Synopsis
Act I: It is late afternoon on the Avenue de l'Opera in Paris, somewhere around the turn. of the century. Christine Daee, a seller of songs, enters singing "Melodie de Paris". As she sings, she hands sheet music to people nearby. Among those her voice and beauty attract is the roguishly handsome Count de Chandon. He tells her that her voice may be lovely but, for opera, it will need training. He offers her his card. If she will show this card to Gerard Carriere, the Opera House manager, she will receive lessons. She stares at the card in amazement, then at the magnificent Opera House looming behind her. It's like a dream come true!
The set changes. The music darkens. Inside theh Opera House, Carlotta, an imperious diva, orders her costume man, Joseph Buquet, to go down below. The stage hands have told him he shouldn't go down there! She insists. Worried, he descends...
...To the depths of the Opera House and the Phantom's lair: we've just heard Christine singing "Paris is the sun," but, to the Phantom, "Paris is a Tomb." Suddenly, Joseph Buquet stumbles in. He sees the Phantom just as he's changing masks. The sight causes Buquet to scream out in horror. The Phantom draws his sword. Blackout.
Bright laughter draws us upwards. The opera company and various first-nighters are "Dressing for the Night." Their excitement is undercut by Gerard Carriere's startling announcement. He's just been fired as the opera manager. Carlotta and her husband, Alain Cholet, will now be in charge. A mysterious note flutters down. It's from the Phantom!
In the manager's office, Carriere explains that the Opera House is haunted by a ghost whose every rule must be obeyed or else. This ghost is called the Phantom of the Opera. But Cholet does not believe in ghosts. And leaves.
A mysterious voice summons Carriere through a secret panel. It leads to the Phantom's domain. here Carriere and the Phantom meet. It seems they know each other! The Phantom tells Carriere that Joseph Buquet is dead because he found out where theh Phantom lives and saw the Phantom's face. The despairing Phantom asks how Carriere could have let this happen. It's Carriere's job to keep people from coming down! Carriere tells him he's been replaced. To the Phantom, it's the worst possible news. Who will protect him now? But worse news is coming. He hears Carlotta vocalising. The woman has a terrible voice! He learns that she is now in charge, and will pick the opera season, and sing whenever she likes. He cannot allow it! Hearing this is a torment worse than any he's ever known. Carriere, unable to help, leaves. The Phantom, all alone, asks the heavens "Where In the World" is a voice that can truly sing. The Phantom needs beauty in order to exist.
Christine now enters the Opera House looking for Gerard Carriere. Jean-Claude, the stage door man, tells her that Carriere has just been fired. Her dreams seem dashed. Jean-Claude takes pity on her. Maybe the new manager will help, and he leads her off.
In the manager's suite, some of the opera staff try to show Carlotta what they have planned for the new season. "What you have planned?" Offended, she chases them out and looks around gloatingly. "This Place Is Mine!" It's what she's always wanted. Cholet brings Christine to meet his wife. Carlotta is aghast: "Singing lessons? This girl can't sing! Look what she's wearing!" But when the diva hears Christine's benefactor is the opera's leading patron she changes her mind, tells Christine the only way to learn to sing is to observe singers and puts her in the costume department. "She's just replaced Joseph Buquet, who seems to have disappeared!" says Carlotta.
It's not quite what Christine had in mind, but she's thrilled anyway. Just to be in the Opera House is enough! Left alone on the legendary stage to collect costumes, she looks out dreamily, clutching a costume. Somehow, it feels as if she's "Home."
Down below, the Phantom, filled with despair, hears her angelic voice. It's what he's been waiting for, maybe all his life. Nervously, heh goes up on stage and speaks to her from the shadows. He tells her not to be afraid. He has heard her sing and her voice is lilke an angel's. But...it needs trarining. He offers to t rain her; he says he is in fact a singer of some renown but has never given lessons before. If she accepts his tutelage, he will have to wear a mask so that he can remain anonymous. Otherwise, others might want lessons too. "The Music Lessons" commence immediately.
In between lessons, the Phantom sets out to destroy Carlotta's career. "The opera's been invaded by a Phantom!" shouts Cholet5, and "The Phantom Fugue" begins, as does a hunt (in vain) for the Phantom.
The lessons reach fruition. Christine isi ready to audition! The Phantom looks at Christine in awe and love. "You Are Music," he sings. And she sings the same to him.
Her audition will be no ordinary one; Carlotta would be too jealous for that. It will take place at the local bistro, where the company goes after the show. At the bistro everybody sings, and Christine's opportunity comes when the Count, who's been away, throws a huge party and invites her, of course. "Sing!" intone the waiters. Carlotta agrees to start the contest. "Paree Is A Lark" she sings (and none too well.) Then Christine takes a turn. "Christine's Obligato" wins everyone's applause, except, of course, Carlotta's. When Christine sings "As You Would Love Paree" the crowd goes wild. Cholet offers her a contract on the spot, and Carlotta begins her treachery. Christine must sing only leading roles, she proclaims. Christine is overwhelmed.
The count, no less overwhelmed, sweeps her off. "Who Could Ever Have Dreamed Up You?" is what the love-sick Count wants to know.
Within weeks it's Christine's debut. She's to sing the challenging role of Titania in _The Fairy Queen_. But Carlotta has other plans. Under the guise of friendship, she gives the nervous soprano a goblet filled with an odd-tasting potion. Christine's voice goes dry on her very first aria. The audience turns against her. The Phantom lelaps onto the stage and cuts a certain rope. The great chandelier falls, plunging the Opera House into darkness and chaos. The Phantom finds Christine, who has fainted, and takes her into his arms. Having rescued the voice of his dreams, he carries her down to his subterranean lair as the curtain to Act I falls.
Act II
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