A short history of how the story developed from a book into a musical

From book to film to stage

Phantom of the Opera was written by French author Gaston Lerous (06/05/1868 - 15/04/1927) in 1910, titled Le fantome de l'opera.

The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade.

(Extract from the free online e-book)

The book was translated into English in 1911, but unfortunately was not very popular with both readers and critics. None of Gaston's books ever gained him any fame until he died.

In 1925 the story was adapted to screen as a black and white/silent film. One of the reasons why this film suceeded was because Lon Chaney played the title role. Nicknamed the man of a thousand faces, Lon is famous for his roles as various monsters in early horror movies. He has played monsters such as the wolf man and Quasimodo.

How Lon achieved the appearance of the phantom has been kept a close secret of his. He says he used very little makeup and took advantage of how light reflected against his skin. The scene when Christine removes the mask from his face was to scary for some of the women in the early auidence, who fainted in the cinema. From Amazon.co.uk you can buy the DVD restored version of the 1925 movie

In 1943 a coloured version was released, staring Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Claude Rains. This version used musical numbers and songs to tell the story, and might have been where Andrew Lloyd Webber got some of his inspiration from. The phantom's character was softened a little, and references were made to him being treated badly by others. While it differs from the original description of the phantom, it does try to bring some light and reason for his behaviour. From Amazon.co.uk you can buy the 1943 movie

Since Lon's appearance there have been several other versions of the film, some of them offering a different story. E.g. one made by the Americans sees the phantom as a DJ who haunts a night club. Not a single one captures the true story as well as the original 1925 film, even if by today's standards the movie is not scary at all.

In 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical adaption of the famous story was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre, in London. The title roles were played by Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton. At first the musical got some bad reviews, noteably from the New York times, but this did not discourage people from coming to see the musical. It is clamied that for every performance there has never been an empty seat, making it the best loved musical of all time.

Around 1990, director Joel Schumacher discussed with Andrew about making a film based on the musical. At the time it looked likely that Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman would take the lead roles. The project didn't go farther then Andrew and Joel's conversation, but it was never scrapped.

Between 1990 and 2002 Joel and Andrew oftne met and talked about bringing the musical to the screen. Finally in 2003 the project went ahead. The plan was to keep the movie very close to the musical, but also make it appealling for younger generations. They decided instead of using Sarah and Michael to use younger actors, but equally talented.

Staring 18 year old Emmy Rossum (Girl friend in Day After Tomorrow) as Christine and Scottish Gerard Butler as the phantom, the movie aims to be the most glamous version ever. You can read more about the 2004 movie on this website.