So my favourite part of Phantom is and has always been the title song – The actual song called “The Phantom of the Opera”. It’s the song that first lit the fire of my obsession, even before I’d actually seen the show for the first time or knew really anything about the story. Eventually seeing the staging of that scene only added to the thrill and made me love it even more. But it was the song itself that first captured my heart and imagination.

It’s always struck me, though, that this never seemed to make sense to anyone but me. It always seems to have struck others, even other Phans, as weird that I should love that particular song so much. As one friend asked me in response to my habit of listening to the Title Song over and over again, “I thought the whole show meant everything to you?” And it did/does! I did and do love the whole show! But, that song has always somehow just seemed to me to encapsulate what I love about the ALW stage-version in particular, and about the whole POTO idiom in general. But until very recently, I couldn’t articulate why.

Note: for the full article, check out my Substack!