false 62103 0805017224 9780805017229 62 8 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170599491m/62103.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62103.The_Complete_Phantom_of_the_Opera 13825 George Perry 144 16 5 0 false Thu Sep 10 12:16:44 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 12:23:20 -0700 2009
This book opened a whole new world for me. I thought the pictures were gorgeous, and I memorized the entire libretto of the ALW musical without hearing a note of the music. I fell in love with the story, and I had never even seen it except through the pictures in this book. And when I finally did get to see the musical on stage, at last, four years later, I was enthralled with how beautiful it was.

Although, I really must partially blame this book for the horrible disappointment I experienced when I watched the ALW movie version of the musical. The movie was so very ugly in comparison to the stage production. I guess it didn't help that two of the three leads couldn't sing at all. I came home after watching the movie for the first (and only) time and made a beeline for this book, studying the photos in this book that I knew so well and saying to myself, "Well, at least the stage show has it right."

I've moved onto other things now, and though I still enjoy the musical, I'll never look at it with the same eyes as I once had. Still, I'll never forget how I felt when I first flipped through these pages. It was like magic.]]>