The Phantom Of The Opera
"the film looks and sounds fabulous... it's an extraordinarily fine document of the show. Of course, it's a different animal to the stage show and as a consequence I've written several minutes of new music, but it doesn't threaten the integrity of the show in any way. Joel Schumacher has taken the same material and made it into a wonderful film version. It's not at all based on the theatre visually or direction wise, but it's still got exactly the same essence .... if anything it's expanded it and given it perhaps an even deeper emotional centre." -Andrew Lloyd Webber
For those of you who don't indulge yourselves in a casual night of theatre (and i'm talking the tuxedo and live kind, not the popcorn and annoying children kind) Phantom Of The Opera is a broadway musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (also responsible for musicals such as Cats and Jesus Christ, Superstar) Until fairly recently, however, Phantom Of The Opera was left to be a stage musical. Interestingly enough, it's now in it's 18th year as a stage musical, and is still running strong.
This is not the first time Phantom Of The Opera has been made into a movie, it's actually the fifth. This saga started in 1925 with the silent movie, telling the tale directly based off of the original novel and starring the original silent film star, Lon Chaney. Suffice to say, this version of Phantom is completely different from all of those that came before it. This is a direct film adaptation of the broadway musical, complete with opera house, beautiful music and singing, and an incredible cast.
What makes this broadway adaptation terminally unique is that the original writer of the musical itself wrote most of the screenplay and the music that they added in. This gives the film version of the musical a new taste and feel then the stage version, and, as noted in the above quote, met Webber's expectations very well.
Phantom Of The Opera is a magnificent journey through a time that has long since been lost. A time when things were simpler, and theatre was real, not light projected on a screen. The movie actually made me want to live back then, and while I'm not guaranteeing that it will have the same effect on you, I will guarantee that it will take you on a magical quest through darkness and passion.
Phantom Of The Opera is rated PG-13 for brief violent images and is now playing at Fiesta Square Cinema 16
