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{{work}}
{{Multiple Works Need Separate Pages}}
[[File:Gaston Leroux - Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.jpg|thumb|300px|Cover of the 1910 edition of the novel]]
In 1986, Gaston Leroux's novel '''''The Phantom of the Opera''''' was adapted into what is now known as [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s best known musical—and its producers' claims that it is the single most financially successful entertainment venture ''[http://nationaltours.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_PHANTOM_Tour_Becomes_First_to_Reach_7000_Performances_20100128 of all time]'' may have some truth to them.
Leroux tells what he insists is the true story of a young soprano, Christine, who believes she is being tutored by the "Angel of Music", sent to her from Heaven from her deceased father. Originally considered nothing special, especially compared to her rival and the opera's resident diva, Carlotta, after three months under the Angel's tutelage, Christine shines. The managers quickly realize the depth of her talent... and so does Christine's childhood best friend, Raoul, who sees her in her newfound glory and realizes that [[She's All Grown Up]].
After a show, Raoul is eager to be reacquainted with Christine, but she is kidnapped by the Angel (really the titular Phantom) and taken to his lair. There, the Phantom puts her under his spell with his music and tells her that he wants her for his bride. However, when Christine takes off his mask to reveal his disfigurement, the Phantom throws her out in shame.
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Shortly afterwards, Raoul and Christine become engaged. The Phantom overhears them, and decides to win Christine's love, once and for all... or, failing that, punish them both for their arrogance.
While the novel and many films saw the Phantom as pitiable, the image of him as an outright romantic figure is one established by the musical and its fanbase.
'''Adaptations''':
[[The Phantom of the Opera (novel)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (novel)]], written in 1909-1910 by Gaston Leroux, has been adapred to other media multiple times:
* a Russian film, which is only known due to surviving publicity material; the film itself is lost.
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925 film)]], a silent film starring [[Lon Chaney]] -- this is faithful to the novel excluding some minor quips (the titular Phatom's and Ledoux's backgrounds and the whole final act). It has fallen in the public domain and may be watched at [http://www.archive.org/details/ThePhantomoftheOpera Archive.org] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120924054906/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5224364451553593147 Google Video].
* [[Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)|''Phantom of the Opera'' (1943 film)]], a film starring [[Claude Rains]]
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (1962 film)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1962 film)]], a British film starring [[Herbert Lom]]
* [[Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical)|''Phantom of the Opera'' (1976 musical)]], a theatrical production adapted by Ken Hill
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (1983 TV movie)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1983 TV movie)]], a 1983 TV film starring [[Maximilian Schell]]
* [[File:Phantom.jpg|frame|Promotional image for the 1986 musical]] [[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1986 musical)]], a theatrical production adapted by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. (The musical finally finished its run in April 2023.)
** [[The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (2004 film)]], an adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical released after years in [[Development Hell]], starring Emmy Rossum as Christine and Gerard Butler as Erik, the Phantom.
** ''[[The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall]]'', a 2011 British filmed production of the 25th anniversary staging of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, starring [[Gerard Butler]]
** ''[[The Phantom of Manhattan]]'', a 1999 sequel novel to the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical.
** ''[[Love Never Dies]]'', a 2010 sequel musical to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (1989 film)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1989 film)]], a film starring [[Robert Englund]]
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (pinball)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (pinball)]], a 1990 pinball machine by Data East
* [[Phantom (musical)|''Phantom'' (1991 musical)]], a theatrical production adapted by Maury Yeston & Arthur Kopit.
** [[The Phantom of the Opera (miniseries)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (miniseries)]], a 1990 two-part American TV miniseries starring [[Charles Dance]]
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (1998 film)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1998 film)]], an Italian film directed by Dario Argento
* [[The Phantom of the Opera (audio drama)|''The Phantom of the Opera'' (audio drama)]], a 2007 audio drama for radio, adapted by Barnaby Edwards
The story is also spoofed in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Maskerade]]''.
{{tropelist}}
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* [[Bad Liar]]: Christine, to the point where the Persian is practically [[Face Palm]]ing as she fails to [[Show Some Leg]] to Erik to get him and Raoul out of the torture chamber unnoticed.
* [[Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me|Bathe and Come to Me]]
* [[Bastard Boyfriend]]: Erik could be a [[Deconstruction]] if not an [[Unbuilt Trope]]: In the original book the author wants you to think Erik's a [[Jerkass]] and Christine is a saint for putting up with him: ([[Domestic Abuser]] meets [[Love Martyr]]), but the [[Misaimed Fandom]] (and [[Lost in Imitation|all the adaptations]]) wants you to think Erik's totally hot and the relationship is [[Corrupt the Cutie|deliciously kinky]].
* [[Beast and Beauty]]: Tragic enough to border on [[Deconstruction]].
* [[Beta Couple]]: Count Philippe and La Sorelli.
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* [[Cassandra Truth]]: After Christine is abducted from on-stage, Raoul quickly gains a solid reputation as a madman when he begs anyone who will listen to believe that she's been kidnapped by the phantom of the opera who lives in the cellars under the building.
** The Persian confessed everything to the Judge. The [[Agent Scully|Judge doesn't believe a word]].
* [[Childhood Friend Romance]]
* [[Compelling Voice]]: Yes, this ''does'' come across all too well in a literary medium.
* [[Corrupt the Cutie]]: Long time before even meeting Christine, [[Backstory|Erik did work for the Sha-in-Sha]]: the little sultana, the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. Erik built a [[Hall of Mirrors]] for her. When she bored of that, Erik transformed it into a [[Robotic Torture Device]] aptly named “the chamber of horrors”, used to [[Driven to Suicide|execute people sentenced to death]]. He also teach her how to strangle people efficiently. The little sultana [[Moral Event Horizon|soon applied that knowledge to simple peasants and her own friends]].
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* [[Death Trap]]: The Phantom installed one as the first room beyond the back entrance to his lair to intercept trespassers. When Raoul and the Persian fall into it, it starts as a [[Sauna of Death]] and ends as a [[Drowning Pit]], although its greatest torture is psychological.
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: La Sorelli seems to be set up to be the female lead in the first chapter.
* [[Deceptively-Human Robots]]: Erik ''"also invented those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the Sultan in all respects, which made people believe that the Commander of the Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he was asleep elsewhere."'' for Mehemet Alí Bey.
* [[Disappeared Dad]]: During his [[Motive Rant]], the Phantom laments (among other things) how he never knew his father.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Christine.
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** It's worth noting, though, that Erik seems to have an almost humorously non-sexual view of marriage- his chief goal in having a pretty wife, as described to Christine herself, is to buy her nice things and take her for walks in the park on Sundays, while he wears a mask that (he thinks) sufficiently makes him look "like anyone else".
*** From a ''modern'' perspective, the threat of Christine being unable to be with the man she loves (and actually ''wants'' to marry) and in a forced state of virginity thanks to a sexless marriage with a repulsive man who treats her like a living doll could be seen as a Fate Worse Than Death in itself.
*** For all his talk about the happily married life they're going to have, Erik seems to be dead-set on a double-suicide with his new wife, once they've been married; he explains in the end that he only began seeing her as his ''living'' wife once she kissed him out of pity, and this prompted him to let her go. It has to be remembered that Erik is extremely unhinged and has a morbid obsession with death which doesn't let him go even when he's trying to become "normal".
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: In the same conversation Erik explains how he pulled the [[Practical Joke]] on Carlotta with his [[Ventriloquism]] he casually uses it to prank Raoul and the Daroga in the [[Torture Cellar]].
* [[Fix Fic]] / [[Self-Insert Fic]] / [[Wish Fulfillment]]: An example [[In-Universe]]: Erik, ([[Stalking Is Love|who terrorizes his beloved Christine]] [[And Now You Must Marry Me|into being his wife]]) is writing a music [[Fanfic|masterpiece based on the Opera]] [[Don Giovanni]], [[The Casanova]] who really believes the woman who wants to love him has to accept him as a [[Your Cheating Heart|cheating]] [[Jerkass]] [[Bastard Boyfriend]], and who ends being dragged to hell (and [[Did Not Get the Girl]]) to please the [[Moral Guardians]]. Why is a [[Fix Fic]]? Because the title: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|“Don Juan Triumphant”]].
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* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: The [[Narrator]] refers to Christine's first abduction (the one where she disappeared for two weeks) as "not the infamous abduction" which everyone has heard of. In context, this refers to how famous her second abduction became in the news in-universe, but the story is so famous now through [[Popcultural Osmosis]] that this clarification seems to be [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]].
* [[Hypnotize the Princess]]: The Phantom's voice has a seemingly mesmeric effect on Christine.
* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: Given that the Phantom [[Above the Influence|is not interested in sex]], he pulls a [[And Now You Must Marry Me]].
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: The Phantom's motivation—the guy doesn't actually ''like'' living underground.
* [[In the Blood]]: Christine is following in her father's footsteps with her career in music.
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* [[Mad Artist]]: The Phantom composes beautiful music. And, you know, kills people.
** Besides the music, [[Career Killers|Erik's]] [[Blackmail|many]] [[Sticky Fingers|talents]] include being a great [[Bizarrchitecture|architect]], the world’s best [[Ventriloquism|ventriloquist]] and [[Torture Technician]].
{{quote|"Did you design [[Torture Cellar|that room?]] [[Robotic Torture Device|It's very handsome]]. You're a great artist, Erik."
"Yes, [[Ironic Echo|a great artist]], [[Torture Technician|in my own line]]." }}
* [[Mad Scientist]]: Subverted by Erik: He built a [[Robotic Torture Device]] / [[Death Trap]] and a [[Deceptively Human Robot]] at the middle of the 19th century, but his tragedy, as the [[Narrator]] lampshades in the Epilogue, is that he is so ugly he could never become a scientist, but rather a toyman or stage magician:
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* [[The Moral Substitute]]: Erik is [[Don Giovanni]] done right: While Don Giovanni (and all versions of the Don Juan legend) is [[The Casanova]] who [[Bastard Boyfriend|never cared if he hurts the women he claims to love]] [[Enforced Trope|and is sent to hell at the finale of the opera only to please the]] [[Moral Guardians]] who insist that [[Don Giovanni]] must be punished so the audience [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|would not do this cool thing]], Erik (who is [[Don Giovanni]]'s [[Fan Boy]]) also plays [[Bastard Boyfriend]] to Christine while claiming to love her, but after breaking Christine’s spirit and successfully blackmailing her into being her wife, let her go with Raoul ''by his own will'' after Christine gives Erik his first [[True Love's Kiss]].
* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: The Phantom almost does this to Raoul at the end.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Many of the characters in the original novel, including some of the main cast are thinly veiled versions of real people who lived in Paris around the time Leroux wrote the story, and few references to real events are also made. A few scholarly fans have even suggested that apart from the parts which involve the Phantom, the book was essentially a true story, although this is almost certainly heavy exaggeration.
* [[No Matter How Much I Beg]]: Christine eventually tells Raoul to take her out of the country away from Erik no matter how much she protests later (see [[Stockholm Syndrome]]).
* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: The Phantom is everywhere and sees and hears everything!
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* [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]: Deconstructed with Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin: Everybody knows they get their jobs [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|thanks to their connections]], that they don’t know a lot about music or how to run the Opera. Nobody really respects them and are accustomed to cruel pranks and jokes, and that is the cause they never take seriously the Phantom’s menaces until the [[Falling Chandelier of Doom]] incident.
* [[The Power of Love]]
* [[Practical Joke]]: [[Agent Scully|Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin]] believe that all and every of the strange happenings at the Opera are this. [[Justified Trope]]: they are two [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]es and [[Dude, Where's My Respect?|they get no respect]].
* [[The Prima Donna]]: Carlotta.
* [[The Rival]]: Carlotta for Christine.
* [[Retired Monster]]: Erik, after his [[From Nobody to Nightmare]] phase, survives the assassination attempts from his employers because [[He Knows Too Much]]. ''Then, tired of his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one [[I Just Want to Be Normal|"like everybody else."]] And he became a contractor, like any ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted.''
* [[Robotic Torture Device]]: The aptly named ''"torture chamber"'' is completely automated: when the victim falls in the room, it activates and gives him the illusion of a tropical forrest. When the victim cannot endure more, [[Driven to Suicide|there is also a rope to hang himself]]. The Phantom uses it as a defense against curious people. The first victim of the book was already dead when the Phantom found him.
* [[Save the Villain]]: The Persian did this in the past and now frequently laments "[[My God, What Have I Done?]]"
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* [[Single-Target Sexuality]]: The Phantom for Christine, oh so much.
{{quote|'''The Phantom:''' You alone can make my song take flight, and help me make the Music of the Night.}}
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: [[In-Universe]]: [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]es Richard and Moncharmin and [[The Prima Donna]] Carlotta. Madam Giry is lampshaded like this (see [[It's All About Me]]), a humble usher who thinks of herself as an equal to the Opera’s administrators… just moments before they fire her. But [[Fridge Brilliance]] show us is subverted: In Parisian society, [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Madam Giry ''knows the Phantom and he is happy with her work''. Therefore, ''she is more important that Richard and Moncharmin''. She gets his job back
* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Erik to a T.
* [[Stalking Is Love]]
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** On the other hand, the [[Narrator]] never justifies Erik atrocities before he even become The Phantom, Erik is showed as a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|truly surprised he let Christine and Raoul go]]. At the epilogue, the narrator [[Hypocrite|claims to pity Erik,]] [[Beauty Equals Goodness|but never attacks the shallow societies that persecuted him. He justifies the act it because Erik is ''really'' ugly]]. Instead of giving Erik a grave (or even the common grave) [[Moral Event Horizon|the last line was a plea for Erik to become a]] [[Dead Guy on Display]] on the archives of the National Academy of Music
* [[Tender Tears]]
* [[There Are No Good Executives]]: This is the reason Erik could maintain his reign of terror: In Parisian society, [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Therefore the executives at the Opera and the police are not only corrupt, but [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]es who don’t care about how to do his job better but how to practice politics and being discreet with any problem.
* [[Third Person Person]]: Erik does this when he is particularly upset or angry. So, a lot.
* [[Those Two Guys]]: Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin.
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* [[Acting for Two]]: In the silent film, they must have really liked Joseph Buquet's [[Large Ham|hamming]] [[One-Scene Wonder|it up]], so they have the actor also play his twin brother, who finds him dead.
* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: Gerard Butler's Phantom in the film version is rather less ugly than his stage counterparts, to the point that film critic Richard Roeper quipped "He's the Fashionably-Scarred Stud of the Opera."
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131109160404/http://unlimitedmusic.se/IMG/peterjoback.jpg Peter Jöback] who plays the part on West End between March and September 2012 originally auditioned to play the Phantom on Broadway but was rejected because he was considered too good looking for the part. He was offered the part of Raoul instead, turned it down and was then contacted by Andrew Lloyd Webber who asked him to come play the role in London.
* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: The book Christine was blonde, but in all stage productions and the movie, she is a brunette.
** Averted in the Hungarian production—Christine is sometimes blonde here. The actresses seem to have wigs the same colour as their own hair.
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* [[Covers Always Lie]]: The artwork for the Las Vegas production features the Phantom bending seductively over...[http://www.phantomlasvegas.com/ a blonde woman in a red dress with copious cleavage] who generally looks nothing like the stage incarnation of Christine.
* [[Crosscast Role]]: Christine as the Page Boy, in an [[In-Universe]] example.
* [[Cut Song]]: "Magical Lasso" in the Las Vegas [[
* [[Dark Reprise]]: Several turn up in Act Two as part of longer pieces (particularly the appearances of the "Angel of Music" melody), but the Act One closing, the Phantom's reprise of "All I Ask Of You," is the best known.
** The final words of the musical are the Phantom's despairing reprise of "Music of the Night."
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** To be fair, her age is never explicitly stated in the book or stage show, to my knowledge. The only place that gives her an age is the 2004 movie (in which they said they WANTED to age down the characters).
* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: "And if he has to kill a thousand men/ The Phantom of the Opera will kill and kill again!"
* [[Did Not Do the Research]] bordering on [[Artistic License History|You Fail History Forever]]: the film moves the setting from 1881 (in the play) to 1871, apparently so they could time the ending to have {{spoiler|Christine appear to be a victim of the Spanish Influenza in 1918 and to have Raoul a very elderly man. As the Phantom appears to be alive at least long enough to leave a rose on her grave, and is supposed to be substantially older than Christine and Raoul, this is already stretching credulity.}} The problem is, in 1871 Paris was besieged by these people called the Prussians in the middle of a little thing called the Franco-Prussian war and the Opera House wasn't even finished yet. Adding insult to injury in 1918 France was in the grips of the Influenza AND crawling out of the end of this little thing called [[World War I]]. Apparently they live in an alternate France that doesn't spend much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries at war with Germany.
* [[Dramatic Irony]]: In the 1943 version starring [[Claude Rains]], when Erique Claudin tries to have his work published, one of the publishers tells him that he never received it. Little did either of them know, was that the company was showing Erique's work to renowned music critic [[Franz Liszt]] to get his testimonial for its publication. When Erique hears his music being played to Liszt in the other room, he assumes that the company stole his music and [[Freak-Out|strangles the publisher to death]]. The publisher's wife then grabs a tray of etching acid and... [[It Was His Sled|well, you know the rest]].
* [[Dramatic Necklace Removal]]: "Your chains are still mine..."
* [[Dramatic Unmask]]: The silent film in particular has one of the best examples of this trope. According to the [[IMDb]], "The sight was said to have caused some patrons at the premiere to faint."
** [[Robert Bloch]] wrote about having seen this movie as a child. He didn't follow the plot much, and didn't get why the Phantom was wearing a mask. Then came the dramatic unmasking scene, and he slept the next ten years with lights on.
* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: In the silent film, surrounded by pretty much ''every adult male in Paris'', the Phantom holds up his fist with what appears to be a grenade. After they have all retreated, he opens his empty fist and lets out one last [[Evil Laugh]] before they mob him and beat him to death.
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* [[Gambit Pileup]]: At the beginning of the stage musical—the change of the opera house's ownership means that ''everyone'' who wants things to change is trying to get a word in first. The Phantom's own machinations go unnoticed for some time because the new owners assume it's Raoul or one of the lesser players trying to stir up trouble.
* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: Everywhere you look.
* [[Grief Song]]: Both Christine ("Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again") and The Phantom ("All I Ask of You" Reprise).
* [[Hall of Mirrors]]: A straight version of the trope appears when Raoul follows the Phantom down a trapdoor after "Masquerade" and finds himself trapped in a mirror maze.
* [[Hotter and Sexier]]: The musical ("The Point of No Return," anyone?).
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*** If you think the musical version is [[Hotter and Sexier]] you should see the one [[Dario Argento]] made!
* [["I Am Becoming" Song]]: "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", Christine recognizes how hard she's been trying to hold on the past and tries to move on.
* [[The Ingenue]]: Christine is the epitome of this, except in 1943, where she's a well-adjusted, career-minded girl. Carlotta even [[
{{quote|'''Carlotta''': ''(to Andre and Firmin)'' Would you not rather have your precious little ingenue?}}
*** Signora, no, the world wants ''YOU!!!''
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* [[Ironic Echo]]: The final lyrics of "Music Of The Night" are the Phantom's passionate declaration of love for Christine. But when they are sung again at the end of the show, he is now expressing despair at having lost her forever.
* [[Irrelevant Act Opener]]: "Masquerade". (Though, they do manage to tie the song itself back into an emotional moment with the Phantom near the end of the show.)
** Although even at the beginning of Act 2 it could be seen as a metaphor for the Phantom's situation.
* [[Knight in Shining Armor]]: Raoul, ''obviously''.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: From "Prima Donna":
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** The [[Hammer Horror]] version is so light and soft that the Phantom doesn't even kill anybody! Instead, a homicidal little person who's friends with the Phantom does all the killing, so the Phantom's hands are technically clean throughout the whole movie.
* [[Long Runners]]: Since 1986 in London and 1988 in New York City; it's the longest-running Broadway show in the latter. (''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'' has got it licked by a year in London, and ''would'' have it similarly licked on Broadway had the Broadway version, which opened in 1987, a year before Phantom did, not closed in 2003)
* [[Lost in Imitation]]: The 1943 version changed the nature of the Phantom's ugliness from deformity to disfigurement, and several subsequent adaptations followed suit.
* [[Love Triangle]]: Depending on the version and/or the actors, this can be [[Triang Relations]] 4 or 7. In the 1943 version, oddly enough, it's not Raoul and Erik competing over Christine, but Raoul and a baritone Christine often stars opposite onstage. (The Phantom figure is Christine's ''father'' in this case, who wants her back after leaving her in her childhood.) In the end, Christine chooses her career over both of them.
* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: "Masquerade" is a grand celebration...of concealing your identity "so the world will never find you!" A [[Dark Reprise]] appears at the end.
* [[Manly Tears]]: Gerard Butler skillfully looks manly whilst simultaneously crying and wearing a frilly shirt.
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: The various actors who have played Erik and Raoul.
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: In the '89 version not only are people stupid enough to try to mug the Phantom, they have to mug the one played by [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Robert frickin' Englund!]]
* [[No Name Given]]: Andrew Lloyd Webber and most other adaptors never call the Phantom "Erik". The Lon Chaney silent does, however, as does the novel ''[[The Phantom of Manhattan]]'', a sequel to the Lloyd Webber version.
* [[Nostalgic Music Box]]: It has the image of a monkey sitting atop a barrel organ, and plays what is later revealed to be the "Masquerade" melody.
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* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: Occurs in a couple of the movies, with the '89 version being the most blatant.
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous English Chanting]]: The Main Theme has an ominous choir that chants ''He's there... the Phantom of the Opera''.
* [[Ominous Pipe Organ]]: And ''how''!
* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Carlotta wears a fur or two in about every other adaptation.
* [[Product Placement]]: In the movie version, the "hero" version of the chandelier was sponsored by Swarovski Crystals. There's a scene with a Swarovski store window, which depicts the Swarovski swan logo. However, the [[Anachronism Stew|logo at the time]] would have been a flower.
* [[Race Lift]]: Robert Guillame was cast as the Phantom during the first national tour. To this date, he is the only African-American actor to play the role.
* [[Rage Against the Reflection]]: Movie version only.
* [[
* [[Satan]]: The Angel of Music is another name for The Devil. The Phantom is Milton-esque figure who lives underground in a freezing lake (a la Dante) coming up to enchant and abduct beautiful innocent maidens. He is an [[Expy]] for Lucifer.
* [[Scarpia Ultimatum]]: "His life is now the prize that you must earn. So, do you end your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?" Raoul throws this back in the Phantom's face with "Why make her lie to you to save me?"
* [[Scenery Porn]]: The sets and special effects of the play (most infamously the chandelier) were groundbreaking for their time and still impress today. They may be flashy and overwrought, but they're done spectacularly well.
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* [[Tragic Monster]]: The Phantom is the epitome of the trope when he isn't being played up as a [[Draco in Leather Pants]].
* [[Victim Falls For Rapist]]: The lyrics and tone of "Music of the Night" are presented as a seduction and reveal the Phantom's love for Christine. But if he has his way with her when the lights go out (there has been endless discussion as to the possibility of this), given Christine's unconscious/entranced state throughout the scene, this can only be construed as rape.
** The [https://web.archive.org/web/20130322182434/http://www.phantommovie.com/script/lair.htm original script] for what would later become the 2004 film had the Phantom getting into bed with Christine as ''Music of the Night'' ended and the scene fading out as he drew the curtain around them, leaving little doubt as to his intentions. Probably changed as it would have been hard to continue presenting him as a romantic hero after such a blatant violation.
*** Many fans did note that her stockings are gone when she awakens at "I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It." Could just be a [[Continuity Snarl]] or...something else.
*** [[Word of God]] says the missing stockings are an unfortunate continuity error.
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* [[Villain Song]]: The title number.
* [[Voice Types]]: Christine, Carlotta.
* [[White Mask of Doom]]: Natch.
** Only in the musical, though. In the novel it's once mentioned to be black, and never mentioned again. The mask used during the masquerade ball was naturally red.
* [[Whole Costume Reference]]: In the film, Emmy Rossum's costume in "Think Of Me" is practically an exact copy of that worn by Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi) in [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria_with_diamond_stars_on_her_hair.jpg the famous portrait by Franz Winterhalter], right down to the hairstyle and the diamond stars in it. It doesn't hurt that Rossum is a dead ringer for the empress to begin with.
* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: In the movie, Christine, after her first abduction by the Phantom (and an odd placement, at that).
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature of the 1910s]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films of the 1920s]]
[[Category:Films of the 1940s]]
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[[Category:National Film Registry]]
[[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Theatrical Productions]]
[[Category:Films Based on Musicals]]
[[Category:Public Domain Feature Films]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom of the Opera, The}}
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