ACT TWO
SCENE 1
Backstage at the Opera
Enter RICHARD and MONCHARMIN.
MONCHARMIN: Thank goodness that's over!
RICHARD: Not a pleasant business, an inquest.
(Enter RAOUL.)
RAOUL: Is there any news?
RICHARD: Accidental death.
RAOUL: Death!
MONCHARMIN: Caused by the wear and tear of the chains with which the chandelier was hung from the ceiling.
RAOUL: Oh, the chandelier.
RICHARD: Duty of the managers to discover this and have it remedied in time.
MONCHARMIN: First Joseph Buquet, and now this! Terrible business.
RICHARD: Terrible responsibilities.
RAOUL: I don't mean the chandelier. I mean Christine Daaé. Is there any news of her?
RICHARD: None.
MONCHARMIN: She is taking a holiday.
RAOUL: How long for?
MONCHARMIN: An unlimited period.
RAOUL: She has been gone for nearly a fortnight now.
RICHARD: She requested leave of absence for reasons of health.
RAOUL: Then she is ill! What is the matter with her?
MONCHARMIN: We don't know.
RAOUL: Didn't you send the doctor of the Opera to see her?
RICHARD: No, she did not ask for him.
MONCHARMIN: And, as we trust her, we took her word.
(Enter MAME GIRY, with a letter.)
GIRY: Your pardon, gentlemen.
RICHARD: What is it now?
GIRY: A letter, sir.
MONCHARMIN: Oh, no! Not another one!
GIRY: Yes, sir.
RICHARD: Here. Give it to me. (He takes the letter and opens it.) There's another envelope inside.
MONCHARMIN: Let me see. (He takes the envelope and reads what is written on it.) "Monsieur O.G. - Private."
What does this mean?
RICHARD: There's a note - from him!
MONCHARMIN: What does it say?
RICHARD: (Reading.) "The time has come for you to pay me my allowance. After the little accident of the chandelier,
I am sure you will not object. Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope, seal it and, on the evening
of the Opera ball, hand it to Madame Giry, who has my instructions."
MONCHARMIN: So you have his instructions, do you?
GIRY: Yes, sir.
MONCHARMIN: And what are those instructions?
GIRY: I am to do as I always do with the ghost's allowance.
RICHARD: And what is that, pray?
GIRY: Why, I take the envelope with the money in it to box 5 and place it on the little shelf attached to the ledge.
RICHARD: And that is all?
GIRY: Yes, sir.
RICHARD: All right. You can go.
GIRY: Yes, sir. (She bows herself out.)
RAOUL: Gentlemen ...
RICHARD: You must excuse us, sir.
MONCHARMIN: Work, you know.
RICHARD: Grave responsibilities.
MONCHARMIN: Yes, indeed. Twenty thousand francs!
(Exeunt RICHARD and MONCHARMIN.)
RAOUL: (Calling after them.) But what about Christine Daaé? Oh, Christine! Where are you? Whose prisoner are you?
What monster has carried you off?
(Exit.)
SCENE 2
The Phantom's lair beneath the Opera.
The PHANTOM is playing the organ. Enter CHRISTINE. She watches him in silence for a moment, then steels herself to go to
him.
CHRISTINE: My Angel of Music. (He stops playing.) Tell me about your childhood.
PHANTOM: There is little to tell. My father was a master mason in a little town near Rouen. But I ran away from home at a very
early age.
CHRISTINE: Why? Why did you run away?
PHANTOM: My ugliness. It was such a subject of horror and terror to both my parents, I could not bear it.
CHRISTINE: What did you do?
PHANTOM: I was taken up by a band of gypsies: the very fountain-head of art and magic. I had my early education among them.
I crossed the whole of Europe, from fair to fair. A showman exhibited me as the "living corpse".
CHRISTINE: How terrible!
PHANTOM: One can get used to everything, if one wishes. Even in love. Plenty of young people who did not care for each
other before marriage have adored each other since. Christine ...?
CHRISTINE: Show me your face without fear. And if ever again I shiver when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking
of the splendour of your genius.
PHANTOM: Christine! I am your faithful slave! (He removes his mask, then drops to his knees and kisses the hem of her dress.
He does not see her turn away and close her eyes.)
CHRISTINE: If you really love me, why will you not let me have my liberty?
PHANTOM: I cannot bear to let you from my sight in case I may never see you again.
CHRISTINE: And if I were to promise to return?
PHANTOM: You would do that?
CHRISTINE: I would come back to you. Believe me, I would come back.
PHANTOM: I believe you, Christine. You would not lie to me.
CHRISTINE: No, my Angel, I would not lie to you.
(There is the sound of singing, like a siren. The PHANTOM looks round.)
PHANTOM: Quickly! Come with me! (He grabs her wrist and pulls her towards a door.)
CHRISTINE: Why? What is the matter?
PHANTOM: An uninvited guest has come to bother us! (He pushes her through the door and closes it.)
Stay there, and do not make a sound!
(Enter the PERSIAN, holding his arm up before his face. The PHANTOM moves behind him and tries to fling a rope
round his neck to throttle him, but the PERSIAN'S arm prevents him and he snatches the rope from the PHANTOM.)
PERSIAN: The punjab lassoo! So, you are still the king of stranglers!
PHANTOM: Daroga!
PERSIAN: Your one true friend.
PHANTOM: The Daroga of Mazenderan!
PERSIAN: I have found you again - at last.
PHANTOM: Why do you enter my house? I did not invite you. But then you were ever the policeman.
PERSIAN: I was once the Shah's Chief of Police. But no longer: thanks to my kindness to you.
PHANTOM: How did you find me?
PERSIAN: The mirror in Christine Daaé's dressing room. Then days of searching the labyrinth of passageways and cellars
beneath the Opera until I found the lake.
PHANTOM: I don't want you here, nor anybody. Did you save my life all those years ago only to make it unbearable to me now?
PERSIAN: You know what you promised me? No more murders!
PHANTOM: Have I committed murders?
PERSIAN: Have you forgotten the rosy hours of Mazenderan? All those pitiable wretches you strangled for the amusement of
the Shah's little daughter!
PHANTOM: Yes. I prefer to forget them. I used to make the little princess laugh, though! But all that belongs to the past!
PERSIAN: But now there is the present. And you are responsible to me for the present.
PHANTOM: To you, daroga?
PERSIAN: Yes, because if I had wished, there would have been no present for you. Remember that: I saved your life when the
Shah had decided upon your death.
PHANTOM: Because I knew all the dark secrets of the palace I had built for him.
PERSIAN: Your execution was my responsibility, but I provided you with the means of escape.
PHANTOM: However great my debt to you, I will perhaps end by forgetting it.
PERSIAN: I nearly paid with my head for my generous weakness.
PHANTOM: How did you escape?
PERSIAN: A corpse, half-devoured by vultures, was found by the Caspian Sea, and was taken for your body. My life was spared,
but I was condemned to perpetual banishment. Now, you must swear that ...
PHANTOM: Swear what? You know I never keep my oaths. Oaths are made to catch fools with.
PERSIAN: Tell me ...
PHANTOM: Well?
PERSIAN: Joseph Buquet.
PHANTOM: What about Joseph Buquet?
PERSIAN: Did you murder him?
PHANTOM: Surely he hanged himself?
PERSIAN: That is what they say.
PHANTOM: He talked too much about things that did not concern him. Like you, daroga, he did not know how to mind
his own business.
PERSIAN: And the chandelier. What about the chandelier?
PHANTOM: It was very old and worn. It fell of itself. It came down with a smash! And now, daroga, take my advice and go.
And never try to enter my house again. You think you are after me, whereas it's I who am after you! I should be sorry to have
to dedicate my requiem mass to you!
PERSIAN: It's not you that I'm after here.
PHANTOM: Who then?
PERSIAN: Christine Daaé.
PHANTOM: I have every right to see her in my house. I am loved for my own sake.
PERSIAN: That's not true. You have carried her off and are keeping her locked up.
PHANTOM: Listen. Will you promise never again to meddle with my affairs if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?
PERSIAN: Yes, I promise you.
PHANTOM: Well, then, it's quite simple. Christine Daaé shall leave here as she pleases and come back again, because
she loves me for myself.
PERSIAN: Oh, I doubt if she will come back. But it is your duty to let her go.
PHANTOM: My duty! It is my wish to let her go; and she will come back again, for she loves me. All this will end in a marriage.
My nuptial mass is written.
PERSIAN: I shall believe that if I see Christine Daaé come out of this place and return to it of her own accord.
PHANTOM: And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?
PERSIAN: No.
PHANTOM: Very well, you shall see for yourself. Come to the masked ball the night after tomorrow. Christine and I will be there, and you will see her delighted to come back to me! And now be off! I know all about you; I know every move you make. And if you come back here, I won't answer for the consequences - to you, or anyone else!
PERSIAN: Keep your word, and I will leave you in peace.
(Exit.)
(The PHANTOM watches him go, then fetches CHRISTINE, from the inner room.)
PHANTOM: Christine, you have asked me for your liberty, and I can refuse you nothing. The night after tomorrow you shall go
to the Opera ball.
CHRISTINE: Oh, thank you! Thank you!
PHANTOM: And you will return?
CHRISTINE: Oh, yes! I will return!
PHANTOM: Even if you meet Monsieur Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny? He will surely be there. He haunts the Opera in despair
of ever finding you again.
CHRISTINE: I have told you so often: the Vicorate de Chagny is like a brother to me, nothing more. You must not be jealous of him.
PHANTOM: Then you may speak with him as long as you remain inside the Opera. I trust you, Christine. Monsieur Raoul
de Chagny is in love with you and I want him to be as unhappy as I am.
CHRISTINE: Are people so unhappy when they are in love?
PHANTOM: Yes, Christine, when they love and are not sure of being loved in return. Wear this for me.
(He holds out a plain gold ring.)
CHRISTINE: A ring? A wedding ring?
PHANTOM: (Putting the ring on the third finger of her left hand.) I give you back your liberty, Christine, on condition that
this ring is always on your finger. As long as you keep it, you will be protected against all danger and I will remain your friend.
But woe to you if ever you part with it, for I will have my revenge!
CHRISTINE: My Angel of Music, I swear that you are the most unhappy and sublime of men. I will never part with your ring.
Believe me when I say that the night after the masked ball, I will come back!
PHANTOM: Then you shall see the daylight today!
CHRISTINE: What do you mean?
PHANTOM: You have often said that you long for the daylight. I shall take you for a drive to the Bois de Boulogne.
CHRISTINE: But how shall we get to the street?
PHANTOM: There is an underground passage that leads to a gate in the Rue
Scribe, at the side of the Opera. Prepare yourself,
Christine, while I arrange for the carriage.
(Exit.)
(CHRISTINE looks after him for a moment, then searches for a sheet of paper and a pen, and begins to write. Fade)
SCENE 3
Backstage at the Opera.
Enter RAOUL, in evening dress, from one side, and from the other MEG GIRY and JAMMES with a letter.
JAMMES: There he is!
MEG: Well, go on!
JAMMES: You come too!
MEG: It was you who found it!
JAMMES: (To RAOUL.) Excuse me, sir.
RAOUL: Yes, what is it?
JAMMES: Are you (Reading from the envelope.) "Monsieur le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny"?
RAOUL: Yes, I am.
JAMMES: This letter is for you, sir. (She hands him the letter.)
RAOUL: (Looking at the envelope.) Christine! (To the girls.) Where did you get this?
MEG: Jammes found it, sir.
JAMMES: On the pavement of the Place de l'Opera.
MEG: That's why it is all covered with mud.
JAMMES: Someone threw it from a carriage.
RAOUL: Who? Who threw it?
JAMMES: I don't know, sir. I couldn't see who it was. The carriage came from the Rue Scribe.
MEG: Down the side of the Opera.
RAOUL: Thank you. (He gives them a coin.) Thank you for your trouble.
MEG and JAMMES: Thank you, sir. (They run off. giggling.)
RAOUL: (Tearing open the letter and reading it.) "Dear Raoul,
"Go to the masked ball at the Opera on the night after tomorrow. At twelve o'clock, be in the little room behind the Rotunda.
Don't mention this appointment to a living soul. Wear a white domino, and see that you are well masked. As you love me,
do not let yourself be recognised. Christine." Oh, Christine, you are alive! I will not fail you! The masked ball!
SCENE 4
The same
There is an explosion of sound: music and merrymaking. It is the night of the masked ball. RAOUL produces
a white domino and puts it on. Enter CARLOTTA, JAMMES, MEG GIRY, MAME GIRY and the PERSIAN in costumes
and masks; also RICHARD and MONCHARMIN in evening dress and masks. The costumed figures surround RAOUL
and dance for a few moments amid flashing, coloured lights, then lead him off. RICHARD and MONCHARMIN remain,
and remove their masks, watched from above by the PERSIAN.
MONCHARMIN: Looking mournfully at the envelope in his hand.) What a disaster!
RICHARD: How did he do it?
MONCHARMIN: I don't know. How should I know?
RICHARD: You're sure it is the same envelope?
MONCHARMIN: See for yourself.
RICHARD: The seals were unbroken.
MONCHARMIN: But the money has gone! Twenty thousand francs!
RICHARD: And in their place -
MONCHARMIN: Newspaper!
RICHARD: You must have fallen asleep.
MONCHARMIN: You were there too!
RICHARD: I never took my eyes from the envelope after she placed it on the shelf.
MONCHARMIN: We must send for the commissary of police!
RICHARD: No, no! Don't let's make ourselves look ridiculous!
MONCHARMIN: What do you mean?
RICHARD: Well, if this business is an unpleasant practical joke on the part of our predecessors, it would not do to divulge
it prematurely.
MONCHARMIN: You may be right. If you are, all Paris would laugh at us.
RICHARD: I've sent for Mother Giry. If she is a confederate, I intend to find out. But, in my opinion, she is merely an idiot.
MONCHARMIN: She's not the only idiot in this business!
(Enter MAME GIRY.)
GIRY: Good evening, gentlemen. You sent for me, Monsieur Richard?
RICHARD: Yes, Madame Giry. Are you still on good terms with the ghost?
GIRY: Couldn't be better, sir, couldn't be better.
RICHARD: Good, good. Look here, Madame Giry, we may as well tell you, just between the three of us, you're no fool!
GIRY: Why, sir, I assure you no one has ever doubted that!
RICHARD: So, I think we understand one another. Now, this story of the ghost is just a joke, isn't it?
GIRY: A joke, sir?
RICHARD: Yes, a joke. And don't you think it has lasted long enough?
GIRY: What do you mean? I don't understand.
RICHARD: Oh, you understand quite well! Come on, tell us his name.
GIRY: Whose name?
RICHARD: The name of the man whose accomplice you are, Mame Giry!
GIRY: I ... the ghost's accomplice? I? His accomplice in what, pray?
RICHARD: You do all he wishes.
GIRY: Oh! It's no trouble, you know.
RICHARD: How much does he give you for bringing the envelope?
GIRY: Ten francs.
RICHARD: You poor thing! You have given yourself body and soul to this ghost.
MONCHARMIN: And yet Mame Giry's friendship and devotion are not to be bought for ten francs.
GIRY: That's true enough. And I can tell you the reason, sir. There's no disgrace about it. On the contrary. I owe it to
the ghost that my little Meg was promoted to be the leader of a row in the corps de ballet
MONCHARMIN: How was that?
GIRY: I asked the ghost if he could do it for me, and he said, "Look upon it as done." And he had only to say a word to
Monsieur Poligny and the thing was done.
MONCHARMIN: (Sighing,) What a business!
GIRY: Monsieur Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing.
MONCHARMIN: You hear that, Richard?
RICHARD: Yes. Monsieur Poligny is a friend of the ghost, and Mame Giry is a friend of Monsieur Poligny!
MONCHARMIN: There we are!
RICHARD: We are going to have you arrested, Mame Giry!
GIRY: Have me arrested!!!
RICHARD: As a thief!
GIRY: I, a thief! I, a thief, I?
RICHARD: You are in league with Poligny, and stole twenty thousand francs from us!
GIRY: I never heard such a thing! In any case, you, Monsieur Richard, ought to know better than I where the twenty thousand
francs went to!
RICHARD: I? How should I know?
GIRY: Because they went into your pocket!
MONCHARMIN: How can you suspect my partner, Monsieur Richard, of putting twenty thousand francs in his pocket?
GIRY: I never said that ... it was I myself who put them there!
RICHARD: What?
GIRY: There! It's out! May the ghost forgive me!
RICHARD: You put them there! And I knew nothing of it!
MONCHARMIN: Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. What envelope did you put in Monsieur Richard's pocket? It was not
the one which we gave you; the one which you took to Box 5 before our very eyes.
RICHARD: The one which contained the twenty thousand francs!
GIRY: I beg your pardon. The envelope which Monsieur Richard gave me was the one which I slipped into Monsieur Richard's
pocket. The one which I took to the ghost's box was another envelope, just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and
which I hid up my sleeve.
MONCHARMIN: How simple!
RICHARD: But when did you slip the envelope into my pocket?
GIRY: On the marble staircase. There were lots of people about, and I went behind you and slipped the envelope into the tail-pocket
of your dress coat.
RICHARD: Yes! I remember now! I felt you pass behind me. You seemed to push against me. You were on your way to box 5,
where you left the other envelope.
GIRY: Yes, sir. That pocket of yours is very handy!
RICHARD: And the ghost could easily come and take it in the crush, as I didn't even know it was there! Wonderful!
MONCHARMIN: Oh. wonderful, no doubt! Only you forget, Richard, that I provided ten thousand francs of the twenty and that
nobody put anything in my pocket!
RICHARD: Do you dare to suspect me?
MONCHARMIN: Yes. Of a silly joke.
RICHARD: One doesn't joke with twenty thousand francs.
MONCHARMIN: That's what I think.
RICHARD: And I think, as you didn't leave me the whole time, if the twenty thousand francs is no longer in my pocket, it stands
a very good chance of being in yours!
MONCHARMIN: Oh, so you suspect me now, do you?
GIRY: Gentlemen, gentlemen, I tell you it is the ghost!
RICHARD: The ghost!
(A dock strikes twelve. A loud scream is heard, and MEG GIRY and JAMMES come running in, terrified. Enter RAOUL and
CARLOTTA.)
JAMMES: The ghost! It's the Opera ghost!
MEG: He's coming this way!
JAMMES: The ghost!
(Cries of "The ghost!" and "The Opera ghost!" are taken up by everyone. There are flashing lights, an explosion and a
cloud of smoke from which the PHANTOM emerges, dressed all in scarlet, with a huge hat and feathers above a death's
head mask. He stands in a brilliant white spotlight as the rest of the stage is bathed in scarlet light. Silence, as everyone falls back.)
RICHARD: Who are you? What do you want?
PHANTOM: I present to you your new prima donna: Christine Daae!
(Enter CHRISTINE, all in white. The red light slowly fades.)
CARLOTTA: Never, while Carlotta still breathes!
PHANTOM: Madam, for all I know you may have many admirable talents, but you sing like a cockroach and you ought never
to have been allowed to leave the Café Jaquin!
CARLOTTA: Oh!
PHANTOM: Whereas the genius of Christine Daaé is certain!
CARLOTTA: I told you, did I not? It is a plot of this wretched Daaé girl!
PHANTOM: The plot is yours! You have jealously prevented her from singing any important part since her triumph as Margarita.
From tomorrow night, she shall be the prima donna of the Opera, and astound all Paris with her genius!
CARLOTTA: Never!
PHANTOM: You, madam, will sing the minor roles which are so admirably suited to your mediocre talents!
CARLOTTA: I would rather die!
PHANTOM: That is your choice, madame. Remember Joseph Buquet!
RICHARD: (Stepping forward, he reaches out to remove the PHANTOM'S mask.) Who are you?
PHANTOM: (Knocking RICHARD to the ground and pinning him there with his skull-topped staff.) Touch me not! I am the
Red Death stalking abroad!
(Christine goes to RAOUL and touches his arm.)
CHRISTINE: Raoul, is that you?
RAOUL: Christine! Who is that man?
CHRISTINE: Hush. Wait.
PHANTOM: Now return to your dancing. But remember that you dance upon the skulls of the dead! Beneath your feet
is that immense crypt where unnumbered corpses lie in eternal darkness, poor wretches who were massacred under the
Commune; and one day each of you will join them! I am the Red Death stalking abroad! Let none touch me lest he die!
(He sweeps out, brushing past CARLOTTA as he does so. She faints. The others gather round her.)
RICHARD: Signora Carlotta!
JAMMES: She's dead! Oh, she's dead! The ghost has killed her!
RICHARD: Be quiet, child. She is not dead. She has fainted. Here, help me take her to her dressing room.
(The others help carry CARLOTTA off, leaving RAOUL and CHRISTINE, with the PERSIAN watching them from the shadows.)
RAOUL: (Making to follow the PHANTOM.) This time he shall not escape me!
CHRISTINE: Who shall not escape you?
RAOUL: Why, the man who hides behind that hideous mask of death! The evil genius who carried you off! Red Death! In a word,
your friend ... your Angel of Music! But I shall snatch off his mask, and we shall look each other in the face, he and I, with no
veil and no lies between us; and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!
CHRISTINE: (Placing herself in his path.) In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass!
RAOUL: What did you say?
CHRISTINE: You shall not pass.
RAOUL: In the name of our love! You said, "In the name of our love!" Oh, Christine! (He takes her hands and kisses them.)
Never before have you confessed that you love me. (He sees the ring on her finger.) Your only object is to gain time for the Red
Death to escape!
CHRISTINE: No, Raoul! I do love you!
RAOUL: You say you love me, yet you wear another man's ring on your finger. This ring can only have been given to you by one
who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive me further? Why torture me so? This ring is a promise; and that promise has been
accepted!
CHRISTINE: Oh, Raoul, you must not be jealous of him!
RAOUL: I am jealous! I am jealous!
(The PERSIAN comes forward suddenly.)
PERSIAN: Quick, hide yourselves! Here!
(He hurries them into a concealed corner as the PHANTOM enters.)
PHANTOM: So, daroga, you have seen me keep my word. Christine Daaé is free to come and go as she pleases.
Tomorrow night she will sing for me in "Faust", and then she will return to my house by the underground lake - of her own free will.
PERSIAN: We shall see.
PHANTOM: She has given me her word; "I will come back." (Exit.)
PERSIAN: He has gone. Now, go away quickly! (Exit.)
RAOUL: Who is he!
CHRISTINE: It's the Persian.
RAOUL: What's he doing here?
CHRISTINE: I don't know. He is always in the Opera. Now you must go quickly.
RAOUL: You want me to run away, for the first time in my life.
CHRISTINE: Raoul, you must go!
RAOUL: First I will unmask the Red Death!
CHRISTINE: No, Raoul!
RAOUL: Are you afraid of him?
CHRISTINE: No, no, of course not. But he must not hear us.
(The PHANTOM appears above them and listens.)
RAOUL: I will remove you from his power, Christine, I swear it. And you shall not think of him any more.
CHRISTINE: Is it possible?
RAOUL: I shall hide you in some unknown corner of the world, where he cannot come to look for you. We shall go farther and
faster than the clouds, to the end of the world; and you will be safe.
CHRISTINE: I don't know, Raoul. He is a demon! I am afraid of what he might do if I do not return to him.
RAOUL: What compels you to go back, Christine?
CHRISTINE: If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen! But I can't do it, I can't do it! I ought to be sorry for him,
but he is too horrible! If I do not go, he will come and drag me back with him underground and go on his knees before me, with
his monstrous face, and he will tell me that he loves me, and he will cry! Oh, those tears, Raoul, those tears! I cannot see those
tears flow again!
RAOUL: No, you shall never hear him tell you that he loves you! You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly at once!
CHRISTINE: No, no. Not now! It would be too cruel. Let him hear me sing tomorrow evening, and then we will go away.
You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room at midnight. He will be waiting for me by the underground lake. We shall
be free and you shall take me away. You must promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse. For I feel that, if I go back to him, I
shall never return. (She sighs. Her sigh is echoed by the PHANTOM.) Did you hear that?
RAOUL: No. I heard nothing.
CHRISTINE: Even when he is not there, my ears are full of his sighs. We must not arouse his suspicions.
RAOUL: Christine! Christine! We are wrong to wait till tomorrow evening. We ought to fly at once.
CHRISTINE: If he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will cause him infinite pain.
RAOUL: It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him for good.
CHRISTINE: You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight. But then it counts both ways, for we risk his killing us.
RAOUL: Does he love you very much?
CHRISTINE: He would commit murder for me.
RAOUL: How I hate him! And you, Christine, tell me, do you hate him too?
CHRISTINE: No.
RAOUL: No, of course not. Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, those are all just love ... and love of the most exquisite kind,
the kind which people do not admit even to themselves.
CHRISTINE: Do you want me to go back to him? Take care, Raoul; I might never return!
RAOUL: Then what feelings does he inspire in you, since you do not hate him?
CHRISTINE: Horror. That is the terrible thing about it. He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I hate him, Raoul?
Think of him at my feet, in the house by the lake, deep underground. For two whole weeks he accuses himself, he curses himself,
he implores my forgiveness! He confesses his cheat, he loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. And I lied to him.
My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them, but they were the price of my liberty. At last, after a fortnight in which
I was filled with pity, despair and horror by turns, he believed me when I said "I will come back!"
RAOUL: You tell me that you love me, but do you? If he were good-looking, would you love me, Christine?
CHRISTINE: Oh, Raoul, if I did not love you, I would not give you my lips. (She kisses him. The PHANTOM turns and disappears.)
RAOUL: If you have made up your mind to go, Christine, why wait for tomorrow? Wouldn't it be better to go at once?
CHRISTINE: No! Tomorrow!
RAOUL: Tomorrow you may have lost your resolve.
CHRISTINE: Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself. Do you understand?
RAOUL: Yes. I shall be here at twelve tomorrow night. I shall keep my promise, whatever happens.
CHRISTINE: (She kisses him again, then is about to go when she looks at her hand in horror.) Oh heaven! Have pity on me!
RAOUL: What is it?
CHRISTINE: The ring ... the gold ring he gave me ... the ring is gone!
RAOUL: It must be here somewhere. (They search for it in vain.)
CHRISTINE: It must have slipped from my finger and dropped down between the floorboards. We can never find it.
What misfortunes are in store for us now!
RAOUL: Let us run away at once.
CHRISTINE: (Hesitating.) Yes. No! That would be treachery. Too cruel. No!
Tomorrow, Raoul. Tomorrow!
(Exit.)
RAOUL: If I don't save her from the hands of that monster, she is lost. But I will save her! (Exit)
SCENE 5
The managers' office.
Enter RICHARD and MONCHARMIN.
RICHARD: Another splendid house!
MONCHARMIN: And Christine Daaé singing Margarita. You must admit she is much better than Carlotta.
RICHARD: No doubt of it.
(Enter JAMMES and MEG GIRY)
JAMMES and MEG: Monsieur Richard! Monsieur Moncharmin!
RICHARD: What is it?
MONCHARMIN: Why are you not on stage?
MEG: Christine Daae has disappeared!
MONCHARMIN: Disappeared? What do you mean?
JAMMES: Before our very eyes!
MEG: In the middle of the performance!
MONCHARMIN: What?
RICHARD: How?
MEG: Nobody can tell how!
JAMMES: The house was suddenly plunged into darkness!
MEG: It happened so quickly!
JAMMES: Then the gas lit the stage again, and Christine was no longer there!
RICHARD: So she ... so she disappeared in the middle of the performance?
MEG: Yes, she was carried off in the Prison Act.
(Enter RAOUL.)
JAMMES: At the moment when she was invoking the aid of the angels.
MEG: But I doubt if she was carried off by an angel!
RAOUL: I am sure that she was!
MONCHARMIN: Sure of what?
RAOUL: That Christine Daae was carried off by an angel.
RICHARD: Aha! Monsieur le Vicomte de Chagny! So you think Christine Daaé was carried off by an angel, do you?
The angel of the Opera, no doubt?
RAOUL: Yes, monsieur: the Angel of Music!
RICHARD: The Angel of Music! Really! This is very curious! You hear that, Moncharmin? Do you know the Angel of Music?
RAOUL: You have both heard of the Opera ghost. Well, the Angel of Music is the same person.
JAMMES: The Opera ghost! I knew it was the ghost!
MEG: Hush! He might hear you!
RICHARD: That's enough, girls. Go back to your dressing room.
MEG and JAMMES: Yes, sir. (They curtsey and exeunt.)
RICHARD: And now, monsieur, I beg your pardon, but are you trying to make fun of us?
RAOUL: The Opera ghost and the Angel of Music are one and the same person.
MONCHARMIN: Do you know this person? Have you seen him?
RAOUL: Yes. And so have you.
RICHARD: Where?
RAOUL: Here at the Opera. He was the Red Death at the masked ball.
RICHARD: The Red Death? Nonsense! That was no ghost!
RAOUL: I beg you to believe me.
MONCHARMIN: You're mad!
RAOUL: I am not mad. The safety of the person dearest to me in the world is at stake!
RICHARD: Well, if you know so much about him, why don't you follow him?
RAOUL: I don't know the way. There is an underground passage which runs from Christine Daaé’s dressing room to
his house by the lake. But I don't know how to open the mirror.
MONCHARMIN: The mirror? What mirror? What are you talking about?
RAOUL: The mirror in Christine Daaé's dressing room is the entrance to the ghost's domain.
MONCHARMIN: Do you know anything about this, Richard?
RICHARD: I know there is a lake under the Opera, but I don't know how to get to it. I have never been there.
(Enter the PERSIAN.)
PERSIAN: The Phantom's secrets concern no one but himself.
RAOUL: It’s you!
RICHARD: The Persian!
PERSIAN: I was at the performance, and no one in the world but the Phantom could contrive an abduction like that.
Oh, I recognised the monster's touch! He is still the prince of conjurers.
RAOUL: You know him then?
RICHARD: Is he a friend of yours, this Phantom?
PERSIAN: He was. Once.
MONCHARMIN: Where is he?
PERSIAN: He may be here, in the walls, in the floor, in the ceiling!
RICHARD: You are mad!
PERSIAN: Or he may be with his victim in the house by the lake.
RAOUL: Sir, I do not know what your intentions are, but can you do anything to help me - to help Christine Daaé?
PERSIAN: I think so, Monsieur de Chagny.
RAOUL: What? What can you do?
PERSIAN: Take you to her ... and to him.
RAOUL: If you can do me that service, sir, my life is yours! I place myself entirely in your hands! Oh, let us be quick!
PERSIAN: Come.
(Exeunt the PERSIAN and RAOUL.)
RICHARD: They're both quite mad!
MONCHARMIN: Do you think the Vicomte de Chagny could have arranged the whole thing himself? He has always been
most interested in Christine Daaé.
RICHARD: That's easily settled.
MONCHARMIN: How?
RICHARD: We shall follow them.
MONCHARMIN: But ... it might be dangerous. Suppose this Angel, this Phantom, this person, really does exist?
RICHARD: We shall be prepared! (He takes a pistol from the drawer of the desk, and checks it.) Come along.
MONCHARMIN: (Following reluctantly.)Are you quite sure about this, Richard?
(Exeunt.)
SCENE 6
Christine Daaé's dressing room.
Enter the PERSIAN and RAOUL.
RAOUL: How well you know the Opera, sir.
PERSIAN: Not so well as he does! (He begins to feel round the frame of the mirror.) We shall be two to one, but
you must be prepared for anything, for we shall be fighting the most terrible adversary that you can imagine. But you
love Christine Daaé, do you not?
RAOUL: I worship the ground she walks on! But you, sir, tell me why you are ready to risk your life for her.
You must certainly hate this monster!
PERSIAN: No, I do not hate him. If I hated him, he would long ago have ceased to do harm.
RAOUL: Has he done you harm?
PERSIAN: I have forgiven him for that.
RAOUL: I do not understand you. You treat him as a monster, you speak of his crimes, he has done you harm, and
yet I find in you the same inexplicable pity that drove me to despair when I saw it in Christine.
PERSIAN: (Finding the catch on the mirror's frame.) Ah! I have it!
RAOUL: You know the secret of the mirror?
PERSIAN: Yes. In half a minute we shall be on his trail.
RAOUL: It's not moving!
PERSIAN: Wait. You have time enough to be impatient, sir! The mechanism has become rusty, or else the spring isn't working....
Unless it is something else.
RAOUL: What?
PERSIAN: He may simply have cut the cord of the counter-balance and blocked the whole apparatus.
RAOUL: Why should he? He does not know that we are coming this way.
PERSIAN: I daresay he suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system.
RAOUL: It's not moving! And Christine, sir, Christine?
PERSIAN: We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do! But he may stop us at the first step! He commands the walls,
the doors and the trap-doors.
RAOUL: But why do these walls obey him alone? He did not build them!
PERSIAN: Yes, sir, that is just what he did do! He was one of the chief contractors under Philippe Garnier, the architect of the
Opera. But look! (The mirror slowly opens.) Hold your hand up before your face, as if ready to fire a pistol. Follow me
and do all that I do.
(The go through the mirror. Enter RICHARD and MONCHARMIN. They see the opened mirror.)
RICHARD: Look there!
MONCHARMIN: The mirror! So it is true!
RICHARD: Follow me. We mustn't lose them!
(He goes through the mirror, holding his pistol at the ready.)
MONCHARMIN: (Following reluctantly.) But it might be dangerous. I'm not at all happy about this, Richard!
(Exit.)
SCENE 7
The Phantom's lair and the chamber adjoining.
Enter the PHANTOM, dragging in CHRISTINE.
PHANTOM: You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!
CHRISTINE: No!
PHANTOM: The requiem mass is not at all cheerful, whereas the wedding mass - you can take my word for it - is magnificent!
CHRISTINE: Why are you doing this? What do you want?
PHANTOM: I can't go on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! I want to walk in the sunshine like everybody else and feel the
gentle breeze on my face. I want to look like everybody else and not have people turn round and stare at me. I want a wife like
everybody else. Marry me, Christine! You will be the happiest of women and we will sing for each other in our own world of delight.
CHRISTINE: I cannot! (She sobs.)
PHANTOM: You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to
be loved for myself. If you loved me, I should be as gentle as a lamb, and you could do anything with me that you pleased.
CHRISTINE: I cannot love you! Please! Let me go!
PHANTOM: You cannot love me! You cannot love me! You cannot love me!
(CHRISTINE continues sobbing.)
PHANTOM: Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!
CHRISTINE: Then why do you torment me so?
PHANTOM: Where is the ring I gave you?
CHRISTINE: I ... I don't know.
PHANTOM: I warned you that you would only be safe while you wore it. Now, if you do not consent to become my wife I will kill
everybody, and myself with them! I will give you till midnight for reflection. It is your last respite. You must choose between the
wedding mass and the requiem. Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead and buried! (Exit.)
(Enter the PERSIAN and RAOUL into the adjoining room.)
PERSIAN: Here, this way! Your hand up at the level of your eye, as though you were fighting a duel! It is a matter of life and death.
RAOUL: Are we far from the lake? We have dropped down so far. I do not know how we shall ever climb up that last wall again.
PERSIAN: If I am not mistaken, this is the house by the lake. We have dropped into the torture chamber!
RAOUL: The torture chamber?
PERSIAN: Yes. He constructed such a chamber in the palace at Mazenderan, where the Shah's little daughter used to amuse
herself by inflicting terrible suffering on some unoffending citizen.
RAOUL: Can we not return the way we came?
PERSIAN: No. The door closed itself after we entered. The only release from the torture chamber is death!
RAOUL: Then we will call out! Christine will hear us! And he will hear us too! You know him. We can talk to him.
PERSIAN: You do not know him, sir. He would kill us both.
(CHRISTINE is now sobbing loudly.)
RAOUL: Christine! Christine!
PERSIAN: Be silent! She may not be alone!
CHRISTINE: I am dreaming!
RAOUL: Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul! But answer me, Christine! In heaven's name, if you are alone, answer me!
CHRISTINE: Raoul?
RAOUL: Yes! It is not a dream! Christine, trust me! We are here to save you, but be careful! When you hear the phantom, warn us!
PERSIAN: Can you tell us where he is?
CHRISTINE: He must have left the house.
PERSIAN: Can you make sure?
CHRISTINE: No. He has locked me in. I have until midnight to agree to marry him, or he says he will destroy himself and everyone
else! But where are you?
RAOUL: In the torture chamber!
PERSIAN: We cannot see the door. Do you know where it is?
CHRISTINE: Yes. It is here. (She goes to the door.) But he has forbidden me ever to go through it.
PERSIAN: Is it locked?
CHRISTINE: Yes. He keeps the key in a leather bag which he calls the bag of life and death. Raoul! Raoul! Fly! Go back the
way you came.
RAOUL: Christine, we will go from here together or die together!
PERSIAN: Mademoiselle, you have only to play the necessary part, and you can save us all. Remember that he loves you.
CHRISTINE: Alas! Am I likely to forget it?
PERSIAN: Remember it and smile on him.
CHRISTINE: Hush! I hear something! It is he! Hush!
(Enter the PHANTOM.)
PHANTOM: Why did you cry out, Christine?
CHRISTINE: Because you frightened me. Listen to me. As it is settled that we are to live together, will you show me the room
behind this door?
PHANTOM: Why?
CHRISTINE: Woman's curiosity.
PHANTOM: I don't like curious women. Remember the story of Bluebeard.... You're trembling.... You're lying! There is someone
in the torture-chamber! Ah, I understand now.
CHRISTINE: There is no one there!
PHANTOM: I understand.
CHRISTINE: No one!
PHANTOM: The man you want to marry, perhaps?
CHRISTINE: I don't want to marry anybody. You know I don't.
PHANTOM: Well, we can soon find out. Look here. There is a little window in the door. We have only to open the shutter and
put on the light in there.
CHRISTINE: No! I don't care about that room now. You're always frightening me with your torture-chamber, and so I became
inquisitive. But I don't care about it now. Not a bit!
(The PHANTOM presses a switch and the torture-chamber is flooded with hot, brilliant light.)
PHANTOM: Go and look through the little window, Christine. Tell me what you see in the torture chamber.
CHRISTINE: What do you mean by a torture-chamber? Who is being tortured? Say that you are only trying to frighten me.
PHANTOM: You won't look? Then I will look myself, dear.
CHRISTINE: Oh, very well, I will look.
PHANTOM: Oh, my darling, how sweet of you. Tell me what he looks like.
CHRISTINE: (Looking through the window.) There is no one there.
PHANTOM: No one. Are you sure?
CHRISTINE: Why of course not. No one!
PHANTOM: Well, that's all right. What's the matter, Christine? You're not going to faint, are you? After all, there is no one there.
CHRISTINE: What a fright you gave me! There are no tortures in there. Did you design that room? You're a great artist.
PHANTOM: Yes. In my own way. I never do anything like other people. But I have come to loathe the life I lead in shadowed
corridors and gloomy cellars. I want to live in the light like other men. I want to know the joy of love. Are you listening to me, Christine?
CHRISTINE: Yes, yes.
PHANTOM: Tell me you love me. (CHRISTINE remains silent.) No, you don't love me. But no matter, you will!
CHRISTINE: You tire me with your talking. Isn't it very hot in here?
PHANTOM: Oh, yes, the heat is unendurable.
CHRISTINE: But what does it mean? The door is hot! It is burning!
RAOUL: Christine! I am stifling. The heat! The infernal heat! We shall be roasted alive!
CHRISTINE: No!
PERSIAN: Wretch! It is I! Do you know me?
PHANTOM: Not a word, daroga, or I shall blow everything up. There is enough gunpowder under our feet to blow up this whole
section of Paris. Now, Christine, the honour rests with you. Say no to me and we shall all be blown up. Say yes, and you give
them their lives, and we will be married.
CHRISTINE: Do you swear to me - do you swear to me that you will spare their lives?
PHANTOM: Yes.
CHRISTINE: Then I say yes.
RAOUL: Christine! No!
PHANTOM: You swear that you will marry me?
CHRISTINE: Yes. I swear, as I hope to be saved, that I will be your wife.
RAOUL: No!
PHANTOM: You will not try to kill yourself?
CHRISTINE: I will be your living wife.
PHANTOM: Then it is a bargain. (He approaches CHRISTINE. She lovers her head and he kisses her on the forehead.
She does not flinch.) You do not turn away! Oh, how good it' is, to kiss someone! My mother, Christine, my poor, unhappy
mother would never let me kiss her. She used to turn away and throw me my mask! Nor any other woman, ever, ever!
My happiness is so great.... (He drops to his knees, sobbing. CHRISTINE is also in tears.) You're crying. Your tears mingle
with mine. You do not run away. You do not die!
CHRISTINE: (Taking his hand.) Poor, unhappy creature.
PHANTOM: (Taking a ring from his finger.) Here is the ring I gave you and you lost. Take it. Take it for you ... and him!
It shall be my wedding gift. A gift from your poor, unhappy Angel of Music. I know you love the boy. Don't cry any more.
CHRISTINE: What do you mean?
PHANTOM: Where you are concerned I am only a poor dog, ready to die for you. You must marry the young man when you please, because you have cried with me and mingled your tears with mine.
(The PHANTOM switches off the burning light and unlocks the door to the torture-chamber, releasing RAOUL and the PERSIAN. The PHANTOM leads RAOUL to CHRISTINE.)
PHANTOM: You must kiss her.
RAOUL: Christine! (He kisses her.)
PHANTOM: Go now! And be happy together.
(Enter RICHARD and MONCHARMIN through the torture chamber.)
MONCHARMIN: There he is! (The PHANTOM turns to face them with a great roar.)Shoot! Shoot him!
(RICHARD fires his pistol at the PHANTOM, who falls to the. ground.)
CHRISTINE: No! Oh, no! My poor Angel! (She kneels beside him and cradles him in her arms.)
PHANTOM: It is the end, Christine.
CHRISTINE: My poor, unhappy, tortured Angel!
PHANTOM: You look so beautiful.
CHRISTINE: My Angel of Music. (She kisses him full on the lips.)
PHANTOM: I have all the happiness the world can offer! (He dies.)
CHRISTINE: May God show mercy on him.
RAOUL: You can say that, Christine, after all his crimes, after all he has done to you?
CHRISTINE: He wanted only to be like everyone else. But he was too hideous. He had to hide his genius or use it to play tricks.
(The final music from Gounod's "Faust" - the chorus of angels - begins to swell up under her speech.) With an ordinary face
he would have been one of the most sublime of men. He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and in the end he
had to content himself with a cellar. Surely we may ask God to pity him! (The music swells to its climax.)
(CURTAIN)
