Yeah, it was nice for the movie to get a closer view of everything that was going on. What was also interesting was how differernt things could be viewed. For example, I was mad when after he told Christine he loved her, she just gave him back the ring and said nothing. But after talking to some people and getting different opinions, I saw it differently--that she was giving him the ring to further show that he is not alone, and it was a sweet sentiment.
Same with the graveyard scene--again, seeing things from a new twist. Some people suggested that Rauol getting the monkey box which was the Phantom's and then giving it to Christine's grave was his way of ackowledging peace with the whle situation, and acknowledging that while Christine was his in life, she is the Phantom's in death. Maybe that's stretching it a little, but I really liked viewing it that way, being so much more in favor of Phantom/Christine than Rauol/Christine. Also, like I said having read "Phantom" it just gives you such a different perspective and you can't help but feel they're more connected than it seems on the surface.
And...I love Gerry!
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli