When rumors that The Phantom Of The Opera was going to make it's transition to the big screen surfaced, fans of the musical (including myself) rejoiced. After all, this was a compelling story about a deranged and disfigured masked man  who "haunts" the Paris Opera House. He is smitten by a young soprano Christine who thinks The Phantom is someone her deceased father sent to look after her. Jealous that Christine still has feelings for her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, The Phantom kidnaps Christine and plans to make her his eternal bride. So many universal themes like love, betrayal, envy, friendship, fear, shame and hatred are all embodied in this original story by Gaston Leroux. The stage musical features a brilliant score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and finally the opportunity seemed to arise where this musical could be immortalized on film.

Then the rumors that Antonio Banderas and Minnie Driver were going to play the lead roles of The Phantom and Christine Daae respectively arose and the world let out a collective groan. While Banderas had done a good  job in the Broadway production of Nine The Musical and a fairly decent job on the Evita movie, there was no way that his singing voice would sound credible as The Phantom. Also, Driver had sung briefly in her movie Return To Me and frankly, she didn't sound like a soprano ingénue in the slightest bit. 

When the final cast list was released, the world let out a collective sigh. The Phantom was to be played by Scottish actor, Gerard Butler who is probably remembered as Lara Croft's love interest in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life or as André Marek in Timeline - The guy who decided to stay behind in the past because of love instead of returning to his own time dimension. Butler has always insisted in interviews that he cannot sing very well which does sound a little worrying since The Phantom and his singing voice is an integral part to the show, but the director Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber seem to be very satisfied with his casting so he probably isn't as bad as he claims. As for me, I am just happy that Banderas isn't playing The Phantom. 

It is the casting of Emmy Rossum as Christine Daae that raises a few eyebrows. Rossum has recently been in a number of high profile movies such as Mystic River and The Day After Tomorrow (where she heroically saves people and passports from taxis). At the time of production, Rossum would be 17 years old. Although I do agree that she looks older than her age, Butler is 34 years old which makes him twice her age. Rossum must have an excellent singing voice if these age issues are ignored. Earlier reports seem to indicate that she has been classically trained in singing.

As for Driver, she still remains in the movie, but she takes on the role of the "diva" in the opera house, Carlotta. Apparently, Carlotta does not have any singing parts in this movie and one suspects it is because the producer and director have heard Driver's singing ability. I am still not very sure if this is a good thing or not, since in the stage musical, Carlotta plays an integral part in some of the songs like 'Think Of Me', 'Poor Fool He Makes Me Laugh' and my favorite 'Notes.../Twisted Every Way'.

The role of Raoul goes to Patrick Wilson which is quite a relief since Wilson has been involved in a number of musical productions on stage such as The Full Monty, Miss Saigon and Carousel. It therefore comes as no surprise that his duet with Christine in 'All I Ask Of You' is retained in this movie.

Other songs like 'Music of the Night’, ‘Think of Me, ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ and ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ have also been retained for this movie. I don't think the full score will be in the movie though since this movie is reported to incorporate a lot of spoken dialogue.

A new song has also been written by the original composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the original lyricist, Charles Hart, for the movie. This song, entitled 'No One Would Listen', will be sung by The Phantom.

The upcoming The Phantom Of The Opera movie promises to be a lavish and opulent production if the picture from the Masquerade scene is of any indication.  Purists like me are probably going to be disappointed by several changes or song removals but ultimately, I am just happy that this fantastic musical is finally making its way to the big screen. It would be great to see how the Phantom's lair looks like or how the crashing chandelier scene is done in the movie. The Phantom Of The Opera movie is expected to open across the United States in December 2004 and I can hardly wait until then!

24 June 2004