The Phantom of the Opera

year 1906, coney islands and its funfairs, manhattan opera opened on 3december 1906,

In 1910, Gaston Leroux chanced upon a vague folk tale and from this he spun his tale which was the original version of The Phantom of the Opera. His book emerged in 1911. After causing a brbrief flutter, it fell into virtual oblivion. Only a fluke eleven years later, did his story come back into prominence and set it on the road to immortality.

That fluke took the form of a German Jew Carl Laemmle, who was the president of Universal Motion Pictures of Hollywood in 1922. Over dinner, while in Paris, Leroux presented Laemmle his story which was exactly something that Laemmle was looking for for his next project. He bought the rights, came back to Hollywood, created a replica of the Paris Opera and viola the movie was a success. It was the hideously frightening Phantom and the film made on him that caught peoples fancy and imagination which created the birth of the Phantom legend.

After this, many versions of this story were made into movies as well as plays. But by now the original story was totaaly lost and totally misrepresented. Until Andrew Lloyd Webber came on the scene. He saw one of the stage musicals based on this story and later read the original book written by Leroux.

Like most perceptions of extreme acuteness, Lloyd Webbers judgement looks simple enough in hindsight but was destined to change the world’s attitude to this ill-used legend. He saw that it was not basically a horror story at all, nor onr based on hatred and cruelty, but a truly tragic tale of obsessive but unrequited love between a desperately disfigured self-exile from the human race and a beautiful young opera singer who eventually prefers to give her love to a handsome aristicratic suitor.

So Andrew Lloyd Webber went back to the original story, pared away the unnecessary illogicalities and cruelties featured by Leroux and extracted the true essence of the tragedy. On this foundation he built what, over the twelve years since the curtain first went up, has proved to be the most popular and successful musical of all times. If there exists a global perception of this story it derives today almost totaly from the Lloyd Webber version.

gives a brief history of how,when and by whom the opera was built. tells you about gaston leroux. and the errors he made while writing his story. specially since he claims it to be true.

Andrew Llody reworked it and this is his story. Cin 1880’s a desperately disfigured wretch took refuge in the labyrinth cellars under the Paris Opera. In 1893, looking out from a closed box, he spots a beautiful young understudy and falls hopelessly in love. All this years listening to people practising all the time he becomes an expert at singing. So, he sets about training Christine, since he sees potential in her. She becomes a star overnight. He hopes that she will return his love but during that time she is courted by, and fell in love with a handsome young vicomte, Raoul de Chagny. Driven to extremes by rage and jealousy, the Phantom abductes his young soprano from the stage in mid performance and takes her to his santuary.

And there something happens between them. Though we know not what. But then the vicomte comes to her rescue, and instead of killing them both, which he could have easily done the Phantom disappears from there leaving behind a mocking memento, a musical box in the form of a monkey playing a tune called `masquerade’. The phantom was never heard of again. Or…. was he?

antoinette giry – the woman who brings him to the opera. finds him in a circus-called funfair at that time of freaks. the story begins in 1906. erik muhlheim forty years old. his father was a carpenter. lived in a circus. he was seven when the circus catches fire. father-a drunken who hits him constnatly and mother does nothing. disfigured since the day he was bormn. after the fire, loses everything so his father sells him to a freak show.. he is sixteen when she finds him. nine years with as a freak show.

from the opera’slibrary he educated himself. most of the works were of music and opera. he lived there for eleven years.

Madame la Vicomtesse de Chagny. autumn ’93 and the son is born in summer ’94; helps him escape. lands up killing someone and has a price on his head. in 1894 he escapes to america. darius. pierre de chagny. father joe. builts an opera in manhattan. pierre is his son. get them down there. darius realises tht pierre is his son and sets out to kill him. lands up killing Christine. pierre chosses to stay with erik. and carry on the family fortune.