I think you basically got it neocomposer, with just a little difference in my thinking. The ending is bittersweet, but it's more for the Phantom than just his life sucks. Christine has empowered him to go on through life without the mask. That's the significance of Meg picking up the mask at the end. Also, well some of this I kind of interpreted from a couple things, the movie, a couple of books, but I've decided I like my interpretation: also when she gives him the ring back and says nothing, I once thought it just kind of bitchy of her, but now I realized/decided that since it technically was Raoul's ring to her she certainly could have kept it but she gave it back to the Phantom to reinforce what she told/sang to him that he is not alone.
And I really love the idea further explored in the movie that he always had a piece of her and while she was Raoul's on earth, perhaps she's with the Phantom in death.
"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
Updated On: 5/7/05 at 01:48 AM