Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux

Prologue-The Stage of the Paris Opera House, 1911
An auction is in progress on the stage of the OPera House. Among the memorabilia being sold is a strange musical box bearing the figure of a mechanical monkey. An old man bids for it. He is Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. The object seems to hold some special memory.

The remnants of a great chandelier are revealed ("Lot 666 ..."). As the auctioneer demonstrates the effect of its new electrical wiring, we are suddenly swept back to the time of Raoul's youth, when the chandelier hung in splendour from the dome of the Opera House (Overture).

ACT ONE
Paris, 1881. A new opera, Hannibal, is being rehearsed. The proceedings are interrupted by the arrival of Lefevre, the manager of the Opera House, who expalins to the company that he is retiring. He introduces the new managers, Andre and Firmin.

Anxious to make a favourable impression, Andre asks the prima donna, Carlotta, to sing for him. As she is singing, a backdrop falls suddenly from the flies, almost killing her. Lefevre interrogates the chief flyman, Buquet, but no explanation can be found. There murmurs among the company that it must have been the work of "the ghost".

Galled by this apparent attempt on her life, Carlotta storms out, leaving the new production without a leading lady. There have, she says, been too many such accidents. The new managers' perplexity is fuelled when Madame Giry, the ballet mistress, hands them a note, claiming it to be from "the opera ghost". The note demands a salary and a free box at the opera.

Meg Giry, Madame Giry's daughter, suggests to Andre and Firmin that her friens and fellow dancer, Christine Daae, could take Carlotta's place in "Hannibal". Christing has been taking singing lessons, but is unable (or unwilling) to say from whom. Still more baffled, the managers nonetheless grant her an audition (Think of Me)

Audition and performance merge, and from the managers' box the young Raoul, patron of the Opera House, voices his enthusiasm. After the performance, an eerie, disembodied man's voice is heard echoing his sentiments.

Meg asks Christine about her mysterious teacher, but Christine can only tell Meg that he is "The Angel of Music" which her late father had always promised would visit her. She has heard, but never seen him.

Christine's performance is met with unanimous approval, and Raoul goes backstage to her dressing room to congratulate her. The meeting becomes a reunion, both realizing that long ago they used to play together as children. Raoul insists on taking her out to dinner, and leaves to fetch his coat.

But as soon as Christine is alone, the strange voice is heard once again, chiding her for her new association. A figure appears behind The Mirror. It is the Phantom, the teacher whom she has never seen, her Angel of Music, his face half-obscured by a white mask (Angel of Music).

The mirror glides open and the Phantom draws into the dark beyond. Raoul returns and hears the voice. But when he enters the room, the mirror has slid shut and the room is empty.

Christine is meanwhile led through the gloomy labyrinth which lies beneath the Opera House. They cross a great lake and at last arrive at the Phantom's exotic subterranian lair (The Phantom of the Opera).

Here he explains to her the purpose behind his teaching ("I have brought you ..."). He is a composer and she is to sing his music, music inspired by her, The Music of the Night.

Christine falls into a trance, waking the following morning to the sound of the strange musical box. The Phantom is absorbed with his writing,and, consumed with curiosity, Christine resolves to uncover his face. When she succeeds, she recoils in horror and the Phantom, turning on her furiously, tells her that she can now never be free. But as his anger dissolves into self-pity, she feels herself almost reciprocating his affection. He agrees to return her to the outside world.

Backstage at the Opera, Buquet the flyman, catches sight of the two of them re-emerging from below. Madame Giry cautions him to hold his tongue.

(Notes). Meanwhile the Opera House has been thrown into confucion by Christine's disappearance. One by one, Raoul, Carlotta, Piangi (the Opera's principal tenor), Madame Giry and Meg burst into the managers' office with questions and news. Everyone has recieved notes appertaining to the missing soprano, all of which (it gradually becomes clear) are thew work of the Phantom.

Among the Phantom's fresh demands is one that stipulated the replacement of Carlotta as leading lady in a forthcoming revival of the opera, "Il Muto". Christine is to take her place and Box Five is to be reserved for the Phantom.

News arrives of Christine's return, but the managers offer their assurance to the slighted Carlotta that no heed will be paid to the Phantom's demands, while the others reflect variously on the situation (Prima Donna). The Phantom's voice, however, is heard declaring war on all and threatening "a disaster beyond imagination".

In defiance, Raoul sits in Box Five and "Il Muto" goes ahead, with Christine ignominiously cast in a silent role. The Phantom's voice reiterates his mandates and when these are further ignored he magically causes Carlotta to emit the croak of a toad instead of singing.

As the indisposed prima donna is lead away, Andre placates the audience (and the Phantom). Christine will take over the role, and while she prepares, a ballet sequence from the opera will be performed. But the Phantom is still much in evidence, and the ballet is grotesquely disrupted as a figure tumbles down from the flies. It is the garrotted body of Buquet.

In the ensuing pandemonium Christine flees with Raoul to the one safe place she know: the roof of the Opera House.

Here she distractedly blurts out her experiences below. Raouls listens incredulously, but Christine senses the Phantom's presence even ehre. Raoul offers protection, and she falls into his arms (All I ask of You). They agree to leave together that night.

As soon as they are gone, the Phantom emerges from his hiding plave where he has heard everyhting (I gave you My Music... ). He vows vengeance, and as Christine and the cast of "Il Muto" are taking their bows, he brings down the chandelier on the heads of the audience.


ACT TWO

Entr'acte.
Six months later. At a masked ball, all celebrate the New Year and the disappearance of the Phantom (Masquerade). Raoul and Christine have become engaged, but Christine is anxious to keep the fact a secret, and wears her engagement ring on a chain around her neck.

At the height of the festivities a strange figure dressed in red and wearing a skeletal mask descends the great staircase. The Phantom has returned. He flings to Andre the score of his new opera ("Don Juan Triumphant"), commanding that it be performed. He then tears Christine's engagement ring from her neck and vanishes. ("Your chains are still mine - you will sing for me!").

Backstage, Raoul interrogates Madame Giry about the identity of Phantom, and she reluctantly tells him what she knows: he is an escaped fairground freak, a physical monstrosity, but with a brilliant mind. Presumed dead, he in fact lives still, somewhere in the Opera House.

Andre and Firmin are in a state of consternation. Tehy have no wish to stage the Phantom's opera, but are fearful of the consequences should they decline. However Christine, who has been accorded the principal role in the opera, refuses to become involved.

Raoul hits upon a scheme to ensnare the Phantom usuing his own opera as bait. If Christine sings the role, the Phantom is sure to attend. The doors will be locked, and the auditorium heavily policed. The Phantom will be unable to escape. Christine unhappily agrees to cooperate. Raoul returns the Phantom's earlier declaration of war.

The singers have immense difficulty learning the dissonant score of "Don Juan". But their task is mysteriously facilitated when, at a rehearsal, the piano magically takes over the proceedings, and the singers, mesmerized, begin to perform flawlessly.