Who is Erik?
In 1911, 'Le Fantôme de l'Opéra' was published by a little known writer called Gaston Leroux.
This extraordinary story was about a lonely, disfigured man, who fell in love with a young opera singer. The man, Erik, feared that the opera singer, Christine Daaé, would never return his love because of his disfigured face, which he kept hidden by a mask. Through his love for Christine, he murdered those who stood in his way and held Christine prisoner in his lair, beneath the opera house in Paris. Christine, who was in love with her childhood sweetheart, Raoul le Vicomte de Chagny, was forced to choose between a grasshopper and a scorpion. Whichever one she chose would decide her fate.
Erik was a talented musician, scholar and architect, shunned by society for his abhorrent face. He was feared by those who lived and worked at the opera house and had never been loved, not even by his own mother.
@->-'-,-
In 1986, Andrew Lloyd Webber produced a musical called 'The Phantom Of The Opera', which was based on the Gaston Leroux novel.
Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the masterpiece which featured lyrics by Charles Hart and additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe.
This musical became one of the longest- running musicals of all time, and can still be seen in many different countries around the world. It first opened on October 9th at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's west end with a cast comprising of Michael Crawford as the Phantom (Erik), Sarah Brightman as Christine, and Steve Barton as Raoul.
Several songs from the musical - 'Music of the night' and 'All I ask of you' - were released as singles and became hugely successful.