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| Sunday, 22 January 2006 |
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The Phantom of the Opera : Going great guns Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has been running from October 9, 1986. and performed it's 7,486th show on the 9th of January, making it the longest running show in Broadway history. It surpassed the musical 'Cats', also by Lloyd Webber, which held the record previously. by Rikaza Hassan The Phantom is a man suffering the pains of unrequited love. An outcast of society because of his facial disfigurement, he forever feels the sense of not belonging. It is this that makes us attracted to Erik. With its fantastical music and bright, colourful costumes, this story of love, horror and tragedy has no wonder captured the hearts of its viewers.
The Frenchman Gaston Leroux, published as a serialisation in the Le Gaulois from the 23rd of September 1909 to the 8th of January 1910, the novel Le Fantome de l'Opera (The Phantom of the Opera). Believed to have been inspired by Trilby, by George du Maurier, it was first published as a book in 1910, its English translation appearing in 1911. The Phantom of the Opera is a gothic novel set in 19th century Paris at the Opera Garnier (The Paris Opera or The National Academy of Music) a monumental building of luxury which has been built from 1857 to 1874 over a large underground lake. It tells the story of Erik, a musical genius with a mutilated face who terrorises the Paris Opera House, which he lives beneath in his secret lair. Erik is disgusted by the opera managers' bad taste and blackmails them to pay him an enormous monthly salary and to reserve for him the private concert booth no. 5. The employees believe that a ghost who causes a number of accidents haunts the opera house.
Then Erik sees Christine Daae, whom he falls in love. Pretending to be the 'Angel of Music', a spirit sent to her by her dead father, he gives her voice lessons through the walls. Christine is enthraled when she is chosen to replace the current prima donna who is suffering from a mysterious illness and is catapulted to fame. She enthrals the audience with her much improved, beautiful voice and wins the heart of childhood friend and the Victome de Chagny, Raoul. The envious Erik reveals his real nature to Christine who becomes torn between her love for the disfigured genius and the handsome viscount. Christine decides to marry Raoul when she discovers that Erik is responsible for the eerie accidents and deaths that have occurred. She is kidnapped from stage and put in a position to be forced to marry Erik. Finally however Erik despairs of his evil doing, touched by Christine's acceptance of him despite his strange looks and leaves her to marry the man she loves. But with one promise: to return and bury him with the ring he gave her before he dies. He soon passes death's door. Gaston Leroux wrote at the end of the book, "He had a heart that could have held the entire world, and in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar." In 1984 Andrew Lloyd Webber saw the musical by Ken Hill based on a particular version of The Phantom of the Opera. Inspired by the musical, Lloyd Webber composed his own musical version of the novel. As the writing process began, many other rival productions were begun, unlike any other stage show since the early 20th century. The musical was produced by Cameron Mackintosh and opened at her Majesty's Theatre in London on the 9th of October 1986. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has been running ever since and performed its 7,486th show on the 9th of January, making it the longest running show in Broadway history. It surpassed the musical 'Cats', also by Lloyd Webber, which held the record previously. The romantic drama set to lush music has captivated audiences for nearly two decades, spawned productions from Budapest, Hungary and China, a movie in 2004 and an online store. According to producers more than 80 million people have seen the Lloyd Webber musical in 22 productions worldwide. Eleven million of them have seen the lavish Broadway production, which opened on the 26th of January 1988 and has been running for nearly 18 years since. Andrew Lloyd Webber told reporters, "I am overwhelmed by it. I don't really know how to put it in to words. I am very humbled by the whole thing. It is certainly not something I ever anticipated I would do and it is not something that I know I am going to do again." The stage props and other theatrical requirements of the musical over the years is overwhelming. More than 1,300 tonnes of dry ice and nearly 1.5 gallons of shot powder to create gunshot effects have been used. The Phantom has made almost 15,000 trips on his boat to his lair and 7,486 sets of foam latex have been used to fashion his face, which is made by the custom-made, ghostly half-mask he wears. The Broadway production also won seven Tony awards in 1988 including for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor (Michael Crawford for The Phantom), Best Performance by a Featured Actress, Best Director (Hal Prince) as well as awards for its sets, costumes and lighting. The Phantom of the Opera also holds the record for being the highest grossing entertainment event of all time, having earned over $3.2 billion in its run. With repeat audiences being commonplace, a cult following has grown around the story of Gaston Leroux in recent times. Those obsessed with a particular character in the story, most famously that of Erik, call themselves 'phans'. These phans communicate over the internet, discussing their favourite character's unique traits and their relation to the character. A certain phan is said to have been so infatuated with The Phantom that
she is said to have legally changed her name to Christine Daae. A number
of phans have also published their own sequels to The Phantom (phan-fictions)
over the internet. |
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