Saw The Phantom of the Opera play on Friday night, and I had a ?

[The Rock]

I saw it on Friday night here in Tampa, FL and it was fantastic! I was invited to go by a girl who is a friend (but not a girlfriend, lol...not yet at least), and I was really reluctant at first because I'm not really a big fan of plays and I hadn't been to one in like 13 years. Well, after the play was over, I was blown away by how great it was! Suffice to say, if you only see one Broadway production in your entire life, make sure you see The Phantom of the Opera if it ever travels to your town. You won't be sorry!

Anyway, a question popped up in my mind as I was watching it: Why is The Phantom of the Opera considered a horror story? How did the Phantom himself ever become a horror icon in the first place? I asked the girl I was with this and she thought it was because the Phantom's character is a ghost. So I asked her, "If he's a ghost, then why did he keep demanding to be paid money every month? What would a ghost need with money?" She just shrugged her shoulders and said that he was a very weird ghost or something. So I shrugged my shoulders too and accepted it.

When I got home I wiki'd Phantom of the Opera, and it said that the Phantom himself was in fact not a ghost, but just a regular man who was born disfigured (so now the whole thing about he wanting to be paid every month in the story makes sense).

So now that I know he was a regular dude and not a ghost, my original question still stands as to how the story is considered a horror story? I mean, he's just a really miserable guy who falls in love with a woman and becomes jealous of the man she wants to marry. It seems like just a tragic love story to me. Not a horror story at all. So at what point did the Phantom become a horror icon, is what I'm wondering.

 

[Hermiod]

Possibly it's just people who did not thoroughly understand it giving other people the wrong idea.

Perhaps the same way people think Frankenstein is the monster and not the scientist who created him.

 

[Cutter John]

I think he was really only considered a horror character in the movies. The original book was more of a mystery story. And well, you know about the play.

 

[Cali]

I'd have said that it's most a gothic tragedy-romance more than anything.

 

[ancientone51]

It's sort of the old monster under the bed type thing it got from the movies, especially the early scilent ones.

I agree, it is a tragic, gothic love story more than anything. I read a translation and must say...the origins of his deformities aren't as clear as the Wikki article makes them. All part of the romantic fill-in-the-blanks that lead to the horror aspect.

 

[Smiley]

The Phantom is a disfigured character who kills people in the course of the story. He also has a very famous mask and strange powers (or at least the illusion of them). He's got just as much to recommend him as a horror icon as Frankenstein's monster.

 

[Elmo Dukat]

The "horror" of PTO comes from the tragedy of the Phantom's twisted soul. He "kills without a thought, he murders all that's good" (Christine, second act). He seduces an innocent girl half his age by pretending to be alternately an Angel sent by her father, and her father himself. He cuts a chandelier, killing many innocent people, because they wouldn't heed his whims.

While it's true that it isn't Erik's fault that he is disfigured, and that the world has treated him poorly, the reason this is a horror story rather than a sympathetic gothic romantic tragedy is the difference between PTO and, say, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." The hunchback was similarly disfigured, but he did not kill indiscriminately in order to get revenge on those who mistreated him.

Of course, the hunchback had a few people in his life who treated him well, while Erik had none (even his own mother was horrified by his disfigurement, calling him a monster and forcing him to wear a mask).

And yes, I know a lot, lot, lot about PTO. I know the libretto by heart, have read the book, have seen most of the PTO movies, have read the later fiction based on the musical, novel, and movies. So I'd be happy to answer any more questions you might have...

 

[An Officer]

The Phantom is the last musical I saw, and it was so absolutely spectacular, I've been meaning to go back since... I agree completely that it is remarkable. If I had the spare cash, I would become one of those eternal fans who go to see it every week!

 

[Australis]

There's an old silent movie of the story, and when the monster is revelaed he is, by old standards, pretty horrible, and would have sent a thrill of terror down their spines. Mind you, I've seen worse on a Saturday night.

 

[Winged Victory]

The Phantom is the last musical I saw, and it was so absolutely spectacular, I've been meaning to go back since... I agree completely that it is remarkable. If I had the spare cash, I would become one of those eternal fans who go to see it every week!

Me too! I fell in love with the score when I was a teenager and finally got to see the musical when I traveled to London. What an experience. The show is making a stop here in Minneapolis next May and I can't wait to go!