Behind the Mask: The Story of 'The Phantom of the Opera'

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.