Up Close with the Phantom

My little girl , now a grown up at 15, had an obsession for the Phantom of the Opera. It was quite odd as that dark love story juxtaposed alongside her Teletubbies, Barbie and Barney shows. I think she pursued it with more intent than her dress up paperdolls, nursery rhymes and origami art. She had this penchant for origami too that at one point she was known in school as "that freaky origami girl". The "Phantom" however was so strongly tied to her little self that I then wished to bring her to see the musical one day. The day finally came this month. We brought her to see the musical at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and her whole being lit up. She was her seven-year-old self once again.

Here's her review:

A Little Girl’s Dream Come True

It was around two o’clock when we left our place. The sky was pale gray, with streaks of sunlight struggling past the thick clouds that covered the sky of Manila. The car moved slowly, or at least that’s how slow I thought it felt for me.

On our way, a memory came back to me. It happened about eight years ago in 2004. It was one fine afternoon, the sky was as gray as this one, the trees danced along with the wind as I sat inside our house back in Iloilo. My parents decided to watch a movie, a musical, titled, “The Phantom of the Opera.” To my then 7 year old mind, the title was as strange and intimidating as the graphics of the video case. Yet we did watch it anyway. I remember sitting silently beside my mama looking so dazed at the actors singing. For some reason, we didn’t get to finish it but since my mind grew curious after seeing the first half, I watched it alone the next day. As the movie came to an end, I remember feeling sad because it didn’t have a happy ending, however along with it came the early realization that sometimes not all beautiful things have to have beautiful endings.

Slowly, I took the DVD in my hands gripping it as I marched out of the room, stomping my feet and exclaimed to mama, “Someday I am going to revise that movie!” To my surprise, my mama just nodded and said, “You probably will, someday.” “I know I will.” I said with an assuring tone that I would someday. After that, watching the movie became my everyday habit that people in the house thought I was strange.

When we moved to Cebu, I opened my eyes to reality- there was more to life than just watching the same movie over and over again. I had to do something for a change and change meant exploring other things and interests beyond my “Phantom” addiction. As years passed, I went on with my life completely forgetting about that movie and everything related to it. Things like roses would sometimes remind me of it, yet it was never really strong enough to make me love it again. I guess it’s safe to say that I grew out of my seven – year – old self. Things like that do happen, it was normal; and for eight years my life had been normal – almost too normal that I didn’t like it.

Mama as she later told me, then said to herself that she would make me watch the real play or the theater version of the Phantom of the Opera when we would have a chance to someday. So, when news came that the touring production of the musical will perform in Manila, my mama was ecstatic! She knew I had to watch it! (Thanks for the tickets and everything Pa!) When we saw the commercial on television, Mama sprang from her seat and clapped her hands like a kid who received the largest piece of candy on a normal day. “Remember when you used to be obsessed about that when you were a kid? You would watch it every single day, looking at the TV so dazed, singing along the high notes with the lines all memorized?” she said looking at me like I was a seven – year – old little girl again.

I laughed to that distant memory in my mind. I remember singing “Angel of Music” alone in my room, looking at the mirror and wondering if the Phantom was standing there on the other side. Somehow, I felt like that little girl again; that little girl who sang Phantom songs, that little girl who had a dream.

Weeks later, after unearthing the old overplayed DVD, I found myself watching the movie again. To my surprise, I still remembered the sequence of the movie perfectly, every little detail, with the lines and lyrics memorized, from beginning to end. While watching, I recalled telling my mama that I would someday redirect the movie. That thought amused me yet amazed me at the same time because I never expected myself to be that big of a dreamer then. Most of girls my age wanted to live in palaces wearing pretty dresses and falling in love with their prince and live happily ever after, whereas I thought about revising the ending of a movie because I hated how it ended.

When the car pulled up at the back entrance of the CCP Theatre, I felt my heart skip a beat. Mama and I walked ahead inside with my feet shaking because of the three-inched snake skin pumps she lent me. My bangles rattled as I pulled my hair back, trying to look composed and calm as all the other guests. We made our way through the winding stairs, up to the floor where the gallery of the history of the production was. Costumes were set along the sides enclosed in velvet ropes. Chandeliers made out of shells hung from the ceiling gleamed under the bright golden yellow light above. As I surveyed the costumes that line up the hall, my heart beat faster. I felt nervous, because it was my first time to watch a real musical; I wasn’t sure if I would like it. But since ‘The Phantom” was my favorite, I had to keep that thought off my mind.

As my Papa motioned from across the hall to tell us it was about to start, we walked inside the theatre and took our seats. At that moment, all I had to do was wait - it was about to play.. and within moments .. the first scene. Slowly the live orchestra played as the lights started to dim. When the elaborate chandelier was raised, I had goose bumps as there it was - my glorious dream, in music and motion, coming alive. The actors sang and pranced around the stage. Their movements graceful and flawless as the theatre came alive with the music. Written by the genius Andrew Lloyd Webber, the orchestra played the songs beautifully; every note, every word was perfect. Before this, I never thought that this experience would mean so much, even more than material things to me.

I turned to mama, who smiled at me with peace and pure happiness. She held my hand and looked at me as if I were seven years old again; the same seven year old daughter who sang her the songs and who spoke the lines that echoed before us. Softly she must have said, “My little girl’s dream came true.”