Prologue:
Premier Performance of Don Juan
Saturday 24th January 1871
L'opera Garnier, Paris
Carlotta watched from side stage, awaiting Ubaldo's reappearance upon the stage, to sing with that little ingénue...that little Christine Daaé. It filled the Spanish diva with such fury that the little girl with the luck of fifteen minutes fame was chosen to play the object of her fiancées desire. Carlotta knew she deserved to be striding upon stage with that basket of roses, wearing that beautiful costume, to sing with her lover. Not some little wilting flower who no one would remember in a week's time.
And all for the capture of the damned opera ghost! Oh how Carlotta's veins pulsed with wrath at the injuries this Opera Ghost had already caused her; the threats, the backdrop falling upon her, the great embarrassment of the performance of Il Muto, the insults at the Masquerade, the-
A man entered the stage and Carlotta lost her train of thought immediately.
"Passarino...go away for the trap is set and waits for its prey..."
Transfixed by the man, the opera ghost in Ubaldo's costume...singing Ubaldo's part as the anger in Carlotta faded away, her blood turning icy and her face pale as she realised what had happened...
Why didn't the police shoot him? Why did no one do anything?
Trying desperately to get through the crowd watching side stage Carlotta could feel herself gasping for breath as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted.
She came-to surrounded by her ladies maids, fanning her and exclaiming in Spanish as the opera continued.
"The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn..."
Swearing at the maids Carlotta shooed them away as she rushed to the wings, watching the opera desperately as that little child began to writher in ecstasy at the man's touch, neither Ubaldo nor Carlotta upon the stage where they should be.
But that wasn't part of the Opera...
The man, the Don Juan, had began to sing a light melody, an art song to the little prodigy who's eyes filled with fear and confusion. The Don Juan spun her around and took out a ring, the ring Christine had worn around her neck at the masquerade, and forced it onto her ring finger.
Suddenly the mask was off and screams echoed throughout the theatre. The monster revealed...a face of pulsing burns and scars, a deformed ear, nose and eye, a mess of a face, and Carlotta lost her breath.
No...
And soon the chandelier was spiralling down upon the audience, the mass of people running for the doors as explosions erupted around the fallen chandelier, Carlotta picking up her skirts and running with the mob.
But as she took a shortcut backstage, through where the Don Juan was supposed to wait, an awful surprise greeted her.
"No!" Carlotta screamed as she saw Ubaldo's body lying limp upon the floor, a knotted rope around her dear lover and fiancées neck, his beloved face motionless.
"¡Dios del Oh!" she screamed in Spanish, her hands flying to her face as her worst fears were confirmed. "Estimado dios del Oh, no mi… mi querido… mi amor. Maldecir ese fantasma maldecido de la ópera que lo rasgaré miembro del miembro cuando lo encuentro… oh mi querido mi amor mi amor…"
Translation: "Oh god!" she screamed in Spanish, her hands flying to her face as her worst fears were confirmed. "Oh dear god, not my one...my beloved...my love. Curse that damned opera ghost I shall tear him limb from limb when I find him...oh my darling my love my love..."