Compare/Contrast: Phantom of the Opera Novel Vs. Musical The

Compare/Contrast: Phantom of the Opera novel vs. musical The original story of the Phantom begins in a novel by author Gaston Leroux. Read this summary of his novel: When Leroux began his research in Paris for his novel, Phantom of the Opera, he said he went through the archives of the National Academy of Music to investigate the story of a kidnapping. A great singer, Christine Daae had been kidnapped, her rescuer, Vicomte de Chagney, had disappeared, and the Vicomte’s brother, Count Philippe, had died. Leroux interviewed a “witness” to all this. This “witness” was known as “the Persian.” The man told Leroux he had spoken with a ghost who lived in the Paris Opera House. The Persian also claimed to have found a skeleton in the cellars of the Opera House which he claimed belonged to a mysterious phantom that lived and roamed around the opera house. Based on his research and interviews, Leroux decided to write a novel about the “phantom” and the mysterious “Persian” and the kidnapping and disappearances possibly linked to the phantom Chapter 1: The book begins with the ballet girls at the opera house discussing the rumors about a ghost. Ballet dancer Meg Giry tells how the ghost sits in Box 5 in the opera house for every performance and watches from the shadows. Meg’s mother, Madame Giry is in charge of the auditorium for the opera house. Madame Giry tells the girls how, Buquet, a stage-hand and scene-changer for the performances, was recently found hanged beneath the stage. Chapters 2 – end of novel: The lead singer at the opera house is Christine. She is loved and admired by Vicomte Raoul and his brother Philippe, the Comte de Chagney. The other lead singer, La Carlotta, became ill, and Christine had to perform in her place. Raoul is deeply smitten by Christine although he is 20 years younger than her. After the performance, Raoul goes to see Christine & reminds her that he first met her when he was a little boy and he rescued her scarf after she dropped it into the sea. She tells him she doesn’t feel well & ends their conversation. The new managers of the Opera House, Mr. Richard and Mr. Moncharmin, find out that the opera ghost has been 20,000 francs a month and always has Box 5 reserved for him at the performances. They also think Buquet’s death was somehow caused by the ghost. They begin to get letters from the Opera Ghost (O.G.) demanding that Christine keep singing as the lead singer. The managers decide to sell the ticket for Box 5 at the next performance, and when the performance occurs the audience hears some crazy laughter in the auditorium. The managers consult Madame Giry about what she knows about the ghost but she refuses to tell anything. The managers fire her. Christine, confused, decides to go visit her father’s grave in a city close to Paris. Raoul dashes after her. He sees her in the graveyard, in a trance, moving toward her father’s grave while strange music can be heard. Raoul is attacked by some kind of ghost wearing a skeleton mask. He wakes up the next day in a hotel. The opera ghost sends more letters to the managers with more demands. He says if his demands are not met there will be a curse on the opera house. Then the managers discover that their prize horse, Cesar, is missing. They believe the “phantom” has stolen it. Raoul gets a message from Christine asking him to meet her secretly at the Opera’s masked ball. After the ball, Raoul hides in Christine’s dressing room. He hears her talking to someone and then sees her disappear through a mirror in her dressing room. The next day Christine meets with Raoul on the roof of the opera house to talk. She tells him she can’t see him anymore. She explains that she has been meeting with a man named Erik, her Angel of Music, who has been giving her singing lessons. She says he has taken her to the cellars of the opera house where he lives. Meanwhile, the Phantom has been hiding behind a statue & listening to everything they say. When Christine & Raoul leave, the Persian is standing at the foot of the stairs and tells them to go a different way. At the next performance, Carlotta loses her voices and begins to sound like a frog croaking. The audience laughed. Then they heard laughter coming from the ceiling. The Phantom caused the chandelier to break and it came crashing onto the stage below. The newspapers reported that hundreds were wounded and one person was killed. The woman who was killed was the woman hired to replace Madame Giry. Raoul meets with Christine and proposes marriage to her which she accepts. But Raoul’s brother, Philippe, tells Raoul NOT to marry Christine. Philippe believes that Christine has gone crazy or is mentally disturbed because of all the ghost stories she tells. During the next performance, Christine mysteriously vanishes on stage before the audience. The managers discover that money is being stolen out of their office. The police arrive to investigate the stolen money & the disappearance of Christine. The Persian appears and tells them that Christine is with Erik, somewhere in the opera house. He suggests they all get pistols and follow him. The Persian leads them to the dressing room where he shows them how the mirror is a door that leads to secret inner passageways in the opera house. They all go down to the cellars. They encounter a man whose head appears to be on fire. He is the rat-catcher who uses fire to draw the rats away from people and toward himself so he can lead away. But Raoul and the Persian are swarmed by thousands of rats who begin to crawl up their legs. The rat-catcher finally lights sticks on fire to draw the rats toward him and tells them, “don’t come after me! Let me pass with my rats.” Later, thinking they have reached the Phantom’s lair, Raoul and the Persian get caught in a torture chamber and can’t find their way out. They hearing voices next door and discover Christine is trapped in the Phantom’s quarters next door. They talk to her through the wall. The Phantom turns up the heat in the torture chamber and the men almost die, but the Persian finds a secret way out of the room. Then they discover they are in a room with barrels of gunpowder. Then the Phantom floods the room and the men almost drown. Christine begs him to let them go. The next day the Persian and Raoul are found in their homes but they don’t know how they got there. Philippe is found drowned in the opera house lake. The Phantom meets with the Persian and tells him that Christine is now his wife. He also says that he is dying. He says Christine convinced him to release Raoul and she has now disappeared. Erik agreed to give the Persian all the papers and belongings of Christine since he is about to die. Three weeks later the Phantom’s death is announced in the papers. Summary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical: Prologue: In the Paris Opera House, an auction is being held to sell some things that belonged to the opera house. The opera house is closed and no longer has performances. Raoul and Madame Giry are old now and they attend the auction. The chandelier is about to be auctioned and it turns on, comes back to life, and the opera house goes back in time. Act I: The ballerinas and opera singers are now rehearsing for a new opera performance. The new managers, Mr. Andre and Mr. Firmin, are introduced to the opera cast by the retiring opera manager. While La Carlotta is singing, a backdrop crashes to the floor and the ballerinas scream, claiming it was the “opera ghost.” On the night of the performance, Carlotta becomes ill and Madame Giry, the ballet mistress, suggests that Christine Daae take her place. Christine is a ballerina and a shy girl who does not believe in her talent. But Madame Giry knows that Christine has been taking singing lessons from the mysterious “Angel of Music,” a.k.a the Phantom. After the performance, Raoul shows up at Christine’s dressing room to tell her he saw the performance. He reminds Christine that he knew her when they were younger and he rescued her scarf when it was blown into the sea. Raoul asks her to go to dinner with him but she refuses. She tells him her “Angel of Music” is very strict and she has a lesson with him. The Phantom becomes angry at Raoul’s advances toward Christine, so he appears in her dressing room behind a mirror and takes her to his labyrinth below the opera house. The Phantom sings to her and seduces her with his strange organ music and song. He sings her a haunting love song and Christine faints at the sight of a wax figure of herself in his lair. The next morning she wakes up and is very frightened. She tries to remember how she got to this place and then notices the Phantom. She pulls off the Phantom’s mask & sees his horribly disfigured face. He becomes angry at this and takes her back up to the opera house theater.

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