Phantom of the Multiplex

What it took to bring the blockbuster Broadway musical to a theater near you.

By Kenneth Miller

From Reader's Digest

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The Movie With the Incredible Heritage

How do you make a movie version of the biggest stage musical of all time? Very, very carefully. Which is why, on a Friday afternoon in June, the film Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (that's right -- the composer's name is part of the title) is getting its soundtrack polished to a shimmering luster.

In a corner of the Fox lot in Los Angeles, Lloyd Webber, who dreamed up the Phantom stage show (as well as such hits as Cats and Evita), and director Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever; Phone Booth) sit in a tiny dubbing room, perspiring over vocal timbres and orchestral mixes. As well they should: In the world of Hollywood musicals, such seemingly minor details can separate a blockbuster from an expensive flop.

Phantom, the movie, has an incredible heritage. The stage production, which won a Tony Award for best musical, has grossed $3.2 billion worldwide since its 1986 premiere, thanks to 100 million theatergoers in 22 countries.

As the action unfolds on a monitor in front of them, Lloyd Webber -- a bushy-browed Brit in a neat plaid shirt and khakis -- cranes forward to listen; the silver-haired Schumacher, in jeans and biker boots, languidly reclines. Both men smile as actress Minnie Driver, playing Carlotta, a high-strung opera star, begins an Italianate hissy fit. Both gasp a moment later when the screen goes black. Though the sound man blames a computer crash, Schumacher offers a more sinister explanation: "The Phantom strikes again."

In fact, the Phantom has struck countless times since appearing in the 1911 novel by Frenchman Gaston Leroux. Leroux's book spawned a string of plays and films, including the 1925 silent screen adaptation starring Lon Chaney in the title role.

The story, in case you've missed all these productions, takes place mostly in 19th-century Paris, at the fictitious Opéra Populaire, and revolves around a mysterious masked figure who haunts the catacombs beneath the opera house. The Phantom, we learn, is a hideously deformed musical genius. He grows obsessed with a young soprano named Christine, becomes her tutor and develops a hypnotic influence over her as he transforms her into a star. When Christine's childhood sweetheart, the Viscount Raoul, arrives to reclaim her affections, the stage is set for an epic showdown.