The Phantom of the Opera

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Image:Phantomoftheoperalonchaney.jpg The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra in French) is a French novel by Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from September 23rd, 1909 to January 8th, 1910. It is believed to have been inspired by George du Maurier's Trilby. It was translated into English in 1911. It has since been adapted many times into film and stage productions, the most notable of which was Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical, which is now the longest running Broadway show in history, and the most lucrative entertainment enterprise of all time (its worldwide box-office out-grossing even the 1997 film Titanic).

The story is about Erik, a ruined genius with a mutilated face, who terrorizes the Paris Opera House, under which he builds his lair and where he takes a beautiful soprano, whom he loves, under his wing.

The novel has a significant cult following, members of which term themselves 'Phantom Phans'.

Contents

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Plot summary

The Phantom of The Opera is a Gothic novel, combining romance, horror fiction, mystery, and tragedy.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Leroux's original 1910 novel is set in 19th century Paris at the Opera Garnier (The Paris Opera or The National Academy of Music), which was built between 1857 and 1874 over a huge underground lake. The employees claim that the opera house is haunted by a mysterious ghost who wreaks chaos and destruction when displeased. Erik, posing as the "Phantom of the Opera" (Opera Ghost in the Mattos and Bair translation), sends the managers of the Opera Garnier repeated threats of future catastrophes should they not pay him a monthly stipend of 20,000 francs and perpetually reserve box 5 for him at every show. This arrangement, unbroken during the many years of the manager's tenure, is abruptly broken off when two new proprietors, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard, take over the opera house and refuse to give in to what they view as the empty threats of a madman.

Meanwhile, Erik has taken on a new protegée, Christine Daaé. He tells her that he is the "Angel of Music", a spirit sent by her dead father from heaven to help her, and proceeds to give her regular voice lessons through the wall. Under the tutelage of her new teacher, Christine makes rapid progress in her musical studies and achieves new prominence on the opera stage when she is selected to replace the current prima donna Carlotta, whose act is sabotaged by the Phantom. Christine shines in her featured debut and immediately wins the hearts of the audience, including that of her childhood boyfriend Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny.

Erik becomes envious of Christine's growing relationship with Raoul and brings her down to his Gothic world beneath the opera house. Christine quickly learns that there is nothing at all angelic about Erik, who is as malicious, terrifying, and bitter as he is brilliant and pitiful. She is infuriated at having been deceived by an incredibly sly criminal, and demands to be set free. Erik promises to let her out after 5 days. When Erik sings a love song to her, Christine rips off his mask, driven by curiosity to find out what the face of the man who loves her, lied to her, and kidnapped her looks like, and why he wears a mask. "If I live to be one hundred, I should always hear that superhuman cry of grief and rage which he uttered before that terrible sight reached my eyes," Christine later tells Raoul while recounting what went on below the Opera House. The Phantom is furious and tells her that she will have to stay in his lair forever, but later changes his mind. Christine is released, but only after promising to return on her own will and swearing to never give her love to anyone else. Christine returns again, but only out of pity for the phantom.

But the Phantom isn't the only one who is envious. After Christine's debut performance, Raoul overhears Christine succumbing to a tyrannical, disembodied voice in her dressing room (Erik). He becomes suspicious that another man is taking advantage of her innocent belief in an "Angel of Music" to seduce her. He starts spying on her, attempting to seek this mysterious seducer. Christine suddenly becomes aware of this and is very angry, but after Erik reveals himself to be the Phantom of the Opera, she decides to tell Raoul on the roof of the Opera Garnier everything that has occurred between her and Erik. The two of them plan to run away from Paris and the "horror of Erik."

The Phantom discovers their plan and abducts Christine from the stage during her final performance at the Opera Garnier as Margarita in Gounod's Faust, at the part where Christine, as Margarita, is appealing to the angels. Raoul follows them down into the depths of the lake cavern beneath the opera house and is guided to Erik's lair by a character known as the Persian. Unfortunately for both of them, the entrance they take to Erik's lair leads instead to a torture chamber, where they helplessly listen to Erik raging at Christine, who lied to him and betrayed him. He threatens that should Christine not marry him, he would blow up the Opera House with explosives, in turn, "many members of the human race" would be destroyed. Christine, now on the brink of suicide, sadly accepts his proposal.

Eventually, Christine shows Erik genuine sympathy and displays an act of love by kissing him tenderly on the forehead, granting Erik a happiness he never thought possible, and is touched. In despairing tears, Erik gives Christine and Raoul his blessings to marry. He only asks that Christine come back and bury him with the ring he gave her after he dies, which is not long afterwards.

"He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world, and in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar," writes Gaston Leroux in the epilogue of his book.

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Erik's personal history

In Gaston Leroux's novel, The Phantom of the Opera, we are never given a thorough history of the Phantom's life. The Persian recalls Erik's time of employment for the Shah-in-Shah of Persia as 'The Rosy Hours of Mazenderan,' called such because of the deaths of the many victims of the Shah and the 'little sultana' in the house-of-horrors that was the Shah's palace at Mazenderan. It was built in such a way that not even the slightest whisper could be considered secure and private. The architecture was arranged so that sound carried and reverberated at myriad locations, so that one never knew who might be listening in. The Persian does not go into great detail on the actual circumstances, dwelling instead on the vague horrors that existed at Mazenderan. Leroux does tell us that the Shah became paranoid that Erik would use his genius against him, and ordered him executed. It was only by intervention of the Persian (the 'daroga, or police chief of Mazenderan, whose own life had been saved by Erik in the past) and his friends, that Erik was able to escape.

Image:Phantombutler4.jpg Image:Phantomcdance2.jpg

Though Leroux appears to have given Erik a very shallow depth-of-field, other, more in-depth histories of his life do exist in various forms based on what we learn in Leroux's novel. The most widely accepted 'official' version of the Phantom's past is the novel Phantom by Susan Kay. It details his life from birth until his death beneath the Opera House. According to Kay, the Phantom was born as Erik in a small town not far from Rouen, the son of a master mason. His father died before he was born, and his mother scorned him from birth; refusing to be mother to a monster. She refused to name him, and the priest who baptised him named him Erik after himself. From a young age, Erik had a fascination with architecture, and was privately tutored by a famous professor for awhile. On his birthday, he made the grave mistake of refusing to wear the cloth mask his mother had made him wear since he was a baby. He demanded to know why she treated him differently, and his mother angrily showed him a mirror. Erik didn't realize it was his reflection and thought it was a trapped monster. After that, he sought to make a mirror so he could have control over the monster.

When his mother decided to marry a local doctor, Erik ran away into the night. After a week or so without food Erik stumbled upon a Gypsy carnival in the woods. While his only intentions were to steal some food, Erik was discovered and thought to be a horse thief, and when the gypsies succeeded in unmasking him, a freak show showman decided to exhibit him as the "Living Corpse" in his tent. 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. He eventually gained some fearful respect among the Gypsies, also being granted his own tent.

After a few years, Erik was sought out by the Daroga of Mazanderan Court and 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 Torture Chamber). After Erik designed and built the Hall of Echoes for the Shah, he (the Shah) feared that Erik knew too many of his personal secrets and decided to dispose of him. Nadir, the Daroga who befriended him, helped him escape the guards and Erik eventually made his way back to France. (Based on the dating this unnamed Shah could be Nasser-al-Din Shah (1831 – 1896, reigned 1848 – 1896).

Erik (In Kay's novel, of course) wished for himself to be the designer of the Paris Opera House. Unfortunately for him, the contest for the position was over by the time he found out about it. He went to the winner, Charles Garnier, and made a deal with Garnier wherein he could help design and build the 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 in 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).

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Phantom Phans

A cult following has evolved around the story, with members calling themselves Phantom Phans. The most obsessive are those enthralled with Erik, but members can be fans of any of the characters. The most common way to spot one of these people is the way they manage to relate their everyday behavior to the story in some way, comparing their current life situation to some aspect of the story, or weaving their favorite character into the topic. Phans have been known to attend film showings in full costume -- though they hardly need that reason to don their capes and masks in public. And they often stop in their tracks at sight of masks, elaborate chandeliers, a new cover to the book, or even pipe organs. They may sing along if a Phantom-related song comes on over the speakers in a store or elevator. At least one Phan became so infatuated with the story that she legally changed her name to Christine Daaé. One website held a year-long competition as to who was the "Official Phantom Phan". The winner has kept that title as of 2006. Websites contain long lists of favored traits of the Phans themselves, Psychological/Medical breakdowns of the characters, comparisons of the book, play, and films, and news about the actors, along with copious fan fiction ("phan-phictions"). Some "phictions" are alternate versions of the same story, and some simply use the setting and characters from The Phantom of the Opera as a launching station for their own storylines. Online Phantom forums have also blossomed over the internet connecting generations of "Phans." The growing number of Phans of The Phantom suggests that these are people who already were inclined to devote themselves to the arts, and many express great interest in other works focusing Gothic romanticism, the forgotten genius, or the damsel in macabre distress.

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Illustrations

  • The original French book publication of 1910 was illustrated with 5 oil paintings by André Castaigne. These paintings served as an inspiration for the 1925 film, and have appeared in many subsequent reprintings and translations.
  • An adaption by Shannon Donnelly was illustrated by Robert Schoolcraft.
  • An adaption of the french original by Kate McMullan was illustrated by Paul Jennis.
  • The Essential Phantom of the Opera translated and annotated by Leonard Wolf was illustrated by Max Douglas.
  • An adaption by Doris Dickens was illustrated by Wayne Anderson.
  • An adaption by Peter F. Neumeyer was illustrated by Don Weller.
  • A Leather-Bound Collector's Edition translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos published after the success of Webber's was illustrated by Rick Daskam.
  • Greg Hildebrandt's illustrations was published by Unicorn Pub House.
  • Rachel Perkins has her illustrations published on her website. [1]


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Adaptations

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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.
  • The Phantom of the Opera (a.k.a. The American Phantom of the Opera: A Love Story) 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).
  • Phantom (1991) book by David H. Bell, music by Tom Sivak.
  • Phantom of the Opera (1990) with book by Bruce Falstein and music by Lawrence Rosen and Paul Shierhorn.
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1975) by David Giles.
  • Phantom of the Opera (1992) with book by Michael Tilford and music and lyrics by Tom Alonso.
  • Phantom of the Opera: A New Victorian Thriller (1979) by Gene Traylor.
  • The Phantom of the Opera: An Exciting New Musical Adaptation (1992), book and lyrics by Joseph Robinette and music by Robert Chauls.
  • The Phantom of the Opera: Or the Passage of Christine (1986) with book by Kathleen Masterson and music by David Bishop.
  • Phantom of the Opera: Original Family Musical (1998) with book by Rob Barron and music, lyrics and orchestrantion by David Spencer.
  • The Phantom of the Opera: The Musical adapted by Ivan Jacobs from the play by John Kenley and Robert Thomas Noll.
  • The Phantom of the Opera: The Play (1988-1989) by John Kenley and Robert Thomas Noll, music by David Gooding and Charles Gounod.
  • The Phantom of the Opera on Ice (1996) with narration and lyrics by Roberto Danova, Tony Mercer, Kathy Dooley and Stephen Lee Garden. Music composed and arranged by Roberto Danova.
  • Phantom of the Op'ry: A Melodrama with Music (1991), book by Tom Kelly, music by Gerald V. Castle and lyrics by Michael C. Vigilant.
  • The Pinchpenny Phantom of the Opera: An Affordable Musical Comedy (1988) by Dave Reiser and Jack Sharkey.
  • Phantom of the NorShor.
  • Das Phantom der Oper with music by A. Gerber - and the text by P. Wilhelm.
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Films

Image:Rainsphantom.JPG

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Television

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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).
  • After Twilight by Amanda Ashley, Christine Feehan and Ronda Thompson.
  • Phantom of Chicago by Lori Herter.
  • Behind the Phantom's Mask by Roger Ebert.
  • Phantoms by Martin and Rosalind Greenberg.
  • Angel of Music: Tales of the Phantom by Carrie Hernández.
  • Night of the Phantom by Anne Stuart.
  • The Phantom of Paris by Gwenith M. Vehlow.
  • Le Journal Intime du Fantôme de l'Opera by Marion Dumond-Gros.
  • Fantômes d'Opéra by Alain Germain.
  • 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.
  • Phantasy by Becky L. Meadows - the sequel to Progeny.
  • 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.
  • Beauty and the Opera or the Phantom Beast a short story by Suzy McKee Charnas. Published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1996. Reprinted in Modern Classics of Fantasy (1997) by St. Martins Press (editor: Gardner Dozois), again in Music of the Night (2001) by Electricstory, and in Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms (2004) this short story offers an alternate ending, with Christine staying with the Phantom for five years.
  • Musikens Ängel (The Angel of Music), Swedish novel by Eva Gullberg. Published by Författarhuset in 1998.
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Children's books

  • The Phantom of the Opera by Peter F. Neumeyer. Published by Gibbs Smith. Illustrations by Don Weller.
  • The Phantom of the Opera by Kate McMullan. Published by Step-Up Classic Chillers. Illustrations by Paul Jennis.
  • The Phantom of the Opera by Jennifer Bassett. Published by Oxford Bookworm's Library.
  • Bantam of the Opera by Mary Jane Auch. Published by Holiday House.
  • The Phantom Cat of the Opera by David Wood. Published by Watson-Guptill Publications. Illustrated by Peters Day.
  • Phantoms Don't Drive Sports Cars (The Adventure of the Bailey School Kids) by Debbie Dadey. Published by Scholastic Paperbacks.
  • Babar : The Phantom by Rh Value Publishing.
  • Phantom of the Auditorium by R. L. Stine. Published by Apple.
  • The Peeping Duck Gang investigates the case of the Phantom of the Opera by Keith Brumpton.
  • In Bruce Coville's book "Monster of the Year", a tall masked Phantom-esque character appears briefly, suggesting that for good publicity, the others try for a show on Broadway. This suggestion is vetoed by the main character's mother, saying it takes years for such a thing to happen.
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Comics

  • The Trap-door Maker (2006) by Pete Bregman. Published by Treehouse - story revolves around Erik's time in Persia.
  • The Opera House Murders (2003) story by Yozaburo Kanari and art by Fumiya Sato. In "The Kindaichi Case Files" series. Published by TokyoPop.
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan #11 and #12 Le Monstre (1997) published by Dark Horse Comics - A Phantom of the Opera/Tarzan crossover.
  • Batman: Masque (1997) by Mike Grell with Andrz Khromov. Published by DC Comics.
  • Le Trésor du Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Treasure of the Phantom of the Opera) Volume 7 of the Joseph Rouletabille series. Story by André-Paul Duchateau and drawings by Bernard-C. Swysen. Published by Claude Lefrancq in 1996 and Soleil in 2001.
  • Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (1995) by JET. Published by Asuka Comics DX - Japanese, mixes elements from Leroux, Andrew L. Webber, and Lon Chaney.
  • Sherlock Holmes: Adventure of the Opera Ghost Two volumes. (1994) by Steven P. Jones, art by Aldin Baroza, and cover art by Guy Davis. In black&white. Published by Caliber press.
  • Phantom of the Opera (1991) by Mitchell Perkins and Wanda Daughton (and Vickie Williams). Published by Innovation.
  • Le Fantôme de l'Opéra Volume 1 of the Joseph Rouletabille series. Story by André-Paul Duchateau and drawings by Bernard-C. Swysen. Published by Claude Lefrancq in 1989 and Soleil in 2001.
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1988) published by Eternity Comics - Based on Gaston Leroux's novel.
  • The Phantom Stranger (1973) no. 23 and no. 24 published by DC Comics.
  • The Phantom of Notre Duck (1965) by Carl Barks.
  • Le Fantome de l'Opera by Toshihiro Hirano. Two volumes.
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Non-fiction

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Translations

  • 1911 The Phantom of the Opera translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Published by Bobbs-Merrill (America) and Mills and Boon (Britain).
  • 1926 Operaens Hemmelighed translated into Norwegian/Danish by Anna Høyer. Published by V. Pios Boghandel (Norway) - Povl Branner (Denmark).
  • 1970 Fantóm Opery translated into Czech by J.V. Svoboda. Published by Ivo Železný.
  • 1988 Fantomen på Operan translated into Swedish by Ulla Hornborg. Published by Trevi (Translated from the English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos).
  • 1990 The Phantom of the Opera translated by Lowell Bair. Published by Bantam Books.
  • 1996 The Essential Phantom of the Opera translated by Leonard Wolf. Published by Plume Books.
  • 2000 Fantomet i Operaet translated into Danish by Lea Brems. Published by Klim.
  • 2004 The Phantom of the Opera translated by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier. Published by Black Coat Press.
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Music

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References

The Phantom was recently called "the gayest super villain ever" by Homer Simpson. Erik seems to be a reoccurring background character on The Simpsons. He has appeared in several episodes, the most noticeable of which include:

  • Flaming Moe
Homer's haughty speech from the rafters.
Notice the robe deftly draped over his face like the Phantom's mask (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical).
  • Bart on the Road
"Phantom of the Opry"
  • Selma's Choice
He was in the background at Duff Land
  • Lisa's Wedding
Martin Prince has become him
  • Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
He appears in Lenny's HiDef TV when Homer first turns it on

The Phantom has also been featured in Married With Children, multiple children's shows (an episode of Animaniacs is quite memorable, while a whole episode of the show Count Duckula was set in Paris and featured the Phantom throughout), and even soap operas like Passions.

  • Jim Carrey has a news paper with a picture of Lon Chaney on the cover in the Lemony Snicket movie.
  • The Phantom (from Andrew Lloyd Webber) showed up in Backstreet Boys music video Everybody
  • Erik (from Leroux) shows up in Have You Got Any Castles? together with Frankenstein's Monster, Mr. Hyde and Fu Man Chu. Which can be found on the The Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume. It was also featured on the cover of Video Watchdog.
  • In an episode of Sex and the City, Carry sees her old flame Mr. Big at the Opera. After storming out she thinks to herself "I felt like I had just seen the Phantom of the Opera".
  • He appears in an episode of Jimmy Newtron that focuses on Jimmy unmasking a series of "Phantoms" who turn out to his classmates before finally coming to the "real" Phantom.
  • In an episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob thinks he is ugly, at one point we see Spongbob in a long black cape playing a pipe organ.
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Other

The Phantom is included among the band in the Beetlejuice show at Universal Studios Theme Parks. He also is a featured character in "The Sadie Chronicles".


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References

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External links

de:Das Phantom der Oper es:El Fantasma de la Ópera fr:Le Fantôme de l'Opéra gd:An Taibhse an t-Opra he:פנטום האופרה it:Il fantasma dell'opera (romanzo) nl:Spook van de Opera no:Operafantomet pt:Fantasma da ópera simple:Phantom of the Opera sv:Fantomen på Operan

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