> But at the same time, Gerrard Butler can't sing. And the Phantom is
> described as a prodigy, a genius, whose mind and voice completely
> overshadow his physical appearance to those he chooses to reveal himself
> to. In this case, he reveals himself to Christine, and quite literally
> ensnares her with the power of his voice. Michael Crawford, I feel, was
> not the best choice of Phantom, simply because he holds a lot of vocal
> tension in his higher range, but it was not a fatal blow because his lower
> range, which he uses when seducing Christine, is entirely relaxed, and
> does feel rather like an open embrace.

> While the Phantom is clearly attracted to Christine physically, his
> character is not "raw sexuality." The Phantom is a gentleman. A
> misguided, possibly evil gentleman, depending on your take on him, but a
> gentleman nonetheless. Gerrard Butler's acting skills do not even begin to
> display his refinement, and his voice is gravelly in the low range, and
> strained in the high range. There is nothing seductive or genius about it.
> Also, it takes a very long time to gain strong control over the voice. The
> average male voice does not reach maturity until age 35, and if it is not
> trained until then, it may never reach the level of control needed for a
> role like The Phantom, which requires great vocal nuance. Gerrard Butler,
> sadly, lacks this nuance, on account of his lack of training, and it
> detracts from the overall film.

> I found Emmy Rossum as Christine to be weak. Enjoyable, yes, beautiful,
> yes, controlled, yes, but weak. I believe part of this had to do with a
> misguided character interpretation - that Christine is not the opera star
> that Carlotta is, and therefore has a lighter, airier voice. However, this
> analysis leaves out one important detail: Christine is being trained by
> the Phantom, who is a genius. Mme. Giry mentions that "she has been
> well taught." In Christine's first aria, "Think Of Me," she
> is breathy, and gives off an anaemic sound. Granted, Christine's voice is
> meant to be much lighter than Carlotta's - but light and breathy are two
> different things. One is a description of vocal timbre, the other shows
> bad voice production.

> Like you, however, I enjoyed Patrick Wilson's performance. I felt that his
> voice was well-cast for Raoul, and that he was the best-cast character in
> the show. I felt he was well balanced, vocally, and had at least enough
> believable chemistry with his Christine to keep the audience in the
> romance.

I found the casting and performances of all characters in this film to be pleasing at best. Given the circumstances (i.e. the incredibly large budget) I thought the producers could have made better choices. However, I realize that these roles were hard ones to find the appropriate singer for. "Christine" 's overall performance was fair. She had a decent voice and relatively good acting skills. I thought that "Think of Me" was her best performance in the movie. I found that her worst performance was "The Point of No Return". When she had to hit the low notes, I thought it sounded similar to one of my class mates clearing their throats.

The rest of the performances were fair, but again the overall lack of training of all persons cast was disappointing and in my opinion kept this movie from being all it could.