Complete Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Edition

I noticed some time ago that there will be another Complete POTO book but it's by author Michael Heatley. Does anyone have any further information on this? Will it differ much from the Complete POTO book by George Perry?? I see that it's on pre-order right now and it will be released I think in April. Is this the same book that came with the 25th Anniversary set available in the UK (Royal Albert Hall)?

Devon wrote:I noticed some time ago that there will be another Complete POTO book but it's by author Michael Heatley. Does anyone have any further information on this? Will it differ much from the Complete POTO book by George Perry?? I see that it's on pre-order right now and it will be released I think in April. Is this the same book that came with the 25th Anniversary set available in the UK (Royal Albert Hall)?

Oh, thanks so much for the heads up! Yes, it looks like what was in the boxset. That's a relief, since I wanted the book but had no intention of buying that overpriced boxset. The release date according to Amazon is 26 April. Here's the link to the page for the book on Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Opera-Michael-Heatley/dp/1862059748/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I394NDJ6IQYHHP&colid=1BE68PU9KRLUQ

Scorp wrote:

Devon wrote:I noticed some time ago that there will be another Complete POTO book but it's by author Michael Heatley. Does anyone have any further information on this? Will it differ much from the Complete POTO book by George Perry?? I see that it's on pre-order right now and it will be released I think in April. Is this the same book that came with the 25th Anniversary set available in the UK (Royal Albert Hall)?

Oh, thanks so much for the heads up! Yes, it looks like what was in the boxset. That's a relief, since I wanted the book but had no intention of buying that overpriced boxset. The release date according to Amazon is 26 April. Here's the link to the page for the book on Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Opera-Michael-Heatley/dp/1862059748/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I394NDJ6IQYHHP&colid=1BE68PU9KRLUQ

Yes, me too. I didn't want to have to dish out THAT much money so I am happy the book can be purchased separately! :-)
I saw the month of April but forgot the rest...lol Thanks for posting the actual date of release Scorp!!

Oh Wow! LOL this makes me feel better about not going for the box-set. Will it be available then in the U.S. and Canada too or can us North Americans just order from the U.K. site? LOL How does that work? :-) Thanks!

Phantom Shadowwalker wrote:Oh Wow! LOL this makes me feel better about not going for the box-set. Will it be available then in the U.S. and Canada too or can us North Americans just order from the U.K. site? LOL How does that work? :-) Thanks!

I am assuming that we can all order from the UK Amazon site!

Had an email from Amazon this afternoon to let me know that this book has been released earlier than expected. Should have my copy sometime next week, hopefully!

So has anyone bothered getting this yet? What's it like?

I have it, and I wasn't all that impressed as it's too similar to the original book in content. It has chapters about Leroux, the novel and the Lon Chany film, as well as the libretto, just like George Perry's book. The inclusion of the libretto is completely unnecessary (it's the original, and I now have about four copies knocking about in different formats), and used space which would have been better filled with more information about the show, since that's what is being celebrated and there's not much that's new here at all. I would have loved more than just one page of Maria's costume designs, for example.

There are (inevitably) sections on LND and the 2004 movie, plus brief chapters on Phantom around the world and the 25th anniversary itself (which is illustrated with a full page photo of Ramin and Sierra from LND, presumably because the book is unchanged from its publication for inclusion with the 25th anniversary box set, hence no pictures from the RAH show).

It's a nice package, lavishly illustrated, but you will probably have seen it all before.

charleygirl wrote:I have it, and I wasn't all that impressed as it's too similar to the original book in content. It has chapters about Leroux, the novel and the Lon Chany film, as well as the libretto, just like George Perry's book. The inclusion of the libretto is completely unnecessary (it's the original, and I now have about four copies knocking about in different formats), and used space which would have been better filled with more information about the show, since that's what is being celebrated and there's not much that's new here at all. I would have loved more than just one page of Maria's costume designs, for example.

There are (inevitably) sections on LND and the 2004 movie, plus brief chapters on Phantom around the world and the 25th anniversary itself (which is illustrated with a full page photo of Ramin and Sierra from LND, presumably because the book is unchanged from its publication for inclusion with the 25th anniversary box set, hence no pictures from the RAH show).

It's a nice package, lavishly illustrated, but you will probably have seen it all before.

Is the text the same as George Perry's or is it completely different?

Scorp wrote:
Is the text the same as George Perry's or is it completely different?

Different. Perry goes into much more detail.

charleygirl wrote:

Scorp wrote:
Is the text the same as George Perry's or is it completely different?

Different. Perry goes into much more detail.

Any nice production/advertising images or post-1988 stuff that might make the book worth getting?

Otherwise maybe I should just avoid. I want to start purging my collection of anything to do with the 2004 movie, starting with that god-awful soundtrack which I don't even listen to.

Scorp wrote:

Any nice production/advertising images or post-1988 stuff that might make the book worth getting?

There are plenty of photos of the 2011 London cast, a couple of which I'd not seen before, and it's nice to have the full pictures in contrast to the collage layouts of the souvenir brochures. A double page spread of the Vegas auditorium and flying chandeliers is good, too, and there are some very small reproductions of various posters from Her Majesty's over the years. That's pretty much it.

I wish they'd bring out a book that concentrates solely on the show, its conception and success, jettisoning all the extraneous stuff. If you took out all the 'extras' in this one, you'd be left with barely half its length.

I decided to finally get ahold of this book; and was a bit skeptical of it being too similar to the Perry version.

That beign said, I was surprised to see your review of sorts not really like it; I loved it, and felt it had plenty of new content (both visually and text wise) to justify owning.

The Perry book is classic, and is great if you want to know about the original london/broadway production; but the 25th anniversary edition packs more of a punch, in my opinion. Although breif the section of Phantom in Vegas was a great addition, and that whole two page spread detailed with the the photograph of the lavish custom built theater was a perfect way to capture the atmosphere of the now closed production. I also really enjoyed small sections on the non-replica productions as well.

The pages that contain all the poster artwork (including international productions) was great; love seeing the different designs. I will say the Perry book featured more on Bjornson, but this book did have a page of her deisgns, not included in the Perry book (mostly of the lesser known Masquerade characters)

I also liked how the Liberetto was updated, by dropping that godawful peach-toned background, and included some great, never-before-seen, pictures of the 2011 London cast, some getting entire pages.
This version also had more detail/history on Gaston Leroux, and a wonderful section on the Paris Opera house itself , really love the picture of the chandelier being lowered down to floor level.

My only problem with the Perry book is it has an overwhelmingly 80's feel to it, that makes it feel dated; BUT I will say if you're more prone to wanting to know more about the original london/broadway production the Perry book is more suited for you; I just liked the overall feel of the 25th anniversary edition more than I did the Perry book.

I bought a copy of the 25th anniversary edition a month ago and have to say that it's a nice supplement to the original Perry. I could do without the incessant promoting of LND and the 2004 movie in every new product related to the original production, but that's just me.

R.

Raphael wrote:I bought a copy of the 25th anniversary edition a month ago and have to say that it's a nice supplement to the original Perry. I could do without the incessant promoting of LND and the 2004 movie in every new product related to the original production, but that's just me.

R.

Nope, it's not just you.

Ditto for me on all the above. I purchased this book too, and overall it's a welcome addition to my POTO collection.

Raphael and Rachel did you both buy it from the UK site? Seems like a copy is worth it, also maybe I can convince the library I work for to get one too

Phantom245w44st wrote:Raphael and Rachel did you both buy it from the UK site? Seems like a copy is worth it, also maybe I can convince the library I work for to get one too

Hi Phantom245! Nice to see you here...and it was nice to meet you in NYC on Friday.

Yeah, if I remember correctly I did get it from the UK site.

Raphael wrote:I bought a copy of the 25th anniversary edition a month ago and have to say that it's a nice supplement to the original Perry. I could do without the incessant promoting of LND and the 2004 movie in every new product related to the original production, but that's just me.

R.

See, I'm not sure I'd like that... Can't make up my mind on whether I want this or not.

Operafantomet also told me that they haven't updated the libretto to reflect the version performed on stage now, which is disappointing.

Raphael wrote:I bought a copy of the 25th anniversary edition a month ago and have to say that it's a nice supplement to the original Perry. I could do without the incessant promoting of LND and the 2004 movie in every new product related to the original production, but that's just me.

R.

That sums it up for me as well. I finally got around to getting a very inexpensive used copy on Amazon. There are a few pictures I hadn't seen, the reproduced letter from Alan Jay Lerner was nice, etc.. I don't mind that the 2004 movie and LND were included in the first place. I could do without them entirely, but they exist and they're a part of Phantom history now...it just seems a disproportionate amount about them considering the relatively small size of the book.

I'm glad to have the book since it was cheap, but it could have been SO much better.

NightRachel wrote:

Raphael wrote:I bought a copy of the 25th anniversary edition a month ago and have to say that it's a nice supplement to the original Perry. I could do without the incessant promoting of LND and the 2004 movie in every new product related to the original production, but that's just me.

R.

Nope, it's not just you.  

Ditto for me on all the above. I purchased this book too, and overall it's a welcome addition to my POTO collection.

Totally not just you. And I also ditto what's said. I never made an effort to purchase the book around the anniversary, but I bought it when I stumbled across it in London in January. It's a nice supplement indeed. The Perry one is one I would quote in an academic paper, this one is not. It feels too lightweight. But it is a nice summary of the world of Phantom. And it's not full of errors and misspellings, like the movie companion book...

After a long time of avoiding it, I finally bought this book. And, flicking through it, landed on the part where they compare LND to Madama Butterfly. OH DEAR. Quality of the two pieces aside, the comparison is moot. If - and a big if - there was an opera claque on the night Butterfly premiered, then the whole thing was allegedly, as this book admits, was organised by Puccini's rivals. Hostility towards LND came from the AUDIENCE. That never happened with Madama Butterfly (otherwise we wouldn't be seeing the opera today).

LND is not going to be performed regularly around the world 100 years from today, soz.

Cool! I'd forgotten about this! I wonder if I should get it now that I can afford to? Though, Scorp, it seriously compares LND to Mme Butterfly? Really? *Shakes head* Wow.

Btw. What did you guys mean about the libretto not being updated to reflect the way the show's being done now? What's changed?