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Bullets Over Broadway presents: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Prologue We are thrust in the middle of a rehearsal for the opera Hannibal. Monsieur Lefèvre, the retiring manager of the Opera, is showing the new managers, Monsieurs Firmin and André, the great stage. As the prima donna, Carlotta, is singing, a backdrop falls to the floor, nearly killing her. The cry is raised, "It's The Phantom of the Opera!" Upset, Carlotta refuses to sing. Meg Giry, daughter of the ballet mistress, Madame Giry, suggests her friend, Christine Daaé, take Carlotta's place. Christine has been taking lessons from a mysterious new teacher. At her triumph in the Opera, is Raoul, a nobleman and patron of the Opera. Raoul recognizes Christine as a childhood friend. He comes backstage after the performance to escort her to dinner, but Christine tells him she cannot go, because her teacher, "The Angel of Music," is very strict. When Raoul leaves Christine's room, the Phantom appears. Christine is lured into the bowels of the Opera House, where the Phantom will continue her lessons. He leads her to his underground lair, where she sees a frightening vision of herself in a wedding gown. She faints, only to be awakened several hours later by the Phantom's music on the organ. Creeping up behind him, she rips off his mask. Horrified, he takes her back to the surface. The Phantom has sent notes to both the managers of the Opera, as well as Raoul, Madame Giry and Carlotta, which give instructions that Christine will have the lead in the new opera, Il Muto. The manager's refuse to give in to the Phantom's demands. Il Muto proceeds as planned, with Carlotta in the lead, and Christine in a secondary role. As promised, disaster strikes - the stage hand, Joseph Buquet, is killed, and Carlotta's voice is stolen. In the confusion, Raoul and Christine escape to the roof of the Opera House. There, with all of Paris around them, they pledge their love to one another. They cannot see the Phantom overhearing their vows of love. Enraged at Christine's betrayal, the Phantom causes the final disaster of the night - the mighty chandelier comes crashing to the stage floor. The second act opens at a grand Masquerade Ball, held on the steps of the Paris Opera. No one has heard from the Phantom in six months. Christine and Raoul are engaged, but are keeping it a secret; Christine keeps her engagement ring on a chain around her neck. Suddenly, the Phantom appears, disguised as The Red Death, and delivers to the managers a score from his opera, Don Juan Triumphant. At first, the managers refuse to perform the strange, disturbing opera. Then, with the help of Raoul, they devise a plan to trap the Phantom, using Christine as bait. Plans for Don Juan Triumphant, and the trap, are made. Christine visits the grave of her father. There on the grave stands the Phantom, beckoning her to join him. Raoul appears and takes her away. At last, the opening night of Don Juan Triumphant arrives. The theater is surrounded by guards and police, eager to catch the Phantom. As the opera comes to its end, the Phantom takes the place of Piangi, the lead singer. He confronts Christine on stage during the performance, and escapes with her once more to his labyrinth below the Opera House. In a last confrontation, the Phantom gives Christine a choice: stay with him forever, or he will kill Raoul. Her decision brings to an end the story of The Phantom of the Opera. Cameron Mackintosh June 1990 My first acquaintance with the Phantom came one cold February morning in 1984 while I was soaking myself in a hot bath. Andrew Lloyd Webber telephoned me for a gossip. He dropped into the conversation the idea of making a musical out of The Phantom of the Opera. Even in my prune-like condition, I recognized Andrew had come up with another good idea. We screened copies of the original Lon Chaney silent movie and the later Claude Raines version. Though very enjoyable, neither one made us shout Eureka! So we decided to find a copy of the original Leroux novel. To our surprise we found it out of print. Eventually Andrew found a copy on a second-hand stall in New York and I found one in my aunt's garage. We both much preferred the original storyline. Early in the summer of '84, Ken Hill's highly entertaining stage version was on in the East End of London. We went to see it and resolved to press on and do our version based on the novel. When Andrew first talked to me about the idea, I assumed that he was going to write the score; in fact, this was far from the case. Our initial press announcement in 1984 stated that "the score for The Phantom of the Opera will include both existing and original music." It was Andrew's first idea to use mainly famous classical works for the score, with him writing any incidental music that might be necessary. After all, the original novel had made much use of Gounod's opera Faust as a background. We spent most of our weekends that autumn sifting through Andrew's record collection piecing together a score of operatic gems. It was very pleasant work but destined to be fruitless. Late in November '84, we were invited to Tokyo to see the Japanese production of Cats. There we met Australian director Jim Sharman, who had directed The Rocky Horror Show and the hugely successful London production of Jesus Christ Superstar. He thought the idea of a musical Phantom very interesting and, between endless bouts of generous but exhausting Oriental hospitality, we talked about what the show could be. The outcome was that Jim suggested Andrew should re-read the book and seriously consider writing the score himself. A few weeks later Andrew and I met up for a Christmas glass. He told me that he had taken Jim's advice and had started work on the construction of the score. I drove home in high spirits. Every year in July Andrew has a music festival at his home in Sydmonton. Nearly everything he has written is tried out there in some form or other. The plan for Summer '85 was to present a first draft of the first act of Phantom. Richard Stilgoe, Andrew's lyrical collaborator on Starlight Express, agreed to help out and Maria Björnson, our designer managed, by magic, to stage it in a 100-seater church on Andrew's front lawn. She even managed the dropping of the chandelier. Greatly encouraged by Phantom's reception on this occasion, we decided to press on with the project in earnest. At the beginning of June '85, Andrew bumped into Hal Prince at the Tony Awards in New York. When he told Hal what he was working on, Hal responded by saying that he also had been thinking of staging a musical romance. We had found our director! A few weeks later, we were in Australia for the opening of Cats. After the first night I banished Andrew to an island off the Barrier Reef to map out the second act of Phantom. Five days later and an extra 10 pounds heavier, he completed most of his task. The hand of the Phantom nearly put paid to the musical when, on returning to the mainland, Andrew's helicopter fell out of the sky on take-off. Luckily, it wasn't serious but it gave Andrew an insight into the feelings of the chandelier! Over the next few months the writing went slower than expected and the form of the musical changed. What was very much a book musical was moving in a more operatic direction. Sarah Brightman, who was now cast in the role of 'Christine', proved to be a source of musical inspiration to Andrew with her extraordinary vocal range. It became apparent that the project was going to require another collaborator who would be more of a lyrical dramatist, extending Richard and Andrew's original book. Andrew and I met Alan Jay Lerner, an old friend and master book and lyric writer. He listened to the score and read the material, and was encouraging but perceptively critical. He agreed to work on the project. We had several meetings, and some major constructive decisions were taken, but we noticed during our time together that Alan was not well. His condition worsened and the day he was due to start working on the actual lyrics he rang to say that he must bow out as he needed treatment for his illness. Sadly, he never recovered and the world is a duller place for his loss. Our professional problem was now to find a replacement for an irreplaceable talent. Our discussions led us back to a talented young lyricist we had spotted at the Vivian Ellis Musical Writers Competition the previous spring. His name - Charles Hart. Though he had not won the competition for the best musical, all the judges had commended him highly as a lyricist. We sent him a melody to set and the result convinced Andrew that, if he wasn't able to work with one of the world's greatest, he'd like to work with one of the youngest and most promising. The original production went into rehearsal in London on 18th August 1986. Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne assembled a wonderful cast and after several weeks of exhilarating mayhem Phantom opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on October 9th and proceeded to become one of London's greatest musical successes. Our trio of original stars enjoyed a similar triumph on Broadway 18 months later where it is still running at the Majestic Theater and since then Phantom has gone on to captivate audiences in major cities around the world. And now, the overture starts and the 1,000 lb. chandelier comes alive, the legend of The Phantom of the Opera is once again reborn in what we all hope will be enjoyed as a good old fashioned theatrical musical romance. |
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