Lloyd Webber was rightfully sued by the Giacomo Puccini estate for plagiarizing Puccini's "La fanciulla del West" for the theme of "All I Ask Of You". He settled out of court. Although I was not privy to the details of the settlement, scuttlebutt among long-time cast members was that the Puccini Estate receives a small percentage of the profits of "Phantom" worldwide. As Billy Crystal opines in the movie "Forget Paris", the big song in "Phantom" (i.e.,The Music Of The Night) is "School Days" ("School Days, School Days; Dear, old Golden Rule days...).
Personally, I am convinced that the success of "Phantom" has more to do with a lot of smoke on stage, candles coming out of the stage floor and the robotic boat in which the Phantom plies the supposed underground lake, than with the music, most of which is poorly written from a technical standpoint, and almost all derivative from Lloyd Webber's betters. Certainly, Handel and Bach lifted bits of melody from other composers, but they then turned those themes into glorious masterpieces. Conversely, Lloyd Webber appropriates glorious themes from other composers and turns them into pop mush.
There is no way that Joel Schumacher can take a poor work like "Phantom" and make it into something worth seeing and hearing.
Modern musicals are produced by such sickening no-talents that Lloyd Webber can seem like Richard Rodgers in comparison. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
But, ah with movies.. they permit me to run away from the mundane of life, the problems of life & the anxiety and for awhile go to lands of make believe.
I appreciate your comments, although they are surely much different than mine