The Phantom of the Opera

I saw Phantom of the Opera last night in Dallas. It was kind of epic.

I'm not sure if my favorite part was the explosion of fire from the stage, the broken chandelier piecing itself back together and flying itself on up to the ceiling, or the floating candles appearing out of the stage only to disappear seconds later.

Oh and the singing, acting, and storyline were nice too.

I mean, the story is nothing new. I've seen the movie more times than I care to count and the stage musical once in London.

The singing was good, but not the best Phantom of the Opera I've ever heard. Of course, I listen to the Original Cast Recording on a pretty regular basis.

And the acting was fine, but let's be honest--watching not-so-famous actors who are so far away you can't tell if they're good actors or not is not the ideal situation.

But the special effects... those are incredible. To watch an actor appear in a mirror, shoot fire at another character, and disappear off the stage leaving nothing but a glowing mask behind... that makes the whole experience incredible. Part of what makes this kind of theater (theatre? Are you supposed to type it the British way when discussing a British play?) so fantastic is the sheer wonder of the production that makes you say, "How the heck did they do that?"

But you know, I really don't think I want to know how they did it. I think I prefer to wonder. Because it's the wonder of the play that actually brings the play to life. If I knew how they did everything, the play would lose a lot of its excitement. I think it might even kill the whole play.

There's this old saying that "Curiosity killed the cat." People say it to you to keep you from being to nosy. What I wonder is, whose curiosity killed the cat? For instance, if Billy was curious what turpentine would do to a cat, it would be Billy's curiosity that killed the cat. Not the cat's curiosity. I really think this is where the truth lies in the old saying. Because sometimes (read: most times) I think it's our curiosity that can be harmful to everyone, not just ourselves.

In fact, some day, not too long from now, I think the statement will probably become "Curiosity killed God" because we seem to be getting over our need for him. Our curiosity about God and his creation is quickly causing us to lose our wonder and fear of God. I think we need to stop every once and a while to admire the beauty of Creation as it comes from God without putting it through all kinds of tests and experiments. I believe we should continue to study theology in order to become more familiar with the personality of God, but sometimes we just need to realize that God is beyond our understanding, and to stand before him in fear and wonder, worshipping him in his incomprehensibility. That wonder and fear of God is what gives life to our relationship with him.

May your relationship with God be filled with wonder and excitement

--Tyler