Gaston Leroux's The Phantom Of The Opera

When you think “The Phantom of the Opera,” you think a brilliant musical, on Broadway but the story begins way before then. The well-loved story went through many different stages before it became a musical. Shall we look at the various ways this timeless tale has been told over the years?

It first was a novel by Gaston Leroux. In 1909, the complete “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra” was published as a book. Though the book did not sell very well. Leroux said he was inspired to write the novel after a trip to the Opera house in Paris. While wandering its lower floors where he found a wondrous lake below some iron grilles in the floor, also he remembered an accident that happened when one of the chandelier’s counterweights fell on the audience. Which

gave him the ideas to begin writing the novel thus giving birth to what we come to know as one of the most wonderful musicals known to men.
The President of Universal Pictures, Carl Laemmle, met Leroux while on vacation in France.

Laemmle confessed how delighted he’d been with the Place de l’Opéra opera house, and with that interest Leroux gave Laemmle a copy of his book. Laemmle stayed awake all night just to finish the book and then intended to turn it into a film no matter what. In 1925, he did just that, Universal Studios produced a silent film of Leroux’s “Phantom” starring Lon Chaney, which did relatively good. In 1924, they even built a replica of the Opera House in Paris as their “background” on a Hollywood staged to film the movie. On April 26, 1925, the movie premiered in San Francisco. In 1930, dialogue and sound were added for the first time. In 1945 and 1962, two more films were produced neither as successful as the movie in 1925.

May 1984 is when Andrew Lloyd Webber took the interest in The Phantom of the Opera. He read a review about a performance of the Phantom of the Opera performed by The Theatre Royal in Stratford and calls Cameron Mackintosh about the idea to turn it into a musical. In early 1985 he bought an old copy of the original story by Leroux from a bookstore. Inspiring him to create a romantic music score for his wife. Starting the journey of creating one of the most well-known

musicals.
The Phantom of the Opera was written by Andrew Webber with lyrics by Charles Hart. The first act was presented to an audience he invited to his country home. The story goes from his hideout beneath a 19th century Paris opera house, the Phantom tries to get closer to vocalist Christine. The Phantom, wearing a mask to hide a congenital disfigurement, convinces management into giving the starlet key roles, but Christine starts to fall for arts benefactor Raoul. Terrified of her absence, the Phantom hatches a plan to keep Christine by his side, while Raoul tries to foil the plan. His designer visited the Paris Opera House in November 1985 to get inspiration for her sets. Andrew then test it out with a recording which captures how the musical will go. ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ was arranged as a rock number which then topped the charts at number 7. With this success he started planning for the musical.
In March 1986, open auditions started for The Phantom of the Opera. Five months later rehearsals finally started. Two months later, after several previews The Phantom of the Opera has its opening night at Her Majesty's Theatre in London starring Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. The times magazine said it was “God’s Gift to Musical Theatre.” The opera won 3 Lawrence Olivier Awards, one being Best New Musical, in December 1986. Even Princess Diana attended the concert with none other than Andrew Webber himself.
The Phantom of the Opera opens on Broadway, in Japan, Australia, Africa, and Las Vegas. On Broadway, it made $18 million at the box office. The musical wins 7 Tony Awards, one being Best Musical, in New York. Andrew Webber and Joel Schumacher agree it’s time to make the musical into a film on Christmas 2002. December 2004 the film premieres in New York and is nominated for three Golden Globes. The Broadway production even became the longest-running show ever on Broadway. The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2001.
The Phantom of the Opera is what sparked my interest in musicals that's why I choose this as my topic. I remember when my high school chorus teacher told us we were going to watch it and I thought I wasn’t going to to enjoy it, but boy was I wrong. We didn’t get to finish in class so when I got home I went crazy trying to find it on the computer. I wished I could sing like an opera singer, but there was no way I was going to hit the notes they hit. It fascinated me how the could hit those notes. I loved how the incorporated the story with the music. I felt like it went so well together and I couldn’t wait to watch another musical. Then we got the opportunity to go see The Lion King at the Fox and I couldn’t wait to see a live performance.
One day I wish to go see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I really wish to see any live musical on Broadway to be truthful. Also, I wish to go see one in London. I admire any opera singer because I believe it's a really hard job especially when they have to learn it in a different language. I know it takes long and hard work to become an opera singer. Which makes me appreciate even more especially when they perform it night after night. I also think about how much care they have to put in their voices.
I really enjoyed researching the history of The Phantom of Opera. I didn’t know that it was a novel first then a silent film and finally a musical. When I read that I knew this is what I wanted to write my term paper on because it’s interesting to learn that about a musical. I just thought it was just a musical, but I was totally wrong. Now I want to see if I can find the original book and the silent film. I can honestly say that The Phantom of the Opera is my all time favorite musical not only because it’s good but because it’s what sparked my interest in musicals and live performances. I was totally excited that I found the 25th anniversary live performances on Netflix, I stayed up all night just to watch the performances.
I’m so glad I decided to write the paper over this because I really enjoyed learning about the history of The Phantom of the Opera. It’s amazing how much you can learn if you just sit down and take your time and research something. I even listen to the soundtracked when I researched and wrote this paper. I didn’t think I would learn so much, to be honest, but I did and I’m glad.