PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Introduction
You must have seen or heard of dramas or plays on stage continuing for days or weeks encouraged by the repeated audience. But the astonishing fact is The Phantom of the Opera, a musical stage play is being enacted even today, every day continuously from the year 1986 in London on stage of Her Majesty's Theater - believe it.
This play has surpassed all earlier records and has been adjudged as the longest one ever played by the Guinness Book of World Records. The overwhelming response has made it possible and this play has spread to millions of people by sheer verbal advertisement by those who had the opportunity to watch it directly and through other media.
The Popularity of the Phantom of the Opera
A play named "Cat" by the same author of The Phantom of the Opera, namely Andrew Lloyd Webber was the earlier one winning the mass appeal similar to the present one in the Broadway stage. While comparatively other forms of entertainment, including cinema and television have overtaken the fancy of stage plays elsewhere, English people still adore the same as their premier entertainment.
Encouraged by the run-away success of Phantom of the Opera in England, other theatres in European countries competed with each other in enacting the translated version of this musical play, retaining the original structure and scenes without change. As many as 20 countries including U.S.A., Russia, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Japan and China to name a few, enacted this Phantom of the Opera in its original form for the amusement of their own people.
The stunning figure of financial success of it - the box office collection crossed US$ 3.3 billion and was surveyed to be the nation's best listening choice in radio by BBC.
Synopsis of the storyline
The story goes about a beautiful female singer of a musical play, getting possessed by a mysterious man. A genius of musical talent but with an ugly disfigured face from the birth is wearing a mask (Phantom) to disguise and acting as a mystified ghost to help the female singer in her stage endeavors. He falls in deep love with her and shows utmost possessiveness when the singer tries to elude him, as she originally likes another man.
The Phantom persists with his efforts and even shows her his real face and pleads for her affection towards him. After several twists and turns, finally the true love of the singer wins and Phantom bids farewell to the heroine with a very affectionate kiss and blessing her to join with her lover and disappears into oblivion.
The magnitude of success The Phantom of the Opera has gained in the entire world is simply phenomenal.
