Emmy Rossum, the actress best known for her acting roles in `Phantom Of The Opera,' `Mystic River,' and `The Day After Tomorrow,' has her diversity validated with her release of debut album, Inside Out, Despite her being known primary as an actress, music has always played a major role in Emmy Rossum's life.
When she was seven years old, she was singing with the Metropolitan Opera, and by the time she was a teenager, she had auditioned, and won, the part of Christine in the film version of `Phantom of the Opera,' for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Rossum recorded her new music with producer Stuart Brawley, with whom she co-wrote all of the songs, and it represents a showcase for her remarkable vocal range. "I feel a real emotional connection to these songs," she says. "It's a real expression of my innermost thoughts and feelings, hence the title Inside Out." "I! t's about finding a respite from all the craziness," says the performer about the song. "I wanted to create a kind of music that would allow me to use my voice as an instrument. I tried to discover the boundary of the human voice.Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera), Zach Gilford (TV's Friday Night Lights) and Ashley Springer (Teeth) head up a stellar cast including Ana Gasteyer (Mean Girls), Rooney Mara (A Nightmare on Elm Street), comedienne Sandra Bernhard (TV's Roseanne) and Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United) in this captivating story of high school seniors at the crossroads of their adult lives. When a pompous actor tells good girl Alexa (Rossum) that she hasn't lived, she embarks on a bold journey that takes her to mysterious bad boy Johnny (Gilford). Envious, her shy best friend Ben (Springer) also dares to pursue Johnny, complicating Alexa's romance and pushing the boundaries among the three friends.
Stills from Dare
With empathy, low-key humor, and discreet sexual suggestiveness, Adam Salky expands his 2005 short into a critical look at the way stereotypes can define--and confine--teenagers. While working on a senior-class production of
A Streetcar Named Desire, three "types" collide: the good girl, the best friend, and the bad boy. Party girl Courtney (Rooney ! Mara) serves as the glue that binds the unlikely trio. Her studious friend, Alexa (
The Phantom of the Opera's Emmy Rossum), doesn't think rich boy Johnny (Zach Gilford) takes things seriously enough. Alexa's other friend, the sexually ambiguous Ben (
Teeth's Ashley Springer) supports her at the expense of his own needs, but their roles shift after theater actor Grant Matson (Alan Cumming in a too-short cameo) observes a rehearsal and praises Johnny's naturalism at the expense of Alexa's stiffness (Ben works the lights). The virginal Alexa decides to take Grant's advice to live a little, even seducing Johnny at a party. Their newfound closeness strains her relationship with Ben until he acts on a similar impulse, confusing the increasingly vulnerable Johnny further. The speed with which the central characters change doesn't always ring true, but the cast, including Ana Gasteyer as Ben's mother and Sandra Bernhard as Johnny's therapist, invests a schematic scenar! io with believability. Gilford, in particular, shines in his f! irst sig nificant part since nice-guy quarterback Matt Saracen on NBC's
Friday Night Lights. Fans of
Pretty in Pink and
Cruel Intentions, to which
Dare bears some comparison, should find Salky's first feature of particular interest.
--Kathleen C. FennessyEmmy Rossum (
The Phantom of the Opera), Zach Gilford (TV's
Friday Night Lights) and Ashley Springer (
Teeth) head up a stellar cast including Ana Gasteyer (
Mean Girls), Rooney Mara (
A Nightmare on Elm Street), comedienne Sandra Bernhard (TV's
Roseanne) and Alan Cumming (
X2: X-Men United) in this captivating story of high school seniors at the crossroads of their adult lives. When a pompous actor tells good girl Alexa (Rossum) that she hasn't lived, she embarks on a bold journey that takes her to mysterious bad boy Johnny (Gilford). Envious, her shy best friend Ben (Springer) also dares to pursue Johnny, complicating Alexa's romance and pu! shing the boundaries among the three friends.
Stills from Dare With empathy, low-key humor, and discreet sexual suggestiveness, Adam Salky expands his 2005 short into a critical look at the way stereotypes can define--and confine--teenagers. While working on a senior-class production of
A Streetcar Named Desire, three "types" collide: the ! good girl, the best friend, and the bad boy. Party girl Courtn! ey (Roon ey Mara) serves as the glue that binds the unlikely trio. Her studious friend, Alexa (
The Phantom of the Opera's Emmy Rossum), doesn't think rich boy Johnny (Zach Gilford) takes things seriously enough. Alexa's other friend, the sexually ambiguous Ben (
Teeth's Ashley Springer) supports her at the expense of his own needs, but their roles shift after theater actor Grant Matson (Alan Cumming in a too-short cameo) observes a rehearsal and praises Johnny's naturalism at the expense of Alexa's stiffness (Ben works the lights). The virginal Alexa decides to take Grant's advice to live a little, even seducing Johnny at a party. Their newfound closeness strains her relationship with Ben until he acts on a similar impulse, confusing the increasingly vulnerable Johnny further. The speed with which the central characters change doesn't always ring true, but the cast, including Ana Gasteyer as Ben's mother and Sandra Bernhard as Johnny's therapist, invests a schematic scen! ario with believability. Gilford, in particular, shines in his first significant part since nice-guy quarterback Matt Saracen on NBC's
Friday Night Lights. Fans of
Pretty in Pink and
Cruel Intentions, to which
Dare bears some comparison, should find Salky's first feature of particular interest.
--Kathleen C. FennessyMusical Drama based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's celebrated musical phenomenon. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom devotes himself to creating a new star for the Opera, exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraordinary talents.Although it's not as bold as Oscar darling
Chicago,
The Phantom of the Opera continues the resuscitation of the movie musical! with a faithful adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbust! er stage musical. Emmy Rossum glows in a breakout role as opera ingénue Christine Daae, and if phantom Gerard Butler isn't Rossum's match vocally, he does convey menace and sensuality in such numbers as "The Music of the Night." The most experienced musical theater veteran in the cast, romantic lead Patrick Wilson, sings sweetly but seems wooden. The biggest name in the cast, Minnie Driver, hams it up as diva Carlotta, and she's the only principal whose voice was dubbed (though she does sing the closing-credit number, "Learn to Be Lonely," which is also the only new song).
Director Joel Schumacher, no stranger to visual spectacle, seems to have found a good match in Lloyd Webber's larger-than-life vision of Gaston LeRoux's Gothic horror-romance. His weakness is cuing too many audience-reaction shots and showing too much of the lurking Phantom, but when he calms down and lets Rossum sings "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" alone in a silent graveyard, it's exquisite.
!
Those who consider the stage musical shallow and overblown probably won't have their minds changed by the movie, and devotees will forever rue that the movie took the better part of two decades to develop, which prevented the casting of original principals Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Still,
The Phantom of the Opera is a welcome exception to the long line of ill-conceived Broadway-to-movie travesties.
DVD Features
The special edition of The Phantom of the Opera has two major extras. "Behind the Mask: The Story of The Phantom of the Opera" is an hourlong documentary tracing the genesis of the stage show, with interviews of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Harold Prince, producer Cameron Macintosh, lyrici! sts Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart, choreographer Gillian Ly! nne, and others. Conspicuously absent are stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. Both do appear in video clips, including Brightman performing with Colm Wilkinson at an early workshop, and Crawford is the subject of a casting segment. Other brief scenes from the show are represented by a 2001 production. The other major feature is the 45-minute making-of focusing on the movie, including casting and the selection of director Joel Schumacher Both are well-done productions by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.
The deleted scene is a new song written by Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, "No One Would Listen," sung by the Phantom toward the end of the movie. It's a beautiful song that, along with Madame Giry's story, makes him a more sympathetic character. But because that bit of backstory already slowed down the ending, it was probably a good move to cut the song. --David Horiuchi
More on The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (Special Extended Edition Soundtrack) (CD) |
The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie Soundtrack) (CD) |
The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast) (CD) |
Evita (DVD) |
Andrew Lloyd Weber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (DVD) | 
More Broadway DVDs |
