The Point of No Return Is On Loop In My Head

This, ladies and gentleman, is Mr Ramin Karimloo: The voice that's been looping in my head for the whole week.

Yeah, I know. I didn't know that The Phantom was so hot underneath that mask either. 

And the last part of the song? CHILLS. Personally, I was always Team Raoul. Sure he was vanilla and a little bit of a mama's boy but I just...liked him. We can blame it on the part where he goes, "Anywhere you go, let me go too..". But after watching Love Never Dies, I was Team Erik all the way. It may have something to do with the fact that Ramin was the Phantom. I mean, LOOK AT HIM. And LISTEN TO THAT VOICE. 

Sierra's not too shabby either. I LOVE HER. 

I first knew about Sierra when she was cast as Ariel in the Broadway production for The Little Mermaid. I was able to catch the bootleg for the musical and she was simply divine. She was so much like Ariel that Jodi Benson would be proud. And when I found out that she was Christine, it just blew my mind.

Now, The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was magical. And I may have played it for the 3rd time today. Maybe it's because I'm biased and I'll pretty much lap up anything and everything to do with POTO but something about the production made it simply magical. Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo took on Christine and The Phantom and I must say, apart from having Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford reprise the roles that they originated, I don't think two other people could have done a better job.

Sierra and Ramin have not only played their respective roles in productions prior to this 25th anniversary celebration, but they also originated the roles for Christine and The Phantom in Love Never Dies, the tragical sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I say tragical because it really is not as bad as people say it is but somehow, the musical received so much negative press that it ended before it truly managed to lift off. I managed to watch the bootleg for Love Never Dies on YouTube before the channel was taken down due to copyright reasons and I must say, I LOVED IT. 

The music was so beau-freaking-tiful that it may just bring tears to your eyes. And to have these two, who already have history together in Love Never Dies, to come back to play the younger version of their characters, it was truly spectacular. 

I love that the camera was allowed to zoom in on their facial expressions. We are able to see angles that would have otherwise be considered unknown when you sit in the audience. And there were times when you could hear Sierra and Ramin's voices be slightly not pitch-perfect. I feel that that adds more to the rawness of the performance and adds more to the emotions.

And the ending, where Andrew Lloyd Webber came out. And Michael Crawford came out. AND SARAH BRIGHTMAN CAME OUT. AND SANG.

GAH.

*starts to flail*

It was just magical. And I just love this musical so MUCH. SO MUCH.

And yeah. The DVD and album will be out in March and Amazon is torturing me with the discounted pre-sale booking but I SHALL RESIST. *Resolute face*

Also, I don't really know how to end this, so I'm just going to give you a video of Sierra and Ramin being all adorable.




P.S. I'm looking for the bootleg for LND again. I stupidly deleted it after I ripped it off YouTube because I thought there'd be a better version but sadly there hasn't been one. Anyone who can help me with this, I'll pay you if it means I can get the full version :(