The Phantom of the Opera: Musical Adaptation
- Created and written by Andrew Lloyd Weber, with lyrics written by Charles Hart
- Debuted in 1986
- Winner of several Olivier Awards, and Tony Awards
- Highest grossing entertainment event of all time ($5.1 billion in ticket sales worldwide)
The Phantom
A Broadway actor portraying the Phantom in 2011.
- Originally played by Michael Crawford
- Crawford won several prestigious awards for his portrayal of the Phantom, including the Tony Award for Best Actor.
- Only half of the Phantom's face was disfigured in the show; a trend that would follow the story in the rest of its modern adaptations.
Differences From the Novel
- In the last climactic scene, the Phantom makes Christine choose between him and Raoul, the Vicomte. The novel had a much more harrowing end: if Christine chose the Grasshopper (to leave with Raoul), but the opera house and much of Paris would be destroyed by an explosion. If she chose the scorpion (To stay with the Phantom), Raoul would die but Paris would be spared.
- The Persian is written out completely, replaced with Madame Giry (who had a much smaller part in the novel)
- The Phantom no longer has a name. In the original novel, and the 1925 silent film, he was called Erik.