The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera opens at the Paris Opera-House in the late nineteenth-century, with the production of “Hannibal” (the elephant-tamer, not the face-eater) coming to a halt when its temperamental star, La Carlotta (Minnie Driver, sporting the worst Italian accent since Nicholas Cage in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), walks out during a dress rehearsal after threats from the mysterious Phantom (Gerard Butler), who has haunted the opera house for years. The theatre’s inexperienced new managers (Ciarán Hinds and Simon Callow) are at a loss, so they replace her with the young ingénue Christine, who has been taking singing lessons from this “opera ghost,” all without ever seeing him, yet believing him to being an “Angel of Music.” 

Phantom of the Opera, still running on Broadway after sixteen years, is a rapturous spectacle. And the movie, directed full throttle by Joel Schumacher, goes the show one better. With a cast of young hotties, it smolders. Emmy Rossum, 18, has an aching loveliness to match her singing voice as soprano Christine Daae. And she can act. Gerard Butler, 35, brings a raw, full-throated masculinity to the Phantom, a musical genius who prowls the theater with a mask hiding the disfigured half of his face but nothing cloaking his mad desire to make Christine a and his lover. He'd kill for her and crosses swords excitingly with his pretty-boy rival Raoul (velvet-voiced Patrick Wilson). The actors do their own singing, except for the scene-stealing Minnie Driver, who is hilarious as a diva with an indecipherable Italian accent.

What does the movie version of “The Phantom of the Opera” prove? It proves we need more movie musicals. “Moulin Rouge” was spectacular, “Chicago” was a real killer, and “The Phantom of the Opera” steals your heart.

Enough with the bad remakes of action movies we didn’'t care about in the first place. Let’s see more musicals with entrancing and entertaining stories populated by talented, engaging actors.