I rented the film version of The Phantom of The Opera. My God... I'm so annoyed I didn't see it in the theater.
I got the London cast recording when I was in high school. Despite never seeing it on the stage, I was blown away by the emotion that went into the performance, and the sweet sadness of the story. While my musical tastes at the time were all over the place, I loved this musical.
My freshman year of college, when I (for a semester) minored in theater, it wasn't cool to like anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber, so I kind of forgot that I like it. Despite even the touring show that stopped in Cleveland at least twice, I never did see it.
When the film came out, I had the intention of seeing it, but never got around to it. I was a little skeptical anyway, because Joel Schumacher directing concerned me. This is the guy, after all, that decided the bat suit in his Batman movies needed nipples. So I just skipped it.
I had a promo for Blockbuster Online and decided to get some TV shows to watch, and throw in a few movies that I missed. I queued Phantom. It arrived today, so I ordered a pizza, poured a little wine, and popped it in the 360.
As soon as the music started, I was sucked in. Understand that I probably haven't heard the music in something like 12 years. All of that high school emotion came roaring back to me. The movie was amazing, and largely how I imagined the state show would be. Schumacher didn't screw it up at all.
And while there are inevitable comparisons to the original cast recording, I have to say that some of them were better than the original. The actress that played Christine absolutely nailed it. "All I Ask Of You" was better than the original, as was "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." I was moved to tears. No joke.
I think I'll have to buy this one.