Prologue
At the Paris Opera in 1911, an auction of old theatre show props is underway. Lot 665, purchased by the elderly Raol, Vicomte de Chagny Raoul, is an old music box in the shape of a monkey; he eyes it fondly, noting that all its details appear "exactly as she said." Lot 666 is a shattered chandelier that, the auctioneer mentions, has a connection to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera...a mystery that has never been fully explained." As the chandelier illuminates, reassembles itself, and slowly rises ito the air over the audience to its old position in the rafters, the years roll back and the theatre suddenly returns to its 1880s grandeur. ("Overture")
The plot of the show moves to 1881. As Carlotta, the Opéra's resident soprano prima donna, rehearses for that nights performance, a backdrop collapses without warning. "The Phantom! He's here!" the excited cast members all whisper. The Opera's new owners, Firmin and André, try to playdown the incident, but Carlotta refuses to continue rehearsals and storms offstage. Madame Giry, the Opéra's ballet mistress, tells Firmin and André that Christine Daaé, a Swedish chorus girl and daughter of a prominent violinist, has been "well taught", and could be able to sing Carlotta's rôle. Rather than cancel the performance, the owners reluctantly agree to audition Christine, and to their surprise, she is equal to the challenge. ("Think of Me")
After her triumphant début, Christine confesses backstage to her best friend Meg, (Madame Giry's daughter), that she knows her mysterious singing teacher only as an invisible "Angel of Music" ("Angel of Music"). The new patron, Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, finds Christine, his old childhood friend, in her dressing room.("Little Lotte") Christine reminds Raoul about the stories about the "Angel of Music" that her late father used to tell them, and confides that the Angel has visited her, and taught her how to sing. Raoul nonchalantly dismisses her notion, but invites Christine to dinner. After Raoul leaves, a jealous Angel of Music appears as an image in Christine's mirror. ("Angel of Music/The Mirror") Christine begs him to reveal himself. The Phantom then guides Christine through the mirror into a ghostly underground realm. ("The Phantom Of The Opera") Together they cross a subterranean lake to his secret lair deep beneath the Opera House, an eerie place containing a pipe organ, a throne, and a life-sized doll with a resemblence to Christine, clad in a wedding gown. The Phantom explains that he has chosen Christine to sing his music ("The Music Of The Night"). Christine faints, and the Phantom puts her to bed, once again restating his strong feelings for her.
As the Phantom composes music at his giant organ ("I Remember..."), Christine awakens to the sound of the monkey music box. She slips up behind the Phantom, taking off his mask, and beholds his face. The Phantom rails against her curiosity, and then ruefully tells her his longing to look normal and to be loved by Christine ("Stranger Than You Dreamt It").
Back in the Opera House, Joseph Buquet, the Opéra's chief stagehand, who, like Madame Giry, inexplicably knows a great deal about the Phantom, regales everyone with tales of the "Opera Ghost" and his terrible Punjab lasso ("Magical Lasso"). Madame Giry warns Buquet to try and exercise restraint. In the managers' office, Madame Giry ten delivers a note from the Phantom who demands that Christine replace Carlotta in the new opera Il Muto, ("Notes..."). Firmin and André try to assure the enraged Carlotta that she will remain the star, ("Prima Donna") but during her stage performance, disaster strikes ("Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh"). The Phantom manages to reduce Carlotta's voice to a frog-like croak. The backdrop lifts to reveal the corpse of Buquet, hanging down from the rafters by the Punjab lasso.
In the ensuing mêlée, Christine and Raol escape to the roof, where she tells him about her subterranean rendezvous with the Phantom. Raoul is a little sceptical ("Why Have You Brought Me Here?/Raoul, I've Been There"), but swears to love and to protect her always ("All I Ask of You"). The Phantom, who has overheard their entire conversation, is heartbroken. He angrily vows revenge against Raoul ("All I Ask of You (Reprise)"), and the Opera's mighty chandelier crashes down to the floor as the curtain falls.
Act Two
Six months have now passed, and in the midst of the gala masquerade ball ("Masquerade"), the Phantom makes his first appearance since the chandelier disaster and announces that he has written an opera entitled Don Juan Triumphant. He demands that his work be produced immediately ("Why So Silent?"), with Christine, who is now engaged to be married to Raoul, in the lead rôle. He then seizes Christine's engagement ring and disappears. Raoul demands that Madame Giry tell him about the Phantom. She replies that he is a brilliant musician and magician, but born with a terrifyingly deformed face, who escaped from captivity in a travelling freak show and vanished.
Raoul hatches a plan to use Don Juan Triumphant to trap and capture the Phantom. ("Notes/Twisted Every Way") Christine, torn between her love for Raoul and her reluctance to see the Phantom imprisoned again, pays a visit to her father's grave ("Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"). The Phantom appears, ("Wandering Child") but Raoul then arrives to protect her. ("Bravo, Monsieur!") The Phantom declares war upon them both.
Don Juan Triumphant débuts, with Ubaldo Piangi, the Operas leading tenour and Christine, singing the lead rôles. ("The Point of No Return") During their duet, Christine suddenly realises that she is not actually singing with Piangi, but with the Phantom himself. Christine tears off his mask to expose his hideous face to the audience, as Piangi is found strangled backstage. The Phantom then seizes Christine and flees the theatre. A mob is soon in hot pursuit. Madame Giry tells Raoul about the Phantom's subterranean lair, and reminds him to beware the Punjab lasso.
Down in the Phantom's lair, Christine is compelled to don the doll's wedding dress. ("Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer") Raoul finds the lair, but the Phantom captures him with the Punjab Lasso but he tells Christine that he will free Raoul if she agrees to stay with him forever; if she refuses, however then Raoul will die. ("Final Lair") Christine tells the Phantom that it is his soul, not his face, that is distorted, and kisses him. The Phantom, having finally experienced kindness and compassion for the first time, sets them both free. Christine returns the ring that he gave to her, and listens in pity as he tells of his love for her. She then forces herself to turn away, and leaves swiftly with Raoul. The Phantom, weeping, sings a brief reprise of "The Music of the Night" before sitting on his throne and covering himself with his cape. The mob storms into the lair, and Meg pulls away the cape, but the Phantom has somehow vanished; only his mask remains
Theatre tickets to all performances of the Phantom Of The Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in London are available to book securely through this website.
Theatre in London is based on Gaston Lerouxs gothic novel, is a haunting story of both seduction and despair. 
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