The Tao of BrookeAllie

For months I had gleefully put the thought of Andrew LLoyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera out of my mind. I consider myself to be a Webber phangirl and I find that Webber’s latest installment to the phantom franchise defiles everything that the original stood for (although I can’t help but feel a small satisfaction at what I believe to be Christine’s comeuppance at the end of the musical).

The plot of the story makes the epilogue to Harry Potter seem like a literary masterpiece. I am sure that Gaston Leroux is turning in his grave because of what the Lord has done to his characters. As an avid Erik-lover I always wished Christine would have let him kill Raoul and had allowed herself to be whisked away, but I wished for that ending in my alternate phan-loving way. I turn to fanfiction for those happy endings, and alas that is what this musical seems like. A soap opera train wreck. 

The end of The Phantom of the Opera will always be the tragic end to Erik’s story and the lone spotlight shining upon the iconic mask.  

I usually only regard the MPAA ratings for horror movies, not because I am worried about the content, mind you, the gorier the movie the better. The MPAA has some ridiculous reasons for their ratings, and horror movies are where on

e usually gets the silliest ratings reasons. I was looking at Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which earned a pg rating because of…drum roll…”fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.” Do they really need to go that into detail? I think it makes them silly.

I will admit that I have not watched a full season of American Idol since Kelly Clarkson won a place in America’s heart. I will watch the audition rounds to see Simon crush the dreams of the deluded public (Schadenfreude, you know that you to are guilty), but overall, I am just not entertained. When I tune into the radio I can almost always identify an American Idol alumni because they all sound alike. Let’s face there is more diversity amongst the cast of High School Musical than there is on Idol.

American Idol is getting stale, and is in desperate need of a revamp. Why must all the contestants be beautiful people? Why must we get drilled by constant pop numbers? If American Idol opened itself up to a larger range of people and music it would be far more entertaining.

I was among the many who cried when Susan Boyle took the stage on “Britain’s got talent.” The woman has broken numerous album sales, and has generated an adoring global fanbase. A musician is made up of many things, talent and image being the two most important. There are many artists who have an amazing image, but really no talent (*cough*Madonna*cough*). I am not saying that it is wrong for American Idol to cast on image and charisma, but why can they not allow the talented “uglies” as well?

I think that America is ready for more diverse Idol options. I say bring on the uglies because the beautiful people are becoming downright dull.