The Phantom of the Opera

Nearly everyone has heard of the acclaimed Broadway play, "The Phantom of the Opera." Most people also know that several movie versions of this story have been produced. However, first of all it was a book, written in the early twentieth century by Gaston Leroux. I love the book, as well as the music from the play and movie- each has their good points. Since most people have not read the book, I am going to tell you the summary. I will also tell you the differences between the 2004 movie, book, and Broadway play.

In the late nineteenth century, the famous Garnier Opera House was the pride of Paris. It was the place where all fashionable folk went to be entertained. However, the Opera contains a dark secret. The people who work in the Opera, especially the ballet girls, repeatedly insist that a terrifying ghost haunts the Opera. When two new managers buy the theater, they are sent a letter by O.G., as the Opera Ghost calls himself. He sets out conditions that he insists the new managers follow, just as the old managers did. The Ghost threatens that if the new managers do not follow his instructions, great calamity will fall upon the theater. However, they laugh it off, believing the letter to be a prank played on them by the old manager.

When Carlotta, who plays the main part in Faust, falls ill, a beautiful ballet dancer named Christine is chosen to take her place. When she sings for the first time, she stuns the audience with her newly developed voice, which she says she received under the tutelage of the Angel of Music. When Raoul, a childhood friend of hers, hears her sing, he remembers their fond times together and rushes to her dressing room to talk to her after the opera is over. To his keen disappointment, Christine laughs at him and acts very strangely before ordering everyone there to leave her alone. Concerned, Raoul hides outside by the door, only to hear Christine speaking with a man in her dressing room. When Christine leaves, he goes into her dressing room, but can find no one.

He confronts Christine, but she can only tell him that it was her teacher, the Angel of Music. Despite Christine's strange fright and worry, the two begin to develop a deeper relationship. However, the Angel becomes jealous of Raoul, and kidnaps Christine, who he is obsessed with. While in his home below the theater, Christine realizes that the frightening Opera Ghost and her Angel of Music are one and the same: a brilliant yet murderous man named Erik. Erik hides his face under a mask because of the horrible deformities on his face, such as no nose. Eventually he releases Christine, but only under the conditions that she will return and will always only love him.

Raoul does not believe in the Angel of Music, but he becomes frustrated and worried as Christine remains frightened and vanishes several times to visit Erik out of pity and fear. After some time, Raoul persuades her to run away with him, so that they can be happy and she won't need to be frightened anymore.

Erik discovers her plans and, furious at her unfaithfulness, kidnaps Christine once again. Desperately, Raoul follows them to Erik's secret home. He is given guidance by a man known only as the Persian, who knew Erik in his younger days and apparently remains in the theater in order to keep others safe from him. Unfortunately, as they try to get inside Erik's house they become trapped inside his strange torture chamber. Erik discovers them and leaves them there to suffer. Meanwhile, Christine struggles to choose between the two options Erik has given her: marry him, or let the Opera be completely destroyed, along with all of the people inside of it.

In order to save everybody, at the last second Christine unhappily agrees to marry Erik. Consumed with pity for him, she kisses him on his mutilated forehead. This show of kindness so amazes Erik, and so consumes him with love for Christine, that he lets her leave with Raoul so that she can be happy. However, he knows that without his love he will not live long, and asks Christine to come back and bury him when he dies. Christine and Raoul are married immediately, and three weeks later Erik dies.

The 2004 movie and the Broadway play are extremely similar, since the movie was based off of the play. They have the same music, and there is very little dialogue in either of them. Between the book and the movie/play, however, there are many differences. One of the main differences, of course, is the music. The soundtrack to the play is absolutely stunning, adding a new dimension to the story. In the book, the new managers play a far more important role, as throughout the story they ty to discover who or what the Phantom is. They add a great deal of humor to the story. Erik's beginnings are far different in all of the versions. In the play, the audience does not learn how Erik became the way he is. In the movie, he was a circus freak as a child. In the book he goes up feared even by his own mother and eventually became an architect of the Opera House, which is how he knew all of its secrets. In the book, Erik is described as having no nose, rotting flesh, and yellow cat-eyes, whereas in the play and movie his face is mostly just misshapen. In the book's graveyard scene, Raoul hears the Ghost play the violin but never sees him, whereas in the play and movie the two attack each other. The role of the Persian is completely cut out of the movie and play, which is odd since he plays quite a large role in the book. No torture chamber exists in the play and movie; instead, Erik threatens to strangle him if Christine refuses to marry him. In the book Christine must choose between the lives of all the people in the theater and Erik, rather than just between Raoul's life and Erik. In the play and movie, the last scene shows Christine and Raoul going away as the Opera Ghost, despairing, goes into hiding from the Opera crowds who try to hunt him down. Many details that are in the book are cut out of the play and movie in order to make them more time efficient. One important difference is that the entire movie and play, except for the beginning and end, are Raoul's memories as he watches the Opera being shut down. SPOILER ALERT! In the very last scene, we see the elderly Raoul going to Christine's grave, where the headstone reads, "Beloved wide and mother." as Raoul looks, he notices a rose and a ring laying on the headstone that could only have been left by the Opera Ghost himself. There are many differences in the storylines, not all of which were mentioned here. However, the main plot line is the same in all three works.

Which version you think is best depends on what you are looking for. Personally, I found the book to have the best storyline, since it is much more complex. However, the music from the play and the movie is absolutely breathtaking. The music alone makes the play worth its cost. The movie and play also seem to have a more poignant ending. The emotional agony that the Phantom feels as Christine goes away can be heard by the audience, and makes one feel sympathy and pain even for him. The reader of the book, while feeling some pity, mostly feels happiness that Raoul and Christine are finally free. If you love sad endings, you will probably prefer the Broadway play or 2004 movie to the book.

All in all, it is a personal preference. However, I recommend that everyone experience all three versions, since they are vastly different and they all are excellent in their own ways.