The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera—Truly a Timeless Tale
By Carly Blustein, 11th grade,
June 8, 2005

The Phantom of the Opera is most widely recognized as a Broadway musical. It is not just any run-of-the-mill Broadway musical, however, but it is the third longest running show in Broadway history. Therefore, it is hard to imagine this chilling tale not accompanied by the award-winning music of Andrew Lloyd Weber. But the story of the Phantom began long before he sang on stage.

The Paris Opera House, which was one of the most successful and well-known theaters in the 1880s, hosted many ghost stories. Gaston Leroux, a flamboyant French lawyer, decided to expand on a less-than-familiar story of a mysterious opera ghost.

In 1911 he published Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, introducing it to his readers by explaining how he carried out his own inquiries into the strange events that had occurred in the famous Opera House in the 1880s. He tells of how he visited the huge underground lake where the Phantom hid and even stumbled upon the skeletons of "some poor wretches who had been massacred under the Commune in the cellars of the Opera."

The book includes the story of Christine, a young chorus girl who lives in the dormitories of a booming opera house in Paris. As a child, she had a very intimate relationship with her father until his death. Since then, Christine has been visited by a musical tutor whom she believes to be an “Angel of Music” sent by her father. When she finally meets the Angel of Music, he turns out to be a man who lives underneath the opera house’s main floor. He hides half of his face with a black-and-white mask to conceal his true identity. His obsession with Christine soon turns to madness, which further complicates Christine’s relationship with her childhood lover, Raoul. These characters and many more—all equally unforgettable—form the plot for a haunting literary tragedy.

However, sales of the book were only moderate, and the reviews were disappointing. According to an early movie review, the only kind of public interest seems to have been generated by the serialization of the story in French, English and American newspapers with suitably graphic illustrations of the Phantom stalking the dimly lit caverns of the Opera House. The first idea for a motion picture came from these serials, which a researcher for Universal Pictures read and brought The Phantom of the Opera to the screen for the first time in 1925.

After the first movie rapidly gained success, many studios, actors, and songwriters have tried to animate Leroux’s ghost story. But it wasn’t until Andrew Lloyd Weber composed his score to The Phantom of the Opera that it gained its utmost popularity. The original cast, opening in London in 1986, included Michael Crawford as The Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Christine, and Steve Barton as Raoul.

In London since then there has never been a seat unsold, and the musical has achieved in excess of 99% of potential capacity wherever it has been presented. It is estimated that over 52 million people have seen the show. Awards include the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and seven Tony Awards. It was brought to Broadway in 1988, where it has pleased 4.9 million people in New York City alone.

With all of this success, the idea for a film adaptation was no surprise. In 2004, Warner Brothers Pictures released The Phantom of the Opera starring Gerard Butler as the Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul. The magnificent musical finally came to life on the silver screen, astounding Phantom-lovers everywhere. It’s hard to find someone who has not been enchanted by the original novel, swept away by the musical, or bedazzled by the movie adaptation of both. The true magic can be found in all three renditions of this truly haunting love story.

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