In 1986, the musical The Phantom of the Opera hit the stage in London, and then in 1988, it came to Broadway.

It closed on Broadway in 2023. It had played at the Majestic Theater for 35 years, and the historic run ended with 13,981 performances.

It was and remains the longest running show in Broadway history. In 2004, almost exactly halfway through its historic run, Joel Schumacher and the

musical's creator, Andrew Lloyd Weber, adapted the Phantom of the Opera into a film starring

Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, and Patrick Wilson. It's apparently one of Hannah's all-time favorite movies, so we're talking

about it today. The Phantom of the Opera, The Musical, is based on a novel that, as

lore goes, Andrew Lloyd-Weber picked up randomly one day on Fifth Avenue and was inspired.

What you need to know about the movie adaptation of The Phantom is the following.

There is a framing device for the film.

It starts in 1919, filmed in old-timey black and white.

There's an auction being held at a destroyed opera house.

An old man in a wheelchair bids on a music box of a monkey playing the symbols. And we also see that

there's a chandelier that's in tatters, part of the destruction of the opera house, apparently.

Then we flash back to the main source of the movie.

It's 1870 in Paris, and we're in sumptuous color.

Christine, our main character, is a ballet dancer at the opera House, along with her friend Meg.

Christine is protected by Meg's mother, Madame Girie.

The Opera House has new owner.

I'm sure you've read of their recent fortune amassed in the junk business.

Scrap metal, actually.

And they have a token man to represent them well publicly, a viscount named Raoul.

My parents and I are honored to support all the arts, especially the world-renowned opera popular.

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