The History of Phantom of the Opera

The Music-
Within the many years the Broadway play has been showing, the cast has sold over 40 million copies of the soundtrack. The music is incredibly soothing and emotional, which explains why everybody loves it. This album was the first album of a Broadway play that has topped the charts in many places, including the British' charts. Since that time, this album of emotion has received gold and platinum settings in both the UK and the United States. No one of this soundtrack would have been possible with out the legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Costumes-
Handmade in London, 300 costumes were produced for this production. Another 2,000 costumes were put together for the extras in this production. The three hundred costumes that were hand made are way more complicated then the other two thousand. For example The Phantoms costume (pictured at the left; played by Michael Crawford) took many more hours to design, create, and fit. Another incredibly complicated costume is Christine (pictured at right; played by Sarah Brightman). These elaborate costumes took hours on end to create.
The Set Design-
From The mystical set of the Phantom's lair to the bright and colorful set of the masquerade ball, set design is extremely elaborate and has to be set just right in order for the scene to come together correctly and create a sight that's pleasing to the eye. This show was set in Paris in the 1870's, in a time period where everything was detailed and fancy. Because of this, this made the team that designed and built the set design's job ten times harder then it already was. Most of the set for the masquerade scene was mostly made of mirrors, creating the illusion of the room being way bigger then it actually is.


History of the play-
The start of The Phantom of the Opera can be looked at all the way back, almost one hundred and fifty years ago, where the inspiration and ideas started. 
1861- Construction started on the original Paris Opera House (where the movie was based off of).
1875- The Parisian Opera House opens up to the public
1911- The the novel Le Fantome de l'Opera was published by M. Gaston Leroux.
1925- The original Phantom of the Opera was shown to the public. But this one, was silent.
1943- Universal Studios remakes the original Phantom of the Opera with costumes, color, and sounds.
1986- The broadway version of Phantom of the Opera is released to the public
2004- The second most popular version is released; The Phantom of the Opera on DVD


After many, many hours of long, hard work, the show is performed and watched by millions. This is a tear-jerker that can get to you everytime.