The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Gaston Leroux s novel The Phantom of the Opera first published in 1910 remained a perennial favorite throughout the twentieth century and into the millenium It was adapted to several popular motion pictures and into one of the most successful stage musicals of all time Its main character Erik is a romantic figure and sensitive soul whose appeal reaches across different cultures and times He is an accomplished composer and musician whose great unfinished work Don Juan Triumphant is described as breathtakingly beautiful by the one person he allows to hear it Erik is an object of pity whose face has been disfigured from birth causing him to hide behind a silk mask and he is hopelessly in love with a young woman He can never seriously hope she will love him back In 1910 the mystery novelist Gaston Leroux working from scraps of history theatrical lore and his own fertile imagination created a masterpiece in Le fantome de l opera the story of a disfigured composer who lives in the labyrinthine depths of the Paris Opera After the breathtaking debut of Christine Daae the whispers of an Opera ghost seem to become reality as the young singer vanishes As the Phantom strikes again and again targeting foes from a jealous diva to a romantic rival Leroux spins a thriller of obsession and violence with at its center a tormented murderer who awakens our deepest fears and sympathies The inspiration for Andrew Lloyd Webber s long running musical Leroux s novel is still more riveting than anything Broadway could produce Sightings of a ghostly figure in the Paris opera house lead to a discovery of a disfigured genius who secretly lives among its passageways