The Phantom of the Opera, a haunting musical about a haunting man who haunts an opera house, is now playing at the Orpheum Theatre until October 4. To get you all ready and set to get musically tangled in Andrew Lloyd’s Webber, here are 5 Phantastic Phantom of the Opera Phacts.
1. The Phantom of the library
The Phantom of the Opera was originally published as a novel by Gaston Leroux in 1909. It was poorly received. In the novel, the Phantom has a name, “Erik” which is probably why no one liked the book. The name Erik is for hot blonde surfer guys who won’t go to prom with you, not terrifying ghosts.
2. It killed Cats
Phantom became the longest running show in Broadway history on January 6, 2006. Beating the record set by Cats. I guess their 9 lives were up (ba dum dum).
3. El fantasma de la opera
The show has been performed in 13 different languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Polish, Swedish, Castilian, Hungarian, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. A Klingon and Dothraki version are hopefully being translated as we speak.
4. 1/2 a mask + 1/2 pair of gloves = ????
Michael Jackson wanted to play the Phantom in the film version of the musical. He also wanted to buy the rights to a musical version of Harry Potter… there’s too many bad jokes about Michael Jackson ruining things to put here, and I can’t decide on just one, so let’s just move on…
5. THIS. IS. THE OPERAAAAAA!!!!
The 3 main stars of the movie version of “The Phantom of the Opera” went on to star in some sexy stuff. Patrick Wilson (Raoul) played a almost castrated pedophile in “Hard Candy,” opposite Ellen Page, as well as Lena Dunham’s older naked ping pong playing lover in “Girls.” Emmy Rossum (Christine), is currently the star of the Showtime favorite “Shameless” as Fiona Gallagher, the often topless and cursing matriarch of the Gallagher clan. Gerard Butler, the titular theater ghost, has been in a bunch of forgettable romantic comedies, but is best known for his role as the super sexual, super sweaty, super Spartan in “300,” a role that couldn’t be farther from his operatic beginnings.