the second half. But nearly every adaptation and retelling doesn’t even mention him, so it seems like he’s a sort of underdog.

* WhatAnIdiot: It still wasn't exactly smart of Christine to unmask Erik in the novel, but at least there she had the excuse that it was a full face mask. She thought he was trying to hide his identity from her and - quite rightly, all things considered - wanted to know who he was, justifiably assuming there was a perfectly normal face under there. Christine in the musical, on the other hand, whips off the mask of a man who keeps only ''half'' his face covered -- and therefore ''is probably concealing it for a very good reason''. Such as to hide a deformity, perhaps? [[TooDumbToLive And she's shocked that he starts screaming at her?]] (Though the 'little lying Delilah' and general rough handling was too much.) Oddly, the lyrics suggest she ''does'' think he's concealing his identity despite the fact it would make no sense. All of this is probably because originally, Erik ''was'' intended to have a full mask--the half-mask was a last-minute change for practical considerations, made after everything else was finished (this is also why the iconic poster has a full mask).
** The current touring version switches the IdiotBall from Christine to Erik. He removes his mask to bathe his face after loudly playing the organ, assuming that Christine will still remain asleep for a while longer. She walks up behind him, taps him on the shoulder, and gets a full view of his maskless face.
** And in the [[Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera miniseries]] too. Erik repeatedly warns her that his face is too horrifying to look at. She assures him that she loves him too much to be repulsed. He finally relents and takes his mask off. . .and it's so terrifying (though the audience never sees it) that she faints.

** The way the Phantom roughes up Christine during the final sequence gets this with actress Rebecca Caine (the first Christine in the Toronto production) posted a [[https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2021/10/20/rebecca-caine-phantom story]] to her Instagram page about Colm Wilkinson (the Phantom) being very abusive to her, to the point of actually injuring her during that very scene.

** Similarly, while most commenters like the changes that the [[https://youtu.be/QK8n7mfyg00 Hungarian]], [[https://youtu.be/bNXxFe1xz8I Finnish]], [[https://youtu.be/guRHoGPUzok Polish]], [[https://youtu.be/z5FxyzctZcQ Norwegian]], [[https://youtu.be/EF1KHk7LBWY Swedish]], and [[https://youtu.be/h4FK3eNXepA Czech]] productions make, they have a handful of detractors too.

** Fans of the show tend to either love the movie or detest it, with very little middle ground.

* NarmCharm: This show is {{melodrama}} of the highest order, with plenty of cheesy or ridiculous plot points. But between the {{spectacle}}, the gorgeous music, and the way the actors (the good ones, at least) put their whole heart and soul into every note, it's hard not to get swept up in it and enjoy it. It has had a loyal, widespread, and active fandom for ''over twenty-five years'' and counting for a reason.

* FairForItsDay: Creator/LindsayEllis considers this is the case when it comes to the Persian, she argued this in her video “The Most Whitewashed Character In History”. On one hand, to her, the original book plays right into “orientalist” stereotypes of a savage Persia. And a character called the Persian might not sit well today, even if his identity is supposed to be a secret. But the Persian himself is largely absent obvious stereotypical traits, coming across as a voice of reason and even being one of the most likeable characters in the book overall. She thinks it’s also why the Persian is nearly always AdaptedOut, DemotedToExtra, or retroactively stereotyped, making it hold up even better.

* WhatAnIdiot: It still wasn't exactly smart of Christine to unmask Erik in the novel, but at least there she had the excuse that it was a full face mask. She thought he was trying to hide his identity from her and - quite rightly, all things considered - wanted to know who he was, justifiably assuming there was a perfectly normal face under there. Christine in the musical, on the other hand, whips off the mask of a man who keeps only ''half'' his face covered - and therefore ''is probably concealing it for a very good reason''. Such as to hide a deformity, perhaps? [[TooDumbToLive And she's shocked that he starts screaming at her?]] (Though the 'little lying Delilah' and general rough handling was too much.) Oddly, the lyrics suggest she ''does'' think he's concealing his identity despite the fact it would make no sense. All of this is probably because originally, Erik ''was'' intended to have a full mask--the half-mask was a last-minute change for practical considerations, made after everything else was finished (this is also why the iconic poster has a full mask).

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine, Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022),[[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]], followed by Kanisha Marie Feliciano as both Broadway's second and Broadway's first Latina. (as the understudy to Ms. Koautchou), Beatrice Penny Toure as London's second (as an understudy to Ms. St. Louis), and Jem as London's first black Raoul (though he too is an understudy rather than the chief actor).

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine, Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022),[[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]] Beatrice Penny Toure as London's second (as an understudy to Ms. St. Louis), and Jem as London's first black Raoul (though he too is an understudy rather than the chief actor). Kanisha Marie Feliciano will be Broadway's second when she joins the cast in May 2022.

* FriendlyFandoms: The title song and the musical in general are well-regarded among SymphonicMetal fans (a genre known for vocalists trained in opera and musical theatre), particularly after Music/{{Nightwish}} included a celebrated CoverVersion of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgLKXD-BoY "The Phantom of the Opera"]] on their fourth album ''Century Child''.

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine, Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022),[[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]] Beatrice Penny Toure as London's second (as an understudy to Ms. St. Louis), and Jem as London's first black Raoul (though he too is an understudy rather than the chief actor).

* {{Narm}}:
** The "Point of No Return" scene where Phantom sings a song of seduction, while dressed head to toe in a cloak.
** The 1986 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2zxzaWgVRA pitch video]] is almost an UnintentionalPeriodPiece and is relatively forgotten despite making to #7 in the charts. There are power chords throughout the song and random pythons in the video. Raoul has a mullet. The Phantom is played by Steve Harley. Doubles as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness due to the lyrics and musical style being changed from borderline Rock Opera to more of a traditional musical. Harley's version is a LargeHam who starts shouting at the end. Harley worked for five months on the part and was [[ThePeteBest switched at the last minute for Michael Crawford]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHY2rBKo5IQ "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA IS NOW YOUR MASTERMIND! I AM HERE INSIDE YOUR MIND! I AM EVERYWHERE! YOU'RE IN MY POWER! SING! SING!"]]
** The "mirror bride" bit. It's just. . . weird. It's been eliminated from the US tour and the 25th Anniversary concert, but this has resulted in further Narm--Christine's fainting is now abrupt and inexplicable.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The opera house explosion at the end of the Creator/JoelSchumacher film immediately brings to mind a late-1990s UsefulNotes/PlayStation FMV cutscene.

* ReplacementScrappy:
** Inverted. Raoul is widely hated in the fandom, but the number of people who hate him drops dramatically when the role is played by Hadley Fraser. "I hate Raoul, but I love Hadley too much to care!" is a common refrain, as is "Hadley is the only Raoul I've ever liked!"

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine, Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022), and Beatrice Penny Toure as London's second (as an understudy to Ms. St. Louis. [[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]]

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine and Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022) [[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]]

* RonTheDeathEater: Expect Raoul to get hit with this by the '''largely''' Erik/Christine shipping fanbase, who make Raoul out to be a horrible person to Christine (before ''Love Never Dies'' technically made it canon), despite the fact that Erik himself definitely has plenty of his own issues as well...

* TheScrappy: Raoul might be one of the least popular heroes in all of literature, being jealous and possessive of Christine even before they're actually dating, not being particularly intelligent, and even berating her on occasion.

*** The show reopened after the pandemic-forced shutdown with Lucy St. Louis as London's first black Christine and Emilie Koautchou as Broadway's (although she was initially the alternate rather than the main one, she will take over as the main Christine on January 26, 2022) [[note]] Neither is the first overall, however, as a black actress played Christine in the South African production [[/note]]