Phantom of the Opera Facts
"The Phantom of the Opera" exists as a novel, silent film, theater musical and popular movie. This classic work enjoys worldwide fame as a tragic love story containing amazing special effects on film and on stage as well as stirring music. The story of the phantom has French origins dating back to the late 1800s, when its author first heard tales about strange occurrences at the Paris Opera House. For more than 100 years, the story of the Paris Opera House's phantom has entertained millions of people worldwide.
The Story
Gaston Leroux wrote the horror novel "Le Fantome de l'Opera," published in 1911. Leroux had long heard stories of ghosts haunting the Paris Opera House and decided to base a novel around these tales. He even boasted having researched the opera house and finding evidence of bodies in the cellars. The novel features an innocent young girl, who having lost her father attempts to become a star at the Paris Opera House, much to the disappointment of her boyfriend, who wishes she would quit. Her father promised an angel of music would watch over her and help her. She meets a man, the phantom, living under the opera house in the catacombs with a half-hidden, disfigured face. He becomes her angel of music, tutoring her while terrorizing others. His obsession leads to a tragic love story triangle and eventually to his death. The novel had mixed reviews and moderate sales.
First Film
After receiving only mixed reviews, the novel was run as a series of short chapters in newspapers with accompanying illustrations. This garnered more success. Eventually, Universal Pictures became aware of the story, and in 1925, the company created the first film version of the novel under the title "The Phantom of the Opera." The silent film created a star of Lon Chaney, who starred the tormented phantom. Some consider this early film version to be the most true to the novel. However, the director changed the ending from one where the phantom dies of a broken heart to one where he attempts to escape with Christine, his young protégé and love interest, but instead becomes victim to an angry mob that kills him.
The Musical
Andrew Lloyd Webber created the most successful stage version of "The Phantom of the Opera" in the mid-1980s. The musical opened in 1986 at London's Her Majesty's Theatre as a huge success. "Phantom" won every major British theatre award, and since its opening, every seat has consistently been sold out. When the music from the theater version was released in London, it went straight to No. 1 on the charts. The musical opened on Broadway in New York in January 1988 and has set many attendance records since that time. In the theater version, Webber took the character of Phantom, created by Leroux as a menacing horror character, and turned him into more of a tragic, hopelessly in love character.
Later Film Version
"The Phantom of the Opera" found further success in 2004 with a Warner Brothers film adaptation released to huge success. This film adaptation was in the works since 1988, when Webber contacted Joel Schumacher, the eventual director of the film, about a possible adaptation for the big screen. Although they spoke of it from time to time over the years, not until 2002 did work began in earnest on the film adaptation. Webber had a large part in the development of the film adaptation. Though his principle role concerned the musical score of the film, he assisted in the development of plot lines that explained the histories of the main characters as well as some of the minor players such as dancers and stagehands.
The Numbers
Many numbers and statistics exist concerning this record-breaking musical. Throughout 18 countries, 65,000 performances of "The Phantom of the Opera" have occurred. Its overall ticket sales worldwide consistently sell out 99 percent of the existing seats. As of 2008, since it opened, over 52 million people have seen the Webber version of the musical. Broadway has shown "The Phantom of the Opera" continually since 1988. As the longest running musical in history as of 2008, "Phantom" broke "Cats" record of 7,485 performances, with more than 8,000 performances on Broadway. It holds the record as the first srun for longer than 20 years. As the highest-grossing musical ever on Broadway, more than $600 million in ticket sales had been achieved by 2008. Worldwide sales as of 2006 had reached $3.2 billion, making this tale the highest-grossing entertainment phenomenon in history.