The Soprano of the Opera: A Novelization of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" by Camberleigh Fauconbridge
Genre: Horror/Mystery & Romance
Summary: A novelization of the longest-running Broadway musical— Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 immensely successful and triumphant musical, The Phantom of the Opera, now twenty-five years old in London.
Imagined Cast: Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom; Sierra Boggess as Christine; Hadley Fraser as Raoul; Kiera Duffy as Carlotta; Liz Robertson as Madame Giry; Daisy Maywood as Meg; Barry James as Firmin; Gareth Snook as André; Wynne Evans as Piangi; Nick Holder as Buquet.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters, setting and general plot are property of Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber, all of the casts and all of the creative teams that have produced any production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Note: This is based off the musical stage adaption, not off the film adaption or the original novel. There are elements of the book (Perros-Guirec, the name of the seaside town where Raoul and Christine met; Philippe de Chagny, Raoul's brother, makes a small appearance, as does Cecile Jammes) but almost all of the information comes from the musical stage adaption.
Prologue: The Auction, 1905
Paris, France, 1905
The auction in the Opéra Populaire had already begun by the time a Catholic nurse brought an old man into the auditorium. However, though his hair was grey and he was in a wheelchair, the man's eyes brightened as he returned to the place he had fled thirty years before.
The man was Raoul de Chagny, vicomte of Perros-Guirec and widower of the opera's former star, the Swedish vocalist Christine Daaé. Before her death, Christine had often spoken of the opera theatre and its many hidden secrets. One was a musical box, with a Persian monkey on its lid. The tune it played was haunting and sorrowful, she said, and had never left her.
As the nurse and the vicomte went down the center aisle, the auctioneer was saying, "Lot 663, then: a poster from the opera's 1881 production of Chalumeau's Hannibal, starring Ubaldo Piangi as Gen. Hannibal and Carlotta Giudicelli as Queen Elissa— although the actual performance starred Mlle. Christine Daaé in the role of Queen Elissa. Do I hear ten francs? Fifteen francs? Twenty? Thirty?" The auctioneer paused, seeing Raoul raise a hand. "Thirty francs, to the Vicomte de Chagny. Going once, twice, sold to the Vicomte de Chagny for thirty francs."
The porter handed the poster to Raoul as the auctioneer continued. Other porters displayed further items. One item was a wooden tray filled with human skulls— whether genuine or counterfeit no one could tell— from the opera Robert le Diable; another was the musical box his wife had mentioned. Raoul purchased the musical box for twenty francs.
Raoul was oblivious to the auction as he stared at the figure on the musical box. "She spoke often of you," he murmured. "Every detail precisely as she told… I wonder if you will still play, even though everyone who ever remembered you are gone."
He looked up as the porter uncovered a huge pile of— what was it? Was it piles of bead-covered folded platforms? The auctioneer explained. "Lot 666: pieces of the opera's grand chandelier. We have refurbished it with the new electric lighting, so we may glimpse what it may have looked like in the golden years of the opera house."
The auctioneer paused dramatically, almost eerily. "Legend tells the chandelier fell during a performance of Albrizzo's Il Muto, and killed one person. Was the cause the chandelier's old fastenings, finally loosening after years of wear? Or was the culprit a ghost, a phantom, which put a curse on the opera house in the form of the chandelier?"
The audience was frozen, spellbound and horrified at the notion of a phantom. Only Raoul moved, leaning forward, remembering those months of terror.
"Let us illuminate the story, to shed light on the truth and chase away the phantom's curse..."