The Phantom of the Opera: Annotated (Paperback)
Description
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
"The Phantom of the Opera" is a French novel by writer Gaston Leroux that was originally published in 1909 as a serial in a magazine called Le Gaulois. The novel was based on real historical events at the Paris Opera that took place during the 1800s and urban legends of the region.
The story centers on a young singer named Christine, her childhood friend and current lover the Vicomte de Chagny and a man called "The Phantom" who haunts the Paris Opera. Shortly after Christine makes her opera debut, the house managers begin to receive strange letters from someone calling themselves the 'Phantom of the Opera' who threatens to curse them if they don't put it at the top of their series. Faust.
It is revealed throughout the book that Christine heard a strange voice speaking to her and singing to her in her dressing room. One night, she is kidnapped and brought by a strange man wearing a mask to his underground lair by a lake. Raoul must find her and save her. The strange man gives her an ultimatum of marriage with him or death.
The book has been adapted several times, including a 1925 film and a highly successful musical by playwright Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1986. It went on to make Broadway history and made billions of dollars in ticket sales.