I had a recent dental procedure that had me reflecting on a lot of memories when when I lived in Texas in the 1980s. Many of those were from when I was helping build a commercial software business at Texas Instruments. I was travelling up and down the east coast a lot and spent a lot of time in New York. One of the CDs that made those trips with me was the original cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera.
I had a few favorite pieces from the show, but “The Music of the Night” always stood out for me. I have been lucky enough to have seen the show live a couple of times, but no one has ever really done the songs like Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman did as part of the original cast in London and then in New York.
Unfortunately, there are no great high definition versions of their performance of “The Music of the Night,” but I thought these three videos were all worth sharing. The first is a video from the actual production. The second has segments that were part of a 20/20 special just before the show launched in New York. the third is from the 1988 Tony Awards.