Trivia / The Phantom of the Opera

• Adaptation Overdosed: One of the most adapted literary works of all time.
• Cash-Cow Franchise: The London and New York productions have twice out-grossed all of the Transformers Film Series combined, with London's up and running since 1986 and New York's running from 1988-2023, breaking the record for longest-running musical there. Tours and foreign productions are similarly popular, and a lot of merchandise follows in their wake. In Vegas, there was a special condensed 95-minute version that retained most of the songs.
• Casting Gag:
  • In the Parisian French dub, Raoul and Christine were played by Damien Sargue and Cécilia Cara. Three years prior, they had originated the leading roles in Romeo et Juliette: De La Haine a l'Amour . Given what happened between Christine and Meg later, the casting of Rachel Pignot as Meg is even funnier. Pignot auditioned for Juliette but lost the part to Cara, and was called back to play Lady Capulet and the Nurse.
  • The German voice of the Phantom is Uwe Kröger, whose claim to fame was playing Death in the musical Elisabeth. Christine's "Think Of Me" costume is a Whole Costume Reference to the portrait of the titular Empress Elisabeth of Austria, which is recreated in Elisabeth in the act 1 finale. Death is another handsome figure dressed in black with a borderline Compelling Voice who relentlessly follows Elisabeth throughout her life, intent on winning her love, and has a hand in the death of at least one or two of her children. In that finale, Death sings to Elisabeth from within a portrait frame (a recreation of the Winterhalter painting), and later productions change the frame into a mirror, making it a Mobius strip shoutout.
• Creator Couple: Sarah Brightman and Andrew Lloyd Webber were married when The Phantom of the Opera premiered in London. They eventually divorced four years later.
• Cut Song: "Magical Lasso" in the Las Vegas Re-Cut, though, since its melody reappears elsewhere in many other songs, it's not surprising that the advertising claimed that all the songs appeared.
• Dawson Casting: While most actresses to play Christine in the stage show are in their early twenties, a handful have been in their thirties or even nearing forty. The book establishes that both Christine and Raoul are in their early twenties.
• Easter Egg: During the Sydmonton workshop, one of the opera pastiches was called "Don Nero," a wink at frequent Andrew Lloyd Webber lyricist Don Black.
• Fake Nationality: Everyone in nearly every single production, given that the story is set in Paris, and Christine is Swedish (though this has of course been averted in the Swedish production), while Carlotta and Piangi are Italian.
• Filmed Stage Production: The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall cut together footage of the October 1, 2011 evening performance and the October 2, 2011 matinee and evening performances of the Royal Albert Hall concert staging to mark the 25th anniversary of the original stage musical. It starred Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Christine (who had originated the roles of their older counterparts in the infamous 2010 sequel, Love Never Dies), Hadley Fraser as Raoul, Wendy Ferguson as Carlotta, Barry James as Firmin, Gareth Snook as André, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry, Daisy Maywood as Meg Giry, and Wynne Evans as Piangi.
• Hostility on the Set: In October 2021, actress Rebecca Caine revealed on her Instagram page that Colm Wilkinson had been very abusive to her during their time working together in the Toronto production, to the point that he was genuinely roughing her up during the final sequence. Her complaints were ignored and she was fired after a final incident in which she sustained an injury.
• Life Imitates Art:
  Lindsay Ellis: Once upon a time there was this brilliant composer — not the best-looking guy. And one day this beautiful, young, chestnut-haired, singing-and-dancing ingénue floats into his life, and he falls in love with her. And he decides, "I'm gonna take you under my wing, and tutor you, and compose this incredible masterwork for you to star in." And she was enthralled at first, but then in the end it didn't work out too well. I'm talking of course about the tragic, torrid tale... of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: To celebrate its 25th anniversary, a box set including a recording of the original London cast, one of the sequel Love Never Dies, and a behind-the-scenes DVD was released.
• The Other Marty: Steve Harley (see What Could Have Been below).
• Playing Against Type:
  • Michael Crawford was a well-established light comedy/musical actor in the U.K. when he originated the role of the Phantom in the original London staging. Even he was surprised at the casting. He has been quoted saying that when Andrew Lloyd Webber told him he wanted him for Phantom, he thought he meant for the part of Raoul.
  • A similar thing occurred with Peter Jöback, who took on the role in London in 2012 (and later played it on Broadway and in his native Sweden). Jöback had previously originated the roles of Robert in Kristina from Duvemåla and Michael in The Witches of Eastwick, played roles such as Chris in Miss Saigon, and provided the Swedish voice of Aladdin (opposite, coincidentally, the original Swedish Phantom, Mikael Samuelsson, as Jafar). Jöback sought the role of the Phantom but due to his voice (he's a tenor, like Crawford), previous credits and somewhat boyish looks was offered Raoul instead. He declined, feeling he had played that kind of part enough times and wanted to do something new. Andrew Lloyd Webber then contacted him and offered him Phantom.
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Derrick Davis was only 11 when his parents took him to see the show after much begging on his part. He wrote a letter to then-star Davis Gaines and received an autographed picture—which he carried with him while on tour as the third African-American Phantom.
    "After seeing the show 14 times between then and now, it's definitely a dream come true."
  • Ramin Karimloo wanted to be the Phantom since he was 12, and got the role in the West End production and the 25th Anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall. He also played Raoul in the West End production from 2003 to 2004, and made a cameo as Christine's father in the 2004 film.
  • This was the first Broadway show that Emilie Koautchou saw while on a class trip. As of 2021, she became the production's first black Christine, first as the alternate, then as the main one as of January 26, 2022 until it closed in April 2023
  • John Riddle first saw the show at age 4, when his father took the family to the Toronto production. After it was finished, he turned to him and declared, "I'm going to do this someday." 30 years later, he played the part of Raoul in the Broadway production and was in fact the final actor to play Raoul when the show closed.
• Saved from Development Hell: The film version of the musical was announced in 1989 but didn't start production until 2002, and wasn't released until 2004.
• Stunt Casting: Averted in most cases, as the show never depended on big name stars, with a handful of exceptions:
  • Paul Stanley of KISS fame being cast as The Phantom in Toronto.
  • The Swedish 2016 revival, which more or less happened because Peter Jöback is a big star in Sweden, and him playing the role in London and New York brought enough interest in the show to bring it back (shows generally don't play for more than a few years in Sweden due to the population size).
  • Michael Crawford returning to the role on Broadway for a brief time.
  • Norm Lewis' casting was inadvertently this, as while it was likely not deliberately done to generate publicity, it happened anyway, what with him being only the second African-American—and Broadway's first—to play the role.^note The first African-American Phantom had been Robert Guillaume in the Los Angeles production
    • Race aside, he was already a well known Broadway star to begin with, which as noted above, the show generally did not do.
• Throw It In!:
  • At the end of the show, as Christine leaves the Phantom, he picks up her discarded wedding veil and cradles it as he weeps her name. This was never in the original script and was ad-libbed by Michael Crawford at some point in the show's original run.
  • Earlier in the show, when Christine faints at the end of "The Music of the Night", the Phantom kneels beside her and takes her hand as he sings the final lyrics. This too was not part of the original script and was improvised by a Phantom during a production in San Francisco. When word spread about how well this gesture was received by the audience, it quickly became part of the standard Phantom performance.
  • Originally Christine only kissed the Phantom once and then just hugged him, but during one performance Michael Crawford's makeup got stuck to Sarah Brightman's lips and came away with her! She had to lean in again for another kiss so he could quickly reattach it. Again, the second kiss was added to the blocking and has stayed there ever since.
  • An inverted example: In the original London production, the Phantom catches Christine as she faints and carries her to the bed (see the Music Video that was made for "The Music of the Night"). This was initially done in the Broadway version, but when an actor injured his back during the stunt, the actors' union forbade it. Ever since then, London is the only venue where the Phantom carries Christine. In every other location, she faints and falls to the floor—from this minor detail alone (foreign languages aside) you can determine if a YouTube clip of this scene is of a London edition or elsewhere.
    • However, as of late they seem to be bringing it back into the Broadway version; starting with Norm Lewis, the Phantom finally catches Christine again.
  • When the Phantom takes off his cloak and fedora during the title song, he smooths his hair down. Once again, it came about because of Michael Crawford. During the first rehearsals his wig was less slick than it became later on in production, it got mussed up, and he smoothed it down while staying in character. Gillian Lynne, the original choreographer, noted how sensual the pose was and encouraged Crawford to do it again.
• Troubled Production: The show underwent much upheaval during its development and preview days — numerous cast changes, backstage bickering over such changes, props and equipment frequently breaking down, and massive overhauling of nearly all the lyrics. Then, just as the show finally debuted, both of its lead actors took ill (Michael Crawford suffered a hiatal hernia owing to the demanding score, and Steve Barton — cast as Raoul — suffered a fall after he replaced him as the Phantom) and then the understudies were knocked out of commission as well.
  • There was also considerable trouble in importing the show to New York. A Broadway transfer was announced for late 1987, and the Shubert Organization began sinking a reported $500K into renovating their Majestic Theatre for the show. But producers got into a bit of a public war with Actors Equity Association, which wouldn't allow Lloyd Webber to bring Sarah Brightman with the production (Crawford was approved on grounds he was an international star.) The music man insisted on Brightman's casting and the union was told that he had auditioned 92 American actresses and found none that could sing the soprano role and dance on pointe. During months of negotiations, Lloyd Webber threatened to pull the production and rumors floated that he was entertaining an offer from Steven Spielberg, his neighbor at Trump Tower, to make a Hollywood movie instead. Ultimately, a deal was struck, allowing Brightman a six-month run in exchange for Lloyd Webber agreeing to put an American in his next West End musical (he wound up casting two—Ann Crumb and Kathleen Rowe McAllen—in 1989's Aspects of Love.)
  • Sluggish ticket sales coupled with rising production costs (roughly $1million/week) following the reopening after the pandemic-forced shutdown resulted in the producers making the sad decision to close the Broadway version of the show on April 16, 2023, shortly after it marked its 35th anniversary.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There were plans for a live-action film of the musical in 1990, to star Crawford and Brightman in their roles from the musical. The original script was being written before Brightman's divorce from Webber, and the project was left in Development Hell for some time before becoming the 2004 film.
  • "The Music Of The Night" ends on what many fans feel is an ambiguous note—the lights go out, raising the question of whether or not Christine and the Phantom had sex—or more accurately, given her unconscious/entranced state, he raped her. The original draft of the movie settles the question by actually having the Phantom get into bed with the unconscious Christine and for the scene to fade out as he drew the curtain around them, leaving little doubt as to his intentions. This was changed to as unclear as it is in the show—are her missing stockings a Series Continuity Error or something more?—as it would have been hard to continue presenting him as a romantic hero after such a blatant violation (or it would have been too obvious, even to the most naive viewer).
  • In the musical's first preview performance in 1985, Christine was given an Adaptational Name Change and called "Kristin," presumably to better reflect her Swedish heritage. But by the time of the West End premiere, her name was restored to its French form from the novel. This explains why the musical score tends to emphasize her name's first syllable.
  • On the casting of the musical side of things, Steve Harley, a UK singer trying to make a comeback, was actually cast to star as the Phantom and went as far as recording the first single of the titular "Phantom of the Opera" song, but was sacked just before rehearsals began and replaced with Michael Crawford. Needless to say, the comeback never happened.
  • In the late 1990s, Antonio Banderas was being considered for the role of the Phantom in the film adaptation, perhaps alongside Kate Winslet as Christine.
  • Back in the late '80s, Michael Jackson thought he should play the Phantom in the movie!
  • Alan Jay Lerner, one of the most renowned librettists of all time and co-writer of shows like My Fair Lady, was going to write the words for Phantom but died when he had only just started.
  • Why is the Phantom's mask on the poster different from the one seen in the show? It's because that was the original mask design. However, it was soon realized that this 3/4 mask would not only impede the actor's singing ability, but also make it REALLY hard for the Phantom to emote for the cheap seats, so the mask was cut in half.
  • After the 1943 movie became a hit, Universal announced a sequel for 1944 called The Climax, which would've presumably resolved the minor Sequel Hook at the end of the original and feature the return of the Phantom. The Climax actually did come out in 1944 as promised, but all ties to Phantom were dropped, as Claude Rains was unavailable to return. It did use the same sets, though.
  • An entire Phantom of the Opera-themed casino resort named "Fantasy Hotel & Casino" was proposed for Las Vegas, visually based on the Paris Opera House and containing a supersized version of the Musical as well as a dark ride scored by Webber retelling the story from the Phantom's perspective with music-box like animatronics.
  • A French production of the show was set to open in fall of 2016, with Sierra Boggess as Christine and Garðar Thór Cortes as the Phantom. Unfortunately, a few weeks before previews would have begun, a fire damaged the theater. The premiere has been postponed ever since.

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