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	The Phantom Of The Opera
	Joel Schumacher Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver, Ciarán Hinds, Simon Callow, Victor McGuire, Jennifer Ellison 2004		If you find the work of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to be a leaden, derivative example of all that's lame about musical theater since the mid-'60s, you're not alone. And you'll probably avoid the movie of his Broadway hit "The Phantom of the Opera." With the addition of the banal, obvious lyrics of Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, the score has all the clumsy bombast of songwriter Jim Steinman's material for pomp-rocker Meatloaf, while shamelessly cribbing from classical and Tin Pan Alley sources. The story is taken from the Gaston Leroux novel that inspired illustrious horror films, from the 1925 Lon Chaney silent to a 1943 Claude Rains talkie. In the musical, a ghostly figure (Gerard Butler) terrorizes the Paris Opera, forcing the producers to promote the career of lovely novice singer Christine (Emmy Rossum) at the expense of diva Carlotta (Minnie Driver). The phantom loves Christine, but she adores her childhood sweetheart, the Vicomte Raoul. Only chorus director Madame Giry (Miranda Richardson) knows the score. It's enough to make a body wail, and many do. Director Joel Schumacher ("Phone Booth, "Batman and Robin") has never been noted for a light touch, and he indulges his excesses here: overblown, blatantly fake special-effects shots; lingering takes on the heroine; quick-cut rock-video trickery; and lavish production numbers that make the insipid libretto seem even more insubstantial.


	Wednesday, November 13, 2024





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