Well then WHY THE HELL DIDN'T LUPONE get Evita instead of the oh so vocally talented Madonna - the key of C - I mean REALLY
Seriously, I think Webber has some great stuff and he has some not so great stuff. I think his style of lavish production influenced Broadway for two decades and will go down in history as such. Do I think he is a S. Sondheim (who is credited with influencing Broadway in essentially the same time period) - no, he is not. But, Sondheim is not without his critics and he in some ways is not that great, at least to me. I like a traditional musical structure, which generally includes a chorus
Sadly, Webber's last two that I saw "Whistle Down the Wind" and "Beautiful Game" were IMO good reaches into realism that essentially got ignored. So, goes life.
As for the new Phantom, I saw a lot of it this last weekend (they were playing it as a promo in Bloomingdales
) - the guy's voice is wrong for the part and he cannot sing it, much less keep up with her, and her voice is not that great (but it is like Brightman's voice - good). But, maybe when I see the whole thing, I will like it better. Who knows? You can go here for a trailer
http://phantomthemovie.warnerbros.com/