I celebrated the winter solstice with my husband and kids this year by seeing Phantom Of The Opera at the Grande Theater in Hangzhou. I've seen most of the film adaptations but never thought much about them as they all seemed a little slow and boring to me. (Apologies if you love them!) I didn't know the original story was a serial written by Gaston Leroux published in 1909-1910. I might try to read it so I can compare with the films and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical. I have to say the ALW theatrical version is my favorite and I'm so glad I got to see it. The movies really fall flat in comparison. Even the adaptations of the broadway hit with the same songs. So interesting to me how one series written so long ago can withstand the test of time and continue to get remade over and over without succumbing to the mediocrity of most of them. Thats' a good story!
