Korean Cast Album

Written by Jonathan Sadler

The Korean cast album stars Yoon Young-Seok as the Phantom, Lee Hye-Kyoung as Christine, and Ryu Jung-Han as Raoul. (At least, that's what I'm assuming, since that's the order in which the names are listed.) It's a single-disk highlights recording in Korean. The song list is a tad unusual, you'll notice:
1. Prologue
2. Overture
3. The Dress Rehearsal of Hannibal
4. Think of Me
5. The Phantom of the Opera
6. The Music of the Night
7. Prima Donna
8. All I Ask of You
9. Entr'acte
10. Masquerade
11. In Sleep He Sang to Me
12. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
13. The Point of No Return
14. The Phantom's Lair
The cd insert offers the lyrics in Korean, and a handful of pictures.

Song titles and the entire cover are in English. The cd itself has the logo mask printed on it, and the jewel case comes in a four-sided outer sleeve. Brownie points for nice presentation.

"The Prologue" takes it from "Lot 666." No Raoul, just the Auctioneer. "Hannibal" gets the standard treatment, ending at "Hannibal comes," relying solely on the music rather than continuing into the plot dialogue.

"Think of Me" is quite lovely. Christine starts out very timidly and then audibly builds in confidence towards her triumph, while remaining charmingly sweet and playfully lyrical throughout. Ms. Lee has a delightful voice that dances and soars, being strong without belting. It befits the character quite well.

Korean Cast CD

At this point in the album, you'll get mental whiplash. It dives right into the title song without introducing the Phantom in "Angel of Music/The Mirror." It's rather an unusual experience to have the Phantom's first appearance be when he follows Christine in the duet. It's almost shockingly undramatic. Once you get beyond that, it's once again a pretty standard treatment of the song. Mr. Yoon's voice is nice and quite reminiscent of Masachika Ichimura on the first Japanese recording, but a little deeper and richer, and slightly less gentle, although not necessarily in the dark or dangerous sense. All in all, it's your average title song, devoid of surprises.

"Music of the Night" also proceeds without delivering any surprises. Mr. Yoon seems to have to reach a little to be able to hit the low note, but it's undistracting and easily forgivable. His low tenor voice is on par with other Phantoms-- strong, yet gentle. For the "floating, falling" verse, the song slows slightly, which I've always preferred. It's a nice rendition of the song, neither particularly memorable nor the least bit offensive.

"Prima Donna" is where the Korean company finally starts experimenting, allowing it to stand apart from others. They play with the timing with a masterful use of rubato, letting the music hang in mid-air and then sweep itself away. Firmin's voice is weirdly gritty in the extreme, giving the character a sleazy interpretation the likes of which I've never heard. It's different, but I can't say that I dislike it. It gives the managers two extremely different vocal personalities, which is particularly important on a recording. During "Prima Donna," the cast blends together magnificently. During most renditions, this song is utterly destroyed as voices battle for domination and collapse into a hopeless cacophony. But the Korean cast (or at least the sound mixers) finds a good balance and harmony. I might feel differently if I understood the language, of course; but musically, I love it.

"All I Ask of You" is very tender and loving, not too playful or cliche. It's very pleasant to listen to. Mr. Ryu's deep, rich voice is excellent for Raoul. Once again, we're given a Raoul with great potential to be a Phantom. His Raoul is strong and protective, yet soft and adoring. The song begins and ends with the "AIAoY" music, rather than going into "I must go" or the Phantom's reprise. It's a tragic shame to miss that, but I suppose they wanted the song to be able to stand alone, instead of being an obvious piece of a musical. With five second breaks between tracks, letting songs be distinct is certainly a powerfully evident theme throughout this recording, with the exceptions of "PoNR" and "Masquerade."

"Masquerade" avoids shooting right into the song, and starts with the managers bumping into each other. I couldn't help but smile at their accents here. "Moo-syoo Firmin?" "Mee-shee Andre?" "Ohhhh." It's very cute. "Masquerade" is appropriately charming and lively. Again, it ends before the Phantom's arrival.

"In Sleep He Sang to Me." Why is this its own track? As before, I suppose they wanted to let "WYWSHA" stand alone without an introduction. It's still puzzling, though. "I gave you my music" would have been a far more welcome choice to fill the leftover time, I think. Wishing is very nice, but unremarkable. It displays Ms. Lee's beautiful voice well, especially with her powerful crescendo at the end.

"The Point of No Return" is darkly intense, sexily starting slow and then building in speed and passion. The duet at the end falls off a bit, and fails to be as sexy as they could have made it. It's very well done, but all-in-all on par with any other good rendition. So my quest for the perfect "PoNR" continues! For once on this recording, they didn't cut off the song at the end. The Phantom is allowed to profess his love and to get unmasked without the track changing. I was pleased about that, and thankful that they didn't cut the climax out of the musical.

The final lair is where the album at last takes off and offers its uniqueness. It's intense and emotional. Ms. Lee's Christine is confident and outraged. Mr. Yoon's Phantom is angry and passionate. And impressively, the orchestra declares that it, too, is a character in this scene! The music carries the scene along in a way that I've never heard before. It's subtle, but distinctively different. The organ squeals with a fiery fury before the dark, low strings take over and angrily loom. Then the music slows and lets the suspense and tension quietly build. A trembling Phantom emotionally reveals the story of his tragic childhood until his self-pity draws him to angrily boom at Christine. But she stands up to him bravely. On Raoul's arrival, the orchestra fiercely grabs our attention, shakes us up, and slams us into the ground with the tympani's sharp thud. The music never leaves the actors stranded, but pushes them to even greater heights than even their magnificent acting and singing could take them. Meanwhile, Raoul and Christine bravely stand up to the Phantom, whose rage and despair are strong enough to dominate them both. By the end, he even manages to be scary. When Christine returns the ring, it's perfectly heartbreaking. The Phantom is so quiet and sad. Then the music again quiets and slows to hang tentatively on a note, before releasing us into the finality of Erik's hopelessness. He quietly repeats Christine's name to himself as she and Raoul sing so lovingly to each other behind him. I simply adore how they sing; unlike any other rendition I can recall, it's neither sad nor happy. It's as if they've already forgotten Erik and are at last in each other's arms forever, lost to the world as true lovers always are. But the Phantom loudly sings his last words, a proud declaration of his life and love, and a sublime release from his bitterness, anger, and sadness.

This final lair is right up there with the best of them, and makes the recording a worthwhile addition to a collection.

The Korean Cast Album is available at Dress Circle, http://www.dresscircle.co.uk/.