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CHARACTERS
ARMAND MONCHARMIN, joint Manager of the Paris Opera
FIRMIN RICHARD, joint Manager of the Paris Opera
JAMMES, a ballet-girl
MEG GIRY, a ballet-girl
THE PERSIAN
CARLOTTA, a Spanish diva at the Opera
MAME GIRY, Meg's mother, and box-keeper at the Opera
CHRISTINE DAAÉ, a singer at the Opera
RAOUL, VICOMTE DE CHAGNY
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
PERIOD
The early 1880's.
SETTING AND STYLE
The world of the Paris Opera.
Huge drapes, monumental props and pieces of scenery: all the ephemera of an opera house
which presents lavish productions of spectacular operas during "La Belle Epoque".
The locations of individual scenes should be created as simply as possible within the
framework of the Opera setting, so that each scene can flow smoothly into the next.
Two main acting areas are needed, connected by a door. They represent various dressing
rooms and offices at the Opera and the corridors outside, as well as two rooms in the
Phantom's lair. There is also an upper area which is used as "Box 5" and the vantage point
from which the Phantom, and occasionally the Persian, watch events. Also required are the
full-length mirror through which Christine Daae and others disappear, and the pipe organ
in the Phantom's lair. Other furniture should be kept to the barest minimum.
The comic elements of the play involving Richard, Moncharmin and Mame Giry should be played
for laughs but without mugging or hamming. The melodramatic elements involving Christine,
the Phantom and Raoul should be played seriously with no attempt to send them up. In that
way the balance between comedy and melodrama will be maintained and will create the right emotional response in the audience.
ACT ONE
SCENE 1
Backstage at the Opera.
Sounds of an orchestra tuning up. Enter MONCHARMIN and RICHARD.
MONCHARMIN: I still can't believe it! Managers of the Paris Opera! I don't know one note
from another, yet I already have a reputation for knowing all about music.
RICHARD: I wouldn't be too sure of that.
MONCHARMIN: (Ignoring him.) Debienne and Poligny seemed most anxious to retire.
Almost too anxious. I wonder why?
RICHARD: Never mind about them. What an opening for us! What a house!
MONCHARMIN: Packed to the gods!
RICHARD: Every critic in Paris is out there tonight to see La Carlotta sing "Faust".
MONCHARMIN: The first of many triumphs for us.
(Enter JAMMES and MEG GIRY, two of the ballet girls. They are unaware of the managers.)
JAMMES: Oh, Meg, do tell me!
MEG: I swore not to tell.
JAMES: I can keep a secret.
MEG: Well, Ma has spoken to him in his private box!
JAMMES: What? The ghost?
MEG: Hush! Yes.
JAMMES: Has the ghost a box? Oh, do tell me, do tell me!
MEG: Not so loud! It's box 5, you know, on the grand tier. Ma has charge of it. But
you swear you won't say a word?
JAMMES: Of course, of course.
(The girls become aware of the managers.)
JAMMES: Oh! Monsieur Richard! (She curtseys.)
MEG: Monsieur Moncharmin! (She curtseys.)
RICHARD: Girls. (He nods to them. They run off giggling.)
MONCHARMIN: Oh, dear. I hope there is not going to be any trouble.
RICHARD: What do you mean?
MONCHARMIN: Well ... you know .. this ghost.
RICHARD: Surely you don't believe in that? It's no more than legend. The absurd
imaginations of the young ballet girls.
MONCHARMIN: And their mothers, and the box-keepers and the cloak-room attendants!
RICHARD: Silly superstition!
(The PERSIAN has entered, in his astrakhan hat and overcoat. The managers are
unaware of him until he speaks.)
PERSIAN: I can assure you, gentlemen, the Opera ghost really does exist. (He
continues on his way.)
MONCHARMIN: What?
PERSIAN: A creature of flesh and blood. (Exit)
MONCHARMIN: Hey! Just a minute! (He hurries across the stage after the PERSIAN)
Gone. Disappeared.
RICHARD: Who was he?
MONCHARMIN: No idea. One of the stage hands, perhaps?
RICHARD: He didn't look much like a stage hand to me. Foreigner.
MONCHARMIN: The Persian!
RICHARD: What?
MONCHARMIN: Don't you remember? Poligny mentioned him. Always prowling about the place.
Obsessed with stage mechanisms and life behind the scenes.
(Suddenly there is a loud scream from the direction in which JAMMES and MIEG went off.)
MONCHARMIN: My God! What was that?
RICHARD: Let's find out!
(They hurry off.)
SCENE 2
CARLOTTA's dressing room and the corridor outside.
There is a chair, a dressing table and a sofa. CARLOTTA, the Spanish prima donna,
is preparing to sing Margarita in Gounod's "Faust". JAMMES and MEG GIRY run along the
corridor screaming, burst into the dressing room, and shut the door.
CARLOTTA: Whatever is the matter? Why do you invade the dressing room of Carlotta?
JAMMES: It's the ghost!
CARLOTTA: You silly little fool! (Crossing herself.) Have you seen him?
JAMMES: As plainly as I see you now!
CARLOTTA: Pooh! You see the ghost everywhere!
JAMMES: Listen!
CARLOTTA: (Pretending to be brave, she picks up a dagger and goes to the door.)
Who's there?
MEG: Don't open the door! Oh lord, don't open the door!
CARLOTTA: Is there anyone there?
JAMMES: Oh yes, there is! Of course there is!
CARLOTTA: (She opens the door and looks into the passage. With a deep sigh.) No,
there is no one there. (She closes the door.)
JAMMES: Still, we saw him! He must be somewhere, prowling about.
CARLOTTA: Come, children, pull yourselves together. I don't believe anyone has ever
really seen the ghost.
JAMMES: Yes, yes, we saw him!
MEG: We saw him just now!
JAMMES: He was suddenly there in the passage!
MEG: As soon as he saw us, he vanished!
JAMMES: He had his death's head and his dress-coat, just as when he appeared to Joseph Buquet!
MEG: Joseph Buquet would do better to hold his tongue.
JAMMES: Why should he hold his tongue?
MEG: That's Ma's opinion.
CARLOTTA: And why does your mother say so?
MEG: Because ... because ... Joseph Buquet has no business to talk of things that don't
concern him. It will bring him bad luck. Ma was saying so only last night ...
(Enter RICHARD and MONCHARMIN along the corridor. They pause outside the dressing room,
then knock on the door. The two girls squeal and cower as far a way as possible.)
JAMMES: It's him! The Opera ghost!
CARLOTTA: Don't be ridiculous, child. (Nevertheless, she picks up her dagger again
before she opens the door.) Ah, Monsieur Richard. Monsieur Moncharmin.
(She hides the dagger behind her back.) Do come in.
(They enter the dressing room.)
RICHARD: Signora Carlotta, Is everything all right?
CARLOTTA: Of course. Why should it not be all right?
RICHARD: We heard a scream.
CARLOTTA: These silly girls. They think they have seen the ghost.
MONCHARMIN: Oh, no! Not that again!
RICHARD: And tonight of all nights!
(MAME GIRY comes rushing along the passage in a panic.)
GIRY: (Calling.) Meg! Meg! Are you there?
MEG: It's Ma's voice. (Calling.) What's the matter?
(MAME GIRY enters the dressing-room and collapses on the chair.)
GIRY: Joseph Buquet ...
MEG.. What about him?
GIRY: Joseph Buquet is dead!
CARLOTTA: How terrible! How terrible! (She collapses onto the couch. RICHARD
comforts her.)
GIRY: He was found hanging in the third-floor cellar!
MONCHARMIN: Who is Joseph Buquet?
GIRY: The chief scene-shifter.
MEG: It's the ghost! No, no! I didn't say it! I didn't say it!
CARLOTTA: I shall never be able to sing tonight!
RICHARD: But, Carlotta ...
CARLOTTA: A lost powder-puff ... a practical joke ... a small accident ... we
blame the Opera ghost, and we laugh. But ... murder! - that is quite another matter!
MONCHARMIN: We do not know that it is murder. (To MAME GIRY.) Is it certain
that Joseph Buquet is dead?
(The PERSIAN has come along the passage. He pauses by the open door of the dressing-room.)
PERSIAN: Yes. He was found hanging between a set piece and a scene from the "Roi de Lahore".
JAMMES: It must be the Opera ghost!
RICHARD: Quiet, child!
PERSIAN: The child is right. The death of Joseph Buquet is perhaps not as natural as
people may think. (He goes.)
MONCHARMIN: Who is that man?
MEG: The Persian.
MONCHARMIN: I thought so. (To RICHARD.) Didn't I say so?
JAMMES: The Persian has the evil eye! (She makes the sign against the evil eye
by pointing her forefinger and little finger at the door, while her second and third
fingers are held down by her thumb.)
MEG: Oh yes! (She does the same.)
CARLOTTA: (Crossing herself again.) It is enough! Carlotta cannot sing tonight!
(She rises and flings her wrap around herself.)
RICHARD: But, Carlotta ...
CARLOTTA: I go! (She sweeps out)
RICHARD: Carlotta! ... Oh, dear! What are we to do? Who is to sing the role of Margarita
tonight?
MONCHARMIN: Surely you don't think the police will allow a performance tonight?
RICHARD: The police?
MONCHARMIN: We must call them at once.
RICHARD: No, no! Not yet. After the performance.
MONCHARMIN: But - It's murder!
RICHARD: If Joseph Buquet is dead, a couple more hours won't make any difference to him,
will it? No one must say anything about this until after the performance. You understand?
MEG and JAMMES: Yes, sir.
MONCHARMIN: But Carlotta has gone, and it's almost time for the curtain to go up. Who
could possibly replace her?
JAMMES: Christine Daaé could do it, sir.
MEG: She has been having singing lessons, sir, we've heard her.
JAMMES: Yes. I'm sure she knows the part, sir.
RICHARD: Well ... find her. Bring her here!
(JAMMES and MEG run out along the passage.)
GIRY: I must go to the grand tier. I must see that the ghost gets his programme.
MONCHARMIN: The ghost again!
RICHARD: What is this ghost that everyone blames for everything?
GIRY: I would not speak of it, sir, but ...
RICHARD: But what?
GIRY: He has given me orders to ask you to be pleasant to him and grant any request he
might make.
MONCHARMIN: This is a joke, surely?
GIRY: (Reprovingly.) The death of Joseph Buquet is no joke.
MONCHARMIN: But what does this ghost of yours want?
GIRY: An allowance of 20,000 francs a month.
RICHARD: (Sarcastic.) Is that all? Doesn't he want anything more?
GIRY: Yes, he does. Box 5 on the grand tier must be placed at his disposal for every
performance.
MONCHARMIN: (Mocking.) I now understand why Messieurs Debienne and Poligny were
so anxious to retire from the management of the Opera. Business must be impossible with
so unreasonable a ghost.
RICHARD: It seems to me that they were much too good to the ghost. I should have him arrested.
GIRY: But how? Where?
RICHARD: When he comes to his box.
GIRY: Nobody sees the ghost in his box, but everybody can hear him. I have often heard him.
MONCHARMIN: If nobody ever sees him in the box, then sell it.
GIRY: Sell the Opera ghost's box! Well, gentlemen, you try it!
RJCHARD: We will!
GIRY: I was hoping you wouldn't have the same unpleasantness as Messieurs Debienne and
Poligny. They wouldn't listen to me either, at first!
(She goes out as CHRISTINE DAAÉ enters with JAMMES and MEG.)
JAMMES: Here she is, sir: Christine Daaé.
RICHARD: Daaé?
CHRISTINE: Yes, sir.
RICHARD: You are not, by any chance, related to the violinist, Daaé?
CHRISTINE: Yes, sir. He was my father.
MONCHARMIN: Mademoiselle Daaé we have been told that you could sing the part of
Margarita in "Faust". Is this true?
CHRISTINE: Yes, sir.
RICHARD: Could you do it now? Tonight?
CHRISTINE: Yes, sir.
RlCHARD: Then do it!
(Blackout.)
(We hear snatches of "Faust" being sung. The masked and cloaked figure of the PHANTOM
is visible watching the performance from Box 5. The performance ends amidst rapturous
applause and cheering. The PHANTOM stands and leaves the box.)
SCENE 3
Christine Daae's dressing room and the passage outside.
There is a sofa and a full-length mirror. The applause and cheering continue. An
exhausted CHRISTINE is helped along the passage by JAMMES and MEG, who sit her on the
sofa. RICHARD and MONCHARMIN follow, and they all gather round her.
MONCHARMIN: What a triumph!
RICHARD: I have never heard anything like it!
MONCHARMIN: The whole house on its feet! Shouting, cheering, clapping!
RICHARD: What a Margarita! Such splendour! Such radiance!
MONCHARMIN: Her voice was seraphic!
MEG: (Aside to JAMMES.) Six months ago she sang like a carrion-crow!
RICHARD: Is she all right?
(RAOUL, VICOMTE DE CHANGNY, has come along the corridor and through the open door into the
dressing-room.)
RAOUL: Don't you see that the woman's fainting?
RICHARD:Who are you, sir?
RAOUL: The Vicomte de Changny.
MONCHARMIN: Monsieur le Vicomte. An honour, sir. This is Monsieur Firmin Richard, and I am
Armand Moncharmin. We are the new joint managers of the Opera.
RAOUL: Gentlemen. (He nods curtly.) Don't you think that everyone had better clear the room?
There's no breathing in here.
MONCHARMIN: You are quite right.
RAOUL: You may leave me to attend to mademoiselle.
MONCHARMIN: Of course, sir. Come along, girls. Richard.
(MONCHARMIN leads them out and away along the passage.)
CHRISTINE: Monsieur, who are you?
RAOUL: (Kneeling beside her and kissing her hand.) Mademoiselle, I am the boy who ran
into the sea to rescue your scarf.
CHRISTINE Raoul?
RAOUL: The same.
CHRISTINE: Little Raoul, who got soaked to the skin because the wind carried away my scarf!
RAOUL: But you laughed merrily and kissed him.
CHRISTINE: Raoul. Dear little Raoul. It really is you!
RAOUL: Yes. Do you remember how we used to play together by the sea?
CHRISTINE: And daddy gave you lessons on the violin.
RAOUL: I told you when we parted that I would never forget you.
CHRISTINE: And the stories daddy told us? Do you remember them?
RAOUL: As if it were yesterday: 'A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep,
still lakes which open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian niountains.'
CHRISTINE: And Little Lotte?
RAOUL: Little Lotte, who thought of everything and nothing!
CHRISTINE: And loved most of all, when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music.
Do you remember the Angel of Music?
RAOUL: I do indeed. The Angel of Music played a part in all Daddy Daaé's tales.
CHRISTINE: He is heard by those who are meant to hear him, and they cannot touch an
instrument or open their mouths to sing without producing sounds that put all other human
sounds to shame.
RAOUL: As you did tonight.
CHRISTINE: Daddy told me that one day I should hear the Angel of Music. " When I am in Heaven,"
he said, "I will send him to you." Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, and I have been visited
by the Angel of Music.
RAOUL: I have no doubt of it. No human being can sing as you sang tonight thout the
intervention of some miracle.
CHRISTINE: I don't know myself when I sing like that. It is as though my soul leaves my body.
RAOUL: You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine.
CHRISTINE: Just as my father told me I would.
RAOUL: Did your father also tell you that I love you, Christine? That I have always loved
you and cannot live without you?
CHRISTINE: (Laughing.) Me? You are dreaming, my friend!
Raoul: Don't laugh, Christine; I am quite serious.
CHRISTINE: (Glancing round anxiously.) You must not tell me such things as that.
RAOUL: But, Christine ...
CHRISTINE: Please go away.
RAOUL: (Shocked at her abrupt change of tone.) If that is what you wish, mademoiselle.
CHRISTINE: It is.
RAOUL: Then I will bid you good night.
(He goes out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. As he starts to move away he
hears a man's voice, echoing hollowly in the dressing-room. He returns to listen at the door.)
PHANTOM'S VOICE: Christine, you must love me!
CHRISTINE: How can you talk like that? When I sing only for you?
PHANTOM'S VOICE: Are you very tired?
CHRISTINE: Oh, tonight I gave you my soul and I am dead!
PHANTOM'S VOICE: Your soul is a beautiful thing, child, and I thank you. No emperor ever
received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.
(MEG and JAMMES come along the corridor. RAOUL hides from them. They burst into CHRISTINE's
dressing room.)
MEG: Christine! You must come!
CHRISTINE: What?
JAMMES: The new managers are asking for you!
MEG: Monsieur Richard!
JAMMES: And Monsieur Moncharmin!
CHRISTINE: I am too tired.
MEG: There is a sit-down supper!
JAMMES: With champagne!
MEG: Everybody is there!
JAMMES: Do come!
MEG: Yes, do come!
CHRISTINE: Oh, very well.
(MEG and JAMMES drag CHRISTINE out and away along the corridor. When they have gone RAOUL
bursts into the empty dressing room and looks round.)
RAOUL: There is someone here! What are you hiding for? You shan't leave this room until
I let you! If you don't answer, you are a coward! But I'll expose you! (He stares round the
silent room.) Am I going mad?
(RAOUL rushes out and comes face-to-face with the PERSIAN in the corridor.)
RAOUL: Which is the way out, please?
PERSIAN: Straight in front of you. The door is open.
RAOUL: Thank you. (Exit)
(The PERSIAN watches him go, then looks curiously round the dressing room before he exits.)
SCENE 4
Backstage at the Opera.
MEG GIRY and JAMMES are rehearsing a ballet dance, and concentrating very hard on their
steps. Their dancing is punctuated by the following conversation.
MEG: Why does Christine never sing now? She acts as though she dreaded another triumph. I
wonder...
JAMMES: What? What do you wonder?
MEG: Carlotta has never forgiven her for her triumph in taking over as Margarita at a moment's
notice.
JAMMES: It certainly cured La Carlotta's fits of sulking against the magement, didn't it? She's
always on time for rehearsals now!
MEG: I think she has persuaded Monsieur Richard and Monsieur Moncharmin not to give Christine
any opportunity for a fresh triumph.
JAMMES: She certainly makes the most scandalous remarks about her.
MEG: I think Christine is afraid. (Exeunt)
SCENE 5
The managers' office.
RICHARD is reading a letter. Enter MONCHARMIN.
RICHARD: Listen to this.
MONCHARMIN: What is it?
RICHARD: A letter. I found it on my desk this morning.
MONCHARMIN: What does it say?
RICHARD: (Reading his letter.) "My dear Managers,
"I must tell you how disagreeably surprised I have been lately, on arriving at the Opera, to
hear that my box had been sold at the box-office by your orders. You are treating me with
outrageous contempt. If you wish us to live in peace, you must not begin by taking away my
private box."
MONCHARMIN: Who is it from?
RICHARD: It is signed, "Opera Ghost"!
MONCHARMIN: They are keeping up the joke, then.
RICHARD: Debienne and Poligny?
MONCHARMIN: Yes. Of course. Our "humorous" predecessors.
RICHARD: Well I don't call it funny.
MONCHARMIN: Do they imagine that because they have been managers of the Opera we are going to
let them have a free box for ever?
RICHARD: I am not in the mood to be humbugged like this. Have they nothing better to do?
(MAME GIRY enters and knocks on the door of the office.)
RICHARD: Come in! (MAME GIRY enters the office.) Who are you?
GIRY: Mame Giry. You know me, sir; I'm the box-keeper on the grand tier, and mother of little
Meg, you know!
RICHARD: Never heard of her! Well, Mame Giry, what do you want?
GIRY: I was just wanting to see you, sir, about what happened last night in box 5.
RICHARD: Box 5?
GIRY: Yes, sir.
RICHARD: Well? What happened last night in Box 5?
GIRY: I'll tell you what happened. The ghost has been annoyed again!
RICHARD: What?
MONCHARMIN: Just tell us what happened.
GIRY: Well, sir, Monsieur Maniera and his lady, the jewellers in the Rue Mogador, arrived with
their great friend, Monsieur Isidore Saack, for last night's performance of "Faust". The moment
they entered the box, they came out again and called for me.
MONCHARMIN: Why?
GIRY: They said, "Look in the box: there's no one there, is there?" "No," I replied. "Well,"
said they, "when we went in, we heard a voice say that the box was taken!"
RICHARD: And what did you say to that?
GIRY: Oh, I just said it was the Opera ghost.
RICHARD: Who is this "Opera ghost"?
MONCHARMIN: Have you ever seen him?
GIRY: Oh, no, sir. Nobody sees the ghost, but everybody can hear him. You can ask Monsieur
Isidore Saack, who had his leg broken by the ghost!
MONCHARMIN: Indeed! The ghost broke poor Isidore Saack's leg, did he?
RICHARD: Do enlighten us as to how!
GIRY: It was like this, sir. Monsieur Maniera and his lady were sitting in the front of the
box, with Monsieur Isidore Saack sitting behind Madame Maniera. Mephistopheles was singing,
(Sings tunelessly,) "Catarina, while you play at slee-eeping," and then Monsieur Maniera heard
a voice in his right ear - his wife was on his left - saying, "Ha, ha! Julie's not playing at
sleeping!" His wife happened to be called Julie. So Monsieur Maniera turns to the right to see
who was talking to him like that. Nobody there! He rubs his ears and asks himself if he's
dreaming. Then Mephistopheles went on with his serenade.... But perhaps I'm boring you,
gentlemen?
MONCHARMIN: No, no, go on, go on.
GIRY: You are too good, gentlemen. Well, then, Mephistopheles went on with his serenade,
(Sings.) "Saint, unclose thy portal holy and accord the bliss, to a mortal bending lowly,
of a pardon-kiss." And then Monsieur Maniera again hears the voice in his right ear, saying,
this time, "Ha, ha! Julie wouldn't mind according a kiss to Isidore!" Then he turns round
again, but this time to the left, and what do you think he sees? Isidore, who had taken his
lady's hand and was covering it with kisses! Well, then there was a great uproar! Monsieur
Maniera hit Monsieur Isidore Saack. Bang! Bang! People in the house shouted, "That's enough!
Stop them! He'll kill him!" Then Monsieur Isidore Saack managed to get away ...
MONCHARMIN: Then the ghost had not broken his leg?
GIRY: He broke it for him on the grand staircase, which he ran down too fast, sir, and it will
be a long time before the poor gentleman will be able to go up it again!
MONCHARMIN: Did the ghost tell you what he said in Monsieur Maniera's ear?
GIRY: No, sir, it was Monsieur Maniera himself. So ...
RICHARD: But you have spoken to the ghost, my good lady.
GIRY: As I'm speaking to you now, my good sir!
RICHARD: And when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?
GIRY: Well, sir, when he comes to the Opera, it's usually in the middle of the first act. He
gives three little taps on the door of Box 5. The first time I heard those three taps, when
I knew there was no one in the box, you can imagine how puzzled I was! I opened the door,
Listened, looked: nobody! And then I heard a voice say, "Mame Giry, a programme please.
Don't be afraid, Mame Giry: I'm the Opera ghost!" And the voice was so soft and kind I
hardly felt frightened at all.
MONCHARMIN: And what did you do?
GIRY: Well, I brought the programme. At the end of the performance he always gives me two
francs, sometimes five, sometimes even ten, when he has been many days away. Only, since
people have begun to annoy him again, he gives me nothing at all.
MONCHARMIN: Excuse me, my good woman. How does the ghost manage to give you two francs?
GIRY: Why, he leaves it on the little shelf in the box, of course. Once he left me a box of
English sweets, which I'm very fond of. That's one of the ghost's pretty thoughts.....
RICHARD: That will do, Mame Giry. You can go.
GIRY: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. (Singing as she goes out of the door.) "Saint, unclose thy
portal holy and accord the bliss, to a mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss."
RICHARD: She's mad!
MONCHARMIN: Maybe.
RICHARD: All the same, perhaps we should look into the matter of box 5 for ourselves.
MONCHARMIN: Yes, yes. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
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