In the dark, I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. As I heard Michael Crawford sing the words that broke my heart, “Christine, I love you!” I thought “How miserably sad, and yet… how incredibly wonderful and exquisite!”
My introduction to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s world-renowned musical was really quite mediocre if one thinks about it. Yet, the feelings that it evoked would ultimately lead me on the path I would take towards my destiny. The day after listening to the music I went to the library and promptly checked out every single book with the words “Phantom of the Opera” in the title. I devoured the original novel as well as Susan Kay’s “Phantom” within a day, and could not stop listening to the music. I suppose that I was what people think of as obsessed. I did not see it that way. Somehow, I felt that the story was very personal, as if there was some secret hidden within that was meant for me only, and I had to discover what that secret was. That summer, I listened to the entire recording every night, following the words with the libretto in George Perry’s “The Complete Phantom of the Opera”, and pausing whenever staging or written dialogue occurred. I cried every time! I also decided to begin not only singing, but also ballet and French lessons. That was a very busy summer for me! By the time the summer reached its end, I had made remarkable progress, and my teachers were beginning to sense that I knew more than I let on. It was about this time that my father told me the one thing I longed with all my heart and soul to hear. “The Phantom of the Opera” was coming to Denver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not have been more ecstatic! I lived for the next 3 months only for that night. I had no idea that that night would bring more than just the most thrilling experience of my life.
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