I have never seen the Crawford version of The Phantom of the Opera but I have heard the music that goes along with it. Personally I don't see what the big fuss is about. Crawford's voice is very monotone and he has no emotion whatsoever. When I first heard Crawford's rendition of Music of the Night, I had never heard Gerard Butler sing it and I was still disgusted. Crawford holds no emotion and definately no seduction in his voice. The Music of the Night is supposed to be the most romantic song that the Phantom sings and yet I found myself wrinkling my nose and plugging my ears. How can anyone be seduced by THAT? However, when Butler sang, I felt as if he had captured my entire soul. His voice poured out all of the love and desire that is meant to be in that song. When Butler sang the words "close your eyes let your spirit start, to soar..." I couldn't help but let my eyes drift shut. Watching the movie was the first time that I had ever heard the ending to The Music of the Night because I had to turn it off before Crawford could damage my ears permanately.
Past the Point of No Return is another good example of Butler's triumph over Crawford. The music for this opera is very seductive and dark. The Phantom's voice is supposed to portray that darkness and power over Christine, Butler achieved that. The way that Butler can deepen his voice and allow raw emotion and longing to rush forward caputures and demands the attention of all who have the pleasure to hear him. Never has Crawford's voice evoked that kind of reaction from me and I heard his version of the song before I even heard Butler's.
Crawford was and always will be the original Phantom of the Opera, I'm not denying that and Butler was never trying to change that; he knew that when he went in for the audition that he could never be the original. But it is a lie to say that Butler didn't do one hell of a job at the Phantom. His voice conveys every emotion that is required for the broken Phantom; anger, love, hate, pain, passion, mystery, and shattered hope. For being as untrained as Butler was when he walked onto the set, he did a wonderful job as Butler has a beautiful voice and he was an astounding Phantom, very pleasant to watch.:) He was a very imposing and cut a nice figure on screen.