u/Local_Prune4564

Now, don't get it twisted. I love Hadley, and I think in the right circumstances he could've made a great Raoul. But among the core cast, he was (I believe) the only one who had no prior experience with performing the show.

And given the productions very limited schedule, it seems like he didn't have much time to develop his version of the character. Now, with the other actors this is fine, as they had already played their roles several times on stage, but as mentioned, Hadley had never performed in the show before, and if I'm not misremembering, his only experience with these characters up to that point had been LND, which, if you're playing Raoul in POTO is probably the last place you should look to for inspiration.

Now I think he did the best with what he was given, but his take on the character does end up feeling slightly schizophrenic; with him switching between the friendly boyscout aristocrat we all know and tolerate, and the more sinister version seen in LND, which makes for a Raoul who comes off like a hapless doofus at best and a spineless creep at worst, which isn't helped by the stage directions where he seems to be constantly man-handling Christine at every turn.

Which brings me back to that question. Why was he cast given his lack of experience and the less than ideal circumstances for a newcomer?

Did someone put in a good word for him? Was Cameron Mackintosh, in his infinite wisdom like "He did a good job with Les Mis; a show which he had been doing in the West End for years up to that point. He'll do a great job with this show he's never even performed in."? Help me out here.

I genuinely feel bad for him. He's a talented guy put in less than ideal circumstances for a performer and then copped the blame for things that were very much out of his control.

The Adapted Score.

Not necessarily the singing which is hit-or-miss, but I would argue that the arrangement and orchestration outdoes the original musical.

I love the way in which it naturally weaves musical ideas like the Ghost and Possession motifs into the instrumental score, particularly during the Graveyard fight and the Chandelier crash. And I even enjoy the musical foreshadowing to Love Never Dies with early versions of "Beneath a Moonless Sky" and "The Coney Island Waltz" Being heard in the background in some scenes.

And the orchestration is fantastic. The original show had to work with a 27 piece orchestra, and while it does sound incredible, expanding the orchestration to a full 100 piece orchestra was an ingenious choice, and it gives the score even greater depth and texture, and allows for Lord Andy's iconic score to shine even brighter than it did before. My favourite moment where the orchestra really gets to flex is when Christine enters the graveyard and we get a truly sweeping statement of the Phantom's motif that absolutely brings the house down.

If there's one good thing that came out of ALW retaining so much control over the movie, it's this.

Just because he's not very articulate and sings kids songs occasionally doesn't mean that he should be treated like a child by fans. Ringo is a man, not a cartoon character. Come back when you find a baby that was in the grips of crippling alcoholism for over a decade, nearly killed his wife on accident, and beat his addiction to become one of the most positive and healthy rockstars alive.