Phantom of the Opera

The title character as depicted by Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1925 film depiction. The Phantom of the Opera is a French novel by Gaston Leroux, inspired by George du Maurier's Trilby. Published in 1910, and first translated into English in 1911. It has since been adapted many times into film and stage productions. The story is about Erik, a mysterious, tragic and dangerous outcast with a mutilated face who terrorizes the Paris Opera House which he lives beneath while taking the beautiful soprano whom he loves under his wing. Contents 1 Plot 1.1 The Phantom's personal history 2 Other Appearances 3 Adaptations 3.1 Stage 3.2 Films 3.3 Television 3.4 Literature 3.5 Music 4 References 5 External links Plot The Phantom of The Opera is a gothic novel, combining romance, horror fiction, mystery, and tragedy. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. In Leroux's original 1910 novel, the setting is 19th century Paris at the Opera Garnier, a luxurious and monumental building which has been built between 1857 and 1874 over a huge underground lake. The employees claim that the opera house is haunted by a mysterious ghost who causes a variety of accidents. The "Opera Ghost" ("le fantôme de l'Opéra") blackmails the two opera managers to pay him a monthly salary of 20,000 francs and reserve for him a private concert booth, Box 5. Meanwhile, Christine Daae, his ingenue, mistakes the Opera Ghost for an "Angel of Music" supposedly sent by her father after his death to guide her, achieves sudden prominence on the opera stage when she replaces the current prima donna Carlotta, who has twice necessitated replacement due to a mysterious illness. Christine wins the hearts of the audience, including that of her childhood sweetheart, Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. The Ghost becomes envious of Christine's relationship with Raoul and brings her down to his world beneath the Opera House. Christine learns that her "Angel" is the Opera Ghost who has been terrorizing the opera house and is a deformed musical genius who wears a mask to hide his frightening face. Christine rips off his mask, revealing it, and Ghost locks her in his home, agreeing to free her only after she promises to return to him of her own free will and to never love anyone else. Christine is torn between her love of the young and charming viscount and her helpless attraction to the Phantom's darkly beautiful music. When she realizes that the bad-tempered composer is responsible for the mysterious accidents and murders, she and Raoul decide to marry in secret and run away from Paris and the Phantom's reach. The Phantom discovers their plan and during Christine's performance as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, he abducts her from the stage. A character known as the Persian leads Raoul to the Ghost's lair across the Opera House Lake. Meanwhile, down in the Phantom's lair, Erik forces Christine to marry him, or he would blow up the Opera House (using barrels of TNT that he had hidden in a chamber beneath his lair) and everyone, including Christine, Raoul and himself, would be killed. Eventually, Christine's ability to accept him touches Erik's heart to the point where he feels a greater happiness than he ever thought possible, and his gratitude toward her is such that he's willing to die of his love for her. He releases her and gives her his blessing to marry Raoul. Erik asks only that she promise to return and bury him after he dies, which indeed he does not long afterward. And Christine keeps that promise. The Phantom's personal history According to Gaston Leroux's novel, The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom was born as Erik in a small town not far from Rouen, the son of a master mason. He ran away at an early age from his father's house, where his deformed face was a subject of horror and terror to his parents. For a time, he frequented the fairs, where a freak show showman exhibited him as the "living corpse." He traveled around Europe and Asia with Gypsies. There he acquired his acrobatic and musical skills and sharpened his twisted genius. He also became an expert ventriloquist. Eventually, Erik became a court assassin and personal engineer to the Persian Shah, building the Shah sophisticated traps and torture devices (such as the Punjab Lasso and the Hall of Mirrors). After some time, the Shah feared that Erik knew too much and decided to dispose of him. Erik managed to escape, eventually making his way back to France. (Based on the dating this unnamed Shah could be Nasser-al-Din Shah (1831–1896, reigned 1848–1896). Erik used his architectural genius skills and won a contract as one of the architects of Paris' Palais Garnier Opera House. Below the Opera House, an artificial lake had been created during its construction using eight hydraulic pumps, because of problems with the ground water level that kept rising. Without anyone noticing, Erik built a maze of tunnels and corridors on the lower levels. Past the underground lake, he built a lair for himself, where he could live protected from the public. Besides being a brilliant inventor and engineer, Erik was also a musical genius, and he started to visit the opera house in order to listen to operas and interfere with the manager's bad taste. Because he could not show his distorted face in public, he took the guise of a ghost, using violence in order to blackmail the opera managers and bind them to his will. He exploited the employees' superstitions and his knowledge about the building's secret passages, allowing him access to every part of the building without being noticed. He terrorized those who refused his demands and even killed people as warnings. However, he treated those who were loyal to him and obeyed his command very kindly (such as Mme. Giry). Other Appearances The Phantom is included among the band in the Beetlejuice show at Universal Studios Theme Parks. He also is a featured character in the supernatural comic Sadie Sanderson, as King Richard III's rival for Sadie's influence. The Phantom was recently called "the gayest supervillain ever" by Homer Simpson. Adaptations Michael Crawford as the Phantom of the Opera, wearing the now famous half-mask, in the 1986 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. John Owen-Jones as the Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running Phantom in the history of the 1986 musical's London production. Gerard Butler as the Phantom of the Opera in the 2004 film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Charles Dance as the Phantom of the Opera in the 1990 television miniseries. Stage Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera (1976/1984): Musical by Ken Hill, with lyrics set to music by Gounod, Offenbach, Verdi, and others. The Phantom of the Opera (1986): Musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (probably considered the most famous/popular incarnation of the story) The Phantom of the Opera: Musical by Helen Grigal (book and lyrics) and Eugene Anderson (music). Produced by the Oregon Ridge Dinner Theater in cooperation with the Baltimore Actor's Theater. Director/Choreographer: Helen Grigal. Phantom (1991): Musical by Maury Yeston (music and lyrics) and Arthur Kopit (text). Films The Phantom of the Opera (1925): Featuring Lon Chaney, Sr. Phantom of the Opera (1943): Featuring Claude Rains "Phantom of the Horse Opera" (1961): A Woody Woodpecker cartoon The Phantom of the Opera (1962): Hammer Horror version featuring Herbert Lom The Phantom of the Paradise (1974): Also called The Phantom of the Fillmore; a rock musical directed by Brian De Palma The Phantom of the Opera (1983): Featuring Maximilian Schell and Jane Seymour The Phantom of the Opera (1989): Directed by Dwight H. Little, featuring Robert Englund Il Fantasma dell'Opera (1998): Directed by Dario Argento, featuring Julian Sands The Phantom of the Opera (2004): Adaptation of the Lloyd Webber musical, featuring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum Television The Phantom of the Opera (1990): Miniseries produced by NBC, directed by Tony Richardson and starring Burt Lancaster, Teri Polo, and Charles Dance. Executive Producer was Edgar J. Scherick. Literature Phantom by Susan Kay - a retelling of the Phantom's life. The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth - a sequel to the Lloyd Webber musical (not to the original novel). Angel of Music by D.M. Bernadette - a sequel to "all Phantom adaptations." Journey of the Mask by Nancy Hill Pettengill - a sequel to Leroux's original novel. Progeny by Becky L. Meadows - another sequel in which Erik and Christine have a son. The Canary Trainer by Nicholas Meyer - a Sherlock Holmes novel which re-interprets Leroux's plot. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett - a Discworld novel that parodies the story. The Angel of the Opera by Sam Siciliano - Sherlock Holmes and his cousin meet the Phantom. Night Magic by Charlotte Vale Allen - a romance novel retelling of the Phantom story in more modern times. Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms by Suzy McKee Charnas; the short story "Beauty of the Opera" in this anthology offers an alternate ending, with Christine staying with the Phantom for five years. Music A heavy metal song by the band Iron Maiden about the book was recorded for the Iron Maiden album, released in 1980. Cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes recorded a punk rock version of the title track from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, and released it on their 1999 album Are a Drag. Heavy metal band Iced Earth wrote a song titled "The Phantom Opera Ghost," released in 2001. Gothic rock band Dreams of Sanity and symphonic metal act Nightwish have recorded cover versions of the title track from Lloyd Webber's musical. Phantasia is the orchestral interpretation created by Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber [1]. A cello assumes the role of the Phantom (Julian Lloyd Webber) while a violin assumes the role of Christine (Sarah Chang). References Free eBook of The Phantom of the Opera at Project Gutenberg External links Phantom of the Opera Fans Erik, The Phantom Fans Erik/The Phantom & Christine Fans Christine Daaé Fans Erik 'The Phantom' fansite The Phantom (2004 film version) Fans Christine (2004 film version) Fansbg:Фантомът от Операта Search Term: "The_Phantom_of_the_Opera" Categories: 1910 books | Gothic novels | French novels

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