I think your comments are the soundtrack recording are way off base. I think the soundtrack recording is magnificent. Gerard Butler is no great singer, but than again the Phantom is not supposed to be all that talented to begin with (remember how horrible his opera is?).
As for his age? The Phantom should not be 60, 70, or 80 or however old Crawford is. He is waaaay too old, get over it. Gerard Butler was the correct age. He is NOT Christine's father, but his age is close enough. Christine is 16 or 17 or 18 at the most. Gerard is probably in his late 30s which means he can be her father. So, you are are wrong there. Webber always wanted a rock voice for the Phantom and that is what he got. So you are wrong again.

You have clearly never read the book and have largely misunderstood the musical as a result. The Phantom's opera is not meant to be "horrible" at all. The negative reactions to it are supposed to show the stupidity and baseness of Carlotta and others, but his music is described as being almost too beautiful. And Phantom not being talented? His voice is described as posessing superhuman beauty great enough to hypnotise a young singer not to mention the number of times he is called a musical genious. Christine is not nearly as young as you wish her to be, she is 20 years old at LEAST, possibly two or three years older. These are all elements of the novel that ALW never changed or contradicted in his interpretation so your comments have no foundation whatsoever, unlike the reviewers.

> I think your comments are the soundtrack recording are way off base. I
> think the soundtrack recording is magnificent. Gerard Butler is no great
> singer, but than again the Phantom is not supposed to be all that talented
> to begin with (remember how horrible his opera is?).
> As for his age? The Phantom should not be 60, 70, or 80 or however old
> Crawford is. He is waaaay too old, get over it. Gerard Butler was the
> correct age. He is NOT Christine's father, but his age is close enough.
> Christine is 16 or 17 or 18 at the most. Gerard is probably in his late
> 30s which means he can be her father. So, you are are wrong there. Webber
> always wanted a rock voice for the Phantom and that is what he got. So you
> are wrong again.