Phantom of the Opera

Nov 5, 2017 | Blog, Christopher J Music

Here’s a little video clip of a medley from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera being performed by the Evergreen Community Orchestra of Everett, Washington on Halloween evening!

Here is the plot summary as summarized by the all knowing Wikipedia:

Plot summary[edit]
In the 1890’s in Paris, the Palais Garnier is believed to be haunted by an entity known as the Phantom or the Opera Ghost. One day, the stagehand, Joseph Buquet, is found hanged, presumably by the Phantom, after boasting about him to the corps de ballet. At the same time, Christine Daaé, a young Swedish soprano, has been tutored by what she believes to be the Angel of Music, sent by her deceased father. On the night of the gala performance for the old manager’s retirement, Christine is called upon to sing in the place of the Opera’s leading soprano, Carlotta, who is ill, and her performance is an astonishing success. The Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, who was present at the performance, recognises her as his childhood playmate, and recalls his love for her. He attempts to visit her backstage, where he hears a man speaking to her from inside her dressing room. He investigates the room once Christine leaves, only to find that there’s no one else in the room.

At Perros-Guirec, Christine meets with Raoul, who confronts her about the voice he heard in her room. Christine tells him about the Angel that has been tutoring her, but he is skeptical and suggests that she might be the victim of a prank. Hurt and angry, she storms off. Christine visits her father’s grave one night, where a mysterious figure appears and plays the violin for her. Raoul attempts to confront it but is attacked and knocked out in the process.

Back at the Palais Garnier, the managers receive a letter from the Opera Ghost, demanding that they allow Christine to perform the lead role of Marguerite in Faust, and that box 5 be left empty for his use, lest they perform in a house with a curse on it. The managers ignore his demands, resulting in disastrous consequences: Carlotta ends up croaking like a toad, and the chandelier suddenly drops into the audience, killing the new concierge. The Phantom, having abducted Christine from her dressing room, reveals himself as Erik, a deformed former conjuror who lives in the cellars beneath the opera house, and that he has been the one tutoring her. Erik intends to keep her in his lair with him for a few days, but she causes him to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his noseless, lipless, sunken-eyed face which resembles a skull dried up by the centuries, covered in yellowed dead flesh.

Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. On the roof of the opera house, Christine tells Raoul about her abduction, and makes Raoul promise to take her away to a place where Erik can never find her, even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he will act on his promise the next day, to which she agrees. However, Christine sympathises with Erik, and decides to sing for him one last time as a means of saying good-bye. Unbeknownst to Christine and Raoul, Erik has been watching them and overheard their whole conversation.

The following night, the enraged and jealous Erik abducts Christine during a production of Faust, and tries to force her to marry him. Raoul, along with an old acquaintance of Erik’s, known as the Persian, attempt to rescue her but are trapped by Erik, who threatens that unless Christine agrees to marry him, he will kill them and everyone in the Opera House by using explosives. To save themselves and the people above in the Opera, Christine agrees to marry Erik. Erik initially tries to drown Raoul and the Persian, using the water which would have been used to douse the explosives. But Christine begs and offers to be his “living bride”, promising him not to kill herself after becoming his bride, as she had both contemplated and attempted earlier in the novel. Erik eventually releases Raoul and the Persian from his torture chamber.

When Erik is alone with Christine, he lifts his mask to kiss her on her forehead, and is given a kiss back. Erik reveals that he has never received a kiss (not even from his own mother) nor has been allowed to give one and is overcome with emotion. He and Christine then cry together and their tears “mingle”. Erik later says that he has never felt so close to another human being. He allows the Persian and Raoul to escape, though not before making Christine promise that she will visit him on his death day, and return the gold ring he gave her. He also makes the Persian promise that afterwards he will go to the newspaper and report his death, as he will die soon and will die “of love”. Indeed, some time later Christine returns to Erik’s lair, buries him somewhere he will never be found (by Erik’s request) and returns the gold ring. Afterwards, a local newspaper runs the simple note: “Erik is dead”.