Musicals: stage to screen

December 23, 2004 · Comments

Roger Ebert [reviews](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041221/REVIEWS/41201007/1023) the new movie, [*Phantom of the Opera*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293508/) and talks about the source material (the stage musical):

>But what I am essentially disliking is not the film, but the underlying material. I do not think Lloyd Webber wrote a very good musical. The story is thin beer for the time it takes to tell it, and the music is maddeningly repetitious. When the chandelier comes crashing down, it’s not a shock, it’s a historical reenactment. You do remember the tunes as you leave the theater, but you don’t walk out humming them, you wonder if you’ll be able to get them out of your mind. Every time I see Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom,” the bit about the “darkness of the music of the night” bounces between my ears, as if, like Howard Hughes, I am condemned to repeat the words until I go mad.

Wow. Exactly how I feel about it. I saw Phantom on Broadway with Eric years ago and while the main theme is haunting and hummable, towards the end I remember sitting there thinking, “Enough already! Is this whole thing variations on this one song?!?” It was okay. Just okay, and I was let down by all the hype. Not as numbing as *Cats*, but close.

I’m bummed they never made a movie musical adaptation of my all-time favorite epic musical, *Les Miserables*. I saw the show on Broadway in 1992 and when it was over, I didn’t want to leave my seat. Complex story with a score that has recurring themes but evolves them as the story moves along.

I can’t wait until [*Rent*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/) comes out next year. As long as the music isn’t completely butchered I will see it shortly after it opens. I’m shuddering at the memory of [*A Chorus Line*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088915)…practically cried when I saw the movie considering how good the stage musical was. I never saw Rent on Broadway but the road show came to Stamford a few years and I saw it then. Incredible. Now my most played album in iTunes.

Phantom of the Opera? Feh. I’ll catch it on cable.

Related posts: