Behind the Mask: The Story of 'The Phantom of the Opera' (2005)
A documentary about the original "Phantom of the Opera" stage show and its creation.
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Reviews
Simply Perfect
Good concept, poorly executed.
Don't listen to the negative reviews
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
For fans of the film (or the stage show), this is a very informative and detailed look at the origins of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with incisive comments from the men who can tell it best: Andrew Lloyd Webber himself, Harold Prince (on the stage version), composer Charles Hart, singer Steve Harley, Cameron Mackintosh, and Joel Schumacher. All of them have something important to contribute to our understanding of just how the whole project evolved from an idea that occurred to Webber when he just happened to pick up a copy of the original novel and saw the possibilities of turning it into a musical work.Glimpses of the Broadway production are especially fascinating, as well as other musical portions of the documentary wherein Steve Harley and Sarah Brightman were used in a musical video tryout.Makes a good companion piece to watching the Andrew Lloyd Webber film version.
I thought that it was very informative, but my second disc is messed up and i didn't get to see the last part of it. Because of that, this is the only special feature I can see. I really wanted to see the rest though. This is an excellent supplement to not only the movie (which I've seen 30 times! No Joke!), but the musical as well. My only real complaint is that it showed some of the scenes from the musical, and I watched this before I saw the musical. I had no idea that it would show the musical's version of the Phantom's face. But overall, this documentary thing was really good. As for the actual film The Phantom of the Opera, YOU MUST SEE IT! All the actors are wonderful. LUV YA GERRY!!!!