Phantom of the opera

CAST: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Minnie Driver
DIRECTOR: Joel Schumacher

Directed by Joel Schumacher from a screen¬play by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Schumacher, this is the first time that the superhit stage production-based upon the novel the Fantome de VOpera by Gaston Leroux-has been adapted for the screen. The music is by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It bagged three Oscar nominations this year: for cinematography, music (song) and art direction.

Since its debut in London’s West End at Her Majesty’s Theatre on October 9, 1986, the musical has reached an estimated audience of 80 million people. More than 65,000 performances of Phantom have been staged in 18 countries, hi August of 2003, the show marked its 7000th performance. A testament to Phantom’s enduring popularity is a plan for a permanent theatrical installation of the musical, at the Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the spring of 2006, a 90-minute version of the show will open at the S25 million state-of-the-art theatre.

Long awaited by Phantom fans, director Joel Schumacher’s sumptuous film adapta¬tion takes audiences beyond the boundaries of theatre and immerses them in a vibrant world of high romance, soaring music, riveting suspense and drama, while intro¬ducing the powerfully compelling story to a new generation of movie-goers. The story goes thus. When the temperamental diva, La Carlotta (Minnie Driver), walks out in the middle of a dress rehearsal for the company’s latest production, the theatre managers have no choice but to thrust innocent chorus girl Christine Daae (Emmy Rossum) into the spotlight.

Christine’s mesmerizing opening night performance captivates the Phantom (Butler), a disfigured musical genius who haunts the catacombs of the theatre. But he is not the only powerful man to be awed by the young soprano. Christine soon finds herself courted by the theatre’s wealthy patron, the Vicompte Raoul de Chagny (Patrick Wilson), enraging the Phantom and setting the stage for a dramatic crescendo in which fierce jealousies and obsessive love threaten to drive the fated lovers past the point of no return.